Director Malauna Gibby

Capital City Sound is pleased to announce the appointment of Malauna Gibby as our chorus director. Malauna (ma-LAW-na) has been a member of Sweet Adelines, singing tenor, since 2009. That first year, she went to the International Chorus Competition with Mountain Jubilee Chorus in Nashville and came home with at 10th place chorus medal. She joined Syringa Sound Chorus in 2010 which merged to form Capital City Sound Chorus in 2013. She has served as tenor section leader (2011-2024), Finance Coordinator (2021-2022) and most recently as assistant director (2022-2024).

According to her mother, Malauna was singing before she could talk. She sang with her siblings (The Sunburst Family Singers) at the mall, at community festivals, at church and at school. Her mother also encouraged her to learn to play the violin, cello, piano and bass guitar. Musical from a young age, she was introduced to barbershop harmony by her middle school choir teacher. Mrs. Loughton encouraged Malauna and her 3 sisters to learn barbershop songs so they would no longer have to double up on parts while singing together. The foursome was hooked, except for the fact that they weren't interested in singing and learning with the local Sweet Adelines chorus that their mom joined. Instead, they sang at family gatherings and church and had fun, but didn't really understand the nuances of singing barbershop. Eventually, they did all join choruses as adults and registered as an official Sweet Adelines Quartet. Sibling Rivalry quartet actively competed in regional competitions from 2014-2020. During these years, Malauna travelled to many education events offered by Regions 8, 10, 12 and 13 and discovered that there was a lot more to learn about the barbershop style.

Always one for learning, Malauna applied for and was accepted into the Sweet Adelines Director Certification Program in 2022. Malauna made her debut as a director at our 2024 Regional Competition. Our former director, Jerrie Beyrodt, wanted to give her the chance to direct one song on the contest stage and had her status changed to co-director so she would be eligible for the Novice Director award.

Malauna lives in Boise. When she is not directing the chorus or singing barbershop with the newly formed Chordials Quartet, she volunteers at her children's schools (costuming the musicals at Timberline High School, playing the bass guitar for the choirs at Les Bois Jr. High, and Theater Week at TrailWind Elementary), gardens, travels with family and plays all the free daily games the New York Times has to offer. Letter Boxed is her favorite.