A little Green Envy for the holidays
Ethyn Samuels, front center, music director of Green Envy, shepherded the group"s new professionally produced a cappella recording. The 17 students in the group (two are abroad this semester) arrange their own music. Green Envy holds open auditions at the beginning of each academic year, and rehearses a minimum of four hours each week. (Photo from Green Envy)
While Ethyn Samuels was looking at colleges he might want to attend, he avidly viewed Youtube videos of Green Envy, the oldest a cappella singing group at Tulane University. After the Calabasas, California, native visited and fell in love with the uptown campus, he was determined to audition for the group.
“I love music and wanted to continue singing a cappella, though I didn"t want to earn my living with music,” says Samuels. “Music has always been a huge part of my life; it drives me to be successful.”
Now a senior majoring in finance and management pursuing an accountancy master"s, Samuels is chief vocal percussionist and music director of Green Envy. He has brought his business acumen to the group, which this fall released a professionally produced recording, Neaux Instruments.
“I didn"t realize everything that went into it,” says Samuels, who got the idea for the record during his first year at Tulane.
He says a cappella singing is all about heart and the energy of singing with friends.
“I"ll never get the same rush from accounting as I do onstage during a live performance. There"s no way to measure the adrenaline and the excitement,” says Samuels, who has a full-time accounting internship lined up for next semester with Ernst and Young.
Green Envy"s free winter concert will be on Friday (Dec. 4) at 7 p.m. in the Kendall Cram Lecture Hall of the Lavin-Bernick Center on the uptown campus. During the free concert, the group will sing songs by Hozier and Ariana Grande, with hits from the new release.
Two other Tulane a cappella groups have free winter concerts this week: TULA, the all-female group, will perform on Wednesday (Dec. 2) at 8 p.m. in Rogers Memorial Chapel. THEM will perform on Friday (Dec. 4) at 9 p.m. in the chapel.
Green Envy performs the Tulane University alma mater at the President"s Convocation, with Ethyn Samuels, center, as “beatbox” vocal percussionist. Members of the Class of 2019 listen on Aug. 22 while wearing special “Only at Tulane Only in New Orleans” T-shirts in McAlister Auditorium on the Tulane University uptown campus. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)
