Presque Isle Chapter
The Presque Isle Chapter of Sweet Adelines is part of the Sweet Adelines International organization. We promote barbershop singing with education and provide entertainment for the Erie, Pennsylvania, area and surrounding communities. We are the women barbershoppers. The Sweet Adelines are separate from the men's organization, called SPEBSQSA, although we do promote the same artform of four-part harmony. We love to sing "barbershop".
Our organization is open to women eighteen to 120 years of age, although we do have several members under eighteen years old as sponsored members. Anyone is invited to join whether she reads music or not. You do not even need to know how to sing. Many of us are surprised to find out that, "Yes! I can sing!"
When you join you are placed in an appropriate voice section according to whether you can sing upper range or lower range. We teach you the music and how to sing it, so essentially, you are getting voice lessons every week. What's fun is we get to do it with our friends. Many of us have formed lasting friendships in our chorus and throughout the region. We are currently part of Region 17 of the International organization so besides our chorus there are 21 other choruses that do the same thing. Some of these groups are larger than others as they range in size from 16 to over 100 singers. We get together twice a year at a Preserving Harmony Weekend ("PHW"), which is essentially a music school. The region brings in some of the internationally known directors, vocal coaches, music arrangers, speakers and others, to teach us more about music and vocal production. It's not hard, it's just a lot of fun. Besides being a great learning experience, we get to spend a weekend with our friends!
If you are interested in learning more about our organization, or are just curious about what we do, you are welcome to come visit us.