Christin Wilson knows how to sing.
But the Glenn High School senior who serves as president of the school's Women's Choir, didn't know a lot about barbershop-style harmony and performing until getting immersed in the musical style yesterday at the first Young Women in Harmony festival in Kernersville.
"We've learned so much about movement while singing and how good posture and breathing make a difference," Wilson, 18, said.
The festival, held at Fountain of Life Lutheran Church in Kernersville, brought together 48 young women from five area high schools to learn about singing in the barbershop-harmonizing tradition.
Sweet Adelines International and the Golden Triad Sweet Adelines chapter sponsored the workshop, which was free for attendees, Kay Stone, the festival's coordinator, said.
Participants received their music in advance and were divided into tenor, lead, baritone and bass voices in the barbershop style.
"We were told this was the most successful first festival a Sweet Adelines chapter has had in our region," said Stone as she paused to help Deanna Nolte of Reagan High School locate a pitch pipe.
Also attending were girls from Eastern Guilford, Western Guilford and Ledford High Schools as well as several choir teachers.
Wilson and her sister Haleigh Wilson, 17, heard about the festival from their choir director at Glenn, Carol Earnhardt.
Both girls plan to take their experience and share it with fellow choir members at school.
"It was fun meeting girls from all over," Haleigh said. "I'm like best buds with all of the basses. I learned how to pay attention to the choir as a whole instead of just my section."
Beverly Dale, a music educator for the five-state region of Sweet Adelines and a member of the Golden Triad Sweet Adelines chapter for the past 40 years, also began barbershop singing when she was in high school.
Dale said that barbershop, jazz, gospel and country are true original American music art forms.
She and other group members said they hoped that the girls attending the festival leave with a spark for the musical style.
"It's really a sisterhood," said Deb Mitchell of the Golden Triad chapter.
That bond became evident when Dale played a recording of the song "YMCA" during an exercise meant to help the girls meld movement with singing. As the girls started dancing and singing, several members of the Golden Triad Chorus joined in. Together multiple generations flung their hands up to spell YMCA. They then kept the movement going by line dancing and singing to the "Electric Slide."
The day's activities, which included various clinics and a quartet competition, culminated with the attendees performing a concert for friends and family members. One selection included "Rock around the Clock" complete with energetic choreography and enthusiastic facial expressions.
The Golden Triad chapter of Sweet Adelines plans to make the Young Women in Harmony festival a growing, annual event.
Based on the positive response of yesterday's attendees, chances seem good that the festival will keep growing.
"I was in a barbershop quartet when I was growing up and knew how fun this could be," said Bruce Tippette, the choral director at Ledford High School. "The students are enjoying working with other people who enjoy music as much as they do."
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