In fall 2009, Luke Walker, a senior global affairs major at Mason, started GMUnit, a multitalented all-male a cappella group that has burst onto the scene during the past two years. Using only their voices to create the music and recite the lyrics of some of today’s most popular songs, the group has performed at various locations on Mason’s Fairfax Campus.
Walker, who had his sights set on joining a musical group from the outset of his collegiate career, watched as various a cappella groups performed at Alleghany (Virginia) High School, where he was a student. Then, his older brother gained admission into a prestigious a cappella group, Grains of Time, at North Carolina State University. Finally, Walker joined Tenorso, a vocal jazz group at Mason run under the supervision of Stanley Engebretson, a professor in the School of Music.
Walker then branched out on his own and founded GMUnit to widen his focus to multiple musical genres.
“I performed all throughout high school, being in band, choir, plays, and musicals,” Walker says. “Singing and performing is my favorite hobby, and a cappella became a passion because of it.”
The group took a little while to get off the ground. GMUnit needed members, and for its first two semesters, it did not have student organization funding. After holding auditions, GMUnit performed at one concert in fall 2009 and one in spring 2010. Walker drafted a constitution for the group and sketched the framework for how the group was going to be run. He never doubted that the group would achieve success.
“I knew that if I found quality singers and popular music, the group would kind of sell itself,” Walker says. “Everyone I spoke with on and off campus thought it was a good idea to start the group.”
In fall 2010, GMUnit earned student organization status and began to take off. During that semester, the group performed at Alumni Weekend, an Office of Admissions event, and Akoma Circle’s HIV Awareness Concert.
Before the spring 2011 semester, Walker signed up for a direct exchange program in Chile to fulfill another long-held goal: to learn Spanish. At the time of the interview in February, Walker was in Bolivia with his fiancée, Diana Cordova Roca, a global affairs and communication double major. The two were in Bolivia, where Roca is from, to practice Spanish and prepare for Chile.
Walker’s planning has put the group in a position to continue its success. He now serves as advisor for the group and communicates with the new group manager, Jordan Hartman, regularly. On February 1, 2011, the group won the Homecoming talent show by performing a cover of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.”
Hartman, a sophomore tourism and events management major in the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism, continues to broaden the group’s goals. In addition to performing more on campus, the group will begin singing at Fairfax schools this semester. On March 4, 2011, GMUnit sang at SingStrong at South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia. The last group that won the SingStrong competition, NOTA, went on to win NBC’s The Sing-Off last summer. This group, Hartman believes, is capable of eclipsing these lofty expectations.
“One of the strengths of GMUnit is that our members learn music very quickly, and that’s what has helped us this semester and this past year,” Hartman says. “We took in six new members before the spring semester, and we’ve already learned two new songs. We’re about to start choreographing a few moves.”
For the spring semester, Hartman says the now 13-man group is learning Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around,” Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose,” and other hits. The group masters a song in about six one-and-a-half-hour rehearsals.
“Rehearsals are great and laid back,” Hartman says. “GMUnit is a great group of guys that loves to sing. We have [students] majoring in marketing, game and design, global affairs, and tourism, among others.”
Walker cherishes his time with the group.
“It has been a lot of fun, and I look forward to singing with them again,” he says. “There’s no feeling like being on stage sharing your talents with others. It’s especially gratifying knowing that it’s partly because of my efforts that the group exists.”
May 09, 2011
