New Voices Invited for Christmas Friends & Family Show

Tri City Sound holds its annual Friends & Family Christmas Show each December at Lutheran Church of Our Savior, 4725 S. Bradley Road (corner of Bradley and Patterson roads), Orcutt. Women interested in learning about barbershop-style music are welcome to join in on the season-end rehearsals and free performance.

“Many times our members have been heard to say, ‘I came for the singing, and I stayed for the friendships,’" said Director Barbara Nigh of Lompoc.

The annual Friends & Family Christmas Show provides an opportunity for the public to get a feel for the organization, learn four-part harmony and build new friendships. Rehearsal and performance dates are announced in late fall.

There is no cost to participate.

Want to help spread the word? Watch here for a flier to hang it at your office, your local coffee shop or hand it out to friends at your next gathering.

Rehearsal Venue Change

Tri City Sound Chorus now rehearses at Lutheran Church of Our Savior, 4725 S. Bradley Road (corner of Bradley and Patterson roads), Orcutt. Any women interested in learning the art of four-part harmony and joining the sisterhood of Sweet Adelines is welcome to join us at our new location any Thursday, 6:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Singing Valentines

Tri City Sound will deliver singing valentines to your loved ones Feb. 14. Surprise your loved ones with a singing valentine at home or at work. Or make reservations and we'll come to the restaurant. Remember those in nursing homes or hospitals. Performances include two love songs, special gift and personalized card, all for only $30. Personal deliveries in Santa Maria or Lompoc. Telephone deliveries anywhere in the continental U.S. For more information, drop us a note.

"Dotted Eighths" makes strong first showing
in Region 11 Double Quartet Competition

Tri City Sound's first double quartet to compete in the annual Sweet Adelines International Region 11 double-quartet contest performed well at the November 9, 2007 event held in Bakersfield. The eight-voice team followed its performance plan and received complimentary comments from the judging panel. The team included tenors Ella Craig and Cindy Pilios, leads Laura Newbre and Gillian O'Malley, baritones Shirley Stokholm and Jennifer Best, and basses Ann Silva and Trudy Morris.

Ella Craig takes top honors at Regional arranger competition

Our own Ella Craig's arrangement of "You've Been A Good Old Wagon" won the Sweet Adelines International, Sequoia-Pacific Region arrangers competition in Spring 2007, and the chorus has been working hard to make her proud with our rendition. The piece was originally written in by L. Johnson and has been performed by Bessie Smith and Dinah Washington.

Ella, a resident of Grover Beach, began her formal musical training at the piano when she was 6 years old. She wrote and arranged her first piece that year, and by age 12 she was singing alto with her church choir. She picked up other instruments throughout the years, including clarinet, organ and violin, but she always maintained piano and voice as her primary instruments.

Ella and other intermediate-level arrangers from throughout the region that spans San Luis Obispo to Long Beach and east to Las Vegas rose to the challenge for the competition. They worked for months on their pieces, sticking to stringent rules that required them to retain as many chords as possible from the original song while also developing four-part harmony throughout the final arrangement.

"I thought it would be good practice for me and an opportunity to learn more about arranging with a little bit of guidance," Ella said. "I was very suprised to win."

As a result of her arrangement success, Ella has been invited to participate in Sweet Adelines International Arrangers Competition in 2008. To qualify, however, she has to arrange three more songs with no assistance, teach her arrangements to her chorus or quartets, and lay tracks.

Ella credited her husband, Doug, with unlimited patience as she continued working on the piece daily for months on end.

"He's been very patient," she said.

Tri City Sound seeks prospective new members

We are looking for women who love to sing to join us during rehearsals. Come and watch or come and join us on the risers. We meet Thursdays from 6:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall at Lutheran Church of Our Savior, 4725 S. Bradley Road (corner of Bradley and Patterson roads), Orcutt, California.