Twice a week at the end of the Hellems Building at the University of Colorado, you can find a room full of Buffoons.
"It kind of speaks to our nature as these goofy dudes who really like to have a great time when they're singing," Andy Seracuse said.
Seracuse is a senior and the music director of the CU Buffoons, an a cappella singing group formed by Dr. Oakleigh Thorne II 54 years ago. Thorne still goes to rehearsals almost once-a-week.
"I thought the sounds of a cappella without any instruments was such a great sound," Thorne said. "I just wanted to see it established out here in the West."
Despite the name, the CU Buffoons are serious about making good music carrying classic tunes like "Blue Moon" and "Cecelia". Over the past few weeks, they've perfecting their holiday repertoire of songs like "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and a spiced-up version of "Jingle Bells."
"I love a cappella singing," Ethan Albro, freshman, said. "I've singing a cappella my entire life."
More than five decades later, the CU Buffoons are as active as ever.
"So the first time I ever heard the Buffoons was, I was in sixth grade, actually," Kevin O'Connor, senior, said. "It's special and a lot of people know about us cause we've around that long. But, yeah I do feel like we're a part of history here."
Not only does Thorne still attend rehearsals, students say he offers sound advice.
"Every time he comes in, I'm just overwhelmed to see somebody who after all of these years, 54 years, is still engaged in the group as he was when he founded it," Andrew McGraw, sophomore, said.
The Buffoons call him the "Grandfather of a cappella music" at CU.
"I moved away from Boulder for about 15 years. I moved to Wyoming and I came back and Buffoons were still going strong and I felt yes, that 's great," Thorne said. "I really felt good about that."
Between practice and more than 50 performances every year, the singers still have to take tests, finish their homework, and go to class.
"We put a lot of work in and it's a lot of hours that we put in," O'Connor said. "Sometimes it can seem like a job without pay."
But, Seracuse says the reward comes in the bonds and friendships made amongst members in the group.
"It's a lifelong commitment that you have end up giving to this group which gives back to you as much as you give to it," Seracuse said.
The funny thing about the name Buffoons is that these students are actually quite the opposite.
"I'm a physics major," Seracuse said. "We have civil engineers. We have aerospace engineers. We have history majors, film majors"
The music group has only one music major. Actually, Tyler Polen is double majoring in music and electrical computer engineering.
"I kind of have this need to sing for people," Polen said. "I have this need to create with people."
Albro says being a Buffoon satisfies his love music while still pursuing a career rooted in academics.
"It's actually a really nice just kind of break from all of the math and science and all of the hard homework and everything," Albro said.
Fifty four years ago, this is exactly how Thorne pictured it would be.
"I'm honored and proud that they're still going," Thorne said.
