Serenading?

[twinkle555]

Originally Posted by Aerylle

First off, this is probably the wrong place to ask this, and I know this. I am asking it here however because I don't know where it would go. Anyone know where this should go? Thanks.

Second, what exactly is Serenading other than dressing up and singing for Fraternities? Or Frats singing for the girls, obviously.

But, what does it accomplish?
Why is it done?
Who does it? - The pledges only, or the entire chapter?
How often is it done?

As you can see I'm very "green" so to speak on nearly every aspect of Greek life and as I am Rushing this fall, I am curious as to what this term means.

I think it varies from school to school. When I was a collegian, the fraternities (not "frats" ) would bring in their new members about a month after receiving their bids to sing to us in chapter (so about 2-3 times a semester, not all the fraternities did this). Its just something nice they did to make us girls go "ooh and ahh" over their new guys, or it was used as a prelude to a social they wanted to have with us.

[Aerylle]

Originally Posted by twinkle555

I think it varies from school to school. When I was a collegian, the fraternities (not "frats" ) would bring in their new members about a month after receiving their bids to sing to us in chapter (so about 2-3 times a semester, not all the fraternities did this). Its just something nice they did to make us girls go "ooh and ahh" over their new guys, or it was used as a prelude to a social they wanted to have with us.

I shortened it to "frats" to not sound so repetitive. :]

Did the sororities do it back, or was it just the fraternities?

[twinkle555]

Originally Posted by Aerylle

I shortened it to "frats" to not sound so repetitive. :]

Did the sororities do it back, or was it just the fraternities?

No, we didnt ever do it back.

[WaxOff]

We serenade CONSTANTLY There are legends (and Facebook groups) about the Sinfonian Serenade.

Just about every interaction we have with a Sorority includes a serenade. Many of our Chapters will hire themselves out for serenades on Valentine's Day and other occasions. We've even serenaded complete strangers while out and about.

But to answer your questions...

But, what does it accomplish?

Multiple things. Aside from the basics of getting our name out there and raising funds, it promotes interaction between the students, and in some cases gets people some extra lovin from their SO's

Why is it done?

Why not? In all seriousness, we do it because we enjoy it and the recipients of our serenades enjoy it.

Who does it? - The pledges only, or the entire chapter?

For us it varies. I can remember participating in serenades with only my fellow Probationary Brothers, some with just my Brothers after I crossed, and some with a combination of the two.

How often is it done?

As I said before, we do it constantly. There's a stronger emphasis around holidays and both School and Chapter events, but we honestly never needed an excuse to do it.

[Katmandu]

While I was an active, sororities and fraternities serenaded before their big events/formals and sometimes as thank you after partnering for homecoming, etc.

We would serenade the independent dates at our house, then go to each of our dates' fraternity houses. This took place on a school night the week before the formal/event. We would typically learn one or two pop songs (for our Christmas formal, it was a couple of Christmas songs), then we would sing one of our sorority songs, and end with a fraternity song of each of the houses we were serenading--with the guys joining in. We usually had two or three part harmony, and practiced after dinner in the weeks before the serenade. It was a big deal at our campus and every chapter had a songleader. Some fraternities would come serenade if one of their members became pinned or engaged to one of our members, but not all did that.

Actually, singing in general was big among the fraternities and sororities.... We ate a sit down dinner each evening, and our prayer was sung, then we ended dinner with several songs, either one of ours or a fraternity song and sang a lot of songs during rush to the rushees. (not recruitment or PNM's......)