On January 11, Something Extra, an all-female a cappella singing group from Yale University, featuring sophomore Allie Bensinger, Parker class of 2016, gave a performance after school in the Harris Center. Founded in 1977, the 16-member group continues to perform music across a variety of genres today.

On tour in Chicago from January 6 to January 14 and performing at various schools, retirement communities, and Zoolights, Something Extra, “SE,” is entirely student-run, and all music is arranged by members present or past. SE goes on tours at least once a semester throughout North America, Europe, and the Caribbean, performing at venues such as the White House, U.S. embassies, the medieval town of Sacrofano, Italy, and the set of “Jeopardy!”. A few of their most recent locations include Boston, London, and Italy.

Bensinger heard about SE during an icebreaker during her first day at Yale. “One of the girls standing next to me in the circle was a sophomore, and she asked me if I sang,” Bensinger said. “I said yes and she told me to audition for her a cappella group Something Extra.”

SE performs a range of pop, jazz, indie rock, folk, and spirituals, as well as traditional Yale songs. Although group members rarely major in music, they are musically ambitious. “The more senior members in the group are super good about helping underclassmen through the process, whether offering advice on which song to arrange or just listening to give input on some of the chords,” Bensinger said. “More specifically, a lot of our arrangements are done by our musical director, Jordan Lampo, because she is responsible for all the musical qualities of the group. Jordan usually picks songs that she thinks will further her ideal image of the sound of the group.”

The group first performed at Parker during Morning Ex on January 10, presenting renditions of “Read My Mind,” by The Killers, “Just One Of Those Things,” by Frank Sinatra, “Hallelujah,” by Leonard Cohen, “Shake It Out,” by Florence + The Machine, and “Rather Be,” by Clean Bandit, in that order.

The performers were welcomed by plenty of applause. “We love performing as a group,” history major Phoebe Gould said. “There’s nothing better than singing together. It’s an extremely rewarding experience even if it’s tiring.”

The group’s main event at Parker was Thursday night, which was their fourth performance of the day. “It was like watching Pitch Perfect in person,” viewer Mark O’Loughlin said afterwards. Sarah Gould liked SE’s performance of “Another Train” the most. “The formation was so serious,” she said, “you could hear a pin drop.”

Some members of the group are avid singers who have been musical for the entirety of their lives, and others began organized singing just a few years ago. Bensinger, who has long been musical, is majoring in psychology. “I’ve been interested in psychology ever since I did a summer program the summer going into freshman year where I took a psych course,” she said. “At Yale, I found that most of the classes that I was signing up for that sounded interesting to me were psychology courses. There are so many different areas under the psych umbrella. I’ve taken classes in developmental psychology, gender psychology, abnormal psychology, behavioral psychology, and cognitive science. All in all, it’s an extremely interesting and complex major.”

Each year, along with every other a cappella group at Yale, first years are selected to join the group at the beginning of the school year in the fall after auditions. This was the case for Marissa Sanghvi, also a Parker graduate from the class of 2016 who sings at Yale for another all-female a capella group.

Sanghvi’s group is named Proof of the Pudding. “Yale has a very intense, long audition process spanning over a couple weeks at the very beginning of school,” Sanghvi said. “It starts with two showcase performances of all 14 a cappella groups during orientation week where every group sings a couple songs, and the first years get a sense of which group they want to audition for.” First years may sign up for as many groups as they want. “After auditions, there’s callbacks,” Sanghvi said, “and then finally each group notifies the people they want that they have a spot in the group, and the first years either accept or decline.”

For the students who are accepted, it becomes a responsibility and commitment, but also a rewarding opportunity. “SE has a position for just about everything,” Bensinger said. “I think this is great because it means that a lot of the people in SE will take on leadership in some aspect of the group. Because there are so many positions in SE, most people end up taking on two or three positions. For example, beyond Chicago Tour Manager, I am also a Social Chair, Rush Manager, and Choreographer.”

There are three all female a cappella groups at Yale specifically for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. When members of SE become seniors, they can audition to be in Whim ’n Rhythm, which is the female equivalent of The Whiffenpoofs, who performed at Parker last school year. While SE has left Parker for now, we still have another performance to look forward to. Sanghvi has scheduled Proof of the Pudding to perform at Parker in March, and students like Rohan Jain can hardly wait. Jain said, “I’m very much looking forward to seeing the next Yale a cappella group perform.”