Dressed in uniform and waiting around for the fall 2010 team picture, a
group of football players suddenly broke out in song. They sang “A
Whole New World” from Disney’s Aladdin. The athletes realized they really didn’t sound too bad. So they formed a new a cappella group, and called it Jockapella.
Scott Kingsley
Jockapella kicks off Spring Weekend with song.
Jockapella is for jocks who like to sing but who are too busy with
practices and games to join an existing group. Founded by Brad Herzlich
’14, Jeffrey Izon ’13, and Ade Oyalowo ’14, Jockapella is now in its
second year of existence.
Singing a cappella is something linebacker Herzlich has wanted to do
for a long time. “Around seventh grade I had to make the choice between
music and sports,” he explains. He’d sung in his school choir and
experimented with the piano, the violin, and the saxophone, but was so
good at sports that his future as a college athlete was almost
inevitable. His mother and father had both been standout college
athletes, and this year his brother, Mark, won a Super Bowl ring with
the New York Giants.
Izon, a running back, has also been interested in music from an early
age. He sang in the choir in elementary school and later played in his
high school band. Outside linebacker Oyalowo was a senior in high
school when he got involved in his first musical production.
Both Izon and Oyalowo argue that football and a cappella singing,
seemingly an unusual combination, are perfectly suited to each other.
Both are based on a tightly knit community whose members must work
together closely in—well, harmony. As a member of the football team,
Izon says, “winning is pretty nice, but what I like most is just having
a hundred other brothers and going out on the field with them.”
This emphasis on teamwork translates directly to a cappella. In
football, Izon explained, when one player false-starts, the whole play
gets called back. A cappella singing is a team effort that requires a
similar degree of coordination. Jockapella has fifteen members, and,
when one person sings a solo, the rest of the singers lay the
foundation for his or her success. “It really takes a group effort in
the background to make it sound complete,” Oyalowo says. Herzlich adds:
“The members of Jockapella are driven and motivated, qualities that
come from the skill sets we’ve grown to develop as athletes.”
“Music,” he says, “is something everyone can appreciate regardless of
the technical aspects of it. I love it, and just have fun with it.”
Oyalowo, too, simply loves to sing. “It’s crazy how you can make people
sound so good together,” he says.
For his part, Izon loves the feeling of performing: “When everyone
comes together and hits the perfect note, it resonates. I love the
feeling of hearing that note and being about to perform it.”
