Under A Rest A Cappella, abbreviated UAR, is one of four a cappella groups at West Chester University. Founded in 2014, Spencer joined the student run organization its sophomore year. In little words, UAR provided Spencer the opportunity to develop as a musician, educator and leader.

Spencer was in Under A Rest 2015-2020 and music director 2016-2020. During this span of time, Spencer was the sole arranger and producer of UAR. Find music, videos, and arrangements below.

Studio Album Production

Highs & Lows 2020

“Highs & Lows” is the second album Spencer produced with Under A Rest A Cappella. From arranging and teaching the music to recording and overall producing, Spencer took on this project by himself. In addition to releasing the album January 22, 2020, he directed music videos for the audio he wrote and produced.

“Highs & Lows” is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and other major music streaming platforms, in addition to below the music videos.

Enhance the Experience

“Pursuit to Feel”

When competing in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), Spencer is responsible in creating a set of music for UAR to perform. With the theme “Pursuit to Feel” UAR explored numbness and miscommunication in their opening mashup between “You Made Me” and “Feel Something”, the anger of losing someone in “Lookin’ for Love”, the tongue and cheek glorification of loneliness in “lovely”, followed by embracing the highs and lows of love in “Still Feel.” When directing this video, Spencer focused on helping the viewer follow the soloists throughout their story, using red lighting to highlight the anger, blue lighting to emphasize the loneliness, and purple (combination of both) to intensify the yearning and longing exuded by the soloists.

“Thunderclouds”

Thunderclouds paints the picture of anxiety in a relationship between people. As the choreographer for this one-shot video, Spencer explored the separation between the soloists as they constantly moved together, as they do in their relationship, yet not did not engage with each other. They find their fears embodied in the vocal percussionist and lead harmony as they guide them through the video. The group further portrays the uncertainty between the soloists, guiding the viewers through the relationship development within the video.

“Clouds”

Clouds is a song Spencer arranged for the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Candlelight Vigil, in memory of loved ones lost. The video explores the connection between a person and their lost loved one, split into three movements. UAR explored lighting further by creating clouds with smart color changing light bulbs, paper lanterns and cotton. As the solo line shifts between singers, different voice parts are highlighted in the video, helping the viewer tracks the vocal lines which are more prominent in the texture.

Stream Highs & Lows

Flicker 2019

Spencer’s first album he wrote and produced for Under A Rest is titled “Flicker”, which was released February 1st, 2019. Similar to “Highs & Lows”, he also wrote all of the arrangements and taught the music himself. It was his first attempt ever producing tracks, which he received advising from the music production department at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

“Flicker” is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and other major music streaming platforms in addition to the audio below.

Stream Flicker

All For Love 2021

“All For Love” is the third album Spencer produced for Under A Rest, released February 19, 2021. Since UAR could not finish their competitive year in 2020 due to COVID, Spencer set out to memorialize the songs the group sang in their 2020 competition season. The process was delicate and took many months with breaks throughout, as it followed all CDC guidelines, which were ever fluctuating.

“All For Love” is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and other major music streaming platforms, in addition to below the video.

A set, memorialized.

As music director, Spencer was also in charge of leading all musical rehearsals, teaching UAR the music he wrote for the competitive set. A part of his vigorous pedagogy is recording all rehearsals for members to reflect upon and leave feedback to make the following rehearsal more efficient. Since UAR was unable to record a music video due to COVID, Spencer used all rehearsal footage to tie together a montage video to play alongside “All For Love”.

Stream All for Love

Live Audio/Video Production

Your Voice Benefit Concert (abbreviated YOVO) was another platform for Spencer to practice is live audio/video production skills. Experience his work with YOVO below.

Click here to learn more about Spencer’s inception of this benefit concert.

“Thunderclouds”

Feat. WCU Dance Team

Before the release of the Thunderclouds Official Music Video, UAR took the piece to the stage with the Dance Team (DT) during YOVO 2019. Spencer worked with the DT in staging the performance, starting with the Dance Team and revealing the singers later into the song. Spencer, featured soloist, received the audio stems from audio engineers: RDX Productions, which he then edited/pitch corrected, mixed, and mastered. in addition to being the sole video editor.

“Primadonna”

Feat. WCU Dance Team

Similar to Thunderclouds above, Spencer staged the performance, flipping the roles of UAR and the DT, having a delayed entrance for the dancers within the music. For the three YOVO 2019 videos, they feature six songs which also are on their album “Highs & Lows”. This meant he produced the live tracks and then re-recorded the singers in studio in addition to more songs for the album, providing him a perspective on his singers’ tendencies before producing a second version.

2019 ICCA Set

Before the release of “Pursuit to Feel” featuring the studio produced songs on “Highs & Lows”, Spencer produced the audio and video for their competitive set. The beginning of the video features the opening track “New Rules YOVO Countdown” to their latest album, which Spencer directed, acting as a method to get the crowd excited before the group performed. After the release of the video, it reached high acclaim, being recognized by three original artists of the covers, including Sleeping Lion, Jaymes Young, and The Griswolds. The video was also nominated for the A Cappella Music Awards (AVA’s) hosted by the Contemporary A Cappella Society.