At 92, Doreen Rollag has been making music for most of her life, and she’s happiest when she’s sharing her talents.
For more than 60 years, she’s been the organist for Palisade Lutheran Church, Beaver Creek, where she also sings in and has directed the church choir and other ensembles.
But Doreen’s talents reach much farther than the walls of the tiny church in the country.
For 45 years she’s been singing with the Sweet Adelines in Sioux Falls.
This worldwide singing organization established in 1945 is based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is named after the classic barbershop song, “Sweet Adeline.”
The Region 6 Northern Lights group of the Sweet Adelines recently honored Doreen with a certificate recognizing her for “45 years of harmony.”
Along with being a charter member of the local chapter, Doreen also has been the recipient of the SALLY award three times — in 1983, in 2006 and again in 2012.
SALLY stands for Sweet Adelines Lead Lady of the Year award. It is an international award, given by each chapter to recognize hard work and dedication — something Doreen knows a thing or two about, especially as a baritone.
“Four-part harmony isn’t easy,” she said. “Tenor is high, base is low and there’s the melody. But baritone is the note that makes the four-part harmony.”
She said finding that note among the others is a challenge, particularly since the Sweet Adelines sing all their music a cappella.
“A piano will cover a multitude of sins, but with a cappella it’s a different story,” she said. “And the vowels all have to sound the same, and it all has to be memorized.”
The group practices two hours a week from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Thursday at the Washington Crossing Retirement Center in Sioux Falls.
“It’s a close unit when you spend that much time together,” Doreen said. “I’d say we’re like family — they really look out for me.”
Doreen said practices are similar to having weekly voice lessons, complete with voice warm-ups, breathing exercises, singing vowels and such.
“You have to use it or lose it,” she told the Star Herald in 2012 for a story about her SALLY Award.
The group performs at various venues in the region; their next one is Saturday morning, Sept. 8, during the Sioux Falls Arts Festival.
Making music, whether in practice or on stage, Doreen said, is what gives her joy.
“When I blow the pitch and hear that four-part harmony … I just love it.”
She’ll be 93 in September and said age has offered perspective on goals and ambitions.
“When they gave me this 45-year certificate, they asked me, ‘What’s your goal? 50 years?’” Doreen said. “I told them I’m too old for goals; we take things a week at a time now.”
But 45 years is nothing, considering she attended her 75-year class reunion of the Augustana Academy last weekend and, of course, sang in the Academy Reunion Choir.
“Can you believe that? Seventy-five years?” she laughed. “At the last reunion, I was the only one there from my class. Most of them are dead or in the nursing home. … I suppose music is what’s kept me going all these years.”