Four Feet Long started in the Fall semester of 2006 when Anthony Marchese, Craig Blanchfield, Dave Rotchford, and Matt Debnar (can be seen in the photos towards the bottom) decided to form a group in order to enter an annual talent show held at Elmhurst College. The name was initially "The Four Foot Longs" as a pun on the number of members within the group in an attempt to create a funny name for the contest. The name was misheard by one of the people heading the event and they wrote it down as "Four Feet Long," something the guys had no issue with. In turn, Four Feet Long collected the second-place prize. This helped the group realize how much fun they had, and they decided to continue on just for fun.
The work and fun paid off, and in the next two annual talent shows, the group had back-to-back first place finishes. They have continued to perform throughout campus and have begun to experience with off-campus performances.
The first arrangements sung by the group were standards that anyone could find by either purchasing music or transcribing other arrangements of a cappella pieces. Now, however, the group has many of their own arrangements with much of the credit to Anthony Marchese.
Many of the arrangements you will hear are courtesy of Marchese. Prior to rooming with Craig, however, Anthony's work consisted of almost all instrumental works. It wasn't until listening to some of Craig's music that he decided that he really enjoyed what he heard and might give it a go at arranging a cappella music for the group himself. As you can see, or hear, this wasn't anything short of a great success. After completing arrangements of such songs as "Two Princes" and the Simpsons' "Flaming Moe's," the possibilities seem endless with Marchese.
Four Feet Long continues to perform and expand, as the group now stands at 8 members, including a Vocal Percussionist (something the group did not start with).
More arrangements have been coming from within the group with David Rotchford and Andrew Toniolo contributing to the latest arrangement of "Down" by Jay Sean. This summer, many of the members look to contribute some arrangements as they are taking it upon themselves to be back at Elmhurst in the Fall with some new, fresh, and exciting music.
