The Duke's Men of Yale
Encyclopedia
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
singing group at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. Named after Basil Duke Henning, the master of Saybrook College
Saybrook College
Saybrook College is one of the 12 residential colleges at Yale University. It was founded in 1933 by partitioning the Memorial Quadrangle into two parts: Saybrook and Branford....
, a past Whiffenpoof, and member of Wolf's Head
Wolf's Head (secret society)
Wolf's Head Society is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. Membership is recomposed annually of fifteen or sixteen Yale University students, typically juniors from the college...
, the group (sometimes known as "Da Doox") was founded in 1952, initially as an octet of underclassmen in Saybrook. Parker Towle '55, and Paul Thompson '55 were the main organizers, and they recruited Walt Farrier '54 as the group's first musical director. Farrier arranged most of the group's early songs. Today the ensemble includes between fifteen and twenty underclassmen. Most members join the group as freshmen and sing through the end of their junior year, although some join as sophomores. The group's repertoire includes jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, show tunes, and popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
. There have been over 350 Duke's Men since 1952.
The Duke's Men have been successful in a number of competitions, most notably the International Championship of College A Cappella. In 1996 the Duke's Men were the best male group and won first runner-up honors at the ICCA Finals at Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall is a concert hall, in New York City and is part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. It is the home of the New York Philharmonic, with a capacity of 2,738 seats.-History:...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, along with awards for soloist Michael Sagalowicz (solo: "I'll Back You Up") and arrangement ("Where Is Love," arranged by Alex Funk.)http://www.varsityvocals.com/icca/results1996a.html In 2005, the group took first place in the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
regional final of the ICCA.http://www.varsityvocals.com/icca/2005results.shtmlhttp://www.acappellanews.com/archive/2005_03.html. Most recently, the group took first place in the 2009 Northeast Quarterfinal, with member Sam Tsui ('11) receiving accolades for Best Solo & Best Choreography. They performed a cover of Rihanna's "Umbrella" and won again at the Northeast Semi-Final at MIT on March 21, and came in 4th place at the Finals at Alice Tully Hall on April 18, 2009.
The Duke's Men recently recorded a jingle for a CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
television commercial that promoted the program Fast Money (CNBC)
Fast Money (CNBC)
Fast Money is an American financial stock trading talk show that began airing on the CNBC cable/satellite TV channel on 2006-06-21. Since October 10, 2007, it has broadcast every weeknight at 5pm ET, one hour after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, until mid-2011 when it was...
. The Duke's Men, along with other Yale students, appeared in the commercial, which aired during December 2006. In January 2004, the group was featured in a CBS News Sunday Morning
CBS News Sunday Morning
CBS News Sunday Morning is an American television news magazine program created by Robert Northshield and original host Charles Kuralt. The program has aired continuously since January 28, 1979 on the CBS Television Network, airing in the Eastern US on Sunday from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m...
segment about collegiate a cappella.
The Duke's Men perform around the world, including well-known venues such as the Lincoln Center and the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
.http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051202.html The group undertakes regional tours in January and March of every year, and an international tour every May. Previous destinations have included Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
.http://www2.aya.yale.edu/clubs/japan/photos.htm#dukesmen05
The group sings "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
"Istanbul " is a swing-style song, with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy and music by Nat Simon. The tune is reminiscent of "Puttin' on the Ritz," written by Irving Berlin in 1929, but the song is said to be a response to "C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E," recorded in 1928 by Paul Whiteman and His...
," its alumni song, at the end of most of its concerts.
Notable alumni
- Richard BrookhiserRichard BrookhiserRichard Brookhiser is an American journalist, biographer and historian. He is a senior editor at National Review. He is most widely known for a series of biographies of America's founders, including Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, and George Washington.-Life and career:Brookhiser was born...
, Historian and journalist - Chuck Coleman, jazz-pop singer-songwriter.
- Django HaskinsDjango HaskinsDjángo Haskins is a North American singer-songwriter. He is named after legendary jazz musician Django Reinhardt. Originally from Florida, Django Haskins, now resides in the state of North Carolina where he is currently the frontman of pop-noir musical group The Old Ceremony...
, singer-songwriter and frontman of pop-noir musical group the Old CeremonyThe Old CeremonyThe Old Ćeremony is a Chapel Hill, North Carolina pop-noir musical group fronted by Django Haskins. Formed in 2004, the group has released four full-length albums, Our One Mistake, on sonaBLAST! Records; and The Old Ceremony, Walk On Thin Air, and Tender Age on the Durham, NC label, Alyosha Records...
. - Conor KnightonConor KnightonConor Knighton is an American actor, host, and television producer. He was the host and executive producer of infoMania on Current TV. He left the show at the end of 2010....
, host of Google CurrentGoogle CurrentGoogle Current is a brief, once every half hour, television program on the channel Current TV . Selected episodes are also available on the Internet. The series tracks not necessarily what the news is, but what people are searching for on Google....
. - Paul Matsumoto, opera singer
- Devon Michaels, recurring character on Gilmore GirlsGilmore GirlsGilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...
- Holcombe WallerHolcombe WallerHolcombe Waller is an American composer, singer and performance artist. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and has performed across the United States and Europe, both solo and with his ensemble, The Healers....
, singer-songwriter and visual/performing artist. - Casey Breves, member of Chanticleer (ensemble)Chanticleer (ensemble)Based in San Francisco, California, Chanticleer is a full-time classical vocal ensemble in the United States. Over the last three decades, it has developed a major reputation for its interpretations of Renaissance music, but it also performs a wide repertoire of jazz, gospel, and other venturesome...
- Ted Schillinger, director of Breaking VegasBreaking VegasBreaking Vegas is a television series that premiered on The History Channel in the United States in the spring of 2004. The series covers the great lengths people have gone to make money, sometimes illegally, from casinos. It premiered in Pakistan on January 19, 2006 and was renamed Decoding...
and Robert Blecker Wants Me DeadRobert Blecker Wants Me DeadRobert Blecker Wants Me Dead is an independent theatrical documentary film about retributivist death penalty advocate Robert Blecker and his relationship with Daryl Holton, a death row inmate who murdered his four children. Directed by . Produced by... - Sam TsuiSam TsuiSamuel "Sam" Tsui is an American musician and Internet celebrity who rose to fame on YouTube. He is best known for covering and performing songs by popular artists, as well as original medleys and mashups...
, internet celebrity
External links
- http://www.dukesmen.com Official website
- http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-dukes-men/id216207399 The Duke's Men on iTunes