The Wheatones perform their signature song alongside alumni of the group.
Alto, mezzo, and soprano voices blended in perfect harmony as they soared into the rounded ceiling of Weber Theatre on March 29. In their 80th year of singing, the Wheatones are an essential facet of the Wheaton community, as the first and oldest a cappella group at Wheaton, founded in 1946.
With the 75th anniversary in 2021 cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the first time many of the Wheatones alumni had seen each other, or been back to Wheaton, in at least ten years.
Emily Conklin ’13 said how amazing it is to see new members of the Wheatones, and said lovingly, that the group has “all the same weirdos” as when she sang in the Wheatones.
“A really special energy flows through the Wheatones”when they perform, said Ellie Angerame ’13. She said that one of the most incredible things about being back is that the feeling is exactly the same.
The concert opened with a set of songs with the current Wheatones, and then shifted to more recently retired songs before entering into a three song closing series of signature songs. Signature songs are songs that the Wheatones sing every semester, distinguished from general selections that generally have a shelf life of two to four semesters.
This last portion of the concert began with a somber moment, in which current members and alumni sang “A Song for Judith,” written by Judy Collins and in honor of a Wheatone who was tragically killed. The song is about the friendship and lifelong connection of being a Wheatone, and how this experience is a life-long one.
“A Song for Judith” was followed by “Landslide,” bridging the gap between the emotional moment prior, and the subsequent energetic shift of “Santa Catalina,” closing out the concert. Members of the Blend, another a cappella group at Wheaton, mouthed along all the words and snapped in time with the Wheatones from the audience; “Santa Catalina” is known by many.
Some more changes that have happened in the Wheatones were also shown in “Santa Catalina”. Alumni as recent as Conklin and Angerame sang old standards, like “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” whereas current Wheatones sing more recent tunes, like “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.”
Sara Michale Smith ’90, a Wheatones alum and the advisor for all a cappella groups at Wheaton, commented on another musical difference. A music and math double major, she had enjoyed applying what she was studying into practice with the arrangement of Wheatones songs.
Reminiscing with Gayle Anderson-Graham ’89 and Kristin Weller ’90, they said that when they were in the group many arrangements were invented using improvisation, as most of the group’s members did not know how to read music.
Angerame and Conklin, part of the same graduating class, also noted how different this reunion was from the 70th. “Being 33 here is very different from being 23,” said Conklin, saying how just a year after her graduation coming back meant staying in dorms with her friends and going out to parties. Now it is a little different.
While there were many positive aspects to the concert, it was still difficult to navigate different schedules, said Bailey Geyer ’26, current president of the Wheatones.
Geyer said the group started baseline planning at the end of the last fall semester, and then began reaching out to alumni and asking their favorite songs in order to construct a setlist. Most of the planning was done by the current group, and the group’s advisor Michale Smith.
The 70th anniversary concert was in the Chapel, so Weber Theater was a change of venue. Securing the Weber Theater was the biggest challenge, because the spring is “so crazy busy, especially in the arts department.”
While many of the Wheatones alumni still have the opportunity to sing in some way–-Angerame has recently become part of a humming circle, Sasser sang in a choir in graduate school, Michale Smith had done concert work in opera, lyrical, and more—they all seem to agree that it isn’t quite the same as it was singing with the Wheatones.
The Wheatones still manage to stay connected to one another after leaving Wheaton. According to one alum, the Washington D.C. alum group chat for the Wheatones is called “the Swamp Tones,” cheekily referring to the fact that the entire city sits on top of a swamp.
It is clear from both the heartfelt testimonies given by alumni, and the beautiful music both current members and alumni made together on stage last Sunday, that being part of the Wheatones means being part of a community for life.