Saturday, December 26, 2020

Looking Back on the Dec. 22nd 2020 Virtual Afterglow and Wrap Up

 Looking Back on the Dec. 22nd 2020 Virtual Afterglow and Wrap Up

 

The Alexandria Harmonizers couldn’t miss a chance to celebrate the successful virtual holiday show held on Dec. 20th , “Christmas Coast to Coast – a celebration of singing and family!” So there was a virtual afterglow on Tues. Dec.22nd.  This is the last event of 2020 and the last edition of Looking Back as well.

 

The chapter invited the men of Northwest Sound in Bellevue, WA, to join in the afterglow celebration of the great show.  We started the Zoom call at 8 pm EST. A good number of guys from both chapters were present. 

 

Men from both chapters shared responses they had gotten from friends, family and patrons.  Everyone rated the show Five Stars and off-the-chart!  There were folks in the viewing audience from around the world – for sure from Germany, New Zealand, England, and Ireland. As of the start of the afterglow, there had been 3900 views of the show. 

 

As a reminder, the landing page will be in place a while longer, but the YouTube show will stay up for anyone to go back and relive the fun.

 

Harmonizer director Joe Cerutti, associate director Tony Colosimo and assistant director Terry 

Reynolds, communications director Matt Doniger, and AH Inc. president Bruce Roehm  had made some lasting new friends in working with leaders of the other chapter.  So there were lots of jokes and a good amount of teasing on the call.  And there were great accolades for Mike Kelly and Joel Golden from our chapter who did yeoman work to make the show happen.  The leaders of both chapters also saluted the cooperation of staff from BHS who hosted the show on their YouTube channel.

 

Joe reported that there were significant donations to the two charities chosen by the chapters – TAPS in Virginia received over $4700; and Hopelink in Washington received over $4000.

 

 Joe thanked all the men in the chapter who stepped up to participate in the show – he was proud of the number who made the effort and the quality of the singing.

 

The next meeting for the Harmonizers will be via Zoon at 7 pm on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021.  

Watch for links and other info in advance of the kick off for the new year.

 

Until next time – editorjack!

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 72nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Looking Back on the Dec. 20th 2020 Virtual Holiday Show

 Looking Back on the Dec. 20th 2020 Virtual Holiday Show

 

This year’s Alexandria Harmonizer holiday show was a huge success.  Virtual and co-presented with Northwest Sound from Bellevue, WA, Chapter, the free event was broadcast on the BHS YouTube Channel and watched around the world. Theme for the show was “Christmas Coast to Coast – a celebration of singing and family!”

 

The Harmonizers themselves had a watch party that started at 6 pm – about a half hour before the show went live at 6:30 pm EST on Dec. 20th 2020.

 

Director Joe Cerutti was at his home, with his parents Joe Sr. and Janet watching, and took a minute to kick off the watch party to explain how it all came to happen. He also shared how we happen to connect with TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors), a non-profit in VA that provides benefits for the families of service members who were killed in the line of duty.  Leaders of that organization joined us during the watch party too including founder Bonnie Carroll (who joined the call from Alaska). The Harmonizers encouraged viewers of the show to donate to TAPS and before the show ended, nearly $5,000 was donated. The Northwest Sound Chapter encouraged donations to Hopelink.

 

President Stan Quick shared in the show program that the first decision during the collaboration was that the show would be a gift. No group appearing would make any money. Rather, each chapter selected their charity to support. 

 

The show was also sponsored by both the Evergreen and the Mid Atlantic Districts of BHS. Evergreen president (former Harmonizer) John Rettenmayer and MAD president (and current Harmonizer) Bob Eckman both brought greetings during the show.

 

Much appreciation to those who made the show possible because of technology. Mike Kelly and Joel Golden get top billing for their hard work, long hours and technical expertise as Harmonizers.  Director Joe Cerutti, associate director Tony Colosimo, and assistant director Terry Reynolds provided significant musical and administrative leadership to get the chorus ready to do their recordings and to keep the communications flowing. Bruce Roehm, president of AH Inc., and Matt Doniger, chapter communications director, were also on the production team.  That team included an equal number of men from Northwest Sound including their director Ken Potter and their president and emcee on the show, Bill Hickman.  The BHS staff in Nashville provided major project management as well, including promotion to the family of singers we call barbershop.

 

Before the show launched on Sunday evening, Bruce dedicated the show to the three Harmonizers who died in the year from Covid as well to those Harmonizer families who have had health issues, job changes, weddings, funerals,  and new babies.  We yearn for more “Harmonizer Breathless Moments” in 2021.

 

The two-hour show was truthfully a holiday variety show with lots of great graphics, photos and videos and glimpses into homes and lives of fellow barbershop singers around the globe. There were youth quartets, mixed quartets, family groups, dads and their kids, small break-out groups from both chapters, top ranking quartets from all barbershop harmony organizations, some comedy with Will Cox doing his traditional “Night Before Christmas” routine, and a greeting from BHS CEO Marty Monson and his family on their front porch after a snow there. 

 

Our Alexandria chapter was well represented with several groups on the show in addition to the virtual chorus songs by themselves and with the Northwest Sound chorus.  Our own a cappella group, TBD, donned Santa hats, with black masks to film a number outside our chapter meeting place.  Great hit on “Here Comes Santa.”

 

RIPTIDE – a rock band, which includes Joe Cerutti Sr., Chris Huber, Kellen Hertz and Joel Golden from the chorus) entertained on the show with “Santa Is Coming to Town.”  They had some fun scenes too – one when Joe Jr. was given a gift box filled with lumps of coal.  The list for Santa to check twice include several Harmonizers as well, such as Sam McFarland who was on the “nice” list.

 

Always great to hear BETTER TOGETHER sing for us – perfect for a family show with Tony and Elizabeth Colosimo, and Andrew and Heather Havens singing together. 

 

Tony and Andrew also appeared with their relatively new quartet, FIRST TAKE, with Drew Wheaton and Alex Corson

 

Our guys in SILVER ALERT modeled the epidemy of ugly Christmas sweaters and sang about it on the show!  This Harmo quartet includes Rick Savage, Mike Edison, Will Cox, and Steve Murane.

 

When word was out that this show was being planned, the task force was inundated with offers of assistance and ultimately there were 22 groups appearing on the show. Some of the groups have been part of the Harmonizer year of Zoom meetings, some been on our shows, some have come to help with our Youth Harmony event, and some welcomed us for shows in their world. No wonder it was called a “Christmas Coast to Coast – a celebration of singing and family!”

 

For the history, here are the groups that did a song on the show:

ASTEL FAMILY 

BETTER TOGETHER

DOUBLE DATE

FIRST TAKE

GQ

HALO QUARTET

HEAVEY MEDAL

IMPACT

MITCHELL FAMILY SINGERS

MOMMA’S BOYS

NORTHWEST MIX

PRATT STREET POWER

THE QUINN-TONES

RIPTIDE

SILVER ALERT

TBD

VINTAGE MIX

VON TRAMACK FAMILY SINGERS

WORKMAN FAMILY

SIGNATURE

Plus the two men’s choruses – Northwest Sound and the Alexandria Harmonizers.

 

Until next time – editorjack!
 

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 72nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Looking Back on the Dec. 15th 2020 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the Dec. 15th 2020 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

In one way, we were glad not to have to drive to a meeting this week with the cold, rainy weather with snow in the forecast.

 

Director Joe Cerutti called things to order, had everyone muted,  and welcomed all those who made it onto the call during this holiday season for our last virtual meeting during 2020 and the pandemic.

 

He expressed how grateful he is to the chapter members for attending the weekly Zoom sessions. He reminded guys to enjoy this holiday break and be ready to return to Zoom sessions on Tues. Jan. 12th at 7 pm.  There will be no meetings on Dec. 29th nor on Jan. 5th.  However, on Tues, Dec. 22nd we will have a virtual “afterglow” event, instead of a virtual meeting, to celebrate our virtual holiday show.

 

Joe also shared his excitement about the quality of our virtual holiday show that starts at 6:30 pm EST on Sun. Dec. 20th. The theme of the show is “Christmas Coast to Coast – a celebration of singing and family!”  We are co-presenting the show with Northwest Sound from Bellevue, WA.  Both choruses will sing and also do two songs together.  Plus there will be lots of other singing groups on the FREE variety show that will last about two hours.

 

This week we got a sneak preview to hear the Workman Family that will appear on the show from their home.  They sang for us on a chapter Zoom meeting a couple months ago.

 

The link to the show is barbershop.org/coasttocoast to watch the show on a device like lap top, computer or phone. 

 

The show will be streamed by BHS on their YouTube Channel at 6:30 pm Eastern Time, on Dec. 20th for those who might want to watch the show on a Smart TV.

 

If anyone has questions or problems getting in to the show, call Joe’s CeruttiTony Colosimo,  Terry Reynolds orMatt Doniger.

 

The Harmonizer watch-party on Zoom starts at 6 pm – using the usual Harmonizer Zoom link for a Zoom call.  When the show starts, you will want to open another device to see the show. 

 

We will be offering our VA patrons a chance to support TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors), a non-profit in VA that provides benefits for the families of service members who were killed in the line of duty.  

 

The Holiday Silent Auction is “live” now and you can start bidding on any and all of the 60+ items in the auction. It will end on Dec. 20th after our show at 5 pm.  Randall Eliason asks members to please help promote the auction by sharing the event with posts on social media and by telling friends and family about it. And check it out yourself - you could get your piano tuned by Ike Evans, get a voice lesson from Tony Colosimo, pick up gift cards from area restaurants at far below face value, and more! Here is link:  https://www.32auctions.com/Harmonizer2020

 

Planning for next year continues with the chapter, and Joe announced that he will be doing individual interviews with every member after Jan. 1st. Section leaders may be joining him for some.  Interviews will be scheduled with all members – especially singing members and those active members who are not singing but wish to join the process.  These interviews will be done via Zoom.

 

Joe also discussed the music team’s  approach to learning the coming new music.  Rather than doing “Ready to Rehearse” submissions to listeners for evaluation like we were doing at the beginning of 2020, we’re going to do audio virtual choirs on each of the songs.   Joe has already recording conducting videos and the music team will start putting the learning tracks to match.    

 

For those of you who are motivated to learn music over the holidays, the chapter will send out an initial  priority list for the order we plan to work on the songs in 2021.  As we are going to be learning more music, we are going to start spending a little more time on Tuesdays in rehearsal.  We will still hold discussion topics but probably not every week. We will allow some extra time in sectionals and small groups that can be some  “check-in” or social time.    

 

The chapter is proud that we have been accepted as one of the 14 performing groups to be part of WETA “Songs of the Season.” They chose our 2019 performance of “Gloria,” arranged by David Wright, to be used in their holiday presentations streamed online between Dec. 15th and the 25th pm on both WETA PBS and on WETA METRO channels. There were good reports from folks who watched the Dec. 15th show at 9 pm. 

 

WETA PBS

Wed Dec 23rd at 4 pm

Fri Dec 25th at 4 pm

 

WETA METRO

Sun Dec 20th at 1 pm

Tues Dec 22nd at 3 pm

Fri Dec 25th at 2 pm

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo conducted a warm up session starting with stretching and moving and ending with our familiar exercise “we sing late at times – canned goods.”

 

Next,  we worked on  “Chorus Line Medley” originally arranged for the chapter by John Hohl. We had sectionals for some work and then an all-chorus sing period.

 

Alan Wile conducted the 15th interview of a Harmonizer who has submitted his Harmo Hero form for inclusion on Groupanizer.  This week’s interviewee was Ike Evans – a 32-year chapter member. He was born in NYC and that’s where he started playing tuba. – in the fourth grade. He was fortunate to study with a number of professional tube players. In eighth grade, Ike attended the National Music Camp at Interlocken, MI.  He did three summers there. His summers in MI led him to decide to go to college in MI where he majored in wind instrument performance and also some education courses. While on campus, Ike played in the symphony and the marching band.  Those gigs  took him to the Rose Bowl Parade in 1970 and his first Carnegie Hall appearance.

 

In March 1970 he auditioned  for the Marine Band, then after a few years in the band, Ike was chosen to be in the US Armed Forces Bicentennial Band and Chorus group.  He met his wife, Kay, while in that group as she was singing in the chorus. The group did 376 concerts in 256 cities for about 1.5 million people. In 1976 they were in Philly for a 500,000 audience. At the end of 1976, he migrated back into the Marine Band to complete a 28-year career with the band.

 

Ike found a second career as a piano tuner and he shared some of the fun experiences and locations where he has tuned an instrument.

 

He found barbershop and our chapter after attending the joint show with the Harmonizers and the Vocal Majority at Constitution Hall. He has been in a few quartets, was caretaker of the Harmo photo board for years, and is a member of the current history committee.

 

We do get to hear Ike from time to time as he plays tuba in the Virginia Grand Military Band four times a year at Schlesinger.

 

The chapter business meeting was coordinated by communications director Matt Doniger.  

 

President Stan Quick announced his launch of a “Double My Dues” drive again this year.  Members are encouraged to donate another $100 to double their dues.  This donation is tax deductible though.

 

He also reports that Dave Kohls is getting better at home and that Clyde Crusenberry is recovering now at home. Drew Fuller was back on the call after his scare with Covid. 

 

Membership director Jacob Broude gave a plug for guys to consider using Scrip purchases for gifts during the holidays or for special food items such as ham or standing rib roast. Contact Ken Ives if you need some Scrip. 

 

Our elective this week was provided by Jason Lee who provided very interesting and plentiful info about the Mathematical Aspect of the Coronavirus Pandemic – where we stand and what we know about Covid and its transmission. Jason works in this field and was able to explain charts and graphs and formulas.  It was interesting since we see so much in our local media that never quite tells the whole story.

 

Our next Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on Jan. 12th, 2021. Watch for email details. 

 

Until next time – editorjack!

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 72nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the Dec. 8th 2020 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the Dec. 8th 2020 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

It was a cold night but there were warm feelings about the season and the chance to see and chat with our friends from the chapter when we gathered.

 

Director Joe Cerutti called things to order and welcomed all those who made it onto the call during this holiday season. He had a lot of info to pass on to the chapter:

 

  • We are happy to announce that section leaders Brian Ammerman, Ryan Mextorf, and Jason Lee and his assistant Jacob Broude have all agreed to continue in their roles.   Thanks so much to them for their continued hard work and dedication to the chorus.

 

  • You may have heard that Reed Livergood and family are expecting another baby.   Between that and his work commitments, Reed has asked to step down as Lead Section Leader.   Thanks to Reed for the great job he has done for the last two years and two years before that with the Baritones.

 

  • So that means we are looking for a Lead Section Leader.   If anyone would like to throw their hat in the ring or have questions about the role and its responsibilities, please reach out to Terry Reynolds and/or Joe.

 

  • The music team met a couple weeks ago and discussed how they wanted to approach learning the coming new music.  
    • They decided that rather than doing “Ready to Rehearse” submissions to listeners for evaluation like we were doing at the beginning of 2020, we’re just going to do audio virtual choirs on each of the songs.   
    • We’ll ask you to submit your recording of each of the songs by a deadline and we’ll ask Joel Golden to build them into a consolidated recording
    • We will take the lesson learned from the last few months and use videos of Joe conducting the song so you know the exact interp to sing. 

 

  • Joe has already recorded all the conducting videos and the Music Team will start putting the learning tracks to match.    We hope to get “Help from My Friends” out to singers this month and more to follow over the holidays or in January 

 

  • The annotated version of “Help from My Friends,” including corrections, is now posted on Groupanizer, so please download the new version.

 

  • For those of you who are motivated to learn music over the holidays, we’ll send out an initial  priority list for the order we plan to work on the songs in 2021.  We’ll get that out to you next week.

 

  • As we are going to be learning more music, we are going to start spending a little more time on Tuesdays in rehearsal.  We will still hold discussion topics but probably not every week. We will allow some extra time in sectionals and small groups that can be some  “check-in” or social time.    

 

 

Joe reminded everyone that there is one more upcoming December meeting on Dec. 15th.  Then on Dec. 22nd we will have a virtual “afterglow” event, instead of a virtual meeting, to celebrate our virtual holiday show which would have been on Dec. 20th.  There will be no meetings on Dec. 29th nor on Jan. 5th.  We will resume meetings on Jan. 12th at 7 pm.

 

Speaking of the show, Joe reports that it is all set to go for “Christmas – Coast to Coast – A Celebration of Singing and Family.” The show will be streamed by BHS on their YouTube Channel at 6:30 pm Eastern Time, on Dec. 20th.  We are co-presenting the show with Northwest Sound from Bellevue, WA.

 

Links to see the show have gone out to members.  It can be found here. You can click on the chorus picture upper right corner to get a montage of the performers.  On the day of the show, you can click on the arrow in the picture as your link for the show.

 

Joe stressed again that the show is FREE. We will be offering support for TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors), a non-profit in VA that provides benefits for the families of service members who were killed in the line of duty.  

 

We did get to see the montage created by Mike Kelly to use as a teaser for promotion and a we watched a preview of a song by MIDTOWN. 

 

The Holiday Silent Auction is “live” now and you can start bidding on any and all of the 60+ items in the auction.. It will run for two weeks, ending on Dec. 20th after our show. It is not too late for members to submit more items for the auction.  Send info about new contributions to Kritin Kelly at nitsirk.c@gmail.com 

 

The chapter is proud that we have been accepted as one of the 14 performing groups to be part of WETA “Songs of the Season.” They chose our 2019 performance of “Gloria,” arranged by David Wright, to be used in their holiday presentations streamed online between Dec. 15th and the 25th pm on both WETA PBS and on WETA METRO channels.

 

WETA PBS

Tues Dec 15th at 9 pm

Wed Dec 23rd at 4 pm

Fri Dec 25th at 4 pm

 

 

 

WETA METRO

Sun Dec 20th at 1 pm

Tues Dec 22nd at 3 pm

Fri Dec 25th at 2 pm

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo conducted a warm up session starting with stretching and moving so the singers would be ready for the choreo review later in the evening.  

 

Next, the attendees worked on “Chorus Line Medley.”  Tony sang lead a few times and Jason Lee sang bari a few times so singers could practice singing their part. Joe coached Tony and Jason and made comments about the many things they each did well so chorus singers could benefit from the exercise.

 

Next,  we went into sectionals and then worked on the choreo for the finale of “Circle of Life” with Tony. He had the members sing some and do the moves some and then do them both at the same time.

 

The chapter business meeting was coordinated by communications director Matt Doniger.  

 

AH, Inc. president Bruce Roehm reported that we raised over $6000 on our Giving Tuesday effort.  Some members organized other donors and helped raise the total – Dean Rust and Randall Eliason to name two. Thanks to Bruce for coordinating this extra effort. 

 

Bill Colosimo invited members to check out the Alexandria Singers Virtual Holiday Pops Concert, Dec. 12th at 2 pm.  Visit www.alexandriasingers.com  and look for the show’s homepage as “Event.”

 

Tessa Walker sent a Harmo personals message to the chapter inviting support of a virtual fundraiser for the music program where she teaches.

 

Joe reported on several guys who are combating Covid – Dave Kohls plus Drew Fuller and his wife. Joe also offered our thoughts for Ken Ives and Clyde Crusenberry with health challenges too. 

 

It was great to see Chris Buechler on the call this week – he is at home recovering from a kidney transplant and making decent progress.  He had attended a chapter board meeting before the chapter meeting – his last one as secretary of the chapter for 25 years!  Our thanks to Chris and our best wishes as he continues to improve.

 

Scott Kahler was on the call too from his home in Atlanta.  

 

Our elective this week was provided by chapter coach, arranger and friend, Steve Tramack.  He presented an educational session on Musicality.  It concentrated on the importance of studying the melody of a song.  The melody is one of five parts of a song – melody, lyrics, rhythm, harmony and parody. But the melody can reveal so much to the performer and listener – movement, tension, signal meaning, and stir emotion.

 

His presentation was a companion piece to the session Joe did last week about  Developing Musicality.   They were part of a 6-part virtual session at Harmony U last summer with Kevin Keller, David Wright, Marc Hale, and Steve Armstrong.

 

Next week’s Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm and our last meeting before the holidays. Watch for email details. 

 

Until next time – editorjack!

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 72nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

 

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Looking Back on the Dec. 1st 2020 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the Dec. 1st 2020 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

Like everywhere else on this day, the Harmonizers were promoting participation in “Giving Tuesday.”   We were at $3750 when the meeting started.

 

Director Joe Cerutti called things to order and welcomed all those who made it onto the call during this holiday season.

 

He reviewed the upcoming December calendar for the chapter with reminders of meetings on Dec. 8th and 15th.  Then on Dec. 22nd we will have a virtual “afterglow” event, instead of a virtual meeting, to celebrate our virtual holiday show which would have been on Dec. 20th.  There will be no meetings on Dec. 29th nor on Jan. 5th.  We will resume meetings on Jan. 12th at 7 pm.

 

Speaking of the show, Joe reports that it is all set to go for “Christmas – Coast to Coast – A Celebration of Singing and Family.” The show will be streamed by BHS on their YouTube Channel at 6:30 pm Eastern Time, on Dec. 20th.  We are co-presenting the show with Northwest Sound from Bellevue, WA, and the virtual chorus numbers are awesome (based on some sneak previews we were shown this week!).

 

There will be a “heavenly host” of other guest performers such as GQ, QUIN-TONES, HALO, MIDTOWN, SIGNATURE, MOMMA’S BOYS, VINTAGE MIX plus our own TBD and SILVER ALERT. That is just a few of the groups on the show.

 

Joe stressed again that the show is FREE. We will be offering support for TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors), a non-profit in VA that provides benefits for the families of service members who were killed in the line of duty, and for HOPELINK,  a Washington-based charity that helps homeless and low-income families. 

 

A huge outpouring of gratitude to Mike Kelly and Joel Golden for the weeks of technical work they have done to prepare the virtual choruses for the show.  This week’s attendees on the Zoom call got to see  a piece of “Carol of the Bells” and “Gloria” – WOW! We also got to watch a performance of VINTAGE MIX doing a new holiday arrangement provided by the Harmonizers in appreciation for the quartet having been on one of our Zoom calls earlier this year!). 

 

As has been out custom at recent holiday shows, there will be a Holiday Silent Auction.  It will begin on Dec. 6th and run for two weeks, ending on Dec. 20th after our show.

 

The chapter is proud that we have been accepted as one of the 14 performing groups to be part of WETA “Songs of the Season.” They chose our 2019 performance of “Gloria,” arranged by David Wright, to be used in their holiday presentations streamed online between Dec. 15th and the 25th pm on both WETA PBS and on WETA METRO channels.

 

WETA PBS

Tues Dec 15th at 9 pm

Wed Dec 23rd at 4 pm

Fri Dec 25th at 4 pm

 

 

 

WETA METRO

Sun Dec 20th at 1 pm

Tues Dec 22nd at 3 pm

Fri Dec 25th at 2 pm

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo conducted a warm up session starting with stretching and moving so the singers would be ready for the choreo review later in the evening.  Tony thanked the men for participating. 

 

At this point, Joe and Tony stopped the meeting to encourage men to “rattle the bushes” a little and suggest donations to the Harmonizers as part of “Giving Tuesday.”  At this point we were up to $4200.

 

Next, the attendees worked on a run-through of “With a Little Help from My Friends” and the second song in the Chorus Line Medley – “What I Did for Love.” That was followed by reviewing the choreography in the finale of “Circle of Life.”  Here again, Tony demonstrated and/or coached the review points. There was a special breakout group for the front row to review their choreo too.

 

Alan Wile did his 14th interview of a Harmonizer who has submitted a Harmo Hero form to be posted on Groupanizer.  Bob Rhome was one of the very first to submit his form ten years ago when Alan started this project.

 

Bob is a 19-year barbershopper and came to us after a long and successful career in the US Army and as a major staffer for NASA.  He grew up as an Army-brat and lived with his folks in over a dozen posts before he was in junior high. He sang in school but not again until he was in the DC area and joined the Harmonizers in 1980.

 

His education was in engineering and he earned his Army Commission. Eventually her got two masters degrees in civil engineering and public works, plus an MBA.  He served in the Army 21 years after which he worked for NASA. He held a number of high-level positions that meant our USA space program was a success. 

 

Bob shared pride of his family and the upcoming 49th anniversary with wife Anne

 

During our small group discussion this week, we were asked to share “What is your favorite TV commercial of all time?”  There were several duplicates and there were a number of good ones to laugh about that guys were able to play and share with us.

 

During the business meeting, executive director Randall Eliason reported that there are over 50 items so far donated for the silent auction for the holiday show, but it is not too late to submit something. Confirm with  Kristin Kellyat nitsirk.c@gmail.com if you have donations.

 

President Stan Quick reported on the recent kidney transplant operation for Chris Buechler – he is recovering and has a way to go yet.

 

Membership director Jacob Broude reported on a number of health issues with members, families, and former members.  Everyone offers their support and best wishes for getting back with us. 

 

Clark Chesser was congratulated for his excellent ECHO published and sent to members and to our patrons.  Good work.

 

We wrapped up this week’s meeting with two electives.  Devin Gerzof spoke about “Barbershop in Pop Culture.” His presentation was a great collection of videos showing barbershop on national TV, at NFL games, and in other pop situations.  There was a lot of discussion from attendees who offered other examples. 

 

Joe Cerutti spoke about “Developing Musicality: Putting It Together.” Barbershop as a folk-art form leaves a lot of interpretive responsibility on the performer, but most focus on executing the correct notes/words/rhythms.  Once you understand how to interpret the opinion of the composer and arranger, the performer has many decisions to make. Joe’selective was an effort to increase understanding of how to put it all together.

 

Next week’s Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm. Watch for email details.  Volunteers to do electives for future meetings should contact Terry Reynolds if they’d like to present a half hour elective.

 

At 9:34 pm, we had collect $4.580 in our “Giving Tuesday” effort.  Actually donations can be made all week to add to this number.  So let’s hope there will be continued donations!

 

Until next time – editorjack!

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 72nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

 

Friday, November 27, 2020

Looking Back on the Nov. 24th 2020 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the Nov. 24th 2020 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

Just a couple days before Thanksgiving, so this week’s virtual session for the Harmonizers was lightly attended. However, the goal was to continue work on future show music and to launch a couple things for the chapter such as a Giving Tuesday campaign. 


Artistic director Joe Cerruti started the ball rolling right at 7 pm with Thanksgiving greetings to everyone. He had some calendar notes for all – the next three meetings (Dec. 1st, Dec. 8th and Dec 15th) will have electives as the final segment for those nites; our virtual holiday show is Sun. Dec. 20th  so stay tuned for details about a chapter watch party event during the show; then chapter leadership has determined we will NOT meet on  Dec. 22nd, Dec. 29th or Jan. 5thbut there may be some kind of afterglow session on Dec. 22nd to follow up on the show. We resume our regular sessions on Jan. 12th.

 

Joe reported news that the flyer for our holiday show is about to be released via social media and via email or other methods. Communications chairman Matt Doniger confirmed these plans. As it turns out, the BHS will be supporting our joint show with Northwest Sound as it will be premiered live on the BHS YouTube channel. The show is also connecting patrons with TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors) and TAPS also will be sharing show details with their supporters and friends. 

 

Our two-hour virtual show will begin at 6:30 pm Eastern time. Joe stressed that we should tell everyone the show is FREE and we should invite friends, family, co-workers, neighbors to make plans to watch the show.  There are over 20 other groups appearing on the show in addition to the Harmonizers and the Northwest Sound.  We got a sneak preview of one guest group, our friends PRATT STREET POWER, during this week’s Zoom call.  

 

Joe thanked Mike Kelly for his major efforts to create the virtual show as well as Joel Golden, Tessa Walker, Tony Colosimo and Terry Reynolds for their various contributions of time and talent and creativity.  We also got a sneak preview of what the chorus performance will look like for “Carol of the Bells” – it was awesome!

 

The chapter should be proud that we have been accepted as one of the 14 performing groups to be part of WETA PBS station’s “Songs of the Season.” They chose our 2019 performance of “Gloria” to be used in their holiday presentations between Dec. 15th and the 25th

 

Associate director Tony conducted a strong warm up session starting with stretching and moving so the singers would be ready for the choreo review later in the evening. 

 

Next, the attendees worked on a run-through of “With a Little Help from My Friends” and the second song in the Chorus Line Medley – “What I Did for Love.”

 

That was followed by reviewing the choreography in the finale of “Circle of Life.”  Here again, Tony demonstrated and/or coached the review points.

 

During our small group discussion this week, we were asked to share thoughts about “Who is your favorite coach that has come in to work with the chorus?”  This time, no one reported from each group.  Instead Joe asked each guy to type his answer in the chat, that on signal, everyone hit return – all the replies popped into view.  Amazing – sooo many duplicates.

 

In the end, we all agreed we benefitted greatly from them all and we are most thankful that the chapter could afford such a good battery of coaching help.  We thank them all!!

 

Joe actually asked the guys to do the same thing with ideas for future coaches.  Good responses for sure and the music team took notes! 

 

Next week the topic will be “What is your favorite TV commercial of all time?

 

During the business meeting, executive director Randall Eliason stressed that we only have a couple weeks to turn in donations for the Silent Auction, which this year will be held online during the two weeks before the show, then closed down during the show.  Confirm with  Kristin Kelly at nitsirk.c@gmail.com if you have donations.

 

Bruce Roehm, president of AH, Inc., walked us through the chapter’s Giving Tuesday promotion blitz materials that will go out to all members, patrons, friends of the chapter, and others on our lists of supporters. Good job, Bruce.

Randall also reminded everyone to take note of the recent email from our chapter conventions chairman, NickMurane, regarding making plans for the chorus trip to and participation in a possible 2021 BHS International Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, which surprisingly is only about a 6-hour drive from Alexandria.  The dates for the competition are from June 28 to July 3.  The Alexandria Harmonizers, along with as many as 30 other choruses, have been invited to compete and we have accepted the invitation.  We have paid the entrance fee and are entered into the competition.  Obviously, things can change due to the unpredictability of the Covid virus and large meeting protocols that might be in place, but as of now we need to start our planning based on the assumption that we will compete.

The key issue right now concerns the purchase of registrations.  Every contest participant must purchase a registration in order to compete.  The BHS website is set up now to buy them.  There is however, a fast approaching 'Early Bird' registration deadline (Nov. 30) and members can save $50 if they get registered now.  

There are several types of tickets that can be purchased, but at a minimum, chorus participants must have a 1-day Registration in order to compete.  If the 1-Day ticket is purchased now, the cost is just $99.  After Nov. 30 it goes up to $149. Just so you know, a one-day ticket only gets you access to the date the chorus competes and to no other events during the rest of convention. You can also purchase 2-Day $169, and up to 5-Day registrations, which is $199 'early bird'.

It is also important that members realize that the tickets are fully refundable at basically anytime, even the day before the contest, no questions asked.  So there is no downside to registering now.  The seating for this year's event will be unassigned (general admission), so there will be no chorus blocks.  

If you are even slightly considering competing this coming convention and would like to save $50 dollars, then get to the BHS site, https://www.barbershop.org/ events/international- convention/register and purchase now. But be assured that if things change and the chorus decides not to attend or if your plans change or if you don't want to take the risk of competing, you can get your money back, no questions asked.  

Information about our recommended "Harmo Hotel" and other details about the competition will be coming soon from Nick.

We wrapped up this week’s meeting with special guest, Dusty Schleier, who is BHS director of events and conventions, to tell us about the Midwinter Convention in Jan. 2021.  It will be virtual and “as close to being there as you could get.”  There is a great video at barbershop.org to explain it all. The actual dates are Jan. 28- Jan. 31.  Dustysuggests this will be great for those members who are “convention goers.”  He also suggested that the first day, Jan. 28th, will be a good time for a person to check it out and get things set up for the virtual experience, then enjoy the first of the big concerts that nite. 

 

Next week’s Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm. Watch for email details.  Volunteers to do electives for future meetings should contact Terry Reynolds if they’d like to present a half hour elective.

 

Until next time – editorjack!

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 72nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)