The Orangeville Chorus of Sweet Adelines. The ladies are bubbling with their successes, wearing the medals they have won around their necks, not so as to boast but as a celebration.

The Orangeville Chorus of Sweet Adelines International has been singing and winning medals at the top levels. At the time of our interview, they stood a good chance of singing in the finals for the world gold medal. This would place the local Sweet Adelines as top in the mid-size chorus category in the world of the Sweet Adeline choruses.

Here is how it all works. The Sweet Adelines were started in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1947. Since then, the establishment of many other choruses using the name Sweet Adelines under the direction of the original includes some 27,000 women around the world, who enjoy singing and the company of other women who love to make music.

It is only women who join the Sweet Adelines and women who run the business in Tulsa. But once in a while, a man is a director.

In case you have never heard them, the Sweet Adelines sing in barbershop quartet harmony, always a capella (without accompaniment).

“There are thousands of songs arranged for Barbershop,” Joan Borden, one of the two co-directors said. “We choose to sing what we want.”

“Although they provide suggestions for the competitions,” Pat Vipond, the other co-director, added.

We were sitting together in Ms. Vipond’s living room, where the two ladies were sharing the joyous details of their recent experiences in the competitions with the Sweet Adelines and the whole happy business of singing with the chorus. They, along with Anne Richardson, are charter members of the Orangeville Chorus, which was founded 30 years ago, in 1981.

Sweet Adelines International is run from the office in Tulsa, from which a veritable stream of information comes to all of the 30 regions where choruses have been begun. There are choruses in Britain, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand, Japan as well as Canada and the U.S.

This region is No. 16, the Lake Ontario Region, which comprises 34 choruses and is the organization’s largest.

Competitions are held in Syracuse, N.Y., where the members of the Orangeville Chorus go once a year for a week. The idea of the competitions is that they “keep us working hard,” as one of the ladies said.

However, competing is far from being the main business of the Sweet Adelines, for they are, first and foremost, members of this community. It is important to them to perform for audiences in Dufferin and all around the area. They sing a regular roister of concerts, both those they schedule themselves and those they are invited or are hired to do.

They mentioned the Christmas concert they did with Mark DuBois and his singers, the Achill Choral Society and TOYS (the Theatre Orangeville Youth Singers) in 2005.

“It was such fun to sing with everyone that night,” Ms. Borden reminisced. “It ended with the whole ensemble singing Silent Night and then a rousing rendition of Felice Navidad with Mark singing the solo.”

It seems part of the joy of the singing is the side effects.

“We’re not aware of age,” said Ms. Vipond, meaning the differences amongst them.

“We have teenagers involved – it’s a sisterhood,” Ms. Borden explained.

Ms. Vipond expanded, “What a healthy thing singing is – mentally and physically.”

And Ms. Borden noted: “It is telling the story of the songs.”

The ladies also go to the States for seminars, where classes given by teachers, who are members of Sweet Adelines somewhere, enriching the knowledge the ladies already have. They focus on barbershop singing: vocal skills, music, improved performance and competency.

“I always learn something new,” Ms. Vipond told me. “Something that clicks.”

Back to the competitions.

“We have the feeling about six weeks before the competition,” Ms. Vipond began, “confidence, responsibility. It builds over the time as we rehearse.”

Ms. Borden said, “At the competition, we were doing what there was to do.”

The adjudicators base their decisions on sound, music, expression and showmanship.

“We chose our own music based their guidance on songs that are most suitable as to structure and showing off the quality of barbershop singing,” said Ms. Borden.

So, out of 28 regions at the Syracuse event, the Orangeville Chorus came fourth. In addition, as a mid-size chorus, with “55 on stage,” they came first!

The top five in the world, once all the regional competitions are done, will be invited to compete for the top place as a mid-size chorus, in Denver in October. Currently, the Orangeville Chorus sits at third place.

Under the umbrella of the Sweet Adelines, there are two branches: one is the Lost in Harmony quartet of teenagers, whom Ms. Borden has been coaching. They went to the Rising Star competition in Seattle and came in an impressive 11th. They have applied to compete again in 2011 in Houston.

The other is the Day Timers, a group of about 20 regulars of the Sweet Adelines, who go to seniors’ residences, hospitals, etc. to sing, “small venues, extra opportunities,” as Ms. Borden put it.

There is “the joy of every rehearsal,” Ms. Vipond said. “If you miss a rehearsal, you miss so much.”

On November 5 this year, to mark their 30th anniversary, they are performing a show at the Orangeville Opera House, for which tickets may be purchased at the Theatre Orangeville box office. You can find further information on their concert series this year at www.orangeville chorus.com

And, by the way, here’s a hint from the ladies: that you might see them in “unusual places.” Whatever can they mean???