OU a cappella group the Crimson Chords are spreading holiday cheer around Norman with an upcoming performance Saturday.
Historically, the chords have performed songs including Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke,” The Jacksons’ “Blame It on the Boogie” and Crimson Chords president Teddy Winter’s favorite, “erase me” by Lizzy McAlpine.
“That’s one of my favorites. It's a Lizzy McAlpine song that some of the chords we hit were very dissonant,” Winter said.
All music performed by the group is composed and arranged in-house.
“We'll take songs we like … and arrange it for our a cappella group to sing,” Winter said. “It's really fun because I feel like our concerts have a little bit of each member in them.”
Winter’s favorite thing about the chords is the diverse group of members that has come together to make music. While each member is musically talented, they come from a diverse set of academic backgrounds.
“We have music majors, accountants, engineers — just this wide range of people — but we all just come together because we want to make music,” Winters said.
The atmosphere has brought members closer together, and members said the atmosphere of the group encourages the creative music process.
“It's a good way to come and take your mind off of all the other stuff and just get together with your close friends and make music,” Winter said.
Winter said the group plans to raise funds and expand its audience by picking up new gigs.
“The big trend now is having a cappella groups sing for your birthday, so we're gonna pivot to do some birthday stuff,” Winter said.
Funds would go toward renting venues, upgrading equipment and booking recording sessions, which would allow the group to post its music to Spotify. Winter said he hopes to purchase new exclusive Crimson Chords merchandise.
The group plans for Christmas caroling and collaboration with other organizations. They have performed for the CAC Scandals, the Asian American Student Association, OU Music Outreach and most recently, November’s 2nd Friday Art Walk.
The Chords’ next concert will theme around holiday music, featuring “Santa Baby,” “Happy Holidays,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” “Snow Angel,” “This Christmas” and “Baby It's Cold Outside.”
“I honestly think every year we get better and better and get more into the groove, better at arranging, all that stuff,” Winter said.
The Crimson Chords will perform at 6:45 p.m. Saturday in the Meacham Auditorium.
This story was edited by Madisson Cameron. Arthur Shamayev, Gretchen Schultz and Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
