The Tripod

This year seems to be one filled with new experiences for the Trinity College Accidentals. They recently released a new album and performed with the Moveable Joints for the first time over Halloween weekend. However, the all-male a cappella group is about to take an even bigger leap - a transatlantic one.

The Accidentals will be going on their first international tour over Spring Break next semester, performing a number of shows in England. At press time, the Accidentals had scheduled three concerts: one at Oxford University with the Oxford Belles, an all-female a cappella group; another at Cambridge University with the Cambridge Cadenza, a co-ed group; and a third at a cocktail party which will be hosted by Matt Reed '07, a former Accidental, who is currently studying at the London School of Economics. When asked why they chose England, Finley Harckham '10 said, "A cappella isn't very common in Europe except for England -particularly at the universities. We really want to interact with the young a cappella communities there."

Although Trinity, along with the rest of the NESCAC schools, is restricting international travel for sports teams, the Accidentals' tour will not be affected. Director Ben Feldman '10 gave two reasons for this. First, the College will not be funding the tour. The Accidentals petitioned the SGA and received some money to cover the cost of transportation, but the majority of the tour costs will be covered by revenue from paying gigs and CD sales. Second, the Accidentals plan to contribute a percentage of their trip earnings to Financial Aid as scholarship money.

The Accidentals have a number of goals in going on this tour. "We really want to bring attention to the Trinity a cappella community and to Trinity as a whole," said Feldman. "It's hard to do that when the College isn't funding groups to represent Trinity abroad. Lots of other schools have endowments for that, but we don't."

Harckham jumped in, adding, "We're going not only to represent Trinity, but to expose Trinity to two of the oldest and best universities in the world."

A cappella groups at schools like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale have traveled abroad numerous times and have made that distinction part of their selling point. The Accidentals hope to do the same. "We've toured quite a bit in the U.S. but have never gone abroad," said Feldman. "This has been in the works since sophomore year [2007-2008]. We've been working really hard to make this dream come true."

Harckham acknowledged what an important musical goal the upcoming tour will for the group as well: "We want to show that we're serious about making music, and hopefully jump-start alumni support in the process."

In the meantime, the Accidentals plan to keep busy. They've got four gigs coming up in the next two weeks alone: a concert on Friday, Nov. 13 with the Bowdoin Miscellania; their annual Homecoming performance on Saturday, Nov. 14; a concert at a cocktail party hosted by the Fairfield County Alumni Association (along with a cappella groups from Harvard and Yale) on Friday, Nov. 20; and a guest appearance at Connecticut College on Saturday, Nov. 21, where the Accidentals will perform with the ConnColl ConnChords.

For more information about the Accidentals, visit their Web site: www.trinityaccidentals.com.

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