Boy bands over bach.

A cap.pel.la: from the Italian for "in the manner of a chapel or choir," it means without instrumental accompaniment.

In the world of collegiate a cappella, chapel means venue and a choir is what everyone sang in before college. College groups today will more readily identify themselves as vocal bands and rightly so. Not only do they sound like a band, they tour like one. Renowned collegiate groups travel as much or more than their professional counterparts, performing across North America and overseas.

"In the past ten years," says Deke Sharon, director of the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA), "The number of college groups has at least quadrupled."

Don't look now, but high schools are noticing.

And why wouldn't they? Students want the complete college experience, not just strong academic programs and sports teams. For many graduating high school singers, both male and female, a university's a cappella scene makes the difference. Adding to the buzz is a growing number of high school music teachers who recently have graduated from the ranks of college a cappella.

According to Don Gooding, president of" Mainely A Cappella, website and catalog, "There is a study showing a crisis caused by music educators who are aging and retiring with no one to replace them. A cappella singers are filling the void."

Case in point: ten years ago, David Buffum sang a cappella at Connecticut College, then spent five years in the Vineyard Sound, a semi-professional group on Martha's Vineyard. He now teaches music at the Field School in Washington, D.C. Guess what kind of music he plays for his students.

"It's all about accessibility," he explains. "I could pick a Brahms piece and play them a seven-eight measure, or I could use Samrat Chakrabarti's arrangement of Heaven on Their Minds, which has the same time signature and everything, including the rhythm section, is vocal."

Buffum has gone further than just using a cappella to teach. He implemented a high school a cappella group as an extracurricular activity. As director of three different groups at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia--one all-male, one all-female and one co-ed--he taught his own arrangements or those borrowed from college groups. He released two albums with his students, and both were hailed by the a cappella community as comparable to, or better than, many college albums. Still, the success and sudden popularity of a cappella at his school had its consequences.

"You have to keep in mind, these were just high schoolers," he says. "Some of them were good, but others went to college with hopes of singing in groups there and just didn't make it."

He also found difficulty on the administrative side. He says faculty in charge of other music programs at the school did not immediately embrace the art form because they thought it unnecessary and because it was attention drawing. "Once the group was established, though," he says, "Everyone began to enjoy it."

Gooding can explain the initial resistance. His Mainely A Cappella runs a cappella competitions and workshops, releases a cappella compellation discs and maintains an enormous online a cappella shopping center--all in the pursuit of promoting a cappella to colleges and high schools. When working with music educators, Gooding frequently runs into skeptics. "The a cappella model is radical to a lot of music teachers," he says. "These people are passionate about music, and some of them can get snobby when they have to defend their own genre."

Sharon hates snobs, especially when it comes to teaching. To him, music in any form is a language to learn from and explore. "You can't throw terms like 'musicality' around and say classical has more of it than what we hear today," he says. "Let's look at literature. Shakespeare was one of the greatest writers, in any language. So do we tell a student not to read Catcher in the Rye? Of course not."

Professionals like Sharon, Gooding and Buffum are trying to bridge the high school and college a cappella communities. Gooding explains, "Mainely A Cappella has been marketing heavily to high schools for the past three years. CAP (Contemporary A Cappella Publishing), which is partly run by Mainely A Cappella, published a series of songbooks of relatively simple arrangements that have sold more than 30,000 copies, more than half to high school teachers."

Sharon's efforts have met some success, as well. His Urban Harmony Movement sought to keep kids off the streets by keeping them busy with a cappella music. CASA, which he directs, is well known among a cappella fans of all ages. Also, his former college group, the Tufts University Beelzebubs, has spawned the Bubs Foundation, a group of alums dedicated to bringing a cappella to music lovers not already connected to it. The current Beelzebubs are themselves one of many college groups that visit high schools to perform and conduct workshops.

"Usually we'll go in to a school with an old four-part arrangement and teach it to some of the kids," says Ed Boyer, music director of the 2003-2004 Beelzebubs. "Then when they have their own show, they have one extra song they can do. It's usually their favorite." No wonder some freshmen who try out for the Bubs mention that the group was a big reason they chose Tufts University.

But the Bubs's fame among college and high school groups across the country does not come strictly from extensive road trips and personal interaction. For them, and college groups nationwide, the Internet has expanded networking capabilities and encouraged the exchange of new music during the past several years. Rick Alloway, the host of an all-a cappella radio show broadcast on the Internet from KRNU in Lincoln, Nebraska, sees high school kids in his area benefiting in the same way.

"In the Midwest there hasn't been the same tradition for a cappella as in the Ivy Leagues or the Boston area," he admits. "Thanks to the Internet and enlightened high school teachers, Lincoln high school students are certainly more well informed than ten or fifteen years ago."

So is the youth of Cape Cod, where Hyannis Sound, composed of ten college-age singers from around the country, comes together for three months a year and turns a cappella into a summer job. Chuck Hollander-Essig, who teaches music at three elementary schools on the Cape, is a long-time friend of the group and has watched their popularity grow.

"A cappella has a huge effect on my students," he says. "It Jets boys know it's cool to be a guy and sing." According to Hollander-Essig, before the advent of a cappella, some students would drop choir in high school because no one but the voice majors could pursue it after graduation. He continues, "Now, one of" the first questions I get at the beginning of the school year from my students is, 'Is the Hyannis Sound coming again this year?'" He says the Hyannis Sound comes to his schools at the beginning of summer, right before the school year ends, but the buzz starts in September.

Hollander-Essig's perspective on a cappella is not limited to that of his students, who are thrilled about their own private workshop. His son Nathaniel, or Than, attends Nauset Regional High School and just started his own ten-man a cappella group there. "It's sort of sponsored by the school," says Hollander-Essig. "Their teacher lets them use her room, but she's not really involved."

Hollander-Essig and his family also spend every Thursday night during the summer ticket-taking for the Hyannis Sound and attend countless other performances by the group. To them, a cappella represents all the advantages music can bring to a community and its youth.

"The fact that it's live is a big deal," Hollander-Essig explains. "It's more than just one person on stage. When the guys sing, they have so much enthusiasm and they interact with each other. They're entertainers rather than performers."

Hollander-Essig says the songs don't change much from week to week, but his wide-eyed students still will attend almost every Thursday show. "It's the fun (the Hyannis Sound has) on stage," he says, "Not the quality of music. The kids are learning that it doesn't matter if you make a mistake. The kids aren't just listening; they're watching how music can be fun."

A cappella reels in more students and teachers every year. Students like it because they can get involved easily, and they have fun exploring new ways to make music with their mouths. Teachers like it because students like it. They also can use a cappella to teach the fundamentals of music. If high schools continue to promote this dynamic new art form, students could develop a deeper appreciation for music, which is an idea Sharon, Gooding and Buffum have embraced for years.

Hollander-Essig remembers the first time he saw Hyannis Sound. "They came out, sang enthusiastically, finished singing and I thought, this is why I teach music. This is what I hope for, for my students."

Hailing from Cincinnati, Victor Sandman graduated from Boston University in May 2004 with a bachelor's degree in communication. Since then he's made progress as a professional musician, joining a funk band and also performing as a solo artist.