BWW Q&A: Jamey Ray on THE CORNER OF BROADWAY & MAIN STREET from Voctave

Voctave is an 11-member a cappella group from the Central Florida area. Formed in the winter of 2015 by producer and arranger Jamey Ray, the voices that bring their artistic arrangements to life represent a wealth of diverse backgrounds and musical experiences. Voctave members have roots in musical theater, contemporary Christian music, barbershop, pop and choral music.

Members of Voctave have performed all over the world and can be heard on countless recordings. The group has performed with Grammy, Dove and American Music Award winners. With multiple #1 songs and albums on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify, Voctave has also ranked in the top 25 on Billboard Magazine’s charts. Voctave has received more than 160 million views on their videos. Voctave’s albums are digitally available on all platforms. 

Videos include their most recent cover of One Short Day from Wicked, plus collaborations with Tituss Burgess, Kirsten Maldonado, Sandi Patty, and The Swingles.

Jamey is originally from Clearwater, Florida and attended Rollins College for undergraduate school and New York University for his graduate studies.  Jamey currently serves as a professor of music at Rollins College.  

He is also a well-known choral arranger and composer.  Jamey created Voctave at the end of 2015 and serves as the producer and arranger for the group. 

Jamey currently serves as the choral editor for Excelcia Music Publishing where he oversees selecting and editing music for the choral catalog every year.

Jamey has produced hundreds of recordings and dozens of full albums for multiple Broadway and Disney performers as well as groups including Voctave, the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park and the Liberty Voices.

How did your journey in music begin and what led you to specialize in choral arrangements?

I've been in music for as long as I can remember. I sang in the Florida Boychoir as a child and fell in love with choral music there. I learned a lot from that experience and expanded that knowledge as I went through all levels of schooling. Most of my degrees were music related and I'm thankful that every job I've ever had has had music at the base of it all. I am constantly surrounded by wonderful choral music, and after studying some of the greats, I did my best to start developing my own style. I still get excited about good choral music and love getting to share what I've created with the world. As the choral editor for Excelcia Music Publishing, celebrating amazing choral music is now literally my job!

Can you share the inspiration behind the formation of Voctave?

To be honest, there was not a plan when the group started. I had written some arrangements and was getting friends together to sing them and make some videos. Eventually, the videos were doing well enough that we refined the process a bit and the next thing we knew, we were shooting a video with Kirstin Maldonado from Pentatonix. It was Jeremy Michael Lewis, who was also in the video that made us realize we needed a name, a set group of people and MORE MUSIC!

How do you approach creating arrangements for such a diverse group of voices in Voctave?

I'm fortunate to get to play around with some of the greatest voices on the planet. However, it took me a while to realize that just because they can, doesn't mean they ALWAYS should. The group is known for it's extremes, for sure. If we only ever did the extremes in shows, our voices would die and the audiences' ears would be exhausted. I am careful now to write for sustainability and good show flow. Each song needs to have a function in our show and I try to have something that features everyone's strengths at one point or another.

Voctave has successfully blended Broadway and Disney songs in their performances, how did this unique concept come about?

This was not necessarily a plan at the start. We had gotten known for a few of our Disney medleys and knew we could certainly sing Disney well. The idea of Broadway came from wanting to have some more "inspirational" repertoire that lent itself to creating a well-rounded show idea for the group. With the voices in this group, there wasn't going to be a Disney or Broadway song that came along that we wanted to do that we couldn't. It seemed to be a really good combination for our group sound and it's stuck around for quite a while.

Could you tell us about some of the challenges and rewards of working with an 11-member a cappella group?

Honestly, there are rarely challenges that come up with the size of the group. The size is very helpful because it allows us to have solos/duets and still have a full group sound around them. People have commented on the "background vocals" being loud in our recordings, but I don't subscribe to the "bury the background vocals" idea that is prevalent in our industry. I don't want to lose all the beautiful artistry of what is happening in the background in addition to the amazing solos up front. Having 11 vocalists also allows us to very easily recreate the huge wall of sound that exists on our recordings in a live setting.

With over 160 million views of videos online, how does Voctave engage with their audience digitally?

We've been grateful to have a wonderful following on social media over the years. We certainly wouldn't exist without our fans on social media. The most fun we have with our fans is regularly through Patreon, and all platforms any time a new album is coming up. We've gotten song ideas and album ideas from fan suggestions over the years and hope to keep all of that going!

Can you share some insights into your most recent cover of "One Short Day" from Wicked?

Wicked is obviously a show that has and will continue to stand the test of time, and there's a reason for that: the show is great! The movie was great and why not have a song from the show on the new album. We love getting to sing it and even got a lovely email from Stephen Schwartz about the recording. That was worth everything!

What can the audience expect from Voctave's upcoming performances at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music?

The biggest thing to realize when coming to any Voctave performance is that you are not coming to a concert; you are coming to a show. Our goal is to make you laugh and cry and everything in between. You're going to get to know the group while you're there. You'll hear stories and jokes and we're gonna try to tug on your heart strings a bit, but also, the singing you will hear will match (if not hopefully surpass) anything you've heard on any recording of ours.

About the Show

Tuesday, Jan 21 at 8pm

Wednesday, Jan 22 at 8pm

Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall at San Francisco Conservatory of Music

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