Looking Back on the Oct. 25th and Nov. 1st 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meetings
(Thank you to Jerry Jayjohn for taking notes at both of these chapter meetings while YeEd was on travel to the Midwest!)
Associate director Tony Colosimo started the Oct. 25th meeting with warmups of the body doing body stretches and walking in place for proper alignment, then moving onto vocal warm ups.
Then a few announcements before starting singing about plans for next week to work on
“J I N G L E Bells.”
Members interested in singing a solo for the show were encouraged to submit a recording by Sunday.
Tony took a good amount of time working on “Mr. Grinch,” then we moved onto “White Christmas.”
Then the chorus went into sectionals to work on “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” for 25 minutes. Once back on the risers, Tony did more work on selected spots in that song.
After that was the business session. There will be a dress rehearsal for the Holiday Show on Thursday, Dec. 8th.
Executive director Randall Elisaon announced that the chapter is still looking for a Communications Director and a Website Manager. Randall also announced that chapter leadership is looking for someone with a connection to NVCC in Alexandria, as we are looking to collaborate with them.
Membership director Jacob Broude introduced this week’s guests including Johan Westberg who was in town; Henry who had been with us before; and Gary, who’s dad is a barbershopper on the west coast. Gary asked for a quartet to sing for his girlfriend’s birthday on Friday. Some guys volunteered to sing for Gary’s surprise. Terry Reynolds led the chorus in singing the “Harmonizer Welcome Song.”
After the business portion of the meeting, Tony led the chorus through “JINGLE BELLS,” giving points about where each singer should be in character when singing this tune. Then we moved onto “Let It Snow,” and the guys wrapped up the night with “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”
Here are the notes for the November 1st hybrid Harmonizer meeting at Scottish Rite Temple:
Tony started the evening with a quick physical and vocal warmup.
After warmup, he started chorus work with the caroling medley, working their way backwards, starting with “Caroling Caroling,” then onto “Sleigh Bells Ring,” and continuing backwards to “Let It Snow.”
After singing through the medley, the chorus worked on “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” with a few repetitions of that. Then they moved on to “Mary had a Baby.”
During the business session, Randall thanked the guys who sang in a put together quartet for our guest, Gary, from last week. His girlfriend was very pleased and the couple made a $200 donation to the chapter.
Also, it was announced that uniforms for the Holiday Show would be out solid color winter sweatshirt’s to be worn with the white scarf. There is a sign-up sheet for the guys to indicate if they need a sweatshirt.
After business, Tony asked that only those who self-assess at 5, 6, or 7 with feedback from either an octet or from the section leader, to sing on the risers for “J-I-N-G-L-E Bells.” After fixing a few things and repetitions, everyone was invited back onto the risers to run through it.
Then, the chorus sang a quick run through of “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch.”
Finally before closing out there was a review of “Armed Forces Medley” in preparation for our Veterans Day sing out at 1 pm (chorus call is 12:15) at Mount Vernon Rec Center in Del Ray.
After that the 50/50 was drawn and we were adjourned.
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 74th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)
