Friday, April 15, 2022

Looking Back on the April 12th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the April 12th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

This week the Harmonizer chorus members seemed to be ready to work on the contest package and they got a good dose of both songs during the night.


There was the usual important vocal and physical warm up lead by associate director Tony Colosimo.

But before the men could get into the auditorium, Alan Wile and Walt Page were right there to “encourage” them to purchase 50/50 tickets.  (Wouldn’t you know this would be one tradition to return after COVID.) Half of the funds raised each week goes to the chapter and is donated to the M-AD Endowment Fund in the chapter’s name.  The other half goes to the member with the lucky ticket drawn at the end of the meeting.


It was great to see some folks on the risers we have not seen for a while like Nick Murane.  Joe shared a Harmo Hero Factoid about Nick – he sang with the Aloha Chapter and filled out his Harmo Hero form for our Groupanizer page 12 years ago!


Tessa Walker’s parents were visiting from Atlanta and came to watch for a while. Our chapter general manager, Susan Fitzpatrick, was also in attendance. Several guys were on Zoom including Bob Rhome in NC and Jack Cameron in SC. Our DE guys were present too this week – Mike Fasano and Mike Edison


Artistic Director Joe Cerutti could hardly wait to applaud the chorus for an unbelievable performance for the Rappahannock Concert Association (RCA) last Saturday. Audience comments were rich with compliments as was the chairman for RCA in her letter to the chapter. He recognized several folks for their efforts including Doug White,shows chairman; Gary Cregan, operations manager; and Robyn Murane, uniform chairman.


Right away the chorus began review work on “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin.” 


Then Turner Arndt helped Joe with the review of choreography for “42nd Street.”  The main points for this work was the reminder that the singers are portraying people on a street, that the choreo is not meant to be uniform, and that the choreo should not hamper the singing.  Turner was helping the men interpret the previously recorded coaching for this song with Cy Wood


The arranger for this song, Kevin Keller, will be with us on Tues. April 26th.


A big chunk of the evening was used for sectionals on “42nd Street.”


There was a business session conducted by communications chairman Sam Whiteoak.  


Past president Stan Quickpresented one more of the Harmonizer Service Awards. This week he announced the recipient of the Oz Newgard Memorial Award that recognizes a member who has made significant contributions to the music program over the year.  The winner was Tessa Walker, recognizing her work on the music team as assistant lead section leader. 


New chapter development director, Ken Rub, launched our efforts for Spring2ACTion with a plan that every member’s goal will be to raise $250. Donations can actually start now. Ken confirmed that the big day for Spring2ACTion is April 27th.


Chapter secretary David DesPortes presented a membership renewal card to our newest member, bass singer Michael Pugh, for three years in the Society.


Membership chairman, Jacob Broude, welcomed four guests back to sing with us this week – Zak SandlerCy Shuster and Andrew Wu. (YeEd understands that all three passed their auditions to join the chorus after the meeting! Hurray and welcome.) A. first time guest this week was Mark Wheeler who has sung barbershop in WI and MO and competed in a quartet at the district level. Assistant director Terry Reynolds directed the chorus to sing the “Harmonizer Welcome Song.”


Joe directed Happy Birthday for Rob Barnovsky and Bruce Roehm – both celebrating today.  


Bob and Mary Blair are mourning the death of their daughter Molly.  She has battled cancer for a while and lost her life in early April in England where she lived.  Bob asked us to share this news with the Harmonizer family via this column as it is still a tender topic. There will be a service at their church near Mount Vernon at a later date. She was 54.  We offer our support to the Blair family. 

The remainder of the evening was for musical work. 


An invite was extended for an afterglow at the Harmo House at 3916 Stevens Street in Alexandria. Pizza, snacks and drinks were enjoyed by all along with yummy chocolate cupcakes. The 50/50 winner this week was Clyde Crusenberry!


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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