Chapter Fifty Eight: Pearls Coming Into Our Own

I love my quartet. I love singing with them. I love hanging out with them. I love that we are all truly the part we sing. Steph is a theory nut and music teacher, so hello baritone. Katie is the cute young blond with the high voice, so tenor in the house. Sabrina has this crystal-clear tone and scads of personality, my dear sweet lead. And I have more usable low notes than anyone else, am a harmony and rhythm nut, and think I'm the lead, so whats bass-ier than that.

What's been really great about over journey since our first contest is how well we are starting to gel on multiple levels. We've now been singing with each other long enough to know how everyone learns and what we need to "get" different things. We also found that its way more effective for us to sing for 45 minutes every week than a whole day once a month. We're starting to hit our rehearsal stride - learning what works for us.

After contest we decided to focus primarily on our uptune. We went through it to look for any notes that had migrated over time and to find places that were becoming easier to sing because our vocal production had improved. We found places to add in dynamic contrast and change the interpretation plan to make the song more our own. And we spent a lot of time dueting to really work on understanding how our parts fit with one another as well as to build confidence in singing them without all the other parts. The other great thing about all this duet work was again learning who really listens for what. Steph and Katie are the best at looking at the paper and telling you if you've sung a wrong note or not. Sabrina and I are great at listening for rhythms and interp. And all of us can catch each other when we fall out of producing our best sound or aren't matching up on our vowels.

For me the greatest part about all of the detail work we did on the uptune was that when we finally went to work on the ballad it was automatically singing at a higher level. All of the tuning our ears had been doing and working on better vocal production and breath support - it all transferred over. And yes there were still spots where we had to check for funny notes and we still had to really work out the interp plan, but we didn't have to go back to square one. It was so encouraging for us.

Next up for us is a very exciting spring. We have our first big gig singing at a wedding and contest two weeks later. Between the new a cappella arrangements for the wedding and continued work and coaching on the contest set we're going to be some very polished Pearls.

Fall Fun - Cultured Pearls at Steph's Bachelorette Party :)


Fall Fun - Cultured Pearls on Steph's Wedding Day

Chapter Two: Saratoga Soundtrack

Our original number hovered around 12 singers, 1 director. The first membership campaign was a four week singing class. The class was held on Mondays (through the continuing ed program at the local high school) when our weekly rehearsals would be, so all of our members attended. We learned about the anatomy of the voice, proper breathing & posture, what makes it barbershop. We listened to and watched DVD's of fantastic quartets known as Queens. We learned two tags & a song. The song was God Bless America complete with the super cool, but often unsung, opening verse. On the last night of the class we went around the high school and sang for the yoga class, the African drumming class, and anyone else who wanted to hear us ring! um, I mean sing! From this class we gained one or two new members, but most importantly we brought the entire group up to speed. We began to develop a common vocabulary and understanding that would serve us throughout our chorus life. The first song we worked on after the class was Overture! (curtain lights) - you know, the one BugsBunny sings. It's a really fun chart with a great section of "doo doo doo's" in the middle where an MC can break out and be all "Good Evening everyone we are the Saratoga Soundtrack Chorus! Have we got a show for you!" The only problem was the tag was finicky. Everyone knew their part, and could hold it. But even when it seemed like everything was in tune it didn't always come together right - luckily our talented director was also a talented arranger - she went to work on putting together something new.

In the life of a young chorus, putting together a sound administrative body is just as important as getting new members and learning new music. We decided that a Management Team system would be best to govern our little chorus because it required less people than a Board of Directors and included the Chorus Director in the mix. When all of the nominations, elections, and assignments were said and done our team was made up of:

Director: Nancy Faddegon
Team Leader: Jennifer Hunter
Financial Manager: Sally Larimer
Secretary: Alexis DePersia-Norelli (thats me!)

Corresponding Secretary: Barbara Castelli

Member Representative(& hostess of our meetings): Cheryl Springer

We started meeting bi-monthly to really get the ball rolling. We had to make sure that we had a membership plan so that we could get enough singers to charter (15 plus the director.) We needed our own logo - which we got by tapping into one of the talented women in our chorus who designed one. Next was making sure that the chorus became a sound financial institution. As a part of that we wanted to perform in the community (and when we could) get paid to do it - sing for our supper so to speak. We had to go through and edit/create our own standing rules. And of course we had to set dates for regional visits, those all important bench marks on the way to our final goal - becoming a fully charted chorus of Sweet Adelines International. [I would also like to note that I was voted onto the Management Team before I ever passed my audition into the chorus. This would only fly in a tiny prospective chorus, mind you. For the record, I passed my audition at the end of our first team meeting. And it was this one note I was having trouble with - the whole song had this octave jumps and the last time you jumped you had to flat the octave. I could sing it by myself, but it was a hell of a time doing it in the audition quartet. My real point being its just one of those fantastic anecdotes that can't go unwritten. The song by the way was Keep the Music Ringing.]

The regional faculty member who came to visit us was the lovely Ms. Sue Melvin. This was my first ever "coaching" experience. She had Nancy warm us up and then jumped in and tried some exercises with us. She was amazed at the quality with which we were singing! I was excited that she thought we sounded so good for such a new group, but not entirely surprised because Nancy always made sure that we sang well. But more importantly, she made sure that we knew what that meant and how to do it. From my very beginnings as a Sweet Adeline education was there. Yes singing is fun. Yes, harmonies are exciting. We sing! We dance! We wear matching outfits! But none of that matters if we are ruining these God given voices -doing it right is just as important as doing it at all.

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Does everyone remember their first ballad the way I do? I have this crazy nostalgia attached to mine. Every time I hear it sung, whether its a chorus or a quartet, whether I love their interp or not - it gives me goosebumps. Dancing this Dance, in the Wrong Romance "when I should be dancing with, (bass/tenor) dancing with only you." Uhhhh, I love it. I always used to think I was totally an uptune girl. I have a great sense of rhythm and I love to dance - bring on the uptunes! But man oh man was I wrong. There is nothing, and I mean no-thing like a good ballad. When you are totally lost in the message, the story of the song and all the harmonies glide right into place. Goosebumps in the extreme - its the greatest feeling ever. Learning and working on my first ballad with the Saratoga Soundtrack ladies was a big barbershop milestone for me.

That whole chorus was a milestone for me. For me, it set up what it means to be a Sweet Adeline. Its about singing together, well. Its about performing, sharing our gift and having fun. Its about education, competition and improvement. But its really about these women. These extraordinary women who share their lives with you week to week. Who cheer for your smallest successes, pray for you in your darkest hour, and who validate your life and your passion. Being a Sweet Adeline is about being the best woman I can be, for them and for myself, each and every day.