The Duke's Men of Yale explained

Doox of Yale
Background:group_or_band
Genre:A cappella
Years Active:1952 - present
Website:http://www.dooxofyale.com
Origin:New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Current Members:Tenor I:
Hope Keithahn '25
Salma Laraki '26
Peighton Lotwis '26
Anika Mohapatra '27

Tenor II:
Natalie Bassini '27
Krishna Davis '25
Caroline Fai '25

Baritone:
Charlie Karner '25
Jacob Lebroda '27
Quincy Rosenzweig '26
Daniel Zhang '26

Bass:
Dayne Bolding '27
Jason Han '25
Andrew Xu '27

Business Managers:
Quincy Rosenzweig
Salma Laraki

Pitch:
Peighton Lotwis

Doox of Yale (formerly The Duke's Men of Yale) are an all-gender undergraduate a cappella group at Yale University. The group was founded by first-year students in 1952, and in 2017, was the first TTBB a cappella group in the 21st century at Yale to become all-gender. (The now-defunct group Augmented Seven did that right after Yale went coed in 1969.)

History

The Duke's Men formed in 1952 when Basil "Duke" Henning, a former member of the Whiffenpoofs and the master of Saybrook College, stole an arrangement from the 'Whiffs' and presented it to four of his first-year students.[1]

In the fall of 2017, the Duke's Men became Yale's first historically all-male a cappella group in the 21st century to abolish gender restrictions.[2] [3] The group is widely considered to be a feeder to the Whiffenpoofs, and its announcement placed additional pressure on the world's oldest collegiate a cappella group to begin admitting non-male singers;[4] within a year, the Whiffenpoofs followed suit and admitted the group's first female singer in its 109-year history.[5] In 2018, the Duke's Men changed its official name to Doox of Yale, a longtime nickname that better reflected the ensemble's gender inclusivity.[6]

Competition and media

Doox has been successful in a number of competitions, most notably the International Championship of College A Cappella. In 1996 Doox was the best male group and won first runner-up honors at the ICCA Finals at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, along with awards for soloist Michael Sagalowicz and arrangement.[7] The same year, the group performed for President Bill Clinton at the White House Christmas party.[8] In 2005, the group took first place in the New England regional final of the ICCA.[9] [10] Most recently, the group took first place in the 2009 Northeast Quarterfinal, with member Sam Tsui ('11) receiving accolades for Best Solo & Best Choreography.[11] and won again at the Northeast Semi-Final at MIT on March 21, and came in 4th place at the Finals at Alice Tully Hall on April 18, 2009.

In January 2004, the group was featured in a CBS News Sunday Morning segment about collegiate a cappella.[12]

In 2006, the Duke's Men recorded a jingle for the CNBC program "Fast Money."[13]

In June 2015, three members of the group (Solon Snider, Wade Newville, and Paul Holmes) were featured on Bravo TV's scripted comedy series, "Odd Mom Out," where they sang a segment of "Give My Regards to Broadway" (arranged by Solon Snider, Pitchpipe 2014-2015).[14]

Touring

Multiple times each year, Doox goes on tour, traveling to cities in the United States and Europe as well as Greece, China, Puerto Rico, Peru, Ecuador, and Ireland in recent years. On tour, the group has performed at venues ranging from classrooms and retirements homes to the Lincoln Center and packed arenas of 10,000 in Chongqing, China.[15]

Doox is also known for its traditional tour through the Borscht Belt chain of resorts each winter.[16]

Notable alumni

Discography

Over the decades the group has recorded over 30 albums.[17]

!Title!Year Released
The Duke's Men1953
The Duke's Men1954
The Duke's Men of Yale University1956
The Duke's Men of Yale1959
Zounds from the Duke's Men of Yale1961
The Duke's Men of Yale1963
The Duke's Men On the Road1965
The Duke's Men1966/67
The Duke's Men1968
Brighten Your Night1971
Istanbul and America1974
A Waste of Your Time and Money1976
Da Doox Silver1978
Off the Record1980/81
Doox et Veritas1984
Quality Time1987
da disc1990
Hot Donuts Now1992
Food1994
Mom1996
451998
Chunda2000
Instant Gratification2002
Nobody's Business2004
D.O.O.X.2006
Silver&2007
Gold2007
A Smooth Ride2008
What a Trip!2008
Fifty Five2008
The Chase2010
Busted.2012
The Works2015
Golden Hour2017
This Name, Vol. 12020
This Name, Vol. 22021

Notes and References

  1. Web site: History. 2021-08-10. Doox of Yale. en-US.
  2. Web site: Duke's Men Of Yale Set To Welcome Singers Of All Gender Identities. 2021-08-10. College A Cappella. english.
  3. Web site: 2017-07-24. Yale's Duke's Men a cappella group opening to all sexes, gender identities. 2021-08-10. New Haven Register. en-US.
  4. Web site: Hamid. Zainab. David . Yaffe-Bellany 8:07. 2017-07-21. All-male singing group to abolish gender restrictions. 2021-08-10. Yale Daily News. en.
  5. Web site: Adelaide . Feibel . 2018-08-28. The Duke's Men a capella group rebrands as The Doox. 2021-08-10. Yale Daily News. en.
  6. Web site: Adelaide . Feibel . 2018-08-28. The Duke's Men a capella group rebrands as The Doox. 2021-08-10. Yale Daily News. en.
  7. Web site: International Championship of Collegiate a Cappella . 2006-08-27 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060519064013/http://www.varsityvocals.com/icca/results1996a.html . 2006-05-19 .
  8. Web site: Elise . Jordan . 2001-06-10. Can you sing? Then a cappella groups want you. 2021-08-10. Yale Daily News. en.
  9. Web site: International Championship of Collegiate a Cappella . 2009-03-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081106055306/http://www.varsityvocals.com/icca/2005results.shtml . 2008-11-06 .
  10. http://www.acappellanews.com/archive/2005_03.html
  11. (November 17, 2010), "Glee vs. YouTube: Who Did ‘Umbrella’ Best?", New York Magazine: Vulture, Accessed Dec 12 2010
  12. (January 11, 2004), "A Cappella Frenzy, Many University Students Across America Are Spurning Heavy Metal For Music Of Voices", CBS Sunday Morning, Accessed Dec 23 2006
  13. Web site: Judy . Wang . 2006-12-05. A cappella groups go commercial. 2021-08-10. Yale Daily News. en.
  14. (June 15, 2015), "Ep. 3: Dying to Get In", Accessed June 15, 2015
  15. Web site: About . 2023-07-15 . Doox of Yale . en-US.
  16. Web site: July 3 . Comments . 2023 Daniel Zhang . A Brief History of Borshch . 2023-07-15 . Smithsonian Folklife Festival . en-US.
  17. Web site: DMAA Media Archive - Albums. sites.google.com. en-US. 2020-02-21.