Countdown to 75 years
LOOKING FORWARD: 2010-2019 The bond we share comes from the way we feel when we sing, and singing is part of who we are. We sing beautiful music, and we change the world. International President Renée Porzel, The Pitch Pipe (July 2013) The stories in this article are gleaned from past issues of The Pitch Pipe magazine. All issues can be found in the archives at Sweet Adelines International Headquarters in Tulsa, Okla.
Open Division: In 2013, Sweet Adelines announced the inaugural Open Division competition for choruses and quartets, in which contestants would receive a level score but not a ranking. During its first two seasons (2014 and 2015), 103 choruses and 72 quartets chose to compete in Open Division. At the first Open Division contest, Fandango quartet (#26), with their Christmas in May package, received the highest level score overall in the Entertainment Package for quartets, as well as the Audience Choice Award. In 2015, Sweet Adelines instituted the Entertainment Package for the finals in international competition. Choruses and quartets now perform one contest song for adjudication (100 points per judge), as well as an adjudicated entertainment package for 100 points per judge. The cumulative score of the semi-finals and finals (a possible total of 3200 points) determines the overall winners. Prior to 2015, contestants in the finals performed two contest songs, and each judge awarded up to 10 bonus points based on their own personal opinion of the performance.
In 1966, the exclusionary wording was removed. Lana Clowes, a Sweet Adeline from Canada, was one of the singers who was denied membership when the bylaws changed. At the 2016 International Convention in Las Vegas, Nev. (USA), thenPresident Paula Davis presented Lana with a posthumous lifetime membership and memorial plaque, which were accepted by her daughter, Valerie Clowes, assistant director of Ontario Heartland Chorus. “For Lana and all the unknown others we didn’t have the privilege to know, we today acknowledge our past and embrace our future as a symbol of real change and hope. We rededicate our efforts to welcome all women who love to sing, regardless of age, race, nationality, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression, physical ability, socio-economic class, or creed,” said Paula.
Valerie Clowes accepts posthumous honors for her mother, Lana Clowes, from then-International President Paula Davis at the 2016 International Convention in Las Vegas, Nev. (USA).
Fandango Quartet recieved the highest level score in the first International Open Division quartet contest in 2014.
Acknowledging History: In 2016, Sweet Adelines announced initiatives to acknowledge and address a painful time in our history. In 1958, Sweet Adelines changed our bylaws’ wording to exclude women of color from the organization. In protest, some Sweet Adelines chapters left the organization to form Harmony Incorporated, an organization which continues to thrive today.
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| October 2020
Hurricane Sandy: Just as Sweet Adelines were leaving for the 2012 International Convention in Denver, Colo. (USA), Hurricane Sandy made landfall in the northeastern United States after several days of devastation in the Caribbean Sea. Sweet Adelines lost homes and, tragically, a member of Liberty Oak Chorus lost two family members. Several choruses went onstage without all of their members, and competition schedules were rearranged to accommodate altered travel plans. East Coast Style quartet from Region #15 was forced to withdraw when one of their members could not make it on time. When she arrived later in the week, the quartet was invited to mic test for the Rising Star competition, which was held at the international convention that year.
