The University of North Carolina’s exclusive all-male acapella group the Clef Hangers is the university’s oldest acapella group and has been a staple in the Chapel Hill community since it was established in 1977. The group capped off the 2017-18 school year with performances at the Old Well on the last day of class and a rendition of James Taylor‘s “Carolina on my Mind” at graduation.
The group also hosted a sold-out concert to celebrate its 40th anniversary in Memorial Hall on UNC’s campus on April 7. The show is a long-standing Clef Hangers tradition. Every five years, the group has celebrated with a large alumni concert.
The 15 members of the Clef Hangers are led by senior Patrick Dow, with fellow senior Matt Goldman serving as music director. Senior Chris Burrus, with the professional help of lighting, sound and video experts, led the group in planning the alumni concert, while other members focused on renting the venues and contacting alumni.
The Clef Hangers receive more gig requests per year than they are able to agree to, so they are forced to choose where and when to perform based on location and pay. However, the group has partnered with a charity called Musical Empowerment, which allows them to perform for free for various organizations on campus.
The Musical Empowerment Program is just one example of the effort the group makes to reach out to the wider Chapel Hill community and entrench themselves in the Carolina tradition. The 40th-anniversary concert was also established to bring the Clef Hangers’ talent to Chapel Hill at large.
UNC freshman and Chapel Hill High School alumnus Bram Raets believes that the concert is a great way to celebrate and bring the Clef Hanger tradition to the rest of the town. “We hope that we have made an impact on someone’s life, even if it is just one person,” Raets said.
Raets says his favorite part of being a Clef Hanger is “the friendships and the bonds that I make while being able to sing some awesome songs.”
Raets was a member of two acapella groups during his time at Chapel Hill High—the Beau Brummels and the Ladies and Gents—which gave him plenty of practice for his college music career. “It was essentially a training camp for the Clefs that would set me up to work with a bigger and better set up,” Raets says.
UNC sophomore and fellow Chapel Hill alumnus Jared Weber was also a member of the Beau Brummels during his time at Chapel Hill High School before becoming a Clef Hanger for two years. “I was in Beau Brummels for all four years of high school and that was like a very casual version of Clefs,” Weber said. “We even acknowledged back in the day that we tried to be mini Clefs.”
The 40th-anniversary concert was especially poignant for the freshman as he was able to meet former members of the group and watch them return to the stage and perform as they would have when they were in school. “I definitely got some advice,” Raets said. “They told me to just enjoy it. Truly experience everything that the group offers you.”
Members of the Clef Hangers have access to a large alumni network and many opportunities to travel and perform. Within the past year the group has traveled to New York City, Boston, Nashville and Washington, D.C., and performed abroad in Italy, Berlin and London over spring break.
The Clef Hangers will continue to travel and perform around Europe and the United States in the coming school year. In the meantime, the group is working on a studio album set to come out in 2019.
