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)

 Looking Back on the March 18^th  2022 Harmonizer Show with the Whiffenpoofs 

The chapter hosted another show with the Yale Whiffenpoofs on March 18^th at the Scottish Rite Temple on 16^th Street in Washington DC. They are on their tour of major cities, staying in hosted homes and performing for audiences several times in each city.

The Whiffenpoofs are the country's oldest collegiate a cappella group. Founded over a hundred years ago, the Whiffenpoofs have been singing around the country (and the world!) with a wide variety of a cappella music. They were headed to Florida after their appearance with us in DC.

 

An audience came to hear the two a cappella groups and be entertained after so many months of no live concerts. The 40 or so Harmonizer chorus sang first with artistic director Joe Cerutti up front.  Randall Eliason and Terry Reynoldswere emcees for this show. 

 

As is the custom at a Whiffenpoofs concert, they invite any alumni in the audience up onto the stage with them for the final song.  At this concert there were four alumni including Harmonizer Ben Watsky who sang in the 2012 Whiffenpoofs group.

 

Also as is the custom of the Harmonizers, just before going on stage for a performance, Joe asked if this was the first performance with the chorus for anyone. Interestingly, there were none as all the new members had also sung on the Holiday show. There are several new members meeting with us currently but they were not on the risers for this show.

 

Chapter operations chairman Gary Cregan headed up the riser crew for this show. Mike Kelly managed the sound system.  Doug White was show producer as chapter shows chairman.

 

There was an afterglow at Midlands on Georgia Ave. after the show.

 

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 15th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 15^th  2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

This week’s meeting was a busy one with lots of music to sing and work on so that coach Steve Scott could hear it and offer suggestions for improving songs in our current repertoire. He has worked with our chorus several times and there is always a growth spurt after his visit to sing better.  At the afterglow there were lots of comments about how his suggestions for singing made the task easier and more comfortable. Steve comes to us from Nashville TN where he is director of Harmony University and Education Services for the Barbershop Harmony Society.

After the warm up, artistic director Joe Cerutti started the coaching session with the chorus singing “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

The total attendance was  again at the 60-man level combining Zoom and in-person. 

Joe shared another Harmonizer Hero Factoid about one of the members on the riser.  This week he shared that Mike Edison is married to his high school sweetheart and has written materials for Vendor Risk Management.

Membership chairman Jacob Broude welcomed four guests: Cy Shuster returning for a second visit; Harry Bickford, a friend of Michael Berkson, for his first visit; Julian LaFlore who visits us frequently; and Candra Rice, bass in HOT PURSUIT quartet with Tessa Walker. Will Cox directed the Harmonizer Welcome song for the guests. 

There was a choreography review with Turner Arndt on “Help from My Friends” again this week. After the review, Joeinvited eight guys out front to perform the song with the choreo.  He thanked them all for their willingness and good work!

During the evening there was work “42^nd Street,” “Oh What a Beautiful Morning,” “Somethings Comin,” and “Never Fully Dressed.” 

The chorus has two shows on the horizon.  We are hosting the Yale Wiffenpoofs on Fri. March 18^th at 6:30 pm at the Scottish Rite in DC – at 2800 16^th St. NW.  There is a 5 pm call for the chorus – with a note to prepare for parking or ride Metro.  Uniform is black camp shirt, jeans and black shoes. Masks will be optional. 

Then we will do a show in Rappahannock, VA, on Sat. April 9^th. There will be a bus for this away-trip. A VLQ will sing a couple songs – they rehearsed after this week’s meeting and will do so each week on Tuesday night. 

An invite was extended for an afterglow at the Harmo House at 3916 Stevens Street in Alexandria. Our guest coach was there too and the guys had fun singing tags with him.

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 8th 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 8^th  2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

The Harmonizers sang on risers with a full chorus of men again this week without masks. There was lots of excitement it seemed since the chorus is working toward a couple shows for this month.

Associate director Tony Colosimo took early minutes of the meeting for a thorough warm up session.

The total attendance was  again at the 60-man level combining Zoom and in-person. Terry Reynolds was on Zoom and in-person at Scottish Rite Temple (SRT) to make sure both groups of attendees were connected and hearing and seeing everything. Chris Huber and Will Cox and their wives were on a tropical island someplace warm and checked in via Zoom. Great to have shows chairman Doug White back in person, as well as Dixie and Chris Buechler.

Artistic director Joe Cerutti shared another Harmonizer Hero Factoid about one of the members on the riser.  This week he shared that Carl Kauffmann served in the Navy for 24 years and during his military service discovered barbershop harmony in Guam. 

Joe was happy to announce that Jake Fry passed his audition last week – so welcome aboard. 

And Joe encouraged members to support Tessa Walker and the concert by her students this week. Similarly he shared that Parkside is having their show this weekend and Tessa’s quartet HOT PURSUIT will sing as will BETTER TOGETHER with the Colosimos and Havens. 

YeEd noted in the announcement by BHS for Harmony University this summer, four of our crew will be faculty – Joe, Tony, Terry and Tessa. 

To kick off the singing for the night, the chorus sang “There Must Be a City” with Frank Fedarko doing his usual great solo on it.  

Next there was a choreography review with Turner Arndt on “Help from My Friends.”  It went great and Turnerhelped the chorus recall the plan and get back their performance of the tune.

That work was followed by a run through of “42^nd Street.”

Some details about the upcoming shows were announced:  we are hosting the Yale Wiffenpoofs again on Fri. March 18^th at 6:30 pm at the Scottish Rite in DC -2800 16^th St. NW.  A 5 pm call for the chorus – prepare for parking or ride Metro.  Uniform is black camp shirt, jeans and black shoes. Masks will be optional. 

For the Rappahannock show, much of the information for members is on Groupanizer.  There is a need for VLQ to sing a couple songs – they will rehearse on Tuesday nights. Let Terry know if you are available.

Reminder: coach Steve Scott will be with the chapter next week. 

Then it was time to sing “Circle of Life” with Bob Blair on the drums, and even time for “ribbon training with choreo.” Turner helped again with this review. Bruce Roehm took the front row to another room for review of their part of this presentation.

For “Impossible Dream” there will be a quartet to start the song.

The chapter business session conducted by communications chairman Sam Whiteoak was brief. Big news was the launch of a new Harmonizer website. Thanks to Donell Torres for his work on making these improvements –  theharmonizers.org.

Secretary David DesPortes presented membership renewals to Tyler Carpenter for 10 years; Brad Jones for 30 years; and Dean Rust for 42 years. 

Membership chair Jacob Broude introduced three guests this week: second time for Michael Pugh and Zak Sandler; and first time for Cy Schuster who sang in NM and Gary Kratz a friend visiting Ike Evans.  Speaking of Ike – great to see him on stage last Saturday night in the tuba section for the Virginia Grand Military Band concert. 

Past president Stan Quick presented the chapter memorial awards for 2021.  Since some recipients were not present, a full report will come in a subsequent Looking Back report.

Current president Noah Van Gilder thanked Stan for his two years of service as president and presented him a retiring officer plaque. Joe offered his appreciation to Stan too for his work in keeping a strong chapter operation going during the pandemic. 

The final sing for “Sing A Song” was also the final step in the new learning process the music team has implemented – this time to perform the song as a chorus.

An invite was extended for an at the Harmo House at 3916 Stevens Street in Alexandria, and the guys enjoyed tag singing or just visiting and talking barbershop.

Just so you know, quartet singing is still alive in the Harmonizer family.  Here is the list of quartets with Harmonizer singers in them that will compete in the Southern Division/International Prelims contest in Wilmington DE March 24-25. (In Singing Order) Also note that the quartet contest starts at 4:57 pm on Fri. March 24^th. 

1^st  – B & B

John Sifuentes – tenor

Francesco Logozzo – lead

Lance Fisher – bari

Al Mazzoni – bass

 

7^th – TAYLOR MADE

Rick Taylor – tenor

Tom Halley – lead

Douglas Beach – bari

Steve Kirsch – bass

 

16^th – BREAKTHROUGH

Mike Fasano – tenor

Jordan Zimmerman – lead

Jason Lee – bari

Ken White – bass

 

17^th – BREAKFAST BREAK

Mike Geipel – tenor

Scott Beach – lead

Jerry Candrilli – bari

Vinny Capaccio – bass

 

20^th – JEFFERSON PLAID TIE

Lance Fisher – tenor

Francesco Logozzo – lead

Nick Ruiz – bari

Cay Outterbridge – bass

 

23^rd – FANTASTIC 4

Susan Fields – tenor

Chris Susalka– lead

Heidi Brown – bari

Dale Bird – bass

 

24^th – FIRST TAKE

Alex Corson – tenor

Anthony Colosimo – lead

Drew Wheaton – bari

Andrew Havens – bass

 

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 1st 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 1^st 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

The Harmonizers sang on risers with a full chorus of men again this week AND YOU COULD SEE THEIR FACES!!! Without masks, it was like meeting with a whole new group of guys!!

Assistant director emeritus, Will Cox, conducted one of his famous warm up sessions for the chorus this week.

The total attendance was  again at the 60-man level combining Zoom and in-person. Terry Reynolds was on Zoom and in-person at Scottish Rite Temple (SRT) to make sure both groups of attendees were connected and hearing and seeing everything. Several long-distant members were on Zoom including Chuck Hunter and Bob Rhome.

When artistic director Joe Cerutti stepped up to the podium, he started a new program item – a Harmonizer Hero Factoid about one of the members on the riser.  This week he shared that Dylan Smith designs and builds traffic systems like we have in parts of the DC area.

Joe outlined plans for this week’s session – mostly explaining the small group work session on “Sing A Song” and the end-of-the-evening opportunity for guys to sing in a quartet with listeners who could take notes of the singers’ progress.

But before spreading out into small groups, Joe asked the chorus to perform “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and “Ava Maria.” And he did similar work on “Circle of Life.”  During this work he invited David Breen up front to offer tips on pitch revisitation.

To kick off the business portion of the meeting, Joe announced that next week Turner Arndt would work on choreo refreshers for “Help from My Friends,” and “Circle of Life;” and that our coach Steve Scott would be here in two weeks. 

Other business items included word that the new dress shirts to be worn with the blue suits will be delivered soon.  Members will pay $9 for them.   There was a reminder to get hotel reservations in the chorus block in Charlotte by April 1^st.

President Noah Van Gilder updated the chapter on our current COVID management plan: masks are optional and permitted; if a member is exposed or feels sick or tests positive – please stay home; chapter continues to require attendees to be fully vaccinated including guests – boosters are recommended; and send Jason Lee your updated record of adding a booster. Members may now invite guests to the meeting but the chapter requires proof of vaccination by the Sunday night before the meeting.

Noah also announced that the chapter operations team is looking for a shows director.  Tell Randall Eliason if you could do that job for the chapter. 

There were two guests this week: Jake Fry back again, and Zak Sandler for his first visit.

The chorus was dismissed to work in small groups all around the SRT with group leaders Jason Lee, Will Cox, Ben Watsky, Randy Lazear, David Breen, Turner Arndt and Ricky Savage. 

As these groups finished their assigned work on “Sing A Song” they returned to the risers to work with Joe. When everyone was back, he asked for an  indication as to the helpfulness of the small groups and got a positive response. 

Before winding down for the night, the chorus performed “Something’s Comin.”

Then singers who signed up for it were invited to four rooms to do the quartet listening sessions.

An invite was extended for a Mardi Gras afterglow at the Harmo House at 3916 Stevens Street in Alexandria, and the guys enjoyed tag singing or just visiting and talking barbershop AND of course King Cake for Mardi Gras.

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 Feb. 22nd 2022 Harmonizer Hybrid Chapter Meetin

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

The Harmonizers sang on risers with a full chorus of men again this week! Although we did wear masks inside Scottish Rite Temple (SRT).

Operations chairman Gary Cregan and a small crew set risers up in the auditorium. (The call for riser crew yielded only a couple of guys – so members who are able should offer to help.) The remaining chorus members joined via Zoom. The total attendance was  again at the 60-man level combining Zoom and in-person. Terry Reynolds was on Zoom and in-person at SRT to make sure both groups of attendees were connected and hearing and seeing everything.

Associate director Tony Colosimo conducted another great warm up session for the singers with emphasis on body alignment and lots of encouragement.  

He turned over the chorus to artistic director Joe Cerutti who was still riding high from last week’s exciting rehearsal.  He had the chorus sing “I’ll Be Seeing You;” “Ave Maria” with a trio of Tony, David Breen and Lance Fisher (who actually sang it on the holiday show);” “Bridge Over Troubled Water;” and “Circle of Life.”  The songs for the April 9^thshow in Rappahannock, VA, was projected along with the goals of when singers should be off the music and ready to perform. 

As Joe had announced last week, the music team launched the 7 Point Learning Scale for “Sing A Song” this week. Tonyexplained some about that process which includes a plan to provide feedback to member singers who work in small groups, sectionals will be important, and then whole chorus work.  This week the team implemented sectionals in rooms all around SRT to work on that song (this song was chosen as it a little easier and better known – and the process can be worked on as the weeks go on).

The business session was conducted by communications officer, Sam Whiteoak. Joe shared some old Harmonizer chorus photos from the past for anyone to take before they are tossed (they are part of a large stack of prints found by Terry Jordan - for sure the chapter already has those photos in our history storage facility.) 

We introduced two singer guests, Jake Fry and Michael Pugh, and Terry Reynolds directed the chorus in singing the Harmonizer Welcome song.

An invite was extended for the afterglow at the Harmo House at 3916 Stevens Street in Alexandria, and the guys enjoyed tag singing or just visiting and talking barbershop AND of course the drinks, snacks and 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 73^rd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)