JANUARY 2007

ARTICLES for the ADD-A-LINE

Queen Charlotte Chorus

FROM BUCKEYE TO THE BILTMORE!

Karen Long

The last half of 2006 has been very exciting for the Queen Charlotte Chorus. In August, nearly two-thirds of our chorus traveled up I-77 from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Columbus, Ohio, to participate in the Buckeye Competition. Putting on a skit package charading as a chorus of elderly women vying for Dr. Arms’ attention was both fun and funny. Our versatile director, Cindy Shook, played Dr. Arms in scrubs and a short wig. It was easy to incorporate chorus member, Kristi Conner, with her wheelchair due to a broken leg into the front row choreography, while two others with walkers, Vickey Collum and Susan Wells, almost stole the show. We enjoyed sharing the stage with both men and women’s choruses from across the country, but the highlight of the weekend for many of us was the 10-hour bus trip where we had a chance to eat, sleep, chat, and sing with each other as never before!

After returning home, intense rehearsals resumed as we prepared for a very successful show on the 23rd of September called “This is OUR Life”, highlighting routine events in the life of a Sweet Adeline. As soon as that was over, preparations began for our Second Annual A Cappella Christmas Show on December 9 with Charlotte’s men’s barbershop chorus, the Gold Standard Chorus (pictured below). Our finale in the Christmas show, an 8-part rendition of “O Holy Night,” directed by Queen Charlotte Director Cindy Shook, wowed the audience.

Local churches and malls were the sites of several other holiday performances, some with the entire chorus singing, some with a smaller group of chorus members, known as the Extension Chords, singing. Our final performances for the year (three in one evening!) were on December 30, 2006 in Ashville, NC. It was a spectacular end to the year, combining our beautiful harmony with the lights and glamour of the Biltmore Mansion.

Prospective Star City Sounds Chorus

Alice, Amanda, Brenda, Gina, Joyce, Laura, Limin, Susan, Tina, Wendy

Hello everyone! The Prospective Star City Sounds Chorus of Roanoke, Virginia began meeting in September. We started with five women and have doubled in size to ten. Four of us have barbershop backgrounds and the other women are new to this type of music. We meet on Thursday nights at the Calvary Memorial Church in Roanoke and are having a wonderful time singing and learning the art of four part harmony. After our holiday break we began working on new songs and preparing for the visits of new singers.

Our prospective chorus feels fortunate to have all voice parts in place: two tenors, three leads, two baritones and two basses. Certified Director, Joyce Beliveau, says, “To start with such a talented group of singers, covering all voice parts, is like being given a gift. We are all excited about the future of this prospective chorus.” Bass, Alice Duehl, loves this new hobby she has undertaken. “Joyce is such a great director – she is so encouraging and enthusiastic. She’s part of the reason I want to come to chorus every week.”

We are all aware of the effort it will take to get this new Sweet Adeline Chorus off the ground. We have our track shoes on!!

Southern Harmony Chorus

By

Sandi Winter

Our fall started at a fast pace. Since we were the host chorus for FallFest we were busy crafting right up to the last moment for our Ways and Means table. We appreciate having the opportunity to host FallFest and we love performing for the region. The faculty was great and we came home with more musical knowledge but very tired!

We decided to try a new approach to our Christmas season by having a guest program starting in October. Eleven ladies came and learned several Christmas songs. Then at our three Christmas performances our guests were included in the second half. The program was a big hit and hopefully several of our guests will be ready to become members this year! It certainly was fun having a “larger” chorus. Our new year is already looking full with two retreats planned before contest in April.

Southern Yankees

Debbie, Lorrie, Judy and Loretta

Viva Las Vegas! Wow did we have a ball!! Wish you all could have been there. From the sounds of it, many, many of you were with us via the web cast. We could feel the love from those of you in the audience and those of you watching on the web. And to see all of you waiting for us backstage when we finished still gives us the chills!

We sang our hearts out and tied for 29th, but the sound score broke the tie (darn!) and we were 30th. We brought our score up by 110 points since the last time we were at International two years ago and moved up 10 spots. So all in all we were pleased and hope you all were.

Thank you again for helping to get us to Las Vegas financially and otherwise. Thank you for supporting all our fundraisers. Many thanks to our choruses, Queen Charlotte and Foothills Harmony who made us feel like "Queens”. The dinner at the Stratosphere with Queen Charlotte was awesome!

Once back home we had several performances in the area and also performed on the Greenville in Harmony Annual Show and the Queen Charlotte Christmas show. We are looking forward to the Sandhills Harmony show and the New Bern Men's Show.

And of course we will be working hard for Regional Competition in April. See you all there!

“Close Chorders”

Kay Stone

Three of us were in the Blue Chorus at Music Camp 2005, which was the auspicious beginning of our quartet. After camp, we obtained permission from Lorraine Rochefort to sing her arrangement of our Blue Chorus song, “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” We have since added a number of songs to our repertoire, including two Christmas songs, one of which was arranged by our bass, Joan Smith.

We are all members of the newly chartered chorus, Sandhills Harmony. The chorus will be presenting it’s first annual show in March of 2007, for which the Close Chorders will be learning two new songs to fit in with the “Broadway” theme.

At Music Camp 2006, we had our first coaching session with the fabulous Susan Martin. If there are any quartets who have not received a coaching session, we strongly recommend it. It is worth very penny! The Close Chorders were also fortunate to win a beautiful “goody” basket with many, many wonderful gifts (times four) at Music Camp 2006, which included a one-hour coaching session with Mike Gabriella at Fall Fest.

We are currently searching for costumes for our quartet, which is not as easy as we anticipated. So far, we have shoes, earrings and slacks! No, we will not perform without tops!

Quartet singing is a lot of work, but the fun we have at our rehearsals and the joy we see in the faces of our audiences make it all worthwhile.

“Close Chorders:” Sue Myers, tenor; Kay Stone, Lead; Sue Joseph, baritone and Joan Smith, bass.

A DIRECTOR’S RESOLUTIONS

Joan Henderson

Directors’ Coordinator

I’m not one who generally makes New Year’s resolutions but the beginning of this year was fairly explosive for me in that I’m leaving my chosen career field after 28 years. In light of the changes in my personal life, I have been thinking about my “passionate life goals.” Because being a Director and the Directors’ Coordinator are passions that help shape my life’s goals, I thought I’d make some Director Resolutions. I bet your Director has a similar list in his/her head, regardless of whether they call them “Resolutions” or not. So here goes:

Keep the fun in chorus life. Don’t get so involved with the technical that joy, accomplishment and laughter disappear.
Always demonstrate the warmth, friendship and support that highlight the chorus as an organization that other women want to join.
Strive for quality all the time. Challenge the chorus to be the very best it can be, every single rehearsal night.
Explore music that’s not familiar to me – choose music that spans time and that will appeal to varying ages of our chorus members.
Recognize that each woman in the chorus is a star. Stars don’t just appear suddenly when we choose them to be noticed at Music Camp. Give your members credit, kudos and praise throughout the year.
Let other chorus members fulfill their responsibilities in being Committee Chairs, Board/Team members, etc. The Director’s job is big enough that sharing the wealth of responsibility is the only way to survive.
Set goals and keep your eyes on them. Get the chorus’ input on who you are as a chorus, where you’re headed and what you want to become. Then figure out ways to achieve your goals and become your dreams.
Maintain your self-control. Without laughing, discuss the benefits of an all-in-one with a 23-year old triathlon competitor. Smile gamely as you apply your own eyelash adhesive (it’s really just re-labeled Gorilla Glue)! Vehemently, but sweetly, refuse to wear any costume that has a bow, bustle or any other butt ornament!
Remember that singing, friendship and education, the cornerstones of Sweet Adelines, are why each of us joined the organization and should always be our top priority.

Happy New Year to all of you.

GREAT NEW YEAR

Susan Testa

Education Coordinator

Wow! Have we got an exciting year planned for education in Region 14.

The year is kicking off January 19-20 with CU in VA. With excellent faculty Dixie Dahlke and Pat Leveille, we will revisit and reinforce the

all-important basics of vocal production. Now who doesn’t need to sing better?!?

June 21-24: Our summer music camp is next on the calendar with the ever fabulous Karen, Debbie, Jeannie and Nancy: The BUZZ! At our new location at Radford University in Radford, Virginia, we can look forward to newer facilities, better food, and a shorter drive for the Virginia folks. We’ve got a great class schedule planned with something for everyone and The BUZZ! for our Saturday night show. Don’t miss out!

August 24-26: In August, we’ve got our own Rita Hull as faculty for a workshop for administrative leaders. Choruses, please consider funding a couple of your administrative leaders (whether president and treasurer or team coordinator and finance coordinator or some other combination) to this important workshop. Join us in Charlotte, NC for a great weekend of team building, making the most of change, dealing with problem members, goal setting and long range planning.

October 26-28: Rounding out a fun-filled year will be FallFEST in October. We are bringing in Toula Oberlies from International’s YWIH program to show music and admin leaders the nuts and bolts of getting your local YWIH program off the ground. We will also be featuring a showcase of our stellar regional faculty doing what they do best. Hope we’ll see you there!

LUCKY STARS

Jackie Botash

Chair, Regional Competition

Now that the holidays have come and gone (boy, that was fast!), we are all getting back on track with rehearsals, preparing for coaching sessions, and readjusting seams and hemlines in anticipation of SAI’s most wonderful time of the year--REGIONAL COMPETITION!

I'm looking forward to going back to the Twin City Quarter, where every one of you LUCKY STARS will present your best in six minutes or less on the big stage! The Marriott and Embassy Suites and their staffs are looking forward to our arrival and all of the beautiful music we make.

As you make notes of what to do, when to do it, how to do it, etc., make note of this wonderful addition: During both the quartet and chorus competition, concession stands at the Benton Center will be open for our dining pleasure! Hours of operation on Friday will be 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. and Saturday 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. What this means is that you don't have to go hours on end without grabbing a bottle of water or a soft drink, picking up a sandwich or snack because you can buy it right on sight! For those of us who arrive on Friday just in time to see the quartet contest, this is a great convenience for us. We will have one less thing to worry about. Thanks to Pat Wylie, our Facilities Coordinator, for coordinating this opportunity.

Being housed in either the Marriot or Embassy Suites means we don't have to go outside for either of the competition sessions or the Show of Champions, so hair and costumes will be as fresh on stage as they were when you first put them on! It can't be emphasized enough how fortunate we are to have hotels and a competition arena under one roof--thank our LUCKY STARS!

Stay tuned to e-mail, the website, and good old fashion U.S. mail for continued updates on this spring's contest. You can bet your LUCKY STARS this year will again offer terrific harmony and fellowship, all because of YOU!