Looking Back on the March 17, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 17, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

There was a lot of “wearing of the Green” for the March 17^th meeting for AACC  at Fairlington Presbyterian Church, in Alexandria.  A good crowd of singers and guests was present and ready to work on their music and choreo. 

Maggie McAlexander, assistant director of Metro Voices, conducted the 7 pm warm up session for the AACC singers.  As part of the warm up exercises, she refreshed the singers for one of her fun tags, “Little Alligator” and then used the “We Sing Late at Times” warm up exercise.

Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, then reviewed plans for the Capital Force end-of-the-season concert that will be Sunday, March 22 at the George Washington Masonic Memorial, 101 Callahan Dr., Alexandria. Riser crew is needed at 1 pm; AACC call time is 2 pm in the Cafeteria; and the show starts at 3:30 pm. It is free to the public but donations will be collected. Joe reviewed “Parting Glass” for AACC on that concert; Robert Stark and Christine Pan will sing the intro for this song on that concert. Each ensemble will sing their own songs as well.  Family and friends are all welcome.

Samantha Tramack, director of Metro Voices, led the AACC singers in their review work for “We Will Be One” in preparation for that concert. She had the chorus start out in sections in the four corners of the room, then onto the risers. AACC t-shirt and jeans is attire for this one. 

Terry Reynolds presided over this week’s business session. Chapter meeting March 24 and March 31 will be at Fairlington Presbyterian Church (FPC). Chapter president, Craig Kujawa, along with chapter secretary, Cy Shuster, held a special chapter election to fill an opening on the board of directors.  Charlyne “Chuck” Miller was elected by a unanimous vote as member-at-large.

On Thursday, March 19, the AACC chapter will support a day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This is a major, annual event for the chapter in cooperation with music educators in the DC School system. Joe also reported on this event and offered to collect donations from AACC members to help cover costs of snacks and waters for the student signers. Everyone is invited to the 4 pm program demonstrating the youth singing a couple barbershop songs.  The festival will be at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, 3500 R St. NW, DC 20007 – parking might be a challenge so allow time - enter the main entrance. This program was kicked-off a few weeks ago with Melody Hine coming to DC and meeting with music educators and their students in advance of this one-day choral festival. 

Jacob Broude, chapter membership director, welcomed returning guests Renee Tramack, Tracy Albarracin, andSarah Lott. A youth quartet attended this week’s meeting after a recent Harmony Explosion  event with Tony Colosimo and David Breen. The quartet includes Isaac Teberen, Danny Ameduite, Ivan Diehl and John Mark Magpantay. They accepted the invitation to sing a song for the chapter – “Like a Wink and A Smile” – which earned a standing ovation from AACC members.  Owen Lyons has become our newest AACC member and received his name tag this week. Members sang the chapter welcome song for this week’s guests. 

At this point, the two ensembles began work sessions on their music in separate spaces in the building.  

The Harmonizers concentrated on their contest song, “Harmony” with Cy Wood coaching the visual plan for the chorus and the six “Harmonists” out front.  He had been in the DC area for a few days which allowed him time to have a work session with those six men to teach them several special routines that they will use during the set. They had clearly been working on their part of the visual plan as well as their musical part. The Harmonizers worked until past 10 pm to get in all of the plan from Cy.

Annie Ermlick reports that Metro Voices worked on their contest songs, reviewed their songs for the Sunday show;  and did a recording for “Me and the Sky” to submit to section leaders. For some extra fun, director Samantha Tramack taught them the BOSTON COMMON tag for “If There’d Never Been an Ireland.”  Plus they worked on choreography for “Me and the Sky” created and taught by Maggie McAlexander.

It is exciting to recognize the many AACC members working to compete at the Southern Division contest and convention, March 20 and 21, at the Towson University Center for the Arts in Towson, MD. 

 Terry Reynoldsrecognized each quartet and invited their AACC members to come up front for recognition. 

For anyone who wants to attend: the Friday night first-round for quartets starts early –3:30 pm – with 30 contestants. The chorus contest starts at 9:30 am on Saturday morning – here again there will be AACC members appearing with other choruses (neither the Harmonizers nor Metro Voices will be competing).  The quartet finals on Saturday night will begin at 6 pm. 

The list of quartets with AACC members includes: BELTWAY with new lead, Kevin Mendez singing with Rob Santine, Josh Myers and Ryan Mextorf; SIDE HUSTLE with Tanner Perdue, Matt Darouse, Ian Trent and Cooper Schwartz; MENTAL NOTE with Scott Beach, Jerry Candrelli and Mike Geipel; SENTIMENTAL with Rob Santine, Lance Fisher, Josh Myers, David Breen; INSTAGRAMPS with Rick Taylor, Jay Butterfield and Steve White; FIRST TAKE with Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens; BREAKTHROUGH with Mike Fasano, Jordan Zimmerman, Jason Lee and Ken White; GQ with Samantha Tramack; BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth and Tony Colosimo, and Heather and Andrew Havens; and SUPERNOVA with Maggie McAlexander and Tessa Walker.

BELTWAY and SENTIMENTAL each sang one of their contest songs before the meeting ended and Cy Wood led “Keep the Whole World Singing.”

 

A good-sized crowd was at the HarmoHouse for afterglow and pizza, chats and tags.

 

ATTN AACC Members:  do you have architecture, construction and/or home repair  experience.  Joe has offered for the chapter to convert the garage under HarmoHouse into dry and secure storage for the chapter’s historic collection – uniforms, photos, show scripts, board minutes, trophies and other memorabilia.  If you or a family member has some experience, please speak with Jack Pitzer sometime soon.  Need to take a look at the space and see what needs to be done to convert it and decide if it is indeed a good idea. Currently we are paying for a rental space at really high monthly rates and this would help us reduce that cost.  

 

Finally, talk with fellow AACC members about Harmony College East, June 18-21, at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. It’s a great weekend of coaching and learning, singing and meeting, sharing and having fun.  Bill Colosimo and Sheryl Berlin are deans for this Mid-Atlantic District event. One way to learn more about the weekend is to participate in a Zoom session  Sunday, April 12 at 3 pm. EDT, at this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2099589492?pwd=d2xYV0k4NWJ4SzJSMGZ3aGRoR2VrUT09

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 77^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 March 10, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 10, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

This week’s meeting of AACC was back at AlexRenew, on Eisenhower Ave. in Alexandria.  Last week’s Put Together Quartet contest was lots of fun.  Hopefully it will result is some new chapter quartets for the future. 

Tony Colosimo, associate director of the Harmonizers, conducted the 7 pm warm up session for the AACC singers.  After the warm up exercises, he continued work on “Place on the Risers for You.”  He didn’t have time though to let them sing the tag, as promised some weeks ago.

Samantha Tramack, director of Metro Voices, led the AACC singers in their review work for “Parting Glass” and “We Are One” in preparation for the show on March 22. That is the wrap-up concert for this season of Capital Force. Both Metro Voices and the Harmonizers will also sing on that concert. 

Everyone should bring friends and family to support the young singers. Volunteers are needed for riser crew. AACC t-shirt and jeans is attire for this one. 

Terry Reynolds presided over this week’s business session. Chapter meeting on March 17 will be at Fairlington Presbyterian Church (FPC) with Cy Wood coaching the Harmonizers.  Meetings on March 24 and March 31 will also be at FPC. Chapter president, Craig Kujawa, reminded members of the special chapter election on March 17 to fill vacancies on the board of directors.  He also reported the passing of Stan Quick’s father this week.

A new AACC operations team has been announced based on triad leadership teams.  They are beginning to meet and take charge of their areas of responsibility. The teams include Finance: Patrick Horne, Antony Takahashi and Dave Welter;  Culture: Matt Darouse, Kellen Hertz and Becca Williams; Membership: Jacob Broude, Katie Raimondo and Devin Turner; Community: Matt Ambler, Frank Fedarko and Ian Trent; Improvement: Leah Bernstein, Tanner Perdue and Rob Stark; Communication: Randall Eliason, Maggie McAlexander and Frank Shipp; plus Logistics: Brian Ammerman, Joe Cerutti, Patricia Chow, Catherine LaValley, Terry Reynolds and Chad Ross. (As a reminder, these teams are just starting their work and meetings, so don’t contact them yet with questions.)

On Thursday, March 19, the AACC chapter will support a day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This is a major, annual event for the chapter in cooperation with music educators in the DC School system. Members of the Harmonizers and Metro Voices are urged to take some time to attend and lend a hand, and to show adult support of youth singers. Watch Slack for details as to times, place, attire, what to bring, and suggestions on what you can do to help.

A number of AACC members are working to compete at the Southern Division contest and convention, March 20 and 21, at the Towson University Center for the Arts in Towson, MD.  The Friday night first-round for quartets starts early –3:30 pm – with 30 contestants. The chorus contest starts at 9:30 am on Saturday morning – here again there will be AACC members appearing with other choruses (neither the Harmonizers nor Metro Voices will be competing).  The quartet finals on Saturday night will begin at 6 pm. 

The list of quartets with AACC members includes: BELTWAY with new lead, Kevin Mendez singing with Rob Santine, Josh Myers and Ryan Mextorf; MENTAL NOTE with Scott Beach, Jerry Candrelli and Mike Geipel; SENTIMENTAL with Rob Santine, Lance Fisher, Josh Myers, David Breen; INSTAGRAMPS with Rick Taylor, Jay Butterfield and Steve White; FIRST TAKE with Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens; BREAKTHROUGH with Mike Fasano, Jordan Zimmerman, Jason Lee and Ken White; GQ with Samantha Tramack; BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth and Tony Colosimo, and Heather and Andrew Havens; and SUPERNOVA with Maggie McAlexander and Tessa Walker.

The AACC interview process is rolling along so that every member meets with a chapter musical leader and can offer input or suggestions and ask question.  

Jacob Broude, membership director, welcomed returning guests Owen Lyons and Tracy Albarracin. First-time guests were Daniel Jo and Sarah Lott. Assistant director of the Harmonizers, Jason Lee, led the chapter welcome song. Chuck Hunter was in town from his home in Chicago and visited the chapter this week. 

At this point, the two ensembles began work sessions on their music in separate spaces in the building.  The Harmonizers concentrated on their new song, “I’m Just a Bill” from Schoolhouse Rock.  Associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, led that work after sectionals on the new song.  He thanked the section leaders for their dedication and preparation for service. They also worked on their two contest songs and “Africa.” 

Annie Ermlick reports that Metro Voices worked on their two contest songs including a push-out octet game for “With Me and the Sky.”  They took time for sectionals and sang through “Somewhere” that they will do on the March 22 show.

A special surprise to wrap up this week’s meeting was SUPERNOVA singing a contest set for the chapter. Besides Tessa Walker and Maggie McAlexander, the quartet includes Serena Davis as bass and Amanda Pitts as lead. Their fellow chapter members cheered and applauded with a standing ovation.

Then Tessa led “Keep the Whole World Singing” to close this week’s meeting. 

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 77^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 March 3, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 3, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

AACC has had a busy early-March and singers have worked hard to be prepared with their contest songs, as well as other concert songs. Rehearsal and the Put Together contest were held at Fairlington Presbyterian Church this week.

Tony Colosimo, associate director of the Harmonizers, conducted the 7 pm warm up session for the AACC singers.  After the warm up exercises, he continued work on “Place on the Risers for You.”  He didn’t have time though to let them sing the tag, as promised two weeks ago.

Terry Reynolds presided over this week’s business meeting. 

Last week, Joe announced the Harmonizers who will appear as one of the Comedic Harmonists for the 2026 contest package: Chad Ross as Harry Frommermann; Ben Watsky as Young Roman Cyckowski; Matt Ambler as Erick Collin; Rob Santine as Ari Leshnikoff; Matt Darouse as Erwin Bootz; and Rob Stark as Robert Biberti. Other appointments to be made soon. Randall Eliason will understudy for Older Roman, who will be portrayed by Stuart Zagnit for the contest. Michael Berkson will understudy the six Harmonists portrayed by fellow chapter members. 

Sunday, March 1, the chapter celebrated Youth Harmony Day at the Lee Center, 1108 Jefferson Street, from 2-6 pm. Other groups invited to participate with Capital Force included the Children’s Chorus of Washington, Alexandria Children’s Chorus, and the GenOUT Youth Chorus from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington. All AACC singers formed the demonstration chorus for a short workshop on ensemble singing technique using “We Are One.” Capital Force sang it too for this workshop. All of the ensembles wore their logo shirts to identify their chorus such as the black AACC t-shirt. AACC 

provided waters and snacks for the afternoon break period.  Terry Reynolds and Sheryl Belinwere the primary contacts and organizers for this first Youth Harmony Day in cooperation with Tessa Walker. Tony Colosimo welcomed the youth ensembles and their directors and parents. Samantha Tramack directed and taught some of the session too. Lance Fisher helped with the music coaching and tag singing that was the finale for the afternoon. Also a quartet of members from Capital Force – LOW KEY QUARTET - sang for the group before the finale. Thanks to all AACC members who came to sing and help with set up and riser work including Chad Ross who drove the truck and helped unload and reload all the equipment, and Cy Shuster who managed the sound equipment.

Chapter meeting on March 10 will be at AlexRenew; March 17 it will be at Fairlington Presbyterian with Cy Woodcoaching the Harmonizers; and March 24 it will also be at Fairlington Presbyterian.

On Thursday, March 19, the AACC chapter will support a day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This is a major, annual event for the chapter in cooperation with music educators in the DC School system. Members of the Harmonizers and Metro Voices are urged to take some time to attend and lend a hand, and to show adult support of youth singers. 

There is a long list of quartets with AACC members working to compete at the Southern Division contest and convention, March 20 and 21, at the Towson University Center for the Arts in Towson, MD.  The Friday night first-round for quartets starts early –3:30 pm – with 30 contestants. The chorus contest starts at 9:30 am on Saturday morning – here again there will be AACC members appearing with other choruses (neither the Harmonizers nor Metro Voices will be competing).  The quartet finals on Saturday night will begin at 6 pm. 

Quartets with AACC members include BELTWAY with new lead, Kevin Mendez singing with Rob Santine, Josh Myers and Ryan Mextorf; MENTAL NOTE with Scott Beach, Jerry Candrelli and Mike Geipel; SENTIMENTAL with Rob Santine, Lance Fisher, Josh Myers v David Breen; INSTAGRAMPS with Rick Taylor, Jay Butterfield and Steve White; FIRST TAKE with Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens; BREAKTHROUGH with Mike Fasano, Jordan Zimmerman, Jason Lee and Ken White; GQ with Samantha Tramack; BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth and Tony Colosimo, and Heather and Andrew Havens; and SUPERNOVA with Maggie McAlexander andTessa Walker.

Capital Force will have their wrap-up concert for this season, on Sunday, March 22. Both Metro Voices and the Harmonizers will also sing on that concert. Everyone should bring friends and family to support the young singers.

The AACC interview process is rolling along so that every member meets with a chapter musical leader and can offer input or suggestions and ask question.  

Mark Klostermeyer welcomed returning guests Todd Minners, and Morgan Fabber this week.  First time guest was Tracy Albarracin. Assistant director of Metro Voices, Maggie McAlexander, led the chapter welcome song. 

At this point, the two ensembles began work sessions on their music in separate spaces in the building.  The Harmonizers concentrated on the two contest songs and Tony stressed the importance of the recording process as an aid to the singer.  Metro Voices worked on their new music too and director Samantha helped the singers to discover the character of their song for both music and visual emphasis. 

At the midpoint of the evening, there was a 20-minute break so quartets could warm up and prepare for the chapter quartet contest. 

The Wilbur Sparks Memorial Put Together Chapter Quartet Contest was held as the second part of this week’s meeting. This is the 60^th year the chapter has held this event promoting quartet and tag singing. It offers the option for the chapter music leaders to help members organize a quartet for the contest – and perhaps launch a new chapter quartet. 

There were nine quartets in the contest that included mixed voices, and ages and ensemble affiliations. Contestants were allowed to  sing a whole song or just a tag. The judging panel was THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS (directors of the Harmonizers and Metro Voices) with Maggie McAlexander, Tony Colosimo, Samantha Tramack and Kevin Mendez filling in for Joe Cerutti.  

Emcee for the night was Devin Gerzof who kept things lively with interviews of the judges, fun props to make a point, a phone call to Joe Cerutti who was watching the contest remotely, and  reflections of past contests!  

He did ask the question – Who is Wilbur Sparks and why is the contest named after him.  Devin confessed he didn’t know at all and asked Jack Pitzer to share some background. “Wilbur Sparks joined the chapter in 1954 after coming to DC for a job with congressman Harry Truman. Wilbur earned the complimentary title of Mr. Barbershop from his friends and fellow members during his many years of membership and leadership including serving as editor of the chapter bulletin, The Echo, for 28 years.  He was president of the chapter, then the Mid-Atlantic District, and then the Barbershop Harmony Society.  And all the time he was involved in leadership, he continued to serve the chapter.  In 1966, he offered to organize the first Put Together quartet contest as an effort to promote quartet singing in the chapter and to get quartets formed.  He would help members find three other parts and helped them select a song.  He was also known as Mr. Put for years.  Thus tonight’s contest celebrates the 60^th year for a Put Together Quartet Contest.  It was named after him following his passing. (For those interested in more about Wilbur, go to the 50^th anniversary history book, Breathless Moments, to pages 185-186.)”

Tyler Carpenter was contest administrator and helped the judging panel with score cards. Cy Shuster made certain there were mics and sound for the contest. Medals were awarded for the tag category, comedy category and regular quartet category, and were presented to each singer by the judges.  The judges sang “Bye Bye Blues” and “Ebb Tide” while Tyler tabulated the scores.

Top tag quartet was FOUR OVER PAR with Kellen Hertz, Joel Golden, Heidi Brown and Ricky Savage. They sang “I Made You Cry.” (Best wishes to Heidi who recently had a sports injury but came to sing anyway!)

Second place comedy quartet medals went to FOUR BELOW with Brian Ammerman, Randall Eliason, Steve White and Frank Shipp. The were decked out in snow gear and had snow shovels for their parody “My How It Snows.”

First place comedy quartet medals went to POLAR EXPRESS with Devin Gerzof, Randall Eliason, Terry Reynolds and David Hillinck.  They too pulled out winter gear and then launched in to a parody of “Toyland” about “Greenland” with Greenland flags as props. 

Second place regular quartet medals went to THE BALLSTON COMMON with Devin Gerzof, Josh Myers, Lance Fisher and Robert Della Bernada. 

First place  regular quartet medals went to STARK NAKED with Rob Stark, Christine Pan, Brigham Blackhurst and Rob Santine.

After some final words from Terry Reynolds and a thank you to the judges and other contest helpers, all AACC singers locked arms for an enthusiastic rendition of “Keep the Whole World Singing.” 

Until next time – editorjack!

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 77^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 Feb. 24, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

   Looking Back on the Feb. 24, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

This week’s meeting was back at AlexRenew in Alexandria.

Tony Colosimo, associate director of the Harmonizers, conducted the 7 pm warm up session for an overflow number of AACC singers on the risers.  After the warm up exercises, he continued work on “Place on the Risers for You.”  He didn’t have time though to let them sing the tag, as promised last week.

Terry Reynolds presided over a business meeting for all before they concentrated on new music. 

Looking ahead: Sunday, March 1, the chapter will celebrate Youth Harmony Day at the Lee Center from 2-6 pm. NOTE: there are two Lee Centers in Alexandria – this one is at 1108 Jefferson Street.  Other groups invited to participate with Capital Force include the Children’s Chorus of Washington, Alexandria Children’s Chorus, and the GenOUT Youth Chorus from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington. All AACC singers will be the demonstration chorus for a short workshop on ensemble singing technique using “We Are One.” Capital Force is learning it too for this workshop. Singers should arrive no earlier than 1:45 pm to help with risers and to meet and greet.  Non-youth can depart about 3 pm or stay to the end after each youth chorus sings for the others. The black AACC t-shirt is suggested or a plain black one.  There is also an appeal for providing snacks for the afternoon – money or supplies, coordinate with Terry Reynolds. Terry and Sheryl Belin are contacts for this first Youth Harmony Day. As usual, it would be great for the youth to see a number of singers supporting the event during the day.

The Wilbur Sparks Memorial Put Together Chapter Quartet Contest has been rescheduled for the March 3 chapter meeting at Fairlington Presbyterian. Members still looking for fellow singers to form a quartet can get help from music team leaders.  Quartets can be mixed genders, guests can sing in the contest, quartets can sing a whole song or just a tag, costumes and comedy have always been a popular part of the event and in fact, there are awards for the best comedy group. Quartets are asked to use the registration form in advance of Tuesday night. A VIP judging panel will score the contest and award medals to the top three regular quartets and top three comedy quartets.

Chapter meeting on March 10 will be at AlexRenew, and on March 17 it will be at Fairlington Presbyterian with Cy Wood coaching the Harmonizers.

On Thursday, March 19, the AACC chapter will support a day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This is a major, annual event for the chapter in cooperation with music educators in the DC School system. 

There are several quartets with AACC members working to compete at the Southern Division contest and convention, March 20 and 21, at the Towson University Center for the Arts in Towson, MD.  The Friday night first-round for quartets starts early –3:30 pm – with 30 contestants. The chorus contest starts at 9:30 am – here again there will be AACC members appearing with other choruses (neither the Harmonizers nor Metro Voices will be competing since they are already qualified for the International contest in July to represent the Mid-Atlantic District).  The quartet finals on Saturday night will begin at 6 pm. 

Finally, Capital Force will have their wrap-up concert for this season, on Sunday, March 22. Both Metro Voices and the Harmonizers will sing on that concert. 

The AACC interview process is rolling along so that every member meets with a chapter musical leader and can offer input or suggestions and ask question.  

Membership director, Jacob Broude, reminded members to be sure they have added their photo to Slack.  He welcomed returning guests Todd Miners, Owen Lyons, Brie Hebron, and Morgan Fabber. It was great to see Dixie and Chris Buechler at the meeting – she received her new AACC membership pin. Plus Jordan Zimmerman who sings in a chapter quartet with other AACC members; Costanza, wife of Josh Frakes; and Mike Fasano, who is a chapter member and is in his second term as executive vice president of the Mid-Atlantic District of BHS. Assistant director of the Harmonizers, Jason Lee, led the chapter welcome song. 

At this point, the two ensembles began work sessions on their music in separate spaces in the building.  Metro Voices kicked off their rehearsal with sectionals to work on their contest song, “Yes I Can.” and then gathered in the large meeting hall for a coaching session with Maggie McAlexander for a new song, “Me and The Sky.” 

Steve Armstrong, the arranger for the two Harmonizer contest songs for this summer, was present this week from Canada to help the chorus dig deeper into the meaning of the songs.  It went great since the chorus was well prepared, and Steve gave them many insights as to how the arrangements could enhance the delivery of the message. 

The two ensembles regrouped as one to wrap up the work for the night. Alan Wile offered the 50/50 drawing for the week. Then Joe thanked Steve Armstrong for his work session with the Harmonizers and invited him to direct “Keep the Whole World Singing.” There was a large group of members and guests who came to the HarmoHouse for pizza and the afterglow.

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 77^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 Feb. 17, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

   Looking Back on the Feb. 17, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

Weather was not a factor for the Feb. 17 AACC meeting at Fairlington Presbyterian Church starting at 7 pm.  

Jason Lee, assistant director of the Harmonizers, conducted the warm up session for the nearly 65 AACC singers present.  After the warm up exercises, he helped them learn “Place on the Risers for You.”  He teased them though, and didn’t let them sing the tag, with a promise to do that next week.

Stan Quick presided over a business meeting for all before they concentrated on new music. 

Next week the meeting, Feb. 24,  will be at AlexRenew, 1800 Limerick St., Alexandria, VA 22314. Steve Armstrong, the arranger for the two Harmonizer contest songs for this summer, will be on hand to add his suggestions and notes to their contest plan. Luckily, the men are really making fast progress on those songs and will be eager to have him share what he had in mind for the arrangements. Steve is a noted coach, judge and director - and friend of the chapter.  

Looking ahead: The Wilbur Sparks Memorial Put Together Quartet Contest has been rescheduled for the March 3 chapter meeting at Fairlington Presbyterian. Members still looking for fellow singers to form a quartet can get help from music team leaders.  Quartets can be mixed genders, guests can sing in the contest, quartets can sing a whole song or just a tag, costumes and comedy have always been a popular part of the event and in fact, there are awards for the best comedy group. 

Stan thanked the members who sang on Feb. 14 in the Alexandria community for Valentine’s Day. 

 Dean Rustprovided this copy about the day: Brian Ammerman, Jeff Burkey, Ken Rub and Dean Rust represented AACC on this community outreach project. These men were the only signups on Slack but with Ken reverting to bari and Jeff singing lead – they had four parts. Dean arranged visits to five Alexandria senior facilities: Goodwin House, Cogir of Alexandria Fillmore, The View, Woodbine Rehab and Healthcare, and Sunrise of Alexandria. They sang for 140 residents and staff with many breaking into smiles and singing along on the well-known love songs. After singing, the quartet socialized briefly with residents and heard many requests to come back. The quartet left behind specially designed Valentine  cards from AACC. 

President Craig Kujawa thanked the membership of AACC for their many nominations for 2025 chapter distinguished service awards.  The task force appointed by Craig has completed their 

considerations and now Craig is interested in any suggestions as to when/where the awards ceremony should be held. 

Recently, Terry Reynolds shared a run down on the upcoming activities of the chapter’s youth ensemble.  

Sunday, March 1, they will celebrate Youth Harmony Day at the Lee Center from 2-6 pm. Other groups invited to participate include the Children’s Chorus of Washington, Alexandria Children’s Chorus, and the GenOUT Youth Chorus from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington. 

On March 19, the AACC chapter will support a day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This is a major event for the chapter in cooperation with music educators in the DC School system. 

Sheryl Berlin, admin for Capital Force, announced that AACC members will be needed to manage admin and support activities for both events such as providing bottled waters and snacks and set-up duties. Stay tuned for signup opportunities. 

Finally, Capital Force will have their wrap-up concert for this season, on Sunday, March 22. Both Metro Voices and the Harmonizers will sing on that concert. 

Terry also emphasized the need for AACC members to submit their pre-interview survey in advance of their assigned interview time.  Check schedules for interviews published in Slack and posted at the chapter meeting.  Members are asked to contact Terry directly if it turns out they can’t make the interview on the date assigned.  This is all part of the chapter’s major effort to interview all singers each year to get a pulse on their needs, concerns, ideas or suggestions. Interviews will be done by musical directors and/or section leaders.

Chapter secretary, Cy Shuster, presented Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) membership renewal cards to the following members: Chad Ross for 4 years; Jeff Berkey for 8 years; Frank Fedarko for 24 years; and Frank Shippfor 24 years.

Membership director, Jacob Broude, reminded members to be sure they have added their photo to Slack.  He also showed everyone the new name tags for a member of each ensemble who didn’t remember to wear their name tag – 5x6-inch signs that say, “Oops I forgot my name tag!” (Thanks to Tyler for making the fun tags.) This continues a long-time tradition in the chapter that goes back at least 60 years!

Jacob welcomed two returning guests Todd Miners and Owen Lyons; and three first time guests Joe Drack, Annabel Waggoner, and Dana Wooster. Assistant director of Metro Voices, Maggie McAlexander, led the chapter welcome song. 

At this point, the two ensembles moved to work on their music in separate spaces in the church. 

Reporter Annie Ermlick, shared that Metro Voices worked on their contest songs, held sectionals to work on “Yes I Can” – a new uptune arranged by Steve Tramack, and then worked on “Preamble.” The Harmonizers worked with their associate director, Tony Colosimo, to iron out more parts of “Harmony” and then progressed to singing it without music.  They were preparing for their session next week with arranger Steve Armstrong.  The Harmonizers held sectionals on their other contest song, “Stars in the Night.”

The two ensembles regrouped as one to wrap up the work for the night.  Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, led them in “Keep the Whole World Singing.” He invited everyone to the HarmoHouse for an afterglow, now that the snow had melted and there was plenty of street parking.  A large crowd attended this week including several new dads who were comparing notes about the fun and challenges of raising little ones. 

In other chapter news, Dean Rust keeps track of how many people the chapter sings for during the year. He uses the info when he is submitting applications for grants that the chapter might earn. The total for 2025 was 6,044 including over 1,300 for veterans.  

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 77^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 Feb. 10, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

    Looking Back on the Feb. 10, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

On Feb.10, weather was less of a problem, but roads were still a challenge in some areas where the snow piles took up half of the right hand lanes or piles of ice were in turn lanes of intersections.

But the chapter moved on and held its first guest night for 2026 for AACC. Membership director, Jacob Broude, had organized a great evening at Fairlington Presbyterian Church starting at 7 pm for prospective members for both ensembles of AACC. 

There were 11 guests who attended at the invitation of members or who attended because of virtual invites from the chapter. Guests were Brie Hebron, Naz Siddeeq, Lisa Stevenson, Bruce Stevenson, Bob Mills, Jamie Brazen, Todd Minners, Robert Van Horn, Alaina Forte, Mary LaBorie, and Brennen Martin. 

The evening’s program launched about 7:30 after members and guests visited and got to know each other and guests could get the lay-of-the-land. Early arriving members had set up chairs in the social hall of the church and all singers took seats to prepare for the warm up session followed by singing “whose pigs are these” in a round. Both were conducted by assistant director of Metro Voices, Maggie McAlexander. She also taught a tag to the combined singers – “Tho I’m Gone for a Long, Long Time.”

Chapter admin leader, Terry Reynolds conducted a brief business meeting for the chapter.  First he reported on the successful appearance of an octet of AACC members who sang at the Danish embassy at the invitation of the Princess to celebrate her birthday. The octet included Matt Ambler, Rob Stark, Lance Fisher, Kellen Hertz, Ben Raja, Jacob Broude, Ken Rub, and       Terry Reynolds.

Terry included a run down on the upcoming activities of the chapter’s youth ensemble.  March 1 they will celebrate Youth Harmony Day at the Lee Center from 2-6 pm. Other groups invited to participate include the Children’s Chorus of Washington, Alexandria Children’s Chorus, and the GenOUT Youth Chorus from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington. 

On March 19, the AACC chapter will support another day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This is a major event for the chapter in cooperation with music educators in the DC School system. 

Sheryl Berlin, admin for Capital Force, announced that AACC members will be needed to manage admin and support activities for both events such as providing bottled waters and snacks and set-up duties. Stay tuned for signup opportunities. 

Finally, Capital Force will have their wrap-up concert for this season, on Sunday, March 22. Both Metro Voices and the Harmonizers will sing on that concert. 

Terry emphasized the need for AACC members to submit their pre-interview survey in advance of their assigned interview time.  Check schedules for interviews published in Slack and posted at the chapter meeting.  Members are asked to contact Terry directly if it turns out they can’t make the interview on the date assigned.  This is all part of the chapter’s major effort to interview all singers each year to get a pulse on their needs, concerns, ideas or suggestions.  Interviews will be done by musical directors and/or section leaders.

Jacob formally welcomed all guests and thanked them for attending. He spoke some about the chapter and the plans for the rest of the meeting.  He also presented a name tag to the newest member, Josh Frakes.

At this point, the two ensembles moved to work on their music in separate spaces in the church.  Both of the groups took time during their rehearsal to offer explanations about barbershop, about typical activities of a chapter meeting such as tag singing, and some starting points for new members. 

Next, it was time for a short break, to regroup, maybe sing the tag, and take seats in the hall for guests to hear each ensemble sing for them. Samantha Tramack led Metro Voices sing their medley of “When You Leave” and “Together We Can” arranged by Maggie McAlexander. Terry Reynolds led the Harmonizers to sing “Wonderful World.” The combined AACC chorus, directed by Samantha, sang the new song “We Are One” that was written by Zak Sandlerand arranged by Lance Fisher. 

Final event for the night was a fun time using the tag again so Maggie reviewed it with the singers. Then Becca Williams and Devin Gerzof organized all attendees into six groups around the room with the assignment to include one or two of the guests and create new words to the same tag that would share something about the guest. Some examples of the tags include “his name is Brennen, and he needs a job,” or “Sheryl taught me in high school,” or “Mary has a beagle and the beagle died.”

Looking ahead: The Wilbur Sparks Memorial Put Together Quartet Contest has been rescheduled for the March 3 chapter meeting. Members still looking for fellow singers to form a quartet can get help from music team leaders. Quartets can be mixed genders, guests can sing in the contest, quartets can sing a whole song or just a tag, costumes and comedy have always been a popular part of the event and in fact, there are awards for the best comedy group.

Good wishes to fellow members who will accept the call for singers for Valentine’s Day in the DMV. Frank Fedarko and Dean Rust coordinate this project.

The meeting ended with a few farewell remarks from Johan Westberg who is relocating permanently to Sweden.  He was invited to direct “Keep the Whole World Singing.” 

In other chapter news, just discovered that one of our members, Muamen Alsheakh, sang with his youth quartet, BOYSEN BLUE, on the Friday show during the BHS MidWinter convention.

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

 

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