by Diana Vasselin
Applying to summer camps for most students consists of sending in a form along with money, but junior Brooke Leibowitz had to audition for a spot in A Cappella Academy in Los Angeles.
Brooke heard about A Cappella Academy from her friend Kat Meyer. “She knows that I’m a huge fan of Pentatonix, so she sent me the link on Facebook. I saw it and checked on the camp, and I was like ‘I have to do this,’ and then it was really Vini Bulhoes. He convinced me to really go for it,” said Leibowitz.
A Cappella Academy is a nine-day camp in Los Angeles that was founded by Avi Kaplan, Ben Bram, and Rob Dietz. At the academy students would learn to beatbox, belt, compose music and everything else in the realm of a cappella music.
Going to this camp is very costly with the tuition being $1,795, and that doesn’t include the flight to and from Los Angeles! “I applied for financial aid, so hopefully there is going to be some help on that. My parents said that they’re in a good place where they can probably help pay for it at this point,” said Leibowitz.
Brooke filmed her audition video in the green room bathroom, which is in a hallway to the side of the high school’s stage. When filming her audition video, she asked for help from senior Rossini Neto, who provided her a camera to film, and senior Vinicius Bulhoes, who gave her the idea of filming in a bathroom.
Brooke didn’t seek any help from any of the fine arts teachers at Hudson High School. “This was kind of an individual thing, and I’m kind of proud of that. I mean I told people about it, but I never actually said ‘Hey, could you give me feedback? Could you help me with this?’”
Preparing for her audition video took longer than her actual audition after it was edited and posted onto YouTube. For her audition, she had to choose two songs to sing, test her vocal scales going up and down and showcase both her personality and any special talents she had. After changing what songs she would sing in her audition, she decided on “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse and “I’ll Be There” by the Jackson Five.
On March 1, 2014, Brooke received an email from company founder Avi Kaplan stating that she had made it through the first round of cuts, but she did not make it all the way through. He also encouraged her to audition once again next year. Though she didn’t make it in this year, Brooke plans on auditioning again next year in hopes of attending the camp over the summer.
To watch Brooke’s audition video click here.
