seat-to-stage! An Opportunity to Perform with Hickory Tree Chorus

seat-to-stage! is an opportunity for women to get out of the audience and onto the stage as a performer with the award-winning Hickory Tree Chorus on their November 21 original show, Museum Mayhem. After completing a series of three, free classes participants may experience the joy of singing a chord-ringing, fun-filled popular uptune in front of an audience of friends and family.

Georgette Chrystal, baritone of three-time Sweet Adelines International Regional Champion Quartet Escape, will host a series of three, free classes teaching women singers one of four a cappella voice parts. The ability to read music is helpful but not required. Like Hickory Tree Chorus members, participants will be aided by learning CD’s and sheet music, as well as patient, personal guidance.

seat-to-stage! free classes will be held three nights only — October 7, 14, and 21, 7:30 pm, 570 Central Avenue, New Providence, NJ. Register with Membership Chair Dolly Power at 908-307-6367 or: members@hickorytreechorus.org. More information at www.hickorytreechorus.org

HickoryTree Chorus Honors 'Woman of Note'

Jeannette “Jeannie” Allen was named the year’s ‘Woman of Note’ by the Hickory Tree Chorus chapter of Sweet Adelines International in ceremonies held September 12 at the Sheraton Parsippany during the annual education weekend of the Greater New York Region of Sweet Adelines International. Each of the fifteen regional chapters honored a member who has inspired others by their contributions to the organization.

Allen has been a member of the New Providence-based Hickory Tree Chorus chapter since 1971. She has held the offices of Chapter President, Treasurer (for several terms) and Secretary and has also served on most chapter committees at one time or another, most notably as Business Manager for the Show Committee and currently as Chair of the Costume Committee. She is a former bass Section Leader and a current member of the Music Team.

Allen also serves the fifteen chapters of the Greater New York Region as Regional Management Team Finance Coordinator. She served three terms as the Regional Convention Committee’s Assistant Competition Coordinator and the last three years as Competition Coordinator, a position appointed annually by the Sweet Adelines International Board of Directors. In that capacity she coordinates the Region’s annual chorus and quartet competition and convention.

In her hometown of Florham Park, Jeannie is both Cantor and Lector at Holy Family Parish where she also sings soprano in the parish choir. She was a Girl Scout leader, softball coach and has worked on the Election Board. She and her husband, Ken, are cancer survivors and annually participate in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life programs.

She works as an Office Manager, a job she accepted when her employer agreed to allow her time for her Sweet Adelines commitments.

For more about the real women, singing real harmony, and having real fun with Hickory Tree Chorus visit hickorytreechorus.org

HTC Members Attend Regional Workshops - The Morris County Daily Record

Female barbershop singers converge in Parsippany

By MATT MANOCHIO • STAFF WRITER • September 14, 2009

PARSIPPANY — They took to the stage Sunday in the Parsippany Sheraton and belted out barbershop quartet-style singing. At times, they formed a kick line.

And not one of the performers was male.

These barbershoppers were members of area chapters of Sweet Adelines International, a worldwide organization of women singers dedicated to advancing the art of barbershop harmony singing.

Roughly 15 chorus chapters in the New York/New Jersey area, or Region 15, met at the hotel starting Friday for a weekend promoted with the slogan, "Real women. Real harmony. Real sound." About 200 people attended.

Women of all ages, many from Morris County, met to share stories, pass along tips and, most important, learn how to improve not just their singing, but performing chops.

"I love to sing. I sang all the way through school," Betty Clipman of Houston said before leading a workshop with the New Providence-based Hickory Tree Chorus.

She became a homemaker and "just missed the singing and the camaraderie of other women," she said. So she joined a local chapter of the Sweet Adelines and rose up the ranks to become an international board member. She flew in from Texas specifically to teach women how to improve their vocal and physical performances to better connect with audiences.

Lilas Schmidt and her daughter Carolyn Schmidt, both of Long Valley, and Carolyn's daughter Andrea Kahn, 23, of Brooklyn represented three generations of singing at Sunday's breakfast and workshop.

"I think it's really a great way for all of us to bond and a great creative outlet to relieve whatever stresses are going on in our lives," said Kahn, a Morris County native.

One of the Hickory Tree Chorus' newest members, Tina Petersen of Chatham Township, said joining has helped her battle against Lyme disease.

"I find the joy of singing with these women is wonderful medicine," she said. "It makes you feel good."

The local chapters compete against members within their region, and from there the winner goes on to an international competition. Scott Brannon, director of the Ridgewood-based Harmony Celebration Chorus, said his group won the regional contest and next year will compete in Seattle.

He said with the exception of the directors, all the singers are female.

Dana Dunlevy, a Hickory Tree Chorus member, said women who would like to join simply need to look up a chapter and attend a practice.

"They don't need formal musical training," said Dunlevy, of Florham Park. "If they can sing reasonably well, we can work with them."

Dunlevy said becoming proficient doesn't need to be an overnight process. She said sometimes it takes singers weeks to feel comfortable.

"We want them to be successful," Dunlevy said. "We want them to join."


Matt Manochio: 973-428-6627; mmanochi@gannett.com