PERFORMING "BARBERSHOP STYLE", 4-PART HARMONY
ENTERTAINMENT SUITABLE FOR ANY OCCASION OR AUDIENCE

About Us

Michigan Northern Lights Chapter – Gaylord, MI

Welcome to the Michigan Northern Lights Chorus, a chapter of Sweet Adelines International! We join women from all over the world in learning and perfecting the musical art form of barbershop harmony. Barbershop is a style of four-part acapella harmony that features particular chord structures and arrangements. Along with Jazz, it shares prominence as a pure American art form.

In October 1996, eight ladies met in the living room of Hank Hedges, for the purpose of forming a women’s barbershop chorus. Under the name of Northern Lights, by January 1997 there were twenty-two members in this fun community chorus. Regular rehearsals were held on Tuesday evenings at the Otsego Lake Township Hall. The first performance was in Grayling for Habitat for Humanity, singing a total of four songs: Harmonize the World, San Francisco Bay Blues, Take My Baby to Tea, and I’m All Alone. Since then, we have performed for many charitable and civic events throughout northern Michigan.

In June of 1998, Sweet Adelines International accepted the Michigan Northern Lights as a prospective chapter. With this step came regional opportunities and educational offerings from experts in the field of barbershop harmony. With attendance at most of the workshops and conventions, we have steadily increased our knowledge of singing four-part harmony.

With much excitement, our chapter was given our charter with Sweet Adelines International on March 22, 2001, becoming the twenty-second chapter in Region 2 of SAI with 22 members.

With our new chapter, we embarked on a journey, which brought us Cheryl Wagner as director. Her enthusiasm and experience guided us to continue our growth and further develop our musical and showmanship skills. Cheryl chose to leave the chorus in April 2010. Our new director, Peggy Braden, again brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to our chorus. We hope to grow and learn under her guidance.

On May 8, 2003, we competed in our first Region 2 competition. On our fourth visit to the competition stage, our chorus earned the coveted Most Improved award. We continue to accept the exciting challenge of Regional Competition. It is the greatest 5 minutes on stage in front of a wonderful supportive audience.

Today, we meet every Tuesday evening from 6:30 to 9 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church at 1354 S. Otsego Avenue in Gaylord.

If you love to sing and share special friendships, come and give us a “try”. If you have friends who love to sing, bring them along. Help us share this gift with each other and the community.
 

© 2007 Michigan Northern Lights Chorus