Lynn Billings-Thomas

When I was a little kid I loved to do two things. The first was to sing harmony in the car with my father and sister. I would sing harmony above the melody, my sister would sing the melody, and my father would fill in the third part. We tried to put harmony to just about anything we knew and had a wonderful time doing it.

My second favorite thing was to play the piano. My grandmother showed me where middle C was on the keyboard and on the staff and which lines to read for the left and right hands. Left to my own devices, I diligently worked out the notes and eventually taught myself to play. When I finally took my first real piano lesson in the 8th grade I was playing intermediate classical pieces and show tunes. After one semester I decided I'd rather "do it myself."

Now I'm way too grown up for my own good. I still love to sing harmony and play the piano, except my choice of music leans towards jazz arrangements and old standards. And I'd give anything to sing a verse of "You Are My Sunshine" with my father and to play the piano for my grandmother one more time…if only it could be.

I joined the Sweet Adelines organization about 12 years ago at a time when life was tenuous and I needed some relief. My sister urged me to join. She had seen a call to rehearsal in the local paper and checked it out. She told me it was a women's barbershop chorus and it was wonderful. "Barbershop? Yuck! Anything but," I thought. All that old time corny stuff. I went reluctantly and found that it was…wonderful! No corn (well, maybe a little) but a lot of great, modern stuff with choreography to boot.

As I went to Sweet Adeline workshops, and learned more about the craft I gained a much greater respect for the art form. And I finally was able to see that the harmony I sang as a kid so many years ago was barbershop. I got to meet some other women who had sung "You Are My Sunshine" long ago with their fathers. And I also realized that I had followed in the footsteps of my father's father who sang tenor in a barbershop quartet, just as I sang tenor now.

A few years ago I needed a change and joined Millennium Magic Chorus right before it received it's charter. My friend, Terri, said there was a new cutting-edge chorus forming and it was going to be wonderful! She urged me to go to a rehearsal with her. "Well, OK, but I doubt that it will be all that great," I thought. I needed cutting-edge, though. I needed innovation. I needed to get out of the box.

So, I took the chance…and have never looked back. It doesn't get any better than this.