A trio of Hermiston High School students are excited about singing and grooving to a song that hit the charts well before any of them were even born.

Give up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker), released on the 1975 album Mothership Connection by Parliament, is one of the songs in an upcoming concert performance with the Eastern Oregon University Music Department and Chamber Choir.

Its such a fun song, said senior Riley Mulvihill. You cant help but dance along with it.

Then & Now: Hit Shuffle, which has performances this weekend on the La Grande campus, is going on the road in the coming weeks with collaborative performances in Heppner, Hermiston and Hood River. The shows will serve as fundraisers for music programs at the area schools.

Mulvihill, along with juniors Beckie Wyse and Kaitlin Clayson, are looking forward to the opportunity to perform with college students especially combining singing and dancing.

Wyse is especially eager for the chance to perform a variety of genres and sounds.

There are so many different time eras. It will be so exciting to see it all mixed together, she said. The excitement of music is energizing.

The joint effort came about when first-year Hermiston music teacher Josh Rist sent emails to area colleges and universities. He was looking for opportunities to collaborate and to involve his students at the next level. Peter Wordelman, EOU music professor, responded and the two met for lunch.

Wordelman was interested in having his group perform one of Rists chorale compositions. After Rist guest conducted the performance, Wordelman offered up the idea of bringing his pop concert to Hermiston to serve as a fundraiser for the high schools music program. Rist jumped at the opportunity.

The title of the show Then & Now: Hit Shuffle plays on what a listener ends up hearing when they hit shuffle on an iPod. The tunes for the show range from the late 1940s to present.

Its music from all across the century, Rist said. Its a little bit of everything.

Rather than presenting the songs chronologically, the performance intermingles music from different decades. At times, songs that may not seem to go together are paired into a medley resulting in a strange mix like one would hear with an iPod shuffle.

Clayson expects the audience will be engaged with the performance.

I think the audience will get energized its a lot of high school and college students singing and dancing, she said. It will make them want to move, too.