Another a cappella first

Yale Spizzwinks/YouTube

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Since 1981, the a cappella group Whim ’n Rhythm has featured women in their senior year at Yale—a counterpart to the traditionally male Whiffenpoofs. But in 2018 the Whiffenpoofs admitted their first woman, and Whim this spring tapped its first man to be part of the 2022–23 group. Alex Lawson ’23, who is currently a member of the all-male Spizzwinks, will sing alto in Whim next year. (He will also serve as the group’s business manager, just as he does now for the Spizzwinks.)

Lawson says the members of Whim have been “super welcoming and super excited to make this happen.” A tenor in the Spizzwinks, he says Whim’s songs will be well within his range: “Over time, the tenor parts” in a cappella groups “keep getting higher, and the alto parts keep getting lower, so at this point alto and tenor are almost interchangeable.” Next year’s Whiffenpoofs will have five non-male-identifying singers among its 14 members, the most in its history.