Weaving his way through the maze of dressing rooms in Bridges Auditorium, Claremont Shades President Harold Fuson PZ ’26 stopped periodically to check in with different groups, catching a glimpse of their last-minute preparations. For each group, the moments before the Southern California Acapella Music Festival (SCAMFest) stretch on for hours — between vocal warmups, hair and makeup, last-minute choreo changes and more, the buildup feels endless.
For Fuson, however, organizing the event means overseeing every element of its production, from booking the venue back during the summer months to ensuring each group has the correct number of mics and knows when they go on stage.
“It’s such a special night for so many people,” Fuson said. “To be able to put that event on and be a part of making it as special as it is is super cool and something we take a lot of pride in.”
At 7 p.m. last Saturday, Nov. 15, the Claremont Shades hosted SCAMFest, the annual collegiate acapella festival at the Claremont Colleges. After months of preparation, Fuson and the Shades hosted this year’s event in an auditorium full of enthused Claremont students and visitors.
Each year, Shades takes on responsibility for hosting this event, which always fills up the majority of Pomona College’s Bridges Auditorium’s 2,494 seats.
This year, the event featured a lineup of all eight Claremont acapella groups, with performers travelling from UC Irvine, UCLA and USC. Claremont’s Groove Nation hip-hop group performed just after the intermission, breaking up the musical acts with dynamic dance numbers that had the audience cheering in support.
For everyone at the Claremont Colleges, SCAMFest is a hallmark of the end of the fall semester — in the weeks leading up, students buy tickets from different acapella teams tabling in front of dining halls and chat with their friends about memories of standout performances from past years. For the performers, however, SCAM begins at the very beginning of the semester, just after acapella auditions welcome new members to each group.
President of Midnight Echo –– a group known for singing pop and R&B hits in their signature black and silver –– Kira Sekhar SC ’26 described their group’s process in the months leading up to the event.
“We typically rehearse three times a week, and then every day in the week before SCAMFest,” Sekhar said. “It’s a lot of running our music, working on our dynamics, drilling choreo and just getting everything into our body so that [during SCAM] we can really just focus on enjoying the performance and being with each other.”
Many of the acapella groups shared this sentiment — their normal schedule is demanding, with at least five hours a week of practice. SCAMFest, however, takes that number and puts it into hyperdrive.
Acapella students are not full-time professionals — they are students, athletes, journalists, lifeguards and more — who choose to take the time to create music together. Yet among all of their countless Google Calendar events, these students take the time out of their days to create a show that is beloved by over 2,000 people.
That consistent dedication to carving out an artistic space within the chaos of college lives, Sekhar and Fuson both agree, is what makes the acapella community at the Claremont Colleges so special.
“Everyone is here for similar reasons,” Fuson said. “All the groups are a little bit different, but at their core, everyone is there to create music and sing in small vocal ensembles. So that definitely unites all the groups, which is super awesome.”
Throughout the semester, acapella groups perform for each other at Frary steps. SCAMFest, however, is the main event — and nobody loves watching acapella quite as much as the performers themselves.
For Sekhar, one of the most awe-inspiring performances this year came from Earthtones, an all-Black acapella group that sang a mix of songs by artists JID, Stevie Wonder, Brent Faiyaz and the Jackson Five.
“Their blend was incredible, and their soloist did an amazing job,” Sekhar said. “Especially for a group that was only founded three years ago, they’ve come such a long way. They are just such incredible musicians and really amazing to watch.”
Attendee Vincent Sylvester PO ’29 echoed Sekhar’s praise, highlighting how Earthtones, like many of the groups, expertly weaved together vocals with choreography to put on a dazzling show.
“I really enjoyed how they utilized choreography throughout their entire performance to paint a beautiful picture,” Sylvester said. “There was very intentional design and theming when it came to their outfits, and Tito’s [Oshuntolu’s PO ’29] performance was stellar — his vocals were on point and complemented by the harmonies of Earthtones.”
After watching months of hard work culminate in a spectacular 2-hour-long aca-festival, SCAMFest groups gathered — still riding the adrenaline of performance — for an aca-party. The after party, known as the aca-function, gave Claremont acapella groups a chance to get to know each other, and welcome in their outside guests: The Scatter Tones and Bruin Harmony from UCLA, Morse Coda from UC Irvine and the SoCal VoCals from USC.
“The after party was really special,” Harold said. “Getting to hang out with them and talk to them about how their processes and school environment [are] totally different from ours … how they approach music and organize themselves as a group.”
When asked to describe what Claremont aca-functions tend to look like, Sekhar noted that they are often a bit more colorful than your average Claremont party.
“It’s sometimes more singing and dancing than I’ve seen at any other Claremont College function, just because a lot of people know each other and everybody loves to sing and dance,” Sekhar said.
For acapella students, SCAMFest and aca-functions reflect the chaotic yet lovable nature of acapella at the Claremont Colleges –– a community that is based on hard work, late-night rehearsals and the joy of making music with fellow students.
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