A CAPPELLA, LATIN for "from the chapel," can bring to mind Gregorian chants or Baroque music or, in the last century, barbershop or Bobby McFerrin. Today's extracurricular a cappella groups at Maryland honor the music's history and push the boundaries of all-vocal arrangements while giving members an outlet to hone and share their talents.

Maryland has seven registered a cappella groups, up from two started in the 1980s and mirroring the national trend. Collegiate a cappella is enjoying a resurgence nationwide, growing from 200 groups in the early 1990s to more than 1,200 today, according to abcnews.com. The university's troupes include the all-male Generics, Maryland's first a cappella group, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, along with six other registered groups, including a comedic ensemble. Startups include a troupe that sings East Indian and Western music in several languages.

The ensembles of 12 to 16 members perform on and off campus. One of Maryland's popular Jewish groups, Kol Sasson, has sung at Maryland's Homecoming and at the White House Hanukkah celebration.

Song selections for the student-run acts range from hip-hop to country, reggae to rock, Hebrew hymns to Israeli pop. Group members—most are not music majors—hail from all colleges and schools and they

discover talents, like a knack for vocal percussion or "beatbox," that they didn't know they had.

When Russel Valle, a science student by day and bass singer by night, tells his friends he's a member of PandemoniUM, a co-ed a cappella group, "they're shocked," he says. "It's as if I'm living a double life. To them, I'm a hard-studying biochemistry major."

Members of the Generics jokingly refer to themselves as "a singing frat without the dues."

A cappella's popularity on campus is rooted in choral performances. The 1958 yearbook shows a barbershop quartet number performed by the Men's Glee Club, and traditional four-part harmony isn't lost today. —RR

The print version of this article inadvertently left out the Treblemakers, one of seven official a cappella groups active at Maryland. The all-female group—which boasts more than 100 alumnae—celebrated its 20th anniversary this spring. The Treblemakers have recorded live albums and performed at other universities and at Disney World. Terp apologizes for the omission.