1   Four-Ball

The sound of heels clacking on the wooden floor backstage provided an off-beat staccato to the beautiful harmonic performance on stage. Women paced with nerves on edge, waiting for their time on the stage and in the floodlights of Wickersham Auditorium.

Microphones suspended above the chorus picked up the perfect harmony of Ladies Sing the Blue Notes singing their second offering of three, adding intricately blended bass, baritone, tenor, and lead vocals to Adele’s Rolling in the deep, an arrangement the audience had never heard and were enthusiastically enjoying. 

The song ended, and the Music Director took center stage to speak to the audience, share a humorous anecdote, and introduce their final number. The chat time allowed the sixty members of the Blue Notes to reform on the risers according to their singing part. The Director and choreographer considered every performance aspect that affected the sound quality. 

Wickersham is a big stage, generally used for full-scale off-Broadway productions, and the overhead acoustics were considered sub-par. The performers had to sing more loudly than on some of the better stages. This meant the performers would have to stand a little further apart so each singer could hear themselves well enough to stay pitch-perfect, delivering the flawless blend audiences expect.

On the next song, considered a genre staple, The Blue Notes, were singing On the Sunny Side of the Street. There were only three parts to the music, so the tenors and the leads would be singing the same part with a full octave lift for the tenors. The lead and tenor would have an equal number of polyphony and counterpoint lead-ins, and on the final song, there was little choreography. The chorus, like the audience, tapped their toes to the time.

The performance concluded with a standing ovation and roaring applause that lasted almost a minute. The blue velvet curtain closed, and experienced stagehands immediately descended on the stage. They rearranged risers from one large chorus arrangement to three smaller chorus setups, one in the middle and one on each side. 

The chorus members pacing backstage had lined up according to the assigned riser, with the leads on the front row of each. The sky-blue background on stage beautifully offset their matching white slacks and red and white jackets. They presented the perfect picture for the fourth of July celebration, which was the backdrop for the competition. 

Music Director Bernadette Crowder, a long-time fixture of the Dallas music scene, led the Dolly Taunts. Bernadette had been the lead vocalist in several quartets before becoming Music Director of the Taunts eleven years earlier. The Dolly Taunts was a clever twist of the word dilettante, but Bernadette made it clear from the outset that her chorus would be filled with dedicated, hard-working, driven women with exceptional vocals. In other words, there were no dilettantes allowed in the Taunts. 

Like so many musical choruses around the country, the Dolly Taunts of Dallas was a part of the International Barbershop Quartet organization, The Sweet Adelaides, formed in the early sixties under the direction of Eleanor Light of Australia. She was a Master Director, after having won top prize in competition, and remained active in building and promoting the organization as it grew from a local sensation in Adelaide to becoming an international draw throughout the entire world. Her addition of choreography and quartet arrangements of non-traditional music, including rock and roll pieces, accelerated her popularity.

While lining the girls up according to assigned riser, a commotion toward the back of the sixty-person line caught Bernadette’s eye and she hurried back to see what was going on. Her lead vocalist was in a heated exchange with someone and, as much as Candy needed to keep her mind in the game, a distraction was not welcome. Bernadette took her by the arm and led her to the front so they could begin their walk out just seconds away. She leaned over to Candy and said, “Deep breath honey. I need you focused right now. You got this baby.”

Candy seemed to have a knack for being caught up in drama, whether it was her fault or not, and most of the time, it was not. Bernadette tried to shield her from the drama she took on so that it didn’t affect her performances. Bernadette’s motto was well known throughout the ranks of her girls: “Respect the stage.” She preached those words and when she was a performer, and as Director, she lived them as well.

Taking on the chorus more than a decade earlier, she had worked with so many talented singers who chose to rest on their laurels. Bernadette believed their laurels were their asses and anyone willing to rest on them needed to find another chorus. Candy was the first lead who lived that philosophy and she pushed herself and her own quartet to always be improving.

    They did it through taking on more challenging songs, more difficult and original choreography, and perseverance amidst drama, like that day. The drama aside and focus regained, Bernadette led her girls out to roaring applause from adoring fans of their music and the genre in general.

Director Crowder hit a note with a pitch pipe, and the Dolly Taunts began a musical adventure beginning with You’re a Grand Old Flag, followed by their rendition of The Battle Hymn of the Republic without pause between. The crowd erupted into exuberant applause as Director Crowder bowed and walked to the front of the stage. She delivered her traditional and well-rehearsed three minutes of witty banter, describing the next song they would perform and the name of the lead to be featured. 

     “Thank you one and all for your generous applause. The ladies behind me are so talented and beautiful, they get that when they go grocery shopping, but I hunger for it, so thank you.” Bernadette walked down stage a little and swept her arm back and across the full chorus and ended the sweep by pointing to the four women who had stepped out.

     “This next number is one we are especially proud of and we’ll be featuring Sam, Misty, Becca, and Candy, whom you all know and love as Shirley’s Dimples. We are so proud to have them as a part of the Dolly Taunts. We first performed this next song ten summers ago at a celebration for one of our favorite patrons of the arts, Miss Jaqueline Myerscough.” She pointed to the elderly woman in the private box nearest the stage, who looked on with a beaming smile.