Check out our new page Decis Through The Ages to look at pictures of old decibelles!
The Dartmouth Decibelles was founded in the 1973-74 academic year, the second year of co-education at the college, principally by Jody Hill Simpson ’74, who transferred to Dartmouth from Middlebury. Originally, the group was named the Dartmouth Distractions, and our founding members were
Jody Hill Simpson ’74
Sarah Hoagland Hunter ’76
Martha Hennessey ’76
Jody Karp ’76
Daryl O’Brien ’77
Kathy Kelley ’77
Betsey Cox Stebbins ’77
Alison Baute Pierce ’77
Jill Shaw Woolworth ’77
Jean Rosston ’77
Cindy Strange Douglass ’77
Nancy Bird ’77
Jody Hill Simpson led the group in our first year, Jody Karp led in the fall of 1974, and Martha Hennessey led in the winter and spring of 1975. After about two years of being the Distractions, we changed our named to Woodswind for one or two years, and finally settled on the Dartmouth Decibelles.
In the early years we were part of the Glee Club, and we sang in every concert, with the Aires. We also went on a tour with Glee Club in the spring, and were often asked to sing for alumni groups. Most of our arrangements were done by Jody Hill and Betsey Cox, along with those done for us by Paul Zeller (director of the Glee Club).
In our second year, we recorded several songs, hoping that they’d be put on a later album. We recorded them at the Hop. When the first album came out, none were on it, and we were told that there was a horrible hissing sound through all the recordings.
Since then, however, the Dartmouth Decibelles has grown to be a group with 38 years of history and 5 albums produced.
(Thank you to Martha Hennessey for providing the above history. Anyone with more information about our group’s history, please contact us!)
