Thirty years later, the University of Maryland Treblemakers are still sharing their passion for music with the world.

The university’s oldest all-female a cappella group celebrated their 30th anniversary with a concert at Memorial Chapel on Friday night, showcasing songs from across Treblemakers history and a peek into new singles from the group’s upcoming album. Alumni gathered onstage to perform with current members and shared stories from the group’s early days. 

“The very first Trebs, it was just a bunch of girls who really loved to sing,” said Denise Frye Childers, a founding member of the Treblemakers.

Established in 1989, the Treblemakers came from “humble beginnings,” said Childers. After she and her now-sister-in-law, Melissa Childers Gatlin, looked around campus for a female a cappella group and couldn’t find one, they decided to start from scratch. 

At first, they had trouble finding practice spaces. Childers described “breaking in” to lecture halls and using a makeshift stage in the Parren J. Mitchell Art-Sociology Building for rehearsals. To secure funding, the founders teamed up with the UMD Generics, becoming the all-male a cappella group’s sister organization. 

Now a high school English teacher in Charles County, Childers has seen some of her own students go on to become Treblemakers and Generics themselves. Seeing the group continue after three decades with the same passion for music that it began was “heartening” for Childers.  

“Sometimes the world is loud and crazy and mean, but I think one thing we can all agree on is that music just makes people feel better,” she said. 

Jewel Stevenson, the Treblemakers’ music director, echoed Childers’ sentiment.

“At the root the group shares the same core love for each other and music that started 30 years ago,” said Stevenson, a sociology major with five semesters in the Treblemakers under her belt. 

Although their goals have stayed the same, three decades of history has brought continued change and growth for the Treblemakers, said Stevenson. Their music and arrangements have become more complex over the years, and their number has expanded. The Treblemakers have diversified as well, added Stevenson, with more women representing different backgrounds and “a vast amount of talent outside of just singing.” 

Change has worked well for the Treblemakers. The group has recorded a number of albums, the most recent being “Roots,” released in 2017 and available on Spotify. They placed third in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella’s Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinals in 2016, and have been featured in this competition every year since.

Recent success has not come without hardship, however, with the Treblemakers facing one of the biggest challenges to all-female a cappella groups: finding lower voices to create a fuller sound. It is an area that the group continues to improve in. 

“We work really hard to build our ranges and arrange our music so we have a bigger sound,” said Stevenson.

The women divided their anniversary concert into three different sets, beginning with new music from the current Treblemakers and ending with performances accompanied by Treblemakers alumni. 

The two groups came together to serenade the packed chapel with five songs in total, including classics like Salt ‘N’ Pepa’s “Whatta Man” and Pat Benatar’s “We Belong.” As the latter song reached its end, new and old Treblemakers locked arms and embraced each other. 

Once alumni left the stage, the Treblemakers performed new music from their upcoming album, modern hits like Demi Lovato’s “Tell Me You Love Me” and Maggie Rogers’ “On + Off.”

Through it all, the Treblemakers’ “friends first” attitude shone through. 

“It’s not just about the music, but it’s what brings us together,” said Stevenson. “Being a part of this group … it’s a home like no other.”