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Spotlighting Reba JohnsonSome people jog to relax. Others read, do aerobic dancing, walk, dance, swim, play golf, gossip, sip tea, soak in a hot tub.Reba Johnson sings.She’s a charter member of the Harmony Shores Chapter of Sweet Adelines and a member of the Dawm Breakers” quartet, which is registered with the Sweet Adelines international organization. They perform at civic and church functions, at private parties, at nursing homes and schools, among others. They also present at least one big two-hour show annually, in full costume, with a theme, script, emcee. All their songs are geared to the theme.And how did she become interested in a group that sings four-part harmony, a hobby that's usually thought of as a bastion of male barbershoppers?“I frankly wasn’t all that interested. I thought, but I went to one of the rehearsals when we were just getting started and I thought, nell, that's pretty. I liked the sound, the harmony, and everybody seemed to have a focused interest in singing. So I got involved. It was a fun thing to do. It became my relaxation, my hobby,” she said.Johnson said the local chapter got its charter ten years ago with about 25 dedicated members who knew that they had to attend rehearsals, learn their music, perform before groups, compete in regional and international events, to practice, practice, practice and fine tune their appreciation for this art form. “It isn’t an organization you can belong to and go when you want to go and stay home when you want to. You have to learn your music--we always perform without looking at music~so you have to learn, you have to attend, because you I'*, the rest of the group down if you don’t.”After she’d been in the group about two years, she was involved in forming a quartet, the“Dawn Breakers.’ “Now I’m really involved. I practice with the chorus each Monday night and with the quartet each Thursday night, so I really don't have any time for other activities. By the time we practice and we perform. that's my only outside activity besides my church and my family.” Johnson said.She said the secret to their success is that all the women have an intense interest in the same thing and that they have supportive families. The chorus meets downtown and they get their pitch by pitch pipe and a couple of keyboards that they work with. The quartet meets w eekly at her home. Her daughter, Janet, has been director of the Sweet Adelines chapter for about two years.What is this four-part harmony, and what part does Johnson sing?“The voices are lead, which carries the melody. And then the harmony parts are the base, or bass. Then there’s tenor. I sing baritone. We consider the four parts a cone-the lead carries the melody, the bass the base, the tenor a light tip of the cone, and the baritone, my part, sort of fills in all the gaps. Sometimes I sing above the lead, sometimes I sing below the lead. And we actually call it ’coning.’ The parts that sing above the lead have to cone. And it’s called coning when sometimes you have to sing a little louder or a little softer,” she said.These also are the basic voices that make up the chorus.Johnson said that sometimes people don’t understand when they have to turn down engagements when they’re asked the day before the event. “We know' how many voices of leads we have and how many of the other parts, but it’s got to be a balanced chorus. So if we don’t sound good, we don’t accept bookings,” she said.What do they do with the proceeds from their performances?“We do a lot of free shows, but we donate a portion of every show that we charge for to the Anchorage Children’s Home,” she said. She said they use some of the money for the seminars they attend regularly and the competitions that they enter. It’s a nonprofit organization and any funds that are left are used for the good of the chorus.Just what are the benefits of all this effort, this dedication?“It benefits me in that I can relax; it’s completely different from the other phases of my life, from work and home activities. Even though we work hard, it’s relaxing; it’s challenging; it’s different. We consume a lot of music. We learn something, then we re on to something else. And that’s part of the challenge-fine tuning.”She said they perform all types of music, from Broadway shows to current popular tunes to jazz to ragtime to ballads. “We love to sing ballads because you can really get your harmony in ballads,” she said.Johnson said her background in music consists of chorus in high school and some music courses in college, and a love for singing. “I’d never been experienced in Sweet Adeline singing until I joined,” she said.She invites anyone who is interested in Sweet Adelines to contact her at extension 4117. It’s open to all women 18 years old and up. “You don’t have to read music, you just have to have the capability of hearing harmony. We teach you. But you need to have an ear for music,” she said. The chorus has basic training on sight reading and seminars are held regularly to fine tune its members.Johnson said the purpose of Sweet Adelines always has been the education of women to sing four-part harmony, barbershop style, to develop an appreciation for this art form ana to give public and private performances.Reba Johnson (left) and her daughter, Janet, dressed for a performanceThe national organizers stated this purpose in 1947 and the Sweet Adelines still adhere to this goal.“And, as Sweet Adelines has grown in size, stature and scope through the 41 years of its history, the emphasis has always been on quality,” Johnson said.About Reba JohnsonShe was born and reared in Ozark, Ala., and was graduated from Ozark High School. She earned an associate in arts degree (magna cum laude) from Gulf Coast Community College.When she got married, she moved to Canton, Ohio, and later settled in Panama City. Shecame to work at NCSC in 1963 and for the past several years has held the position of supervisory management assistant and head of the Administrative Section of the Resources and Information Management Department.Her 25-year career here is dotted with awards. She’s earned numerous sustained superior performance and outstanding performance awards, quality salary increases, group superior achievement, certificates of appreciation, meritorious unit citation and beneficial suggestion award.She’s married to Nellis Johnson, retired newspaperman and syndicated cartoonist. They have four children-Wayne, Randy, Janet and Brenda-and four grandchildren.
Newspaper Details
Panama City Underseer
Panama City, Florida, US
Fri, Jul 01, 1988
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Bay C.
FL, USA 31 Mar 2025
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