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A cappella is vocal music performed without instrumental accompaniment, by soloists or ensembles. The term, Italian for “in the manner of the chapel,” originally distinguished Renaissance polyphonic practice from Baroque concertato styles where instruments often doubled voices. Over the 19th century—amid a revival of Renaissance polyphony and a mistaken assumption that such music was always sung unaccompanied—the term solidified to mean any unaccompanied vocal performance. Today a cappella spans sacred and secular idioms, from chant and polyphony to doo‑wop, vocal jazz, collegiate and professional pop groups, and contemporary styles featuring vocal percussion and microphone technique. Very rarely, the term has also been used as a synonym for alla breve (cut time), though this usage is uncommon in modern practice.

Collegiate a cappella refers to student-run, college‑affiliated vocal ensembles that perform entirely without instruments. While the umbrella term “a cappella” simply means unaccompanied singing, in the collegiate context it typically denotes pop‑centric, contemporary arrangements sung by mixed or single‑voice student groups. Rooted in the early 20th‑century U.S. glee‑club and close‑harmony traditions, collegiate a cappella evolved to feature lead vocals, background “block” harmonies, a dedicated vocal bass, and vocal percussion (beatboxing) that emulates a rhythm section. Repertoires span chart pop, R&B, hip‑hop, rock, and show tunes, often arranged to foreground groove, texture, and crowd engagement. These ensembles are student‑organized, operated, and directed; they record, tour, and compete (e.g., ICCA), and have increasingly spread beyond the United States to the United Kingdom and Ireland, helping to popularize modern a cappella as a distinct pop‑performance style.