Yale a cappella group Shades visits District 204 schools

It's not uncommon for Indian Prairie Unit District 204 alums to give back to their home schools, but few do it as quickly as 2009 Neuqua Valley High School graduate B.J. White.

Now a Yale University freshman and member of Shades, a coeducational a cappella touring group from the Ivy League school, White recently returned home with the group and spoke to chorus and vocal students at Metea Valley High School about succeeding in college and continuing their love of singing.

The group also performed several songs during its stop at Metea Valley and performed a short concert at Neuqua Valley.

Metea is in Aurora and Neuqua is in Naperville.

"It's always great to come home and perform in front of familiar faces," White said. "But it's also cool to be on this side of high school and go back and be able to tell these students that they can succeed academically at a great college like Yale and pursue other interests, whether it's singing, student council or anything else."

Shades was founded to celebrate music of the African Diaspora at Yale University.

Member and tour manager Jaqueline Meadow said the group's objective is to offer a unique, musically excellent, and spiritually enriching performance experience to audiences at Yale and beyond with a focus on R&B, gospel, jazz, soul, pop and traditional Caribbean, African and African-American music.

Teachers stopped dead in their tracks in halls and popped into the classroom when they heard the group performing Ysaye M. Barnwell's "No Mirrors in my Nana's House." Inside the classroom, there wasn't a toe that wasn't tapping or a head that wasn't swaying with the beat.

"You can feel the passion they all put into their music and it's powerful," said Ben Ramos, a Metea sophomore, vocal jazz musician and vocal chorus member.

"It's amazing to me that they can put all their voices together so beautifully and still have time to be good students. But it's nice to see it can be done."

Shades is regarded as one of the university's best ensembles. The group's latest CD, "Sankofa," was one of the best reviewed collegiate a cappella albums in the United States in 2006, receiving a 4.3 from the Recorded A Cappella Review Board.