The Buzz

NOTEorious is a well-known organization at NRHS, often revered for the plethora of awards and titles they’ve brought back to the high school. I sat down with one of NOTEorious’s most recent award-winners, junior and 3-year member Eulalia Agganis, and discussed her award, acapella competitions, and the complex preparation that goes into each of NOTEorious’s spell-binding performances.

The Competition

Most recently, NOTEorious participated in the International Championship of High School Acapella ( or ICHSA ) on February 11th, an acapella competition that brings together prominent high school acapella groups worldwide. NRHS’s NOTEorious has participated in the competition for the past several years, making it to the Finals two years ago. Because of this, they were able to participate in a showcase of high school talent during a college acapella competition. Although the showcase wasn’t a judged performance,  Eulalia says she was very encouraged by the college students she met. She further discussed the welcoming atmosphere of acapella competitions in general, saying, “I love the competitions because everyone is so comfortable talking to each other and it’s so kind… you’ll see people in the hallways and they’ll just tell you ‘good job’ or ‘good luck’ and it’s so sweet to meet so many new people.”

Awards

This year, the Quarter Finals were at the Galvin Middle School in Wakefield. Along with placing first out of all the acapella groups competing, they also won several category awards with Best Vocal Percussion going to Vinny Costantino, Best Group Choreography, and Best Arrangement awarded to Sophie Donovan. Ms. Donovan, as Eulalia elaborates, is the music director for NOTEorious.  “She does a great job,” Eulalia remarked. “she leads every rehearsal, and helps everyone make sure they know their notes.”

Eulalia received the award for Outstanding Soloist, which was shocking to her as she maintains that, “genuinely everyone is so incredibly talented, and the competition was really, really tight.” More than anything, she expressed extreme appreciation for winning the award, that it’s one of the biggest achievements of her life and that it demonstrates how “…every year it’s so rewarding to go and see your hard work become something great and something to be a part of.” Even after the event ended, Eulalia says that she’s been smiling ever since she received the news. 

NOTEorious

Our interview also delved into the dedication that all of NOTEorious puts into each and every one of its shows. Eulalia enlightened me on the behind-the-scenes efforts that NOTEorious takes to maintain the precise and effortless nature of their vocals, choreography, and group work. From the start of the school year, NOTEorious members gather in Mrs. Kane’s choral room for an hour to an hour and a half every day after the school day ends. Mrs. Kane heads the group and chooses the soloists for each of the songs, which is how Eulalia earned her role in the most recent performance at the ICHSA quarterfinals.

When they receive a new song, they get the arrangement for the song through sheet music and are charged with rehearsing using SmartMusic (a platform that houses the various vocal parts to practice and records their practicing sessions). Sometimes, they split into various sections or soloists during their rehearsal time, taking advantage of practice rooms throughout the music wing. At the same time, they tend to group together to work out the sheet music, “sometimes we’ll sit around the piano and plunk notes”, as a way to decipher the complexities behind each song. One important practice, Eulalia highlights, is that NOTEorious spends time watching tapes from their previous performances in order to improve upon their work for next time. She thinks of this methodology not as being critical of themselves, rather, she believes that it brings them closer together as a group and defines their ever-increasing improvement over recent years. 

Eulalia attributes NOTEorious’s latest upward trend in popularity and efficiency to the comradery between the group’s members. “We all get along really well, there’s no one in the group who I would say I’m not close friends with. We laugh all the time, we go out to group bonding… we’ll hang out [by choice] because we just like talking to each other.” Her earnest love of the members of NOTEorious truly shines through the spectacular performances and, of course, the numerous awards they’ve earned. Their dedication to their craft, whether through the behind-the-scenes work, or the teamwork and support they so evidently have on stage, underscores a key value of such organizations and the extreme importance of support for the performing arts within our school community.

Upcoming

Looking forward, thanks to their phenomenal work in Wakefield, NOTEorious’s next performance will be at the semifinals for ICHSA on March 24th. Their hope is to advance to finals once again, as well as scout out new competitions to participate in (and hopefully excel in those as well). One competition in particular, for which Eulalia tells me NOTEorious has already sent in their audition tape, is the Boston Sings (BOSS) acapella festival. As the name suggests, this would be a purely New England-based competition. However, what excites Eulalia the most is that she would be able to compete alongside the university acapella groups that she’s admired so deeply.

On a personal note, Eulalia confirms that she will maintain her interest in singing and acapella well into university, stating “I would love to do it in college” if the opportunity presented itself. Eulalia thanks her experiences with NOTEorious for the role they’ve played throughout her high school career, helping her explore her passions for singing even deeper, and hopes acapella will continue to play a role in life well after she graduates.