Stanford Harmonics

Stanford Harmonics
Stanford Harmonics, January 2025
Background information
Origin	Stanford, California, USA
Genres	A cappella
Years active	1991–present
Website	www.stanfordharmonics.com

The Stanford Harmonics are a co-ed a cappella group from Stanford University. Known for their alternative rock repertoire and award-winning recordings, the Harmonics have garnered international recognition for their performances and have been featured on BOCA, Sing, and Voices Only a cappella compilations. The Harmonics are one of the few collegiate a cappella groups that own their own wireless microphone equipment^[citation needed] and have developed a live performance style that includes the use of electronic distortion and sound effects.

History

The group's third release, Insanity Laughs (1999), was received as a "breakthrough album" for the unprecedented mixing of its drum-like vocal percussion.[1]

In 2009, their landmark studio album, Escape Velocity, won three Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, including Best Mixed Collegiate Album,[2] and was selected by the Recorded A Cappella Review Board as one of their Picks of the Decade.[3]

In 2010, the Harmonics won the A Cappella Community Awards for Favorite Mixed Collegiate Group and Favorite Scholastic Album.[4]

In 2020, the album Signal Lost by the Harmonics won Best Rock Album from the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards.

As of 2024, they are recording their newest album, titled Event Horizon, a concept album centered around grief, to be released in 2025.

Recordings

The Stanford Harmonics have released ten full-length albums, one "greatest hits" album, and one extended play, alongside numerous singles.

• The Greatest Hits of Pitchpipe (1995)
• Escalator Music (1997)
• Insanity Laughs (1999)
• Phonoshop (2001)
• evolut10n (2002) - 10 Year Anniversary "Greatest Hits" Album
• Rock Beats Scissors (2003)
• Shadowplay (2005)
• Escape Velocity (2008)
• Midnight Hour (2013)
• The Messes of Men (2015) - EP
• Fault of Imagination (2017)
• Signal Lost (2019)
• Event Horizon (upcoming 2025 release)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
1998	Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards	Best Mixed Collegiate Album	Escalator Music	Nominated	[5]
2000	Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards	Best Mixed Collegiate Album	Insanity Laughs	Nominated	[6]
		Best Mixed Collegiate Arrangement	Jonathan Pilat	Nominated
2002	Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards	Best Mixed Collegiate Album	Phonoshop	Nominated	[7]
		Best Mixed Collegiate Arrangement	Jonathan Pilat for "We Are In Love"	Runner-up	[8]
2004	Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards	Best Mixed Collegiate Song	"Lady Marmalade" from Rock Beats Scissors	Runner-up	[9]
2006	Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards	Best Mixed Collegiate Album	Shadowplay	Nominated	[10]
		Best Mixed Collegiate Solo	Bryan Tan for "The Memory Remains"	Nominated
2009	Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards	Best Mixed Collegiate Album	Escape Velocity	Won	[2]
		Best Mixed Collegiate Song	"The Sound of Silence"	Won
		Best Mixed Collegiate Arrangement[a]	Charlie Forkish for "The Sound of Silence"	Won
			Charlie Forkish for "Imagination"	Runner-up
2010	Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards	Best Mixed Collegiate Song	"Spiel Met Mir" from Sing Six: Sunny Side Up	Nominated	[11]
2014	Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards	Best Mixed Collegiate Album	Midnight Hour	Nominated	[12]
		Best Mixed Collegiate Song	"Somebody to Love"	Nominated
		Best Mixed Collegiate Arrangement	Evan Smith for "Somebody to Love"	Nominated
2018	Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards	Best Electronic / Experimental Album	Fault of Imagination	Nominated	[13]
2020	Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards	Best Rock Album	Signal Lost	Won	[14]
		Best Rock Song	"Zombie" from Signal Lost	Nominated	[15]
		Best Mixed Collegiate Album	Signal Lost	Nominated
2022	Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards	Best Mixed Voices Collegiate Solo	Mitchell Zimmerman for "Ever After" (Single)	Nominated	[16]
2022	Best of College A Cappella	Featured Single ‘Bad Liar’	Single	Won	[17]

1. Charlie Forkish was named both the winner and the runner-up (against himself) for these two arrangements on Escape Velocity.

ICCA results

The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) first judged live a cappella performance competitions in 1996.

Year	Level	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Points	Citation
1996	West Region Semifinal	Best Solo	Zareen Poonen for "Change in My Life'	Runner-up	N/A	[18]
2000	West Region Quarterfinal #1	Best Group	Harmonics	2nd	—	[19]
2002	West Region Quarterfinal #2	Best Soloist	Morgan Reed	Runner-up (tie)	N/A	[20]
		Best Arrangement	Jon Pilat for "Lady Marmalade"	Runner-up (tie)	N/A
2003	West Region Quarterfinal #3	Best Group	Harmonics	3rd	—	[21]
		Best Arrangement	Marcella White Campbell for "Porcelain"	Won	N/A
2004	West Region Quarterfinal #1	Outstanding Vocal Percussion	Ben D'Angelo and Daniel Hobert	won	N/A	[22]
2021	West Region Quarterfinal #3	Best Group	Harmonics	3rd	312	[23]

Notable members

• Singer/songwriter Vienna Teng
• Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA) President Julia Hoffman and Board Member Ariel Glassman
• Hookslide singers Jon Pilat and George Hoffman
• Former Skritch lead Bryan Tan
• Icon Parthiv Krishna
• Gautam Raghavan, Deputy Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office
• Composer Joss Paxton Saltzman
• Jade Nguyen

See also

• List of Stanford University a cappella groups

References

1. Mickey Rapkin (2012). Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory. Penguin. ISBN 9781592408214. Retrieved 2018-01-04. The breakthrough album, he says, was the 1999 Stanford Harmonics disc, Insanity Laughs. 'That's when vocal percussion really started to sound more like a drum set than vocals,' Bill says.
2. "2009 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Winners". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
3. "RARB". RARB Picks of the Decade. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
4. "CASA". 2010 A Cappella Community Award Winners. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
5. "1998 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
6. "2000 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
7. "2002 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 27 October 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
8. "2002 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Winners". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
9. "2004 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Winners". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
10. "2006 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
11. "2010 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
12. "2014 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
13. "2018 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
14. Chen, Jessica (5 April 2020). "2020 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards Results". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
15. Chen, Jessica (17 February 2020). "2020 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
16. "2022 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
17. "2022 Best of College A Cappella 2022 Collection". Best of College A Cappella. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
18. "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (1996)". University of California, Berkeley: Varsity Vocals. 1996. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
19. "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (2000)". University of California, Berkeley: Varsity Vocals. 2000. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
20. "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (2002)". Brigham Young University: Varsity Vocals. 2002. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
21. "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (2003)". University of California, Berkeley: Varsity Vocals. 2003. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
22. "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (2004)". University of California, Berkeley: Varsity Vocals. 2004. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
23. "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (2021)". Varsity Vocals. 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.

External links

• Official Website