UpBeat! Provides a Musical Break from Finals Week

(ABILENE, Texas)–On Monday, the members of the chorale group UpBeat! performed their first concert at Woodward-Dellis Recital Hall. The event provided a relaxing moment for students to take a break from prepping for finals and enjoy excellent music.

UpBeat! is an ensemble led by students from HSU Concert Choir and Chorale and is conducted by senior Serayah Peters. The audience was delighted to hear several different music styles, including an original arrangement from the popular a capella group Pentatonix.

“UpBeat! is HSU’s a capella group. The group is auditioned from Chorale and Concert Choir and is student led. The number of singers varies from year to year, but this year there are 15 students in the ensemble,” says director of chorale Dee Romines.

“The group sings a wide range of a capella (unaccompanied vocal music with vocal percussion added by Brandon Allen) in the style of Pentatonix or Glee. I believe HSU students will enjoy this program because they will know many of the pieces that UpBeat will be singing,” says Romines.

Although the group has existed for eight years, this was their first concert as an assemblage.

“They have proven to be immensely popular with students. Their concert is meant as a Final Exam Break. Just a chance to give students a break from studying and a chance to listen to some fun music,” says their faculty advisor Clell Wright.

Some of the best singers in HSU are involved in this group, leader Serayah ensures.

“Because we’re an a capella group, we literally make the music; from the solos to the harmonies and even to the accompaniment, we are the ones making it. I think that makes us even stronger musicians and forces us to be more sensitive to music and its multiple layers,” she says.

She continues, “We all have one thing in common, a love for music, and the fact that we come together twice a week to make music is so rewarding. We have never actually had a concert before. Our schedules are always insane, but we really wanted to do a concert for the first time to showcase all that we can do.”

“I made sure and picked songs that focused on not only on how we work as an ensemble but songs that show off a lot of our talented singers! I do hope that the debut of this concert will start a chain reaction of interest for our group, and the possibility of more concerts in the future,” says Peters.