Looking Back on the Oct. 24, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the Oct. 24, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

This week’s meeting was a trial visit to a possible new meeting location for the organization. We met at AlexRenew – a water renewal plant in a beautiful new high rise at 1800 Limerick, in Alexandria.  The sixth floor is designed to be used by community groups and includes a large meeting room, a big board room, several smaller committee rooms that can be used for sectionals, and a warming kitchen. The whole place is carpeted and equipped with new chairs, tables and such. The building is about a 15-minute walk from the Eisenhower Metro Station.

 

Our operations director, Gary Cregan, arrived early to help members find the entrance to parking and to the lobby of the building. He helped Terry Reynolds and Dennis Ritchey to bring in the supplies needed to host a chapter meeting – sound equipment, a music-stand for the director, guest books, and name tags. 

 

Thanks to community board member David Kohls and Liz Birnbaum, former community board member, for helping the chapter discover this community-friendly space. (Most members know that the current meeting space rental fees have been raised to unrealistic levels and thus the leadership determined we needed to find a new space. This week was a test for how it might work.)

 

The Harmonizers met in the large room and Metro Voices met in the board room space. Both ensembles had sectionals in the adjoining rooms and there did not seem to be sound bleed to interfere.

 

NOTE that all of the chapter meetings in November will still be at Scottish Rite Temple as per our current contract there. 

 

Associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, conducted a warm up session for the combined ensembles who were standing, or sometimes seated, in the hall. Risers were not set up this time. (There is some concern that the ceiling is too low for using the fifth row of the risers.)

 

Artistic director of the organization, Joe Cerutti, welcomed a large crowd of member singers and also a large number of guests and visitors.

 

Joe reminded members of both ensembles about the appearance at the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) midwinter convention in New York City on January 11. Members can decide to register for the whole convention or just attend that day and sing.  Joe took a straw poll to learn about member interest in a bus to the convention.=

 

Members should note that the chapter will meet in Old Town on Oct. 31 (Halloween night) to sing and have fun - gathering at city hall at Market Square.  This also helps members who are parents with family celebrations.  Both ensembles are welcome to join in the evening which will likely end with a social time in Old Town. There is no dress code but costumes are fine, as are barbershop logo-items. Of course, dress for the weather too. The two ensembles will sing “Why We Sing” and then each do another song or two around the Old Town area. 

Members can also mark their calendars with these plans: the Dec. 5 meeting will be back at AlexRenew; the Dec. 12 rehearsal will be at Fairlington United Methodist Church, 3900 King Street.  This will also be the location of the holiday show on Sunday, Dec. 17. 

 

Joe recognized Samantha Tramack, director of Metro Voices.  She called on everyone to help thank and honor Tessa Walker who was organizational director to get Metro Voices up and going!  All singers joined in the cheers and standing ovation.  Tessa was given flowers and a gift from the treble chorus singers (later they treated her to cake (baked by Jeanne Hillinck) and goodies to thank her for dedication and leadership).

 

At this point the two ensembles began to work on their songs for the holiday show.

 

After about a half-hour, the two ensembles met together for a business session.  President Noah Van Gilder reported board action to choose a new name for the organization.  It will be Alexandria A Cappella Collective. Much of the branding is on-going.  Logos for both ensembles have been chosen too. This enables chapter leaders to order office name tags for Metro Voices. 

 

Zak Sandler invited members to his one-man musical “Inside My Head” on Nov. 5 from 5-8 pm, at Crazy Aunt Helen’s, 713 8^th Street, Washington DC 20003. Links for tickets for the  show are on Slack. The show is about Zak’sexperience with bipolar and the power that comes with not only accepting one’s mental health condition, but embracing it. He promises you will laugh, will cry, and hopefully you will learn.

 

Jason Lee organized a couple ice breakers for everyone. First, everyone had to get in a line by height – shortest to tallest but no talking.  Then they had to get into line based on longest distance to come to the meeting place. It was fun.

 

There were many guests present and new board member, Mary Cooper, filled in for membership director, Jacob Broude, to introduce all of them. Several visitors were in town as tourists from other barbershop chapters in our district and from Canada. 

 

The two ensembles came together as a combined chorus to work on the eight-part arrangement of  “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” 

 

Joe recognized the Oct. birthdays in the chapter and invited folks to the afterglow at the Harmo House for birthday cake.

 

Russell Sketchley (a barbershopper friend of Joe’s from Nova Scotia who was visiting in DC with family members), directed “Keep the Whole World Singing” to end the evening.

 

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 75^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

 

 

Looking Back on the Oct. 17, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting and Election

 Looking Back on the Oct. 17, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting and Election

A large number of chapter members were present in person at Scottish Rite Temple (SRT) or via Zoom to be present for the chapter election and to work on holiday music.

 

Risers were not up and so all singers formed a huge circle on the auditorium floor for the warm up session conducted by Metro Voices assistant director, Maggie McAlexander.

 

Chapter artistic director, Joe Cerutti, welcomed all the members and invited them to have a seat in the auditorium.  He congratulated Devin Gerzof who was married over the weekend and the members cheered with good wishes.

 

Joe expressed his appreciation for the chapter team who help make the a cappella fellowship event with Alfred Street Baptist Gospel Men’s Choir another success. He received a call from the Alfred Street director who confirmed they were eager to meet again.

 

He reminded singers about the opportunity to audition for various solos and speaking parts on the holiday shows – interested members may submit recordings or audition in person on Oct. 24. These auditions will be one-on-one and not in front of the chapter.

 

Then other big announcement was the plan for the chapter to checkout a new meeting space on Oct. 24 at the AlexRenew building at 1800 Limerick Street. Operations team director, Gary Cregan, will be outside the building to help members find the available parking space.  The location is within a 15 minute walk from the Eisenhower Metro Station. This move is needed to check the new space for acoustics and space for our needs leading to a possible new meeting space to reduce costs and gain Metro convenience.

 

Members should note that the chapter will meet in Old Town on Oct. 31 (Halloween night) to sing and have fun – not at the usual meeting place.  This also helps members who are parents with family celebrations.  Both ensembles are welcome to join in the evening which will likely end with a social time in Old Town.

 

Current chapter president, Noah Van Gilder, presided at the annual meeting of the chapter to elect the board of directors for 2024. A quorum was present and the following board members were elected: Noah Van Gilder, from the Harmonizers – President; Carolyn Griffin, from the community - Vice President; Terry Reynolds, from the Harmonizers – Treasurer; Cy Shuster, from the Harmonizers – Secretary; Turner Arndt, from the Harmonizers – Member-at-Large; Dave Kohls, from the community – Member-at-Large; Mary Cooper, from Metro Voices – Member-at-Large; Charlyne “Chuck” Miller from Metro Voices – Member-at-Large; and Michael Berkson from the Harmonizers – Member-at-Large. The annual meeting adjourned.

Devin Gerzof and John Greene retire as member-at-large board members. The members of the nominating committee were Brad Jones, Ken Rub, and Sheryl Berlin. 

Chapter secretary, David DesPortes, presented new member packets to Patricia, Lenna and Sylvia for Metro Voices. He recognized Paul Grimes who has renewed as a 40-year Harmonizer member.  Paul also was given a 40-year lapel pin as is a chapter custom.

Membership director for both ensembles, Jacob Broude, welcomed several guests who returned from the Oct. 10 guest night – Mark, Jimmy, Becca and Chris.  A first time Harmonizer guest this week was Jonathon Moy.  Assistant Harmonizer director emeritus, Will Cox, directed the chapter’s “Welcome Song.”

Music team administrator, Terry Reynolds, invited Metro Voices to move to sectionals for work on their music including “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Sing We Noel.” Section leaders were Maggie McAlexander for the tenors, Sophie Clarke for the leads, Sheryl Berlin for the baritones, and Samantha Tramack, Metro Voices director, for the basses.  

The Harmonizers took time to record the “Friends” tag to send to the family of Henry Chow who died recently.  Henry was a singer before a serious accident limited his movement and speech. His family brought him to SRT many times so he could enjoy music and smile with us. Jacob recorded a message of condolence to the family before the chorus sang the tag. 

This ensemble worked on the new arrangement of “Believe,” then “J I N G L E Bells.”  They had sectionals to work on the eight-part arrangement of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”  Section leaders were Joe Cerutti for the tenors, Lance Fisher for the leads, Jason Lee for the baritones, and David Breen for the basses.

. 

The rest of their work session was on “Little Saint Nick” and “Let All Mortal Flesh”

 

The two ensembles came together as a combined chorus for the Clay Hine arrangement of “Merry Little Christmas.” 

 

Sheryl Berlin, directed “Keep the Whole World Singing” to end the evening before a large crowd headed over to the Harmo House for the afterglow.

 

An obituary was shared this week with chapter members for the late Geri Geis – parts of it are included here. Geraldine Patricia Anne Geis (Geri) of Naples, Florida passed away peacefully on September 28, 2023. She was 84 years old and is survived by her daughter Stacey Geis, who resides in Northern California; Stacey’s husband Peter; two grandchildren, Hope and Parker; her sister Lindi Dowling and husband Peter; and numerous nieces and nephews who also loved her dearly. 

Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada she began acting at the age of 6 in numerous local productions. At one point, she was spotted by a New York talent agent who asked her to audition with Lillian Gish and Helen Hayes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. She was accepted and finished her studies there.  

After graduation, Geri met Royall Willis Geis, who was also from Greenwich and a fighter pilot for the Marine Corps. 

Geri continued to pursue acting as a career, working in theater, television, and radio in New York, California, Hawaii, and Virginia, always finding work wherever Royall’s military career took them. Geri’s creative talent extended outside of the theater. She was also an incredible artist and began selling her works in the 1980s. 

In the early 1980s, Geri came to the Alexandria Harmonizers barbershop chorus where Royall sang, starting as their Stage Advisor and ultimately becoming the Artistic Director. For over 20 years, she choreographed their songs, helping them become international champions on four occasions. She helped them perform at Carnegie Hall, Wolf Trap, the Kennedy Center, and the Supreme Court, as well as performing for such luminaries as Ray Charles, Perry Como and several U.S. Presidents. She loved every moment of teaching the men how to sing from their heart, not their mind, and incorporating movement and dance that helped convey the meaning of a song to the audience. Over the years, she took her talents to other choruses throughout the U.S. and Europe. Earlier this month, the Harmonizers celebrated its 75th Anniversary in D.C. Geri attended and the chapter did a beautiful tribute to her, calling her the “matriarch” of the Harmonizers, a title she cherished.  

Royall and Geri moved to Naples, Florida in 2015 and never looked back, enjoying the warm weather, making amazing new friends, and continuing to travel abroad up until 2020 when Royall’s health made it too challenging.  Last but not least, she loved Royall deeply in their 60 years together and missed him dearly since he passed away nine months ago. While her passing is too soon, there is comfort in knowing she is now with him. Like Royall, she will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.

A Memorial Service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery at a date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, kindly consider a charitable donation to the newly founded youth chorus at Harmonizers.org.

 

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 75^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

 

 

Looking Back on the Oct. 10, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the Oct. 10, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

The chapter held a guest night this week – it has been a few years since we had an organized event and the response was great.  (YeEd thinks there were about a dozen singing guests – many of them to visit Metro Voices.)

 

The chapter music team was well prepared and kept the first half of the night flowing with singing, fun and information for the prospective members. Depending on their past experience, many were on the risers for the warm up session with associate Harmonizer director Tony Colosimo. Assistant Metro Voices director, Maggie McAlexander, taught a fun round for all to sing and tried to stump the singers by asking them to sing by riser row. Everyone laughed and all finished at the same time!

 

Chapter artistic director, Joe Cerutti, welcomed all singers on the very full risers in the auditorium, and introduced the chapter musical leaders to the guests. He invited all the guests to take a seat and the combined ensembles sang “Why We Sing” for them.  He explained the evolution of the two ensembles – one in its 75^th year and one just a few months old. He shared the goal of the chapter to become a community asset. 

 

Next Metro Voices sang “On the Wayside” and their “Swing – Sing” medley for the guests. Then while the two ensembles changed places on the risers, Tony and Metro Voices director, Samantha Tramack, shared what a performance year looks like for the chapter members – municipal appearances, Veteran events, holiday shows and annual shows, and contests in the barbershop harmony world.  In a year, the choruses might learn 4-8 new songs as recommended by a vibrant music committee.

 

The weekly meeting goes from 7-9:30 most weeks with warm up, some fun, some time to meet other members, time to work on the music that is new and on the music that is being used in a show or concert.  The evening ends with an afterglow.

 

Next the Harmonizers sang “I’m the Music Man” and “New York, New York” for the guests.

 

Director of the upcoming youth chorus, Tessa Walker, chose a demonstration quartet of Maggie, Samantha, Lance Fisher and David Breen to show what the four-part music is like and to be section leaders for learning the tag of “Keep the Whole World Singing.”  At the end we even taught the guests our cheer – It’s Great to Be a Barbershopper!

 

There was a brief business session while all the singers were in the auditorium, starting with Joe sharing plans for the next week or two: next week, music work will be on a new arrangement of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” for the combined ensembles. Joe also alerted members of some solo opportunities for the show – auditions will be Oct. 24^th or singers may submit a recording with the learning track by that date – to recordings@harmonizers.org.

 

Josh Myers has arranged a Dreidel song for a small group to sing.  Interested members should let Tony know of their interest.

 

Communications director, Steve Murane, coordinated the rest of the business meeting. Next week is the annual meeting of the chapter and the election of the board of directors at 7 pm at Scottish Rite Temple. The nominating committee has selected three new members to fill at-large seats on the board: Mary Cooper, from Metro Voices; Charlyne “Chuck” Miller from Metro Voices; and Michael Berkson from the Harmonizers.

The slate will be comprised of the three new at-large candidates identified above, plus the following members who will be nominated for re-election: Noah Van Gilder, from the Harmonizers – President; Carolyn Griffin, from the community - Vice President; Terry Reynolds, from the Harmonizers – Treasurer; Cy Shuster, from the Harmonizers – Secretary; Turner Arndt, from the Harmonizers - Member At-Large; and Dave Kohls, from the community - Member At-Large

Devin Gerzof and John Greene will be retiring as member-at-large board members. The members of the nominating committee are Brad Jones, Ken Rub, and Sheryl Berlin. Chapter members should make every effort to attend the meeting on October 17 to ensure that   we have a quorum.

For the Oct. 24 meeting, the chapter will try out a possible new meeting space in Alexandria. Stay tuned for details.

Then on Oct. 31, Halloween, the chapter will take a break and gather in Old Town to sing for folks there that evening, and then stay downtown for some social time.

Membership director, Jacob Broude, also welcomed the many guests and announced that two new singers have passed auditions for Metro Voices – Leah Musico and Masha Ansel; and that Tom Keeping has passed his audition for the Harmonizers. It was great to see former active Harmonizers, Gary Mankin and Rick Wagner, in the hall this week. Terry Reynolds directed the chapter “Welcome Song.”

The two ensembles worked on their holiday music and all guests were invited to sing with them using guest books provided. Metro Voices worked on “Winter Wonderland” and “Sing We Noel.”  Harmonizers worked on their new arrangement of “Believe” plus “Let All Mortal Flesh,” “Let It Snow,” and “Mr. Grinch.”

 

The Harmonizers have an a cappella fellowship event on Wed. Oct 11 at Alfred Street Baptist Church with the Men’s Gospel Choir – call time is 6:30 pm for the 7 pm start. The chorus will sing “I’m the Music Man,” “Calling Dreams,” and “New York, New York.” The church is at 301 South Alfred Street in Alexandria. There is a social time after all the singing. 

 

Daniel Huitt, a guest this week, directed “Keep the Whole World Singing” to end the evening before a large crowd headed over to the Harmo House for the afterglow.

 

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 75^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

 

 

Looking Back on the Oct. 3, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the Oct. 3, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

This week’s chapter meeting was all about celebrating successes and fun at the recent Mid-Atlantic District (M-AD) contest and to launch plans for the upcoming holiday season.

 

Maggie McAlexander, assistant director of Metro Voices, did the warm up sessions for both ensembles to kick off this week’s gathering.  

 

Since there was a lot to talk about, news to share and announcements for members of both ensembles, all singers started the evening in the auditorium seats.

 

Artistic director Joe Cerutti started off the evening with praise and congratulations to the quartets that represented the chapter in the fall contest in York – BREAKTHROUGH, LEGACY, REVERB, and BETTER TOGETHER. All of them did really well and the chapter is proud for them to carry the chapter’s name. And he led the cheers for the great performance by Metro Voices as mic testers at that convention. (They would have placed sixth in the chorus contest with the scores they earned from the judges).

 

He thanked associate director, Tony Colosimo, for stepping up to direct the chorus ballad in the contest; and shared his pride of the Harmonizer chorus in their tribute performance during the contest for our 75^th anniversary and especially a salute to former artistic director, Geri Geis. At this week’s meeting, Joe and several members shared their memories of Geri and her impact on them individually as well as the Harmonizers and BHS. Joe started it all off, “We can't overstate the impact Geri had on this organization and on barbershop as a whole.”

 

Joe also confirmed that the chapter DID accept the invitation for Metro Voices and the Harmonizers to sing at the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) midwinter convention on Thursday, January 11 in New York City. Members should make plans to be there and are encouraged to register and attend the convention.  Stay tuned for details on how to use a discount code for $50 off the registration coming to members next week.

 

The MAD all-voice seniors chorus, which included several Harmonizers at the contest in York, did qualify to sing at Midwinter.  So, if any chapter member who is over 55 is interested in participating in that group, chapter music leaders can help you join. In addition, BHS is offering the “Seniors Dream Experience” to sing at Midwinter under the direction of Joe Cerutti.

 

Joe launched holiday plans for the chapter.  We have been hired to sing as part of the Frederick, MD, Catactones barbershop chapter holiday show, Saturday, December 16 at 3:30 pm.  Details to come, but Joe and the music team are encouraging all to participate on this major show in the DC area for barbershop harmony.

 

Our own chapter holiday show will be Sunday afternoon, December 17 in a local area church that will be chosen soon. There will be two combined numbers this year for the holiday shows – “Do You Hear What I Hear?” with an updated part for Metro Voices, and an eight-part arrangement of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Clay Hine.  The two ensembles will both have other songs on the schedule for the holidays.

 

Joe recognized the tremendous service Randall Eliason gave the chapter during his time as executive director. He retired recently and passed that task on to Stan Quick. 

 

The Capital Force launch will not be held in October and in fact, we will not add that new ensemble until next year - giving time for musical leaders of the chapter (including the many school music educators we have) to focus on building relationships in Virginia schools next year.

 

In that regard, DC Public Schools (DCPS) reached out to BHS for ideas about how to support vocal music programs in Washington, DC.  BHS of course passed it to us.   Joe, Tessa Walker and Tony Colosimo have had several meetings with the head of music programs for DCPS and they have asked us to run a Youth Festival for them in spring of 2024. This is huge for us, for BHS, and for DCPS

 

The Alexandria Chapter is proud to have so many members that have been inducted into the 

M-AD Hall of Honor. Members are named to that group in recognition for major service to the district.  Of the 103 members, 29 are from the Alexandria Chapter including our newest representative, Sheryl Berlin. She was recognized for her work with Harmony College East, as our chapter music education director, and as a chorus director in the district.  She competed in one of the first mixed voice quartet in the contest system. And she is a founding member of Metro Voices.

 

She joins the following fellow active chapter members who have been previously named to the Hall of Honor: Scott Werner, Jack Pitzer, Alan Wile, Mike Wallen, Steve White, Bill Colosimo, Rick Taylor, Keith Jones, Terry Reynolds, Mike Kelly, John Santora, Bob Eckman, Dennis Ritchey, and Joe Cerutti. 

 

Joe also paid tribute to Carl Kauffmann for being a 50 year (actually 51 year) member of BHS!

 

There was a business meeting coordinated by communications director, Steve Murane. Sophie Clarke prompted members of both ensembles to invite a guest for the Oct. 10^th guest night.  It is a rehearsal designed for interested new singers and it is best if they RSVP so the team knows who is coming.  More prospects are needed for this event. It is easy to do from harmonizers.org.

 

Craig Kujawa reported on the Scrip fundraising program he manages for the chapter, and announced that the top fundraiser was Randall Eliason for the third year in a row.  Thanks Randall.

 

Chapter secretary David DesPortes distributed new member packets to a group of recently added chapter members in both ensembles. 

 

President Noah Van Gilder sent out word about the annual meeting of the chapter and election of the 2024 chapter board to be held on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 7 pm at Scottish Rite Temple.

The nominating committee has selected three new members to fill at-large seats on the board: Mary Cooper, from Metro Voices; Charlyne “Chuck” Miller from Metro Voices; and Michael Berkson from the Harmonizers. 

The slate will be comprised of the three new at-large candidates identified above, plus the following members who will be nominated for re-election: Noah Van Gilder, from the Harmonizers – President; Carolyn Griffin, from the community - Vice President; Terry Reynolds, from the Harmonizers – Treasurer; Cy Shuster, from the Harmonizers – Secretary; Turner Arndt, from the Harmonizers - Member At-Large; and Dave Kohls, from the community - Member At-Large

Devin Gerzof and John Greene will be retiring as member-at-large board members. The members of the nominating committee are Brad Jones, Ken Rub, and Sheryl Berlin.

Chapter members should make every effort to attend the meeting on October 17 to ensure that   we have a quorum.

Membership director, Jacob Broude, welcomed two first-time singers this week – Shalini Verma for Metro Voices and Bob Gudauskas for the Harmonizers. Bob is Stephen’s brother.  Assistant director emeritus, Will Cox, directed the chapter “Welcome Song.”

 

When the it was time to sing, both ensembles launched work on holiday songs.  This is the first season for Metro Voices, so all of the holiday tunes will be new for them. They have begun work on “Sing We Noel” and “Winter Wonderland.” 

 

The Harmonizers will repeat some holiday songs each year, but they added “Believe” from “The Polar Express” – which is another arrangement by Jim Clancy who seems to have done lots of great holiday songs for choruses to sing. This week the work time included “J-IN-G-L-E Bells,” “Silent Night: - another Clancy arrangement, and “Mr. Grinch.”

 

Associate director Tony Çolosimo, directed “Keep the Whole World Singing” to end the evening before a good crowd headed over to the Harmo House for the afterglow this week.

 

Until next time – editorjack!

 

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 75^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

 

 

Looking Back on the Sept. 29-30, 2023 M-AD Contest and Convention with the Alexandria Chapter

 Looking Back on the Sept. 29-30, 2023 M-AD Contest and Convention with the Alexandria Chapter 

It was a great weekend of barbershop harmony and fun for the members of the chapter who sang on stage in the two choruses and in the four quartets that represented our chapter. The drive to York, PA, was just a couple hours or so and not bad on Friday.  Some members actually drove up Saturday morning and went home that night. We were staying in hotels all along Rte. 30 which seemed be like a parking lot some times. Our members got to mix and mingle with members from throughout the Mid Atlantic District (MAD). 

 

After the chorus contest, some members ventured out to explore York and found a local brewery. Some found the nearby diner for chow.  Others were free to sit in on some special program events: a roundtable discussion on how to improve membership in chapters in MAD; a Q and A session with the chief financial officer of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS), Erik Dove, from Nashville (he was the official BHS representative to our M-AD convention); and a Gold Medal Hour with MIDTOWN quartet who took the gold last summer in Louisville.

 

Friday night’s quartet contest saw four quartets with Harmonizers in the semifinal round: REVERB with Dennis Ritchey, Reed Livergood, Paul Grimes and Steve White; LEGACY with Rick Taylor; BREAKTHROUGH with Mike Fasano, Jordan Zimmerman, Jason Lee and Ken White; and BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth and Tony Colosimo and Heather and Andrew Havens.

 

Three advanced to the finals round on Saturday night with BREAKTHROUGH as mic tester quartet having placed 12^th. LEGACY ended up 8^th.  BETTER TOGETHER set the standard high in their performances but came in second place with 3,048 or 84.7 per cent when a quartet from Hell’s Kitchen, NY, SMOKE RING, outscored them by six points!!  REVERB finished 18^th.

 

The chorus contest got an early start on Saturday morning.  Metro Voices was invited to be the mic tester chorus and they were terrific! They scored 1,384 points or 76.9!  Founding-director, Tessa Walker, was director for this performance with Maggie McAlexander, Sheryl Berlin, Sophie Clarke, Lenna Jawdat, Heidi Suckow-Krukowski, Cadence Flaherty, Elisabeth Cosh, Mireille Kouagou, Elaine Cooper, Mary Coooper, Jeanne Hillinck and Sylvia Kelty. 

 

The 55 Harmonizer singers captured a score of 1,611 points or 89.5 percent. This score entitles them to compete in the 2024 International contest in Cleveland, OH. When the curtain opened, Joe spoke briefly to share that this package was a tribute for our 75^th anniversary and also to honor our former artistic director, Geri Geis, who died recently.  Both of the presentation plans for the songs were designed by her.  It was a moving performance and top-notch entertainment – “Wee Small Hours of the Morning/Always” arranged by Walter Latzko, and “New York, New York” with it’s exciting front row kick-line ending. The chorus wore the pants and vest from the blue suit with orange ties.  The front row guys wore their orange sox and they were visible, for sure, during the kick line. 

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo stepped forward after Joe spoke to be the director for the ballad in the package.  A major honor for all he has done to teach, coach and lead the chorus.

The chorus did their warm up time outside since the meeting rooms in the school were small. This was the first contest performance for several of the newer members. 

 

The Harmonizers did not compete in the division contest in the spring and therefore were not eligible to compete for the district championship. The chorus was allowed to compete for score in order to qualify for Cleveland. Parkside Harmony was named chorus champion.  In the end, five choruses will go to Cleveland to represent M-AD based on their scores – Parkside Harmony, Alexandria Harmonizers, Gotham, Parkside Melody, and East Coast Sound.

 

As is often the case, there were a number of Harmonizers. both past and current, who sang with other choruses on stage on Saturday: The Virginians from Richmond included Mike Wallen, director, and Bob Wilson, Tom Berkey, Scott Beach, Jim McConnell, Clark Chesser and Mike Geipel; Dundalk with Rick Taylor; Loudon County with Sam McFarland, Frank Shipp, and Bob Arbetter; Parkside Harmony with Sean Devine and Chris Yates; Patapsco Valley with Kris Zinkievich as director and Biff Gaut, Bob Hirsh, and Tim Buell; East Coast Sound with Josh Meyers; and about a dozen singers from the Harmonizer family were in the new seniors chorus that was formed for this contest. 

 

After the chorus contest, the annual induction of new members to the M-AD Hall of Honor – members who have provided significant services to the district.  Many Harmonizers have been added over the years, and one more was added this weekend – Sheryl Berlin, our chapter director of education, a founding member of Metro Voices and a major leader for the M-AD Harmony College East.

 

Four of our members serve on the M-AD events team to run things back stage for the contest – Dennis Ritchey, Brian Ammerman, Ken Rub and Mike Kelly.

 

Steve White is coordinator of MADAQC – Mid Atlantic District Association of Quartet Champions. It was their 25^thanniversary this year and as always, they welcomed the new quartet champs into their ranks at the end of the Saturday night session.  Here again, there were several from the Harmonizer family who were there to sing and welcome the new champs. 

 

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 75^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

 

 

Looking Back on the Sept. 26, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the Sept. 26, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

The week’s chapter meeting was all about preparing for the Mid Atlantic District (MA-D) contest and convention coming up in York, PA, Sept.29 and 30.  Several members are also competing with their quartets that week end - REVERB with Dennis Ritchey, Reed Livergood, Paul Grimes and Steve White; LEGACY with Rick Taylor; BREAKTHROUGH with Mike Fasano, Jordan Zimmerman, Jason Lee and Ken White; and BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth and Tony Colosimo and Heather and Andrew Havens.

 

Samantha Tramack, director of Metro Voices, did the warm up sessions for both ensembles on the risers.  She concluded the warm up with a new exercise with the words “I Breathe In PEACE and I Breath Out LOVE.”  

 

Associate director Tony Çolosimo, welcomed Chuck Hunter who was the coach for the two Harmonizer contest songs this week.  Tony reported on the health status of former artistic director Geri Geis in FL – all communications with her should go to Bruce Roehm, brsigmachi@aol.com.

 

Tony asked for a show of hands for how many first timers to sing on the district chorus contest stage.  A big number! 

 

Metro Voices will be mic testers for the chorus contest and will receive a score and an evaluation from the judging panel.  The Harmonizers will receive a score hoping to qualify for the International chorus contest in Cleveland in 2024.

 

Tony also asked about Harmonizers singing in other chorus groups and there were several hands raised including those men who will sing with the M-AD Seniors Chorus.

 

The chapter business session was held early before the two ensembles worked on their music. 

 

Music team coordinator, Terry Reynolds, alerted all singers that there will not be a meeting of the two ensembles on Friday night in York as previously announced. The first call for Metro Voices is at 8 am.  The Harmonizers will all go into the contest arena to cheer for them, then those singers will go to their meeting room.  Both groups should arrive dressed in their contest uniform/outfits. Terry assured everyone that he would be sending final word in a message to all members about the weekend.  As an advance alert, everyone should bring their casual outfit if the chapter is invited to sing on the Saturday night show.

 

Terry also shared that next week work will start on holiday songs including a new song that is already on Groupanizer. 

 

Membership director, Jacob Broude, reminded the whole chapter that there will be a guest night for the chapter on Tuesday, Oct. 10^th, at the Scottish Rite Temple (SRT).  Each member is expected to bring one prospective singer for either ensemble. This week there were five returning guests – two Harmonizers and three Metro Voices.  Assistant director emeritus, Will Cox, directed the chapter “Welcome Song.”

 

The two ensembles then started work on their two songs for the weekend.  In working with the Harmonizers, Chuckspent his allotted time to help the men know the story and true message of the song; and to recognize the gems in the arrangement that Walter Latzko gave us for “Wee Small Hours.”  Chuck helped the men recognize contrasts, emotions, flow of the song and lessons learned by the story teller. It was an awesome work session and yielded power to the performance. 

 

For “New York, New York” his opening remark said it all – “it always has to be a new song!”

 

There were several repetitions for the benefit of all.  Then near the end of the evening, each group sang their package for the other.

 

Chuck directed “Keep the Whole World Singing” to end the evening. 

 

All hands were needed to load out all of the chapter’s equipment from the auditorium for the weekend. Operations director, Gary Cregan, helped things go to the right places. 

 

The afterglow was at Rampart’s this week.

 

Until next time – editorjack!

 

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 75^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

 

 

Looking Back on the September 19, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the September 19, 2023 Alexandria Hybrid Chapter Meeting 

The chapter was back in action after the great anniversary show with serious work to do for the Mid Atlantic District (MA-D) contest and convention coming up in York, PA, Sept.29 and 30.  Several members are also competing with their quartets that week end.

 

Our chapter contests chairman, Craig Kujawa, reminds all singers that they must have a contest convention registration in order to go on stage.  Get them at midatlanticdistrict.com right away in advance or pay a higher price when you get to the convention.

 

Associate director Tony Colosimo did the warm up sessions for both ensembles on the risers.  Prior to the start of the meeting, a crew unloaded the Harmonizer truck with equipment we had used for the show.

 

Jason Lee served as admin staffer to coordinate the flow of the evening. 

 

Artistic director Joe Cerutti was out of town on a judging assignment at the Pan Pacific Barbershop convention in Auckland, NZ. 

 

Tony thanked all of the singers for their preparedness for the Sept. 9 show and for their enthusiasm that weekend. He also complimented the Metro Voices singers for their great job on their first big show.  

 

This week’s chapter meeting helped the two ensembles maintain their standard of quality for their appearances at the convention. That event also is a way for our chapter members to engage with the larger barbershop harmony community. Tony asked for hands of first-timers at a contest – terrific number of new singers will get the thrill of the contest stage. 

 

The chapter is having an open-to-all singers guest night on Oct. 10 at Scottish Rite Temple (SRT).  Current singers were encouraged by our membership chairman, Jacob Broude, to each bring a prospect – for either ensemble.

 

Tessa Walker, director of the future Capital Force youth chorus, announced plans for the kick off of that new ensemble on Sun. Oct. 8 at Clarendon Presbyterian Church, 1308 North Irving Street, Arlington, VA 22201, from 1-4:30 pm.  She had flyers for all singers to distribute in order to alert parents and youth in grades 8-12 about the event.

 

Samantha Tramack, director of Metro Voices and a relative new chapter member, got the singers to do an ice breaker designed to help everyone get to know the other singers’ names.  It was fun and lots of laughs, and certainly helped the two ensembles know the fellow chapter members.

 

President Noah Van Gilder also thanked show participants for their good job.  Then he announced that Randall Eliason is stepping down as executive director of the chapter.  Randall served two terms as president, and then six terms as executive director.  The chapter members honored his dedication and hard work and many hours of time with a huge round of applause.

 

The new executive director will be Stan Quick, who served as president and will assume the new duties right away.

 

Mark Klostermeyer made a presentation to Tessa and Samantha of a framed color photo of Metro Voices at their first show. Any members who want one of those should contact Mark. 

 

Jacob welcomed four guests this week and assistant director emeritus, Will Cox, directed the chapter welcome song. 

 

At this point in the meeting, Metro Voices adjourned to the cafeteria to work on “It Don’t Mean a Thing” and “I See the Light.”

 

The Harmonizers worked on “Wee Small Hours” and “New York, New York.”  Tony started the session with a review of focal point changes that occur in “Wee Small Hours” with help from Bruce Roehm.  There were sectionals on this song too with section leaders Randy Lazear for tenors, Lance Fisher for leads, Jason Lee for baritones and David Breen for basses. 

 

Another upcoming event for the Harmonizers is the annual sing with Alfred Street Baptist Men’s choir. Tony took a poll of how many would attend – the number was high – for this annual fun exchange of musical fellowship. It’s scheduled for Wed. Oct. 11, at their church.

 

To end the evening, the two ensembles gathered to sing “Keep the Whole World Singing” with Samantha as director.  The afterglow was at Rampart’s this week.

 

Until next time – editorjack!

 

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 75^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.