Friday, February 12, 2021

Looking Back on the Feb. 9th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the Feb. 9th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting 

 

Almost 70 Harmonizers joined the Zoom meeting this week and as usual there was a lot of chatter as guys were joining the call. A popular topic was “beverage of choice for this week’s call!”

 

Assistant director Terry Reynolds launched this week’s gathering until director Joe Cerutti could join.

 

Terry outlined the agenda for this week with the highlight that Jim Henry would be our guest.  And for a change in methods, there were four choices for breakout discussion sessions for members: (1) What questions should we ask Jimtonight?, (2) what action ideas do you have for our chapter in taking the advice of Kevin Keller in his keynote address at Midwinter?, (3) discuss the Superbowl, (4) or just chat.

 

Terry and others reported the efforts of guys in the chorus to expand the number of users of Jamulus.  Steve Whitereports a few guys that signed up recently did a tag singing session the other night and “it was fun.” 

 

Plus members were reminded that the music for “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” is posted on Groupanizer.  Terryplayed ACOUSTIX – the 1990 gold medal quartet – performing that song.

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo conducted the warm up session to get the body and the voice ready for the night. 

 

When Joe joined the call, he remarked about all the singers who were on the call from all around the US that we have not seen for a while – Julian Laflore, John Santora, Michael Gilmore, Bob Thames, Aaron Simoneau, Bob Eckman, Michael Berkson, and Paul Grimes

 

Sectionals were next and they concentrated on “Something’s Coming” with the reminder to download the annotated copy of the music from Groupanizer. That was followed by more work using Jamulus while singing “Chorus Line Medley.”  This week’s Jamulus quartet was Tony, Turner Arndt, Jacob Broude, and Brian Ammerman.

 

After that there were small groups formed to work on “Never Fully Dressed” concentrating on breath plans and dynamics.  Individuals were invited to sing a section of the song (either a cappella or with a track), and then others guys would offer positive comments.

 

There were a few announcements during the business meeting. History committee chairman Jack Pitzer announced that David Welter will replace Dean Sherick, who has moved away, on that chapter committee.  Shows chairman Doug White announced future show dates in 2022 – a fall show at Schlesinger Sept. 10, 2022, and a holiday show also at Schlesinger Dec. 10, 2022.

 

The discussion topics were fun and the first two accumulated lots of input from members.  Joe used the suggested questions when he interviewed our guest, Jim Henry.  Jim was the gold medal bass in GAS HOUSE GANG and CROSSROADS, plus is director of the Ambassadors of Harmony from the St. Louis area. 

 

One question the guys had for Jim was “who are your heroes in the world of barbershop?” He had already talked a lot about David Wright and his support, talent, and passion. Without any delay, Jim answered the question and shared his respect and joy in friendship with two other chorus directors – Jim Clancy and Jim Miller

 

Several questions were to find out what the Ambassadors are doing during the Covid restraints. He told us about their efforts to sing from their cars in a parking lot.  It seems to work (maybe better than Jamulus) and they are hoping for good weather in the next few weeks to launch it for the whole chorus.  Jim will share will us the details about which microphone each guy bought (guys who needed help to pay got support from their chapter).  They also bought a clamp to fasten the mic to the steering wheel.

 

There were several references to the shared show and visit when the Ambassadors came to Alexandria and stayed with us in our homes.

 

When asked which of his own arrangements were his favorite, Jim humbly shared “I Still Can’t Say Goodbye.”

 

During this week’s afterglow, we all watched one of the FaceBook musical spots, “Music Man,” created by Jim and his family.  It was awesome and a fun ending to a visit with a barbershop hero for most Harmonizers.

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on Feb. 16th , 2021. 

 

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)

 

Sunday, February 7, 2021

 Looking Back on the Feb. 2nd 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting & Midwinter

 

A good number of Harmonizers joined the Zoom meeting again this week and there was a lot of chatter as guys were joining the call. 

 

Director Joe Cerutti launched this week’s gathering and updated the chapter on a number of issues including sharing word that Jim Henry will be a guest next week.

 

Joe did appeal to everyone to suggest speakers, and better yet, to offer to do an elective of their choosing – sharing about your hobby, your profession, your quartet experiences, you family musical background, or any topic.  Let Joeknow what you can share with the chapter.

 

We had a brief recap of the recent virtual Midwinter convention organized by BHS. It was a fun and interesting event.  It began on Thurs. Jan. 28th and ended on Sun. Jan. 21st.  Generally there were almost always about 20 Harmonizers on the “campus” in the avatars they had created for themselves in the virtual world.

 

The largest Harmonizer crowd was on Thursday night when the big show was “From the Archives” and included a set by VAUDEVILLE (Harold Nance, tenor [‘who was actually attending the event]. Scott Werner, John Hohl and Bill Cody).  

 

During the convention there was a full schedule of Harmony University classes.  YeEd heard that Terry Reynolds, Tony Colosimo and Joe Cerutti made presentations. 

 

It was great to chat with fellow chapter members as well as old friends from the district and around the Society.  Our chapter had a terrific “room” in the MAD hospitality room that featured a video our of Toronto contest package on a screen there.

 

Our popular coach, Kevin Keller, gave a fantastic keynote address during the Saturday evening schedule.  He received many accolades.  You can see/hear it by going to barbershop.org and click on his picture.  It is totally on target with how we come out of this Covid year as a chapter.  Take a listen.  

 

(Actually we listened to a segment’s of Kevin’s address at the end of this week’s meeting and discussed how his thoughts relate to our own chapter – especially as we emerge from Covid restraints.  And Joe promises we will learn the tag Kevin taught in his speech.)

 

Recently the music team has announced plans to rekindle the plan to have members submit recordings.  There has been a delay getting the support materials out to the chapter, but singers can still work on preparing themselves by working on the current songs – “Help from My Friends,” “Never Fully Dressed,” “Chorus Line Medley,” and “Something’s Coming.”  Joe also announced that we will be getting “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” soon too.

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo conducted the warm up session to get the body and the voice ready for the night. Sectionals were next and they concentrated on “Something’s Coming” with the reminder to download the annotated copy of the music from Groupanizer. That was followed by more work using Jamulus with singing “What I Did For Love.” This week’s Jamulus quartet was Tony, Turner Arndt, Jacob Broude, and Doug White

 

 We returned to the small group concept and the singers worked on “Never Fully Dressed.”  A member was invited to sing a section of the song and then others in the group offered positive suggestions.

 

Alan Wile conducted his 17th Harmonizer Hero interview of a member who has submitted his Hero form for publication on our Groupanizer page.  This interview was with Adam Afifi, who has been a Harmonizer for four years. Adam grew up on Savanah, GA, and auditioned to attend Savanah Arts Academy high school where he sang in the boys’ choir as a freshman (he was named most improved singer in that group) and then moved to the mixed choir for the remaining three years.  The school had a strong music program and Adam got to sing at Carnegie  Hall and at the Kennedy Center.

 

Adam attributes his musical background to his Mom. He also shared the great experience he had attending a Youth Harmony Camp in high school singing lead in the school’s barbershop quartet. The guys in that quartet actually were invited to sing in the BHS collegiate contest when they were in colleges in the Savanah area.  They sang in both 2014 and 2015,  In 2015, Adam sang with the Carolina Vocal Express chorus at the International too, and that is where he met former Harmonizer, John Adams

 

For college Adam enrolled at Savanah College of Art and Design which set him up for his career in service design. Currently he works for Booz Allen Hamilton here in the DC area.

 

After the interview,  Joe invited the members to listen to the finale of Kevin Keller’s keynote address from the Midwinter. We opened the mics and shared thoughts regarding his talk.

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on Feb. 9th , 2021. 

 

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)