I walked into Richardson Auditorium on the night of the Roaring 20's show, "Reality Check," knowing that I would be interviewing a member of the group, a senior named Sam Choi. As I opened the program, I quickly discovered that besides performing Choi enjoyed "ESPN.com, Road Trip, Aaron Stewart's family portrait, and the Mexican dancing music playing in Dillon every Saturday afternoon." Needless to say after reading this I couldn't wait until our interview.
In high school Choi walked a performing arts path similar to many of his fellow Princetonians i.e. singing in the church choir and playing the violin and guitar. Yet, his passion for the performing arts was not piqued until he arrived for the first time at Princeton. He came to the university during the traditional pre-frosh weekend and quickly became enthralled by the a cappella community.
"During the weekend," Choi recalled, "I went to one of the arch sings and I thought that it was really cool and something I would want to do."
It wasn't until his sophomore year that Choi discovered the key to his singing career: the Roaring 20. Though he had heard of the group before, he didn't audition to become a member of the Roaring 20 until his good friend and quasi-mentor, Brian Oh '03, encouraged him to join.
Being a member of this singing sensation has been an unbelievable experience for Choi, not only because it supplies an outlet for his natural talent but because of the intense bond that is created between the members of the group.
"It's easy for members of a performing arts group to be really separate, but the Roaring 20 is really social," Choi said. "Some of my best friends on campus are in the group and I can go to them to talk and have fun with."
Before long, Choi wasn't content to be merely one of the voices of the Roaring 20. He decided to become the group's business manager as well. Choi, therefore, has to act as the financial backbone for the group, scheduling and coordinating off campus performances, because though the Roaring 20 stage shows mostly on campus, they also perform for a number of high schools and at corporate functions.
It may seem as if Choi and the group are working themselves to the bone but all of these routine performances result in one massive perk: worldwide touring. It's through the money made from these off campus performances that the Roaring 20 are able to travel all over the world on their a capella tours.
Choi described how on the tours, the Roaring 20 usually sing for schools and community organizations. On the group's most recent trip to the Dominican Republic, Choi and the other members of the Roaring 20 reveled in a lot more than just musical harmonies.
"In the Dominican Republic we got to stay free at a Club Med Resort. We got free food and free drinks just for singing," he said. Along with all the free stuff, the group got to go sailing, swimming, snorkeling, horse back riding and even learned to swing on a trapeze.
Choi admits that the hardest lesson he has had to learn while at Princeton is time management. Choi is majoring in Politics and writing his senior thesis on the Korean government's relationship with small to medium enterprises over the past few decades. He is even going to be traveling to Korea over winter break to interview Korean officials and get the inside scoop on their political system.
Yet Choi has found a way to balance academics, his extensive commitment to the Roaring 20 and be even a officer of the DKE fraternity. Choi's credo on balancing his work load: "When I have a lot to do I look around and see that everyone else is in the same boat so I just man up and do it."
Choi had to "man up" a lot during the previous few weeks. Last Friday was the Roaring 20's Reality Check also known as a massive a cappella jam that only occurs every four years. Choi and the group had started planning the jam last May and all throughout the summer had been sending emails back and forth about skits and song selection.
Yet the singing insanity was only beginning, on the six weeks leading up the performance, Choi was confronted with two hour practices everyday and during fall break, the group sang daily for five to six hours.
The hours of hard work toiling through off pitch harmonies and skit filming reached a personal zenith for Choi on the night of Nov. 7th.
The years of dedication shown as Choi performed his sole Creep by Radiohead. "It was an incredible experience and a culmination of years of work," he said. Choi felt extremely honored to be part of such an immense Princeton tradition. "I remember standing on stage and being speechless, I had no words," he said. "I was looking out into the audience as we created this wall of sound."
As for the future, Choi wants to participate in the Princeton-in-Asia program and then probably apply to law school. Yet one last question remains: will he continue to flame his passion for singing? "Maybe if the opportunity to keep singing came along, but it wouldn't be the same," Choi said. "The a cappella community here is such a unique and special experience I can't expect anything to match up in the same way."
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