/ Noteworthy, Vocal Point

The all-female a cappella group of Noteworthy was modeled after the all-male group Vocal Point, but the two now find themselves in direct competition.

Vocal Point is renowned for being both highly entertaining and fiercely competitive. In 2004, Brown's junior year, they won the West regional to advance to the ICCA finals in New York City. They did not go, however, because the finals were held on a Sunday. To have competed would have violated tenets of the Mormon faith.

"We figured we'd win the West regional and kinda say, 'In your face,'" recalls Brown. "The group they sent in our place, Fermata Nowhere, wound up finishing second overall."

The ICCA final is now held on a Saturday evening, Vocal Pointers point out with an air of vindication.

"We used to just go to a competition, tear it up, and then leave without socializing with other groups," concedes Stevens. "We've made an effort lately to be more, well, approachable."

Enter Noteworthy. In the spring of 2005, Noteworthy and Vocal Point both competed in a West regional quarterfinal in Boulder, Colo. The two groups drove east over the Rockies in a caravan together. Brown even pulled aside some of his Vocal Point comrades during the Noteworthy sound check to offer critiques.

That evening Vocal Point finished first and Noteworthy finished second.

Uh-oh.

Dave Brown was suddenly in an untenable position. Anyone who performs collegiate a cappella understands how time-consuming it can be. Brown was performing with one of the most elite units on any campus, as well as donating his time to be musical director for another group. And now that latter group, Noteworthy, was suddenly challenging the supremacy of his own.

"I never missed a rehearsal or shirked my Vocal Point duties," says Brown. "But looking back, James was extremely patient with me."

Further complicating matters, Brown was dating Rosa Parma, a Noteworthy soprano whom he would marry one day after graduation. "We had an a cappella romance," Brown says.

Brown graduated and moved to Charlottesville, Va., with Rosa. Esther Yoder departed Provo on her own two-year LDS mission. Noteworthy might have faded away. Instead, both Noteworthy and Vocal Point only improved, while their relationship became slightly less, well, collegial.

"When I was there I had a policy that our girls had to watch rehearsals of other groups," says Brown, who is now a regional producer for the ICCA. "In the 2006-2007 year, Catherine (Popworth, Noteworthy's musical director) was no longer welcome to watch Vocal Point rehearse if they were preparing for competition.

"That took her aback a little bit at first," remembers Brown, "but then she took it as a compliment."

Vocal Point won the ICCA in 2006. A year later it was Noteworthy's turn. Yoder arrived home to Bath, N.Y., from her mission in the southwest on the eve of the finals in New York City. She was just in time to observe the group she'd founded on a pitch-pipe dream just four years earlier earn the top prize.

Make a joyful noise
For more than a sesquicentennial, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has been the unvanquished name in vocal harmony both in Utah and among the LDS. They still are, of course, but then they have 40 times the members of either Vocal Point or Noteworthy. (Then again, Noteworthy does have an Osmond -- Donny's niece, Michelle.) Still, what is with all the vocal talent in the LDS church?

"In our faith we are put into little choirs from a very early age," says Brown. "And, we are taught religiously that pursuing our talents is pleasing to God."

God must be quite pleased with what's happening in Provo. Stevens, Vocal Point's director, may not be quite as pleased, but he is a good sport about it.

On the weekend of March 15-16, Noteworthy and Vocal Point -- taking separate flights -- will compete in the West semifinal (along with Divisi and five other groups). Only one group will advance to New York City for the April 19th final.

"Regardless of the outcome," says Stevens, "both groups are scheduled to give a concert at a temple on Sunday afternoon.

"Hopefully," he adds, "we'll still be friends."

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