Looking Back on the June 16^th, 2020 Virtual Chapter Meeting

Again the chapter has suspended in-person meetings of the chorus, boards and committees until further notice as well as for any small group, quartet, 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 June 16^th  2020.  

Director Joe Cerutti hosted the 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.

It was great to have some Harmonizers with us this week we haven’t seen for a while including Bob Thames from FL, Jorge Acevedo from TX, and John Rettenmayer from MT. All three of them are singing in choruses in their area and John is president of the BHS Evergreen district.

Joe reported that earlier in the day he had helped the chapter’s history committee move our collection/archives to a different unit on Dove Street that was larger but cost less!  The work crew included ops team director Gary Cregan, and committee guys Howard Nestlerode, Bob Blair, Bob Rhome, Dean Sherick and Jack Pitzer.  We have a great historical collection including trophies we have won, the CD John Glenn took into space, every uniform the chorus has worn, and our chapter charter from SPEBSQSA – just to name a few items.

Joe also reported that there were recorded sectionals posted.

There are so many Zoom meetings for chapters every nite – Joe shared that he would be visiting another chapter during our warm up session, and our coach Cy Wood popped onto our call thinking he was using the Zoom code for his own chapter meeting.  Great to see him even for a minute!

Associate director Tony Colosimo did the warm up session for the chorus this week which included some dancing by the guys in their homes!  After the warm ups, there were sectionals to work on parts of the new ballad. 

A featured event this week was the interview of Alan Wile who has developed the Harmonizer Hero program for the chapter.  It was sort of turn-the-tables with Terry Reynolds interviewing Alan instead of Alan interviewing other members. Alan has collected Hero forms from members for about 10 years.  He asks every new member to submit.  The 300+ submissions are on Groupanizer for anyone to review and get to know each other better. Since there are photos of each person, it also helps new guys know who-is-who.

Alan’s 40 year professional career was in intelligence work – mostly in the Navy and then some years in the Department of State.  He was posted all around the world and says his favorite tour was in Israel. 

He and his wife Patty have retired to a high-rise senior facility.  She sings in the Potomac Harmony SAI Chorus.  They have 11 grand children and 8 great-grand children

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He has served as president of the Harmonizers a couple times.  He also served as as president of the Mid Atlantic District and then served on the International board of directors. 

He still serves in many capacities such as nominating chairman and awards procurement for the chapter, and as promoter of our 50/50 effort to raise money for his favorite cause – the Mid Atlantic District Endowment fund, which he promotes within the district.

There were 60-plus attendees again this week. Terry used the Zoom system to randomly divide all attendees on the call into a small group of five to share thoughts about “what annoys you” in life.  Fun to hear all the things guys cope with.

The chapter’s business meeting was brief with no major announcements.  

Chapter Chris Buechler reports contacting a long list of Harmonizers who have renewed their membership lately. “While I left voicemail for several men, it was a pleasure to speak to many. I especially enjoyed talking with Darryl Flinn, a barbershop icon with whom I hadn’t spoken for several years, and Mike Fasano, who reports that he is still working at the lab. Reaching out to Harmonizers with whom we don’t speak regularly is a great tonic - something more than Zoom.”

Chris reported the following: Darryl Flinn for 65 years; Craig Odell for 51 years; Mike Wallen for 48 years; Geoff Berman for 38 years; Martin Banks for 37 years; Mike Edison for 29 years; Michael Gilmore for 28 years; Mike Fasano for 25 years; and Doug White for 14 years.

To wrap up the evening, Joe welcomed special guest Tim Waurick.  It was fun to hear in person how he prepares the terrific learning tracks for our chorus music (he shared lots of details about the challenges of doing the tracks for “Oh What A Beautiful Morning” he did recently for us).

Tim got a start singing barbershop in middle school which continued into high school. He was invited to St. Louis to do his college work and that connected him with the Ambassadors of Harmony, which helped him find his way into the tenor slot of VOCAL SPECTRUM, a gold medal quartet in the BHS. 

He answered many questions from individual Harmonizers, plus Tim shared personal details about his goals to work hard to grow musically and professionally as a producer of learning materials. 

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 71^st year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd