Looking Back on the November 8th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the November 8^th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 

There was a lot of great barbershop singing at the Scottish Rite Temple (SRT) this week! Both the Harmonizers and Metro Voices were in session.

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo started off the Harmonizer evening in the auditorium with a great warm up session to prepare them for the evening’s work.  Tessa Walker and Joe Cerutti took turns working with the Metro Voices in the board room.

 

Artistic director Joe Cerutti was happy to report that the proposed additional holiday show for the chorus at the SRT in DC is a “go” for Dec. 17^th. Watch for more details.

 

The Harmonizers will sing a Veterans Day performance on Fri. Nov. 11^th  - the chorus call is 12:15 pm for the 1 pm program. Dress is coat and tie. Joe reminded everyone to be certain they went to the right location – the Mount Vernon Rec Center at 2701 Commonwealth in the Del Ray area of Alexandria.

 

To prepare for that, Joe had the whole chorus sing through the following songs (he suggested everyone could use the review, even if they did not make it on Nov. 11^th since these songs are often used for special appearances of the chorus): “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” “God Bless America,” and the “Armed Forces Medley.”

 

Joe took a minute to pull a few quotes from a Harmo Hero form submitted by a member for publishing on the website: this time it was background about assistant director emeritus Will Cox including word that he was once named one of the top 100 dentists in the DC area. 

 

The chapter business session this week was brief.  Admin leader Terry Reynolds read a letter the chapter received from Dean Sherick with brief news from his new location in VA, and with encouragement to the chorus in its preparation for the holiday show.  He also returned his music notebooks from “Harvey Milk” and “Iron and Coal” shows.

 

Then Terry invited small groups of singers to work on “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” in rooms around the SRT.  Group leaders were Ben Watsky, Lance Fisher, David Breen, Ryan Mextorf and Jason Lee.  After those work sessions, the chorus returned to the risers in the auditorium. After singing it through a couple times, Joe and Tonycompared notes and, on the spot, shortened the tag.

 

Next, all singers who were performance ready sang “J I N G L E Bells.”  Starting on Nov. 22^nd, all riser singers should be performance ready at level 5 or above.

 

The chorus worked on “Silent Night” and “Gloria” before the rehearsal ended and small listening groups worked.

 

Ike Evans, who appeared last Saturday night with the Virginia Grand Military Band at Schlesinger, won the 50/50 this week. Finally there was a call for pizza orders from those who would be at the Harmo House afterglow.

 

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 74^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)