Skip to Content
  • Browse
  • Past Issues
  • Search

Arts and Letters

Wagner History

Wagner News

Inside Sports

Alumni Stories

Obituaries

Alumni Events

From the President

Feature Stories
Winter 2022
Winter 2021
Fall 2021
Summer 2019
Winter 2018–19
Summer 2018
Fall 2017
Summer 2017
Fall 2016
Winter 2015-16
Summer 2015
Fall 2014
Winter 2013-14
Summer 2013
Fall 2012
Summer 2012
Fall 2011
Summer 2011
Fall 2010
Summer 2010
Fall 2009
Summer 2009
Fall 2008
Summer 2008

Songfest: Then and Now

SHARE
PRINT
BACK TO TOP
Songfest: Then and Now
Julie Hassett image
Uncommon Lives: Julie Hassett ’08
22 Angelo Araimo for page
From the President

For almost 70 years, Songfest has been one of the biggest events on campus. What started as essentially a choral competition gradually changed into Songfest as we know it today, with student groups dancing to medleys of recorded popular music. — by Lisa Holland, Wagner College archivist

1950s

The first Songfest held in 1954 may have looked and sounded quite different from the Songfests of today, but the pride and enthusiasm of the competitors has remained the same throughout the many changes that have taken place

1960s

Billed as one of the biggest social events of the spring semester, the early competitions were strictly singing. Groups stood on risers dressed in formal attire and sang required songs such as “Greensleeves” for the women and “Once In Love with Amy” for the men. The groups also sang a song of their own choosing; in 1965, Kappa Sigma Alpha chose “Wagner Bells,” sung to the tune of “Silver Bells.” In those early competitions, groups were divided into trained and untrained voices.

09 Linda Dengel, Songfest 1962 queen copy
Songfest 1962 Queen Linda Dengel.
1961, no ID copy
Songfest 1961.

1970s

Lorraine McNeill-Popper ’78, a member of Alpha Tau Mu, recalls taking the competition very seriously, spending weeks choosing the right songs, rehearsing, shopping for the perfect fabric to make their gowns, and sewing those gowns late into the evening. The election of a Songfest Queen and Royal Court has been around since the beginning. Songfest 1975 was the first to have a King and a co-ed court, though it wasn’t until 1984 that a Songfest King became a regular part of the festivities.

Songfest 1978, Alpha Tau Mu (with Lorraine) copy
Alpha Tau Mu, including Lorraine McNeill-Popper ‘78, top row, third from the right. Songfest 1978.

1980s

The early 1980s saw a shift in the performances. Groups still focused their efforts on singing but started to incorporate costumes and a few dance moves into their numbers. A review of Songfest 1982 in the Wagnerian commends the sisters of Alpha Omicron Pi for “choreography that brought them off the risers and all over the stage, while still singing in beautiful harmony.” The coming years would see a complete transformation of the event.

Zeta Delta Alpha image
Zeta Delta Alpha, Songfest 1988.

1990s

By the early 1990s, Wagnerian coverage of Songfest began to mention dance routines as part of the competition. Songfests of late have, in fact, featured very little singing, with the focus on choreography, enthusiasm and creativity.

Groups now prepare 10-minute programs consisting of dancing to a medley of songs based on a particular theme chosen for that year. The Wagnerian said that many of the 1991 Songfest sets had energetic dance routines and elaborate choreography, words that can surely be used for all the competitions that have taken place since then.

2000s

Although the music has changed and dancing now takes center stage, performers still rehearse for weeks, and fliers promoting candidates for Songfest King and Queen can be found all over campus. Sidelined for a couple of years due to Covid, Songfest resumed again in April 2022 and continues to be a beloved Wagner tradition.

2022 Songfest image
Julianna Pritchett ‘22 donned a shark costume for Alpha Delta Pi’s 2022 salute to Katy Perry’s “California Gurls.”
Alpha Delta Pi’s theme for Songfest 2013: “We Can Change the World.”
Salman Saleem ’19 (foreground) with Nick O’Byrne ’21 M’22, Jack Graham ‘20 and Elias Aljunidi ’19 compete for Theta Chi in Songfest 2019.

 

Fall 2022

  • Arts and Letters
SHARE
PRINT
CLASS NOTES
OBITUARIES
CONTACT US

LATEST NEWS

image description

Pride Collection comes to Horrmann Library

The Horrmann Library is the home of a unique collection of over 2,000 titles on …

image description

Yuliya Johnson: Global Health Guardian

Alumna Yuliya Johnson helps keep her adopted country safe from pandemics, bioterrorism.
by Tim O’Bryhim

image description

Chris Cappelli: Global Health Guardian

If nothing happens, it means alumnus Chris Cappelli has done his job right.
by Tim O’Bryhim

image description

President Araimo makes Staten Island Power 100

City & State N.Y., a magazine dedicated to New York’s local and state politics and …

  • About the Magazine
  • Give to Wagner
  • Wagner Newsroom
  • Wagner Home
FOLLOW US

© 2025 All Rights Reserved