The importance of leadership in UNL a cappella groups

Nicole Soberg, a senior and the music director for Boot & Cats A Cappella group at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln grew up in the culture of choir in the state of Nebraska.

Starting in middle school, she does attest that her stage fright got the better of her until she reached high school where she got really into choir. The skills learned from choir have been transformative for Solberg as they have helped her decide her career goals as she is currently a music education major.

At UNL, the a cappella groups are student-led, so that students like Solberg, can have the opportunity to lead the group to gain leadership experience. Solberg said that Boots & Cats has been a key experience for her in gaining skills that will apply to her career.

“I feel like the biggest thing that I've gotten from [Boots & Cats] is honestly the social skills of it all, like getting used to being in front of a group of people,” Solberg said. “it's also, in a way, very vulnerable just because I have to be the one to make decisions musically. You kind of have to trust that you know what you're doing and that the ensemble can do what you're doing as well.”

Solberg mentioned how learning to teach peers her age has been a learning opportunity through her role as music director for Boots & Cats.

“Teaching people that are the same age is like kind of a whole other thing to go through. So that's also been really helpful for me,” Solberg said.

As the music director for Boots & Cats, Solberg said the role has been a great experience as she prepares for her future career.

“I guess very personally for me with me being [music education] and being music director, it's just like a great way to prepare myself to like actually teach and do things like later on,” Solberg said.

Senior Delaney Wetjen has served as the president of Pitch Please for two terms now. Wetjen listed many tasks that she does as president of the group, with the biggest being to find performances for the group and get those arranged.

“I was elected to be president by my other peers and friends in the group. And I think my job deals a lot with outreach,” Wetjen said.

The a cappella groups all have various titles and positions for their specific groups, however, the groups share one common trait—they are cultivating a safe environment to learn.

Solberg said that is a calm, laid-back environment. Even with an executive team, Solberg said the structure focuses on bringing the entire group together. She mentioned how relaxed the environment is. She said how the rehearsals feel like friends hanging out while getting work done.

This environment allows the executive team to focus on having fun, according to Solberg.

“It takes a lot of pressure off of the people leading I think because you don't have to be like super, super strict and professional like it's still your friends,” Solberg said.