Emerson’s Noteworthy Sings Their Thing for Third Year

If you missed Noteworthy’s performance at Acappalooza earlier this month, you still have a chance to catch Emerson’s oldest a cappella group on WGBH-TV’s Sing That Thing! this Friday.

Noteworthy, which typically performs at nonprofit fundraisers, will sing alongside Chelmsford High School’s The Thursdays and The Gentleman Songsters, a barbershop group from Lowell, at 8:30 pm on April 21. The episode will be available for streaming on Monday, April 23.

“We’re just excited to watch and see [our performance] and have our parents support us,” said Noteworthy president Abbey May ’17.

This is the third year in a row Noteworthy has competed on the show—WGBH’s answer to The Voice for academic and semi-professional vocal ensembles. This year’s coaches are Anthony Trecek-King, president and artistic director of Boston Children’s Chorus; vocalist/composer/arranger Annette Philip, a faculty member at Berklee College of Music and winner of the 2014 national Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Championship with her quartet, Women of the World; and WGBH executive arts editor Jared Bowen ’98, host of Open Studio with Jared Bowen.

The episodes were taped over a few days in February, so Noteworthy already knows its fate on the show, but we’re not telling.

“Congratulations to our groups and to the entire Sing That Thing! Crew,” Co-Executive Producer Patricia Alvarado Núñez said in a statement. “The series is a wonderful showcase for the talent and diversity of New England voices.”

This year, the group sang The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby.”

“We wanted something that had a fun groove,” May said. “’Be My Baby’ is a classic song; we were looking for something that would reach all audiences. It’s a catchy song, too, so we were hoping it would get stuck in the judges’ heads.”

It also provided a good showcase for soloist Robyn Yonkers, she said.

“[Her voice] is beautiful. She sounds like Judy Garland; she’s great,” May said.

Noteworthy wasn’t the only Emerson presence in the studio that day. The College has a deep relationship with the Sing That Thing! and WGBH—Emerson College is a sponsor of the show, several students intern on the show, alumni have come back to work at WGBH, and President Lee Pelton sits on the public television station’s Board of Trustees.

“It’s like family,” May said of performing on the show. “Everyone is so friendly; everyone has such positive things to say.”