Singing love songs to people is nothing new for Howard Lin.
Since joining Phi Mu Alpha, a men’s music fraternity, the UF advertising junior has been serenading students.
The fraternity has been giving the serenades for more than a decade as part of a Valentine’s Day tradition, said Lin, 20, the social chair of the fraternity. The boys will travel around campus and Gainesville to give the serenades, which cost $30. About 75 percent of the proceeds go to the fraternity’s Relay for Life team.
He said the reactions to the serenades vary. Some students love it, and some even cry tears of happiness. One time, a girl ran away, he said.
“She came out, got scared, ran on a bus and we ended up serenading her friend,” Lin said.
He said about 10 to 15 members will perform at once. The entire fraternity participates, and those practicing for a planned serenade will run through the song three times before performing.
“It slowly turns from fear and nervousness to energy and fun,” he said. “I absolutely love doing it.”
When performing the song “My Girl” by The Temptations, Lin said the group will break into dance.
“If you ever see it, you’ll know we definitely do not practice dancing,” he said.
If a crowd forms around the group when they perform on campus, the students will try to find someone to dance with, Lin said.
“It’s kind of like a free-for-all,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite parts.”
Kyle Tapley, a UF sustainability studies sophomore, said this is his first year singing serenades.
But he said he’s not scared to perform in front of an audience.
“I really like the experience of going out and singing for people,” the 19-year-old said. “I think that songs are a good way to show affection and give someone the message that you really care about them.”
He said he sings to make people smile.
“We serenaded my mom today and she cried,” he said Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the group surprised Savannah Wright, a UF family, youth and community science sophomore, while she was eating lunch in the Hub.
She said her friend asked the group to perform for her 20th birthday.
“It was a really good moment,” she said. “There’s no better feeling than having a ton of guys sing to you.”
She said a group of students surrounded her, taking pictures and videos on their phones. After the performance, she said she hugged everyone who sang for her.
“I’m just a hugging kind of person,” she said. “You can’t not hug someone that sings to you.”
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @k_newberg.
Cole Lundquist, a 30-year-old UF music education graduate student, serenades a student with his fraternity Phi Mu Alpha on Wednesday at the Hub. The group will travel campus and Gainesville to give the serenades, which cost $30, donating about 75 percent of the proceeds to charity.
