By Mitch Goldich, Lehigh '09

Watch the Dartmouth Aires perform a medley of Queen songs and
receive glowing feedback from the celebrity judges.
*Video used with permission from NBC Universal.

Of the 6 million viewers who watched the season finale of NBC’s hit show The Sing Off, at least 50 of them were crammed into the basement of SigEp’s chapter house at Dartmouth.

The Dartmouth Aires, a group of 16 undergraduates and recent alumni of the college, came in second place in the reality television a cappella contest that ran its third season this fall. Seven members of the group are from SigEp’s very own New Hampshire Alpha Chapter, so crowding around the TV became the chapter’s Monday night routine.

Clark Moore, ‘13, a performer and the group’s director of social media and marketing, said it’s no coincidence that so many students would be drawn to both groups.

“I think in a lot of ways SigEp holds the same values that the Aires has. There’s the idea of hard work and diligence—we’re very serious about music, rehearsals and the product we’re creating,” he said. “And brotherly love, for us the Aires is a brotherhood as well.”

The other brothers in the group were Nic Chuaqui, '12, Danny Freeman, '13, Dan Leopold, '10, Michael Odokara-Okigbo, '12, Alex Taylor, '11, and Ethan Weinberg, '12.

Since the Aires have been around for decades, the group had different circumstances from their competitors, who were trying to hit the big time with the grand prize of $200,000 and a recording contract. The Aires knew the fate of their group didn’t rest on the recording contract, which allowed them to have fun and include some of their older members and recent alumni.

The group of 16 spent two months taping the first 10 episodes in Los Angeles over the summer, and returned November 28 to tape the live finale. They spent those months rehearsing, performing, and getting feedback from celebrity judges.

The group was proud to represent SigEp on a national stage. In fact, Freeman was shown wearing a SigEp t-shirt during one of the earliest episodes.

For the Aires, the experience on The Sing Off did more than just provide for an eventful year and a newfound celebrity on campus—it also pushed them to be a better group. “Having all of these different groups doing things so drastically different from each other inspired us to do something new and innovative with our sound,” Moore said.

Dartmouth College is already a cappella crazy, with 11 groups on a campus of 4,000 students. Moore said that the rest of the school’s community couldn’t have been happier for the Aires, who put the entire Dartmouth a cappella scene on the national radar. And since the performers’ contracts forbade them from sharing the outcome of the show with their friends, the Dartmouth community watched with the same suspense that swept up the rest of the country.

The group’s second place showing will aid their future endeavors. The Aires released an album last June and are planning another one now. They’ve also planned an upcoming tour to perform for groups of Dartmouth alumni all along the East Coast.

“The best thing about this experience was not just representing Dartmouth, but representing the Dartmouth a cappella scene,” Moore said. “Without them inspiring us to be great, we wouldn’t have taken it this far. We’re happy to represent SigEp on a national level as well.”

For more information, fans can follow the Dartmouth Aires on Facebook and Twitter.

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