Looking Back on the June 1st 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

      Looking Back on the June 1^st 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

This week was the start of meeting again person-to-person!!   The actual plan for this week was mostly via Zoom, but associate director Tony Colosimo with technical help from Terry Reynolds, Mike Kelly and Dennis Ritchey and eight other singers were at Scottish Rite Temple (SRT) at 1430 Braddock Rd. in Alexandria. It was our first hybrid meeting and was a beta test.

 

As promised, there was Zoom access for the rest of the chapter. Artistic Director Joe Cerutti coordinated the music team work for the singers on this week’s Zoom call.  Members who want to join the upcoming meetings must indicate via Groupanizer that they “will attend” on upcoming Tuesdays and then the music team will invite up to 45 singers to attend. Again everyone must be vaccinated.

 

Joe was happy to report that the chapter is moving forward with the virtual choir project with the Masters of Harmony to sing “Stars and Stripes Forever” for media distribution for July 4^th.   The music for that song has been reactivated on Groupanizer and now includes a reference track for this project. Audio self-recordings and visual self-recordings are due in early June – watch for more accurate details. Also the chapter will hold two sessions at SRT for singers to come and record their submissions.

 

For singers who need to catch up and prepare to sing again,  Joe suggests the primary songs for June will be “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and “Never Fully Dressed.”  Reference videos of “Oh What A Beautiful Mornin” are now on Groupanizer. With them in place, singers should submit a recording of that song by Sun. June 6^th.  

 

Joe also spoke about where we left off as a chorus on Feb. 25^th, 2020 and he played a recording of the guys who had been declared “riser ready” for “Never Fully Dressed.” The music program will return to some of the aspects of that time period such as small group singing and emphasis on personal responsibility to be prepared.

 

Joe took a few minutes to share another new song that we will learn – “Fix You” as sung and arranged by Chris Lewis from Fog City Singers.

 

At this point we went to live feed from SRT with Tony and the singers there to do a significant warm up session.  It was our first chance to hear and taste barbershop chords. For this part, they had made a move to the basement of SRT and worked thru the challenges of such a technical move.  It worked pretty well for the first time.

 

Alan Wile conducted his 25^th interview of a Harmonizer who had submitted his Harmo Hero form for posting on Groupanizer. This time the guest was Drew Fuller.  He is a 30-year BHS member with about 20 years as a Harmonizer.  He grew up in Louisiana and sang in church before college where he changed from math major to music major! He did graduate work in music ed too and taught in Arkansas.  During that time he decided to change careers and joined the Army.  

 

His 20-year military career took him all over the world as an attaché and most of his assignments allowed him to bring his growing family. During some of those assignments he found other singers at this post and using a basic book about barbershop quartets, found his love for the style.

 

He finally found the Society in the DC area and sang for 10 years with Fairfax before joining our chapter. He was active in lots of quartets over the years.  He eventually assumed directorship of the Mt. Vernon Chapter Harmony Heritage Singers which his directs today. 

 

Then it was back to SRT with Tony and the crew to work on “Bridge Over Troubled Water” with Tony coaching his singers and those men at home singing along on Zoom. 

 

One of the guys at SRT this week was Jack Cameron who is moving to SC, so we sang him our traditional farewell song after Joe and Tony thanked him for his contributions to the chapter as musical leader.

 

Communications chairman Matt Doniger conducted this week’s business session. Joe announced the burial for Bob Wachter will be July 21^st at Arlington Cemetery at 12:45 pm .  Watch for details about singing at the ceremony.

 

President Stan Quick asked guys to take note of his recent email about nominations for M-AD Hall of Honor. 

 

Secretary David DesPortes reports that we have received renewal notices of 56 men that have paid dues to renew.  He will distribute them ASAP.

 

This week’s meeting ended with a very interesting visit with Stan Quick speaking about “The U.S. Census.” The 2020 census yielded 321 million persons in the US population. The Census is an outgrowth from the US Constitution and sets levels for representation in Congress and for distribution levels of federal monies. 

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be at 7 pm on June 8^th, 2021 at SRT following guidelines prescribed by the chapter leadership and per invitation.

 

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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the May 25th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

      Looking Back on the May 25^th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

This week we verbally celebrated the realization that this week’s Zoom session will be one of the last fully virtual meetings for the Harmonizers!

 

We also celebrated the life of an important Harmonizer, Jed Casey, who died on Monday after suffering a heart attack last Friday according to Harmonizer Phil Ashford: "Sorry to report the passing of my father-in-law Jed Casey.  He turned 95 in February and was living in Mechanicsburg PA with his wife Jane at a retirement home.  He was a good man , a great father-in-law, a terrific motivator, and a beloved family man.  We lost a great one."

 

Jed was an important figure in barbershopping in the DC area and for our chapter.  He was a noted director for the Fairfax Chorus for years and took them to International contests several times. When he retired from Fairfax he joined our chapter in 1980. He had joined the Society in 1956.  He was fun, and funny.  A leader and talented. He was a stage presence judge and coached our chorus several years.

 

He and his wife Jane (she too was a leader in SAI in this area) were a strong team and their children followed in the barbershop hobby too and made their mark as well.  Daughter Janet married Harmonizer Phil Ashford and was a well-known director of the Pride of Baltimore SAI Chorus before she passed.  Daughter Judy married former Harmonizer Harold Nantz who was an early tenor in Vaudeville. They live now in Florida.

 

Son John sang with the Harmonizers for years, was a popular tenor for quartets including COPYRIGHT86, and VAUDEVILLE when they earned their second place medal.  He also sang in BINGO BROTHERS. John and his wife live in PA near where Jane.

 

Jed was often a leader for Mid Atlantic District, and served a term as president of DELA, the 

M-AD honor chapter. Artistic director Joe Cerutti led the tributes to Jed's family and friends who have lost this barbershop giant.

 

Joe next announced the good news that several Harmonizers will be on the faculty for the virtual BHS Harmony University this summer (July 17-August 7) –  co-section lead leader Tessa Walker, associate director Tony Colosimo,assistant director Terry Reynolds, along with Joe.  Congrats to them and thanks for representing our chapter. Members who are interested in attending should go to the BHS website.

 

After 14 or more months of Zoom meetings, the chapter is getting closer to meeting in person at Scottish Rite Temple (SRT) at 1430 Braddock Rd. in Alexandria. Our chapter advisory committee continues to work on the plans to meet soon.  June 8^th will be the first big week.  On June 1^st, the meeting will be mostly still via Zoom with a small crew of singers with Tony at SRT.  Recently Tony along with Mike Kelly, Dennis Ritchey, Jason Lee and Terry Reynoldsspent an evening at SRT to see how they can manage the technology needs to provide Zoom support for guys who won’t be at the meeting in person (as promised by the advisory committee). 

 

These standards are in place as of this writing:

1.     All in-person attendees must be vaccinated.

2.     Proof of vaccination must be submitted to covidinfo@harmonizers.org.  A roster will be maintained showing the results of these submissions.

3.     Masks will be optional.

4.     The number of attendees is still to be determined.

5.     Each man will sign some kind of a waiver regarding his knowledge of the risks.

6.     These criteria may be changed in the future by the committee and the board.

7.     Members are asked to indicate their availability to attend on Tuesday nights via Groupanizer.

 

There will continue to be Zoom access for the meetings. It was also noted that there is no pressure that someone MUST attend in person under these criteria. Questions for the music team can go to Joe, Tony and Terry.  Admin questions can go to Stan.

 

For singers who need to catch up, Joe suggests the primary songs for June will be “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and “Never Fully Dressed.”  Reference videos of “Oh What A Beautiful Mornin” are now on Groupanizer. With them in place, singers should submit a recording of that song by Sun. June 6^th.  He reminded guys that it need not be absolutely perfect this week. Clearly many of us need to work on regaining our singing voice in preparation of the first in-person meetings. 

 

In that regard, Tony conducted a special session this week suggesting how singers can work to get their voice back in shape. He actually expanded his usual advice from his weekly warm up sessions.  His presentation was recorded and Joe suggests guys who missed it (or those who wanted to concentrate on it more) could review it on Groupanizer! A couple of Tony’s points were that the body is the instrument.  Drink tons of water – not just coffee or tea. Get sleep and rest. Get into a routine of singing. 

 

Section leaders this week were working on “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and each sectional had a guest from another part so there was duetting. 

 

The music team used Jamulus again this week and a quartet to demonstrate “Never Fully Dressed” (Rick Savage, Tony, Josh Myers, and Steve Murane).  All those on Jamulus were asked to sing as well as those on Zoom. Joecoached all singers.

 

There were small group singing sessions this week too – each with a music team leader.  Volunteers sang “Sing” and others in the group offered advice and suggestions.

 

President Stan Quick conducted this week’s business session. Chapter secretary David DesPortes reports the following men have recently renewed their membership: Andrew Havens, Mike Wallen, Bill Colosimo, Duncan Woodbury, Al Herman, Craig Odell, and Darryl Flinn.

 

It was good to have Ben Roberts on the Zoom call this week.

 

This week’s meeting ended with a very interesting visit with Chuck Hunter sharing “My Posting as US Consul General in Istanbul.”  Chuck officially retired in November but he shares that this posting was likely the highlight of his career. He served there from 2013-2016. Istanbul is the social and economic capital of that country.  Chuck was basically the top American representative in that region. 

 

He shared great photos of his residence, of the VIP folks he hosted or met with from around the world, of friends from the chapter who visited him, of the quartet he formed there, and of the beautiful view from his home there.  It was a terrific look inside another part of the world with Chuck at the center; and it helped us understand better what he had been up to the several times he had to leave the chapter for a new posting. 

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on June 1^st, 2021 with some men at SRT! 

 

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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the May 18th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

      Looking Back on the May 18^th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

As all of us know, the day after the chapter announced plans and details about meeting again in person in June, federal changes were announced that will alter our plans. (Artistic director Joe Cerutti was still excited about the prospect – “we’re getting close!” he chanted when this week’s Zoom called started.

 

The chapter’s advisory committee immediately reconvened to recommend how and when to meet face-to-face with the new guidelines from CDC.  The hard working committee is chaired by Jason Lee, with Randall Eliason, Steve White, Frank Shipp, Chris Huber, Bruce Roehm and Stan Quick. (Interesting to learn that last week’s announcements were reviewed by lots of other BHS chapters and even the BHS board.)

 

President Stan Quick suggests the following rules or guidelines will be in effect – as of this point:

 

1.     All in-person attendees must be vaccinated.

2.     Proof of vaccination must be submitted to covidinfo@harmonizers.org.  A roster will be maintained showing the results of these submissions.

3.     Masks will be optional.

4.     Hand sanitizers will be readily available.

5.     The number of attendees is still to be determined.

6.     Each man will sign some kind of a waiver regarding his knowledge of the risks.

7.     These criteria may be changed in the future by the committee and the board.

 

There will continue to be Zoom access for the meetings.

 

A small group from the music team and committee will make a dry run at Scottish Rite Temple  (SRT) on Wed. night, May 20^th to see how things will work.  

 

The goal is to start implementing this plan for meetings in June.  It was also noted that there is no pressure that someone MUST attend in person under these criteria. Questions for the music team can go to Joe, Tony and Terry.  Admin questions can go to Stan.

 

At this point, Harmonizers should get their shots, submit a copy of their vaccination record to covidinfo@harmonizers.org, and await instructions about the start of the June sessions. Soon members will be asked to indicated a response on Groupanizer about which Tuesdays they are available to attend meetings at SRT.

 

Joe was set up again to be on the call from the new Harmo House – his home where folks can meet and gather and celebrate and sing.  He and Terry Reynolds have purchased the home of Lew Klinge.

 

Other news from Joe include word about a possible collaboration with Masters of Harmony and Westminster for a July 4^th special.  Music team admin manager, Terry, posted a survey on the Zoom call so they could collect interest/willingness of members to work on it.

 

Joe was also pleased to report that reference videos of “Oh What A Beautiful Mornin” are now on Groupanizer. With them in place, singers should submit a recording of that song by Sun. June 6^th.  He reminded guys that it need not be absolutely perfect – just submit something.

 

He announced there will be presentations by members at two upcoming Zoom meetings.  Anyone who can chat for 30 minutes about any topic which they are passionate about should volunteer to Joe or Terry. 

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo did a warm up session for the singers on the call this week. Clearly many of us need to work on regaining our singing voice in preparation of the first in-person meetings.

 

The music team used Jamulus again this week and a quartet to demonstrate “Sing” (Mike Fasano, Tony, Jacob Broude, and Turner Arndt).  All those on Jamulus were asked to sing as well as those on Zoom. Joe coached all singers.

 

A new feature started last week is “coaching under glass” when Tony coaches a singer who has previously volunteered to sing.  This week’s volunteer was Bob Rhome who did a great job. 

 

SILVER ALERT (Rick Savage, Mike Edison, Will Cox, Steve Murane) provided a treat for the chapter tonight.  They gathered at the home of their bass – their first in-person meeting since March 15^th, 2020!  They shared that this rehearsal was an emotional reunion of these barbershop quartet singers. 

 

Alan Wile conducted his 24^th interview of a Harmonizer Hero from those members who have submitted a report to be posted on Groupanizer.  This week’s interviewee was Frank Fedarko, who has been a Harmonizer for 12 years. He was raised in PA and after college at Slippery Rock State University, he transitioned into a career in the Air Force. His many assignments took him around the work including Language School and finally into the Washington military scene.

 

Luckily a co-worker, the ever welcoming Jere Richardson, persisted and got Frank to come visit the Fairfax Chapter.  His first quartet, DOWTOWN with Drew Fuller, Mike Stoll, and Pat Varre, had a surprise experience of singing for The Smashing Pumpkins at the 930 Club in DC. Frank came to the Harmonizers and has been a frequently soloist for shows. 

 

Communications director Matt Doniger conducted this week’s business session.  President Stan announced a volunteer opportunity to sing in a quartet to honor Rose Hoffman for her 100^th birthday.  She and her family have been long-time fans of the chapter. Contact Stan if you can help onJune 26^th in Owings, MD. 

 

Membership chairman Jacob Broude  shared this brief report on the chapter social event held last weekend. “We had a hearty five folks show up for a night of fake gambling over Zoom. Randall, Terry, Joe, Kellen and Jacob were there. Randall was the first to bow out, battling with Kellen for first loser, but sat along while enjoying some beverages before stepping away. Kellen folded next, followed by Terry. Joe, who joined late, and was multi-tasking by playing a card game in person with his family in person, slowly took an insurmountable lead, before winning a hand after putting enough in the pot that Jacob went all-in. Overall a fun chance to just chill on a Saturday night. – Jacob”

 

It was also announced that former member, Bill Curtis, has died.  He and his wife Mary moved to Colorado Springs when he retired from the Air Force.  He was a barbershopper in CO too and had expanded his interest in painting with an emphasis on nature and wildlife. 

 

This week’s meeting ended with a discussion about which of the songs we have worked on recently were the favorite of singers and which one was the most difficult.  Interesting that the same songs were high on both lists. The music team also collected input from the breakouts as to suggestions for chapter members who will need to start submitting recordings as we begin to gather as a group.

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on May 25^th, 2021. 

 

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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the May 11th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

      Looking Back on the May 11^th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

The administrative and musical leadership of the Alexandria Chapter announced the criteria leading up to our return to face-to-face meetings in the coming months!!  In summary, our board of directors approved a recommendation from the chapter’s advisory committee for returning to in-person meetings tonight.  Then the music team will work to make things work within the framework of those requirements.

 

The advisory committee to recommend how and when to meet face-to-face was chaired by Jason Lee, and includedRandall Eliason, Steve White, Frank Shipp, Chris Huber, Bruce Roehm and Stan Quick.  Their recommendations were based on CDC guidelines and statistical trends in infections and vaccinations in our area.  They also talked with other major barbershop choruses in BHS to compare planning and progress. Plus they conducted a survey of our members that revealed that 100% of the respondents had gotten their vaccinations.  They also concluded that there was a reluctance of vaccinated members to meet with non-vaccinated persons.

 

They recommended and the board approved the following ground rules:

 

1.     All attendees must be vaccinated.

2.     Proof of vaccination must be submitted to covidinfo@harmonizers.org.  A roster will be maintained showing the results of these submissions.

3.     All attendees will be masked – the chapter will purchase some to issue at the first rehearsal.

4.     Attendees will be six feet apart.

5.     There shall not be more than 20 people in the room.

6.     Hand sanitizers will be readily available.

7.     The 20 attendees will sing in a room for 30 minutes, and then move to another room so the air can be refreshed in the emptied room.  (Leaders have identified four rooms at Scottish Rite Temple for our use when we go there.)

8.     No guests will be allowed.

9.     Each man will sign some kind of a waiver regarding his knowledge of the risks.

10.  These criteria may be changed in the future by the committee and the board.

 

There will continue to be Zoom access for the meetings.

 

The music team will adjust their plans, instructions and methods to fit within these criteria.  There will be some adjusting and trials by the music team to see how things can work and a dry run will be conducted at SRT soon.  

 

The goal is to start implementing this plan for meetings in June.  It was also noted that there is no pressure that someone MUST attend under these criteria. Questions for the music team can go to Joe, Tony and Terry.  Admin questions can go to Stan.

 

At this point, Harmonizers should get their shots, submit a copy as outlined and await instructions about the start of the June sessions.

Artistic director Joe Cerutti announced the prospect of a new Harmo House – his home where folks can meet and gather and celebrate and sing.  He and Terry Reynolds have purchased the home of Lew Klinge who has moved to Ames, IA, to be closer to family.

 

Before moving on to singing, Joe welcomed Jorge Acevedo from El Paso on the Zoom call, and welcomed back to Jeff Burkey who we have not seen for a while.  Joe also announced that Kellen Hertz’s grandmother passed recently.

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo did a warm up session for the good number of singers on the call this week.

 

The music team used Jamulus again this week and a quartet to demonstrate “Something’s Comin” (Devin Gerzof, Tony, Jacob Broude, and Steve White).  All those on Jamulus were asked to sing as well as those on Zoom. 

 

Next the music team worked via Zoom with all singers on the new song, “Sing,” which should be a fun number for our audiences. When we adjourned to sectional breakouts, they worked on the same song.  Some shared a piece of the Pentatonix version of this new song.

 

A new feature this week was “coaching under glass” when Tony coached a singer who had previously volunteered to sing “Chorus Line Medley” and be coached for all to see and hear. This week the volunteer was Steve Murane. 

 

Communications director Matt Doniger conducted this week’s business session.  Purchases of reusable shopping bags at the Bailey’s Crossroads Giant earn cash rewards for our chapter. Terry has the details. Secretary Dave DesPortesreports that we are now starting to receive membership renewals from BHS staff and Dave will share them with us as they come in.

 

Membership chairman Jacob Broudy reminded attendees about the chapter social event for a Poker Night coming up on May 15^th. He also is seeking ideas from members as to other ideas they might have to bring members together.

 

This week we were lucky to have a member, Michael Fasano, do an elective presentation (all members are welcome to step up and do a presentation of about 30 minutes about ANYTHING that the member is passionate about.  Tell Joe orTerry if you’d do on).

 

Mike’s topic was “Collecting Anything Beatles Related.” The bulk of his time was sharing collections of records. He taught us what to look for in old LPs and shared his joy in things he has in his own collection.  He had taken the time to photograph things for us to see on Zoom, and he concluded by sharing other Beatles memorabilia and collectibles he has acquired. 

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on May 18^th, 2021. 

 

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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the May 4th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

      Looking Back on the May 4^th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

The Harmonizers virtual meeting this week was a busy one with lots of music work for the singers.

 

Artistic director Joe Cerutti couldn’t say enough about his pride in the chapter and its successful efforts during spring2ACTion on April 28^th. He shared how happy he was that chapter members pulled together during our Covid situation. Joe invited Randal Eliason, who coordinated our campaign again this year for the event, to report on the final numbers. Our goal started out at $30,000 which had to be increased early in the day – especially after the “power hour” when we especially asked our prospects to donate. (Big thanks to Randall for his leadership.)

 

Joe thanked again those who stepped up to the plate with matching dollars such as Steve and Jerri White did with a donation of $10,000, and as chapter leaders and community board members did and created a $6,000 matching amount.  The final as of 8 pm tonight (funds are still coming in) was $48,702 – that is $31,452 in donations, $16,000 in matches, and $1250 in prizes that we won on spring2ACTion day.  This year’s total was our highest ever.

 

Joe also thanked Mick Stamps and his family for their donations in memory of Sandy. The amounts they donated as well as other amounts donated in her honor will be used to support funding an original musical work for our 75^thanniversary celebration.

 

The contest between sections helped build totals. The captains were Doug White for tenors, Noah Van Gilder for leads, Frank Shipp for baritones, and Matt Doniger for basses. The basses won the contest again this year and will be given a party one of these days!

 

In his wrap up comments about our success, Joe spoke about the need for a chapter director of development ASAP.

 

Before moving on to singing, Joe asked members to consider offering to do an elective on a Tuesday night – that means to speak passionately for about 30 minutes on any topic. Let Joe know if you will do one. 

 

He reports that reference materials for guys to use when preparing a self-recording on “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” are nearly ready.  He thanked his fellow music team members for their work on this! Deadline to make that submission in May 22.

 

Finally, singers should look for the new song, “Sing,” on Groupanizer. It will become our show encore piece.

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo did a ten minute warm up session and used some of the vocal warm up suggestions from recent guest speaker, Keith Harris. 

 

Small groups were formed for work with music team leaders – volunteers sang and others in the group offered comments. 

 

The music team used Jamulus again this week and a quartet to demonstrate “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Doug White, Tony, Jacob Broude, and Steve White).  Joe suggests this song will be a private tribute for our major efforts to make it through this period of virtual meetings.

 

Communications director Matt Doniger conducted this week’s business session.  Purchases of reusable shopping bags at the Bailey’s Crossroads Giant earn cash rewards for our chapter. Matt has the details.

 

Joe paid tribute to former Harmonizer, Michael Calhoun, who died in his sleep on April 27^th in FL where he resided with his wife Nancy.  Michael joined our chapter in 2000 after having been a major force in the leadership of the Westchester NY Chapter.  He also was a member of the Manhattan NY Chapter. He left our chapter after eight years having competed with our chorus and having serving in a number of leadership positions. He helped form the Harrisonburg VA Chapter where he was active after leaving our chapter.  He was inducted into DELASUSQUEHUDMAC, the district honor club, having served in a number of leadership positions in the M-AD. 

 

Membership chairman Jacob Broudy reminded attendees about the chapter social event for a Poker Night coming up on May 15^th.

 

President Stan Quick thanked the large number of members who submitted a reply to the survey about Covid vaccinations. It revealed that 100% of the respondents had gotten their vaccinations.  Stan reports that we are getting close to meeting in person and that members should send a photo of their vaccination card to covidinfo@harmonizers.org. The advisory committee to recommend how and when to meet face-to-face includes Jason Lee, Randall, Steve White, Frank Shipp, Chris Huber, Bruce Roehm and Stan. 

 

In other news, the M-AD has announced plans for a virtual Harmony College East over Fathers’ Day weekend, June 18-19, 2021. Get info at HCE@midatlanticdistrict.com. Our own Sheryl Berlin is one of the deans for this educational program for barbershoppers and their quartets.

 

Alan Wile did another interview of a Harmonizer who has submitted a Harmonizer Hero form for inclusion on Groupanizer. This time he spoke with Rob Barnovsky.  Alan was excited to show how Rob developed a career within the realm of his hobby.  Rob likes animals and creatures of all kinds.  He likes to teach.  He loves the outdoors.  And so his career as Natural Resources Specialist is a perfect transition.

 

He grew up in Ohio and sang in school choirs all the way through college. He even appeared in some school musicals. In college he studied biology and then embarked on working in parks, nature centers and outdoor education centers.

 

Currently Rob is stationed at Riverbend Park on the Potomac in the Great Falls area.  (BTW – this has been a great season to go to that Fairfax County Park to see the huge area of VA Bluebells that grow along the bank of the river in the sandy soil there.)

 

He credits Bill Colosimo for encouraging him to sing barbershop in DC and to get into quartets.  Rob joined our chapter in 2016. Rob’s teaching skills with students has prepared him to be a key player in helping with our chapter youth harmony festivals. 

 

Before the interview ended, Rob showed us his snake, Slither, and shared with us his work at “talking with owls” in nature.  (Joe suggests that sounds like an elective sometime!!). Rob demonstrated his ability to make the necessary sounds. Alan was proud to also point out that Rob is another Harmonizer who has earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on May 11^th, 2021. 

 

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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

Looking Back on the April 27th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the April 27^th 2021 Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

This week’s chapter meeting fell on the eve of our major annual fund raising event, Spring2ACTion.   There were lots of ideas shared for making it another success and lots of jabs among the four sections about which section would win the prize this year.  Attendance on this week’s call reached over 60 also – good to see Walt Page and John Santora on the call.

 

Artistic director Joe Cerutti gave a strong nudge for all members to support Spring2ACTion and especially suggested members seek donors from outside the chapter.  Our goal is $30,000 and we will likely need to work extra hard to reach our goal.  The sectional captains will continue to push their members too. The captains are Doug White for tenors, Noah Van Gilder for leads, Frank Shipp for baritones, and Matt Doniger for basses.

 

The endorsement of the Harmonizers on YouTube from Deke Sharon was a win! Joe also created a really appealing YouTube “ask” that guys can use to reach others.  Chapter coordinator, Randall Eliason, asked every member to contact 20 other non-Harmonizers asking for support. He also thanked Mike Kelly for his help in creating the chapter’s donation page for this event.

 

We also want to have the most donors during the 3-4 pm power hour on Wed. April 28^th – we can win a $500 incentive dollar amount if we win that. The more emails you use, the better. Also don’t forget that for any of your personal donations you can donate in honor or recognition for Sandy Stamps. 

 

Steve and Jerri White have given the Harmonizers an incredibly generous matching grant of $10,000!  That means that any donation made on either the main page or your section page will be doubled, up to the first $500.  Thank you Steve and Jerri! When that $10,000 match is used up, a second matching grant of $5,000 will kick in, made up of donations from board members and other chapter leaders. 

 

Finally there will be a social hour at 8 pm on Zoom – all donors and friends are welcome to join in the fun and watch the results as they come in. (This Zoom event is not on the usual Zoom call number.  Wednesday night’s Zoom call is at 93398328566.) Acknowledgements to donors gives them the link to the Zoom call also.

 

Joe was very pleased to announce that the chorus will be getting another new song soon – this one titled “Sing” (not “Sing a Song”) made popular by Pentatonix. 

 

The music team has implemented a monthly survey to take a regular "pulse" of how they are and are not meeting the needs of the performing chorus.  They want to make sure they hear from those members who have been inactive during COVID as well as those participating in virtual rehearsals.   If you are a member of the performing chorus, please take this short survey.   Harmonizer Monthly Pulse Survey

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo presented a warm up session for this week.  He referred to some of the useful points made by Keith Harris in last week’s warm up.  And Tony stressed good body alignment even in a seated position.

 

Work continued this week in our chapter’s experiment using Jamulus and was used on “Chorus Line Medley.”  This week Joe and Tony asked the quartet to lead the way and sing the song all the way from top to bottom.  The quartet this week was Rick Savage, tenor; Will Cox, lead; Tony, baritone, and Turner Arndt, bass. Guys with Jamulus capabilities are invited to a special 6:40 pm pre-meeting session each week to make sure all users are set up to go. Some of them are added to the quartet for these sessions. Members on Zoom were encouraged to sing along too.

 

Tony and Joe also worked with the singers on “Never Fully Dressed” with an emphasis on smoothing out the delivery of the music.  They played the combined virtual chorus recording made recently of that song (work done by Joel Golden to combine the recordings of chorus members) so members could understand Joe’s point.

 

Communications director Matt Doniger conducted this week’s business session.  President Stan Quick announced an addition to the Harmonizer family – new daughter Coralie May, born on 4/20 for parents Reed and Leigh Livergood and big sister Caitlin.

 

Stan also reported on the work being done by our chapter’s committee that is studying when and how to resume in-person meetings.  The committee includes Jason Lee as chairman, Randall Eliason, Steve White, Frank Shipp, Bruce Roehm, Chris Huber and Stan.  They met with other major chapters in BHS  and then discussed ideas for the Harmonizers.  Our committee sees good news on the horizon.  

 

In other news, Tony served on the team for a virtual Harmony College in the Rocky Mountain District of BHS last weekend.  He was joined by some of our coaches like Kevin Keller, Sean Devine and Steve Tramack. 

 

Membership chairman Jacob Broude reports that new names tags ordered for new members have arrived and he will mail them to those folks.

 

The sectionals this week worked on “Oh What A Beautiful Mornin” and this time a singer from another part joined the sectional for duetting. Kevin McKenzie sang with the tenors; Tuner sang with the leads; Tony sang with the baritones; and Frank Fedarko sang with the basses. The music team announced that a revised annotated version of that song was released just hours before the meeting started.

 

Following the sectional singing, the captains for Spring2ACTion used a few minutes to encourage their guys to promote the fund raiser. 

 

Wrap up for this week was an elective presented by Phil Ashford – “Living Large in a Tiny House.” Phil and his wifeKaren now live in FL with their new home.  There was a lot of interest in this special topic.  Phil says the houses may be small but they are also expensive.  He shared how he developed their home and how they managed to relocate to a tiny house community in FL. He shared the technology that was used to build the home that is 374 sq. feet; 8/5 ft. wide; 13.5 ft. tall; 26 ft. long.  Phil’s house is unique in that it opens out a few feet on each of the long sides.  The Ashfords are also spokes persons for the new trend of tiny homes.

 

Joe concluded that other members are welcomed to do an elective for 30 or so minutes in the weeks ahead. Let Joe or Terry know you can step up and do one – cooking ideas, gardening suggestions, your favorite vacation, game night with friends, coping with downsizing, favorite tags and who you sang them with. 

 

Our next  Harmonizer Tuesday meeting will be via Zoom again at 7 pm on May 4^th, 2021. 

 

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 72^nd year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)