Looking Back on the April 9. , 2024 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting
Again this week, there was a large chorus present for the Alexandria A Cappella Collective (AACC) meeting at the AlexRenew building. Several members had traveled out of the state to watch the eclipse on Monday.
The warm up session for the combined ensembles was conducted by Harmonizer associate director, Tony Colosimo. He continued his work from last week on “Down Our Way” as part of the warm up session. We will sing that song plus “From the First Hello to the Last Goodbye” for our mic tester appearance at the Northeastern District (NED) convention in Lake George, NY, the weekend of May 3-5.
Following warm up, artistic director, Joe Cerutti, welcomed everyone and announced some plans for the weeks ahead. The music team has settled on the song list for the NED weekend. Both ensembles will sing “Defying Gravity,” “Why We Sing,” “First Hello” and “Down Our Way.” Metro Voices will sing “Fight Song,” “Happy Together,” and “Sing/Swing.” The Harmonizers will sing “New York, New York,” “Calling Dreams,” “Impossible Dream” with FRIST TAKE (who will be with us for the weekend and competing in the International prelims at NED), “Hey Jude,” and “Wee Small Hours.” Note that they will not be singing “Sit Down You’re Rockin the Boat.”
For the performance at Wolf Trap on June 1, the combined ensembles will sing “Defying Gravity,” “Hey Jude,” and “I’m Still Standing.” Work on these songs will pick up ASAP after the trip to NED.
Next week, the Harmonizers will have a major choreography coaching session with Cy Wood at Fairlington Presbyterian Church, 3846 King Street, from 7–10 pm. Metro Voices will meet nearby at Fairlington United Methodist Church, 3900 King Street, from 7–9 pm or so. Then the chapter will meet at AlexRenew the next four weeks. On April 23, Metro Voices will have a coaching session with Kim Newcomb at AlexRenew.
The two ensembles adjourned to their own rehearsal space at this point. At 8 pm they regrouped for an ice breaker organized by Becca Williams and Devin Gerzof. The singers formed into groups of seven or eight for a ‘never ending story about your eclipse experience.’ The first person started with a sentence and the next person built on it and on and on. It was fun and lots of laughs.
The business session followed the ice breaker. Thanks to Cy Shuster for moving the microphone into the room for this week’s session.
Brad Jones prompted members to make their decision about going on the trip to Ireland in August 2025. Members can sign up now for the very reasonable trip to sing and tour in another country. Brad is coordinator for this trip.
The next big fundraising event will be spring2ACTion on Wednesday, April 24. It is our largest fundraising event as we participate in an Alexandria program for not-for-profit arts groups. The goal is $35,000 – not including matching gifts. Members will be asked to set their goal and use the spring2ACTion materials to solicit donations to help raise their personal goal. A typical personal goal would be $350. If some members or their contacts want to invest at the $500, $1,000 or more level, make contact with Ken Rub, development director, so he can discuss the plan for matching gifts.
Sheryl Berlin, director of education for the chapter, encouraged members to consider attending the Mid Atlantic District (M-AD) Harmony College East event that will be June 13-16 at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. There are many classes taught by leading trainers from around the nation to help barbershoppers sing better, direct, or coach others. Quartets can attend as an ensemble for coaching too. Registration can be done at midatlanticdistrict.com/HCE. The weekend includes a couple barbershop shows too.
Chapter membership director, Jacob Broude, introduced two new members: Callie Cirillo and Jared Liscinsky; recent guests back this week: Jess Rich, Hannah Nesich and David Eckersell, and first time guests: Andrea and Lucy Murad. Jacob also welcomed Greg Tepe, Tim Cash, and Joe and Janet Cerutti who were with us this week. Finally,Jacob reports that the previously announced guest night event will be moved to the summer. Maggie McAlexander, assistant director of Metro Voices, directed the “Welcome Song.”
Both ensembles continued work on their music for the rest of the evening. Just after 9:30 pm Joe invited the guests and members to come to the Harmo House for an afterglow, took a count for pizza, and invited Reed Livergood to direct“Keep the Whole World Singing.”
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 75th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)
The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.
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