Number and types of sorority/chapter songs?
 

Hey ladies,

I'd like to survey the other chapters out there (NPC, local, NPHC/MGC...anyone!) about the number and types of chapter songs you have. I'm not asking for full lyrics and music or anything (and obviously, some of them are going to be protected as part of ritual) but I'm interested in seeing the average number that each house has. The reason I'm asking is that, as someone who's studied music composition, I've been given the task of writing the songs for our (local) house (which I'm more than happy to do!) and we'd love ideas for more types of songs to add to our archives.

The two songs we have so far include:
-the secret sisterhood song - which I composed while still in undergrad, but as far as I know it wasn't seriously incorporated into chapter/rituals until a few years ago. (this could've been partially my fault--the arrangement was a little difficult, since one of our founding mothers was studying classical voice and I took full advantage of that!)
-a "sweetheart song," to use when serenading fraternities or (with slightly adapted text) at a sister's wedding, welcoming her husband into the Phi Rho Alpha family

I'm wondering if other houses have (for example) separate songs for things like rush (not skits, since we don't do those), Bid Day, initiation, graduation, etc? Thanks!

For recruitment, we have a "door chant" for Day 1 which is a medley of 5 or 6 songs/cheers, some of which are modern pop songs with changed lyrics to fit the sorority, another medley of 2 songs for Day 2, a quick cheer/song for Day 3, and maybe 3 or 4 songs we use for prefs, bid day, etc. For each day of rush, we also use the same goodbye song as PNMs are exiting. However, we found in the house an old book containing a ton of sorority songs nobody had heard of before, so there are probably 15 or more floating around nationally, along with the door chants chapters come up with each year.

Of the songs I can remember being actually used, I think 2 or 3 are original songs, with the rest (most the recruitment ones) being adapted from other songs.

Cool, this is good to know! So all your other songs were related to formal recruitment, then? Since we're not at all involved in that (we just host optional "get-to-know-you" events, like movies, ice skating, going out for ice cream, craft night, other girly stuff) we probably wouldn't need more recruitment-only songs, but maybe we could adapt one of the door chants for Carry-In or something similar? (I do remember a chant we used during carry-in, but not sure if it's used anymore...should look into that...)

I don't know anything about your chapter, but if you guys participate in things like Greek Week, have a Relay for Life team, things like that, having upbeat cheers/chants would be good for that, even if they aren't used for formal recruitment. Many GC members have described their Pref rounds at various houses as having soft signing; I would think most sororities have at least one or two more serious, slower songs for ritual events, candle passes, and things of a more serious nature. But I would say most of the signing, at least in my experience, is done during formal recruitment.

I don't really get what Carry-In is, so I couldn't say what type of song you could use for that.

Ah, I see. We do Relay (not Greek Week, though) so we could bring some chants in for that. Interesting point about a slow song as well--our chapter song is on the upbeat side, so maybe we could have a slower/grander one for the serious functions. Thanks!

When I was an undergrad, I recall each sorority having a "signature" song that they sang all over campus. On certain nights of the week, they would stand outside of the dorms and sing their hearts out. This was an especially popular activity in the fall when freshmen were just getting a sense of which sorority was which. (My campus had recruitment in February.)

We had a lot of songs for various occasions ranging from recruitment to cheers to sisterhood and serenades. Many came from other ADPi chapters. Some we made up on our own. You might add more songs by installing a music committee and chairman, or splitting into groups to make up songs and then teach them to one another at chapter retreats. I noticed that many sororities borrow songs from one another and change up the names, or borrow from girl scout/camp/youth group songs and change the names/words.

One way we got new songs was through a tradition that each new member/ pledge class had to write a class song to be performed before initiation. The songs were usually rewritten love songs like "The Theme From Ice Castles" or "Time in a Bottle". Many of these were pretty good or could be reworked by more talented sisters to be used later for recruitment or serious events.