Back in December, students gathered at UC Irvine’s Crystal Cove Auditorium to get into the Christmas spirit by enjoying performances from the acapella groups Circle of Fifths, VocaLotus and Clair De Lune. Their combined showcase was called “It’s Been a Long Time,” signifying their return to the stage after the pandemic. As the talented singers harmonized the night away, you could catch the audience singing along to classic Christmas carols like “All I Want for Christmas is You” and “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” However, backing these compelling performances were months of practice sessions and arduous planning such as music arranging, something that Clair De Lune’s music director Meagan Gacayan can relate to.
Born and raised in the Bay Area city of Hercules, California, Gacayan moved to Southern California to pursue her education at UC Irvine, where she is currently double majoring in public health sciences and drama. Like most Gen Z’ers, she grew up watching the High School Musical franchise as she used to memorize and belt out fan-favorite songs from the films. However, that was not where her love for music came from. Instead, it was her father who inspired her love for music.
“My dad [was] actually a music major who specializes in arranging [music], and he graduated from the University of the Philippines. So, I got a lot of music inspiration from my dad because he would play the guitar all the time and he’d ask me to sing, and then I started playing instruments, arranging, and writing my own music,” Meagan said.
While she plays the piano and guitar, she says her instrument of choice will always be the violin — which she played in her middle and high school orchestra for nearly eight years.
Music has always been a fundamental part of her household, but her passion for drama and the theater was introduced to her later on during high school. Under the encouragement of her close friend Charysh, Meagan’s first audition was for her school’s musical “Legally Blonde” during her sophomore year and she ended up landing the supporting role as Serena McGuire, the main character’s best friend.
“It was my first role and I’ll never forget it because it was such a great role to take. It challenged me a lot and really made me passionate about continuing drama,” Meagan says.
Later on, she was casted as the female lead Sandy Olsson in her school’s musical production for “Grease” during her junior year. Her senior year saw her landing the female lead role of Tilly Evans for her school play for “She Kills Monsters,” where she learned how to act with stage combat. Later that year, she also got casted as female lead Sophie in her school’s musical production for “Mamma Mia.”
Despite being heavily involved in theater, she enrolled at UC Irvine as a public health science major, deciding that she wanted to take a break during her first year of college.
“I really am passionate about caring for people and being very empathetic,” she said “I wanted to continue doing the public health route, but then I felt like something was missing.”
After realizing that she missed the performing arts, she consulted with counselors to discuss the possibility of adding the drama major. Now, Meagan is tackling both ends of the major spectrum that ranges from organic chemistry classes to music theater workshops. She has found her rhythm in balancing both very different fields of study.
Prior to joining the UCI community, Meagan always had an interest in the acapella community, especially after watching Pitch Perfect and Glee. Wanting to dip her toes into a new realm within the arts, she decided to audition for Clair De Lune, UCI’s only all female-identifying acapella group that focuses their repertoire on female empowerment and the journey to claim individuality. Based on the French translation of moon, the group’s aesthetics refers to their current members as moons and new members as new moons.
“There was actually no female acapella group for a while until Sarah, our last music director, revived Clair De Lune after a couple of years of it being inactive. So now, I want to make sure that the role of being a woman is being showcased out there by performing songs sung by powerful women,” says Meagan. During UCI’s Night Autumn Festival and “It’s Been a Long Time” showcase, Clair De Lune performed covers for Alessia Cara’s “Out of Love” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Jealousy Jealousy,” in which Meagan arranged the latter.
She joined Clair De Lune during her freshman year. Despite the pandemic’s impending arrival, Meagan and Clair De Lune were able to showcase their talent live in person before everything went virtual.
“Although our time got cut short, we were able to do a lot of gigs throughout UCI, like singing for conferences,” she said. “After doing little things, we decided to try out for competitions and we actually got into ICCA during my first year.”
The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) is, for many acapella groups, the biggest competition of their lives. To others, it is an international competition that invites hundreds of college acapella groups to compete and perform every year. Accompanied by its competitive nature, acapella groups were required to do their own choreography and arrangement, along with nailing their stage presence and vocals. For their performance, they were required to perform three songs as their repertoire and make a story out of them in 12 minutes.
“We opened up with ‘Ocean Eyes’ by Billie Eillish, and then transitioned to ‘Pretty Hurts’ by Beyonce, and ended with ‘Wings’ by Little Mix,” she said. “It was kind of like a revelation from being vulnerable to being comfortable in your own skin. It’s like acting because you’re telling the story with your facial expressions and body movements.”
Meagan continues, “We were super excited about it. That was during February last year and we got to compete on the big stage and sing our repertoire while three judges judged us. We also auditioned for Solstice. We got in as one of the three acapella groups selected. But then, the pandemic happened so we didn’t get to perform.”
Despite these obstacles, Meagan was still determined to keep practicing for the day they finally get to perform in-person again. Inspired by her past music director Alexis’ leadership and guidance, Meagan decided to run for music director her second year.
“I really like making and writing music so I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to test my arranging skills because I’ve never arranged an actual piece for acapella covers,” Meagan said.
If transitioning from being a member to a music director is not daunting enough, imagine doing so during the pandemic.
“It was super difficult. Honestly, I would not recommend doing a cappella through zoom or anything virtual because it was super hard for me to communicate with them,” she said. “We didn’t know how to give out music without hearing them in person. We tried to do warm-ups on Discord and sing together, but obviously there was lagging. It just became very chaotic, so we decided to give them the music to learn, have them send us recordings, give them feedback, and we’d edit our voices all together.”
Although they experienced severe burnout, Clair De Lune has come back stronger than ever and are ready to continue where they left off. In preparing to compete at ICCA this year, Meagan will be focused on arranging their music set. Clair De Lune is also in the process of auditioning for Solstice and preparing for their own showcase around the end of the academic year that will exhibit their entire repertoire.
“I feel like this year is the most connected I’ve felt with the group,” Meagan said when asked about the most rewarding experience in being part of Clair De Lune. “I love them so much, like individually, and they literally make the group. What makes my role as music director valuable is because of them. I’ve never seen so much support for one another in a group […] All these girls are so hard-working and driven […] Sometimes, as their director, I have to be strict, but they’ve always been very understanding.”
Meagan continues, “Some acapella groups are only there for singing and competitions. But we’re like a little family. We love singing with each other because we love each other. That’s what makes me want to stay and continue doing what I love to do. I just cherish them a lot.”
As Meagan aspires to become a nurse practitioner in the near future, she will continue to hold onto her artistic side by aiming for future auditions and potentially Broadway productions. Despite the obvious differences between public health and drama, she believes that they share one commonality. “As a nurse practitioner, we want to care for people. As a performer in the arts, we always want to empathize with each other to gain that human connection.”
While Megan intends to pursue a career as a nurse practitioner, the arts industry will certainly not see the last of her as she plans to stay in touch with her artistic roots and potentially audition for Broadway productions.
Annabella Johan is an Entertainment Staff Writer. She can be reached at ajohan@uci.edu.