Looking Back on the March 31^st Chapter Meeting

Lots of Harmonizers arrived early this week so they could work on the visual plan for the contest uptune.  The stage was packed with guys reviewing with Chuck McKeever.  And the front row guys were hard at it in the lobby.

 

There was also a lot of buzz in the building about uniform work with the FRIENDS IN HARMONY.

 

Plus there were all the guys working to get the hall set up for the meeting and refreshments ready too.  Because a lot of guys came early, there was a “run” on the cookie supply before chapter started.  Glad we had them for those guys who came right from work.

 

Rich Hewitt kicked off the warm ups this week and then turned the chorus over to director Joe Cerutti (fresh back from Brussels and judging the contest over there).  He welcomed twoS Forces singers with us this week – TJ Donahue from Denver and Bill Conway, from South Carolina.

 

Joe also acknowledged the president of Dallas Vocal Majority who was in town for work and came to visit us.  Joe thanked publicly the help and counsel from Greg Clancy, the chorus director in Dallas, for his advice to our musical leaders regarding how to be most effective in doing our recordings.

 

We worked on two new songs for the Sept. American Icon show.  Then Don Dillingham spoke to us and encouraged us to be ready, to be in the moment and be enthusiastic.

 

Operations vp Todd Ryktarsyk conducted the chapter meeting. Chuck McKeever announced a refinement and simplification of the visual evaluation process so it can move along faster.

 

Show vp Nick Leiserson issued av thank you to the many folks who made the Aca Challenge such a success.  He reports that over 700 attended and we “beat” the budget!!

 

Kellen Hertz gave details for those singing at his sister’s wedding.

 

Chapter secretary Chris Buechler presented quartet registration cards to the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, our section leaders.  This has been a registered quartet for 28 years. 

 

Chris also presented membership renewal cards to Joel Golden for 10 years, Dave Branstetter for 10 years, Harold Weinberger for 21 years and Dennis Ritchey for 23 years.

 

President Terry Reynolds mentioned the recent passing of Skip Coburn, a long-time chapter member.  Terry also reports that Jean Wachter is still in a rehab center for her recovery from a recent stroke.

 

Terry thanked the members for the good turnout at our all-sectional session last Saturday.  And he reported that the chorus will not be singing at our Youth Harmony event April 18^th.  TBD will sing.  Members should stay tuned and note messages from event organizer Brad Jones about support he needs from others in the chapter with food stuffs, errands, and such.  He has over 70 youth signed up!!

 

Membership vp Rich Hewitt welcomed the many guests we had – several are applicants for membership.  (YeEd heard at the afterglow that two of them passed their audition after rehearsal!!) Rich introduced our newest member Blake Albertson!

 

After the break, it was back to serious work on the contest package. Choreographer Carlos Barillo made it in from a delayed flight from Pittsburgh to help us Joe on the work on the package.

 

In other news, the Harmo history committee, headed by retiring chapter historian Martin Banks, met last week.  They are continuing to monitor collection of materials and planning to help the chapter celebrate our 75^th anniversary in 2023.  A current mini-history will be coming out soon.  As a reminder – all chapter leaders (former or current) are invited to submit collected historical documents to the any of the committee members (Rhome, Blair, Pitzer, Eliason, Banks). Also – if you have some historical things but want to hold on to them for a while, be sure they are marked with instruction for your family to pass them on to the chapter in the future.

 

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 each week during the 67^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.