Looking Back on the Sept. 14th 2021 Hybrid Chapter Meeting
When the Harmonizer gang arrived at Scottish Rite Temple, they gathered out front of the building facing Braddock Road to visit and catch up. Then at our 7 pm start time, associate director Tony Colosimo was in charge of a good solid warm up period for all singers on the steps of the building.
Dennis Ritchey was in charge of the tech support this week – with some sessions outside and some sessions in two different rooms inside the building. Then on top of that, there was another outdoor session a while after it got dark outside, so the challenges of lighting added to the task. Artistic director Joe Cerutti expressed his joy to have the members work so hard and even in the dark to stay safe and still enjoy the harmony. In addition to the holiday music, Joe did a couple runs of “There Must Be a City” which we will sing at the Sandy Stamps celebration of life.
About ten members were on the Zoom link, including a guest, Ken Doyle. New member Donnell Torres was present in the chorus.
Dave Welter’s sister, Susan Manthey, was with us for the evening too. She is a barbershop singer in TN.
Artistic director Joe Cerutti explained to the attendees the plans this week’s sessions for work and programing. Basically, the signers were divided into two equal sized groups with parts and they met in two different room inside the building. Joe and Tony took turns changing rooms so that everyone got all the same coaching, announcements, and opportunity to sing.
One special aspect of this week’s work was to allow interested guys try their hand at singing one of the solo verses for “Do You Hear What I Hear?”
One major session for both the “blue” group and the “red” group was with Joe explaining the details song selection, expectations, and fun for our holiday show that will be Friday, Dec. 10th at 7:30 pm, in Schlesinger Hall. The plan includes some quartet opportunities and VLQ (very large quartet) selections. Anyone interested in forming a quartet or VLQ to sing one of the songs chosen by the planning committee for the show should speak with Joe or Terry Reynolds.
The Harmo family is reminded of the Remembrance Service for Sandy Stamps which is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 23 at 11am at the Fairfax United Methodist Church, 10300 Stratford Ave, Fairfax VA. The Harmonizers will sing “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and “There Must Be A City.”
In other news, YeEd receive a nice note for the whole chapter from the Ginny Shields, widow of past chapter president Jack Shields. He was a notorious community service chairman for the chapter during his tenure and we have a Community Service Award in his name the chapter has presented over the years to outstanding citizens in the area. She receives Looking Back each week and wrote: “Thanks for the updates on the meetings. I really enjoy the news of the chapter meetings and appreciate you sending them to me. It’s been a long time since Jack was in attendance! I just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed reading them and I wish I were in Virginia to attend the concerts. – Ginny.”
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 73rd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)
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