A cappella group [Mizzou Forte](http://www.mf-acappella.com) is rehearsing, as it does every Sunday, in the small chapel of the Missouri United Methodist Church.

The individual voices come together to overwhelm the small room with one sound, each part working together to mimic a well-known piece of music.

Right in the middle of a song, one singer stops and said, “Can we start over? That sucked.”

Later in the rehearsal, group president Megan Kelly steps up to the front to begin her solo. Behind her, the sound of a full orchestra emerges from 18 individual voices.

New songs this year include an adapted version of Sugarland’s “All We Are,” with Kelly as a soloist, and “Pompeii” by Bastille, featuring junior Brian Strohm.

Freshmen Daniel Litwin arranged a mash-up of “Kiss Kiss” by Chris Brown and “Kiss Me Through the Phone” by Soulja Boy.

The unlikely pairing is one of about 10 original arrangements Mizzou Forte will sing at its concert on Dec. 11.

Mizzou Forte performs once a semester with smaller gigs interspersed throughout the fall semester. This year, they sang at the Missouri Honor Medal ceremony and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin’s induction.

The concert will be this group’s first major performance together. This semester, six new freshmen members bring a new perspective to the group.

“(The freshmen) all came in very eager, very excited to be part of the group,” Litwin, a new member, said.

Kelly said new members from years previous are usually more hesitant to contribute. Litwin’s contribution to the concert set list shows the initiative of this year’s freshmen.

Kelly said she is looking forward to seeing how the new group performs together.

“We really bonded together as a group this year, (better) than we did last year,” she said. “So I’m excited to have our first concert together.”

Several members describe the group as a family and said they feel their closeness makes them better performers.

“We’re all just friends having fun and that shows,” Litwin said. “You could sound really good, but if you’re stiff as a board up onstage then no one wants to watch you.”

Sophomore Chloe Fike, who will be Mizzou Forte’s president next semester, said she sees a difference in the group this year from last year’s.

“I think everyone is more willing to be open to everyone this year,” she said.

Their upcoming performance will feature all of these new members and new material.

Music Director Kyle Gillespie, who arranges songs for performances and teaches the group new music, said many of the songs have never been performed before. Mizzou Forte has a policy stating songs can only be sung for three semesters.

Music Director Jean Whitley said he and Gillespie consider the group’s strengths and weaknesses when selecting new music.

Whitley said this year the alto, tenor and soprano sections are particularly strong.

“Since we have more people in those sections, the voice power of the section, the actual sound, is fuller now in that aspect,” Whitley said. “So we can get away with doing more power songs because we have more voices to back up.”

New material has given the group a lot to learn.

“We’re a little nervous,” Kelly said. “That happens for every concert, though … we always tend to pull together last minute.”

Still, Gillespie said the new group is handling material well.

“Everyone is really engaged, really motivated to get these songs up to a quality that we haven’t reached in the past,” Gillespie said.