The Pitch Pipe - January 2009 - (Page 7) that’s where you want to be,” Marge said. “All the decisions come through there. All the (innovative programs) such as IES, the Young Women in Harmony program, the Directors Certification Program, came from the EDC. It is by far the most interesting and challenging committee to serve on.” And serve she did. Even through her terms on the International Board of Directors and as international president, Marge remained active in the EDC, serving as its chair for many years and helping to devise the vast array of tools chapters worldwide rely upon today. If it all stopped there, that would be plenty, but Marge’s most recognizable role to most Sweet Adelines might be as a judge. That job also reveals her unwavering respect for her fellow singers and competitors. “We recognize how much time, energy and money you put in just to get (on stage),” she said. “We know you work very hard to become confident in what you’re doing, and you need to feel as confident in us as judges. It’s very important to us. Very, very important.” Judging, it seems, is the role Marge was always meant to play and has trained for her entire Sweet Adelines life. It requires concentration, patience, years of practice and study, a willingness to keep learning and a passion for detail. It’s not something you pick up a month before contest season. Judges practice all the time, reviewing, studying and networking with their fellow judges. “Every contest becomes an opportunity to trust your gut,” she said. “You’re so in there when you’re in the pit, so focused. You put down what you hear.” Even Sweet Adelines International’s top judges are judged by a select group known as judge specialists, and Marge has been one of those, too. There is a specialist for each of the four categories. Every single contest in every region is reviewed, from the accuracy of the scoring and the judges’ comments on the scoresheets, to how the event was run. If a contestant asks a judge a question, it goes all the way up the chain to the judge specialists. Each letter and e-mail is reviewed, and so are the replies. “We feel –the judge specialists, the International Board and the EDC– that the integrity of the organization rests upon the integrity of the judging program,” Marge said. What words in Sweet Adelines are more scrutinized and interpreted than mal conversation, and these gems just fall out.” Today, Marge has scaled back some of her International commitments, although she still seems to be in every pit of every contest and she says she and Dale Syverson are planning the Judging, it seems, is the role Marge was always meant to play and has trained for her entire Sweet Adelines life. judges’ comments? Every competitor looks for the meaning behind the phrase, and sometimes they look too hard. “I once had a question from a chorus about a comment I’d written,” Marge chuckled. “I’d said that the ‘chorus seemed to sag’ near the middle of a song. They wrote and asked if I could tell them who was sagging, because they were very concerned about how that looked.” That little nugget unmasks the true magic behind Marge Bailey’s longevity and affection within Sweet Adelines — her impish, often accidental, sense of humor. “Marge is the queen of the malapropism,” International President Peggy Gram told an audience in Hawaii. “For instance, one time as the chair of a regional judging panel she announced that the ‘Brigadier General Chorus’ had won the contest. It was the Bridger Mountain Chorus.” Former International president Carole Kirkpatrick can be brought quickly to tears of laughter recalling some of Marge’s greatest hits. Among her favorites: “What do I look like, chopped leather?” and “She made me so mad, I wanted to slap her on the back of the face.” Carole calls Marge one of the funniest people in the world, but swears she doesn’t know it. “Her brain works so fast her mouth can’t keep up,” Carole said. “It can be a nor2011 Director Seminar/Judge Training/Arranger Workshop unlike any that’s been seen before. Though she calls arranging her favorite part of her barbershop life, she says now she’s more of a fixerupper. Coaching and teaching have replaced many of her administrative roles. “Coaching is one of the most fulfilling things you can do; making people better at what they love to do,” she said. “No one is more eager to learn than barbershop singers. They are consumed with being good at this. They cannot stay away.” Ask Marge how she juggled all her jobs, as well as her long marriage to Al and the three children they have raised, and she will direct her praise to the Sweet Adelines International staff and members she’s met along the way. In a lifetime of giving selflessly to improve the organization, Marge is most proud of the everyday people who have welcomed her into their lives. “I think of the people who put up with me staying in their homes and put up with my foolishness,” she said. “That’s one of the things I really treasure, all of the people who have been wonderful to me that I never would have met without Sweet Adelines.” This Lifetime Achievement Award stops Marge in her tracks. “I still get all choked up about it,” she said. “I’m so humbled; it is so surprising that I’ve done anything worthy of this award. All this time I’ve been having fun. I had all the fun and still got all the accolades.” January 2009 7
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