Looking Back on the April 19th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the April 19^th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

This week the Harmonizer meeting space at Scottish Rite Temple was a beehive of activity, and crowded with members.  The numbers were over 60  before the night ended. Clearly some singers are back on the risers or at least on Zoom as we start the serious work for contest in July and for the fall show. But tonight’s music plan was to work on the contest songs.

Great to have Andrew Havens, Craig Kujawa, Duncan Peacock, and Jake Fry back on the risers; and great to see Adam Afifi, Ian Poulin, Phil Ashford, and Paul Grimes on the Zoom call. Chris and Dixie Buechler were at the meeting for a while; Steve Armstrong from Toronto stopped by as did Chuck Hunter who was able to get to the hall before we left. New chorus general manager Susan Fitzpatrick was on hand and Randall Eliason prompted guys that she was willing to help guys who wanted assistance in connecting for Spring2ACTion.

Lead section co-leader Tessa Walker took the chorus through their warm up session and then turned the chorus over to associate director Tony Colosimo. He welcomed the brand new members we added in the last couple weeks up onto the risers including Zak Sandler, Cy Shuster, Michael Pugh and Andrew Wu.

He announced that next Tuesday there will be a BirthdayGlow for April birthday celebrants.  Make a plan to attend if your birthday is in April!

And he spoke about the review process for singers who wanted to be “listened” to after chapter tonight. The listeners were Randy Lazear, Tessa, David Breen, Lance Fisher, Jason Lee and Ryan Mextorf.

Then Tony began using the significant amount of time set aside to work on “Oh What A Beautiful Morning,” and that was followed by another chunk of time to review choreo for “42^nd Street” with Turner Arndt provided prompts. The arranger for this song, Kevin Keller, will be with us on Tues. April 26^th.

During the business meeting portion of the night, Ken Rub urged guys to work on their efforts to solicit donations for Spring2ACTion which is next week on April 27th. 

Immediate past president, Stan Quick, presented the last 2020-21 chapter award.  Joel Golden was given a Meritorious Service plaque for his work in creating the virtual performances for our chorus during COVID.  (A complete report on those awards was published as a Looking Back report on Wednesday, April 20^th.)

Membership chairman Jacob Broude welcomed a new singing guest, Ben Pagliaro, who is a friend of Michael Berkson. Jacob also presented name tags for the new guys who have joined the chapter recently.  Will Cox directed the “Harmonizer Welcome Song.”

Then it was back to work on the contest songs for the rest of the evening. 

As attendees made their way into the meeting space at 7 pm, Alan Wile and Walt Page promoted purchases of 50/50 tickets.  

An invite was extended for an afterglow at the Harmo House at 3916 Stevens Street in Alexandria. Pizza, snacks and drinks were enjoyed by all.  It was fun to visit with Steve Armstrong who many members recall being with us for our 70^th anniversary event, and the tag singers were quick to invite 

Chuck Hunter down to the tag singing room. 

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 73^rd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the 2020-21 Harmonizer Awards Presentation

  Looking Back on the 2020-21 Harmonizer Awards Presentation

The 47th Annual Alexandria Harmonizers Presidents’ Awards Ceremony was conducted in March and April 2022 by immediate past chapter president, Stan Quick.  Usually this is part of our Presidents’ Banquet and Officer Installation, but when the Board was planning last September, there was no confidence that we could meet in-person as we are now.  This presentation was made on the behalf of all former presidents, especially those still active in the chapter  – Jack Pitzer, Alan Wile, Terry Reynolds, Brad Jones, Steve Murane, Chris Buechler, Mick Stamps andRandall Eliason. This tradition was started 48 years ago by then-president, Jack Pitzer.  

 

Stan presented the awards at several chapter meetings until all recipients received their awards. He thanked Alan Wilefor his extra efforts in ordering the plaques and helping with the presentations. 

 

The chapter has six Harmonizer Distinguished Service awards traditionally given out each year.  The award candidates can be nominated by any member of the chapter, and are voted on by the BHS Chapter Board of Directors.  Since we had the “Covies” last year, the qualification period for all of these awards is 2020 & 2021. A seventh award was created this year. 

 

NEW NOTE AWARD

Given to a Harmonizer who has contributed outstanding service to the Chapter in his first year of membership.  Attendance, attitude, and accomplishments of duties, both volunteer and assigned, shall be considered.

 

In early 2020, this recipient volunteered to help with the teaching of choreography.  He stepped up frequently during our virtual meetings to provide the bass part during breakout sessions and as part of our work with Jamulus.  He is almost always in attendance and is always ahead of schedule learning music.  He volunteered for and sang in one of the VLQ’s on the Holiday Show.  And he does all this in a low key manner with no agenda other than contributing to the team effort.  This year’s recipient is Turner Arndt.

 

MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARDS

In addition to the Chapter Distinguished Service Awards, it is the president’s prerogative to also give Meritorious Service Awards for exceptional service to the chapter for other deserving members or volunteers.   

 

This year Stan elected to award five.

 

Meritorious Service Award #1

The first meritorious service award goes to two individuals who have worked in tandem to create the Harmonizers wall of sound throughout the pandemic.  They created a combined virtual and in-person rehearsal environment that kept us singing together, despite the incredible difficulties in balancing sound and video, placement of microphones and cameras, schlepping all the equipment from one room to the next in a timely manner – it’s exhausting just thinking about the logistics.  Yet those of us rehearsing rarely have guessed how hectic it was thanks to their hard work.  One of them created multiple videos – promotional spots for fund-raising, grant applications, the Christmas Coast-to-Coast show with the Bellevue, WA, chorus, and our July 4 “Stars & Stripes Forever” presentation with the Masters of Harmony. The other spent time with the Harmo truck – driving and planning modifications, as well as building things for the chapter shows and contest. 

 

So, in recognition of their years of musical, logistical, and most importantly through the pandemic, video and audio support this year’s recipients are Mike Kelly and Dennis Ritchey. 

 

"DICK HALL" SPIRIT OF HARMONY AWARD 

Presented in memory of Dick Hall, long-time member (1965-2018), whose friendliness and encouragement inspired all who knew him.  Given to a Harmonizer who during the year best exemplified Dick’s fundamental qualities of congeniality and good character and who worked hardest to encourage participation in vocal harmony by Chapter visitors and members.

 

This nominee is a relatively new member.  He is one of the most enthusiastic and friendly men on the risers. He has served on the chapter board, assisted with the membership team, and currently serves as co-section leader for the leads. His infectious smile, unfailing good humor, and joy of singing exemplify the enthusiasm, good fellowship, and encouragement of other members that this award recognizes.  This year’s recipient is  Ben Watsky.

 

MERITORIOUS SERVICE #2

What do you do when you want to hold a concert but none of the performers can sing in person?  This next meritorious service award is presented to someone who spent many long hours listening to individual recordings and creating more than one virtual singing performance for our chorus. This year’s recipient is Joel Golden.

 

HARMONIZER HONOR AWARD

Given to a Harmonizer for service which is above and beyond the usual service expected of members during the past year.  It is not intended as a reward for discharging a single specific duty, but for continuous service in several activities.

 

Since joining the chapter, this nominee has been a valuable member of the music team, contributing his considerable musical knowledge and experience and serving as baritone section leader. But in the past year he has gone above and beyond by heading up the Harmonizer COVID committee, using his public health expertise and devoting a substantial amount of time to help us develop guidelines for a safe return to rehearsal and performance. His work here has been so valuable that other choruses, the Mid-Atlantic District, and BHS have also relied on his COVID-related advice. For his consistent efforts to keep the whole world singing as safely as possible, this year’s recipient is Jason Lee.

 

MERITORIOUS SERVICE #3 

 

The next recipient is someone who spends countless hours making sure our operations run smoothly, as he has since we first implemented the current Operations Team management structure.  It’s no small feat monitoring and/or mentoring the operation directors. He has conducted three extremely successful Spring2ACTion fundraising campaigns, which is even more amazing when you look at fundraising during a time when we couldn’t get community exposure through our performances.   And lastly, he offered valuable support to the chapter president.

There aren’t many men or woman who are so devoted to the chorus that they dedicate this kind of time and effort - and in this case – as a volunteer. This year’s recipients is Randall Eliason.

 

OZ NEWGARD MEMORIAL AWARD

The Oz Newgard Memorial Award, in memory of our musical director during the 1960s, is given to a Harmonizer who has made a significant contribution to the musical program during the past year.

 

Since joining the chorus, our next recipient has quickly become an invaluable member of the music team. She currently serves as co-section leader for the leads, where her musical knowledge and enthusiasm have made her extremely effective. She participates in all aspects of the music team, including the planning for future shows and for the future development of the chorus. She also has been assisting education director Sheryl Berlin in planning for the resumption of our Youth Harmony Festival once COVID is behind us. This year’s recipient is Tessa Walker.

 

MERITORIOUS SERVICE #4

Our next Meritorious Service award recipient is for a truly overworked volunteer.   He has formerly received the Memorial award in 2002, the Oz Newgard in 1995, the Spirit in 1998, and the New Note in 1993.  He deserves recognition for the tremendous work he does every week to make our chorus run smoothly.  He’s Joe’s calendar and timekeeper, the Music Team’s coordinator, the finance committee’s “chief budgeting officer” with a giant spreadsheet to keep all the account lines.  He is also the corporate knowledge for our organization, knows who and what and when and why we are where we are. 

 

Now, add to that the incredible challenge of trying to create the weekly rehearsal schedule when the COVID committee is changing the rules of the game with a minimum of notice, and you have the makings for a real big headache for the average person – but not him.

 

We all owe this Harmonizer a huge debt of gratitude for his unwavering dedication to each of these projects, which he champions for all of us. This year’s recipient is Terry Reynolds.  

 

IBIANNE AND WILBUR SPARKS AWARD

Given to recognize the important contribution of Harmonizer family teams to the success and well-being of the Chapter.  The award will be made only to a truly outstanding team which has contributed greatly both in volume and quality of services over a period of time.  The team can be a Harmonizer and any family member or significant other.

These two honorees were director of shows for a number of years, and as such were our biggest cheerleaders – calling us “Rock Stars!” to let us know we were better than we realized. In addition, they volunteered countless hours making items we needed on stage or off, such as the welcome bags we gave to each member of the Toronto Northern Lights when we hosted them for our 70^th anniversary show. This year’s recipients are Joe and Janet Cerutti.

HARMONIZER MEMORIAL AWARD

Presented in memory of those men who died while members of the Chapter.  It is the highest recognition which the Chapter can bestow on a member.  In many other Chapters this is equivalent to their “Barbershopper of the Year Award.  It is given to the Harmonizer who, during his entire period of chapter membership, has devoted himself most unselfishly in rendering outstanding service to the Chapter.  The award is made only to a truly outstanding member who has regularly attended Chapter activities and who has contributed greatly both in volume and quality of services over a long period of time.

 

Breaking with tradition, there are two members receiving this year’s Memorial Award.  Both have been essential in helping our chorus navigate challenges of the past two years with creativity, dedication, vision, and hard work – Anthony Colosimo and Joe Cerutti.  

 

Tony’s contributions to the improvement of our rehearsal structure have spanned the years he has been with us, including the most recent moves to changing how we do music learning and performance feedback.  His pioneering into the use of Jamulus allowed us to try to overcome the many failings of Zoom when singing together.  

 

Joe’s years of guiding this chorus, not just artistically, but as an organization focused on making a real impact in our community and the world at large, has helped make the Harmonizers a known leader in the Barbershop Harmony Society.   His vision and approaches to handling the many challenges of staying together as a chorus are responsible for making us the world-class “Average Person’s Chorus” that we are today.

For their years of devotion to the chorus, but most especially for bringing us out of the pandemic years as a stronger, admired chorus, the Harmonizer Memorial Award recipients for this year are Joe Cerutti, Jr and Tony Colosimo. 

A New Award Added – SANDY STAMPS “OPEN ARMS” AWARD

The chapter board of directors also created a new, seventh,  Distinguished Service award for this year and the future.

 

This award recognizes an individual (member or not) who promoted, by words and/or deeds, the Harmonizers’ value of a welcoming and inclusive environment for all singers. It is named for the long-time and beloved member of the Harmonizer family, Sandy Stamps, who always had a smile and a kind word for anyone. Examples may include a welcoming and encouraging attitude regardless of demographics, finding ways to remove barriers to participation (such as economic, physical, cultural, etc.), or perhaps providing training for chorus members to accommodate those with physical disabilities. 

 

 

The first recipient of this new award was presented to Sandy posthumously.   Mick Stamps received the award on her behalf.

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 73^rd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

Looking Back on the April 12th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the April 12^th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

This week the Harmonizer chorus members seemed to be ready to work on the contest package and they got a good dose of both songs during the night.

There was the usual important vocal and physical warm up lead by associate director Tony Colosimo.

But before the men could get into the auditorium, Alan Wile and Walt Page were right there to “encourage” them to purchase 50/50 tickets.  (Wouldn’t you know this would be one tradition to return after COVID.) Half of the funds raised each week goes to the chapter and is donated to the M-AD Endowment Fund in the chapter’s name.  The other half goes to the member with the lucky ticket drawn at the end of the meeting.

It was great to see some folks on the risers we have not seen for a while like Nick Murane.  Joe shared a Harmo Hero Factoid about Nick – he sang with the Aloha Chapter and filled out his Harmo Hero form for our Groupanizer page 12 years ago!

Tessa Walker’s parents were visiting from Atlanta and came to watch for a while. Our chapter general manager, Susan Fitzpatrick, was also in attendance. Several guys were on Zoom including Bob Rhome in NC and Jack Cameron in SC. Our DE guys were present too this week – Mike Fasano and Mike Edison. 

Artistic Director Joe Cerutti could hardly wait to applaud the chorus for an unbelievable performance for the Rappahannock Concert Association (RCA) last Saturday. Audience comments were rich with compliments as was the chairman for RCA in her letter to the chapter. He recognized several folks for their efforts including Doug White,shows chairman; Gary Cregan, operations manager; and Robyn Murane, uniform chairman.

Right away the chorus began review work on “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin.” 

Then Turner Arndt helped Joe with the review of choreography for “42^nd Street.”  The main points for this work was the reminder that the singers are portraying people on a street, that the choreo is not meant to be uniform, and that the choreo should not hamper the singing.  Turner was helping the men interpret the previously recorded coaching for this song with Cy Wood. 

The arranger for this song, Kevin Keller, will be with us on Tues. April 26^th.

A big chunk of the evening was used for sectionals on “42^nd Street.”

There was a business session conducted by communications chairman Sam Whiteoak.  

Past president Stan Quickpresented one more of the Harmonizer Service Awards. This week he announced the recipient of the Oz Newgard Memorial Award that recognizes a member who has made significant contributions to the music program over the year.  The winner was Tessa Walker, recognizing her work on the music team as assistant lead section leader. 

New chapter development director, Ken Rub, launched our efforts for Spring2ACTion with a plan that every member’s goal will be to raise $250. Donations can actually start now. Ken confirmed that the big day for Spring2ACTion is April 27^th.

Chapter secretary David DesPortes presented a membership renewal card to our newest member, bass singer Michael Pugh, for three years in the Society.

Membership chairman, Jacob Broude, welcomed four guests back to sing with us this week – Zak Sandler, Cy Shuster and Andrew Wu. (YeEd understands that all three passed their auditions to join the chorus after the meeting! Hurray and welcome.) A. first time guest this week was Mark Wheeler who has sung barbershop in WI and MO and competed in a quartet at the district level. Assistant director Terry Reynolds directed the chorus to sing the “Harmonizer Welcome Song.”

Joe directed Happy Birthday for Rob Barnovsky and Bruce Roehm – both celebrating today.  

Bob and Mary Blair are mourning the death of their daughter Molly.  She has battled cancer for a while and lost her life in early April in England where she lived.  Bob asked us to share this news with the Harmonizer family via this column as it is still a tender topic. There will be a service at their church near Mount Vernon at a later date. She was 54.  We offer our support to the Blair family. 

The remainder of the evening was for musical work. 

An invite was extended for an afterglow at the Harmo House at 3916 Stevens Street in Alexandria. Pizza, snacks and drinks were enjoyed by all along with yummy chocolate cupcakes. The 50/50 winner this week was Clyde Crusenberry!

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 73^rd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the April 9th 2022 Harmonizer Show in Rappahannock VA

 Looking Back on the April 9^th 2022 Harmonizer Show in Rappahannock VA 

The Harmonizers appeared in Heathsville, VA for the Rappahannock Concert Association (RCA) bon Sat. April 9^th. A chorus of about 40 singers made the 3-hour trip – about 25 from Alexandria by bus, and about 15 who drove directly there (actually several of those members live closer to the venue than they do to the Scottish Rite Temple which was the bus departure point). 

It was a great show and wonderful to be singing for an enthusiastic audience – in person.  Shows director Doug Whiteworked on the many details of this paid engagement. 

The RCA has been providing professional artists for the Northern Neck area since 1983. YeEd learned that they had contacted us a few years ago to appear on their concert series, but we couldn’t find an open date.  Then COVID hit.  This time our concert was supported by the Virginia Commission of the Arts and the National Endowment of the Arts to help the RCA hire our group. The venue was great with lots of room with good lighting and sound. 

Things got off to a crazy start for the 1 pm Saturday departure.  When there was no bus about 5 minutes before departure time, executive director Randall Eliason started making calls and found the driver at the DC Scottish Rite Temple!!!  So we didn’t depart til about 2:15.  But there was time built into the schedule and things worked out great.

As we assembled for the bus, Walter Page stopped by to say hi and see everyone.  He is recovering from a serious fall at his home during the Christmas holidays.  Walt hopes to be back soon to help Alan Wile with 50/50 collections.

When the bus did arrive for departure, a crew of guys coordinated by operations director Gary Cregan had the risers already outside and ready to load onto the bus. (We laughed all the way there, however, because every bump in the road made the risers shift and move and crash in the luggage area of the bus.  We were wondering what shape they would be in – but there was not damage, not even to the coolers for the trip home!!!)  Thanks to Randall too for getting some waters and beverages and snacks for both legs of the bus trip. Brian Ammerman brought the song boards to put out on the stage.  Dean Rust brought the new Harmo display sign to put outside the entrance to the venue introducing the Harmonizers. 

The good sized audience included some Harmonizers too – Craig Odell, Jim McConnell and Dean Sherick and their ladies, plus partners of several of the singers. 

The host from RCA introduced the chorus to their audience for the 7:30 kick-off – Please Welcome the Alexandria Harmonizers directed by Joe Cerutti. Our president Noah Van Gilder thanked our hosts and started the off-repeated testimony about how wonderful it is to sing for a live audience.  The chorus sang with a mask-optional policy.

“Never Fully Dressed” was the show opener and a big treat for the audience. Associate director Tony Colosimo was maestro for “Never Fully Dressed.” Terry Reynolds introduced “Once In a Lifetime” with Joe back up front. 

 

Next on the show we presented a new quartet in our chapter – B & B (who will be going to the International in Charlotte this summer with the chapter).  The quartet included Lance Fisher, baritone; Tony filling in for Francesco their regular lead singer who lives in the Boston area; Al Mazzoni from the Baltimore area; and John Sifuentes, tenor.

The next two songs were from Broadway – “Somethings Comin” and our contest number for Charlotte, “42^nd Street.”

An ensemble of 15 guys sang the “Armed Forces Medley” and emcee for the song, Ryan Mextorf invited members of the various services to stand or wave when their song was performed. Randall introduced “Ave Maria” which featured a trio of Lance, Tony and David Breen.

BETTER TOGETHER quartet did a show set for the audience with several songs that showed the importance of love and singing together. The two couples in the quartet are Tony and Elizabeth Colosimo with Andrew and Heather Havens. 

After singing “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” Joe explained how the chorus had learned THE FAIRFIELD FOUR song “There Must Be a City.”  Frank Fedarko did his always-great-job as soloist on this fun song. Then Joe invited the audience to join in a sing-a-long for “God Bless America.”

When the chorus sang “Impossible Dream” a section of the song was sung by a quartet of guys off the risers – Lance, Tony, John and David.

The show finale was “Circle of Life” which brought the audience to its feet.  Tony was featured in this song too and Bob Blair provided the percussion. The chorus was animated and on fire to entertain and share the fun of singing.

The audience showed their appreciation for a great concert with a standing ovation and the chorus and quartets did a reprise from “Circle of Life.”  In the lobby after the show there were many thank you messages and compliments and smiles!

Chorus guys were quick to all pitch in and load the bus for the trip back to Alexandria.  With good traffic and good weather, the bus arrived about midnight at SRT. The chorus looked good on stage thanks in part to Robyn Murane who had made new pocket stuffer for guys, helped them get ties centered on the collars of the new white shirts worn with the blue suit and vest. 

This concert was another great Harmonizer experience for singers and their audience.

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 73^rd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

Looking Back on the April 5th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the April 5^th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

You could feel the excitement in the hall as members gathered on the risers for this week’s meeting.  Artistic director Joe Cerutti set the mood at the start – “here we are in the week of a major paid show appearance.” 

To get things started, Will Cox, assistant director emeritus, did the vocal and physical warm up session again this week.

Before Joe started the rehearsal/review of the songs for the show on Saturday, he set the stage for musical work this week and had some news to report. He reminded singers that next week the music team will initiate the first step of the recently implemented learning process for new songs  – “42^nd Street” with sectionals.  Also he asked the chorus to review the choreography that Cy Wood created for the early part of that song and he reports that Cy is working on the up-tempo part of the song which he will teach in an upcoming visit.

Calendar updates include confirmed coaching dates: Kevin Keller on April 26th, Cy on May 24th; David Wright on May 31^st; Jim Henry and David McEachern at the retreat June 2-4-5.  Our traditional sendoff concert before we go to the International convention and contest in Charlotte will be on June 28^th.

Joe and president Noah Van Gilder asked guys to take a few minutes tonight before bed to submit the survey from convention/retreat manager Craig Kujawa with info needed for the June 3-4-5 retreat in Westminster MD at McDaniel College; and to submit this month’s  Pulse Survey from the music team.

Another big news item this week was the announcement about the invitation for the chorus to appear at Wolf Trapp from the Wolf Trapp Foundation for a community singing event on Sun. Sept. 18^th.  Show is at 5 pm and the week after our fall show. Exciting news.

There were several special guests at this week’s Harmonizer meeting:  

Norbert Hammes is director of Heavy Medal Chorus in Germany.  He was with us in 2016 for out sendoff concert. He is a BHS member of the M-AD and Barbershop in Germany (BinG) and will be a candidate judge at the M-AD Northern Division contest on April 9^th. 

Brian Lynch is a longtime BHS staffer in public relations.  He has visited us several times over the years and is a great advocate for things our chapter does to promote and get involved in the community. He still lives in Kenosha, WI, and sings bass with the Midwest Vocal Express chorus. 

Kathy Kauffmann was on hand as driver for Carl who fell and injured his shoulder during the Southern Division contest.

Olivia Anderson, a reporter for Alexandria Times, was on hand to interview members and take some photos for her article about the chapter.  She previously interviewed Joe and other chapter leaders. 

Executive director Randall Eliason welcomed some guests too.  He introduced our chapter’s new general manager, Susan Fitzpatrick, for her first official visit .  She lives not far from SRT, and comes to us after a career in law. She has been active too in not-for-profit groups in our community.  Randall presented Susan her Harmonizer name tag.

Randall also welcomed Marie Muscella, former Harmonizer community board member, who helped Susan discover our organization.  He presented both Susan and Marie a Harmo black camp shirt with the logo.

Back to Joe, he restated the news that the music team has signed a community partnership agreement for a dance group to help us with our presentation of “42^nd Street.”

About this time Ken Ives arrived in the hall and cheers went up to see our fellow member after months of coping with health issues! Great to have him back at a meeting.

Then the run-through of songs for the show started.  Associate director Tony Colosimo had prepared the riser chart on display for the singers to find their spots on the risers.  He and Joe adjusted some locations after the singing started. 

After going over three or four songs for the show, there were some announcements for the April 9^th and bus trip.  Uniform coordinator Robyn Murane listed the uniform plan and clarified some details such as wearing black dress shoes – not shiny tux shoes, and black sox. 

Terry Reynolds confirmed that the bus would depart from SRT on the 9^th at 1 pm (members should not park in numbered spots in the parking lot). We will wear our travel uniform – the black camp shirt, jeans, black shoes for the trip. The chapter will provide subway sandwiches for dinner as their won’t be time nor a place to get food.  Members should bring a couple waters for themselves too.  The call time for those driving themselves is 4 pm.  We will have two quartets singing on the show with us.

We welcomed singing guests Cy Shuster, a returning bass; and Lucas Kempe-Cook, a tenor who sang in our Capital Force Youth Chorus and has moved back to the DC area after singing barbershop in Bloomington, IN. Also great to see Mick Stamps and Sam McFarland in the hall, and Rick Wagner via Zoom from Hawaii.   Will Cox directed the chorus to sing the “Harmonizer Welcome Song.”

An invite was extended for an afterglow at the Harmo House at 3916 Stevens Street in Alexandria. Pizza, snacks and drinks were enjoyed by all.  There was a good crowd, tag singing and lots of guys chatting with Norbert and Brian. 

Norbert actually directed “Keep the Whole World Singing” to wrap up another great Harmonizer meeting!

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 73^rd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the March 29th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 29^th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

Members were all fired up after the great barbershop contest this past weekend, and after the word was sent to members that director Joe Cerutti had some major good news to share. 

Actually there were over 20 members on the Zoom call this week – it seems many who were at the contest in Wilmington had been exposed to Covid so they joined via Zoom. 

To get things started, Will Cox, director emeritus, did the vocal and physical warm up session.

Before Joe revealed his big news, Jack Pitzer did a brief report of the great success of our chapter quartets at the Southern Division /Prelims contest (as reported in the Looking Back message on March 28^th). 

Then Joe stalled again (to keep up the anticipation) by reporting this week’s Harmonizer Hero Factoid – this one about Mark Klostermeyer.  Seems Mark is one of the 70 Master Certified Picture Framers in the world.  (Joe says you can come to the Harmo House to see a gallery of work by Mark!) Another fact about Mark was that he likes to read cookbooks and so he was given a bottle of Chris Huber’s newest variety of hot sauce as a gift.

Joe welcomed Joel Golden who we have not seen on the risers in a while, and Dennis Ritchey’s mother, MariAnne, who was back to see us all again.

So Joe’s first bit of good news was that we will get to do a performance and sing for an audience and get paid – the show in Rappahannock, VA, on April 9^th which will include a fun bus ride to get to the venue.

The second news alert was that the Harmonizers have chosen the first general manager to work for the chapter – Susan Fitzpatrick – who will formally begin on April 4^th.  Joe thanked the team of Noah Van Gilder, Terry Reynolds, Randall Eliason and Marie Muscella for their extra hours to make this major change happen for the chapter. Susan expects to be at next week’s meeting/rehearsal. 

A third news item was that we have signed a formal community partnership with a local dance group to help with the performance needed to truly present “42^nd Street” in Charlotte.

The third news break was the run down on coaches for the chorus in preparation for Charlotte.  Kevin Keller will be at our meeting on April 27^th.  David Wright will be with us sometime in May. Cy Wood will be at several of our meetings in May and June. David McEachern AND Dr. Jim Henry will be coaches for our pre-International retreat. Great news for sure. 

Members should  make plans to attend the retreat at Mc Daniel College in Westminster, MD, starting with rehearsal on Friday night June 3^rd, then all day Saturday June 4, and finally a wrap up session on Sunday, June 5^th. There will be the usual “Class of 2022” for all those men who have not competed with the Harmonizers at an International chorus contest. (This will be a huge class!)

It was time for the singing to begin and Joe asked the chorus to do performance renditions of “Sing a Song’ and “Help from My Friends” with Turner Arndt demonstrating movements for 
“Friends.” 

There was a business meeting starting with major announcements by current executive director Randall Eliason to inform that chapter of two changes in the Operations Team.  Don Harrington will become chapter historian to replace Jack Pitzer who will continue working on the History Time.  Ken Rub has stepped up to fill the development director position on the Ops Team. The board of directors has officially made these changes.

Ken followed this announcement with a great presentation about the plans for development -  or as he called it – “fun raising.” He asked three chapter members “to come on down” and told them to guess how much money the chapter budgets to provide all services for each current member.  After some guesses, he revealed the number – $1350 per man. (His presentation used a game show format to share the info with the guys on the risers.) He shared that we all need to work to bring in funds.

There are three ways a member will be expected to help: use Amazon Smile for all purchases; buy scrip to pay for housing in Charlotte; and join in the plan with all members for Spring2ACTion (S2A) on April 27^th.  This year Kensuggests each member will work toward raising $250 in S2A. Everyone who makes his goal will earn a slot to attend a crawfish boil at Harmo House. Stay tuned for details about all three options.

Chapter secretary David DesPortes presented a membership renewal card to Noah Van Gilder for his 14^th year, and a 45-year membership pin for Steve White.

Chapter president Noah encouraged all members to wear their Hamro name tags – as a courtesy to new members and guests.  If anyone needs a new pin, speak with membership chairman Jacob Broude. Then Jacob welcomed guests Zak Sandler, Andrew Wu and Cy Shuster.  Will Cox directed the chorus to sing the “Harmonizer Welcome Song.”

Back to singing, this time in small groups to work on “Somethings Comin” with each of the groups provided training by a member of the music team. When everyone reassembled on the risers, Joe thanked those trainers for their work. At that point there was work on “42^nd Street” and “God Bless America.”

An invite was extended for an afterglow at the Harmo House at 3916 Stevens Street in Alexandria. Pizza, snacks and drinks were enjoyed by all.  

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 73^rd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

Looking Back on the March 25-26th 2022 Southern Division and Spring Prelims

 Looking Back on the March 25-26^th  2022 Southern Division and Spring Prelims 

What a great weekend for barbershopping in M-AD.  And terrific to see so many Harmonizers in quartets in the competitions that were held in Wilmington, DE, over the March 25-26^th weekend.

This event was a combined Southern Division/Central Division and International Quartet Prelims contest. 

When we arrived on Friday afternoon, there were a lot of our fellow chapter members at work setting up the stage and registration area and posting signs to mark warm up rooms. They are all part of the district Events Team or were there to help – Dennis Ritchey, Sam Whiteoak, Mike Fasano, Carl Kauffmann (who by the way had a bad fall during the set up time and did some damage to his right shoulder – he will get a Dr. visit back at his home this week), and David Welter. Our chapter rented our risers to the district for the weekend. Chapter friends Rob Langston, Krissi Folson and Rebecca Connor helped all weekend too. Mike Kelly was on hand to provide technical support of lights and photos and sound for the contest weekend.

There were over a dozen other Harmonizers who came to support our buddies in quartets, see old friends and do some tag singing. Past district presidents from our chapter including Bill Colosimo, Alan Wile, Bob Eckman and Dennis Ritchey were there.  Several new guys from our chapter were there too including David Breen and Jake Fry. Recent guests at our chapter who were at the contest included Julian LaFlore,  and Harry Bickford who sang in a quartet in the contest. As usual, a good number of family friends were there to support their singers. 

The weekend was fun and a great reunion.  The Doubletree in downtown Wilmington had lots of lobby spaces for tag singers and groups of friends to gather and celebrate til dawn on Sunday.  The two-hour drive up and back was easy enough, and some guys, Ken Rub for one, took the train from DC directly to within a couple blocks of the venue. 

Chris Buechler was on the contest panel for the weekend and Erin Odell Cook served on the practice panel (she had the honor of directing “Keep the Whole World Singing” to wrap up the weekend on Saturday night). The singing on stage began with a wonderful performance as mic testers by BETTER TOGETHER – Anthony and Elizabeth Colosimo with Andrew and Heather Havens.

At the end of the two-round quartet contest, there were three quartets with Harmonizers that qualified to go to the International quartet contest this summer in Charlotte. They are B&B with John Sifuentes, Francesco Logozzo, Lance Fisher, Al Mazzoni; SECRET BEST FRIENDS – although technically not currently a Harmonizer – the bass for this quartet sang with us at two Internationals and we were all surprised to see him after a bunch of years – Will Daniel Simmons; and FIRST TAKE with Alex Corson, Anthony Colosimo, Drew Wheaton, Andrew Havens. They will be joined by RULE # 1 and GQ to represent M-AD in Charlotte plus any other quartets that score at the required level during the second M-AD prelims contest on April 8-9. 

Results of the Southern Division contest had four Harmo quartets in the top four slots: FIRST TAKE, FANTASTIC 4 with Susan Shields, Chris Susalka, Heidi Brown, Dale Bird; BREAKTHROUGH with Mike Fasano, Jordan Zimmerman, Jason Lee, Ken White; and BREAKFAST BLEND with Mike Geipel, Scott Beach, Jerry Candrilli, Vinny Capaccio. Mike Wallen sang in THE ELDERLY BROTHERS quartet also in the Southern Division contest and Lance Fisher sang in JEFFERSON PLAID TIE quartet who competed for evaluation/score only – they were recently named to the list of quartets to sing in the Varsity Next Gen contest in Charlotte.

 

Results of the Central Division contest had two Harmo quartets in the top five: B&B, and TAYLOR MADE with Rick Taylor, Tom Halley, Douglas Beach, Steve Kirsch.

There was a chorus contest on Saturday morning and there were some current Harmonizers on stage for that event singing with other chapters from Southern Division. Co-director for the Patapsco Valley, MD, chorus was John Santora with Tim Buell in the chorus. The Virginians from Richmond, directed by Erin Cook, with Harmonizers Mike Wallen, Mike Geipel, Scott Beach, Jim McConnell and Vinny Capaccio on the risers won the Southern Division Chorus contest. 

Mike Fasano sang with the Queen Anne Co., MD, chorus in the Central Division contest. The relatively new PARKSIDE MELODY treble chorus was the top scoring chorus for Central division and reportedly will go to Charlotte this summer based on their qualifying score.

These first M-AD contests since COVID were a great success – good sized crowd, good contestants, venue was easy for attendees, Harmonizers were very much involved all weekend, and it was so fun to see fellow barbershoppers from other chapters. 

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 that Harmonizers do as leaders and singers. - YeEd)

Looking Back on the March 22nd 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 22^nd 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

A great spring day yielded a great evening for singing and the guys came to work on their music! 

After a strong warm up period with associate director Tony Colosimo, artistic director Joe Cerutti took the microphone and praised and thanked the chorus for their excellent show on Mar. 18^th with the Whiffenpoofs.  He was especially happy that the chorus implemented so much of the coaching advice from Steve Scott during the Mar. 15^thchapter meeting. 

Music work this week was all in preparation for the Rappahannock Show on April 9^th starting with “There Must Be a City,” then a longer work session on “42^nd Street.”  Joe did announce that the VLQ will only sing “The Armed Forces Medley” on that show and that those singers would meet for a few minutes after tonight’s meeting. 

Next the music team kicked off the special work process for “Something’s Comin” with sectionals.  When all singers returned to the risers, Joe thanked the section leaders for their work  and preparation.  Next Tuesday there will be small groups working on that song and guys can get a listener to give them feedback. 

The business session this week was a busy one.  Robyn Murane was present this week to give each guy his new white shirt to wear on the show. She will return next week to continue the distribution and collection of payments. A riser crew was requested for after-the-meeting to load the truck for this weekend’s riser rental. 

Jack Pitzer welcomed three singing guests on behalf of the membership chairman: Cy Shuster returning for a third visit; Michael Pugh returning for his third visit; and Andrew Wu for a second visit.  Terry Reynolds directed the Harmonizer Welcome song for the guests. Earlier in the evening, Joe welcomed former chapter board member Marie Muscella. She was present as host accompanying one of the finalists for the chapter’s new general manager. 

Immediate past president Stan Quick presented two more of the chapter’s annual awards. A full report of this year’s recipients will be published in a subsequent Looking Back report. 

Current president Noah Van Gilder presented checks of financial support to the quartets competing this weekend at the Southern Division contest in Wilmington, DE, who have Harmonizer members: B&B with Lance Fisher and John Sifuentes; BREAKTHROUGH with Jason Lee, Ken White Mike Fasano and Jordan Zimmerman; TAYLOR MADE with Rick Taylor; FIRST TAKE with Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens; FANTASTIC FOUR with Dale Bird; BREAKFAST BREAK with Scott Beach, Mike Geipel and Vinny Capaccio; and JEFFERSON PLAID TIE with Lance Fisher. The chapter cheers for each quartet was our way of giving them good luck wishes in the competition. 

Front row captain Bruce Roehm announced there would be an opening for two or three new men in the front row and those interested should contact him ASAP to obtain audition information.

Singing continued with work on “Sing a Song” and “Circle of Life” with choreography review provided by Turner Arndt. 

An invite was extended for an afterglow at the Harmo House at 3916 Stevens Street in Alexandria to include the March BirthdayGlow with birthday cake and pizza too. Joe recognized all 13 current members who celebrate this month by name and the guys on the risers gave each a one-clap cheer.

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 73^rd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)