Looking Back on the June 24, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter

   Looking Back on the June 24, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter 

Attendance was great this week despite the 100 degree heat in the area; and there was lots of enthusiasm, and proof that members worked-at-home on the music!!

Both ensembles worked on a lot of songs in preparation for future performances as part of the Ireland trip and for the fall show. 

Associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, lead a warm up session for the combined ensembles of AACC.  Then artistic director, Joe Cerutti, welcomed everyone and thanked all those who had attended last week’s sing in Old Town. He also thanked Ashley Merryman for the top-notch sign that was used to tell audiences that this was the AACC

Future chapter meeting locations were confirmed: there will be no meeting on July 1 in Alexandria while many members and families are in Denver for the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) annual contest and convention; the meeting on July 8 will be at AlexRenew; and the meeting on July 15 will be at Beth El Synagogue. 

On July 29, AACC will be singing in Old Town Alexandria and passing out recruitment flyers for the next Capital Force youth ensemble. 

All singers of the Collective are reminded to  register and make payment 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.) It is also important for one person in each group of attendees to make sure coordinator, Craig Kujawa, knows who is planning to share room/suites.

The annual retreat 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. 

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 the chapter retreat. 

To start off the singing this week, Joe worked with the combined ensembles on “Parting Glass” arranged by Steve Tramack. Note that there was a recent Slack message for anyone interested in auditioning for solo spots in that song. See Tony Colosimo for details. 

Before the ensembles went to their own rehearsal space, Joe took time to recognize the six quartets from the chapter that will be singing in the BHS contest in Denver. It is exciting that our chapter, and our Mid Atlantic District (M-AD), have qualified a record number of quartets for this year’s contest season. (The contest sessions will be Live Streamed and Ye Ed has heard of several members who might be hosting a watch party.) The chapter proudly supports the following competitors in Denver (listed here in singing order) – Singing 4^th – HARMOHAUS with John Sifuentes, Lance Fisher, Kevin Mendez, and David Breen; Singing 16^th – SUPERNOVA with Maggie McAlexander and Tessa Walker; Singing 21^st – FIRST TAKE with Andrew Havens and Tony Colosimo; Singing 25^th – LEGACY with Rick Taylor; Singing 28^th – BELTWAY with Rob Santine, Suranjan Sen, Joshua Myers and Dan Krackhardt from NY filling in for Ryan Mextorf who celebrated the birth of a new child for their family in recent weeks; Singing 60^th – GQ with Samantha Tramack.  

Singing 1^st in the Next Generation  Varsity Quartet contest is THE QUIN-TONES with Julian Leflore. Julian is also directing the True North Chorus from Delaware, singing 34^th in the chorus contest. 

Other quartets from M-AD include BEST WISHES, GIMME FOUR, SECRET BEST FRIENDS with former Harmonizer Will Daniel Simmons, SMOKE RING, and PRAT STREET POWER with former Harmonizer Ed Schubel.  Other M-AD choruses in the contest include Parkside Melody, Voices of Gotham, Sirens of Gotham, and East Coast Sound.

Great cheers for all of our competitors in Denver!

Back to this week’s chapter meeting report: Tessa Walker spoke to the chapter about helping spread the word to high school students about the upcoming formation of another Capital Force ensemble as part of AACC.  She will help create forms and flyers for the project that will be part of sing outs in coming weeks including two specific events, Aug 23^rd and Sept 6^th, that will be dedicated to finding new youth singers. 

Chapter secretary, Heidi Suckow, with help from Jared Liscinsky, gave out membership renewal cards to six AACC members – Hannah, Carey, Jacob, Tyler, Craig and Ken Rub with the longest member renewal with 34 years. Members continued the tradition of one clap for every year!!

President, Craig Kujawa, was wearing a number of leadership hats at the meeting.  One as chair for the gift card sales effort/fundraiser.  He recognized several members who are helping the chapter reach its goal for the year and presented them Starbucks gift cards.

As president, Craig announced a major change in the chapter’s weekly 50/50 drawing program.  For many years, half of the money went to a member with a lucky ticket, the other half went to the M-AD Endowment Fund.  (The chapter has donated nearly $19,000 to that fund.) Alan Wile, who manages the drawing, proposed a change where a member still gets some of the proceeds and the Endowment Fund gets some but then after a set total to M-AD, the remaining funds go to the chapter. Stay tuned for more details as it is repeated in the weeks ahead. (BTW – Alan was not at the meeting this week and was missed by all – he was helping to care for his older brother.)

Membership director, Jacob Broude, announced this year’s Class of 2025 – to carry on a long-standing tradition of forming a class of the new members since the last class was recognized.

  Each member of the class was presented a red bandana that they are expected to wear at all times – rehearsals and gatherings of the chapter. The bandanas were created by Tyler Carpenter and have both the Harmonizer and the Metro Voices logos on them. Jacob and Tessa gave each class member his or her bandana.

The AACC Class of 2025 was announced with the following members from Metro Voices -Hannah Drobac, Adele Jones, Annie Ermlick, Katie Raimondo, Nerissa Yiu, Christine Pan, Holly Perdue, Heid Brown, Shira Perlmutter, Leah Bernstein, and Diane Morrical; and the following members from the Harmonizers – Brendon White, Suranjan Sen, Ian Trent, Rob Santine, Josh Berenhaus, Alex Edwards, Tanner Perdue, Rob Stark, Brigham Blackhurst, AJ Gupta, Patrick Horne, Michael Snow, Jackson Byrd, Maumen Alshea, and Devin Turner. That large class will likely have a great skit prepared for the Retreat weekend finale show!! They will also be eager to always have their bandana or “face some consequences” according to old timers!!

Jacob also welcomed this week’s guests – Don Medor was back, and Alaine Forte was back after having been to the sing out last week. First time guests were Matthew Derouse and Robert Della Bernard. Peter Wilson from the Saratoga Springs, NY, Chapter was in town, and Greg Tepe came by to see everyone. Great to see Duncan Peacock back on the risers this week too. Jason Lee directed the chapter welcome song.

At this point the two ensembles met in different rooms; however, president Craig met with all new members to discuss leadership support needed for the chapter.  

The Harmonizers used the larger room with risers.  There were words of appreciation to Joel Golden who helped prepare a useful video of the visual plan as taught by Cy Wood recently. Similarly, there were thank you messages to Turner Arndt for preparing written descriptions of the moves and presentation points for “Come Follow the Band.” Tony directed the rehearsal and Turner kept the chorus “on task” for the visual plan.

At some point, Metro Voices moved to the risers for their work including some chorus lineup placements. Reporter Annie Ermlick reports that they worked on “Somewhere” with assistant director, Maggie McAlexander.  Samantha Tramack, their director, directed the work session on “Where You Lead/Together We Can.” Finally, Tessa Walker started teaching choreography to Metro Voices for their uptune – “World Here I Am.”

The Harmonizers dedicated their rehearsal time to cleaning up the rhythmic aspect of  “Africa.”

All singers wrapped up the evening with “Keep the Whole World Singing,” directed by David Breen. A good crew made it to the Harmo House for afterglow tag singing, pizza and snacks, and lots of visiting and story-telling. 

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 17, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Sing in Old Town; and Harmony College East Weekend

 Looking Back on the June 17, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Sing in Old Town; and Harmony College East Weekend 

Great to have so many singers from AACC at Market Square in Alexandria for the kickoff of another sing and walk through the area of restaurants and shops in Old Town.  There was a lot of enthusiasm and fun for singers who were met with large crowds along the route including at the Torpedo Factory and in the area along the banks of the Potomac.

Artistic director of AACC, Joe Cerutti, directed a warm up session for the ensemble to run though the songs planned for the evening – “Happy Together” for Metro Voices, “Africa” for the Harmonizers, and “I’m Still Standing” for the combined ensembles. During the evening, “Hey Jude” was added with Matt Ambler as soloist, and “Defying Gravity” with Samantha Tramack as soloist along with Tony Colosimo. Kudos to the soloists who had to sing over airplanes landing and taking off from National Airport!

 There were some guests with the chorus this week including Alena visiting Metro Voices; Howard Nestlerode back to see everyone; and Craig Kujawa back after being gone to support his mother after her recent falls. Julian LeFlore was at the sing out as was Charlie, the lead in Maumen’s quartet. 

After all the mini-shows at the various stops, the group adjourned to Chadwicks for an afterglow. It was a fun wrap-up to the evening!! Singers wore their black AACC t-shirts with summer attire for the evening (and carried some umbrellas – which must have been the secret that kept the predicted rain away all evening).

All singers of the Collective are reminded 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. 

A significant number of AACC members attended Harmony College East (HCE), June 12-15, 2025, at McDaniel College, Westminster, MD.  HCE is a major event of the Mid Atlantic District (M-AD) of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS). A long list of AACC members were on the staff or faculty for the weekend including deans for the weekend, Bill Colosimo andSheryl Berlin.  Also the team included Joe Cerutti, Tony Colosimo, Mike Fasano, Mike Kelly, Julian LeFlore, Rick Taylor, Mike Wallen, Dave Welter and Alan Wile. Several quartets with active AACC members were there including FIRST TAKE, HARMOHAUS, and BELTWAY; and quartets with former members including SECRET BEST FRIENDS and SMITTEN.  The Fairfax, Arlington, Red Bank and West Chester choruses were there for coaching too. Cy Shuster, Don Johnson, and Sam McFarland were there with Fairfax and sang on the show. Bill Colosimo was emcee for the evening shows during the weekend. Patrick McAlexander (Maggie’s brother) was guest director for the HCE chorus during the weekend, and gave the keynote address at the opening session. His remarks are on the HCE YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/-APt0VDf63U?si=M2GuCUc6O_z08wW5.”  Thanks also to those members who did behind-the-scenes work like risers and sound and golf-cart driving, and airport runs for staff and out-of-district attendees! Alan Wile reports a significant total for the Mid Atlantic Endowment Fund collected during the weekend. 

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 chapter retreat in July. 

In other chapter news from the past week or so, condolences to former community board member, Bob Faherty, whose wife, Claudia, died last week after a brief illness.

Congratulations to Jackson Byrd for his vocal recital this past weekend at The United Baptist Church in Annandale.

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 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.