Looking Back on
the 2016 International Contest and Convention, Nashville
Amazing
numbers of current and former members of the Alexandria Chapter were at the 78th
annual BHS International Convention and Contest in Nashville, TN, July 3-11,
2016. All were there to sing together, rehearse, compete, work and volunteer,
attend meetings, cheer for our friends from M-AD, meet old friends and hang out
with each other.
And
the always-competitive Harmonizer chorus returned to the International stage
with 103 singers with our director Joe
Cerutti. Our ballad was “Yesterday” and our uptune was “Sgt. Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band” - both arranged by David Harrington. Our package
included a tribute to director Emeritus Scott
Werner. We earned 2689 points, 89.6% and a sixth place finish!
We have competed at 26 International chorus contests
since our first one in 1978 when we placed fourth.
The Harmonizer convention week and rehearsals began
on Tuesday evening at the Omni when the huge Harmo family started arriving in Nashville.
Many drove and some took flights. Some guys combined the trip with family
vacations.
We got started right at 7:30 pm. Chuck McKeever
set the mood by playing “We Will Rock You” which the guys clapped to as they
mounted the risers. The entire Harmo family was on hand for the first
gathering. There was a lot of excitement
with folks having had to get off flights or find parking, get settled in the
room, and see who made it so far. As usual there were a number of crews at work
such as Mike Kelly, Dennis Ritchey and Doug White who kept the
sound equipment running for all the rehearsals and performances. Casey
Belzer and Ken Henderson drove the Harmo truck to TN and Brian
Ammerman had riser crews ready to set up and take down as needed. Doug and Bob Blair helped as
load masters. It was not until Thursday when all 103 of us were on the risers
since some guys could not get off work all week, or some guys were working at
the convention or competing in quartets.
Director Joe was busy managing the BHS Youth
Quartet Contest on Tuesday as part of his duties as a Society staff
member. That event lasted until midnite,
so associate director Tony Colosimo warmed us up and directed us for the
evening. Choreographer Carlos Barillo
did a lot of work in the early part of the evening with blocking and placement
of the guys on the floor during the ballad. Coach Cindy Hansen arrived
and helped with choreo too.
Chapter communications director Scipio Garling
gave out promotional pins plugging Sgt. Pepper’s logo to all members, family
and friends with the intent to spread them far and wide at the convention.
Before we ended, Australian quartet THE MELLOW
DINERS cane by to sing for us. Alex Morris, who was host on the webcast, sings tenor. He has visited the Harmonizer rehearsals in
VA.
On Wednesday morning we were back in our rehearsal
space in the Omni at 8 am. Tony did the warm ups and when Joe
arrived we did drills on transitions in the package.
Past president of BHS, Shannon Elswick, addressed
the chorus after our first run-through of the set. He had kind words to say
about the chapter and its leadership.
There are many Harmonizer traditions during
International convention week. One
special one is the surprise of the director.
And this year was no exception.
On signal, the first time doing the ballad intro, the chorus jumped into
singing “Sticks and Stones” instead of the correct “Yesterday” words. It got Joe for sure. And Shannon had a
good laugh too!
The TAKE FOUR quartet from Barbershop in Germany
(BinG) also came by to sing for us and renew friendships made when they were
with us in VA for the send off concert a few weeks ago. We were also proud of
the BinG chorus HEAVY MEDAL which sang on major shows during convention week.
When the chorus broke for the nite, the basses met
with section leader Tom Jackson and the front row worked on their
routine. Throughout the week the front row reported a half hour early or stayed
an extra half hour to work on their routines.
The quarter finals round of the quartet contest was
on Wednesday. We had two quartets in the
contest with Harmonizer members. DA CAPO
with Ryan Griffith, Tony Colosimo, Joe Sawyer and Andrew Havens. They placed 10th. LAST MEN STANDING placed 30th
with TJ Barranger, Drew Feyrer, Ed Bell and Mike Kelly. The other M-AD
quartets were ROUTE 1 with former Harmonizer Scott Disney who placed 19th;
GIMME FOUR that placed 24th; FRANK THE DOG placed 28th;
UP ALL NIGHT placed 31st. The
youth quartet from M-AD won that contest – PRATT STREET POWER from the Hershey
area.
FOREFRONT from Cardinal District won the quartet
gold medals on Saturday nite. LEMON SQUEEZY from SNOBS won second. MAIN STREET
from Sunshine District with our coach Tony DeRosa won third again. SIGNATURE from FL who were the coaches for
our chapter’s youth harmony weekend, placed fourth. Former member Sean Devine
sang in THROWBACK that placed fifth.
Wednesday afternoon the chorus met a second time for
that day from 3-5 pm. Former director Scott Werner had arrived earlier
in the afternoon thanks to our chapter AH Inc. board member Liz Birnbaum
who got him from the airport to the Omni.
Scott arrived in the practice hall to rousing applause.
Joe had us singing tags as a warm up and then we went right to work on the
package. As was true during every
rehearsal, there were a lot of guys in the room to hear and see us from other
choruses. Last year’s champ chorus, Westminster, sent two guys to bring the
traditional gift from the outgoing champ to each guy on the stage for the
chorus contest. This year was guitar
picks.
At the end of the evening, the Voices of Gotham
chorus arrived and we did our set for them. Then they did their set for us.
We left right away to catch DA CAPO at 5:30.
Thursday July 7th rehearsal started at 9
am. Tony warmed up the chorus and promptly gushed like a school girl
when he realized he was directing Scott Werner on the risers. That got a
big laugh. We also got our first look at
the costume that was created for Scott – a lavender long coat with lots
of appliqués and epaulets.
We drilled the set until about 10:30 am when the
Vocal FX chorus from New Zealand came to visit. Don Dillingham brought
our special group of guys down who had been practicing the HAKKA for the last
few months. The guys from FX came down to the front and faced our HAKKA team
for a reply. It was stunning. We were
all impressed.
Afterwards we did our set for them and then switched
places on the risers so they could perform. Before their set, their director
Charlotte Murray expressed how much the HAKKA meant to her and the chorus. She said no group had ever taken the time to
learn a HAKKA before. She expressed her emotions about it.
We broke for the morning to enjoy the semi-finals
quartet round. Then everyone hurried
back for the evening rehearsal at 4 pm.
Joe started right away without a warm up. He gathered the whole chorus into a tight
circle twice during this rehearsal to talk about self confidence and
“believing” in what we are singing.
About 5 pm, the Brothers of Harmony from NJ
arrived. Their director Jack Pinto spoke
about the Harmonizer history before they did their set for us. And we did our
set for our fellow M-AD guys.
In the evenings during the week, many of us
adjourned to socialize with our friends in the Harmo Hideaway. Good crowds made it there each nite to the
suite hosted by Jeri White and Dennis Ritchey, with Craig and
Ken Rub whose room we used. Thanks
to those who helped finance the suite or made contributions for goodies.
Another
important tradition for our chapter is the Togetherness Breakfast to start the
day of competition. President Randall Eliason was emcee for the 8 am
gathering. The menu was typical eggs,
bacon, sausage, pastries and more. As is the tradition, many former members
attended along with all members and their family and friends. Jacob George,
Steve Murane, Bob Rhome and Al Herman helped distribute breakfast
tickets to members and guests prior to the event.
Randall recognized several folks including Craig Kujawa who was
convention director and helped us all get there, get info we needed, organized
all aspects of the week and coordinated the many other Harmo volunteers who
made things happen. Kudos to Craig from all of us. Robyn Murane was thanked for her work
on the tear-away costumes, Rick Savage for his help with fitting uniforms, and
to the many family members who helped sew uniform parts during the wee. Bob
Rhome collected preregistration monies from all of us and got the $35,000
in the bank! Chuck McKeever with help from others guys including Bruce
Minnick coordinated our annual retreat.
Randall made some opening remarks, including speaking about Harmonizer
confidence and also did speak about our Harmonizer schedule after Nashville
such as our singing at the fall contest in Lancaster, PA, and our fall show
called Revolution, and our upcoming holiday show.
After breakfast, there was the final bandana check
for the Class of 2016 (they have been wearing a wildly colorful scarf since our
retreat in May). Casey Belzer, their president, gave a rousing talk
based on a new guy’s perspective. This year’s class of guys who have never sung
on the International stage with us before included tenors: Jay
Sorenson, Masahisa Takahashi; leads:
Casey Belzer, Jason Lee, Art Medici; baris: Jeff Burkey, Jim Kirkland, Antony Takahashi; basses: Tim Cash, Matt Doniger, Tom Jackson, Steve
Spar. At the end of Casey’s talk he tore his bandana into
strips and invited his classmates to do the same and share the piece with other
members of the chorus to take onto the stage.
There
were two Special Forces guys who sang with us in Nashville and who had made
over-and-above efforts to travel and be with us for preparation – Mike Geipel – from Richmond, and Mike Fasano – from Delaware.
Randall noted the members who have been Harmonizers the longest and shortest
number of years: Scott Werner since 1964 was the longest; second was Rick
Savage since 1974. The newest
members on the risers were Jason Lee and Masahisa Takahaski, both
of whom became members on May 10th. Randall also saluted the
oldest member on the risers, Dick Dangel, and the youngest, Masahisa
Takahashi, and noted that we had a 67-year age spread of men singing on the
risers.
Coach and friend of all the chorus members, Cindy
Hansen, gave a confidence building talk and thanked Carlos for his
choreography and Chuck for helping us realize the vision.
Honored guest Scott Werner spoke about each
singer’s part in the plan for success.
Director Joe made a fantastic presentation to
motivate each man and inspired us all.
Halfway thru Joe’s talk, BHS CEO Marty
Monson stopped in and spoke briefly to thank the chapter for all its
contributions to the Society.
Right after the breakfast, we switched into
rehearsal mode with Tony doing the warm up. We had a surprise visit from our
coach Tony DeRosa who fired us up too.
After Joe’s last pep talk, we adjourned to
get into our uniforms for the contest package – black suits, shoes, and narrow
black ties. Several of the front row
guys wore Velcro-rigged black suit and tie outfits over wildly color jackets
that appeared after the ballad as we launched into the uptune. Joe had a wild coat too that he
changed into on stage. Scott
actually sang the ballad with us, then sat down on the back riser and changed
into his purple coat to rise at the point in the uptune when we parted the
chorus on the risers to introduce him.
We boarded the busses and headed to the Bridgestone
Arena for the contest. Chorus manager Mark Klostermeyer helped get us
lined up for the travel. Greg
Tepe came with us to work with the contest stage video crew to call
the cues for our performance. The chorus members got to
hear nearly all of the choruses since we sang early. Most returned to the Omni
to change, grab some food and get back for the second half of the contest. Then
as scores were being totaled, Westminster – 2015 champs, did their swan song.
As is also the tradition, the Harmonizer guys had
gathered around their Harmo seating block, even if they had been sitting in
other spots in the hall, to be together for the results announced by the
contest officials – who as it turns out included our own Chris Buechler who
was contest administrator.
Finally we got the contest results and cheered and
applauded the other choruses for their successes. We had no time to waste and
returned to the Omni to practice for our Saturday class presentation.
The Ambassadors in Harmony chorus won the contest with
96.8%. Our friends from Central Standard
were second with 95.2%. Masters of Harmony was third. Toronto Northern Lights
was fourth. Denver Sound of the Rockies, with our own TJ Donahue on the
risers, was fifth.
On Saturday the chorus regrouped for our special
presentation as part of the Harmony University (HU) classes. We did a presentation about our work on “I Am
Harvey Milk” earlier in the year. We had guests Cy Wood (a friend from the
Voices of Gotham) who sang the Harvey Milk solos; Heather Krones (a member of
CLASS RING – an SAI quartet that has sung for us) did the female solos; and a
pianist from Vanderbilt University.
The actual class was on Saturday at noon. A large crowd attended and cheered wildly for
the messages, the testimonies for some of our singers, and the explanation of
how this project has affected our chapter. Thanks to Matt Doniger for
transporting the digital keyboard we rented in Nashville for this event.
Member John Santora also taught a HU class
for chapter treasurers during the week.
During Saturday nite’s Spectacular show, we all
heard fellow Harmonizer Martin Banks announced as inductee into the
PROBE Hall of Honor (PROBE is an organization for public relations officers and
bulletin editors.) Martin was chosen for his huge amounts of pr work for
BHS and our chapter. Two other
Harmonizers have been so honored – Wilbur Sparks and Terry
Jordan.
Saturday nite we joined other M-AD chapters –
Hershey and Brothers in Harmony - to host a hospitality room.
It was great to see Harmonizer family members’
pictures in the convention’s daily bulletins!
Early in the week, Dick Powell from M-AD was elected
a Society executive vice president. John Santora attended board meetings
as a member of the body. Dennis Ritchey participated in district
president meetings and Chris Buechler attended contest and judging
committee meetings. Rick Taylor is now on the staff of Harmony
Foundation International (HFI). Chuck
Harner is a member of the board of trustees for the HFI.
There were several Harmonizers who actually sang
with other choruses in the contest. Marvin
Evans actually sang with us and with the THX chorus from FL. Pookie
Dingle sang with Hershey. John Adams sang with Carolina Vocal
Express.
There were a lot of Harmonizers who were not in this
year’s competition chorus who we saw during the week and not mentioned earlier
in this article (here’s hoping we got everyone’s name!). Many of them were frequent visitors at
rehearsals. The list includes Bill
Colosimo, Bill Conway, Darryl Flinn, Tom Gannon, Al Herman, Ross Johnson, Dave
Ellis, Alan Lamson, Dick Newton, Bert Phillips, Jim Shoenhard, Ken White, Bob
Wilson, Lew Klinge, Jim McConnell, JT Price, Bob Eckman and Eric Wallen.
And it was great to see the many former members who
were in attendance. Some competed in the
chorus contests such as Lou Berger (Hamilton and Toronto choruses); Jay
Buttefield, Sean Devine, Fred Womer, Mike Vilcej ( Hershey); Ray Johnson
(Masters); Gary Plaag and Mark Rodda (Carolina Vocal Express); Paul Wietlisbach
(Nashville); Spencer Wight (Voices of Gotham). Dave Binetti is chief engineer
of the new contest scoring program. Dwain Chambers named a judge emeritus. Ryan
Killeen is on the HFI staff. Richard Lewellen was a judge for the youth quartet
contest. Plus Steve Guy, Bob Hirsh, Jim Lake, Mike Louque, John Rettenmeyer,
Mark Samuels, Steve Tramack, Glenn Williamson, Chuck Botts and Bob Caldwell.
Altho
it is not the same, some of us were able to watch the contest back in Virginia
via webcast. John Smith had to stay home to recover from gall bladder
surgery. Rich Payton hosted a viewing for Walt Page and Jack Pitzer
who was also recovering from gall bladder surgery. Jack was to receive his 50-year membership pin in Nashville at a
special ceremony honoring BHS men who had hit the golden year mark. Thanks to Joe Cerutti for accepting it on Jack’s
behalf.
Many
thanks to Clark Chesser for taking
great notes and forwarding them to YeEd
for this year’s report. And thanks to Dixie Kennett, Keith Jones and Alan Wile for contributing additional info
too. Dixie’s work on our Harmo
convention handbook was much appreciated.
It is Great to Be a Harmonizer!
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 of the great things going on during the 68th
year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)
