Four West Windsor-Plainsboro teachers will be on stage when Jersey Harmony Chorus, the central New Jersey chapter of Sweet Adelines International, presents “The Best Little Harmony Show in Jersey,” a show featuring popular songs performed in four-part a cappella harmony on Saturday, October 25. The show is at Grover Middle School, 10 Southfield Road, West Windsor, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for senior citizens and students.##M:[more]##
Nancy Halter, an art teacher at Millstone River School, joined the group after hearing them perform at a holiday concert at the College of New Jersey. “I was very impressed by the wonderful sound and quality of their music and the joy with which they were singing,” she says. “Singing barbershop style music is new to me but I love it.”
Halter is a member of the Sanctuary Choir at Montgomery Evangelical Free Church in Hillsborough, and plays guitar and sings pop-folk style music with Carla Zimowsk. “I also enjoy the comraderie with the new friends I have made in the chorus,” she says about Jersey Harmony. “I felt an immediate bond with these women because of our love for singing.”
Raised in Highland Park and Schooley’s Mountain, she received a degree in arts education from Eastern Kentucky University in 1977. After teaching painting and sculpture to adults in Tucson, Arizona, she returned to New Jersey in 1989 and began teaching art in WW-P schools. She has been an art teacher at Upper Elementary School (now Millstone River) since it opened in 1990.
Halter, who lives in Plainsboro with her husband, Dave, and their two dogs, Chloe and Ginger, spends summers on Lake Eaton in the Adirondack Mountains in Long Lake, New York.
“Our new director, Rich Gray, is fantastic,” says Halter. “He makes rehearsals so much fun with his energy, enthusiasm, and sense of humor and at the same time is teaching us the technical and musical skills we need to perfect our sound.”
Mickey Mears, a fifth grade teacher at Millstone River School, shares her joy of both instrumental and vocal music in her classroom. She sang and played in a trio with her sisters through high school, but her special love is four-part harmony, sung in the barbershop style.
When her husband’s job required moving to other states, Mears packed up her four children and found Sweet Adelines wherever she went. The size of each chorus has ranged from 20 singers to as many as 100, when she achieved the honor of winning International gold with the Valley Forge Chorus.
Mears, who sings bass with Jersey Harmony, has also sung in quartets. Her husband, Chuck, who sings with the Princeton Garden Statesmen, discovered barbershop on his own. “If you give me a minute, I will gladly tell you how the love of singing has enriched my life,” she says.
Bonnie Luning is an occupational therapist with special education students at Dutch Neck and Millstone River schools. “I became friends with Mickey Mears who in turn encouraged me to come to a rehearsal last year and subsequently joined the Jersey Harmony Chorus where I sing tenor,” she says.
Raised in southern California, Luning studied music as a vocal major at California State University at Northridge. “In my early 20s I traveled cross-country to the big apple to continue my studies and work as a singer,” she says. Her singing career included summer stock, show bands, and club work. “In my 30s while performing in veterans homes and hospitals for the USO I decided to go back to school and become an occupational therapist.”
Her daughters are Amber, a sophomore at the Cleveland Institute of Art, and Alyssa, a senior in high school.
Michelle Pellecchia, a fifth grade teacher in Millstone River School, has been teaching in the district for 17 years. She joined the chorus about two years ago, after Mears introduced her to the barbershop harmony style of music.
Raised in the U.S. and the Netherlands, she studied at the University of Amsterdam and Rutgers University. Pellechia sang in high school, different churches, and the University of Amsterdam, where she sang in Berthold Brecht’s “Three-Penny Opera.”
Pellechia lives in South Brunswick with her husband, Bob. Her sons are Rob, an entertainment lawyer in New York City, and Don, a school psychologist with the Ramsey School district.
“Thanks to my wonderful director Rich Gray and fellow Jersey Harmony Chorus members, my life has become enriched with all types of music and camaraderie,” she says. “I encourage anyone who loves to sing to come and join and experience the joyful sound of Jersey Harmony Chorus for themselves.”
The Best Little Harmony Show in New Jersey, Jersey Harmony Chorus, Grover Middle School, 10 Southfield Road, West Windsor, 732-469-3983. www.harmonize.com/jerseyharmony. Saturday, October 25, 7:30 p.m.
Open rehearsals are held every Monday evening at 7:15 pm at the Central NJ Council Boy Scouts of America Building. 4315 Route 1 South in Monmouth Junction.
