Looking Back on the Jan. 28, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting

  Looking Back on the Jan. 28, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting 

The rehearsal space at AlexRenew was full with members and 11 guests for the Jan. 28 chapter meeting of AACC.  (And it wasn’t even a guest night – that’s next Tuesday!) 

Associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, lead vocal warm ups for the combined ensembles of AACC.  In recognition of the chapter’s International trip this summer, he taught a new tag – “Ireland, My Ireland, I’m Longing for You.”

Then he passed the baton to Artistic Director, Joe Cerutti, who spoke about the Feb. 15 inaugural performance of the Capital Force youth ensemble. It will begin at 3:30 pm, with a 2:30 call time for the Metro Voices and the Harmonizers who will appear with them. Location is the George Washington Masonic Memorial, 101 Callahan Dr. It is free for audience members. Tessa Walker directs Capital Force.  

Later that evening, the Harmonizers will perform for leaders of the Honors Flights program. 

Then on Feb. 20,  a small ensemble from the chapter will sing at a Defense Attaché Association reception at the Danish Embassy in DC at 7 pm..  

The AACC will meet again at AlexRenew for the next two weeks. Note that the Feb. 4 meeting will be an official guest night. Current members are encouraged to invite guests – not just those who want to sing, but those who would be good support team members or leadership helpers for an arts organization. 

Music team admin coordinator, Terry Reynolds, reported details for the annual interview process for all AACC singers in the coming weeks.  All interviews will be at the Harmo House except for those scheduled via Zoom. 

Membership director, Jacob Broude, welcomed returning guests Patrick Horne, Brigham Blackhurst, Michael Snow, Robert Stark, Christine Pan, and Holly Perdue.  First time guests were Akshar Gupta, Heather Blackhurst, Carol Phan, and Jeremy Horowitz. Terry Reynolds directed the chapter “Welcome Song.”

The combined ensembles worked on “Why We Sing” and then adjourned to separate meeting space. 

The Harmonizers actually worked with the section leaders for a while.  The Harmo rehearsal included work on “Come Follow the Band,” “Rockin the Boat,” “Toyland,” and “Calling Dreams.”  Metro Voices worked on “World Here I Am,” “After You Who,” “It’s the Music,” and “Happy Together.” 

The combined ensembles combined again for announcements:  president Craig Kujawa shared word that our chapter is an active member of the Alexandria Arts Alliance and AACC leaders attended a meeting of the Alliance earlier this evening. 

He also repeated his offer of a Starbucks gift card for someone who signs up for a new Scrip fundraising account. 

Plus he shared that he will be looking for members to serve on the chapter awards selection committee (they will be suggesting recipients of the chapter award that have recently been revised to include all ensembles).

The final music work was on “I’m Still Standing.

Alan Wile was on hand for 50/50 sales again this week. Samantha Tramack directed “Keep the Whole World Singing” as the closing number for the evening. Joe issued the usual invite to the afterglow at the Harmo House explaining the location and pizza-slice-count to the many guests. 

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 Jan. 21, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting

  Looking Back on the Jan. 21, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting 

Another good crowd of members and guests were at the Jan. 21 chapter meeting of AACC at Beth El Synagogue.  Members were eager to sing again and there were folks working on their new music in an adjoining room with Calvin Schnure before the 7 pm start time. The extreme freezing temps did not seem to deter attendance or enthusiasm.

Assistant director of Metro Voices, Maggie McAlexander, conducted vocal warm ups for the combined ensembles of AACC.  She taught a tag that was used then by associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, in a class on the Musical Standards for AACC. 

Tony first welcomed everyone, reported that Joe was on travel this week, and thanked Tyler Carpenter for his leadership and work to organize last week’s Put Together Chapter Quartet Contest.  It was one of the best ever!

Tony also alerted members about the Feb. 15 plans for the Capital Force ensemble’s first concert. All singers should report by 2:30 pm prior to the 3:30 pm show at the Masonic Memorial in Alexandria. There will also be an appearance at an Honors Flight banquet that evening.  Stay tuned for all details.

Similarly, the chapter has gotten a request for an appearance at the Danish Embassy residence on Feb. 20.  Sign-ups looked good, so here again, stay tuned for details.

As a reminder, the chapter will meet the next two weeks at AlexRenew. Note that the Feb. 4 meeting will be an official guest night. Current members are encouraged to invite guests – not just those who want to sing, but those who would be good support team members or leadership helpers for an arts organization. 

The major points Tony made about the Standards for AACC included advice about breath, risk, intonation and contribution.  He spoke and explained his points on those four topics. 

Then the two ensembles adjourned to work on their music.  Metro Voices with Samantha Tramack worked in the fellowship hall on “World Here I Am,” “After You Who,” and “It’s the Music That Brings Us Together.” The Harmonizers with Tony worked in the sanctuary on “Come Follow the Band,” “Toyland,” “Calling Dreams,” and “Rockin the Boat.” 

Abut 9 pm, everyone gathered in the sanctuary for a business meeting. President Craig Kujawa spoke about the chapter’s fundraising activity - Scrip. He will be promoting more participation with the incentive of a Starbucks gift card distribution plan.  Stay tuned to participate.

Craig also is seeking a chapter member or a small team of members to take on Contest/Convention planning (the task Craig held prior to his moving into the presidency).  Any interested members should talk to Craig as soon as possible.

Executive director, Stan Quick, reminded members to turn in their media release forms to membership director, Jacob Broude. 

Music team admin coordinator, Terry Reynolds, reports that schedule and details about the annual interview process for all singers will be released to all in the coming days. 

Steve White spoke about the DELASUSQUEHUDMAC honor chapter (often called DELA) for leaders in the Mid Atlantic District of the BHS.  He invited all those members present at this week’s chapter meeting to come forward (on any given Tuesday you could find a good number of DELA members at a meeting of the AACC) to welcome the newest Alexandria member of DELA, Ken Rub.  Congratulations to Ken! Fellow chapter member, Mike Wallen, is currently president of DELA, and Bob Eckman is treasurer. 

Chapter secretary, Heidi Krukowski, presented BHS membership renewal cards to the following members: Cary Fagerstrom for 2 years; Heidi Krukowski for 2 years; Samantha Tramack for 6 years; EJ Herold for 9 years; Tessa Walker for 13 years; Stan Quick for 13 years; Bruce Roehm for 24 years; Mark Klostermeyer for 44 years; and Steve White for 48 years. 

Tyler Carpenter welcomed guests this week and new member Tanner Perdue.  The first time guests were Patrick Horne, Brigham Blackhurst, Melodie Stehling, and Michael Snow.  Returning guests were Robert Stark, Christine Pan, Muamen Alsheakh and Julian LeFlore.

Alan Wile was on hand for 50/50 sales again this week and his helper, Walt Page, was back on deck to help!  Good to see Walt with us this week!

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.