Looking Back on the May 18th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

      Looking Back on the May 18^th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

As all of us know, the day after the chapter announced plans and details about meeting again in person in June, federal changes were announced that will alter our plans. (Artistic director Joe Cerutti was still excited about the prospect – “we’re getting close!” he chanted when this week’s Zoom called started.

 

The chapter’s advisory committee immediately reconvened to recommend how and when to meet face-to-face with the new guidelines from CDC.  The hard working committee is chaired by Jason Lee, with Randall Eliason, Steve White, Frank Shipp, Chris Huber, Bruce Roehm and Stan Quick. (Interesting to learn that last week’s announcements were reviewed by lots of other BHS chapters and even the BHS board.)

 

President Stan Quick suggests the following rules or guidelines will be in effect – as of this point:

 

1.     All in-person attendees must be vaccinated.

2.     Proof of vaccination must be submitted to covidinfo@harmonizers.org.  A roster will be maintained showing the results of these submissions.

3.     Masks will be optional.

4.     Hand sanitizers will be readily available.

5.     The number of attendees is still to be determined.

6.     Each man will sign some kind of a waiver regarding his knowledge of the risks.

7.     These criteria may be changed in the future by the committee and the board.

 

There will continue to be Zoom access for the meetings.

 

A small group from the music team and committee will make a dry run at Scottish Rite Temple  (SRT) on Wed. night, May 20^th to see how things will work.  

 

The goal is to start implementing this plan for meetings in June.  It was also noted that there is no pressure that someone MUST attend in person under these criteria. Questions for the music team can go to Joe, Tony and Terry.  Admin questions can go to Stan.

 

At this point, Harmonizers should get their shots, submit a copy of their vaccination record to covidinfo@harmonizers.org, and await instructions about the start of the June sessions. Soon members will be asked to indicated a response on Groupanizer about which Tuesdays they are available to attend meetings at SRT.

 

Joe was set up again to be on the call from the new Harmo House – his home where folks can meet and gather and celebrate and sing.  He and Terry Reynolds have purchased the home of Lew Klinge.

 

Other news from Joe include word about a possible collaboration with Masters of Harmony and Westminster for a July 4^th special.  Music team admin manager, Terry, posted a survey on the Zoom call so they could collect interest/willingness of members to work on it.

 

Joe was also pleased to report that reference videos of “Oh What A Beautiful Mornin” are now on Groupanizer. With them in place, singers should submit a recording of that song by Sun. June 6^th.  He reminded guys that it need not be absolutely perfect – just submit something.

 

He announced there will be presentations by members at two upcoming Zoom meetings.  Anyone who can chat for 30 minutes about any topic which they are passionate about should volunteer to Joe or Terry. 

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo did a warm up session for the singers on the call this week. Clearly many of us need to work on regaining our singing voice in preparation of the first in-person meetings.

 

The music team used Jamulus again this week and a quartet to demonstrate “Sing” (Mike Fasano, Tony, Jacob Broude, and Turner Arndt).  All those on Jamulus were asked to sing as well as those on Zoom. Joe coached all singers.

 

A new feature started last week is “coaching under glass” when Tony coaches a singer who has previously volunteered to sing.  This week’s volunteer was Bob Rhome who did a great job. 

 

SILVER ALERT (Rick Savage, Mike Edison, Will Cox, Steve Murane) provided a treat for the chapter tonight.  They gathered at the home of their bass – their first in-person meeting since March 15^th, 2020!  They shared that this rehearsal was an emotional reunion of these barbershop quartet singers. 

 

Alan Wile conducted his 24^th interview of a Harmonizer Hero from those members who have submitted a report to be posted on Groupanizer.  This week’s interviewee was Frank Fedarko, who has been a Harmonizer for 12 years. He was raised in PA and after college at Slippery Rock State University, he transitioned into a career in the Air Force. His many assignments took him around the work including Language School and finally into the Washington military scene.

 

Luckily a co-worker, the ever welcoming Jere Richardson, persisted and got Frank to come visit the Fairfax Chapter.  His first quartet, DOWTOWN with Drew Fuller, Mike Stoll, and Pat Varre, had a surprise experience of singing for The Smashing Pumpkins at the 930 Club in DC. Frank came to the Harmonizers and has been a frequently soloist for shows. 

 

Communications director Matt Doniger conducted this week’s business session.  President Stan announced a volunteer opportunity to sing in a quartet to honor Rose Hoffman for her 100^th birthday.  She and her family have been long-time fans of the chapter. Contact Stan if you can help onJune 26^th in Owings, MD. 

 

Membership chairman Jacob Broude  shared this brief report on the chapter social event held last weekend. “We had a hearty five folks show up for a night of fake gambling over Zoom. Randall, Terry, Joe, Kellen and Jacob were there. Randall was the first to bow out, battling with Kellen for first loser, but sat along while enjoying some beverages before stepping away. Kellen folded next, followed by Terry. Joe, who joined late, and was multi-tasking by playing a card game in person with his family in person, slowly took an insurmountable lead, before winning a hand after putting enough in the pot that Jacob went all-in. Overall a fun chance to just chill on a Saturday night. – Jacob”

 

It was also announced that former member, Bill Curtis, has died.  He and his wife Mary moved to Colorado Springs when he retired from the Air Force.  He was a barbershopper in CO too and had expanded his interest in painting with an emphasis on nature and wildlife. 

 

This week’s meeting ended with a discussion about which of the songs we have worked on recently were the favorite of singers and which one was the most difficult.  Interesting that the same songs were high on both lists. The music team also collected input from the breakouts as to suggestions for chapter members who will need to start submitting recordings as we begin to gather as a group.

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on May 25^th, 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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the May 11th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

      Looking Back on the May 11^th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

The administrative and musical leadership of the Alexandria Chapter announced the criteria leading up to our return to face-to-face meetings in the coming months!!  In summary, our board of directors approved a recommendation from the chapter’s advisory committee for returning to in-person meetings tonight.  Then the music team will work to make things work within the framework of those requirements.

 

The advisory committee to recommend how and when to meet face-to-face was chaired by Jason Lee, and includedRandall Eliason, Steve White, Frank Shipp, Chris Huber, Bruce Roehm and Stan Quick.  Their recommendations were based on CDC guidelines and statistical trends in infections and vaccinations in our area.  They also talked with other major barbershop choruses in BHS to compare planning and progress. Plus they conducted a survey of our members that revealed that 100% of the respondents had gotten their vaccinations.  They also concluded that there was a reluctance of vaccinated members to meet with non-vaccinated persons.

 

They recommended and the board approved the following ground rules:

 

1.     All attendees must be vaccinated.

2.     Proof of vaccination must be submitted to covidinfo@harmonizers.org.  A roster will be maintained showing the results of these submissions.

3.     All attendees will be masked – the chapter will purchase some to issue at the first rehearsal.

4.     Attendees will be six feet apart.

5.     There shall not be more than 20 people in the room.

6.     Hand sanitizers will be readily available.

7.     The 20 attendees will sing in a room for 30 minutes, and then move to another room so the air can be refreshed in the emptied room.  (Leaders have identified four rooms at Scottish Rite Temple for our use when we go there.)

8.     No guests will be allowed.

9.     Each man will sign some kind of a waiver regarding his knowledge of the risks.

10.  These criteria may be changed in the future by the committee and the board.

 

There will continue to be Zoom access for the meetings.

 

The music team will adjust their plans, instructions and methods to fit within these criteria.  There will be some adjusting and trials by the music team to see how things can work and a dry run will be conducted at SRT soon.  

 

The goal is to start implementing this plan for meetings in June.  It was also noted that there is no pressure that someone MUST attend under these criteria. Questions for the music team can go to Joe, Tony and Terry.  Admin questions can go to Stan.

 

At this point, Harmonizers should get their shots, submit a copy as outlined and await instructions about the start of the June sessions.

Artistic director Joe Cerutti announced the prospect of a new Harmo House – his home where folks can meet and gather and celebrate and sing.  He and Terry Reynolds have purchased the home of Lew Klinge who has moved to Ames, IA, to be closer to family.

 

Before moving on to singing, Joe welcomed Jorge Acevedo from El Paso on the Zoom call, and welcomed back to Jeff Burkey who we have not seen for a while.  Joe also announced that Kellen Hertz’s grandmother passed recently.

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo did a warm up session for the good number of singers on the call this week.

 

The music team used Jamulus again this week and a quartet to demonstrate “Something’s Comin” (Devin Gerzof, Tony, Jacob Broude, and Steve White).  All those on Jamulus were asked to sing as well as those on Zoom. 

 

Next the music team worked via Zoom with all singers on the new song, “Sing,” which should be a fun number for our audiences. When we adjourned to sectional breakouts, they worked on the same song.  Some shared a piece of the Pentatonix version of this new song.

 

A new feature this week was “coaching under glass” when Tony coached a singer who had previously volunteered to sing “Chorus Line Medley” and be coached for all to see and hear. This week the volunteer was Steve Murane. 

 

Communications director Matt Doniger conducted this week’s business session.  Purchases of reusable shopping bags at the Bailey’s Crossroads Giant earn cash rewards for our chapter. Terry has the details. Secretary Dave DesPortesreports that we are now starting to receive membership renewals from BHS staff and Dave will share them with us as they come in.

 

Membership chairman Jacob Broudy reminded attendees about the chapter social event for a Poker Night coming up on May 15^th. He also is seeking ideas from members as to other ideas they might have to bring members together.

 

This week we were lucky to have a member, Michael Fasano, do an elective presentation (all members are welcome to step up and do a presentation of about 30 minutes about ANYTHING that the member is passionate about.  Tell Joe orTerry if you’d do on).

 

Mike’s topic was “Collecting Anything Beatles Related.” The bulk of his time was sharing collections of records. He taught us what to look for in old LPs and shared his joy in things he has in his own collection.  He had taken the time to photograph things for us to see on Zoom, and he concluded by sharing other Beatles memorabilia and collectibles he has acquired. 

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on May 18^th, 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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the May 4th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

      Looking Back on the May 4^th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

The Harmonizers virtual meeting this week was a busy one with lots of music work for the singers.

 

Artistic director Joe Cerutti couldn’t say enough about his pride in the chapter and its successful efforts during spring2ACTion on April 28^th. He shared how happy he was that chapter members pulled together during our Covid situation. Joe invited Randal Eliason, who coordinated our campaign again this year for the event, to report on the final numbers. Our goal started out at $30,000 which had to be increased early in the day – especially after the “power hour” when we especially asked our prospects to donate. (Big thanks to Randall for his leadership.)

 

Joe thanked again those who stepped up to the plate with matching dollars such as Steve and Jerri White did with a donation of $10,000, and as chapter leaders and community board members did and created a $6,000 matching amount.  The final as of 8 pm tonight (funds are still coming in) was $48,702 – that is $31,452 in donations, $16,000 in matches, and $1250 in prizes that we won on spring2ACTion day.  This year’s total was our highest ever.

 

Joe also thanked Mick Stamps and his family for their donations in memory of Sandy. The amounts they donated as well as other amounts donated in her honor will be used to support funding an original musical work for our 75^thanniversary celebration.

 

The contest between sections helped build totals. The captains were Doug White for tenors, Noah Van Gilder for leads, Frank Shipp for baritones, and Matt Doniger for basses. The basses won the contest again this year and will be given a party one of these days!

 

In his wrap up comments about our success, Joe spoke about the need for a chapter director of development ASAP.

 

Before moving on to singing, Joe asked members to consider offering to do an elective on a Tuesday night – that means to speak passionately for about 30 minutes on any topic. Let Joe know if you will do one. 

 

He reports that reference materials for guys to use when preparing a self-recording on “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” are nearly ready.  He thanked his fellow music team members for their work on this! Deadline to make that submission in May 22.

 

Finally, singers should look for the new song, “Sing,” on Groupanizer. It will become our show encore piece.

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo did a ten minute warm up session and used some of the vocal warm up suggestions from recent guest speaker, Keith Harris. 

 

Small groups were formed for work with music team leaders – volunteers sang and others in the group offered comments. 

 

The music team used Jamulus again this week and a quartet to demonstrate “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Doug White, Tony, Jacob Broude, and Steve White).  Joe suggests this song will be a private tribute for our major efforts to make it through this period of virtual meetings.

 

Communications director Matt Doniger conducted this week’s business session.  Purchases of reusable shopping bags at the Bailey’s Crossroads Giant earn cash rewards for our chapter. Matt has the details.

 

Joe paid tribute to former Harmonizer, Michael Calhoun, who died in his sleep on April 27^th in FL where he resided with his wife Nancy.  Michael joined our chapter in 2000 after having been a major force in the leadership of the Westchester NY Chapter.  He also was a member of the Manhattan NY Chapter. He left our chapter after eight years having competed with our chorus and having serving in a number of leadership positions. He helped form the Harrisonburg VA Chapter where he was active after leaving our chapter.  He was inducted into DELASUSQUEHUDMAC, the district honor club, having served in a number of leadership positions in the M-AD. 

 

Membership chairman Jacob Broudy reminded attendees about the chapter social event for a Poker Night coming up on May 15^th.

 

President Stan Quick thanked the large number of members who submitted a reply to the survey about Covid vaccinations. It revealed that 100% of the respondents had gotten their vaccinations.  Stan reports that we are getting close to meeting in person and that members should send a photo of their vaccination card to covidinfo@harmonizers.org. The advisory committee to recommend how and when to meet face-to-face includes Jason Lee, Randall, Steve White, Frank Shipp, Chris Huber, Bruce Roehm and Stan. 

 

In other news, the M-AD has announced plans for a virtual Harmony College East over Fathers’ Day weekend, June 18-19, 2021. Get info at HCE@midatlanticdistrict.com. Our own Sheryl Berlin is one of the deans for this educational program for barbershoppers and their quartets.

 

Alan Wile did another interview of a Harmonizer who has submitted a Harmonizer Hero form for inclusion on Groupanizer. This time he spoke with Rob Barnovsky.  Alan was excited to show how Rob developed a career within the realm of his hobby.  Rob likes animals and creatures of all kinds.  He likes to teach.  He loves the outdoors.  And so his career as Natural Resources Specialist is a perfect transition.

 

He grew up in Ohio and sang in school choirs all the way through college. He even appeared in some school musicals. In college he studied biology and then embarked on working in parks, nature centers and outdoor education centers.

 

Currently Rob is stationed at Riverbend Park on the Potomac in the Great Falls area.  (BTW – this has been a great season to go to that Fairfax County Park to see the huge area of VA Bluebells that grow along the bank of the river in the sandy soil there.)

 

He credits Bill Colosimo for encouraging him to sing barbershop in DC and to get into quartets.  Rob joined our chapter in 2016. Rob’s teaching skills with students has prepared him to be a key player in helping with our chapter youth harmony festivals. 

 

Before the interview ended, Rob showed us his snake, Slither, and shared with us his work at “talking with owls” in nature.  (Joe suggests that sounds like an elective sometime!!). Rob demonstrated his ability to make the necessary sounds. Alan was proud to also point out that Rob is another Harmonizer who has earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on May 11^th, 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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the April 27th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the April 27^th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

This week’s chapter meeting fell on the eve of our major annual fund raising event, Spring2ACTion.   There were lots of ideas shared for making it another success and lots of jabs among the four sections about which section would win the prize this year.  Attendance on this week’s call reached over 60 also – good to see Walt Page and John Santora on the call.

 

Artistic director Joe Cerutti gave a strong nudge for all members to support Spring2ACTion and especially suggested members seek donors from outside the chapter.  Our goal is $30,000 and we will likely need to work extra hard to reach our goal.  The sectional captains will continue to push their members too. The captains are Doug White for tenors, Noah Van Gilder for leads, Frank Shipp for baritones, and Matt Doniger for basses.

 

The endorsement of the Harmonizers on YouTube from Deke Sharon was a win! Joe also created a really appealing YouTube “ask” that guys can use to reach others.  Chapter coordinator, Randall Eliason, asked every member to contact 20 other non-Harmonizers asking for support. He also thanked Mike Kelly for his help in creating the chapter’s donation page for this event.

 

We also want to have the most donors during the 3-4 pm power hour on Wed. April 28^th – we can win a $500 incentive dollar amount if we win that. The more emails you use, the better. Also don’t forget that for any of your personal donations you can donate in honor or recognition for Sandy Stamps. 

 

Steve and Jerri White have given the Harmonizers an incredibly generous matching grant of $10,000!  That means that any donation made on either the main page or your section page will be doubled, up to the first $500.  Thank you Steve and Jerri! When that $10,000 match is used up, a second matching grant of $5,000 will kick in, made up of donations from board members and other chapter leaders. 

 

Finally there will be a social hour at 8 pm on Zoom – all donors and friends are welcome to join in the fun and watch the results as they come in. (This Zoom event is not on the usual Zoom call number.  Wednesday night’s Zoom call is at 93398328566.) Acknowledgements to donors gives them the link to the Zoom call also.

 

Joe was very pleased to announce that the chorus will be getting another new song soon – this one titled “Sing” (not “Sing a Song”) made popular by Pentatonix. 

 

The music team has implemented a monthly survey to take a regular "pulse" of how they are and are not meeting the needs of the performing chorus.  They want to make sure they hear from those members who have been inactive during COVID as well as those participating in virtual rehearsals.   If you are a member of the performing chorus, please take this short survey.   Harmonizer Monthly Pulse Survey

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo presented a warm up session for this week.  He referred to some of the useful points made by Keith Harris in last week’s warm up.  And Tony stressed good body alignment even in a seated position.

 

Work continued this week in our chapter’s experiment using Jamulus and was used on “Chorus Line Medley.”  This week Joe and Tony asked the quartet to lead the way and sing the song all the way from top to bottom.  The quartet this week was Rick Savage, tenor; Will Cox, lead; Tony, baritone, and Turner Arndt, bass. Guys with Jamulus capabilities are invited to a special 6:40 pm pre-meeting session each week to make sure all users are set up to go. Some of them are added to the quartet for these sessions. Members on Zoom were encouraged to sing along too.

 

Tony and Joe also worked with the singers on “Never Fully Dressed” with an emphasis on smoothing out the delivery of the music.  They played the combined virtual chorus recording made recently of that song (work done by Joel Golden to combine the recordings of chorus members) so members could understand Joe’s point.

 

Communications director Matt Doniger conducted this week’s business session.  President Stan Quick announced an addition to the Harmonizer family – new daughter Coralie May, born on 4/20 for parents Reed and Leigh Livergood and big sister Caitlin.

 

Stan also reported on the work being done by our chapter’s committee that is studying when and how to resume in-person meetings.  The committee includes Jason Lee as chairman, Randall Eliason, Steve White, Frank Shipp, Bruce Roehm, Chris Huber and Stan.  They met with other major chapters in BHS  and then discussed ideas for the Harmonizers.  Our committee sees good news on the horizon.  

 

In other news, Tony served on the team for a virtual Harmony College in the Rocky Mountain District of BHS last weekend.  He was joined by some of our coaches like Kevin Keller, Sean Devine and Steve Tramack. 

 

Membership chairman Jacob Broude reports that new names tags ordered for new members have arrived and he will mail them to those folks.

 

The sectionals this week worked on “Oh What A Beautiful Mornin” and this time a singer from another part joined the sectional for duetting. Kevin McKenzie sang with the tenors; Tuner sang with the leads; Tony sang with the baritones; and Frank Fedarko sang with the basses. The music team announced that a revised annotated version of that song was released just hours before the meeting started.

 

Following the sectional singing, the captains for Spring2ACTion used a few minutes to encourage their guys to promote the fund raiser. 

 

Wrap up for this week was an elective presented by Phil Ashford – “Living Large in a Tiny House.” Phil and his wifeKaren now live in FL with their new home.  There was a lot of interest in this special topic.  Phil says the houses may be small but they are also expensive.  He shared how he developed their home and how they managed to relocate to a tiny house community in FL. He shared the technology that was used to build the home that is 374 sq. feet; 8/5 ft. wide; 13.5 ft. tall; 26 ft. long.  Phil’s house is unique in that it opens out a few feet on each of the long sides.  The Ashfords are also spokes persons for the new trend of tiny homes.

 

Joe concluded that other members are welcomed to do an elective for 30 or so minutes in the weeks ahead. Let Joe or Terry know you can step up and do one – cooking ideas, gardening suggestions, your favorite vacation, game night with friends, coping with downsizing, favorite tags and who you sang them with. 

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on May 4^th, 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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the April 20th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the April 20^th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

For this week’s chapter meeting, the Harmonizers welcomed two special guests and continued solid work on their music and the use of Jamulus.

 

Artistic director Joe Cerutti gave a strong nudge for all members to support Spring2ACTion and especially suggested they seek donors from outside the chapter.  Our goal is $30,000 and we will likely need to work extra hard to reach our goal.  The sectional captains will continue to push their members too. The captains are Doug White for tenors, Noah Van Gilder for leads, Frank Shipp for baritones, and Matt Doniger for basses.

 

We also want to have the most donors during the 3-4 pm power hour on Wed. April 28^th – we can win a $500 incentive dollar amount if we win that. The more emails you use, the better. Also don’t forget that for any of your personal donations you can donate in honor or recognition for Sandy Stamps. 

 

Matching grants: Steve and Jerri White have given the Harmonizers an incredibly generous matching grant of $10,000!  That means that any donation made on either the main page or your section page will be doubled, up to the first $500.  Thank you Steve and Jerri! When that $10,000 match is used up, a second matching grant of $5,000 will kick in, made up of donations from board members and other chapter leaders. Mentioning the matching grants is a great way to encourage donations – people like to think of their money going twice as far.  

 

Finally there will be a social hour at 8 pm on Zoom – all donors and friends are welcome to join in the fun and watch the results as they come in. Watch for details.

 

Joe was very pleased that 22 members submitted self-recordings for “Never Fully Dressed,” “Chorus Line,” and “Help from My Friends.” He actually posted their names and a thank you on the screen. Any others who want to add their recording may do so. Thanks too for the work by the section leaders to prepare the reference tracks. 

 

Terry Reynolds, who manages music team administration, played a virtual chorus of “Never Fully Dressed.” Note that the music team will now use the virtual recordings for those three songs during future Zoom meetings. Thanks also to Joel Golden for his work on this project.

 

Joe invites any chorus member to attend a Jamulus session at 6:40 pm on Tuesday nights.  Respond to associate director Tony Colosimo to get on that part of the call.

 

Our first special guest was Keith Harris who works as a professional singer in the NYC area and is chorus director the Westchester County, NY, Chorus. He provided our warm up session this week and offered several great warm up ideas that guys say are helpful.  Keith shared that he thinks if you have not been using your vocal instrument for four days, you need to make the effort to awaken your voice using some of the techniques he demonstrated.

 

Then it was time to do some singing.  Small groups were assembled by Terry.  New this week was an opportunity for a member to sing any 35-seconds out of any song he wanted. The plan is for singers to give their best not their all when they volunteer. The format continued with one guy in the group singing and the others offering feedback.  Each of the small groups had a monitor from the music team.

 

The sectionals this week worked on the new song we are learning – “Sing.”  But during the sectional break out, the sectional captains for spring2ACTion were free to offer strategies. 

 

The music team used Jamulus again this week and the quartet to demonstrate “Help from MY Friends” was Mike Fasano, Tony, Jacob Broude, and Steve White. 

 

Communications director Matt Doniger conducted this week’s business session.  Jack Pitzer reported news he’d gotten from Terry Jordan that long-distance member, Darryl Flinn, fell recently and broke his right femur. He was in therapy at Mercy Medical Center in Canton, OH. He is 94. Darryl is a chapter member and was one of our special coaches during the gold medal era. He coined the phrase “Breathless Moments.”  He served as Society president and a period as CEO for the Society. Our thoughts go out to Darryl and his wife Meredith. 

 

Purchases of shopping bags at the Bailey’s Crossroads Giant earn cash rewards for our chapter. Matt Doniger has the details.

 

Membership chairman Jacob Broudy reminded attendees about the chapter social event for a Poker Night coming up.  And he welcomed guest Bob Courtney, a member of the Santa Fe, NM, Harmonizers.  Bob was visiting his daughter in Alexandria and made the effort to find us on Zoom.

 

Our second special guest was Jeff Fincher, BHS chief development officer. He shared his musical background and spoke about the strengths of the Alexandria Chapter that will help them raise funds.  He encouraged members to use their passion in addressing their efforts “to make the ask” and raise monies for the chapter.

 

He suggested that the person who is asked to make a donation will want to know four things: (1) Why should I invest?, (2) What will my donation dollars be sued for?, (3) Why should I give now?, (3) Why did you ask me?. These thoughts can help all of us prepare to reach out to contacts to donate for Spring2ACTion. Jeff answered a number of questions from chapter members before Joe declared it was time to start the afterglow

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on April 27^th, 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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the April 13th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the April 13^th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

This week’s attendance was nearly 100 with many members and former members and many spouses or partners of members – all present to pay tribute to Sandy Stamps. Sandy was loved by all the members and she shared love and was interested in the lives of every member too. Many shared that she welcomed them to the chapter.  Her fellow officers of the chapter’s auxiliary shared how dedicated she was to their group, how she was tireless in providing support of the chapter, and how she provided solid leadership for years.

 

Sandy died on Saturday. She had been in Hospice care for a short time.  Her husband and our Harmonizer brother, Mick, was on the call too and told us all, “She was more of a Harmonizer than I am!” He announced that there would be a remembrance service later in the year and he thanked the chapter members and families for their support during the tough past couple years.

 

Artistic director Joe Cerutti wrote this tribute to Sandy that summarized the thoughts of us all:

 

“My heart is heavy as we say goodbye to another giant in the Harmonizer family, the amazing Sandy Stamps. Sandyserved as president of our auxiliary support group called the Harmonettes and later the Friends of Harmony for seven terms. She was our longtime manager of White House ornament sales, the perennial manager of front-of-house for Harmonizer shows and was always the first person to share a huge smile and hug after every Harmonizer performance (and a quiet joke if the performance didn't go as expected). 

 

It's often said after someone's passing how hard they fought their illness, but I've honestly not known anyone fight through something so incredibly difficult with such overwhelming tenacity and positivity. Sandy ALWAYS had a smile on her face. Even during the pandemic, we found ways to visit Sandy and sing for her. Still, she smiled, danced and sang along from a safe distance, making us feel better during a time when we were trying to make her feel better! Sandy was unique in that she could hang with just about any audience, she knew how to react to every situation, and always did it with her unique sense of humor and overwhelming positivity.

 

Sandy will be deeply missed, but her legacy is a light that will continue to shine brightly with the Alexandria Harmonizers for a very long time.”

 

Chapter president Stan Quick is accepting comments or notes for Mick and will compile all tributes to give to him.

 

The weekly chapter meeting moved on to announcements and details about all the musical aspects of the chapter. Joewas very pleased that a good number of members have submitted self-recordings for “Never Fully Dressed” and for “Chorus Line.” We all got a chance to listen to a virtual choir version of the 24 guys who sent in “Chorus Line.”  Joeexpressed his gratitude to Joel Golden who did the technical work to create the chorus sound.  Also there were kudos to Terry Reynolds and the section leaders for their work in helping provide the things guys needed in order to submit their recordings. (The virtual choir rendition is in Groupanizer.)

 

Plans for this week and next have been adjusted so we could honor Sandy this week.  Members should always check the weekly email message from the music team. 

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo ended this week’s warm up session with a tag sing of “Lili Marlene.” 

 

The experiment to have everyone who has gotten connected with Jamulus continued tonight. The Jamulus quartet for this week were Devin Gerzof, tenor; Will Cox, lead; Tony Colosimo, bari; and Steve Murane, bass. Joe coached all singers with particular emphasis about rhythm in “Something’s Coming,” and thanked the 19 men who have made the effort and spent the money to get the necessary equipment.

 

Alan Wile conducted the 22^nd interview of a Harmonizer Hero who has submitted his form for inclusion on Groupanizer.  This week he interviewed Kellen Hertz, a 12-year member, tenor singer, quartet guy, member of TBD the a capella group in the chapter,  and vocalist with RIPTIDE, a rock band that includes other guys from the chapter.

 

Kellen started singing as a young lad and often was heard singing when he was with his family shopping, at church, on vacation. He moved quickly into chorus or school musical groups in elementary, middle and high school at Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, VA. 

 

His college time started at William and Mary where he started work in chemistry.  During time off from school, he found work at Target where he continued to work when he went back to school.  He earned an Associate of Sciences degree from NOVA Community College and subsequently earned a Bachelor’s in Biology with minors in chemistry and astronomy from the University of Virginia. 

 

After graduation he became a pharmacy team leader at Target then when CVS bought Target’s Healthcare Division, he became a lead pharmacy technician for CVS.  Just last month he took a position at INOVA’s new specialty pharmacy at the Schar Cancer Institute in Fairfax.  

 

Kellen says his parents took him to hear the chorus when he was little, then one December he found himself at Inova Hospital for our holiday sing.  But it was later when  Harmonizer Kyle Blomgren, who was singing in a community college choir with Kellen,  pushed and pushed until Kellen didn’t have another excuse why he couldn’t come to a Tuesday meeting. Kellen was hooked that first night. He recalls the fun he had at the chapter afterglow at Southside.

 

Kellen was a member of our CAPITAL FORCE youth chorus and competed with them at Midwinter.  This led to his first quartet, MONORAIL FOUR, who won the Southern Division and went on to take 10^th place at the M-AD contest in the fall. 

 

Last weekend, Kellen was guest host on a chapter Zoom session to learn and discuss craft beers which is his hobby these days. It was well attended and was fun for all.  The event was organized by membership director Jacob Broude.  A menu of beers to be discussed was announced in advance and those who wanted to taste as well as discuss were able to get them for themselves from Aslin Brewery in Alexandria on Pickett. Ten members and a couple partners were on the call. Kellen was very knowledgeable about the craft beer process, varieties of tastes and flavors, and helped all those on Zoom experience a fun time.

 

This was the second of the social sessions organized for Harmonizers.  A third session will be held for poker players – watch for info from chapter leaders.

 

Communications director Matt Doniger conducted this week’s business session.  Randall Eliason reported that the push has started to get major donations for our chapter during the City of Alexandria’s spring2ACTion on April 28^th. In fact he sent the first email blast to all members after the meeting. Note that early donors will have their contributions matched! Our chapter’s goal for the one-day event is to raise $30,000. 

 

There will be competition again this year between the four chorus sections. Sectional team leaders will be Doug Whitefor tenors, Noah Van Gilder for leads, Frank Shipp for baritones, and Matt Doniger for basses. 

 

Our Harmonizer “power hour” when we want the most donors (there are prizes for the group who has the most) will be 3-4 pm on 4/28. Also on that day there will be a Zoom happy hour and it will be open to friends and family and donors.

 

In other chapter news, several Harmonizers, partners and friends attended the burial for John Adam’s wife, Jean, at Arlington Cemetery on April 9^th.

 

Ken Ives has sent  a reminder to members about using scrip to help the chapter raise money. For complete instructions on how to use scrip, go to Groupanizer Documents folder.

 

Our guest speaker this week was Brandon Guyton who has coached our chorus a few times.  He earned gold medals as a baritone for FOUR VOICES and CROSSROADS. He spoke on “How to be a GREAT baritone.”

 

He began his comments with the assurance that the presence of expansion in the hallmark of our style – providing an effect that is greater than the sum of the individual voices.

 

Then Brandon offered Five Pillars of the Baritone Dogma.

 

First, be the most consistently resonant and overtone/ring producing voice in the ensemble.

 

Second, know they voice – boundaries, lift,, vibrato. Must learn to make the voice pliable. 

 

Third, know thy lead and bass voices – so you can adjust.

 

Fourth, know they math – fifth, third, louder, etc.

 

Fifth, sing actively not passionately. Make the music, not sing the music.

 

He made it all make sense and we all had fun with him.

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on April 20^th, 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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)