Tuft's "Amalgamates" Harmonize

As Tufts University’s oldest co-ed a cappella group, The Amalgamates, sang an arrangement of “I Want You Back” by Jackson 5 this past Saturday night, the Assembly Hall echoed with the crowd’s cheers and applause.From arrangements of “Up In Flames” by Coldplay to “Love Somebody” by Maroon 5, The Amalgamates performed songs ranging in variety and melodies.Regarding the songs the group performed, senior and Music Director of The Amalgamates Will Finlay said that the group performed all the songs they had prepared since the last semester at the university.“Tonight’s performance was a culmination of a bunch of different repertoire that we’ve added bit by bit,” Finlay said. “We usually choose a large repertoire to perform at different venues and events, and since we had a longer set in Exeter than we usually do, we performed every song we had ready.”On behalf of the group, Finlay also shared his opinions on the Exeter audience. He described the ideal audience of a cappella and commented on Exeter’s audience as “aware and fond of a cappella.”“If there are performers in the crowd who are part of an a cappella group in the school or if there are a lot of students in the audience who enjoy singing as an extracurricular activity then performing is always fun,” Finlay said. “It’s especially rewarding because you not only earn respect, but you realize that people care about what you do as well as genuinely enjoy the performance.”Alumna Tammara Gary ‘12, The Amalgamates’ Business Manager and a sophomore at Tufts, also reflected upon her experience of returning to Exeter for the performance.“It was awesome to come back to Exeter and perform. I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous because it’s just performing for people I love and coming back to the place I love,” Gary said. “[But] it was nice to see new faces in the school I love. A startling yet lovable sight.”The night’s performance was opened by In Essence, one of the three all-female a cappella group of Exeter, followed by the PEADs, Exeter’s only co-ed a cappella group.Co-head of PEADs and member of In Essence, Sabrina Movitz, reflected upon the openings of both a cappella groups.“It was naturally going to be tough for In Essence, since we were missing so many girls, but considering the number we had to work with, I thought we pulled it off well,” she said. “PEADS was a fun time; we were recycling an old performance of ‘Hey Jude,’ but that really never gets old. We [also] tried a new song called ‘Demons’ by Imagine Dragons and that was different. Most of the time, a cappella at PEA is a lot of swaying, ‘step-touching,’ etc, so we wanted to switch it up this time. We worked on choreography for a long time and had a blast performing it.”Students who attended the performance reflected on the group’s excellent presence on stage as well as the incredible talents of soloists.“I thought they were very expressive, and it helped people get into the performance better. The soloists had range I couldn't even imagine before,” lower Torrey Foster said. “My favorite part was their final song when the Exeter alum, Tammara Gary, sang the solo for ‘I Want You Back.’ It was really powerful.”Movitz expanded upon Foster’s views and shared her opinions of The Amalgamates’s performance. “I thought they were great,” she said. “They had some amazing soloists, most notably our own alum Tammara Gary, and they had wonderful energy. They never stopped moving and dancing, and were fun to watch.”As The Amalgamates prepared to return to Tufts, Finlay said that the group will try to visit the Exeter campus again, and possibly turn the visit into a tradition between the two schools.“I really hope we’ll return to Exeter soon,” Finlay said. “If we can make our visit into an annual event, that would be really awesome.”