Looking Back on the April 28th, 2020 Virtual Chapter
Meeting
The chapter has suspended in-person meetings of the
chorus, boards and committees until further notice as well as for any small
group or ensemble gatherings. This is in recognition of recent mandates by
officials and leaders of the BHS and in cooperation with local health
authorities and government officials.
Thus there was not a regular in-person meeting
of the Alexandria Harmonizers on April 28th, 2020.
Instead, director Joe Cerutti hosted a gathering at 7 pm via Zoom video meeting this
week to continue the work on music, learn performance plans, and learn more
about our chapter and the barbershop hobby in general.
Joe
was excited to report that we were anticipating coach Kevin Keller on this call to share his thoughts, ideas, and
concepts for his arrangement of “42nd Street” that we are learning;
and that we will hear from Mark Kettner
explaining the performance judging category for BHS contests.
Chris
Huber and Joe
shared the news that Peggy Harris, our friend from our stop in Les Ventes
France, after our trip to Normandy, had died on April 14th. She was 96 and living in Vernon, TX.
Joe
reminded singers to please submit their rehearsal ready materials right away
for “Chorus Line.”
Associate director Tony Colosimo did the physical and vocal warm up sessions for the
60+ singers on the call. His session included dancing to “Twist and Shout!”
Then there was work on “Goodbye” from The Producers (arranged for the
Harmonizers by Steve Tramack) with
rehearsal ready singers working with Joe
and others working with Tony.
Next, music team administrator Terry Reynolds used the Zoom system to randomly divide all
attendees on the call into a small group of five or so. This gave us a chance to check in with each
other and each small group reported back to the whole with news and updates
from the members. Great chance to help
fill the gap of not seeing or singing with each other. Joe
had asked the guys to share “what they have been doing to survive these days!”
The business meeting was brief with no
announcements. A couple Harmonizer
families have covid-19 issues so our thoughts are with Calvin Schnure and Frank
Fedarko who have elderly family members who tested positive for the virus.
Kevin
Keller, from the Ambassadors of Harmony and a popular
Harmonizer coach, joined our Zoom call. He was well prepared, and with the
music for “42nd Street” appearing on our screens, he spoke about his
thoughts, ideas, concepts, desires, suggestions and major details he had put
into this exciting arrangement for our chorus.
He was glad to see and hear from the men in the chapter and created more
excitement about this new uptune.
Joe
and the guys thanked Kevin for his insights
and thorough instruction.
There were two electives/breakout sessions again this week. Terry
Reynolds presented Great Barbershop Chorus Performances; and Mark Kettner explained the performance
category. He is from the Dixie District
and resides in Tennessee. He shared all the current info about that category
and shared his thoughts of how we earned good marks in performance with our
uptune “Anything Goes” that we sang at the International in Toronto.
After these sessions ended, Joe thanked Mark for joining us. Then a good number of men stayed on Zoom to
visit and chat.
Next
week’s meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm.
Watch for email details.
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 71st year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd
