Will Straight No Chaser capitalize on the chance to commercialize a cappella? As the frigid air whipped through the Upper West Side and buckets of freezing rain drenched the streets, an anxious crowd seeking music and warmth filed into The Concert Hall on December 11 for an evening with Straight No Chaser. Formed originally at Indiana University in the fall of 1996, this professional reincarnation of the collegiate group (of the same name) has been thrust into the national spotlight (outside...

From classical to doo-wop to barbershop, music sung "a cappella" — by unaccompanied voices — is enjoying a boom in popularity across the country. A cappella singing is the vocal equivalent of working without a net: No piano or orchestra accompanies singers or helps them find the pitch. The singers have to do it all. A cappella singing seems to be growing in all musical fields. A surprisingly high percentage of this year's best Christmas CDs were all or mostly a cappella. They came from c...

If you're reading this, it's pretty much a given that you love to sing. And that you have singing as a part of your life. But here are others who are not so fortunate. People who have been without singing in their lives since their last year of compulsory choir in grade school, turned away by the cultural meme that tosses 1% of us onto the stage and relegates the rest to the audience.

For Kate Munger, music is a healing force. In 2000, the retired music teacher started the Threshold Choir, a group of women who sing at the bedsides of the terminally ill in private homes, hospitals and hospices across the country.

The latest figures are in, and statistics show that recorded music sales are down 29% in the past year across the country. This isn’t just for Take 6; this is for everyone, from Radiohead to Rhianna.

Beginning in fall 2009, one fortunate freshman attending the University of Rochester's College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering will receive some extra financial aid – not from loan companies or the federal government, but from fellow students. The Midnight Ramblers Scholarship is the first permanent scholarship funded through a student-alumni partnership at the University.