Looking Back on the July 16, 2024 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Post Cleveland

 Looking Back on the July 16, 2024 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Post Cleveland 

There was no meeting of the Alexandria A Cappella Collective (AACC) on July 9 so members could rest up and get back into their work and life routines. The meeting for July 16 was well attended and was a fun night to regroup and celebrate. This report will cover several outside-the-chapter events held after members returned home from the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) convention in Cleveland, too. 

Saturday, July 13^th was the retirement ceremony for Captain Craig Kujawa. USN at the National Museum of the United States Navy in Washington, DC. A group of 37 Harmonizers attended and sang the National Anthem as part of the traditional ceremony. Craig was honored during the ceremony for his work during his 32-year Naval career. His parents were able to attend and the Harmonizers sang Happy Birthday to his Dad, Ray. Guest speaker who recognized Craig’s work and dedication was Rear Admiral Thomas Wall, Commander, Submarines, NATO.  

Later on Saturday, chapters in the DC Metro area gathered to honor Sam McFarland for his 82^nd birthday. Several Harmonizers made it there as did members from others chapter such as Loudon, Fairfax, Mount Vernon, Richmond and Dundalk.  Sam has sung with most of these groups at some point, and so he was invited to sing with several groups – quartets and choruses - during the program part of the afternoon.  Rick Taylor was emcee. A great feast started things that was all part of the truly special event organized by Cliff and Gretchen Shoemaker. Sam has moved to a new address in Ashburn as of July 1 (contact YeEd if you would like his new address). 

On Sunday, July 14^th, there was a celebration of life for Jack Crickenberger who was an early Harmonizer and sang in one of the chapter’s first organized quartets, THE CONFEDERATE NOTES. He was 97. He joined the chapter in 1950 and was an active member until 1964 – although he came to visit the chapter often “to check on the boys” and keep in touch.   He promoted quartet singing his whole life through his choir.  He was a lawyer and provided legal services for some members over the years.  He arranged lots of music for quartets and the chorus but he never listed his own name as arranger – he used “N Fringer.” During the ceremony, his stepson recognized Jack’s barbershop background and his membership as a Harmonizer. 

As a side note from that ceremony, the minister of the St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church, told some of us that he had grown up as a kid living next to Scott Werner in Dale City and new lots about the Harmonizers.  (YeEd contacted Scott that evening and he replied that he missed the Harmo gang and sent his greetings to all.)

This week’s meeting was organized as an education meeting with a variety of program options and was held at Beth El Synagogue on Seminary Road. Membership director, Jacob Broude, organized refreshments for the night too – lots of pizza, salads, sandwiches and sweets, plus cold beverages. Many hands helped set up and get the room ready for the meeting. Attendees were encouraged to get refreshments when the meeting started at 7, and as is typical, the AACC crowd devoured the chow in no time at all.

Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, welcomed members of Metro Voices and the Harmonizers to this educational meeting and led a cheer for the Metro Voices success in the festival event in Cleveland.  He also encouraged everyone to watch the video of the Harmonizer performance and share the pride of being in this great chapter!  

He offered some other business matters for folks to add to their calendar: next week, July 23, the meeting will be back at AlexRenew, 1800 Limerick St., Alexandria. The plan for that night is to work on the songs the two groups will sing the next night, July 24, at Franconia Park, 6601 Telegraph Rd., Alexandria.  The concert is sponsored by the Fairfax County Supervisor for Franconia, Rodney Lusk. It will be in the outdoor amphitheater in the park.  There is lots of parking and benches for the audience – although many folks bring a lawn chair.  There are also picnic tables for anyone to use surrounding the amphitheater.  After working on the songs, the chapter will watch the movie “American Harmony.”

The meeting on July 30 will be a singing walk through Old Town Alexandria. Note the gathering time will be 7:30 pm, at Market Square. 

August meetings will concentrate on refreshing songs from the repertoire for the two ensembles to sing on the fall show scheduled for Sept. 21 at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria. News is that all of the chapter quartets will appear on the show this year! 

Joe and Terry also promised that music for the holiday show in December will be on Groupanizer later this week so that anyone can get a head start on learning or refreshing the music. 

The opening event for education night was the celebration of the 76^th anniversary of the Alexandria chapter’s chartering  – June 19, 1948. The original charter was on display for all to see. Chapter historian, Don Harrington, retold the story of how our founders met and launched the chapter.  He shared details from the 50^th anniversary book, Breathless Moments. The history committee recognized the chapter’s success as Barbershop Harmony Society leaders with a reminder of members who have been named to the BHS Hall of Fame – Bud Arberg, Wilbur Sparks, Dean Snyder, Darryl Flinn, Walter Latzko, and Alan Lamson.  Several other members of the Harmonizer family are also in the Hall of Fame including David Wright, Kevin Keller, Tony DeRosa, Greg Lyne, and Jim Henry. 

The chapter is also proud to have its first member honored as a recipient of the Joe Liles Lifetime Achievement Award – Joe Cerutti.

The history committee pledged to start building a history legacy for Metro Voices too and invited members of that ensemble to join the committee. Anyone interested should speak with Don or Jack Pitzer.  All the Metro Voices members present were also given a copy of Breathless Moments and the 75^th anniversary booklet.  

For the educational sessions. two breakout sessions were held for about 45 minutes. The first round was Cy Shusterand David Breen speaking and demonstrating “What Is An Overtone?” or Calvin Schnure explaining “What is a Brigade,” which many singers enjoy during the year. The second round was a debriefing from the BHS convention and contest with Joe inviting comments from members; or Ask FIRST TAKE any questions about their contest performances with Tony Colosimo plus  Andrew Havens and Drew Wheaton who were present via Zoom. 

Next was the skit from the Class of 2024 – a long awaited demonstration of their paying good attention at meetings and rehearsals. As is typical – it brought lots of laughs and played heavily on in-house jokes from the past few months. Thanks to Charlie Rothermel who reportedly pulled things together for his class! After the applause, the 2024 bandanas were discarded!

The final presentation for the evening was Terry Reynolds’ annual “nerd” or “geek” report and statistics about convention scores and placements and the history of the Alexandria chorus in International contests.  His final slide summarized the main points of his fun session: we’ve earned more third place medals than any other chorus (7); we are second in the total number of medals earned (21); we are tied for sixth in number of gold medals (4); we are the highest scoring eight place chorus in BHS history!; Metro Voices made a huge splash in their first International appearance; and finally, we have proven ourselves competitive at the highest levels while following a strategic plan that emphasizes community and de-emphasizes contest. 

After “Keep the Whole World Singing” the hall was cleaned up and chairs stacked, and Joe invited folks to the Harmo House for the 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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 Looking Back on the June 30-July 7, 2024 Alexandria Chapter Time at the BHS International Convention in Cleveland, OH 

The Alexandria A Cappella Collective (AACC) had a great week at the 2024 Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) International Contest and Convention in Cleveland, OH. Many members of the chapter traveled on Monday, July 1 in order to be there for the major contests and events that kicked off on Tuesday.

There were sixty quartets in the quarterfinals round of the quartet contest with five quartets that had AACC members: WILDFIRE with Kevin Mendez; FIRST TAKE with Anthony Colosimo and Andrew Havens; SWEET & SOUR with Samantha Tramack and Mert Tramack; PRAXIS with Lance Fisher and David Breen; and MIXTAPE with Cy Wood. Three of our quartets made it into the semifinals round: FIRST TAKE, SWEET & SOUR, and PRAXIS. 

When the results were called out on Saturday night after the finals quartet round, FIRST TAKE had earned the second place silver medal from among the top ten finalists. Their total score for the three rounds was 6,688 points with a 92.9 average. Their performances were so classy and solid all week, always drawing their audience into their music.  For the finals round, they changed things for their final song and had a ton of fun singing, “No One Sings Higher Than Me,” and making the audience laugh (and taking a few digs at the judges and how a quartet can get a 100 points for a song  –Tony actually did a pratfall onto the stage floor!). 

The first place gold medalist quartet was “Three and a Half Men” that includes Tony DeRosa who has often coached the Harmonizer chorus and is a friend of many members of the chapter. Their score was 6,795 points with a 94.4 average. Third place quartet was GIMME FOUR from Mid Atlantic District (M-AD) that has helped with Harmonizer youth camp over the years. Fourth was THE LADIES which includes Kim Newcomb who coached Metro Voices, fifth was THE NEWFANGLED FOUR. There were two other M-AD quartets in the top ten – eighth was SECRET BEST FRIENDS (bass Will Daniel Simmons sang in the front row of our chorus before college), and ninth was SMOKE RING who sang at the chapter’s fundraising gala this year. 

For the chapter record, SWEET & SOUR placed 16^th, PRAXIS placed 20^th, MIXTAPE placed 22^nd and WILDFIRE placed 24^th. 

The two ensembles that currently comprise AACC had a very successful week as well as the chapter quartets.

Metro Voices was one of the eight groups competing in the International Chorus Festival and earned a Superior rating (score 80.3) and was named champion of this event. A great accomplishment! The ensemble is directed by Samantha Tramack, with assistant director Maggie McAlexander. 

They sang “After You, Who?” arranged by Carole Prietto, and “It Don’t Mean a Thing” arranged by Bev Sellers.  For their initial appearance at an International contest, there were fifteen singers on the risers: Becca Williams, Cadence Flaherty, Mireille Kouagan, Jeanne Hillinck, Lenna Jawdat, Tessa Walker, Heidi Krukowski, Patricia Chow, Elizabeth Cosh, Leah Musico, Maggie McAlexander, Sheryl Berlin, Sophie Clarke, Ashley Merryman, with Samantha Tramack as director. 

Metro Voices met a couple times early in the week for rehearsals and then on Thursday they started the day with warm ups conducted by Tessa Walker.  Their coach, Renee Tramack, met with them too. When it was time to depart for their 12 noon stage time, the Harmonizers formed a tunnel outside the rehearsal room for them to all walk through with high-fives and cheers. Everyone was wearing their new AACC t-shirt too. 

The chorus festival was in a large ballroom in the headquarters hotel. The hall was full when the Harmonizers arrived to clap and scream and cheer for them, and Metro Voices  hit a home run with their great singing and performance flair. 

Harmonizer rehearsals started on Wednesday, July 3.  President Noah Van Gilder welcomed everyone to join in the excitement of the week.  The chapter’s convention host, LeAnn Snyder, met us and give us details about the contest venue and plans for the week as a representative of the convention host committee. M-AD president, Steve Kirsch, stopped by and presented a monetary gift to the chapter from the district to help with expenses of both ensembles to represent M-AD at the convention. Chapter volunteer, Kathy Kauffmann, presented a token of encouragement to each member of the two AACC ensembles to carry in their pockets on stage to feel the support of the whole chapter family. 

Thanks to Gary Cregan and Cy Shuster for driving the Harmo truck to Cleveland and for coordinating the large crews of volunteers from the AACC ranks for getting risers and sound set up in Room 25. 

The Harmonizer contest package consisted of “The World Goes Round” arranged by Kevin Keller, and “Lullaby of Broadway” arranged by David Wright. Prior to this first rehearsal, the front row worked with choreography coach Cy Wood.  The wonderful choreography created by Cy was led by the front row which included front row captain Bruce Roehm, Ken Rub, Randal Eliason, Matt Ambler, Chad Ross, Terry Reynolds, Reed Livergood, Jacob Broude, Craig Kujawa, and Matthew Zorgoski who joined the front row coming from the 17^th Street Dance group of the Washington, DC Gay Men’s Chorus. Chapter choreo coach was Turner Arndt.

Both David Wright and Kevin Keller stopped in for a few remarks as did long-time coach, Cindy Hansen Ellis. Then Kevin and Cy each took a chunk of time to work with the whole ensemble. 

 

 

 

 

For the Thursday practice, the Harmonizers went back to their rehearsal room after cheering for Metro Voices.  Jason Lee did the warm up session for the chorus. David McEachern came to coach and added touch up points to the performance plan for the package. 

Friday morning’s 8:30 am rehearsal start time meant that Harmonizers got their breakfasts and brought their contest attire (black or gray suits and ties) to the Room 25 space that was used by both ensembles all week. The special trio of Tessa Walker, Maggie McAlexander and Samantha Tramack was already there with makeup and hair stylist friends from M-AD, Christi Willett and Meredith Glemboski, helping the trio get into their attire to fit the theme of the package. 

There was the traditional bandana check Friday morning for members of the Class of 2024 which included Mert Tramack, EJ Harold, Mark Oswald, Jimmy Miotto, William Vesilind, Ker Medero, Charley Rothermel, Jared Liscinsky, Kevin Mendez, Matthew Zagorski, Mireille Kouagou, Ashley Merryman, Dana Richardson, Leah Musico, Marsha Ansel, Catherine LaValley, Callie Cirillo, and Hannah Nesich. (Only those names in bold type competed in Cleveland.) This year’s blue bandana featured the new AACC logo. 

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo did the beginning warm up session followed by Jason Lee to finish preparing the chorus to sing. It was at this point that word came that fellow singer, Chuck Powell, was ill and not likely able to go on stage. (He did in fact improve in his room and was able to drive home safely.) 

 

About 9:30 am, all singers left the risers for the annual “building of a chorus by the year they first sang at International” starting with the Class of 1958 and ending with the Class of 2024 – honoring our past and celebrating our future!

 

The Harmonizers sang nineth in the first chorus contest session Friday.  They walked to the Cleveland Public Auditorium through tunnels and walkways to get to the stage.  They came onto the stage amidst huge cheers and applause from Metro Voices, lots of other M-AD members, and the general barbershop audience who know the Harmonizers would be a great presentation. Greg Tepe represented the chapter backstage for lighting cues. 

 

Great singing and movements including a special surprise appearance in the uptune of a treble trio – Maggie McAlexander, Tessa Walker and Samantha Tramack – who danced with the front row and sang several parts of the song with bass background. It was a fantastic special number with three gold medalist quartet singers!

 

The chorus received standing ovations for both songs and left the audience talking about a terrific performance.

 

There were two more chorus contest sessions – one Friday evening and one Saturday morning.  The results were announced at the end of the Saturday session and the Harmonizers were honored to have earned a fifth place medal with a score of 2,158 point with an average of 89.9. The Harmonizer fans erupted with wild cheering and applause.

 

As soon as everyone could get back to the chapter’s rehearsal room, there was the traditional ceremony to give each singer a medal.  Terry Reynolds called each singer’s name, and chorus manager for the week, Mark Klostermeyer, handed a medal to Joe to give to each man – after a big bear hug and congrats.

 

The first place chorus was The Westminster Chorus; second was Heralds of Harmony, third was Gotham from M-AD; and fourth was Parkside Harmony from M-AD. 

 

There were singers from the Harmonizer family in several of the other choruses too.  As risky as it is to try to report all of them, YeEd and his reporter team will try (sorry if we didn’t see someone on stage): Lynn Hineman with Heralds of Harmony; Lou Bergner with Harbourtown Sound and with Toronto Northern Lights; Donell Torres with The Recruits, with the Next Gen Mic Tester Chorus, and with the Ambassadors of Harmony for their swan song as last year’s chorus champs; Adele Jones, Brad’s wife, with the Dream Chorus directed by Greg Clancy; Erin Odell who directed the Visions of Harmony treble chorus from St. Charles, MO; TJ Donehue and Johan Westberg with Sound of the Rockies; Rich Payton with Space City; Chris Yates, Sean Devine, Jay Butterfield, and Fred Womer with Parkside Harmony; Rasmus Kingstrum with the AIC chorus; and Dan Cook and Jim Mathis with  Ambassadors swan song performance. 

 

Several members of the Harmonizer family were judges during the convention: Alan Lamson and Steve Tramack for the quartets and choruses; David Wright, Mo Field and Matt Fellows for the Next Generation Quartet contest; and Cy Wood for the Comedy Quartet Festival and the Chorus Festival.  Our M-AD friends, THE QUIN-TONES, placed seventh in the Next Gen contest; and M-AD friends, MADHATTEN, earned a Superior rating in the Comedy Quartet Festival with former Harmonizer, Spencer Wight, as their baritone. Donell Torres was tenor in the first place Next Gen quartet TOFU CONCERN. 

 

On the administrative side of things, there were several from the Harmonizer family who had extra duties. John Santora, BHS president, welcomed attendees at the first session. Kevin Keller was presenter for the quartet semifinals session and was elected president of BHS during the Monday BHS Board meeting. He will take office in January. Bill Colosimo served as nominating committee chairman for the BHS board, but he was on travel that day from Europe and so he asked Terry Reynolds, who is a member of the leadership development committee for BHS,  to fill in for him.  

 

Rick Taylor worked all week as a staffer for Harmony Foundation International. Chris Buechler and Steve Tramackattended Society Contest and Judging Committee meetings Sunday and Monday – Steve will become the next chairman of that committee.  

 

Joe Cerutti directed the US National Anthem at the session on July 4; was host for the Saturday evening Live Steam event; presented the awards for the Next Gen contest; and on Saturday he was name 2024 recipient of the Joe Liles Lifetime Achievement Award. The audience responded joyously and loudly with plenty of noise from all the AACC family present.

 

In his remarks of appreciation, he shared what an honor it was to be considered with the name of a hero to many - a leader of barbershoppers - Joe Liles.  “I am confident that my contributions would never have amounted to anything significant if the Alexandria Harmonizers hadn’t taken an enormous and life-altering risk hiring a 25-year old music educator 17 and a half years ago.” 

 

“And if I’ve done anything worthy of recognition in this organization, it is with deepest gratitude to my so-called right and left hands, my partners in harmony, Anthony Colosimo and Terry Reynolds.” Joe also acknowledged his pride of the AACC and expressed hope that the BHS would never lose sight of the true essence of the art form and its community – the amateur singers and the countless volunteers that make things run. 

 

All during the week YeEd and reporters (Dixie Kennett and several Harmonizer members) spotted current and former members of the  Harmonizer family at the convention (here again it is likely we missed someone – but it is still amazing how many of the Harmonizer family attended): Joe Kane, David Wilt, Jim Gammon, Glenn Williamson, Ken Ives, Keith Jones, Craig Odell, Mike Wallen, Bob Hirsh, Don Harrington, Eric Wallen, Lew Klinge, John Knight, Michael Gilmore, Ray Yeh, Richard Lewellen, Joe Wagovich, John Sifuentes, Drew Fuller, Frank Fedarko, Jim Kirkland, Tony LaRosa, Norbert Hammes from BING, and John Rettenmeyer.

 

AACC contest coordinator, Craig Kujawa, had helped make arrangements for the chapter months before and he helped members get housing, and kept them informed as to plans, times and schedules. 

 

The chapter music team gets much credit for helping the two ensembles prepare for their appearances with extra work, private sessions, learning materials, and passing along tips about performing from those who have gone before. The team certainly starts with artistic director, Joe Cerutti, and Samantha Tramack, Tony Colosimo, Maggie McAlexander, Terry Reynolds. Add to that the hard working section leaders: for Metro Voices – Elizabeth Cosh, tenors; Sophie Clarke, leads; Sheryl Berlin, baritones; Leah Musico, basses; for Harmonizers – Randy Lazear, tenors; Ben Watsky and Lance Fisher, leads; Jason Lee, baritones; David Breen, basses; Turner Arndt, stage presence leader. 

 

In addition to all the members in Cleveland, there were many family members present. Some took advantage of the things to see and do in the convention city such as the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, a stroll along Lake Erie that was just outside the headquarters hotel, and to take in a ballgame with the Cleveland Guardians vs. the Giants on Friday evening (just after the rain stopped). The AACC crowd kept track of things and each other all week via Slack to include a report on Sunday of family visits to Cedar Point for a famous roller coaster experience.

 

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.