Looking Back on the July 15, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting
This week’s chapter meeting was back at Beth El Synagogue, at 3830 Seminary Rd. It was a busy meeting with rehearsals and announcements amid the excitement for the weekend retreat at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. This will be the first retreat for a lot of members including the members of the Class of 25!
The Harmonizers and Metro Voices did their warm up sessions separately this week. Harmonizer associate director, Tony Colosimo, conducted one session (and taught them the tag, “Ireland, My Ireland I’m Longing for You” and assistant director of Metro Voices, Tessa Walker, conducted their warm ups which also included a tag taught by their director, Samantha Tramack.
Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, worked with the Harmonizers (including a reminder to wear his own name tag and to encourage other members to wear their name tag) (Wear them this weekend too!) He worked with the chorus on “World Goes Round” including refreshing the choreo plan. Plus he implemented a plan to get singers who are prepared to demonstrate how well they can perform the song in front of the other chorus members. (He had a system that had singers who were ready put their name in a box for their singing part, then he drew names to form an ensemble.)
For the Harmonizer work on “Africa,” there was a lot of emphasis on rhythm and that was reinforced with singers clapping out the rhythms for their parts as they sang. Tony directed the work session on “Come Follow the Band” with coaching input from Joe and Turner Arndt. The Harmonizers also worked on “Wonderful World.”
Metro Voices worked at learning choreography for their contest songs – “How Far I’ll Go” and “World Here I Am” – with Tessa teaching the new choreo. Samantha worked with the chorus on “Happy Together;” “Maggie’s Medley – which is their name for her arrangement;” “Somewhere;” plus more time on the contest songs. Samantha also used the idea to invite individuals out front to demonstrate their performance levels.
Both ensembles are considering holding rehearsal/refresher sessions on Aug. 5 and Aug. 12 while the large contingent of members are in Ireland. Stay tuned.
It was stressed that the retreat weekend will kick off at 7 pm on Friday, July 18, and end about noon on Sunday, July 20. The annual retreat is a great opportunity for serious work on the music, plus a chance for members to meet and socialize with each other and get to know more names to go with the faces we see each week. The two coaches for the weekend will be Darin Drown from Denver, CO, and Cy Wood, our frequent performance coach from Ohio. There will also be a ceremony to present the 2024 distinguished service awards for the Collective.
The AACC black t-shirts are available for just $10 each. Contact Terry Reynolds before the retreat so he can bring one to you to have for the weekend. The AACC t-shirts will be worn on Saturday of retreat (for a unified appearance in the video to be filmed that day).
Future chapter meeting locations were confirmed: the meeting July 22 will be back at AlexRenew, then July 29, AACC will be singing in Old Town Alexandria and passing out recruitment flyers for the next Capital Force youth ensemble.
Chapter secretary, Heidi Suckow, presented membership renewal cards to Ashley Merryman for 2 years; Rob Barnovsky for 15 years; and Mike Fasano for 31 years.
Membership director, Jacob Broude, welcomed this week’s guests including some folks present who will be guests on the trip to Ireland. Returning guests included Robby Bernarda, Lisa Venbrux, Carri Nelson, and Matt Darouse. First time guest was Gabriella Pasek. Terry Reynolds directed the chapter welcome song.
Joe asked the Class of 2025 to step forward and present their red bandanas. Ooops – another member forgot – and so he had to answer three questions from members on the risers such as ‘why did you join Capital Force” and ‘which top ten quartets can you name.’
Also, Joe was pleased to announce that the fall show will be at Bishop Ireton High School on Sept. 20. Plus he reported the news that Robert Rund was named new CEO for the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS). Robert is from Mid Atlantic District (M-AD) and sang baritone in the 1992 district champ quartet DOUBLE TAKE.
Word was received that former chapter member, Ross Johnson, died on July 4. He was a long time bass singer and host for quartets that came to sing for chapter shows. His wife, Susan, who was an accounting advisor for the chapter, preceded Ross in her passing.
Word was also received from former bass section leader, Jack Stevens, who lives with his wife, Leslie, right at the entrance to Camp Mystic in Kerrville, TX. The only passable road around the devastated area is to use the private road that goes thru their 1,000-acre ranch. The erosion damage to their property was rough but nothing to their home or safety of them personally. Jack sends his greetings and message via Keith Jones.
The rehearsal wrapped up with the 50/50 drawing, then singing “Keep the Whole World Singing,” directed by Elizabeth Cosh. A fun afterglow was at the Harmo House for tag singing, and snacks. The pizza delivery guy did finally got to the house after 11 pm – but AACC members can always chow down on pizza!!
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 77th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)
The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.
No comments:
Post a Comment