By McKenzie Masters, Staff Writer
Families and friends crowded the Savage Memorial Chapel to watch five groups of students perform Oct. 1 at Union University’s traditional All-Sing.
All-Sing, a singing competition, consists of two different categories: small and large groups. Students spend weeks preparing their costumes, routines, harmonies and music selections. This year’s theme, “Greatest Hits: Pick Your Decade,” incorporated video clips for a fun twist.
“The ladies of Sigma Alpha Iota collectively came up with the theme,”said Molly Smith, director and senior music education major. “First, we thought of doing a movie theme with songs from movies over the decades. But, by the end of the meeting, we had decided not to go the movie route, but to give more freedom in choosing songs.”
Rewinding to past decades, All-Sing small groups performed music from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Kappa Delta kicked off the show with poodle skirts. Singing tunes such as Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” and the Chordettes’ “Lollipop,” the crowd flashed backward to the 1950s. The night continued with the Inter-Fraternity Council, which performed the Neil Diamond classic “Sweet Caroline.”
“My favorite part of All-Sing has been getting the three fraternities to work together and accomplish something like this,” said Wade Evans, senior physical education and health major. “We all set aside our differences and came together to do something that hasn’t been done by IFC.”
The Quartet, the winner of small groups, consisted of Sam Ritter, senior music major; Jeremy Isbell, junior music major; Jake Fry, sophomore music major; and Greg Hines, sophomore music major.
“The boys were amazing. It was cute when they sang ‘Kiss the Girl’ from ‘The Little Mermaid,’” said Rhonda Herndon, mother of Morgan Herndon, sophomore nursing major.
Joseph Lindamood, junior music eucation major, and Hailey Wilshire, junior social work major, performed their own version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” complete with throwing skittles and lemon drops into the audience.
Kappa Delta and Chi Omega made up the large groups.
Wearing tie-dyed shirts, the women of Kappa Delta chose to tribute the 1970s with “Somebody to Love” by Queen and Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “Takin’ Care of Business.”
Chi Omega’s performance was different than previous years because of the story line element the women incorporated. Performing scenes from the 1980s television show “Full House,” the characters came to life on the stage. Complete with pretend “Full House” video clips, the women of Chi Omega brought the television show to the audience. They sang tunes such as Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and The Supremes’ “Can’t Hurry Love.”
Although All-Sing is considered a tradition at Union, many new students and transfer students know little about it.
“As a transfer I didn’t have many pre-conceived expectations of what All-Sing would be like,” said Mel Arias, sophomore social work major. “However, it has been an overwhelmingly fun experience, and has been a great opportunity to get to know more people in the Union community and get involved in student life early in the semester.”
All-Sing not only entertains onlookers but also creates bonds between experienced and newer participants due to the numerous hours spent together for practice time and rehearsals.
“This is the best All-Sing I have seen since I have been at Union,” Smith said. “The groups have really worked hard. Many years there is an obvious winner. This year that was not the case. The competition was tight.”
Senior digital media studies major Christina Gooch, participant in Chi Omega’s small group, won “Best Vocalist.” Chi Omega won “Best Interpretation of Theme” and “Best Large Group.” The Quartet won “Best Small Group.”
