Senior French major Stephanie Murdock has taken involvement to the next level with her formation of Between the Lines, Geneseo's newest a cappella group.
According to Murdock, the idea for the coed project was sparked by her experience with musical performing groups on campus and her conviction to prevent Geneseo's singing talent from being limited by a lack of organizations to join.
"[I was a] member of MTC for four semesters - freshman and sophomore years," Murdock stated. After spending her junior year abroad in France, she returned to Geneseo but did not try out for Musical Theater Club. It didn't take long, though, for her to realize that she, "wanted that experience," of performing onstage again.
"I tried out for other a cappellas in the past," she said. "Auditions were really hard to hold though because of the spaces [available in the groups]."
After deciding to form a more accessible a cappella organization, Murdock created a Facebook group for Between the Lines and planned auditions, which were held on Nov. 11. "I experienced first-hand how difficult it is holding auditions. Even with so much space [to be filled in the group] we had to make cuts."
Murdock said that the Between the Lines' genre of music will, "remain to be seen, but we're hoping to find a niche that's unique."
Murdock is also relying on the group's founding members to determine the style Between the Lines will have in the future. "We'll have to build a repertoire of music before we can start planning shows for next semester," she said.
Though Murdock's major is not related to singing and she has never performed with a Geneseo a cappella group before, she said that she hopes to bring leadership to the group.
Murdock described her upcoming goals for the group now that auditions are over. "The first project is to just get our name out there by maybe doing some holiday caroling around Geneseo."
Though Between the Lines will not start performing until Murdock's last semester at Geneseo, she feels that she will be leaving the group in capable hands. Besides Murdock, who is president, the current E-board includes junior Vicki Walsh (vice president), freshman Brianne Stiso (alternate vice president), senior Angelis Duarte (secretary) and junior Alicia Hardenberg (alternate secretary).
According to Murdock, "This e-board has been really instrumental in getting the group up and running. I couldn't have gotten this far without them."
Murdock commented that despite the great amount of student interest in Between the Lines, the group is still looking for two or three additional male members. A second round of auditions will be held soon to fill these spots.