New Member Series — The First Year
My First Year as a Sweet Adeline

By Sandra Polett, Region 19, Millstone Valley Chorus

It’s 7:00 p.m. There are dishes in the sink, homework papers and lunch boxes strewn across the countertops and my eight-year-old daughter is standing in the middle of the kitchen hair dripping wet, comb in hand. In 30 minutes I need to be in Princeton, a 50-minute drive away, for chorus practice. Once again I wonder, “What in the world ever made me think I could do this?”

But somehow I pull it off. Every Monday night, barring a really big crisis, I am on the risers with 59 other women sharing the joy of music. Years before I had seen a Sweet Adelines group performing at a shopping mall near my home in Philadelphia. It looked like so much fun that I told myself right then and there that “some day” I was going to do that. Years went by, at least 10, probably closer to 15. Things got in the way — a career, a new baby, a job transfer for my husband and the subsequent move to a new home in an unfamiliar state.

I don’t know what it was that made me finally look up the Sweet Adelines Web site on the Internet and find a local chapter. I don’t know what, after all those years, made me pick up the phone that particular day and call the contact number on the screen. The woman who returned my call was warm and bubbly and urged me to meet her group in a local shopping center parking lot for their carpool to the next practice.

I went to practice and realized I was clearly in over my head. I had no previous formal musical training, I had not sung since I was in junior high school and I could not read music. This group had many accomplished musicians and I was intimidated by both their abilities and the rapidly growing repertoire. There was just too much to learn when you are starting from nothing. And yet, it was fun.

The second practice I attended was Monday night, September 10, 2001. The next morning, on a crystal clear day, I stood in my suburban New Jersey backyard looking out at the billowing smoke that was the city of New York. Suddenly the idea of making time to follow your passion took on a new level of importance. And so, I kept going back week after week although I adamantly refused to audition for membership. My carpool buddies were my life raft. New terms were coming at me faster than I could absorb them. What is a diphthong? What does he mean by percussive? What does coda mean? In junior high we had alto, mezzo and soprano. How does that translate into bass, lead, tenor and bari? And you want me to do what? To remember choreography in addition to all those words and notes? Coordination was not a strong suit when I was 12, much less in my mid-40s. Those first few weeks I was so tired on Tuesday mornings after practice I couldn’t function. Obviously this was a mistake. I needed to bail out of this harebrained endeavor. When I found out what “taping” meant that was just the last straw. No way could I publicly humiliate myself like that. Every week I silently swore that it would be my last. How could I add anything to such a group?

But every week I continued to show up. And every week it became the tiniest bit easier. The progress wasalmost imperceptible. I still cringed every time the director even looked at my side of the chorus. It’s me I thought; I know it’s me. I’ve done something horribly wrong and he’s heard it. At long last, I finally auditioned and was inducted into the group surrounded by smiling faces and a chorus of “Sweet Adeline.”

Then came the chapter show and the regional contest in Harrisburg and again I was painfully aware of what a “greenhorn” I was. False eyelashes? You’ve got to be kidding! And who is Eileen? I need to get in touch with her about something called a “walk around” outfit?

It’s been a full year now. I am still struggling, but every time I pass a taping it is a proud victory. When we perform it is such fun that the nerves melt away and the music is bigger than my insecurities. Why did I stick with it? Myriad reasons I guess. I could not single one out. The friendship the women showed me in making me one of their own? The excitement of mastering something I thought I never could? The self-satisfaction in knowing that I have made the effort it took to not let “some day” pass me by? Or maybe it was the look on my daughter’s face and the genuine sparkle in her eyes that night after seeing her mom in her very first chapter show all dressed up performing on stage. It was as if I were Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys and NSync all rolled into one standing in front of her. And for that moment, yes, I would do it all over again.

New Member Terminology

Afterglow
Cast party after a show or performance.

All-in-One
A one-piece undergarment sometimes worn under our costumes (for torture and difficult trips to the restroom!)

“Break a Leg!”
Said to wish someone “Good Luck” in a performance.

Bubbling (or trilling)
A vocal exercise used to relax the lips, jaw, and throat, to open resonators, and to produce a resonant sound.

Chest voice (or chest register)
Singing using the lower range of the voice, which resonates primarily in the chest, although including the upper resonators.

Chord worship
Reveling in the sound of a ringing chord, usually to the detriment of forward motion and entertainment of the audience!

Chorus breathing
Taking a quick breath in other than a planned breathing place so as not to run out of air at the end of the phrase. Chorus breathing is done by leaving out a word or syllable, or breathing while holding the vowel of a word. It is NOT done between words (which causes phrases to be out-of-sync.)

Coning
The art of adjusting the sound to maintain the proper balance of a barbershop chord, with the broadest strength at the bottom of the chord and the lightest on the top.

Diphthong
Two vowel sounds sung on one note, with greatest stress on the first vowel. For example, the vowel in “day” is actually “eh,” followed by “ee.”

Double
Two parts on the same note — sometimes incorrect when one part is singing a wrong note that’s the same note sung by another part. Or sometimes correct when it’s written as the same note sung an octave apart, or in unison by two parts.

Downstage
Toward the front of the stage (nearest to the audience).

Dynamic contrast
Planned volume changes to enhance the performance of a song.

Fanny rails
The railings attached to the top row of the risers. (“Fanny” in American English refers to your bum!)

Forward motion
Sense of lyrical flow, with vocal line movement toward something in anticipation, especially in a ballad.

Hang Ten (or “toe-ing” the risers)
Standing forward to the front edge of the risers, with your outside foot downstage.

Head voice (or Head register)
Singing using the upper range of the voice.

Inside Smile
Lifting of the soft palate.

Interval
The distance between two notes.

Intro. (or the Edge)
The beginning of the song.

Key
Letter name of the note on the scale in which a song is written. This note is blown on the pitch pipe.

Lifted phrase ending
To have enough air at the end of the phrase to keep the tone fully supported and energized so as to not let the phrase just die out.

Mask
The facial muscles under the eyes into the temple, around the nose, in the lip area, and from the temples down to the chin.

Octave
An interval of an 8th, with the lower and upper notes having the same letter name.

“Off Paper”
Being able to sing your part without using the sheet music.

Onion skins
The small tuning adjustments needed for locking a chord. These are a laymen’s term for the degrees of tuning sound vibrations.

Overtone
Unsung tone heard above the highest tone of a properly balanced and matched chord.

Physical warm-ups
Warming up the body to provide a suitable environment for the singing mechanism to operate and to release tension which would interfere with vocal freedom.

Pick-up
A note or series of notes leading into the first full chord of a phrase.

Pitch Pipe
The musical instrument used to help singers begin in the same key. It may be round and be manually blown by someone on the risers, or sometimes electronic pipes are used. The Pitch Pipe is also the name of the quarterly magazine published by Sweet Adelines International.

Progression
A sequence of chords.

Quartet Etiquette
Displaying courtesy by not singing along with a foursome that is singing — unless you are asked to join in.

Queens of Harmony
The unofficial name given to International quartet champions.

Resonators
Any of the cavities or parts of the vocal tract that serve to reinforce and enrich the phonated tones of the singing voice.

Ringing chords
When a barbershop chord is perfectly balanced and in tune, overtones are produced and an exciting “ringing” sound results.

Ripple (or wave)
A choreography move that starts on one side of the risers and travels to the other side (and sometimes back again).

Soft palate
The soft, squishy area on the roof of your mouth near the back (behind the hard palate).

Swipe
A slide from one note to another, sung on one word or syllable, which creates harmonic tension then resolution.

Tag
The section at the end of the song that has been added by the arranger to give a sense of completeness. It’s the barbershop equivalent of a Coda.

Tuning
Refers to the ability to sing both “in key” and “on pitch.”

Unison
Two or more parts singing the same note.

Vibrato
A wavering in the vocal tone that keeps chords from locking and ringing.

Vocal warm-ups
Getting the voice ready to sing, and our ears listening to each other.

Woodshedding
The art of singing barbershop harmony “by ear” without a written musical arrangement.

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