Months of practicing every day for hours, Greek sorority and fraternity members put their blood, sweat and tears in preparation for this weekend’s Air band and Greek Sing competitions.

Greek Week has a long lasting history not only on Eastern’s campus but to each chapter, which is why the sorority and fraternity members take both competitions seriously.

At 7 p.m. on Saturday Air band performances start and at 1 p.m. on Sunday Greek Sing performances start both held in Lantz Arena.

Air Band is a competition that combines lip syncing, choreography, several costumes and props to popular music.

All of the performances are four minutes long with a mix of several songs and a max of 14 members on stage including coaches.

It’s kind of like cheerleading, dance and show choir all in one.” Taylor Opsahl co- chair of greek sing and air band committee said.

Each chapter brainstorms the theme and props with the hopes of conveying a message during the performance.

“This year there are a lot of cool themes that are really going to stand out,” Opsahl said.

However, the Greek week air band committee makes sure each chapter’s theme is different from their competitors and is not a repeat from chapter’s previous performances.

Participates have to abide my rules to guarantee that there is a level playing field and that the chapter’s continue to push their creativity.

Each chapter is presented with a list of songs that were used three years ago during Air Band competition and all of those songs are off limits for this year.

Hannah Yarnell, co-chair of greek sing and air band committee, said this helps maintain originality and prevents members from cheating themselves of the experience.

“This is so your freshman year you did that song and you won so, you can’t come back your senior year and do the same theme,” Yarnell said. “Just so you won’t repeat yourself because it was good.”

Managing so many moving parts for the Air Band routines requires months of practice. Sorrority and Fraternity members can official start practicing Februrary 1st.

“Props to literally every participant in Air Band and Greek Sing because they put so much extra time practicing for their chapters,” Opsahl said. “They make it worth it because they do some really cool stuff.”

Member of Sigma Chi Mark Shanahan, junior corporate communications major said ever since his freshman he has participated in Air Band because he is able to have fun with his brothers.

“As a freshman they really needed people to do it so I joined,” he said. “You bond with your team as you go through it.”

Sigma Chi’s performance has a total of 3 costume changes with several props to a candy shop theme.

The members have dedicated about two months to perfecting the performance and has two choreographers to help coach them and brainstorm creative moves.

4th year coach Bridget Delaurentis, senior adult and community education major, said she does not mind putting the time in because she knows how rewarding it is during the performance day.

“The challenging part was finding a rehearsal time to meet but the good part is you new gain friendships,” she said. “You are able to meet people on a different level.”

Establishing a closer friendship with fellow members outweighs the nonstop practices and the time sacrifices Opshal said.

“I do think that is something that keeps you motivated and keeps you focused because it does get stressful with school, work and other extracurricular activities,” Opshal said.

Members participating in Greek Sing dedicate hours practicing however the members sing a combination of songs within minimum movement.

The major difference between Air Band and Greek Sing is Greek Sing members cannot lift their feet off the ground and all of the sorority and fraternities are required to have 40% of members perform.

Members must master unity within the movements and tight harmonies within the music.

Chapters performances cannot exceed 4 minutes and each chapter can choose a member to play an instrument during the performance.

There will be two sets of judges for each competition that have dance and musical backgrounds.

First, second and third awards will be rewarded as well as extra points that goes to the chapter’s overall Greek Week total for those that place.

Tickets for both performances can be purchased at the ticket office in the Union and the fraternity and sorority website.

Kalyn Hayslett can be reached at 581-2812 or kehayslett@eiu.edu