Instead of rubbing on suntan lotion and lying on a sandy beach, campus singers are hitting the road and singing across the country over spring break.

Next week, about 15 members of the Dreamers of Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity are performing at high schools in Johnstown, Lehigh, Dubois and Allentown.

The tour acts as a fundraiser for the fraternity. Last year, the Dreamers raised more than $2,000, tour Director Michael Macartney said.

"We find places to perform through alumni and people who know us," he said. "We stay in Pennsylvania because the faraway places don't pay as well, and we can stay with members or brothers who graduated."

The tour also acts as a bonding experience for the singers, Macartney said.

"You learn about people as you go along," he said. "If you're in a car with someone for three hours, you got to talk about something."

After performing in Allentown, the Dreamers will give male high school singers performance tips during a workshop.

"This is the first time we've done a workshop," Macartney said. "We'll work on using the upper range of the male voice and being active while singing. In high school, a lot of people just stand around in a concert, so we'll work on loosening up and having fun on stage."

The group has done a tour for the last six years. On last year's tour, the most memorable moment was sleeping in cars along 23rd Street in Philadelphia, Macartney said.

"We sang at a festival in Drexel and went to a party afterwards," Macartney said. "We weren't in a condition to drive, so we just slept in our cars. Luckily, no police came along or anything."

Next week, 40 members of the Penn State Glee Club will sing a medley of cowboy songs in churches and colleges in Texas cities such as Dallas, Austin and Houston. At one stop, the group will perform in a hospital as part of a music therapy program.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the town of Austin," club President J. Michael Curci said. "I hear it's a big college town. I hope to see some tumbleweed while I'm there."

Since 1889, the Glee Club has performed a spring break tour every year, except two years during World War II. Last year, the group traveled to California, Curci said. "Last year, one of our members got to meet Bob Barker on The Price Is Right," Curci said. "He won $10,000 and a set of cookware."

Another memorable moment occurred when the group got lost in Oakland, Calif., Curci said.

"We stopped to ask these two biker guys for directions," Curci said. "They were dressed in spandex and leather. It was a pretty funny image to see our short director talking to these big bikers."

From Washington, D.C., to Jacksonville, Fla., Essence of Joy -- another Penn State performing group -- will perform African spirituals in high schools and churches along the entire East Coast. "We perform at different conventions, and many of our invitations come from people who see us perform and want to bring us to their area," group President Becca Ziegler said.

Performing with high schools is the most rewarding part of the tour, Ziegler said.

"Our group brings a lot of individualism to our performance," she said. "These students are so hungry for something real, and it's great to be a role model to the younger kids."

This year, 15 members of the Penn State Singing Lions planned on performing in Orlando, Fla. They canceled the tour after the University Park Allocations Committee failed to give them funding, Technical Director Ben Hammel said.