Looking Back on the June 10, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the June 10, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting 

There was another big crowd of singers on hand for the June 10 chapter meeting at AlexRenew as members prepare for the trip to Ireland, the retreat, the fall district contest, and the International contest in Denver. Many of our quartet singers are busy practicing and having coaching sessions in advance of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) International contest and convention in Denver. 

Thanks to the earl-bird crew of AACC members who pitched in to set up risers for both ensembles at 6:30 pm for the rehearsal time.  The Harmonizers were given tentative riser placements on the risers.

Associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, conducted the vocal warmup session for members of the Harmonizers and Metro Voices.   Artistic director of AACC, Joe Cerutti, made several announcements for the chapter’s upcoming events and programs.

Joe congratulated Ashley Merryman for her article in US News which included a plug for AACC and singing as a hobby.  He also congratulated Maggie McAlexander and Kevin Mendez who were engaged recently. 

He also recognized all the quartet members headed to Denver from the chapter – 10 percent of the quartets in the first round at that contest will have AACC member singers! He promises info about possible viewing sessions during the convention for those of us still in the DC area and unable to be in Denver.  There will be no chapter meeting on July 1.

Next week the AACC will sing in Old Town Alexandria again with emphasis on recruitment during the evening. It all starts at 7 pm at Market Square.

Joe was eager to share news of a recent agreement between AACC and the Alexandria Children’s Chorus (thanks to Ken Rub who initiated the discussion after an Alexandria Arts Commission meeting). Basically, the two groups will both promote and recruit youth singers (they for sixth grade and under; we for older students). 

This is key to the AACC efforts to gear up recruiting for the next Capital Force ensemble.  Director Tessa Walker and Joe have announced that there must be at least 15 singers in that ensemble. 

Chapter secretary, Heidi Suckow, presented a membership renewal to Patricia Chow for three years. 

Chapter leadership encouraged all singers of the Collective to mark their calendars and plan to attend the annual retreat scheduled for July 18-20 at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. Online registration began on Wed. June 4. (Registration and payment is due by July 1.)

The annual event is a great opportunity for serious work on the music, plus a chance for members to meet and socialize with each other and get to know more names to go with the faces we see each week. The two coaches for the weekend will be Darin Drown from Denver, CO, and Cy Wood, our frequent performance coach from Ohio. There will also be a ceremony to present the 2024 distinguished service awards for the Collective. Great food, relaxing housing on campus close to the meeting space, casual dress, a modest drive up into MD, and always fun. Stay tuned for signing up – talk up car pools and plans for that weekend.  Plus expect a few team building surprises from the music team and chapter leadership. 

Membership director, Jacob Broude, presented new member name tags to Devin Turner and Diane Morrical. First time guest this week was Regina LaValley, Catherine’s sister. Returning guest was Don Medor. Adam Afifi andJulian LeFlore were on hand this week too; and Cy Wood was at the meeting to coach the Harmonizers and present a performance plan for “Come Follow The Band.” Assistant director of the Harmonizers, Terry Reynolds, directed the chapter “Welcome Song.”  

The song run-down for the Harmonizers work this week included “Africa,” and “But The World Goes Round” with review and drills of stage moves. Tony and Cy worked with the front row while the chorus worked on those too songs. Then front row returned to the risers for Cy’s coaching session for “Come Follow the Band.”  It is a terrific and fun performance package that will be the Harmonizer contest uptune in the fall.  

Metro Voices leadership team held another strong rehearsal with work on ”How Far I’ll Go” with a push to get new members to get used to the self-recording process in the chapter. They also continued their good work on “Somewhere” with a goal to have the music down, for the most part, by next week. They also worked on “World Here I Am,” and “Happy Together.”  

We will all be on the look-out for news from the many AACC members who will be attending  Harmony College East (HCE), June 12-15, 2025, at McDaniel College, Westminster, MD.  Likely, many of our quartets that are going to Denver will also be at HCE to sing for fellow barbershoppers. 

The AACC black t-shirts are available for pick up if you ordered one, or for purchase if you still need one.  Just $10 each. Get your shirt from Terry Reynolds by contacting him so he can bring one to a meeting for you before the Old Town sing event or the chapter retreat in July. 

In other chapter news from the past week or so, congrats to Bill Colosimo on his recognition as retiring director of the Alexandria Singers after about 18 years at the helm as musical director. The Singers celebrated their 50^th anniversary with shows at Bishop Ireton High School, June 6 and 7. A number of AACC members attended to celebrate with fellow community performers. 

 After the 50/50 drawing organized by Alan Wile at this week’s Collective meeting, Cy directed “Keep the Whole World Singing” before another large crowd of members adjourned for tags and refreshments at the Harmo House. The summer weather made visiting outside on the deck especially fun.

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the June 2, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting and the May 31 Honors Flights at DCA

 Looking Back on the June 2, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting and the May 31 Honors Flights at DCA

The AACC singers were pleased to provide cheers and singing to welcome four Honor Flights when they arrived at Reagan National Airport on Sat. May 31 at 8, 9, 10 and 11 am. E. J. Herold from the chapter coordinated AACC support with the local volunteers from the Honor Flight Network. AACC has a personal connection to this work as Harmonizer Matt Ambler’s husband, Matt Shuman, is Chair of the Board. 

 

The flights brought veterans to DC for a visit to the memorials of their conflicts and others as well as sightseeing in the nation’s Capital. They originated from White Plains, NY; W. Palm Beach, FL; Madison, WI; and Indianapolis, IN. During their stay in DC, the groups visited the memorials, fed a meal and then returned back to the airport to return home; quite the day, indeed. Despite their dwindling number, there were actually a couple World War II Veterans among the flights with mostly Korean and Vietnam Veterans to make up the groups.

 

About 20 singers were on hand for Terry Reynolds to direct in singing patriotic tunes as the plane loads of veterans arrived. The chorus wore the black AACC t-shirts and sang with music in black folders, as needed, provided for the occasion. 

The June 2 chapter meeting was at AlexRenew and started with a major warm up session for all ensembles conducted by associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo.  He included work on an old tag, “What a Day – What an Unusual Day.”  He also shared a funny story about a singer asking him “what’s the deal about onion skins?” 

Artistic director for AACC, Joe Cerutti, welcomed several folks to this week’s meeting:  EJ Harold back from work travel; Mike Fasano attending to prep the music for Ireland; Clyde Crusenberry back to sing; Don Thompson back to sing; Mireille Kouagou back to sing; Julian LeFlore on hand to sing and see friends; and Tessa Walker, a busy music educator back to sing. Joe offered Happy Birthday wishes to Norm Barth; and introduced Maumen Alsheakh who was recognized in the recent Harmonizer magazine and presented him his new AACC nametag.

Joe reminded everyone about the 50^th anniversary concerts of the Alexandria Singers at Bishop Ireton, 7:30 pm Friday, June 6, and 2 pm and 7:30 pm on Saturday, June 7.  It will also be honoring the retirement of Bill Colosimo, who has directed the group for just over 18 years. 

After those announcements, Joe worked with the AACC singers on “The Parting Glass.” Part of the work time, Matt Ambler met with the leads for some detailed work. 

Before moving into the separate ensembles, Stan Quick, chapter executive director, announced the farewell of chapter general manager, Susan Fitzpartick, who has moved to Marshall, VA.  She was a great asset to the operation of the chapter, especially at the time of the addition of the new ensembles. 

Chapter leadership encouraged all singers of the Collective to mark their calendars and plan to attend the annual retreat scheduled for July 18-20 at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. Online 

registration began on Wed. June 4. (Registration and payment is due by July 1.)

The annual event is a great opportunity for serious work on the music, plus a chance for members to meet and socialize with each other and get to know more names to go with the faces we see each week. The two coaches for the weekend will be Darin Drown from Denver, CO, and Cy Wood, our frequent performance coach from Ohio. There will also be a ceremony to present the 2024 distinguished service awards for the Collective. Great food, relaxing housing on campus close to the meeting space, casual dress, a modest drive up into MD, and always fun. Stay tuned for signing up – talk up car pools and plans for that weekend.  Plus expect a few team building surprises from the music team and chapter leadership. 

Membership director, Jacob Broude, welcomed five returning guests:  Devin Turner, Diane Morrical, Carl Parkin, Brigit Gilvary, and Amaris Whitaker. First time guest this week was Grace Walker; and Ron Silver, former member in 1979, was in town for work from Portland, OR.  Maggie McAlexander, assistant director of Metro Voices, directed the chapter “Welcome Song”  (and was wearing her new engagement ring from Kevin Mendez. Congrats to them both!).

There was another new member orientation session this week with Joe as presenter who spoke on the topic “Learning Music from Home.”

The song run-down for the Harmonizers work this week included “Parting Glass,” “Come Follow The Band” in order to be ready for performance coaching, “Africa,”  “Impossible Dream;” and “But The World Goes Round” with review and drills of stage moves.  Tony directed some of the songs and Joe the rest. 

Metro Voices reporter, Annie Ermlick, shared that their director, Samantha Tramack, worked on “Where You Lead, Together We Can” that was arranged by Maggie.  Then Maggie worked on “Somewhere.” There was duet work on “ How Far I’ll Go” and Samantha taught the basses some cool percussive sounds and dynamics. Tessa helped the ensemble leadership to keep on schedule and where to meet for sectionals. 

Here is a reminder that registration for Harmony College East 2025 closes on June 5! Reserve June 12-15, 2025, for the best District barbershop school ANYWHERE! Briefly, here are the particulars: WHAT: Harmony College East 2025; WHERE: The beautiful campus of McDaniel College, Westminster, MD; WHEN: Thursday, June 12 through Sunday, June 15, 2025. 

The AACC black t-shirts are available for pick up if you ordered one, or for purchase if you still need one.  Just $10 each. Get your shirt from Terry Reynolds by contacting him so he can bring one to a meeting for you before the Harmony College East event or the chapter retreat in July. 

Also, members are encouraged to offer their input for new songs for the year ahead as we honor and recognize the 250^thanniversary of the United States and the 25^th anniversary of 9/11. Brad Jones, chair of the repertoire committee, issued guidelines for making suggestions via Slack.

The chapter meetings will be at AlexRenew June 10 with Cy Wood present to coach the Harmonizers for “Come Follow the Band,” and June 24; with another sing in Old Town on June 17.

 President Craig Kujawa used a Slack message to encouraged more AACC members to sign up for a Raise Right Fundraising account.  The chapter is making progress to earning the goal of $5000 for the year via this program. 

After the 50/50 drawing organized by Alan Wile at this week’s Collective meeting, Devin Gerzof directed “Keep the Whole World Singing” before members adjourned for tags and refreshments at the Harmo House.  This week’s crowd was large and they ate a lot of pizzas and birthday cupcakes for Norm!

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the May 27, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the May 27, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

This week’s meeting was back at AlexRenew after a fun evening in Old Town last week.

Warm up sessions for the Harmonizers and for Metro Voices were conducted separately before each ensemble began their work session on repertoire. Associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, conducted the warm ups for that group.  Then artistic director, Joe Cerutti, explained some details about upcoming Harmonizer events. First off, the chorus will not sing at the Joyce Garrett tribute at Alfred Street Baptist but instead meet with their men’s choir in the fall for a sing and social event. 

Second, Joe explained that in preparation for a performance coaching session June 10 (note this change in date) withCy Wood, there would be visual assessments (starting tonight) conducted by Turner Arndt and Bruce Roehm to help prepare for riser placements before the coaching session.  Joe also took a minute to tell the many new members about Cy as the frequent performance coach for the chorus. Individuals left the rehearsal for five to seven minutes to meet with Bruce and Turner in the nearby breakout room. 

Third, Joe reported on the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) UnConvention recently in Nashville.  He was there as a BHS staff member, and FIRST TAKE quartet with Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens, was there as part of the major show event. 

The song run-down for the Harmonizers work this week included “Parting Glass,” “Come Follow The Band” in order to be ready for performance coaching, “Africa,”  and then a quick sing-through of “Calling Dreams” and “Sit Down You’re Rockin the Boat.” 

For Metro Voices, director, Samantha Tramack, conducted a fun warm up session for that group, according to reporter, Annie Ermlick. After that, they worked in sectionals on specific measures in the new contest ballad, “How Far I’ll Go.” Samantha brought all singers back together to run the song so they could record it. After the business session, Metro Voices worked on “Parting Glass,” ”Somewhere” and their new medley arranged by Maggie McAlexander “Where You Lead/Together We Can.” Their  rehearsal time ended with a sing-through of their contest uptune “World Here I Am.”

The two ensembles combined for a business session with announcements from Joe. He thanked all the singers who participated in the Old Town Alexandria walk and sing performance.  It was a great night and fun to have such enthusiasm from the singers and the audience.

Joe also encouraged all singers of the Collective to mark their calendars and plan to attend the annual retreat scheduled for July 18-20 at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. The annual event is a great opportunity for serious work on the music, plus a chance for members to meet and socialize with each other and get to know more names to go with the faces we see each week. The two coaches for the weekend will be Darin Drown from Denver, CO, and Cy Wood, our frequent performance coach from Ohio. There will also be a ceremony to present the 2024 distinguished service awards for the Collective. Great food, relaxing housing on campus close to the meeting space, casual dress, a modest drive up into MD, and always fun. Stay tuned for signing up – talk up car pools and plans for that weekend.  Plus expect a few team building surprises from the music team and chapter leadership. 

He also reiterated the importance of the self-recording process – not as a punitive device but a learning and skills growing method for all singers. 

Then Joe invited comments and questions about the recent video messages released by he, Samantha and Terry Reynolds regarding take away notes from this year’s member interviews.  There were some good points and questions including a brief discussion on the deficient volunteer numbers among the singers in the Collective understanding that the group is composed of highly professional, extremely busy and involved singers. Some of the newer members also thanked Terry for the statistical input.

Those members intending to sing for the military Honors Flights on Saturday, May 31,  were asked to stay after tonight’s meeting to go over the songs.  Terry had copies of music for all singers and black folders for them to carry the music in for the appearance at National Airport. He will be directing the group for an assortment of patriotic songs for the 8, 9, 10 and 11 am flights. Dress will be AACC t-shirts and jeans.  

 

Membership director, Jacob Broude, welcomed back members Jeff Burkey, Jim Kirkland, and Mick Stamps who have been away. Then he welcomed seven returning guests:  Devin Turner, Diane Morrical, Heather Hilko, Muaman Alsheakh, Carl Parkin, Brigit Gilvary, and Jack Reitwiser. Terry directed the chapter “Welcome Song.”

Here is a reminder that registration for Harmony College East 2025 closes on June 5! Reserve June 12-15, 2025, for the best District barbershop school ANYWHERE! Briefly, here are the particulars: WHAT: Harmony College East 2025; WHERE: The beautiful campus of McDaniel College, Westminster, MD; WHEN: Thursday, June 12 through Sunday, June 15, 2025. 

The AACC black t-shirts are available for pick up if you ordered one, or for purchase if you still need one.  Just $10 each. Get your shirt from Terry Reynolds for the Harmony College East event or the chapter retreat in July.

After the business session, Jack Pitzer and Don Harrington, representing the AACC history committee, visited with Metro Voices to give them each one of the new 75^th anniversary brochures and to ask for representatives of their ensemble to join the committee. Heidi Brown stepped up and offered to help get a start on collecting history of this new ensemble. Anyone who needs a history book should contact Jack

There was another orientation session this week for new members – this one hosted by Stan Quick. 

In other chapter news, chapter leaders have confirmed that the Collective will receive another significant grant ($10,000) from the City of Alexandria for FY2025. Dean Rust and Craig Kujawa get credit for making sure it happened again this year. Ken Rub joined Dean at the Tuesday night meeting of the grant issuing body on May 20 in Alexandria. 

Also, members are encouraged to offer their input for new songs for the year ahead as we honor and recognize the 250^thanniversary of the United States and the 25^th anniversary of 9/11. Brad Jones, chair of the repertoire committee, issued guidelines for making suggestions via Slack.

The DC Barbershop Chapter, Singing Capital Chorus, has invited other barbershoppers to join them for a gig  at Nationals Park on June 8 (Nats vs Texas Rangers). Uniform will be red polo shirt and tan slacks (note this color change from last week’s message) and black shoes. Songs will be “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America.” Rehearsal – attend just one Monday night rehearsal before June 8 (except Memorial Day). See http://singingcapitalchorus.org/sing-at-nationals-park/ for details.

Ooops – the tenor in INSTAGRAMPS quartet is Rick Taylor – not Rick Savage as reported last week.  Still congrats are in order for their ranking for the senior quartet contest at Midwinter in January 2026.  

Congratulations to Ike Evans who has played tuba in the Virginia Grand Military Band concerts for many years.  Last Saturday was the last concert for the band composed of about 100 former and current military band members. The finale was due to retirements of administrative leadership and costs for concert venues. The band was founded in 1995 to promote and  preserve the tradition of live performances of traditional, concert, symphonic, and marching band music. Ike played at their concerts starting in 1997. 

After the 50/50 drawing at this week’s Collective meeting, Lance Fisher directed “Keep the Whole World Singing” before members adjourned for tags and refreshments at the Harmo House.  Chuck Hunter was in town from Chicago and made it to the afterglow for his passion of tag 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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the May 20, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the May 20, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

The Collective met Tuesday, May 20, in Old Town Alexandria – starting at Market Square to warm up the voices and to gather all the singers as they arrived from all over the Metro DC area. 

After the gathering and warm up conducted by artistic director, Joe Cerutti, the singers embarked on a stroll down King Street for stops to entertain the crowds outside during a lovely spring evening.  The first stop was on the corner of Market Square, a couple stops down King Street, and a mini concert on the steps of the Torpedo Factory. Many members did wear their new AACC t-shirt but carried a jacket for later in the evening.

The Harmonizers sang a brand new song, “Africa,” that they had just worked on for the first time on May 16.  It went so well that night that Joe suggested the song be used this week in Old Town.  It was well received and the many folks along the path enjoyed singing along. Samantha Tramack directed Metro Voices when they sang “Happy Together” and the combined ensembles sang “I’m Still Standing.” At the Torpedo Factory, the AACC chorus added “Defying Gravity” with Samantha Tramack and Joe as soloists. Also they added “Hey Jude” with Matt Ambler as soloist at some stops in the area along the Potomac River at the end of King Street. 

There were guests at the event – Devin Turner, Carl Parkin, and Brigit Gilvary – who joined the good number of singers present for the fun evening for both ensembles. Plus there was a number of family members who walked with the singers – some to pass out business cards to folks in the audiences and some to hold signs announcing the hashtag addresses for the three ensembles.  

When the singers finished their walk in Old Town, a good crown of them adjourned the short distance to Chadwick’s for an afterglow which included more singing.

During announcements last week, Joe stressed that all singers of The Collective should mark their calendars and plan to attend the annual retreat scheduled for July 18-20 at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. The annual event is a great opportunity for serious work on the music, plus a chance for members to meet and socialize with each other and get to know more names to go with the faces we see each week. The two coaches for the weekend will be Darin Drown from Denver, CO, and Cy Wood, our frequent performance coach from Ohio. There will also be a ceremony to present the 2024 distinguished service awards for the chapter. Great food, relaxing housing on campus close to the meeting space, casual dress, a modest drive up into MD, and always fun. Stay tuned for signing up – talk up car pools and plans for that weekend.  Plus expect a few team building surprises from the music team and chapter leadership. 

The rehearsals on May 27 and June 3 (with Cy Wood to coach) will be at AlexRenew.  The Harmonizers will sing for arriving Honors Flights of Veterans on Saturday, May 31.  Flights will arrive at DCA at 8, 9, 10 and 11 am. Dress will be AACC t-shirts and jeans.  Songs will be “Armed Forces Medley” and “God Bless America.”   

Here is a repeat reminder that registration for Harmony College East 2025 is still open! And the weekend is closer than you think!! Get your calendars out and reserve June 12-15, 2025, for the best District barbershop school ANYWHERE! Briefly, here are the particulars: WHAT: Harmony College East 2025; WHERE: The beautiful campus of McDaniel College, Westminster, MD; WHEN: Thursday, June 12 through Sunday, June 15, 2025.

The AACC black t-shirts are available for pick up if you ordered one, or for purchase if you still need one.  Just $10 each. Get your shirt soon  for the Harmony College East event or the chapter retreat in July.

The DC Barbershop Chapter, Singing Capital Chorus, has invited other barbershoppers to join them for a gig  at Nationals Park on June 8 (Nats vs Texas Rangers). Uniform will be red polo shirt and tan slacks (note this color change from last week’s message) and black shoes. Songs will be “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America.” Rehearsal – attend just one Monday night rehearsal before June 8 (except Memorial Day). See http://singingcapitalchorus.org/sing-at-nationals-park/ for details.

Congratulations to Steve White, Rick Taylor, Jay Butterfield and Robbie Seay and their quartet INSTAGRAMPS that has officially qualified for the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) senior quartet contest at the Midwinter contest in January in Pasadena, CA.

In recent days, chapter musical leaders released a video report via Slack to summarize inputs received from the interviews of members conducted between Feb. 3 and March 6.  Director Samantha interviewed 27 members of Metro Voices with Joe’s help interviewing first-year-members.  Joe interviewed 65 Harmonizers.  Here are the top ten topics collected during the process as reported by Joe and Samantha. 

1. Onboarding new members  - a plan has started to be more efficient and effective in auditioning and helping new members become active singing members of AACC and its ensembles. One major change will be conducting auditions four times per year or so – forming a group of new members going through the process at the same time, given the same info and assistance.  

2. Improve Inconsistent Rehearsal Venues – versus going between AlexRenew and Beth El Synagogue. Leadership agrees and is willing to consider and investigate any new venue. All members are asked to do some searching for venues in their part of the Metro Area with metro access, plenty of parking and room(s) for the ensembles and breakouts. 

3. Repertoire Selection – Brad Jones is repertoire committee chair. Our goal is a cappella pops in the barbershop style. Work in this area will concentrate on how best to introduce a song to the singers and choosing songs for our audiences – with work beginning for the 2025 holiday music.

4. Celebrating Volunteers – a big issue shared by members.  Our chapter depends heavily on volunteerism. An increased effort will be coming to recognize our volunteers.

5. Patriotic Repertoire Needed – part of chapter’s major goals is to support and make contact with the local demographic of veterans, military members and federal workers.  For sure we will be heavily involved during the 250^thanniversary of the USA and the 25^th anniversary of 9/11.  Dana Richardson and EJ Herold have already organized chapter support to sing for a variety of those audiences.  Plus there will be a major event when the famed Vocal Majority barbershop chorus from Dallas comes to sing with us and we are part of local 9/11 events.

6. Communicating in Advance to Members – there were strong suggestions about the need to give members more advance information for things like uniforms, locations and times, details of what to expect, repertoire.

7. Plan in Advance for Future Travel Opportunities – communication again – well ahead so members can plan financial outlays for International convention and international travel, etc.

8. Project Planning Staffing – space out work load for volunteers who manage major chapter projects – involve new/more leaders, spread out the work.

9. Create Small Group Repertoire – basically AACC Polecats songs (short songs familiar to all singers and to audiences and easy to sing in a small ensemble). There could  be 8-12 songs on the list and that list will stay in place for a while.

10. We Are A Happy Bunch!  It was good for leadership to hear and get feedback that members enjoying the singing experience in AACC. Samantha encouraged members to plan gatherings and fun events – continue the “hanging out” fun of the chapter that exists.

Terry Reynolds released a video with statistics based on answers to the survey each member took. There were no surprises and lots of positive results in the numerical responses from members.

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 76^th year of the Alexandria 

Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the May 9 One Voice Appearance and the May 13, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the May 9 One Voice Appearance and the May 13, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

The combined chorus from the Alexandria A Cappella Collective sang and gave a great appearance as part of the Alexandria choral festival “One Voice” on May 9^th at Schlesinger Concert Hall. This was the first appearance with the informal black attire with teal accents. 

Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, directed the combined Harmonizers and Metro Voices when they did their songs, “I’m Still Standing” and “Defying Gravity” with Samantha Tramack and Tony Colosimo as soloists. The massed chorus of about 400 singers performed “Sing, Sing, Sing,” “Unified Prayer,” and “Thank You for the Music.” Alexandria mayor, Alyia Gaskins, was the emcee for the performance.

The other groups from the greater Alexandria area included George Washington Middle School Combined Choir, NOVA Community Chorus Chamber Ensemble, The Alexandria Children’s Chorus, Choristers of Westminster Presbyterian Church, The Alexandria Singers, Alexandria City High School Titans Choir, and  The Alexandria Choral Society who organized and hosted this first-time festival which was sold out.

After the final run of the show on Friday night, there was a “pizza feed,” with water bottles and other snacks also provided.  The weather cooperated and folks enjoyed socializing outside. After the show, chapter members and friends went to the Harmo House for afterglow. 

The Collective met Tuesday, May 13, at AlexRenew. Mostly it was a work session on new music for both ensembles. Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, did celebrate the successful performance for the choral festival.

He also stressed that all singers of The Collective should mark their calendars and plan to attend the annual retreat scheduled for July 18-20 at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. The annual event is a great opportunity for serious work on the music, plus a chance for members to meet and socialize with each other and get to know more names to go with the faces we see each week. The two coaches for the weekend will be Darin Drown from Denver, CO, and Cy Wood, our frequent performance coach from Ohio. There will also be a ceremony to present the 2024 distinguished service awards for the chapter. 

Great food, relaxing housing on campus close to the meeting space, casual dress, a modest drive up into MD, and always fun. Stay tuned for signing up – talk up car pools and plans for that weekend.  Plus expect a few team building surprises from the music team and chapter leadership.  

 

In other news about the chapter, here is a friendly reminder that registration for Harmony College East 2025 is still open! And the weekend is closer than you think!! Get your calendars out and reserve June 12-15, 2025, for the best District barbershop school ANYWHERE! Briefly, here are the particulars: WHAT: Harmony College East 2025; WHERE: The beautiful campus of McDaniel College, Westminster, MD; WHEN: Thursday, June 12 through Sunday, June 15, 2025.

The AACC black t-shirts are available for pick up if you ordered one, or for purchase if you still need one. 

 Just $10 each. Get your shirt soon  for the Harmony College East event or the chapter retreat in July.

The DC Barbershop Chapter, Singing Capital Chorus, has invited other barbershoppers to join them for a gig  at Nationals Park on June 8 (Nats vs Texas Rangers). Uniform will be red polo shirt and black slacks and black shoes. Songs will be “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America.” Rehearsal – attend just one Monday night rehearsal before June 8 (except Memorial Day). See http://singingcapitalchorus.org/sing-at-nationals-park/ for details.

To start this week’s rehearsal, associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, conducted a thorough warm up session. Thanks to operations manager for the chapter, Gary Cregan, and all the members who willingly hauled chairs into the meeting spaces at AlexRenew for this week (and then took them all back to leave the space as we found it).

At this point, chapter admin leader, Terry Reynolds, conducted an orientation session for newer members – focused on contests for the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS), judging and related topics. While they met in a separate room, the AACC chorus worked on “Parting Glass” with Joe. At the end of that work, he invited each singer to make a recording to submit. 

During the business session, chapter leaders announced a plan to report via Slack, on the takeaways from the annual surveys and interviews of members with chapter leaders (versus taking time for it tonight). 

Tyler Carpenter filling in for membership director, Jacob Broude, welcomed guests.  First timers were Dana Gupta, AJ’s Mom; Diane Morrical; and Nick Taber. Returning guests were Leah Bernstein; Maumen Alsheakj; Jack Reitwiser; Heather Hilko; and Devin Turner.  A new member announced this week was Shira Perlmutter who was given her name tag. Harmonizer assistant director, Jason Lee, directed the chapter “Welcome Song.”

The two AACC ensembles then held their separate rehearsal time.  Metro Voices members were excited about a new competition number their leaders played for all to hear – “How Far I’ll Go” arranged by Melody Hine. The Harmonizers were well prepared for a choreography review for “The World Goes Round.”  They also worked in sectionals on “Africa” with Lance Fisher helping the tenors, Tony and Matt Ambler helping the leads, Jason helping the baritones, and Calvin Schnure helping basses.

Nick Taber from the Voices of Gotham, directed “Keep the Whole World Singing”  before the meeting was adjourned. A good crowd of members made it to the Harmo House for the Tuesday night afterglow and pizza feed.

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the May 6, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the May 6, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

Both ensembles from the Alexandria A Cappella Collective attended a dress rehearsal event on May 6 in advance of the Alexandria choral festival on May 9^th at Schlesinger Concert Hall. Members wore their Collective t-shirt with jeans for the rehearsal with the eight other groups from the greater Alexandria area including George Washington Middle School Combined Choir, NOVA Community Chorus Chamber Ensemble, The Alexandria Children’s Chorus, Choristers of Westminster Presbyterian Church, The Alexandria Singers, Alexandria City High School Titans Choir, and  The Alexandria Choral Society who organized and hosted this first-time festival.

Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, directed the AACC when they did their songs, “I’m Still Standing” and “Defying Gravity” with Samantha Tramack and Lance Fisher as soloists at the dress rehearsal. There were announcements about attire for the May 9 show.  Terry Reynolds brought the supply of AACC t-shirts for those who needed one for the night. A good group of singers from the other ensembles watched and applauded after The Collective rehearsal in the lobby before their stage time. 

The evening started with a welcome from the hosts, The Alexandria Choral Society, and their artistic director, Kathryn Harsha; then assignments of where the groups would stand during the mass sing part of the Friday program. AACC singers will fill the main two aisles of the Schlesinger auditorium. 

Call time for The Collective singers is 5 pm on May 9. The massed chorus of about 400 singers will perform “Sing, Sing, Sing,” “Unified Prayer,” and “Thank You for the Music.” 

Alexandria mayor, Alyia Gaskins, will be the emcee for the performance.

There were some guests this week at the rehearsal – Ed Allen, a long-time member who lives in Iowa, and Troy Hillierwho we have need seen in a while.  Bill Colosimo was on stage helping the Alexandria Singers as one of their leaders. 

In other news about the chapter, here is a friendly reminder that registration for Harmony College East 2025 is still open! And the weekend is closer than you think!! Get your calendars out and reserve June 12-15, 2025, for the best District barbershop school ANYWHERE! Briefly, here are the particulars: WHAT: Harmony College East 2025; WHERE: The beautiful campus of McDaniel College, Westminster, MD; WHEN: Thursday, June 12 through Sunday, June 15, 2025

One of our chapter quartets, FIRST TAKE, is on the main show at the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) “Un Convention” in Nashville, TN.  That event runs May 23-26.  

New member, Jackson Byrd, has invited fellow AACC members to his school concert/show, ‘Night on Broadway.’  He will be singing a solo or two for the event and sing with his school choral group. Some members are already on deck to attend – at Edison High School, May 16, at 7 pm. Tickets are just $5. 

A good crowd of members made it to the Harmo House for afterglow, tag singing and celebrating the fun sing at Schlesinger.

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the April 29, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the April 29, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

This week’s meeting was another busy one, with sectionals to polish the music for the upcoming Alexandria choral festival on May 9^th with the dress rehearsal on Tues. May 6 at Schlesinger Hall.

Electronic announcements prior to this week’s meeting encouraged singers in The Collective to come warmed up and ready to sing. Both the Harmonizers and Metro Voices started the evening with sectionals.  The Harmonizers worked on the new arrangement of  “Africa.”  They had several guests who were auditioned for vocal placement. Jared Liscinskywas tapped to lead the choreography review for “But The World Goes Round” which members clearly had reviewed before the meeting.  

Metro Voices worked on a new song too and sang their director’s favorite tag. They had several guests which assistant director, Maggie McAlexander, voice placed. Both ensembles worked on songs for the trip to Ireland, too. 

Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, welcomed both ensembles together for a business briefing which he began with a review of the music team’s consensus for the correct nomenclature for the chapter and its ensembles.  Jared explained that we need to get used to unified verbal terms such as “I sing with the Harmonizers or I sing with Metro Voices,” and we are part of The Collective.  We avoid referring to the group as AACC.

There was another International Prelims quartet contest this past weekend in NJ, and so Joe declared that congratulations were in order to those current and former chapter members who will compete in the July, 2025, International quartet contest in Denver: Samantha Tramack with GQ; Ed Schubel with PRATT STREET POWER; and Rick Taylor with LEGACY. Those quartets will join five other quartets with chapter reps singing in them who qualified earlier this spring – FIRST TAKE; SECRET BEST FRIENDS; BELTWAY; HARMOHAUS and SUPERNOVA. 

Also, INSTAGRAMPS, with Steve White, will represent the district and the chapter in the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) International Senior Quartet Contest at the Midwinter convention in Pasadena in the winter. 

Members of The Collective (Alexandria A Cappella Collective) should take note of the upcoming major educational experience for members called Harmony College East.  Two members of The Collective, Sheryl Berlin and Bill Colosimo, organize and manage the Mid Atlantic District sponsored school. Sheryl extended an invite via Slack recently. Likely all of the quartets going to Denver will also go to this school for coaching.  Several of our members serve on the faculty.  There is a show every night, fun exchanges and tag singing, good food at the college (McDaniel College in Westminster, MD), chance to meet barbershop singers from other chapters, and all at a reasonable price. Check it out. 

Joe recognized four other Collective members – Mireille Kouagou, Zak Sandler, Joel Golden and Calvin Schnure – who are singing with students of Dominion High School in Sterling for three more performances of The Music Man: May 1 and 2 at 7 pm, and May 3 at 2 pm. 

Last week. Joe explained the plans for the One Voice choral festival in Alexandria on Friday, May 9 at 7 pm. Singers call time will be 5 pm on May 9 – plan ahead for this early Friday evening call time. The Alexandria ensembles will combine to sing “I’m Still Standing” and “Defying Gravity” with Samantha’s solo, plus three songs that all choral groups will sing together. AACC will wear their semiformal uniform.  See Becca Williams for more details if needed.

Next week, Tues. May 6, there will be a dress rehearsal at Schlesinger at 7 pm for the May 9 event.   Members are encouraged to wear The Collective black t-shirts with jeans. (The order of additional shirts arrived this week and were being sold/distributed at the meeting on April 29. Terry Reynolds plans to bring the remaining supply to the dress rehearsal so members can pick up their order or buy one (there are lots of extras). They cost $10 each. 

On May 13 the meeting will be back at AlexRenew and on May 20 the singers will gather at Market Square in Olde Town Alexandria.

Chapter secretary, Heidi Suokow, with help from Jared, presented membership renewal cards from the BHS.  Everyone acknowledged each renewal with a clap for every year: Chad Ross, 2 years; Ian Trent, 4 years; Callie Cirillo, 2 years; Tyler Carpenter, 13 years; Sophie Clark, 2 years; Rob Santine, 2 years; Dean Rust, 45 years; and Don Harrington, 45 years. 

Jacob Broude, membership coordinator, introduced the many guests present this week. Returning guests were Devin Turner, Leah Bernstein, Muamen Alsheakh, and Bridget Gilvary. First time guests were Joe Perrotti, Amaris Whitaker, Heather Hilko, and Dennis Palaganas. Assistant Metro Voices director, Maggie McAlexander, directed the chapter’s “Welcome Song.” 

The meeting ended with the traditional “Keep The Whole World Singing” prior to adjourning to the Hamro House for afterglow with pizza and snacks. 

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.