Thomas Dec, a Wilton resident and alumnus of Wilton High School, graduated from Yale in 2013. While he was a student in New Haven, he was a member of Yale Out of the Blue, the co-ed a capella group. Now, he’s come up with a unique way to raise money for a scholarship for a graduating WHS music student.
He’s coordinating a benefit Yale Out of the Blue concert that will be held this Friday night, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the WHS Little Theater. Tickets are $10 for students, $15 for adults, and are available online and at the door.
According to Dec, the singing group has been looking to do a scholarship concert for a while.
“Yale Out of the Blue is very oriented toward giving back and doing what they can to share music and get exposure. Some of the group’s favorite performances have been where they get their payment in making people happy and sharing the music with everyone. Because Wilton has the advantage of being close to Yale, it was easier to coordinate everything and get them on board.”
Giving back to the WHS music department and students interested in music is something close to Dec’s heart.
“I was in the choirs, and I was very involved. But it’s funny, coming into high school, I wasn’t even going to sign up for music and one of the counselors convinced me because I needed the performing arts credit. I got more interested and it’s funny how it played out. And [WHS choir director] Betsey de Groff is terrific.”
Helping out with creating a scholarship specific for a music student is something that’s important to Dec as well, and will hopefully encourage more to sing and study music. “There definitely is a gap between the number of scholarships available for music students and those for general academics. That makes sense but there are some extremely talented and dedicated music students who just excel and deserve the recognition. So part of this is to try to do what we can to give back and close that gap.”
A capella is something that is very popular at the moment, with television’s “Glee” and the movie Pitch Perfect.
“It’s something that is getting bigger. Yale has had a capella since the early 1900s but recently there’s been more interest. We do pop rock and mainly contemporary so it’s very relevant and kids love it. If you listen to the radio you’ll like our performance.”
Yale Out of the Blue does tour and takes part in singing competitions, and Dec said they have a bit of a following. They also have a YouTube channel.
Dec also wanted to thank Wilton Hardware and Peachwave for being businesses that have sponsored the concert with ads. In addition, Peachwave will be contributing 20 percent of the proceeds from purchases made in their Wilton location between 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, the day following following the concert.