Harmony Rag Quartet of Nations Newsletter, Region 31 Sweet Adelines International Winter 2010
Sleepless in Seattle FVC do International! Susan Snedden and Audrey Tainsh
After the shock of winning the very close-fought 2009 Regional competition wore off, Forth Valley Chorus embarked on preparations for our trip to Seattle for our 87 competing members (including our 3 out-oftowners: Catherine McDonald and Elizabeth Ewing from Hillfoot Harmony and Alyson Chaney from Lace City).
The chorus had a busy 18 months fundraising- the final total came to over £30,000 from a range of fundraisers including our 2010 calendar, Italian cookery demonstrations/ dinner parties (take a bow Nadia!), singouts by a specially formed small group, “The Seattlites”, and a 10k run! Our costume team designed a glamorous new pink costume for us, which we all had a fun time sewing! We had a challenging and enjoyable array of coaching sessions from Gail Jencik, Sandy Marron, Debbie Cleveland and Glenn Chaney. We even found time to appear on Britain’s Got Talent and Radio Scotland! By the time we left for Seattle, we were as prepared as we could be. We had also done our homework on Seattle and were all kitted out with rain gear! As Forth Valley’s only previous trip to International was Reno in 1995, the vast majority of us had never been to International before and we weren’t sure what to expect. We set off for Seattle hoping to learn a lot, enjoy our performance on stage and possibly even
beat our seeding of 30th place! As we came into land at Seattle, two things caught our attention- it was a beautiful city and the sun was shining! In fact, it stayed sunny for almost the entire week. We spent the first couple of days sightseeing and getting over the jet lag. Particular highlights included a big group of
us going on the Seattle Duck Tour in an amphibious vehicle captained by Bob La Blah, splashing in and out of Seattle’s beautiful lakes, and singing “YMCA” and “Tequila” at the top of our lungs to bemused passers-by! Seattle is famous for coffee and salmon. So, it is fair to say that we had our share of both while we were visiting. What better place to try these delicacies than Pike Place market? The market is vibrant and colourful and a must for every photographer. Pioneer Square was also worth a look for being the
traditional, older, more bohemian part of the city. On Tuesday we had our first rehearsal. We were honoured to be visited by International President Cammi McKinlay, who had come to see some fellow Scots in action! After
that, 16 intrepid FVC members ventured out for a kayak tour on Portage Bay. The sunny skies and t-shirt weather contributed to this being a wonderful trip, though the post-kayaking Margaritas may have blurred the memories a bit! On Wednesday we had a busy schedule with two wonderful Region 31 quartets to support in the Quartet semifinals. Finesse and Eu4ia both gave magnificent performances, which really spurred us for the Chorus semi-finals the next day. We also had a very special final rehearsal with some impromptu coaching from Marge Bailey and Ida
Bilodeau. Before we knew it, the big day had arrived! We were performing 28th, so had plenty of time to get into our competition finery. When we arrived for our final rehearsal it quickly became apparent that we had certainly achieved a unit lookjust about everyone in the chorus had one of three identical hairstyles, courtesy of the hairpiece stall at Harmony Bazaar! The traffic pattern was much shorter than at Regional and within minutes of arriving at the Key Arena we were backstage ready to go! It was a great feeling being so far from home but seeing Scottish flags unfurling around the auditorium and hearing our supporters cheering for us. As always, the set went by in a complete blur, and it was difficult to judge how we had done, so we were absolutely delighted when we learned that we were 24th and had beaten our seeding by 6 places! We celebrated in the usual FVC style with a party, complete with a number of hilarious party pieces. A particular highlight was “Lulu’s back in Leith!” — a
very Edinburgh take on a barbershop classic! The rest of the week passed by in a whirlwind of shopping- (material and barber-style!). A particular highlight was the wonderful performance of Stockholm City Voices who were 7th overall, with only 37 members on stage. They delivered a beautiful, captivating set and were very inspiring to watch. Scottsdale were incredible to watch, and were very worthy champions. Overall, the Seattle experience was fantastic! We all enjoyed being away as a chorus– it was a real bonding experience and a good laugh! Having the benefit of a few days to prepare together brought a new energy and focus to our singing. We learned a huge amount from hearing and watching so many incredible choruses and quartets from around the world. We loved having our out-of-towners with us on this journey and we’re missing them already! It was an absolute privilege to represent Region 31 at International, and we very much hope we’ll get the opportunity to do it again someday. Throughout the run up to contest, our coach, Gail Jencik kept telling us how important it was that we deliver our best performance during our set stage time, reminding us frequently that, “It’s a lot of money for 6 minutes” and even made a t-shirt for David with the same message. Reflecting on it all afterwards I’m thinking of having my own t-shirt made. It’ll say, “It was worth all that money!”