Get ready to rock the Renaissance.

When the Catawba Madrigal Singers come to this year’s Renaissance Festival, they’ve got a few funky songs in store.

Though the a capella format of the singers may not sound anything like rock, the group has more than a few songs with a Renaissance rhythm, including the unique “A Dear White Hen.”

“It’s a love song about a hen, believe it or not,”says Madrigal singer Ben Wheeler. It’s not a love song in the context of romance and glory, but a song that a family sings, declaring their love for their hen because it’s the hen that gives the family food with the precious eggs it lays. One line from the song, for example, goes, “When my dear white hen lays an egg for our meal, she sings with such zeal.”

And just when you think it’s a sappy song about a hen and the family’s love for its food, the Madrigals “break it down” and begin to cluck their way to the end.

The sound might create a Renaissance rendition of that crazy ’70’s dance the “funky chicken” for fans who want to relive their disco days.

The Madrigal singers will be performing “Hen” and other songs on Nov. 4 at the festival.

Wheeler, 22, a senior, and the rest of the Madrigals recently performed for the Governor’s Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Services, held Sept. 20 at Catawba College’s Keppel Auditorium.

Fortunately, many of the group’s members have done the show in the past. But for the two newest additions, the session proved to be pretty hectic.

“Fast-paced,” said junior Melanie Burton, “because we’ve had to learn this music and everybody else knows it.”Burton, along with sophomore Lyle Bass, are the only new additions to the Madrigals.

The group has only rehearsed together for this year’s festival and the governor’s meeting for a total of about three hours. But when they do get together, the Madrigals have plenty of attitude to go around.

With “A Dear White Hen,”which gets them clucking like chickens, to “Though Philomela,” a song about a girl that lost her love, they’re willing to give whatever kind of energy is required.

“Philomela” may sound like a sad song, but when the Madrigal singers put it on, it’s no tragedy.

“You have women on either side and men in the center, and the men act all tough and then the women put them in their place,”Wheeler explains with a laugh.

During the first part of the song, the group sings a “catch” to lead into the song. And that’s were the fun really begins.

“Ican not sing this catch, I shall laugh,” one group sings, with the second group retorting, “For shame, you little calf, don’t you laugh, don’t you laugh.”

With silly lines like that, they also point at the men, singing, “Look at his face, ha-ha-ha-ha.”

In defense, the men, including Wheeler with seniors Aaron Clark and Chris Morgan, first look hurt before puffing out their chests.

They try their best to look masculine, but it’s got to be a little tough when you’re wearing a Renaissance wardrobe and singing a lot of “fa-la-la’s.”

Thanks to the costumes provided by the college’s theatre department and the music itself, the singers are able to get into character.

“I just act like I’m from the Renaissance and try to act prissy,”said Jessica Schaub, a senior, adding with a laugh, “That’s just what Ithink of when Ihear ‘fa-la-la-la-la.’”

Organized by Rosemary Kinard, director of choral music at Catawba College, the Madrigal singers were first formed around 1991 and have been a part of the Renaissance Festival since it first began in Mecklenburg County.

“The very first year, Terry Foy, who plays Zilch the Torysteller, was in charge of entertainment and we were contacted about being one of the groups that perform for a day,”Kinard explained.

Ever since, the Madrigals have been selected each year to be one of the “artists for a day.”

When they perform on Nov. 4, the Madrigals will participate near one of the stages, working in four or five 30 minute sessions. And even when they’re not performing, they’ll be keeping up their Renaissance appearance.

“Oftentimes we’ll be part of the King’s Processional,”Kinard explained. “The Madrigals have been a part of that, and if anybody comes up to you on the grounds, you are expected to be in character.”

It’s something the Madrigals, including seniors Emily Ijames, Kathryne Stollerman, Karen Musselman and Kelly Tilton and Kimberly Butler, a junior, have enjoyed for the last couple of years. Most have been a part of the show since they were freshmen.

And if the shows they’ve performed in before are any indication ,the singers should be able to spin some pretty good stories for the festival fans.

“My freshman year, a senior named John Bromels wore a costume and a white wig with a white beard, and he had a walking staff,”Wheeler says. “One of the people who worked there took him as a wizard and asked him to bless his shop.”

“We put on this five-minute spiel, him calling to the gods and me being his wizard’s apprentice,” says Wheeler, who is also a theatre student at Catawba and considered this one of his “great performances.”

“It’s just a great experience because,” he says. “We perform for different people every time, and it’s a great atmosphere to perform the way we do.”

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The Catawba Madrigal Singers will perform Nov. 4 at the Renaissance Festival, which will be open weekends from Sept. 30 through Nov. 12 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information call (704) 896-5544 or (877) 896-5544. Or visit www.royalfaires.com .