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The Undercurrent is a biweekly news feature show written and produced by students from Michigan State University. Each episode explores multiple stories surrounding one central theme.
88 point nine, the impact. You're listening to undercurrent. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to season 16 episode two of the undercurrent. Today, I'm joined by two members of the Spartan Discords, Ethan Lamkin and Jack McGuire. The Spartan Discords are an acapella group here on campus creatively arranging songs of many different genres.
Speaker 1:Thank you guys so much for being here today.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Thanks for having us. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So starting off here, can you guys just both introduce yourselves and talk about your role within the group?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, so I'm Jack Maguire as it was said. I'm the group's business manager. So that works with a lot of communications, mainly getting us gigs or setting up venues, figuring out ticketing, a lot of the logistics that kinda goes on behind the scenes.
Speaker 1:Very cool. Thank you.
Speaker 3:And I'm Ethan Lampkin. I'm the group's music director. That means I'm basically in charge of music as the name suggests, and I lead the group through rehearsals. And so I teach music to everyone.
Speaker 1:Cool. Thank you, Ethan. Could you guys just tell me a little bit about the Spartan Discords and what exactly you guys do?
Speaker 3:So the Spartan Discords are the oldest a cappella group on campus. We are all male. We have been around since 1982.
Speaker 2:That's correct. Yep. Yeah. I mean, forty three years, we've done all sorts of stuff. It's it's kind of funny having such a long history.
Speaker 2:Part of being a member of this group is, you know, having a connection to alumni, but it's also very much finding out what did we do at this point in time. I think we there was a group on, like, The Price is Right. We've been, like, cool all over. We've done all sorts of nonsense. Like, we what?
Speaker 2:We competed with Straight No Chaser before they, like, were a group. Like, all sorts of crazy stuff. But, yeah, I mean, I guess at its core, we split off of the men's Glee Club. Again, as Ethan said, founded in '82, so forty three years so far. Really just performing for kind of the area, the community, and we've been doing the same thing all this time.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Cool. I love that. Thank you, guys. So how did each of you actually get involved in this organization?
Speaker 3:So I joined in my freshman year. This was the first and only club that I've joined at MSU. In high school, I started doing theater in my senior year, so I kinda wanted to keep doing more of that stuff and especially singing. And so I found out like when I got here, was like, oh, there's acapella groups on campus and so there's like six but there's like a few, like only four that I can get into. Couple all men's groups, one of them being the Discords and then a couple coed groups.
Speaker 3:So I auditioned for all of them and then I ended up getting into the Discords. And I have been here for this is my seventh semester now.
Speaker 1:Wow. That's amazing. Cool.
Speaker 2:Definitely a similar story. Much like Ethan, I loved singing and performing. I did musical theater in high school. And I think this is the case for, honestly, a lot of just a cappella singers in general in college. But, you know, you're not majoring in maybe the fine arts or what have you, and it's a really phenomenal outlet.
Speaker 2:So very much the same. I went out for every group I could. And, yeah, the Spartan Discords, you know, had a place for me and it's been wonderful.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Thank you, guys. So tell me about the process of putting together these, like, musical arrangements. Is it like one person leading it? Is it more of like a collaborative process, that kind of thing?
Speaker 3:Kind of all of the above or I guess one or the other. So at the start of each semester or I guess before every concert, we choose the songs that we wanna do. We get the group together and then we put everything on a spreadsheet so all the songs that we wanna choose, we do like four per member, and then we whittle down the list until we get like three for each concert. And then once we've decided what songs we want to do, we choose which member will arrange the songs. As music director, I'm kind of the default and I will oversee everyone who is also arranging music.
Speaker 3:But everyone in the group does have a chance to arrange music if they want to. It's not required but if you want to, you can. And so we arrange it on our own time. Groups, not groups, members can collaborate with each other if they want to or they can do it on their own. And then we just have to have them like done by the concert and so before then we'll have enough time to rehearse and go through them.
Speaker 3:I don't think I'm missing anything there.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That was perfect. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Oh, I guess slight add on. We do something kind of unique as far as groups go. A lot of groups will have it, yeah, fall on specific members or, you know, music directors. But at the end of every year, we have a large medley.
Speaker 3:Oh, I did forget about this.
Speaker 2:And so I guess as someone who's not well, everyone's on the music side, but I'm not as much on the music side of things as Ethan maybe. At the end of every year, you're thrown feet first into arranging your own part of a medley. So we choose a theme, we each get a song, and you've gotta arrange it and then that's just the end of it.
Speaker 3:Yeah. This is at our last concert of every every year. So we have four concerts and then our last one is our big show. And so we have a medley that's like based on a theme that the entire show is kind of based around. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And so the medley is it ends up being usually like fifteen minutes, but each member will arrange like one minute of a song that goes with the theme and then we put it all together and then we sing it.
Speaker 1:Cool. Do you guys focus on like a particular style of music or are you just kind of doing whatever's like trending or whatever you guys are just kind of thinking? Like how does that kind of work?
Speaker 3:I I think it would go a little bit more on what's trending. We try to kind of go around different genres, and I think we've usually done kinda ended up on pop. We've done some, like, country songs. We've done some, like, old timey songs. We did Shaboom, like, a year or two ago.
Speaker 3:But yeah, we can put anything that we want into our suggestions, but whenever we think about what songs we wanna choose, it's usually what will kind of gain traction with our audience. It's really nice to do some fun songs every now and then that are kind of for us. But when we wanna do outreach or when we wanna do gigs for other people outside of the university or within the university, we kinda wanna make sure that there are songs that people know so that they can also enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Do you guys have, like, a favorite song you've performed or a couple favorite songs you've performed?
Speaker 2:Oh. You're gonna have to answer this
Speaker 3:real soon either way. Oh, man.
Speaker 2:We have something for every senior where they bring back one song they've sung.
Speaker 1:Oh, cool.
Speaker 2:And Ethan being a senior and the only member of his class Uh-huh. Has to decide what
Speaker 3:we're gonna
Speaker 2:be singing for
Speaker 3:him. That is, like, actually genuinely a hard question. I have a I have a playlist of all of our, like, songs that we've done before, and I hadn't realized until the other day how much that like, how many songs that I've learned in my time here. I looked at the playlist and there were like 50 songs and I was like, oh my god. I do not remember that.
Speaker 3:I think my favorite song that I've ever done was probably Demons by Imagine Dragons.
Speaker 1:Oh. Was my
Speaker 3:first solo I ever got in the group.
Speaker 1:Was it?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Oh, that's another thing. Like when we like each song usually has a solo and so we'll also audition that before every concert.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And so that was the first one I got. And this was my second semester in the group.
Speaker 1:That's so cool. How long does it like take to like practice these songs like before a concert?
Speaker 3:About a month. So we have a concert coming up and we've had yeah, I would say about a month. Mhmm. It kinda depends on the concert. Usually, like, we try to get like a month to two months in between, but depending on when we schedule it, we might have a little less time than we want.
Speaker 3:But we try to get like a month or maybe a month and a half. And I think that kind of is the average for all of it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Cool. And then I just have to know, is there a song that you would like really really like to perform but you like haven't been able to yet?
Speaker 3:Yes. Yes. Yes. I have been watching Glee recently and I'm currently on season two. And if you're unaware, there is a acapella group in that season called the Warblers.
Speaker 1:I'm aware.
Speaker 3:Yes. And and Darren Criss is kind of the lead and like the main character in those. But anyways, I I I freaking love the Warblers performances and I have especially caught onto their version of Bills Bills Bills by Destiny's Child. And now that is like the number one song that I want to do, and I need to do it before, like, I leave the group.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That would be really cool. So what do your rehearsals look like?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So we have rehearsals every Tuesday and Thursday in the evening. And so it's usually like an hour and a half to maybe two hours if we need the time. So we all meet up in, oh I probably shouldn't give away where we are. That's a secret, you guys won't find out.
Speaker 3:But yeah, so we get together in the evening and then we go over our songs. Usually that's just like we try to work on mainly one song per rehearsal that we really get into, and then try to figure out what we need to work on, what needs to be better. And then we'll do a couple run throughs of the other songs. But usually it's mainly focused on one song for one rehearsal, one for the other. And then when we get closer to our concert time, we have one week before each concert where we do rehearsals every night.
Speaker 3:And usually, like, in that we will try to have some, like, workshops on, like, one song. But for the most part, we're trying to go through everything at once to make sure that we're ready for the concert. Mhmm. So it kind of varies depending on what the vibe is and how well people know their music. But
Speaker 1:Yeah. Cool.
Speaker 2:Yes. And affectionately, we term this week
Speaker 3:Hell week.
Speaker 2:Yes. And tonight is our first rehearsal for
Speaker 3:Yes. It is.
Speaker 2:Hell week, for Ochapalooza is coming up on the seventeenth.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness. Good luck. I was gonna I was about to compare that to, like, tech week. I hear about tech week, like musical theater. Is that comparable?
Speaker 3:Same. Yep.
Speaker 1:I see. So how do you guys prepare for performances or competitions? And do you do competitions? I don't really know how that works with these groups.
Speaker 3:We do not do competitions.
Speaker 2:A lot
Speaker 3:of the other groups do. We kind of pride ourselves a little bit on being a little more laid back. So, you know, we like to have fun and not like wanna have our members be super, like, I would say attached to this group. Mhmm. I mean, we we would love, you know, people to have fun and like know their stuff and really be engaged, but we don't want to like take their entire week away from them to learn.
Speaker 3:So we, you know, we have less rehearsals, we have less time, but we like to have more fun with our stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And, I mean, even kinda building onto that, and I think every other group actually in some way or another has a league they compete in. And that's awesome that that's their thing. But kinda back to Ethan's point of, like, having a playlist of 50 songs.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:To compete is, you know, to really consciously choose to kinda focus in on, like, three songs. Uh-huh. And so, you know, you're kind of rehearsing that until March. And I think for kind of what we wanna do, we we love having that variety. We love just going out and doing gigs and seeing people.
Speaker 3:And Yeah. It it's
Speaker 2:just a very different kind of temperament, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah. What's, like, the vibe like at these rehearsals? Is is it, like, fun or is it, like, you guys, like, mostly locked in?
Speaker 3:It kind of gets between both. We don't like to have our rehearsals being like super serious because usually it's just like we wanna make sure everyone knows their music but we don't want anyone to be like super stressed out.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:But there are times when people will get like a little off track and will need to lock in a little bit, but usually it's pretty chill.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Alright. So what has been your favorite event or performance with the Spartan Discord so far?
Speaker 2:I as an East Lansing native, I think there's absolutely a soft spot, I have for performing at MSU basketball halftime shows. Being on Breslin's floor is absolutely so mind blowing, it's really just a fun experience all around. We tend to do that once a year. So, I would say getting to do that as a group is always a big experience, for everyone who's new to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That sounds so cool being on, like, the floor of Fresland. I can't imagine that. And then how has being a part of this group impacted your time here at MSU?
Speaker 2:It's been wonderful. I think a huge part of college and life is finding belonging in some kind of sense. And I don't like to think that I cheated, but, you know, Spartan Discords absolutely kind of provides that all in one place and in a very structured way. I I think there's always the chance of, you know, I, of course, have friend groups and friends outside of it, but, you know, you're gonna see these people twice a week for sure, and it's always there. And, you know, even if we do have to lock in and Ethan needs us to pay attention to our music, you'll still get a chance to catch up before and after.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, is there anything else the community should know about your group? Any upcoming performances, social media, anything like that?
Speaker 3:Well, we have a big concert coming up on the seventeenth at East Lansing High School around 7PM. Yep. So this is Ochapalooza and this is the concert that we do with all the other cappella groups on campus. So there's us, there's Capital Green, State of Fifths, the Acapellas, Lady First, and Spartan Tour. And that is coming up soon.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Thank you. And then where is there, like, an Instagram handle or
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah. I think it's just at Spartan Discord.
Speaker 3:Yep. At Spartan Discords on Instagram. Mhmm. We have a Facebook. We have a YouTube channel.
Speaker 3:You can find us at Spartan Discords. Yeah. I think that about covers it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Thank you guys so much for coming on today. That was super insightful. And, yeah, thank you guys so much.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having us.