A cappella has been on Trinity’s campus for more than 100 years, first cited in the 1899 Course of Study Bulletin as a class option—glee club. Different glee clubs were established on campus, from male to female to all-seniors, eventually evolving into an a cappella choir. These choirs and clubs toured around the nation, representing Trinity to a variety of crowds. The A Cappella Choir made its debut in 1931 at Trinity’s commencement.
Trinity’s a cappella choir debuted in 1931 at commencement.
As time evolved, a cappella became more student-run, with students founding two clubs in the early 2000s: the all-male Trinitones, established in 2004 by a few guys on a tour bus in Germany, and the all-female AcaBellas, created in 2007. Both groups sing around campus and in the local community, and Happy Fridays are a common tradition around campus, where students gather at the Coates Student Center at 12:22 on Fridays to hear new music from the ‘Tones and ‘Bellas.
“I believe the story was that it all began on a choir tour—four guys started creating an arrangement for ‘This is the Time’ by Billy Joel. They started playing around with it, and eventually more people wanted to join in and create new arrangements to perform.” - Jory Murphy, 2011 Trinitonian
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