Truly one of the best times of my life. I joined the chorus in July of 1978 just three short months before the chorus went to International competition in Los Angeles. I remember how excited I was but also how confused I felt because I had never experienced anything like this in my life. It was all new but I just knew I loved being one of the “glamor” girls of Sweet Adelines…that is how we were known in those days. The contest was one of the last times our beloved director, Marvin Yerkey, stood in front of the chorus. We lost Marv in 1980 after a short illness.
I experienced ritual by fire when we went on retreat before contest and stood on the risers for hours and hours – I was so tired when I got home, I had to crawl up the driveway.
The day of the competition came and I sat on the bus next to Marvin as we rode to the contest. He was so nervous that he almost jumped out of his own skin. We always found ways to take the edge off and I recall that some of our choreography included “chorus kicks” which Marv wanted us to do “down and dirty” – someone had the bright idea of us pinning tassels on our t-shirts under our jackets and when Marv motioned to do it “down and dirty” – we opened our jackets and made the tassels move. I can still see the look on his face…we all had a great laugh!
San Diego was the 1st chorus to sing and we were awesome…unfortunately, before we took the stage, there were some mis-communications among the stage crew and the judges and apparently there was no “sound check” before we sang…the judges could not hear us. As is customary before a contest, we had not eaten anything or had anything cold to drink…you girls know the drill. After we sang, we all got drinks and snacks, took our seats in the audience only to be informed that we would have sing a 2nd time….we were called backstage where we sat through the entire second half of the contest and then we took the stage again to perform our contest package for the 2nd time. It was hard to bring back the “edge” and our second performance, although wonderful, did not earn us the 1st place medal as we had hoped….we were the 2nd place chorus but still proud. Since I had never performed in such a large venue, when the curtain opened, it was as if I was paralyzed, I opened my mouth and no sound came out. The chorus was about 2 bars into the song before I found my voice. But, what a rush – wow, I can still feel the excitement and it is something I will never forget. After the Show of Champions on Saturday night, many people came up to his and mentioned that we may not have won the contest but we sure won the show.
Marvin was a wonderful and talented director…when he turned around and raised his hands – it was magic; he totally held the whole chorus in the palm of his hands and I consider myself fortunate to have been able to sing under his direction.
I cherish my time as a Sweet Adeline….I made many lovely friends, have treasured memories of contests, shows, hours and hours of rehearsal, feeling shivers up my spine when we hit a chord just right – it is hard to explain to anyone who has never experienced it and I would not trade my memories for anything in the world. I sang for 8 years but then moved to Escondido and had other family obligations which prevented me from continuing.
Sweet Adelines are special people and I am proud to have been a member of such an elite chorus and organization. For those that do remember me, I was Donna Shepard in those days (1978 to 1985) and I send love and best wishes to everyone, past and present.
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