Looking Back on the Chapter’s Participation at the August 2011 Harmony University

As usual, the Harmonizers were on the top of the heap at Harmony University with our guys everywhere.

Chris Buechler was kind to send a list of names of the 15 guys there and what they were up to during this special week when barbershoppers can add to their musical and leadership knowledge.

Several of our guys were on the faculty. Dr. Jay Butterfield taught Directing techniques II, Sight Singing I, and How To Analyze Voices.

Our own chorus director, Joe Cerutti was the director for the Directors Chorus (guys taking choral directing training) and he also taught two classes of Choral Methods.

This was the first year for Mike Kelly to be on the faculty at HU. He taught Website Design For Your Ensemble, Webcast Production, and was also editor of the HU newsletter, the Harmissiourian.

Gary Plaag was director of the Coaching Apprentice Program and taught a class on Barbershop Butterflies Bite The Dust, and did Coaching 2 – PRS.

Other friends of the chapter were on the faculty as well: Richard Lewellen, David Wright, Steve Tramack, Kirk Young and Cindy Hansen Ellis.

One aspect of the week is to provide coaching for quartets who come as a foursome to sing and get the benefit of the top coaches in the BHS. Our guys from DA CAPO - Ryan Griffith, Tony Colosimo, Joe Sawyer and Wayne Adams – had a busy week. YeEd hears they were a huge hit on both the Friday nite quartet show with their “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and as a featured act on the Saturday nite finale with “Help from My Friends,” “Ebb Tide” and “Stars and Stripes.”

Ryan Killeen is a member of our chapter and is also on the Barbershop Harmony Foundation staff and he was there to help and work. Former member, Larry Deters and currently Acting BHS CEO, was on campus too.

Another group of our members were at HU as students. Jorge Acevedo was there to attend Directors College which is part of the educational schedule. Jorge directs the El Paso Border Chorders.

Other guys from our chapter attending classes include Chris Buechler, Tom Gannon, Kellen Hertz, Ray Kahler and Dan O'Brien. Kellen sang in the NEXT GENERATION chorus – all of the guys were 26 or younger! It was directed by Justin Miller from the gold medal Westminster Chorus and now the director for our M-AD friends in NYC in the Big Apple Chorus. Erin Odell was a student in the Directors College. She has recently been named director for a Sweet Adeline chorus near where she will be teaching in Richmond this fall. Congrats.

Prior to the start of HU, there was a training session to help guys qualify as candidate judges in the BHS Contest and Judging program. Dan O’Brien (music category) and Tony Colosimo (singing category) are both candidates now in . Former Harmonizer, Paul Wietlisbach (presentation category), is now a candidate, too. He is a on the BHS staff and worked as HU Dean. Our own Chris Buechler was faculty for the candidates who wanted to get into the contest administration category.

The Alexandria chapter provided scholarships for Dan, Kellen and DA CAPO this year. If it sounds like fun and something you wanna do next year, be sure to let the music and performance vp know next spring. And ask some of this year’s crew more about the classes and things they learned.

YeEd figures we will get true confessions soon from our brother Harmonizers about who ate the most ice cream (a special attraction at HU), who stayed up the most hours singing tags, who had the biggest steak in Kansas City before they came back to VA, and who can’t wait to tell other guys in our chapter about the great experience they had.

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 of the great things going on with the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)