Looking Back on the July 22, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting
A good crowd of members were on hand for the chapter meeting right after the great retreat. There were also a lot of guests this week. Plus there was lots of activity in preparation for the Ireland trip. Tyler Carpenter was issuing the green t-shirts to those who ordered one for Ireland. Terry Reynolds was issuing AACC t-shirts to those who needed one. Many members were asking trip coordinator, Brad Jones, travel questions and advice. Finally, a crew stepped up to take care of getting the risers off the truck and into AlexRenew.
The Harmonizers and Metro Voices met separately and did their vocal warm up sessions to prepare for rehearsal. The Harmonizers had a quartet sing without choreo on “World Goes Round” and the chorus did the choreo without singing. The quartet changed once and the process was repeated. Joe and Turner Arndt made suggestions for improvement of choreo. Joe thanked the quartets for being well prepared and their courage to sing in front of their fellow singers.
Next the Harmonizers worked on “Come Follow the Band” choreo, with associate director, Tony Colosimo, directing.
Metro Voices warm up session was conducted by director Samantha Tramack and assistant director, Maggie McAlexander – according to reporter Annie Ermlick. That time also included some recap from the retreat. Tessa Walker met with their many guests regarding voice placements. There were sectionals for baritones with Shery Berlinand for leads with Tessa.
At this point, the two ensembles met together for general business matters.
Joe clarified that the next regular chapter meeting will not be until Tuesday, August 26. Next week AACC will sing in Old Town Alexandria which will also include extensive efforts to promote and recruit youth for a fall Capital Force ensemble. Tessa, their director, spoke about the complete plans and the need for everyone to help recruit. There will be poster and flyers to be printed by members, and supplies needed to put up the flyers. All hands on deck for this effort.
There will be no organized meeting on Aug. 5 and Aug. 12 – perhaps some members will organize a Zoom or a gathering to practice choreo. So watch on Slack while the bulk of the AACC chorus is in Ireland.
Aug. 19 the chorus will be back to sing in Old Town.
Becca Williams offered to answer any uniform questions for those headed to Ireland.
President Craig thanked more folks for their help on retreat weekend such as Sheryl, Ken Rub and Chad Ross. Craigis also willing to collect ideas, suggestions, or other reactions from the retreat weekend.
He also reported that the gift card purchase system have raised over $4100 toward the $5000 goal he set.
Finally, he alerted members to the chapter’s plans regarding the fall Mid Atlantic District (M-AD) contest and convention in NJ, Oct. 3-4. Note that the chorus contest starts at 9 am on Sat. Oct. 4 – since we don’t know the order of appearance for that contest yet, there could be a need to be at the contest by 7 am. Thus, members should start making plans for housing, tickets (early bird prices end on July 31), and transportation. Although Craig has extensive travel on the horizon, he will be getting out more details as they become available. He will need prompt responses.
Mary Cooper filled in for Jacob Broude to welcome guests this week: Robby Bernard, Lisa Venbrux, Carri Nelson, Dave Manwiller, Cesar Guerrero, Cataline Buitrago-Torres, Matt Darouse, Monica Lynch, Cooper Schwartz, and Stefan and Monica Hummes from BING. Terry Reynolds directed the chapter welcome song for the guests. Dave Reyno and his wife stopped by to get their shirts for the Ireland trip as well.
At this point the two choruses worked more on their music and choreography.
To wrap up the night, the rehearsal ended with “Keep the Whole World Singing,” directed by Stephan. The fun afterglow was at the Harmo House for tag singing, pizza and snacks.
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.
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