Greek Sing

Where: Lantz Arena

When: Sunday, April 15

Time: 1 p.m.

Seating Cost: $5 for balcony and $8 for floor

One-hour practices.

Four to five times a week.

For more than two months.

All for five minutes of performance time.

This is Greek Sing.

Matt Gidcumb directed Sigma Phi Epsilon to a Greek Sing title last year.

He said the event gives Greeks a chance to show people how much dedication they put into their events.

“It’s cool to sing something everyone participates in,” said Matt Gidcumb, a senior marketing major and director of Sigma Phi Epsilon. “Some people have the wrong image of the Greek community and once people see the performance, they realize how much work gets put into it.”

Greek Sing is one of the largest amateur choral competitions in Illinois.

With each sorority chapter participating and nine out of the 11 fraternities involved, it is the only event during Greek Week that requires 40 percent of member involvement, said Jarryd Stalling, a junior marketing major and co-chair of Greek Sing.

Each chapter is required to perform on stage for five minutes and has the option to use three hand-held instruments.

Also, participants are allowed to sing as many songs as desired during that time.

“Not many people have experience in singing and it gives them a touch of that,” Stalling said.

Each chapter nominates someone to direct the performers. The director usually has had prior music experience.

For instance, Alyssa Obradovich, who has been singing since she was 12 years old, is a directing contributor of Sigma Sigma Sigma.

“The most difficult part of directing is keeping everyone on the same level, because not everyone has had choir experience,” said Obradovich, a junior communication studies major.

Some chapters take advantage of having the opportunity to have musically talented people help critique the performers.

“We are lucky enough to have some people with previous experience help out and get an outsider’s point-of-view,” Obradovich said.

The Tri-Sigma women have chosen the theme ‘guilty pleasure’ and will be performing “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler, “Come Sail Away” by Styx and “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips.

To ensure no songs are repeated, each chapter gets their name pulled out of a hat and gets to chose their theme and songs, said Catie Pankow, a senior English major with a teacher’s certification and co-chair for Greek Sing.

Four judges have agreed to score the competitors based on a scale from one to 10 on areas like diction to the overall presentation.

The majority of the songs are older because many faculty and members of the community come to watch the event and the Greek community tries to keep their interest in mind too, Pankow said.

“This is one of the more formal events all of Greek Life can be a part of and present themselves in an elegant manner,” Obradovich said.

Even with all of the practice that Greek members put towards Greek Sing, some participants still experience stage fright.

“The most difficult part of performance is the physical act of getting on stage,” Stalling said. “You practice hard and think you’re prepared, but once those bright lights are shining on your face and you see that huge crowd, no matter how prepared you are it can be nerve wracking.”

Kappa Delta performs during Eastern’s “Greek Week” last year. Singing songs from the musical “Wicked” Kappa, Delta took first place in last year’s “Greek Sing”. (John Bailey/The Daily Eastern News)

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