A lot has changed over the years in the world of a cappella music. The genre has been featured in film thanks to the “Pitch Perfect” series and YouTube is flooded with people doing instrument-less versions of popular songs.

New acts are coming along every day, but one act has stood out among the others and continues going strong after 25 years. Tonic Sol-fa will be in Austin on March 1.

“The landscape has changed and a cappella has gained a lot of momentum over the years,” said the group’s tenor Greg Bannwarth as he drove toward a show in Nebraska.

“A lot more people know what a cappella is and are giving it more of a chance than they did,” he added.

Tonic Sol-fa came to life at St. John’s University right here in Minnesota. Now a well-known name in the Midwest, Tonic Sol-fa found its footing through smaller venues, playing fairs and festivals.

Over time, the group has grown from strictly a vocal group to a group that involves some instruments that mixes in with the group’s humor and centralizes audience participation in the form of requests.

It’s been part of an evolution for the group whose current line-up, together for the last four years, includes Bannwarth, Jared Dove, Shaun Johnson and Theodore Brown.

However, Bannwarth drew an interesting analogy and sees the music life as something a little more businesslike.

“I think probably it’s one of the craziest jobs anybody can ever have,” Bannwarth said. “When you try to explain it … it is a small business. The trials and tribulations of a small business. The singing and performing is 30 percent of trying to run a small business.

The move to something more professional for the four college students was also like starting a small business.

Bannwarth explained it much like a leap of faith.

“If we’re really going to make this work, we’re going to have to tighten our belts after awhile,” Bannwarth said. “All of a sudden your time is split.”

Over the years the group performed and toured on the way to being one of the most prolific groups of any genre.

Sticking primarily to the Midwest, they have reached out all over the United States and picked up an Emmy Award along the way.

The evolution however, that has helped get Tonic Sol-fa to this point, has come on different fronts.

The first of those fronts is how to maintain their sound, while finding room for innovation along the way.

When the group first started, Bannwarth explained there was a barrier against change.

“ I think in the beginning you aren’t musically inclined to do something different,”  he said. “ In the years we’ve been able to do this we’ve gotten better at arranging (our music) but still trying to keep the humor. We have plenty of stupidity to go along with the other side of it. You try to make it tighter. Over the years it’s been fun to morph.”

That being said, every show is different and there’s always something that tests that control, but over the years they’ve found ways to better control those types of things.

“ As much as you try to control the environment, there is always something a little crazy,”  Bannwarth said. “ Requests you don’t know, venues that don’t have what they told you they have. You roll with it.”

That mix of humor, music and use of some instrumentation was combined to set them apart.

“ It set us apart from every other group,”  Bannwarth said. “ A little more of a mix.”

However, setting themselves apart from other groups these days has been a challenge thanks in large part to the rise of technology and the use of social media to get the word out.

“ It’s definitely a double-edged sword,”  Bannwarth admitted. “ You can promote things so much easier. There’s so much inexpensive promotion.”

“ The negative side of that … we aren’t able to sell very many CDs anymore,”  Bannwarth added. “ We used to sell thousands of dollars at every show. You have to find different ways to get music out there. It’s been an interesting learning curve to be on top of the tech advancement. You finally find the golden nugget and then it changes tomorrow.”

Ultimately, it’s about keeping the act going and making sure they are giving fans — old and new alike — reasons to come back.

It’s about staying new when you are an established act.

“ It’s always a situation where you try to innovate to a certain extent,”  Bannwarth said. “ That’s a tough line. You can either sit and do what you do and become stagnant or take your chances and sometimes it works.”

For instance, the March 1 show in Austin will be a little bit of the same, but Bannwarth said to expect much more.

“ For people who have seen the show before, this show will be at least 75 percent different,”  Bannwarth said.

Despite the rigors of the road, the changes and everything that comes along with being a known act, the group is still loving what they do.

With over 20 years during which the group could have left the road, they are still performing to audiences through the year.

“ I think any of us could have at any time, hung it up,”  Bannwarth said. “ ‘This isn’t for me anymore.’ There are times the grass is greener someplace else. The amount of time versus what you get out of it. But every day we’re applauded. How can you complain about getting paid to get appreciated by so many people for what you do?”