Harmony Happens

 

Hooray! We did it!!!!

We, the members of Harmony Happens, finally built our level of confidence to a place where we felt prepared to audition our package in front of our chorus. Thank you, Sacramento Valley Chorus, for all the wonderful supportive comments you made about our performance. Now we feel ready to move on and make this a real working and active quartet.

 

Tenor: Mary Brookshire   Lead: Sue Booth   Bass: Joanie Williams  Baritone: Carol Collins

 

The members of Harmony Happens have been members of the Sweet Adeline organization for 121 years, collectively speaking. Three of us have sung in other quartets, some registered and some just for fun. For the the last three years we have sung together for the "once-a-year" Sacramento Valley Chorus Singing Valentine program using the name, Heart Stoppers. In February of 2010 we decided to become a registered quartet, but for a variety of reasons we didn't get serious about "quarteting". That changed in February 2011 and we started working toward our goal of auditioning. Now we have met that goal and will be moving onward and upward with our next list of goals. We hope to build our repertoire so that we can eventually go out and sing for the public in a variety of venues. Even though we have been Sweet Adelines for many years we still feel somewhat like Rookies in the area of quarteting.

 

 The members Harmony Happens reside in the communities of Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Sacramento and Shingle Springs. All are members of the Sacramento Valley Chorus.

 

Tenor, Mary Brookshire, has been a Sweet Adeline for 35 years, starting in Denver, Colorado with Sylvia Asbury and High Country Chorus. She had the opportunity to go to Int'l with them in 1978. (They placed 4th.) She has also been a member of the Camellia City Chorus (1979 till it closed) and the Sacramento Valley Chorus (2004 and counting). Mary also sang LEAD until about 1991 when she switched to TENOR. She competed with her first quartet, Silk & Magic, in 1994. She has been an active member in each of her choruses. Currently, she is also active on the Regional level as the HOW (Help Our Winners) chairperson.

 

Sue Booth, is the lead in Harmony Happens. She has been a Sweet Adeline for over 26 years. Her Sweet Adeline experience started with the Delta Chorus in Stockton (about 1962-1964). When she moved to Sacramento she sang with Camellia City Chorus for many years. She moved to SVC in 2004 when CCC closed. Her first experience as a registered quartet singer was with the quartet, Melody 'n Mischief.  Sue has been an active member of CCC and SVC and has been on the Region 12 Competition Steering Committee as Housing Coordinator for several years. She is really enjoying being part of this new quartet and improving her own individual skills.

 

Singing baritone is Carol Collins, who has been in Sweet Adelines since 1969 and has sung all parts except BASS. She sang LEAD for ten years. During that time she sang in a registered quartet called Moonglows. Carol has been very active in Region 12 and held many leadership roles. She currently serves as Boutique Coordinator. She was a member of Camellia City Chorus for over twenty years. In 1990 she transferred to Sacramento Valley Chorus and had the joy of competing on the International Stage in Salt Lake City, taking 5th place. Over the years she has held many chairman positions in her choruses. She is looking forward to singing with Harmony Happens and entertaining and sharing their joy of music.

 

Bass, Joanie Williams has been a Sweet Adeline for 18 years. She sang LEAD and BASS with Camelia City Chorus and then sang BASS with Voice of the Valley Chorus. Now she sings BASS with Sacramento Valley Chorus and loves it. This is her first experience with quarteting and she is having a ball!  She is looking forward to singing with Harmony Happens in public venues very soon!

 

 

The Singing Valentines program with the Sacramento Valley Chorus is great fun for it's quartets. We spend the day going from place to place surprising people with two songs, a box of candy, a flower and a special card requested by one of the recipent's loved ones. We have gone to classrooms, grocery stores, hospitals, private homes, restaurants and offices.

 

On February 14, 2011 Harmony Happens joined five other quartets that delivered Singing Valentines to recipients in the Sacramento Valley. The picture above was from one of those deliveries. We were pleased to sing for Dr. Ron Bell and his "senior" high school students.

 

Later we surprised a waitress at an Arden Park area restaurant. It was a gift from her husband, the manager of the restaurant, and her daughter and son. It was great fun for all.

            We also enjoyed singing for several other recipients in the the Arder Park area. 

 

Harmony Happens is a new quartet that is in the process of building a bigger repertoire. If you are interested in contacting us you may contact Sue Booth at sjhb@sbcglobal.net