In the midst of the anticipation of the new seasons of singing competitions such as “American Idol” and “The Voice,” UCLA will be showcasing a different style of music this weekend – a cappella.

The 2012 Los Angeles A Cappella Festival will kick off on Friday in Ackerman Grand Ballroom with the first ever Los Angeles A Cappella Festival Scholastic Competition. The six groups chosen by the selection committee to compete in this event are UCLA Scattertones, Cal Poly Take it SLO , UCLA Random Voices, Calabasas High School Unstrumental, University of Oregon On The Rocks and UCLA Bruin Harmony.

Ben Davies, a fourth-year English student and president of Bruin Harmony, said that LAAF invited a cappella groups across the country to create video submissions for the event, and six groups were ultimately chosen to compete.

According to Andrew Olsen, a third-year anthropology student and music director of Bruin Harmony, this is the first time that LAAF will include a scholastic competition.

Davies explained that the weekend will be divided between the competition, a cappella workshops and professional performances.

“The top two groups in the competition will get the opportunity to have a recording session with one of three professional groups who will be at the festival,” Davies said.

According to Olsen, the three professional a cappella groups who will be featured during this year’s festival are Duwende from New York City, Pentatonix, winners of the last season of “The Sing-Off,” and the San Francisco-based group Hookslide.

Olsen also said that after earning a spot in the scholastic competition, the members of Bruin Harmony have been working on some new material to reveal for the first time on Friday night.

“We will be performing some songs that we have been doing all year and some new arrangements,” Olsen said. “We are going to sing David Guetta’s ‘Little Bad Girl’ and two new songs.”

Davies said that Bruin Harmony is especially eager to perform well on Friday, because the winner of the scholastic competition will have the opportunity to open for the professional concert on Saturday night.

“Because this is a brand-new competition, no one really knows what the standard is going to be,” Davies said. “We have never competed in anything other than Spring Sing before, so this is a chance for us to really broaden our horizons, especially as the only all-male (a cappella) group on campus.”

David Crane, a fourth-year musical theater student and business manager of Bruin Harmony, said that the competition and festival will be a great opportunity to test the group’s skills.

“A cappella has become more mainstream in recent years and is growing at a meteoric rate,” Crane said. “We get to learn from people who have already made it, and it is a really cool thing to set a new bar or standard for the group to rise to as well as new goals.”

Olsen said that Bruin Harmony hopes to have a large UCLA presence on Friday night as the group enters its greatest challenge yet.

“We are definitely in it to win it,” Olsen said. “There is a component of audience perception in the deciding of the winners on Friday night, so it is important for students to come out and support their favorite groups.”