- April 25, 2024
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Members enjoy camaraderie.
It’s a sisterhood bonded in music. That’s how Joy Feulner, assistant director, describes the Song of the Coast Chorus.
It’s a group of ladies who joined the chorus, a chapter of Sweet Adelines International, for the love of music, and have become friends and a support group for each other. Every Monday, they practice at Tomoka United Methodist Church, where they fill the hall with four-part harmony, along with a lot of laughter and camaraderie.
“Our group is small and we care deeply for one another,” said 20-year member Mary Ellen Stanchfield. “It’s our style. We’re a loving and caring group.”
They sing at a variety of locations throughout the year, including concerts at assisted living facilities and corporate or civic events. They get a lot of calls to sing romantic songs on Valentine’s Day, and they always perform Christmas concerts.
"We’ve sung in offices, street corners, even on a golf range,” Stanchfield said. “It’s fun.”
Either the full chorus or a quartet can be hired, depending on the needs of the client. A nonprofit group, they support four charities in the area: Domestic Abuse Council, Children’s Home Society, Ronald McDonald House and Hospice of Volusia.
Val Hoffman, a member who is a psychologist in Ormond Beach, said they are Sweet Adelines with the emphasis on “sweet.”
“They are the most wonderful women,” she said. “I enjoy the singing and the companionship.”
After some warm-ups at a recent practice session, they began to sing in the barbershop style and the room was filled with the pleasant sound of four-part harmony.
“If the chords line up, man you’ve got a nice sound,” Stanchfield said. “That’s really your goal, to ring some chords. It sounds really sweet and at the end people say, yeah, that really was good.”
It’s the music of the human voice, unaccompanied by instruments.
“Acapella is popular right now,” Stanchfield said. “You play a pitch pipe note and then burst forth in song. There’s something special about that. “
In a barbershop quartet, each person sings a different part. When a chorus sings, a group of singers takes each part. For instance, there could be four singing tenor and four singing bass.
Stanchfield points out other benefits to the organization, in addition to being a support group for each other.
“Singing is good for the soul,” she said. Also, she said, they sing from memory, which provides an exercise for the mind.
They are currently hoping to get new members and they say those with average singing ability are welcome. Stanchfield said it’s not necessary to read music, because they supply a CD of the music that plays all four parts, as well as each separate part.
Marie Aguettant, a 25-year member, said her favorite singing assignment is for a Valentine’s Day gift.
“It’s usually a surprise, and it’s touching,” she said.
Stanchfield has a special memory about a singing at a nursing home.
She said they were singing in a unit where residents had memory loss. There was one gentleman in the front row, who was rather solemn and nonresponsive, she said.
After they sang for a while, he suddenly smiled and began singing along in a “beautiful baritone, right on pitch.”
“It brought me to a tear,” she said. “His memory had left him but he never forgot how to sing. It was just an awesome, happy situation.”
