Countdown to 75 years
1960-1969: A TIME FOR CHANGE “The world is changing, all around us, and what are you doing? With the crying need for help to understand this thing called the ‘generation gap,’ we as Sweet Adelines have an even greater responsibility to present ourselves as an ‘in’ group, and by the use of the word ‘IN,’ I mean we are capable also of changing with the times... —Mary LaMaster, director of the Melodeers Chorus (The Pitch Pipe, Summer 1969) 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. We are working to digitize them so in the future, you will be able to access them online.
Seeking True Harmony: The July 2018 issue of The Pitch Pipe includes several articles detailing the years 1957-1966, when Sweet Adelines excluded nonwhite members. In October 1965 (a year after the U.S. Civil Rights Act was passed), the IBOD removed the bylaw wording that excluded nonwhite members, effective May 1, 1966. Of course, change did not happen overnight. In 2016, fifty years later, President Paula Davis apologized for this period of exclusion. Today, the members of Sweet Adelines International are intentionally working to address our history and foster true inclusivity. Becoming Judges: The first all-SA judging panel appeared at the Region #10 competition in 1961, the same year the IBOD decided at their mid-year meeting to create the first Judging Manual. The first all-SA International Judging Panel appeared at the 1962 Convention in Toronto, Ont. (Canada), the same year that the new Judging Training Program introduced four categories: Music, Sound, Precision and Showmanship. That year, contributing editor of The Pitch Pipe Jean Van den Berg wrote, “It’s hardly news that our former judging program was out of gear with how we were hearing our music. This is the first major revision that actually reflects what we are trying to achieve in our musical effort.” She wrote of the new program, “It may still have bugs in it, as most new systems do, but there is definitely more dog than fleas in what we have now.” Education: Floyd “Pop” Connett was hired as the first Sweet Adelines Education Director in 1961. That year, he conducted the first of several Chorus Directors’ Schools. A participant quoted in the Aug. 1961 issue of The Pitch Pipe said, “Man, the hall did hop with Pop! We had so much fun we almost missed the fact that we also learned a great deal. The only thing we didn’t like about Pop’s visit was that we had to give him up so soon.” Sadly, the Sweet Adelines were to lose him just a few years later when he passed away unexpectedly in 1963. His teaching methods influenced a long legacy of Sweet Adelines education. An excerpt from a poem by Sweet Adelines member Betty Wroe of Fargo, N.D. (USA) hints at what he meant to Sweet Adelines: “Some men build with steel and iron, / To pave their way to fame; / He built a love of harmony— / A tribute to his name.”
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| July 2019
Toronto Saves the Day! (And Our House): In 1958, Nancy Bergman began the process of buying the first Sweet Adelines International Headquarters, a small house in Tulsa, Okla. (USA). At that year’s convention in Peoria, Ill. (USA), President Helen Seevers began her “Bucks for Bricks” campaign, promising to burn the mortgage at International Convention when the house was paid off. In 1962, at the Toronto, Ont. (Canada) convention, only $700 (USD) was lacking. Mary Boddington, chair of the convention, “stood between the American and Canadian flags to announce Toronto Chapter’s pledge to send whatever balance was needed following the close of the convention. It was then that the wisp of smoke from her hand was noticed as she burned the mortgage in effigy!” In just four years, our house had become fully our own. Our Building: By 1965, we were beginning to outgrow our house. The IBOD announced the purchase of a little over an acre of land in Tulsa, Okla. (USA) at their 1965 mid-year meeting, and on April 1, 1966, construction began on our new headquarters building. Located at the intersection of Route 66 and Interstate 44 for the convenience of traveling Sweet Adelines, the new building contained 5,300 square feet of office space plus a partial basement. The staff officially moved into the new building on Sept. 22, 1967.
SA Headquarters staff members (left to right) Norma Prophet, Nancy Bergman, Genie Campbell and Verna Lea Fowler are scooped up in an earth-moving machine during the building of the “new” headquarters in 1966.