Chapter Successes to Celebrate and Learn From
We can learn from each other – and that’s so valuable
REMEMBER: A lot of little successes add up to big successes…. Practice success
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MIDNIGHT SONS - FREE SINGING LESSONS!
Here’s a followup from their first night:
9/25 – We had our first of six Singing Lesson sessions last night before rehearsal with three guests. Our director, Phil Cheasebro, did an outstanding job, as expected. The guests all very much enjoyed it, as did the members in attendance.
After some music theory and vocal production techniques, we started learning Hello Mary Lou, which the guests will be able to sing with us on our show coming up Nov 2.
Two of the three guests stayed for the rest of the rehearsal!
Check out their website: https://www.midnightsons.com/
A CAPPELLA NORTHWEST - SING, sING, sING PROGRAM
A Cappella Northwest (Northwest Sound and Northwest Mix) kicked off their traditional Sing, Sing, Sing! program on October 25 with 17 guests. This twice yearly six-week program for the eastside community introduces new singers to a cappella music with the help of a professional voice teacher. The newbies were sorted into voice parts and then acquainted with the elements of the barbershop style. Later they joined the combined choruses to learn three songs that will be featured on the December 17 A Cappella Northwest holiday show, Caroling, Caroling; An A Cappella Christmas! At the end of the program the newbies will be invited to join A Cappella Northwest on stage to sing the songs in front of their family and friends.
Singing on the show is not required, because the goal is not to gain new members for the choruses, but rather to share the joy of singing with those who do not have it in their lives. The program is considered successful because over the decade plus that it has been offered to the local community, several hundred locals who had never sung before learned and enjoyed the fellowship of singing. Moreover, they sang with people they didn’t know; just people with whom they shared a song. The smiles on their faces were all the reward needed.
Harmony Kings - Sharing a Talent
Has your chorus thought about how you share your talent? The Harmony Kings believe that music is a gift that is meant to be shared. The Harmony Kings share their talent two times a month at various audiences throughout the Puget Sound Area. Since we have been keeping track we have sung at almost 100 different venues. . This year we are beyond the moon because we have two performances a month booked through September of 2024. We do not consider ourselves as a competition chorus, but a performance chorus. Again, it gets back to the question of “How do you share your talent”? Our main focus is performing at assisted senior living residences. but we sing at other types of venues as well, like the Washington State Fair,, the King County Fair, and on the Argosy Holiday Cruise Ship, and various Veteran’s Day performances.
We have performed the National Anthem at various sporting venues like emerald Downs Race Track, the Seattle T-Birds in Kent, the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena and the Tacoma Rainiers at Cheney Stadium.
We also have several quartets that perform in the community at various venues. One of our quartets’ favorite event if Singing Valentine’s. But all of our chorus members would agree that our favorite performance gig is Studio 315. Studio 315 is an event run by the city of Kent, WA. It is a special evening for adults with disabilities. If you ever wanted to feel like a rock star, that is the event to be at. Every year after we sing for them, we go out to a local restaurant and have a meal and social hour. The Harmony Kings are a family, and what a better way to end an evening with food and fellowship.
So, going back to the original question, “How is your chorus sharing their talent?” Maybe this article has lit a spark, or given you an idea you haven’t thought about. Maybe it gave you a challenge to do more in your chapter. Whatever the reason, remember “Music is a gift to be shared!”
Lanny Gleason, VP Communication for the Harmony Kings
Bellevue's 2023 Youth FestivaL
Ryan Hyde
Choir Director,
Sammamish High School,
Bellevue, WA
IN VOICE QUARTET
Festival Quartet
Donny & Amy Rose
Festival Clinicians
Here are links to our Facebook page and two videos produced:
https://www.facebook.com/BellevueYouthChoralFestival
Promotional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfFW0BO8FNk
All Photo/video credits:
John Ludeman
Bellevue's 2023 SING! SING! Sing!
This is our annual gift to the local community. We offer 6 weeks of free vocal instruction to those who have never sung before or have not sung our style of music before. Our voice teacher shares the elements of a cappella though the medium of three songs. At the end of the program the participants are given the opportunity join us on stage to sing the three songs as part of our Spring Show. They were having a ball last night!
Acappella Road @ Rotary Event - reaching out to the community
The Rotary Club of Calgary at Stampede Park graciously invited Acappella Road to join them at their Dec 1st luncheon meeting. We delivered a presentation focusing on educating the audience about Barbershop Harmony, future growth areas for the chorus, and Barbershop Harmony Society initiatives. The proceedings would not have been complete without singing; a quartet from the chorus capped the presentation with a short performance.
We are incredibly thankful for opportunities to share our music and values with other like-minded organizations in the Calgary area!
No live shows yet? Here's and Idea from Harmony Kings
Since the invasion of COVID, live shows have pretty much come to a halt.
Here’s an idea the Harmony Kings came up with to bring folks back to enjoy an evening of live music.
Friends & Family Night: Not the usual guest night that barbershop choruses have at various time throughout the year. This night was special. Members of our chorus invited folks that usually attend our shows; maybe relatives, maybe advertisers, maybe members of various retirement centers where we have sung; pre – COVID. So, we invite them to attend one of our normal Tuesday night rehearsals. We set up the chairs in the space where we rehearse and the attendees get a favor of a Live Show, only a mini-version. Besides our chorus singing, we had several of our quartets add to the flavor. We had over 50 people show up and enjoy the evening.
It was met with great enthusiasm, and the Board decided to have another Friends and Family Night at least one more time in 2022.
Thank You Lanny Gleason for sharing…
National Night Out with the SeaChordsmen
The Seattle SeaChordsmen returned to their annual tradition of joining their local community for National Night Out.
After two years, National Night Out was back on, and so were the SeaChordsmen!
We split into two groups (one quartet and one VLQ), and canvassed the neighborhood singing some favorite songs.
We visited over a dozen block parties and sang to a few hundred of our neighbors, passing out our “Come Sing With Us” cards.
We hope we’ll see some of these folks at an upcoming show or rehearsal!
We’ve already discussed breaking into more groups (and perhaps visiting more neighborhoods) next year, to maximize our reach. We want to be prepared with drinks and walkable routes. But the evening was a ton of fun and we counted it as a success!
Please check out our website for a couple more photos and some videos! Click picture…
Thank you Tyler Bosma for sharing…
DOOR KNOCKING 101: pROMOTING YOUR CHORUS
For Canada Day, Stampede City Chorus created a video of us singing our National Anthem. After we finished it, we posted it on YouTube. Then we sent a link of the video to all our friends and relatives (and maybe even a few others). We also posted it on our Facebook page and encouraged our members to do the same.
We also sent a YouTube link to our local radio and television stations using the ‘community news’ links they advertise. Canada Day, July 1, came and went. Obviously, there was better news to be had that day…
Then, on July 6, one of our local TV stations, Global TV, emailed us to let us know that we would be featured on the “Good News” segment of their July 7 morning show!
Success!
Lesson learned: “You never know when the seed you plant will bear fruit, provided you keep watering it along the way.”
Indeed, it’s important to have some big events each year, but many times it’s those little events along the way that make the difference in raising awareness of your chorus… if you aren’t afraid to casually invite that conversation to whomever might listen.
Greg Verhappen, Stampede City Chorus, Calgary
You can also find this video and many more EVG videos by subscribing to our EVG YouTube channel. We’ve got some great talent in our District with some great history.
Thank you, Greg Verhappen for sharing…