It’s a commitment to rehearsals for at least an hour a day and performances and events on and off campus, sophomore Kylie Bruetman said.
However, Bruetman said the time spent is worth it.
He said being in the ensemble is like having a family away from home.
“It’s a very open group, and as much as we see each other in rehearsal, we still love hanging out with everyone outside of rehearsal too,” Bruetman said. “It really establishes early on a sense of family and community that everyone in the group seems to click with.”
The Singing Hoosiers will present the culmination of all of its work in its Fall Preview at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Auer Hall.
The concert is the ensemble’s first concert of the semester.
The Singing Hoosiers is a choral ensemble in the Jacobs School of Music that performs popular contemporary music, including songs from Broadway, Top-40 hits and the Great American Songbook.
The group also has choreographed numbers.
The group, which consists of about 90 students, is open to people in any major.
Bruetman, who is studying marketing and is a member of the group’s public relations and marketing team, said the majority of students are not music majors.
“It’s not something that we do because we have to as a requirement, but because we want to,” Bruetman said. “We want to keep singing and making music even if we’re not studying it.”
Director Ly Wilder said the Singing Hoosiers is a delightful and diverse cross section of the student body.
Audiences at the Singing Hoosiers’ Fall Preview can expect to hear everything from jazz standards to contemporary hits, Wilder said.
The concert features songs from musicians such as Hoagy Carmichael and Cole Porter, but also styles such as hip-hop.
“They change styles at the drop of a hat,” Wilder said.
Bruetman said the group performs classic songs that are part of the tradition of the Singing Hoosiers, which is in its 66th year, but remains fresh and updated.
They are songs the older generation grew up listening to on the radio, but will also appeal to the new generation of jazz lovers, Bruetman said.
The repertoire allows the audience to connect with the music, Bruetman said.
“We try to diversify our set as much as possible so that everybody who walks away from the show can walk away with one song that they really connected to, that they really loved,” Bruetman said.
It can be a slow process, but it turns into something they are incredibly proud of, Bruetman said.
Tickets are $6 for students with ID and $12 for adults.
They are available at the Musical Arts Center box office or online.
Wilder said the Singing Hoosiers is a great choral tradition at IU that showcases the musicians’ talent.
“We are very excited to show off the talent of our new ensemble,” Wilder said.
