Spontaneity and a love for folk music cause students to gather occasionally for live music nights featuring fiddles, mandolins, and a chorus of voices.  

Two years ago, students began hosting folk music nights at Burt, an off-campus house. Seniors Helen Schlueter, Marie-Therese Romanos, Rosemary Surdyke, junior Gregory Whalen and Leo Schlueter ’22 started the tradition, which now happens at the off-campus house West Wing. 

According to Helen Schlueter, the music nights feature a mixture of songs from folk, bluegrass, and other related genres. Students sing together as one group, in small groups, or perform solos around a fire.

“One of the things I love about Hillsdale is the music culture that we have here, and I love the fact that there are so many different students who are able to join us with so many different musical projects,” she said.  

With a background in piano and violin, Schlueter also performs bluegrass music with her family members, including her brother sophomore Emil Schlueter. 

Though folk and bluegrass are similar genres, they are distinct in cultural origin and have different focuses, according to Emil Schlueter. 

“Bluegrass definitely features a certain playing style, whereas folk is much more lyric-centered,” he said. “A lot of bluegrass songs, even if they do concern serious things, are pretty lighthearted.”

He said genres like folk and bluegrass evolve as different groups and artists add their own style to them over the years.

“A lot of this music is grassroots, so it’s more conducive to throwing other instruments and voices in, and you can be creative with it, whereas with pop, I think it’s a lot more rigid,” Schlueter said. 

Helen Schlueter agreed and said that folk music is flexible.

“I don’t think we’ve ever played a folk song exactly the same,” she said. “It’s very amenable to people throwing in whatever basic talents they have, and it has a lot of bandwidth for incorporating a lot of different skill levels and musical instruments in one giant project.”

Surdyke, one of the music night founders, said she listened to bluegrass in high school, but her friends at Hillsdale first exposed her to folk music.

“With folk music there’s so much improv and freedom,” Surdyke said. “With there being so many people who are so talented here, it’s appealing because you might not be trained in it, but if you know how to play your instrument and want to play with friends, this genre of music gives you the freedom to do that.”

Some favorite songs for students who attend music nights include “Man of Constant Sorrow,” “Parting Glass,” and “Red is the Rose.” Students improvise the music, bringing their guitars, violins, banjos, and mandolins, with singers adding harmonies wherever fitting. 

“The more instruments you have, the better,” Surdyke said. “We can have six guitars, and it still sounds beautiful instead of overwhelming. We all have different styles of playing guitar, but when we all play together it works.” 

Some of the popular folk groups that Hillsdale students enjoy and cover are The Turnpike Troubadours, the Wailin’ Jennys, Chatham Rabbits, The Great Whiskey Project, The SteelDrivers, and Mandolin Orange.

Sophomore Brian Curtin attends music nights and has performed his banjo at the Grotto, the off-campus house for St. Anthony Catholic Church’s student ministry. Curtin started playing Irish folk music as a child, starting with the tin whistle and then learning the banjo when he was in the seventh grade. 

Curtin said the simplicity of folk music is a break from the complex classical music he also performs. 

“You could spend hours trying to learn one measure of classical music on the piano, but then you could spend an hour learning an entire folk tune,” Curtin said. “Classical music is usually more beautiful and dramatic, and then folk music is more vibrant, lively, and fun.”

Helen Schlueter said she is grateful to bond with students over their shared love of music. 

“Being able to get away from the intellectual sphere and, as a group, joining in one giant huzzah of music has been so much fun and such a blessing,” she said. “By word of mouth, this growing network of people bringing all of their great well-rounded, odd talents into one mesh pot as music night has been special.”