Let me first start off by saying, if you have not had the opportunity to see the Voices of Gotham you should really make a point of doing so. I assure you, you will not regret it. But lets not get too ahead of myself.
The day after my fantastic barbershop-encrusted birthday festivities I had another bbshop packed day. The day began with a meeting at Mary Jo's. This meeting was between the Regional Convention Committee (RCC) and the HCC Convention Committee. As the CAC (competition assisting chorus) we have lots of fun duties and this meeting was to get us acquainted with all of them and with our personal counterpart on the RCC. It was a very productive meeting, and as always it was delightful to get to see Sweet Ads who we don't run into every week because they're off with their own choruses.
No sooner was the meeting over but I was in the car with the lovely Ms. Sharon Tindle and and delightful Ms. Marianne Glennon on our way into Manhattan. That evening the chorus had a gig singing at the Barclay Hotel. We met up in a room off the main lobby and were provided with tea, coffee, water and some delightful snacks. After Scott warmed us up and determined a good standing order for our sound it was off to the lobby to start singing. For our first set we sang on the carpet in the middle of the room facing the Christmas Tree. For our second set we decided to move our location we weren't competing as much with the noise from the bar right behind us. So we moved to the other side of the lobby onto the tile facing the entrance. It was great and we even got some of our audience to come and sing with us.
When all was said and done we headed back to our little side room to gather our things. Sabrina and I announced that we would be journeying downtown to the Voices of Gotham Show if anyone would care to join us. As it happens our friend Steffi already had tickets and was headed that way, so we traveled to the show with her and her friend. When we got to the show Sabrina and I still had to buy our tickets so Steffi and her friend went in to get seats. When we walked into the church to see where they had gone we found them -- right in the front row. This was particularly amusing to Sabrina and I because we didn't even decide we were going to try and go to the VoG show until later after my birthday party, and even then it was under the condition that we could make it there in time after our gig at the Barclay. So despite all that we went, and got front row seats - sweet deal.
The show opened with a Christmas song staged as snowball fight! It was fantastic; they used the chairs as snow banks to hide behind, they threw and reacted to invisible snowballs and made excellent use of frozen images versus moving through the action. It set the stage for the whole concert and had the audience ready and waiting for more.
I'm not sure that I could pick a favorite song but I could certainly do personal highlights. For me they would be Waltz of the Sugarplumb Fairy, Brown Eyed Girl and Loch Lomond. Waltz is my long time favorite piece in the Nutcracker so that automatically places it in my heart. I enjoyed the choice of having the chorus behind us and the lights out. I cant lie though, there was a big part of me waiting for some delightfully farcical men in tutus type dancing, but alas there was none. Brown Eyed Girl featured three fantastic and completely different soloists. It was sung and staged as an exciting men's college a cappella group would do it, and that's exactly why I loved it. Loch Lomond - where do I even start? Their director, the accomplished and very friendly Mr. Larry Bomback sang the solo because due to a cold, the planned soloist was out of commission for the evening. It began with the quartet onstage and then added in quartet by quartet and they had some of the guys still up in the loft so it felt like the sound was coming from all around you. And the coolest part, ugh the COOLEST part? That would have the be the last time through when all the men are singing like bagpipes and the sound is just vibrating off of every surface in the place and you get covered in goosebumps. Mmmh Loch Lomond - such a meep worthy song.
So we're sitting in our sweet front row seats with Steffi and Neal and the gang. We're enjoying the show and all of the fantastic chapter quartets. And then we get to enjoy, for the second night in a row, the fantastic visual and vocal stylings of 'Round Midnight. Besides just enjoying these guys perform I think my favorite part would have to be when they walked out to the thunderous applause of the audience and were waving hello and they saw us camped out there in the front row and gave us that look like "Well hello, haven't we seen you somewhere before?" Tehe.
When the show was over we got to run around a little bit and say hello to friends. There were several Hickory Tree ladies there, including our friend Carolyn Schmidt and her lovely daughter Andrea. While we didn't have time to sing a tag with them before they had to scoot out to catch their bus/train, it was nice to finally meet Andrea who we had heard lots about.
In our post-show milling around we had to make sure we went up to say hi to Larry and tell him how much we enjoyed the show. (Especially because we were reading his bio and saw he went to Haverford and said to ourselves "Was he a Humtone?" - the answer of course being, yes.) We got to talking about how great the staging was, and he said it was their goal that no two songs should look alike. Well I say he achieved it. My sentence to sum up the show would be"The chorus is dynamic and their staging is as engaging as it is refreshing." Brava Gentlemen!
We headed to the back of the church to say our hello's the rest of the 'RM gentlemen and congratulate then on (another) show well done. We were very sad to have to turn down their invitations to come to the after glo, but we still had to catch a train back up town, drive to Mawah to get my car, and then head home to Purchase to sleep before getting up early the next day to drive to South Jersey and go caroling with ladies from our chorus. The allure of handsome men singing is very strong, so even though we didn't go to the glo we consoled ourselves with the knowledge that we had been invited with great joy by a group of guys we enjoy and respect.
The next day, despite a distinct lack of sleep and some of the grossest rain I've ever seen, Sabrina and I journeyed to south Jersey to sing at the Shoppes at Crosskey. Well the shoppes were a strip mall and the octet went from store to store to spread holiday harmony and get in out of the rain. One of my favorite memories from the day was in a store where they only wanted a small quartet and this group sang.
Our last stops were to the two resteraunts in the plaza. At the last one we were informed by the owner that she had been really excited for us to come sing today because she had this big holiday party booked. The party however, was booked for the wrong location and while she was still quite happy to have us there she was bummed that she didnt have a larger crowd for us to sing to. We happily sang for the few tables in the dining area and then sat down for complimentary bread and tea. We were water logged but in good spirits. As Jeannie put it "we all put in our 500% today."
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Chapter Twenty Four: A Very Barbershop Birthday
Since this is all about my 25th Birthday Party it would be fitting that it be chapter twenty-five in my barber-blog saga, but no such luck I suppose.
Any who - my 25th birthday was Monday, November 30, 2009. This was the year of dragging the birthday glory out - yes even more than usual. I had my first birthday luncheon Monday, November 23rd with the wonderful people on my office. Then my actual birthday on the 30th. Then birthday dinner with the lovely Ms. Ariella Monti on Dec 6th. And another birthday dinner Dec 15th. (There are also some outstanding dinner offers of people who couldn't come to my party.) Which brings me to the main event itself, my 25th Birthday Bash on Saturday, December 11, 2009.
The party was held in the EXperimental Theatre in Founders Hall at Manhattanville College. Sabrina, the most brilliant light designer of life (not that I'm partial at all) lit the whole room up and even made a gobo especially for the occasion. We brought in lots of food (special thanks to Linda, for the deli connection) and lots of good people, including my oldest and dearest friend Gianna. But what makes this event relevant to this blog would be that I had barbershop quartets come to perform! The quartets that sang were Fanfare! and 'Round Midnight.
Just to give a little background on these two. The ladies of Fanfare! are the current 5th place medalist of SAI Region 15. They won the novice award in 2007, along with 5th place medals - and took home that medal again in 2008 and 2009. They all sing with my chorus, Harmony Celebration. Well almost... (their Bari, the lovely Ms Heather is not currently singing with us, but she did and we're working on bringing her back - as far as I'm concerned she's an HCC girl at heart and I'll always love her and consider her a part of my chorus.) The gentlemen of 'Round Midnight are the current M-A District Quartet Champions. 2009 was an exciting year for them as they qualified for their first International Contest and then proceeded to land in 14th place overall! But most importantly, and the reason I asked them to sing at my party, they are two of the most entertaining quartets and eight of the coolest people you could hope to see on any guest list.
The ladies of Fanfare! sang a three song set (see below). They opened with Hit That Jive Jack, which as a bass I must say, just sounds like one of the most fun songs you could ever hope to sing. Julia's jazzy lead and Sharon's boppin' bass carry you along on a jazzy dream. Next up was a song (by my request) lovingly referred to as The Fanny Song. The story goes that the quartet loved the music for this particular song but Julia simply said "No, I won't sing a Mammy song" and so proceeded to write lyrics a bit more to her liking. Here's a little taste:
Oh there is nothing, I love better than is F-A-double N-Y
F is for his features so fine and fair
A is for the ass-set beyond compare
Double N is cuz he's 99 percent (sigh) sublime
So why'dya think I walk behind him all the time
I loved how right before they sang it came the disclaimer "the management is not responsible for the content of this song" to which I replied loudly "yes, its that kind of party!" For their final song they sang a parody of Oh How I Miss You Tonight. It began "Oh how I miss... Hagen Daz" with delightful bass/bari echos and proceeded with great hilarity from there out - finishing with a lovely tenor post from the gorgeous Ms Alice (aka Where's Alice?) and a beautiful ringing chord.
Next up, the studly gents of 'Round Midnight. They opened with Lucky Day which assured me, as if I even needed it to, that I was in for a real treat. My story being that about six months or so I became obsessed with said song - you can ask my baritone for confirmation of this fact as I got her hooked too. So there was the song choice and the ridiculously ringy-pingy sound in that little black box theatre on the final chord - turns out to be a great space for barbershop. Next song up and Jeff started right in on the bass line as T.J. told us it was a request (which it was, for Sabrina) and started to look for her to sing to only to find that she was back in the light booth making the magic happen. Needless to say, she was sung to anyway and it was right into Moondance, which I would probably call their signature song. [side note - signature song reasoning: on this song the lead switches effortlessly from singer to singer. They aren't married to any traditional "barbershop" standing positions/blocking. It shows off their smooth, exciting, jazzy style. And shows how excellently these guys have a real feel and understanding of rhythm. These, along with tons of stage presence and charisma, are what I would list as their signatures.] Then it was on to quartet introductions - all I will say here is "and I have the best teaching job of all - middle school." If you've seen them then you know what I mean, and if you haven't its just one more reason to do so. Also - shout out to my Baritone who is, in fact, a rockin' middle school music teacher. Next up was my personal request Anytime at All. There is a section of the lyrics that goes:
Don't be afraid to let me know that you want me, that's such a silly thing to do.
I, of course, decided to take these lyrics literally and planned out a little surprise ahead of time. Sabrina had bought the 'RM CD after we saw them on the Hickory Tree Chorus show. As we were listening to it in the car on the way home from the show the thought arose:
Sabrina: How funny would it be if when they sang this at your party you flipped over a sign that read "I want you"
Me: And the people sitting around me should have signs that say "She wants you" with arrows that point to me
Sabrina: I could totally bring a light up on you in the audience when it happens too
Me: Yes!
And so it was planned out. I sat in the correct seat in the front row where the light was all focused and would come up on me perfectly on cue. I was flanked by my sister Stefanie and her boyfriend Mark, who both had their signs at the ready. Plus, I had told at least 75% of the people in attendance that I was going to do this, so I couldn't chicken out. So the song starts and I give my sister the nudge like "this is the one." They sing through the beginning and come to the aforementioned lyrics and I flip my sign. Stef and Mark do the same. And the light comes up on me so the quartet can see. Here are some reaction shots for your amusement.
such a silly thing to
do
cause anytime you
want me
i'll come running home to you
Since I was in the front I held up my sign and turned it around so everyone in the audience could see what the quartet was laughing at. Being the true professionals they are they kept on singing despite a clear desire to simply start cracking up. Before I know it, along comes the infamous "call me anytime" part of the tag and the dreamy chord changes that follow to end the song. Cue round of applause and the boys finally get a chance to laugh. Jeff looks at me and says "You can't top that" and after some additional laughter Wayne adds "there's a first for everything" and another burst of laughter from the audience.
Now I'll give you a run down of the rest of the set list along with my personal highlights from each song.
In the Still of the Night:
-Right before the bridge as they're singing "In the still of the night" [note this is a non-verbal exchange] Jeff and points to Wayne like 'hey, we're gonna go this way' and Wayne's points and is all 'that way?' and Jeff points again 'yea, that way' and then all four proceed to "shoo-wop" digs starting to the right.
-Bass solo at the end "In the still" and all 3 of the guys sigh really high pitched, followed by an echo of that sentiment from all the ladies in the audience.. or at least me and Wayne making kissy faces at Jeff
-Larry's ever so smooth "ooh eeeh oooh aaah" at the end :)
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me:
-pitch blows, we hear an "oh ah" and Larry gets a confused look on his face as Wayne turns to him like "huh?" and then proceeds to remind him of the first few words "all i want.."
-Lead pull-out on "They told me to be sensible with your new love" as Wayne steps into Sabrina's perfectly cued light
-the tres dreamy tag as they come off the big build and you get the bass sliding down to one of those vibrating, wonderful basement notes
"Love" & My Girl:
-The Patter! "Opposites attract? Oh so you've heard that. Well Wayne heard that too (he smiles) so he's looking for a girl with a big bank account (he frowns) but that quickly turns to laughter as a light is brought up on me in the audience as I wave at him. And TJ gave props to the light booth for being up on the jokes.
-"How will I know? Will it be like a big light shinning in my face" cue Sabrina bringing up a light, shinning on Jeff's face
-Of course the tender moment that right before the song starts - and that moment when the tenderness is shredded by bass enthusiasm, lol
-"When its cold outside, like its today"
-The "ba da da ba bah's" by Larry & TJ, the second of which comes with awesome arm choreo!
-The most in tune audience sing along of all time on the last round of "my girls" since 1/2 the audience was bbshoppers and a good majority of the rest were performers of one kind or another
Happy Birthday:
-TJ & Wayne deciding who should sing lead, lol
-Larry: "Bring the spotlight up on the birthday girl" Me: "Oh yes, she hates that"
-Sabrina bringing up the awesome "Lex 25" gobo and stars at the end of it
Shout
-Audience participation!
-The look BeccaZ gave me when TJ said "shipoopi" since we did Music Man our senior year of high school and have our very own special associations with with word, song, and show
-"Say that you oooooh will" Jeff shakes Wayne's hand in congratulations of his pretty little vocal run and Larry doubles over with laughter at the sight of it, singing all the while
-Sabrina's awesome light bumps on the "shout"s with the awesome fuchsia top light
-"A little bit softer now" Heather Collins shouting "Lower!" and the guys making faces like "Ahh! No! We can't"... also TJ's quick and barely audible "that's what she said" lol
-"Hey-ay-ay-aye" echos, again with the most in tune sing along of life
-Sabrina's awesome light bumps on the "shout"s with the awesome fuchsia top light AND star gobos
As a note in general, if any one of those gentlemen tell you that they don't or can't dance, all I have to say is that anyone who has ever seen them sing, knows that a lie. In summation, 'Round Midnight rocks my socks and between them and Fanfare! I can't imagine a better birthday performances.
A big part of most birthday celebrations involves the birthday cake. But here is my theory: cake is a poor man's brownie. So instead of having cake for my party, I had a tower of brownies!Deeeelish. And my first order of business after the performances was to eat some brownies. Well that and hug every person I passed on my way back to said brownies. Anyway, when I was in the back of the theatre munching in my yummy birthday brownie I started talking to Larry.
Larry: Who did the lights? They were great.
Me: My lead/roommate Sabrina.
Larry: Does she have a card?
Sabrina did not have a card. But I nabbed her and she quickly scribbled down some contact information for him. As it turns out his chorus, Voices of Gotham, had their holiday show the next night and he asked her to do lights for it on the spot! The thing being that we had a chorus gig the next day and didn't even know if we were going to be able to make it to their show. Plus they would have needed her to bring in lights and without anytime to check out the space or prep there really wasn't much she could do. But it got her on board for their next show.
The next fun thing to happen was that I was talking to Jeff while Sabrina and Larry were talking about lights and he goes "So you want to sing a tag with 'Round Midnight?" and I reply with "No. I want to sing a whole song." Now I must take a moment to tell you how very proud of myself I was in this moment because this is the kind of thing I would always want the opportunity to take advantage of but either it wouldn't come up or I would wuss out if it did. And I didn't - go me. So then came the quick conversation of what do you know that we know, and I know the version of "Don't Be a Baby, Baby" that they sing - mostly because Just4 sings it, but also because I had been listening to their CD going "if this opportunity presents itself at my party, which song can I use to take advantage of it." Then they asked me what key I wanted to sing it in - eep. My answer was that I knew I could sing it where they do (because I can) but blowing it higher probably wouldn't hurt either. In the end I'm pretty sure we sang it wherever they sing it because I could handle it, but it was low in my range in some places. I remember starting it and almost waiting for them to keep going (like I was singing with the CD or something) and that split second where I was like "oh! I'm the lead now..ok" and also "look how awesome they are all staying together/waiting for me" -- thoughts of course, that went by in the blink of an eye because helloooo I was in the middle of singing a song, but I digress (as usual.) I made it through the song without incident, except the last note where I doubled with someone because I didn't realize Wayne takes the high note there, but in true tag-out-quartet-singing-style he was near by and gave me the signal to hop up to that note and sang it to help me out.
Now for a tale of Larry the substitute Tenor. One of the coolest parts of having a quartet is being able to sing wherever, whenever for whomever. The main thing being that you need all four people to do that. At my birthday party my tenor Katie, was noticeably absent. This was most unfortunately do to bronchitis - clearly she would have rather been well and at my party. Anyway, her illness meant no Cultured Pearls Quartet showboating for this birthday girl. But in the discussion Steph and Brina and I were having with the lovely 'RM boys about how we wouldn't be singing Larry said something like "Well what do you know? I'm sure I can fake through some YWIH tenor, and Wayne can help me out anyway, he knows all those songs" and so with a little discussion we decided on One Fine Day. Steph blows the pitch, Larry finds his starting note and we're off! We make it through the first verse but between adjusting to the sound and the looks on Larry's face as he tries to make it through and Wayne's as he tries to help him, we crack up and loose it going into the second. Larry's response to this being "No, no! Keep going its all repeats from there, I got this!" So its on to take two. This time we make it through the whole thing with interesting faces being made through the bridge and at the end when Larry realizes he's responsible for the post on the tag. It was great fun. But the best part had to be when our lovely director Scott, drawn by our delightful harmonies no doubt, peeked his head around the corner to see who was singing with a look of "What in the name of the heavens in this?" Classic.
In true party style there was much merriment, sandwich consumption, and brownie devouring. Since the party was in a theatre in a dorm building it was kept non-alcoholic. So as the party wound down there were the inevitable suggestions of "so what bars are in the area?" to which I quickly responded with a "Bar-shmar! Come back to our apartment on the other side of campus instead. Less of a drive and the drinks are free." Everyone liked this idea and being the awesome people they are, all lent a helping hand to clean up and get food rounded up to bring back to our place.
In true Alexis style my apartment was a mess because I was running around to get myself and everything else together for my party. Of course people would end up back at our place - as Sabrina would say "Do you know who you are?" So while the clean-up crew was in action in the EX, Pete was sent ahead to do a quick sweep of the apartment. The best thing in this part of the story being that my sister and her boyfriend had gone back to my place, put on jammies, and pulled the futon flat for bed - so when Pete came in they were just kind of thrown back in to everything since I was too busy with people in the EX to call and warn her....tehe. I must also take a moment to note the awesomeness of Ms. Heather Collins as she was key to the success of my food wrapping-up and taking with me process.
So we get back to the apartment and Heather and her lovely husband Joe are there and all of my girlfriends found their way over - clearly no problem for people who went the school there, good on them. But no 'Round Midnight boys! Eeep! Earlier they had gotten lost on their way to the party because people on campus sent them to the wrong theater. I thought that this time they would just follow my girls over since they were all carrying things out of the building for me at the same time but noooo. Nothing the easy way. So I throw on my coat, grab my cell phone and head back out into the cold December night.
Me::dialing cell phone::
Larry: Hey, I think we know where we are.
Me: I'm outside so if you're close I can flag you down
Larry: Oh, I think we see you
Me::waving arms:: Pull in over here, park in the first spot you can find.
Larry: Got it. See you soon.
The final roster of the Lex's Super Sweet 25th Birthday After Party included: Steph, Larry, Vanna, Heather, Joe, Pete, Sabrina, TJ, Wayne, Stef, Mark, Jeff and myself. Laughter, conversation, and impromtu bits of song (including Jeff & I rapping Tupac's Changes and some sweet Boys II Men jams) continued well into the early morning hours. Twenty-fifth birthday party success, check.
Any who - my 25th birthday was Monday, November 30, 2009. This was the year of dragging the birthday glory out - yes even more than usual. I had my first birthday luncheon Monday, November 23rd with the wonderful people on my office. Then my actual birthday on the 30th. Then birthday dinner with the lovely Ms. Ariella Monti on Dec 6th. And another birthday dinner Dec 15th. (There are also some outstanding dinner offers of people who couldn't come to my party.) Which brings me to the main event itself, my 25th Birthday Bash on Saturday, December 11, 2009.
The party was held in the EXperimental Theatre in Founders Hall at Manhattanville College. Sabrina, the most brilliant light designer of life (not that I'm partial at all) lit the whole room up and even made a gobo especially for the occasion. We brought in lots of food (special thanks to Linda, for the deli connection) and lots of good people, including my oldest and dearest friend Gianna. But what makes this event relevant to this blog would be that I had barbershop quartets come to perform! The quartets that sang were Fanfare! and 'Round Midnight.
Just to give a little background on these two. The ladies of Fanfare! are the current 5th place medalist of SAI Region 15. They won the novice award in 2007, along with 5th place medals - and took home that medal again in 2008 and 2009. They all sing with my chorus, Harmony Celebration. Well almost... (their Bari, the lovely Ms Heather is not currently singing with us, but she did and we're working on bringing her back - as far as I'm concerned she's an HCC girl at heart and I'll always love her and consider her a part of my chorus.) The gentlemen of 'Round Midnight are the current M-A District Quartet Champions. 2009 was an exciting year for them as they qualified for their first International Contest and then proceeded to land in 14th place overall! But most importantly, and the reason I asked them to sing at my party, they are two of the most entertaining quartets and eight of the coolest people you could hope to see on any guest list.
The ladies of Fanfare! sang a three song set (see below). They opened with Hit That Jive Jack, which as a bass I must say, just sounds like one of the most fun songs you could ever hope to sing. Julia's jazzy lead and Sharon's boppin' bass carry you along on a jazzy dream. Next up was a song (by my request) lovingly referred to as The Fanny Song. The story goes that the quartet loved the music for this particular song but Julia simply said "No, I won't sing a Mammy song" and so proceeded to write lyrics a bit more to her liking. Here's a little taste:
Oh there is nothing, I love better than is F-A-double N-Y
F is for his features so fine and fair
A is for the ass-set beyond compare
Double N is cuz he's 99 percent (sigh) sublime
So why'dya think I walk behind him all the time
I loved how right before they sang it came the disclaimer "the management is not responsible for the content of this song" to which I replied loudly "yes, its that kind of party!" For their final song they sang a parody of Oh How I Miss You Tonight. It began "Oh how I miss... Hagen Daz" with delightful bass/bari echos and proceeded with great hilarity from there out - finishing with a lovely tenor post from the gorgeous Ms Alice (aka Where's Alice?) and a beautiful ringing chord.
Next up, the studly gents of 'Round Midnight. They opened with Lucky Day which assured me, as if I even needed it to, that I was in for a real treat. My story being that about six months or so I became obsessed with said song - you can ask my baritone for confirmation of this fact as I got her hooked too. So there was the song choice and the ridiculously ringy-pingy sound in that little black box theatre on the final chord - turns out to be a great space for barbershop. Next song up and Jeff started right in on the bass line as T.J. told us it was a request (which it was, for Sabrina) and started to look for her to sing to only to find that she was back in the light booth making the magic happen. Needless to say, she was sung to anyway and it was right into Moondance, which I would probably call their signature song. [side note - signature song reasoning: on this song the lead switches effortlessly from singer to singer. They aren't married to any traditional "barbershop" standing positions/blocking. It shows off their smooth, exciting, jazzy style. And shows how excellently these guys have a real feel and understanding of rhythm. These, along with tons of stage presence and charisma, are what I would list as their signatures.] Then it was on to quartet introductions - all I will say here is "and I have the best teaching job of all - middle school." If you've seen them then you know what I mean, and if you haven't its just one more reason to do so. Also - shout out to my Baritone who is, in fact, a rockin' middle school music teacher. Next up was my personal request Anytime at All. There is a section of the lyrics that goes:
Don't be afraid to let me know that you want me, that's such a silly thing to do.
I, of course, decided to take these lyrics literally and planned out a little surprise ahead of time. Sabrina had bought the 'RM CD after we saw them on the Hickory Tree Chorus show. As we were listening to it in the car on the way home from the show the thought arose:
Sabrina: How funny would it be if when they sang this at your party you flipped over a sign that read "I want you"
Me: And the people sitting around me should have signs that say "She wants you" with arrows that point to me
Sabrina: I could totally bring a light up on you in the audience when it happens too
Me: Yes!
And so it was planned out. I sat in the correct seat in the front row where the light was all focused and would come up on me perfectly on cue. I was flanked by my sister Stefanie and her boyfriend Mark, who both had their signs at the ready. Plus, I had told at least 75% of the people in attendance that I was going to do this, so I couldn't chicken out. So the song starts and I give my sister the nudge like "this is the one." They sing through the beginning and come to the aforementioned lyrics and I flip my sign. Stef and Mark do the same. And the light comes up on me so the quartet can see. Here are some reaction shots for your amusement.
such a silly thing to
do
cause anytime you
want me
i'll come running home to you
Since I was in the front I held up my sign and turned it around so everyone in the audience could see what the quartet was laughing at. Being the true professionals they are they kept on singing despite a clear desire to simply start cracking up. Before I know it, along comes the infamous "call me anytime" part of the tag and the dreamy chord changes that follow to end the song. Cue round of applause and the boys finally get a chance to laugh. Jeff looks at me and says "You can't top that" and after some additional laughter Wayne adds "there's a first for everything" and another burst of laughter from the audience.
Now I'll give you a run down of the rest of the set list along with my personal highlights from each song.
In the Still of the Night:
-Right before the bridge as they're singing "In the still of the night" [note this is a non-verbal exchange] Jeff and points to Wayne like 'hey, we're gonna go this way' and Wayne's points and is all 'that way?' and Jeff points again 'yea, that way' and then all four proceed to "shoo-wop" digs starting to the right.
-Bass solo at the end "In the still" and all 3 of the guys sigh really high pitched, followed by an echo of that sentiment from all the ladies in the audience.. or at least me and Wayne making kissy faces at Jeff
-Larry's ever so smooth "ooh eeeh oooh aaah" at the end :)
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me:
-pitch blows, we hear an "oh ah" and Larry gets a confused look on his face as Wayne turns to him like "huh?" and then proceeds to remind him of the first few words "all i want.."
-Lead pull-out on "They told me to be sensible with your new love" as Wayne steps into Sabrina's perfectly cued light
-the tres dreamy tag as they come off the big build and you get the bass sliding down to one of those vibrating, wonderful basement notes
"Love" & My Girl:
-The Patter! "Opposites attract? Oh so you've heard that. Well Wayne heard that too (he smiles) so he's looking for a girl with a big bank account (he frowns) but that quickly turns to laughter as a light is brought up on me in the audience as I wave at him. And TJ gave props to the light booth for being up on the jokes.
-"How will I know? Will it be like a big light shinning in my face" cue Sabrina bringing up a light, shinning on Jeff's face
-Of course the tender moment that right before the song starts - and that moment when the tenderness is shredded by bass enthusiasm, lol
-"When its cold outside, like its today"
-The "ba da da ba bah's" by Larry & TJ, the second of which comes with awesome arm choreo!
-The most in tune audience sing along of all time on the last round of "my girls" since 1/2 the audience was bbshoppers and a good majority of the rest were performers of one kind or another
Happy Birthday:
-TJ & Wayne deciding who should sing lead, lol
-Larry: "Bring the spotlight up on the birthday girl" Me: "Oh yes, she hates that"
-Sabrina bringing up the awesome "Lex 25" gobo and stars at the end of it
Shout
-Audience participation!
-The look BeccaZ gave me when TJ said "shipoopi" since we did Music Man our senior year of high school and have our very own special associations with with word, song, and show
-"Say that you oooooh will" Jeff shakes Wayne's hand in congratulations of his pretty little vocal run and Larry doubles over with laughter at the sight of it, singing all the while
-Sabrina's awesome light bumps on the "shout"s with the awesome fuchsia top light
-"A little bit softer now" Heather Collins shouting "Lower!" and the guys making faces like "Ahh! No! We can't"... also TJ's quick and barely audible "that's what she said" lol
-"Hey-ay-ay-aye" echos, again with the most in tune sing along of life
-Sabrina's awesome light bumps on the "shout"s with the awesome fuchsia top light AND star gobos
As a note in general, if any one of those gentlemen tell you that they don't or can't dance, all I have to say is that anyone who has ever seen them sing, knows that a lie. In summation, 'Round Midnight rocks my socks and between them and Fanfare! I can't imagine a better birthday performances.
A big part of most birthday celebrations involves the birthday cake. But here is my theory: cake is a poor man's brownie. So instead of having cake for my party, I had a tower of brownies!Deeeelish. And my first order of business after the performances was to eat some brownies. Well that and hug every person I passed on my way back to said brownies. Anyway, when I was in the back of the theatre munching in my yummy birthday brownie I started talking to Larry.
Larry: Who did the lights? They were great.
Me: My lead/roommate Sabrina.
Larry: Does she have a card?
Sabrina did not have a card. But I nabbed her and she quickly scribbled down some contact information for him. As it turns out his chorus, Voices of Gotham, had their holiday show the next night and he asked her to do lights for it on the spot! The thing being that we had a chorus gig the next day and didn't even know if we were going to be able to make it to their show. Plus they would have needed her to bring in lights and without anytime to check out the space or prep there really wasn't much she could do. But it got her on board for their next show.
The next fun thing to happen was that I was talking to Jeff while Sabrina and Larry were talking about lights and he goes "So you want to sing a tag with 'Round Midnight?" and I reply with "No. I want to sing a whole song." Now I must take a moment to tell you how very proud of myself I was in this moment because this is the kind of thing I would always want the opportunity to take advantage of but either it wouldn't come up or I would wuss out if it did. And I didn't - go me. So then came the quick conversation of what do you know that we know, and I know the version of "Don't Be a Baby, Baby" that they sing - mostly because Just4 sings it, but also because I had been listening to their CD going "if this opportunity presents itself at my party, which song can I use to take advantage of it." Then they asked me what key I wanted to sing it in - eep. My answer was that I knew I could sing it where they do (because I can) but blowing it higher probably wouldn't hurt either. In the end I'm pretty sure we sang it wherever they sing it because I could handle it, but it was low in my range in some places. I remember starting it and almost waiting for them to keep going (like I was singing with the CD or something) and that split second where I was like "oh! I'm the lead now..ok" and also "look how awesome they are all staying together/waiting for me" -- thoughts of course, that went by in the blink of an eye because helloooo I was in the middle of singing a song, but I digress (as usual.) I made it through the song without incident, except the last note where I doubled with someone because I didn't realize Wayne takes the high note there, but in true tag-out-quartet-singing-style he was near by and gave me the signal to hop up to that note and sang it to help me out.
Now for a tale of Larry the substitute Tenor. One of the coolest parts of having a quartet is being able to sing wherever, whenever for whomever. The main thing being that you need all four people to do that. At my birthday party my tenor Katie, was noticeably absent. This was most unfortunately do to bronchitis - clearly she would have rather been well and at my party. Anyway, her illness meant no Cultured Pearls Quartet showboating for this birthday girl. But in the discussion Steph and Brina and I were having with the lovely 'RM boys about how we wouldn't be singing Larry said something like "Well what do you know? I'm sure I can fake through some YWIH tenor, and Wayne can help me out anyway, he knows all those songs" and so with a little discussion we decided on One Fine Day. Steph blows the pitch, Larry finds his starting note and we're off! We make it through the first verse but between adjusting to the sound and the looks on Larry's face as he tries to make it through and Wayne's as he tries to help him, we crack up and loose it going into the second. Larry's response to this being "No, no! Keep going its all repeats from there, I got this!" So its on to take two. This time we make it through the whole thing with interesting faces being made through the bridge and at the end when Larry realizes he's responsible for the post on the tag. It was great fun. But the best part had to be when our lovely director Scott, drawn by our delightful harmonies no doubt, peeked his head around the corner to see who was singing with a look of "What in the name of the heavens in this?" Classic.
In true party style there was much merriment, sandwich consumption, and brownie devouring. Since the party was in a theatre in a dorm building it was kept non-alcoholic. So as the party wound down there were the inevitable suggestions of "so what bars are in the area?" to which I quickly responded with a "Bar-shmar! Come back to our apartment on the other side of campus instead. Less of a drive and the drinks are free." Everyone liked this idea and being the awesome people they are, all lent a helping hand to clean up and get food rounded up to bring back to our place.
In true Alexis style my apartment was a mess because I was running around to get myself and everything else together for my party. Of course people would end up back at our place - as Sabrina would say "Do you know who you are?" So while the clean-up crew was in action in the EX, Pete was sent ahead to do a quick sweep of the apartment. The best thing in this part of the story being that my sister and her boyfriend had gone back to my place, put on jammies, and pulled the futon flat for bed - so when Pete came in they were just kind of thrown back in to everything since I was too busy with people in the EX to call and warn her....tehe. I must also take a moment to note the awesomeness of Ms. Heather Collins as she was key to the success of my food wrapping-up and taking with me process.
So we get back to the apartment and Heather and her lovely husband Joe are there and all of my girlfriends found their way over - clearly no problem for people who went the school there, good on them. But no 'Round Midnight boys! Eeep! Earlier they had gotten lost on their way to the party because people on campus sent them to the wrong theater. I thought that this time they would just follow my girls over since they were all carrying things out of the building for me at the same time but noooo. Nothing the easy way. So I throw on my coat, grab my cell phone and head back out into the cold December night.
Me::dialing cell phone::
Larry: Hey, I think we know where we are.
Me: I'm outside so if you're close I can flag you down
Larry: Oh, I think we see you
Me::waving arms:: Pull in over here, park in the first spot you can find.
Larry: Got it. See you soon.
The final roster of the Lex's Super Sweet 25th Birthday After Party included: Steph, Larry, Vanna, Heather, Joe, Pete, Sabrina, TJ, Wayne, Stef, Mark, Jeff and myself. Laughter, conversation, and impromtu bits of song (including Jeff & I rapping Tupac's Changes and some sweet Boys II Men jams) continued well into the early morning hours. Twenty-fifth birthday party success, check.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Chapter Nineteen: Pitch Pipe!
I saw the digital edition of the Pitch Pipe today (8-6-2009) and almost started crying.
It was like being in Philly all over again and then it hit me - I'm freaking going to International. I am going to sing with 60 women I love. And I'm going to see and sing with so many other women who feel the same way and who are freaking fantastic at what they do. I am going to be a competitor on the International Stage! How cool is that?
Watch out Seattle - here I come!
It was like being in Philly all over again and then it hit me - I'm freaking going to International. I am going to sing with 60 women I love. And I'm going to see and sing with so many other women who feel the same way and who are freaking fantastic at what they do. I am going to be a competitor on the International Stage! How cool is that?
Watch out Seattle - here I come!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Chapter Eighteen: Guess What's Around My Neck?
I'm in the car with friends on the way home from bridesmaid dress shopping and my cell phone rings. I look down and see that its the lovely Ms. Sarah Lynn and answer the phone with great excitement. You see, its the weekend of SAI Region 16's contest. And this is the first year that my former chorus, Saratoga Soundtrack and the fantastic Ms Sarah, are competing.
Me: Hellooooo.
Sarah: Hello Ms Alexis.
Me: Hello Princess Sarah.
Sarah: Guess what's around my neck?
Me: Is it a medal?!
Sarah: Yup. Guess what color it is?
Me: Is it GOLD?!!?!!
Sarah: Yes!!
Me: Ahhhhhhh!
Saratoga Soundtrack won Divsion A their first time out with a 544! Now for those who don't know, we Sweet Ad's have small (15-30 women) and midsized (31-60 women) divisions within our regional contests in addition to our overall rankings. There is also a special contest for the top five in each of those divisions across the international organization called the Harmony Classic. But what is most important and impressive in this story is that the little chorus that could, Saratoga Soundtrack, took home the gold with 22 singers onstage the very first time they ever competed - Brava!
Me: Hellooooo.
Sarah: Hello Ms Alexis.
Me: Hello Princess Sarah.
Sarah: Guess what's around my neck?
Me: Is it a medal?!
Sarah: Yup. Guess what color it is?
Me: Is it GOLD?!!?!!
Sarah: Yes!!
Me: Ahhhhhhh!
Saratoga Soundtrack won Divsion A their first time out with a 544! Now for those who don't know, we Sweet Ad's have small (15-30 women) and midsized (31-60 women) divisions within our regional contests in addition to our overall rankings. There is also a special contest for the top five in each of those divisions across the international organization called the Harmony Classic. But what is most important and impressive in this story is that the little chorus that could, Saratoga Soundtrack, took home the gold with 22 singers onstage the very first time they ever competed - Brava!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Chapter Nine: Baby's First Regional Contest
Steph, Sabrina and I all piled into Steph's sweet lil mini cooper, popped the address in the GPS and headed off to Philadelphia, PA for our first Sweet Adelines Regional Contest.
The very first stop on our regional journey was rehearsal for the Regional Young Women In Harmony Chorus. This was the first year that the region was trying this out. There were girls from three groups. The Gracenotes, a YWIH college group from Westchester PA that had been started by a tenor who grew up in Region 15 and brought barbershop to college with her. The First Ladies, a high school group taught by Laurie Woolever, the Region 15 YWIH Coordinator. And then there was Steph, Sabrina and myself - the YWIH of the Harmony Celebration Chorus.
All of us girls got the charts and learning tracks for the songs ahead of time and came to Philly ready to sing. Our songs were 59th Street Bridge Song and Yesterday so we also brought 'hippie' attire to perform in. I don't know why, but we were expecting to have a 2 or three hour rehearsal, but all we had was one hour! We were under the direction of the wonderful Ms. Harriette Walters. She gave us a quick voice placement based on parts and where we normally stand in our own choruses and then as we warmed up moved us around until she got the sound she was looking for. I wound up in the front row, just left of center with Steph over my left shoulder and Sabrina over my right, but up in the center of the chorus. We sang through the songs and got ourselves moving and really selling them. In the front row we had a bunch of the Gracenotes, so we added in a little kick and hand movement that they did in their chorus to spice it up a bit.
The rehearsal flew right by and before we knew it, it was over. Harriette and the other regional ladies all had to rush off to the quartet briefing. That left us young ladies some time to run around Philly and get some lunch before we had to get back to the hotel to change and prep to watch the quartet competition and be ready to performance at the end of it. We had, of course, made friends during rehearsal and so we went to out to lunch with the Gracenotes to the TGIFridays not far from the hotel. Lunch was great and we got to know some of the girls a little better. Their leader had actually been mentioned to us by ladies in our chorus because she sang tenor with Capriccio - the only YWIH Quartet to come through the region. Well since she was going to school out in PA it didn't look like we had found a tenor, but we made a new friend and Kristen was it!
After lunch we still had plenty of time before we needed to head back and get ready so we decided to go for a romp around downtown Philly. We walked down to the beautiful fountain and back up to the famous LOVE sign. We looked at that sign and said "Next Year. Next year we'll come here and take a picture under this sign as a quartet."
We headed back to the hotel and checked into our room - which was attached to the Harmony Celebration Hospitality Suite. So when we thought we would take a quick nap before getting ourselves ready, we actually ended up fielding the sign-in sheet and drop-off of food and beverages for Saturday night - oh well. After some rest anyway we proceeded to get into our jeans, peasant and tie-dye t-shirts, put braids in our hair and even put flowers and peace signs on our cheeks before heading down to the main ballroom to watch the quartet competition. As the YWIH Chorus participants we even got special seating! We sat and watched our first regional quartet competition in awe of the bravery and talent of each woman who crossed that stage. We had a lot of "hometown" quartets to cheer for too: Just4, Vanity Fair, Borderline, In Good Company and Fanfare! After each quartet sang we ran to the back of the room to cheer and hug them as them came back into the ballroom.
Before we knew it, the last of the sequined ladies had crossed the stage and it was our turn. We lined up in the lobby outside the ballroom and Kristen got us started in some soft vocal warmups to get focused as Harriette came to join us. I can still remember how exciting it was to walk out on that contest stage for the very first time. The best part was probably that Faith and Jeannie Froelich were sitting front and center and I could hear them screaming "Go Lexy, Go Sabrina, Go Steph!!" We opened with 59th Street Bridge Song, nailed all of our moves and our chords and it felt groovy - to the say the least. In the break in between songs I was going to MC for the chorus. I walked out to the mic to greet the region. I let them know that we had girls from three groups (we HCC gals had been omitted from the program!) and that not only were we thrilled to be there, but were very grateful to our music educators and regional leadership for getting us there. Then I walked back into the chorus and got ready to sing Yesterday. Well the pitch blew and as I took a breath and restated to step into the first note to sing my legs nearly went out from underneath me! My stomach clenched up so it was hard to breathe and I felt like my whole body had gone shaky. I made it through the song ok - but when we finally got off the stage and I got to take stock. I always get nervous before I go onstage - the little butterflies in the tummy that keep me on point and make sure that that everything goes right - but this was way beyond that. I had never felt like my legs would go out from underneath me onstage. For me it was a confirmation that barbershop was something I needed to do for the rest of my life.
The results of the Quartet Contest were announced and wow! Just4 and Fanfare! were both medalists - 4th and 5th place respectively. All us HCC Ladies were so proud of them!
Sabrina, Steph and I had roped our friend Katie into singing with us. We tried to learn two songs to sing around at contest, but only wound up with one. We called ourselved "Not Yo Mama's Quartet" and our one song was Kickin' It Up A Notch, arranged by the wonderful Ms. Nancy Faddegon. We sang in the lobby for some of the Gracenotes and for a bunch of the ladies in our chorus - it was a blast!
The next morning started out with a little rehearsal and our Chorus Breakfast. The Buzz was around because they were going to be singing on the show of champions that night and so Karen Breidert came to watch us that morning and give us some feedback and support. She sat there beaming while we sang and told us to trust the message of the songs and we'd do great. Next came the actual breakfast and (my favorite part) Chorus Rah!, lead of chorus by our very own Jean and Diane. This year's tribute to our contest journey was set to the familiar story and tunes of The Music Man, a musical which Scott is more than fond of. [sidenote: Scott Brannon is Harold Hill - in the he can totally play and sing the snot outta that part way] I think the highlight of it would have to be the Marian the Librarian parody. The line was something about "I hear the HC Chorus has a new director, do you know what they're saying? Their director is Maaaaaaaaasculine." We all laughed so hard! Next we had a double quartet who sang the Buzz's It's My Song. Well right around the time they got to "I give to you this part of my because you are my friend" I was in tears. It was the morning of my first contest ever, the first contest for this rebirthed chorus, and I couldn't imagine anywhere I would rather be, or any people I would rather be sharing it with. To close out the breakfast we recognised everyone who worked so hard to make sure we made it to Philly that weekend, and after one last quick of my cranberry juice and some quick hugs it was off to the room to begin preparing.
The first order of business was to get dressed and made up in time for our row-by-row costume and makeup checks. This was our first real encounter with "True Tan" foundation. Now of the three of us, Sabrina is fair and freckly; Steph is fair-ish, but is Italian and has that great olive glow; and I tend to be the tannest, but I still don't compare to "True Tan." The initial reactions of my fellows was a "you've got to be kidding me" but by the end of the blending process (which is not a quick one) and with all of the other stage makeup on, while we were feeling kind of drag-queen-ish, we did look pretty glamorous. Once we donned our sequined tops and spangled earrings we moved into the hospitality suite to gather as a chorus and take some pictures too.
Next we headed to the elevator bank to line-up and warm up. The sound was crazy with such a low ceiling - it was bouncing right back at us. Scott reminded us not to over-sing into the sound we were hearing and just take it easy for now. The host chorus Hickory Tree, came up the elevators to get us and we were off into the pattern! Now for someone who has never been in a contest, the pattern is a series of stops/rooms that each chorus goes through on their way to the stage. First you hit the lobby, then the rehearsal room, the primp room (gotta love the last minute makeup details,) the photo room (where there is generally a little time for some singing), then its down the escalator to wait outside the ballroom.
From there the front row started into the backstage, SQ and I engaged in our pre-show ritual, and the fantastic Ms. Katie Holden lead the charge as the front row of the Harmony Celebration Chorus hit the regional contest stage for the first time. We were out there smiling for what seemed like forever when Scott finally followed our last member onto the stage and front row began our peel-off to head back to the risers. I can still remember how I felt as the lights came up on us for the first time as they announced us ... "from Ridgewood NJ, under the direction of Scott Brannon, the Harmony Celebration Chorus!" We opened with How Deep is the Ocean and closed with Yes Sir, That's My Baby. [A funny lil story about our uptune; earlier that morning we realized that our front row choreography was too big for the stage and had to change it! The lyric goes "one more time, here's the line that I'll deliver to the preacher, he's all mine." Well on line, we formed a line and then popped out the side and pulled back into a V as Scott comes storming up the middle. Well we didn't have room for an 11 person line from the risers to the front mics. So we pulled the back two people (Sharon Guzi and myself) from the line and made it so we pop to the sides and "present" the line. Luckily Sharon and I aren't the kind of gals to freak out about last minute changes like that. Still I love the fact that at my first contest we changed the choreo the morning of - makes for a great story.]
I would just like to take a moment to state the obvious and say that the end of a contest is the most nerve wracking 15 minutes (or so) of your life. We knew we had sung well, done our best - but at this point what would our best earn us? Well our best was a 593 which earned is Third Place Medals and status as the region's Second Place Midsize Chorus! We were ecstatic! Liberty Oak came in second, and Greater Nassau took home the gold.
The chorus met up in another ballroom immediately following the announcements to hand out our white ribbon 3rd place medals, and our pink 2nd place midsize chorus awards. We all had time to eat, come back and get changed and have rehearsal before the Show of Champions that evening. The top 3 choruses and quartets all get to perform and we were so thrilled to be able to sing again that evening.
The show, like the rest of the weekend, seemed to go by in a flash and before I knew it we were sitting in the audience waiting for the final act, The Buzz, to take the stage. Now up until this point I knew all about Jeannie. I knew that she had won two crowns (one with City Lights, and one with The Buzz.) I knew that she had a beautiful voice (she stood right behind me in the chorus.) I knew that she was warm, inviting, and lots of fun. I also knew that all the Buzz-ladies had two crowns and clearly I was in for a treat...But I had no idea just how amazing the sound and performance that was coming right at me was going to be. I was covered in goosebumps within seconds and on the edge of my seat the whole time, unless I was rocking back in it from laughter or on my feet applauding. I remember very clearly turning to Steph and saying "Its a really good thing I didn't hear them sing before I auditioned for the chorus or I really would have peed my pants trying to sing for Jeannie." [sidenote: not because she would ever make me feel that way, but more because I would be quaking in the awe of her awesomeness]
After the Show of Champions it was up to the hospitality suite to make sure everything was ready. Not Yo Mama's Quartet performed for our chorus and also went down to sing our one song for the ladies of the Golden Apple Chorus. We also sang in our room for some of the quartets that been singing in other hospitality suites when we sang - namely Vanity Fair, In Good Company, and Hit Parade. Now I don't know how things work in other regions, but in ours we are fortunate enough (and small enough) that everyone and everything is in one hotel. So Saturday night every chorus goes back to their own hospitality suite and waits while different quartets come around and sing to them - its awesome!
Steph had to get to sleep early because she was working a NJ Devil's game the next day. I stayed up late singing tags. And Katie and Sabrina stayed up to clean-up. In the morning we caught the end of the Mass Sing down in the lobby as we checked out on our way to the Devil's game. We hopped into Steph's little red Mini-Coop with our medals around our necks and smiles in our hearts as we headed out from Philly.
The very first stop on our regional journey was rehearsal for the Regional Young Women In Harmony Chorus. This was the first year that the region was trying this out. There were girls from three groups. The Gracenotes, a YWIH college group from Westchester PA that had been started by a tenor who grew up in Region 15 and brought barbershop to college with her. The First Ladies, a high school group taught by Laurie Woolever, the Region 15 YWIH Coordinator. And then there was Steph, Sabrina and myself - the YWIH of the Harmony Celebration Chorus.
All of us girls got the charts and learning tracks for the songs ahead of time and came to Philly ready to sing. Our songs were 59th Street Bridge Song and Yesterday so we also brought 'hippie' attire to perform in. I don't know why, but we were expecting to have a 2 or three hour rehearsal, but all we had was one hour! We were under the direction of the wonderful Ms. Harriette Walters. She gave us a quick voice placement based on parts and where we normally stand in our own choruses and then as we warmed up moved us around until she got the sound she was looking for. I wound up in the front row, just left of center with Steph over my left shoulder and Sabrina over my right, but up in the center of the chorus. We sang through the songs and got ourselves moving and really selling them. In the front row we had a bunch of the Gracenotes, so we added in a little kick and hand movement that they did in their chorus to spice it up a bit.
The rehearsal flew right by and before we knew it, it was over. Harriette and the other regional ladies all had to rush off to the quartet briefing. That left us young ladies some time to run around Philly and get some lunch before we had to get back to the hotel to change and prep to watch the quartet competition and be ready to performance at the end of it. We had, of course, made friends during rehearsal and so we went to out to lunch with the Gracenotes to the TGIFridays not far from the hotel. Lunch was great and we got to know some of the girls a little better. Their leader had actually been mentioned to us by ladies in our chorus because she sang tenor with Capriccio - the only YWIH Quartet to come through the region. Well since she was going to school out in PA it didn't look like we had found a tenor, but we made a new friend and Kristen was it!
After lunch we still had plenty of time before we needed to head back and get ready so we decided to go for a romp around downtown Philly. We walked down to the beautiful fountain and back up to the famous LOVE sign. We looked at that sign and said "Next Year. Next year we'll come here and take a picture under this sign as a quartet."
We headed back to the hotel and checked into our room - which was attached to the Harmony Celebration Hospitality Suite. So when we thought we would take a quick nap before getting ourselves ready, we actually ended up fielding the sign-in sheet and drop-off of food and beverages for Saturday night - oh well. After some rest anyway we proceeded to get into our jeans, peasant and tie-dye t-shirts, put braids in our hair and even put flowers and peace signs on our cheeks before heading down to the main ballroom to watch the quartet competition. As the YWIH Chorus participants we even got special seating! We sat and watched our first regional quartet competition in awe of the bravery and talent of each woman who crossed that stage. We had a lot of "hometown" quartets to cheer for too: Just4, Vanity Fair, Borderline, In Good Company and Fanfare! After each quartet sang we ran to the back of the room to cheer and hug them as them came back into the ballroom.
Before we knew it, the last of the sequined ladies had crossed the stage and it was our turn. We lined up in the lobby outside the ballroom and Kristen got us started in some soft vocal warmups to get focused as Harriette came to join us. I can still remember how exciting it was to walk out on that contest stage for the very first time. The best part was probably that Faith and Jeannie Froelich were sitting front and center and I could hear them screaming "Go Lexy, Go Sabrina, Go Steph!!" We opened with 59th Street Bridge Song, nailed all of our moves and our chords and it felt groovy - to the say the least. In the break in between songs I was going to MC for the chorus. I walked out to the mic to greet the region. I let them know that we had girls from three groups (we HCC gals had been omitted from the program!) and that not only were we thrilled to be there, but were very grateful to our music educators and regional leadership for getting us there. Then I walked back into the chorus and got ready to sing Yesterday. Well the pitch blew and as I took a breath and restated to step into the first note to sing my legs nearly went out from underneath me! My stomach clenched up so it was hard to breathe and I felt like my whole body had gone shaky. I made it through the song ok - but when we finally got off the stage and I got to take stock. I always get nervous before I go onstage - the little butterflies in the tummy that keep me on point and make sure that that everything goes right - but this was way beyond that. I had never felt like my legs would go out from underneath me onstage. For me it was a confirmation that barbershop was something I needed to do for the rest of my life.
The results of the Quartet Contest were announced and wow! Just4 and Fanfare! were both medalists - 4th and 5th place respectively. All us HCC Ladies were so proud of them!
Sabrina, Steph and I had roped our friend Katie into singing with us. We tried to learn two songs to sing around at contest, but only wound up with one. We called ourselved "Not Yo Mama's Quartet" and our one song was Kickin' It Up A Notch, arranged by the wonderful Ms. Nancy Faddegon. We sang in the lobby for some of the Gracenotes and for a bunch of the ladies in our chorus - it was a blast!
The next morning started out with a little rehearsal and our Chorus Breakfast. The Buzz was around because they were going to be singing on the show of champions that night and so Karen Breidert came to watch us that morning and give us some feedback and support. She sat there beaming while we sang and told us to trust the message of the songs and we'd do great. Next came the actual breakfast and (my favorite part) Chorus Rah!, lead of chorus by our very own Jean and Diane. This year's tribute to our contest journey was set to the familiar story and tunes of The Music Man, a musical which Scott is more than fond of. [sidenote: Scott Brannon is Harold Hill - in the he can totally play and sing the snot outta that part way] I think the highlight of it would have to be the Marian the Librarian parody. The line was something about "I hear the HC Chorus has a new director, do you know what they're saying? Their director is Maaaaaaaaasculine." We all laughed so hard! Next we had a double quartet who sang the Buzz's It's My Song. Well right around the time they got to "I give to you this part of my because you are my friend" I was in tears. It was the morning of my first contest ever, the first contest for this rebirthed chorus, and I couldn't imagine anywhere I would rather be, or any people I would rather be sharing it with. To close out the breakfast we recognised everyone who worked so hard to make sure we made it to Philly that weekend, and after one last quick of my cranberry juice and some quick hugs it was off to the room to begin preparing.
The first order of business was to get dressed and made up in time for our row-by-row costume and makeup checks. This was our first real encounter with "True Tan" foundation. Now of the three of us, Sabrina is fair and freckly; Steph is fair-ish, but is Italian and has that great olive glow; and I tend to be the tannest, but I still don't compare to "True Tan." The initial reactions of my fellows was a "you've got to be kidding me" but by the end of the blending process (which is not a quick one) and with all of the other stage makeup on, while we were feeling kind of drag-queen-ish, we did look pretty glamorous. Once we donned our sequined tops and spangled earrings we moved into the hospitality suite to gather as a chorus and take some pictures too.
Next we headed to the elevator bank to line-up and warm up. The sound was crazy with such a low ceiling - it was bouncing right back at us. Scott reminded us not to over-sing into the sound we were hearing and just take it easy for now. The host chorus Hickory Tree, came up the elevators to get us and we were off into the pattern! Now for someone who has never been in a contest, the pattern is a series of stops/rooms that each chorus goes through on their way to the stage. First you hit the lobby, then the rehearsal room, the primp room (gotta love the last minute makeup details,) the photo room (where there is generally a little time for some singing), then its down the escalator to wait outside the ballroom.
From there the front row started into the backstage, SQ and I engaged in our pre-show ritual, and the fantastic Ms. Katie Holden lead the charge as the front row of the Harmony Celebration Chorus hit the regional contest stage for the first time. We were out there smiling for what seemed like forever when Scott finally followed our last member onto the stage and front row began our peel-off to head back to the risers. I can still remember how I felt as the lights came up on us for the first time as they announced us ... "from Ridgewood NJ, under the direction of Scott Brannon, the Harmony Celebration Chorus!" We opened with How Deep is the Ocean and closed with Yes Sir, That's My Baby. [A funny lil story about our uptune; earlier that morning we realized that our front row choreography was too big for the stage and had to change it! The lyric goes "one more time, here's the line that I'll deliver to the preacher, he's all mine." Well on line, we formed a line and then popped out the side and pulled back into a V as Scott comes storming up the middle. Well we didn't have room for an 11 person line from the risers to the front mics. So we pulled the back two people (Sharon Guzi and myself) from the line and made it so we pop to the sides and "present" the line. Luckily Sharon and I aren't the kind of gals to freak out about last minute changes like that. Still I love the fact that at my first contest we changed the choreo the morning of - makes for a great story.]
I would just like to take a moment to state the obvious and say that the end of a contest is the most nerve wracking 15 minutes (or so) of your life. We knew we had sung well, done our best - but at this point what would our best earn us? Well our best was a 593 which earned is Third Place Medals and status as the region's Second Place Midsize Chorus! We were ecstatic! Liberty Oak came in second, and Greater Nassau took home the gold.
The chorus met up in another ballroom immediately following the announcements to hand out our white ribbon 3rd place medals, and our pink 2nd place midsize chorus awards. We all had time to eat, come back and get changed and have rehearsal before the Show of Champions that evening. The top 3 choruses and quartets all get to perform and we were so thrilled to be able to sing again that evening.
The show, like the rest of the weekend, seemed to go by in a flash and before I knew it we were sitting in the audience waiting for the final act, The Buzz, to take the stage. Now up until this point I knew all about Jeannie. I knew that she had won two crowns (one with City Lights, and one with The Buzz.) I knew that she had a beautiful voice (she stood right behind me in the chorus.) I knew that she was warm, inviting, and lots of fun. I also knew that all the Buzz-ladies had two crowns and clearly I was in for a treat...But I had no idea just how amazing the sound and performance that was coming right at me was going to be. I was covered in goosebumps within seconds and on the edge of my seat the whole time, unless I was rocking back in it from laughter or on my feet applauding. I remember very clearly turning to Steph and saying "Its a really good thing I didn't hear them sing before I auditioned for the chorus or I really would have peed my pants trying to sing for Jeannie." [sidenote: not because she would ever make me feel that way, but more because I would be quaking in the awe of her awesomeness]
After the Show of Champions it was up to the hospitality suite to make sure everything was ready. Not Yo Mama's Quartet performed for our chorus and also went down to sing our one song for the ladies of the Golden Apple Chorus. We also sang in our room for some of the quartets that been singing in other hospitality suites when we sang - namely Vanity Fair, In Good Company, and Hit Parade. Now I don't know how things work in other regions, but in ours we are fortunate enough (and small enough) that everyone and everything is in one hotel. So Saturday night every chorus goes back to their own hospitality suite and waits while different quartets come around and sing to them - its awesome!
Steph had to get to sleep early because she was working a NJ Devil's game the next day. I stayed up late singing tags. And Katie and Sabrina stayed up to clean-up. In the morning we caught the end of the Mass Sing down in the lobby as we checked out on our way to the Devil's game. We hopped into Steph's little red Mini-Coop with our medals around our necks and smiles in our hearts as we headed out from Philly.
Chapter Eight: I Love Kathy Carmody!
HCC's next step toward our very first trip to the contest stage was our retreat. The key word here being "treat" because our coach for the weekend at the Parsippany Sheraton was the dynamic Ms. Kathy Carmody. We started out Friday night singing through some of the songs in the repertoire so Kathy could get a feel for our energy and our sound. We went through our uptune and ballad so she should really get an idea of what she would need to work with us on for the remainder of the weekend.
When we were done singing (for the evening anyway) we went into a room across the hall to watch a Ben Zander movie. It was really cool - one of those personal empowering movies. I remember the concept about, ok so you can play an aria, but hear how much different it is when you feel it and play through the emotion of the notes. That and the Shinning Eyes. I remember it talking about singing through Shinning Eyes. After the video we had some wonderful HCC Rah provided by Jean and Diane and then were off to bed.
At breakfast the next morning the retreat fun continued with table numbers. Upon entering the dining room we all pick numbers so that our tables would get all mixed up and we were sure to get to know the women in our chorus better. As newbies, Steph, Sabrina, and I particularly welcomed this system and made sure that we all picked different numbers from each other to further expand our chorus circle of friends. I like this system - and was very glad that it continued to be in place for all the meals for the remainder of the weekend.
We spent our lunch and evening rehearsals making sure to sing all of our vowels in the vowel tunnel and making sure to bring joy to all the songs we sang. We started to work on a new skill set - singing supported softs. We also got a chance to have a front row pull out rehearsal and really start refining some of the more precise moments in our choreo plan. We came back into the chorus to combine our good singing with our good dancing and everything just started to feel great.
When we were done singing (for the evening anyway) we went into a room across the hall to watch a Ben Zander movie. It was really cool - one of those personal empowering movies. I remember the concept about, ok so you can play an aria, but hear how much different it is when you feel it and play through the emotion of the notes. That and the Shinning Eyes. I remember it talking about singing through Shinning Eyes. After the video we had some wonderful HCC Rah provided by Jean and Diane and then were off to bed.
At breakfast the next morning the retreat fun continued with table numbers. Upon entering the dining room we all pick numbers so that our tables would get all mixed up and we were sure to get to know the women in our chorus better. As newbies, Steph, Sabrina, and I particularly welcomed this system and made sure that we all picked different numbers from each other to further expand our chorus circle of friends. I like this system - and was very glad that it continued to be in place for all the meals for the remainder of the weekend.
We spent our lunch and evening rehearsals making sure to sing all of our vowels in the vowel tunnel and making sure to bring joy to all the songs we sang. We started to work on a new skill set - singing supported softs. We also got a chance to have a front row pull out rehearsal and really start refining some of the more precise moments in our choreo plan. We came back into the chorus to combine our good singing with our good dancing and everything just started to feel great.
That evening for our entertainment purposes we had Jean and Diane drawing all the lucky winners from our very large Chinese auction. I walked away with a watch, some gorgeous Indian earrings, a LeSportSac makeup bag and a delightfully hideous, perfectly Sweet Adeline sequined dress that no one had bid on, but was unanimously decided that I should receive. At which point I decided that Sabrina needed to try it on - which she did to the hilarity of all. To close out the evenings festivities we were treated to vocal stylings of everyone's favorite quartet, Just 4.
The next morning Kathy really worked with us on finding the heart and the joy in our ballad. She did an exercise with using "You Are My Sunshine." First she had us sing it as if we were singing to our best friend. Then as if we were singing to a puppy dog. Then as if we were singing it to a new born baby. And then (and this was the killer) as if we were singing it to our mother and she was very sick. Well by the end of it we were all in tears, but we had got the message - you need to find that visceral emotion and sing through it. When you sing a ballad sometimes you are singing to a lover, sometimes a friend or loved one, sometimes to a dream - but whatever it is, it has to be real for you. We wrapped up the morning by running the heck outta our uptune. We glided on our new found sound and danced with joy all the way to the tag!
We left our retreat energized and excited to continue our first journey to the contest stage as the Harmony Celebration Chorus - with a renewed love for our craft. But more importantly with a bound spirit of togetherness for each other, our director, and our new friend and coach, Ms. Kathy Carmody.
Chapter Seven: Baby's First Competition Package
Before we took a break for the holidays had a holiday party, at the lovely home of Ms. Heather Collins, and a were given the music for our new competition package. Our two new songs were to be Yes Sir, That's My Baby and How Deep Is The Ocean - such amazing charts!
When we got back together after the break we starting working the uptune because the fabulous Ms. Gail Jensik was coming in to coach us and teach us the choreography plan she had designed for the song. As anyone who has ever had the pleasure of working with Gail can tell you, she has great energy! She is sassy and friendly, but she won't let you get away with anything less then what you are truly capable of.
When we got back together after the break we starting working the uptune because the fabulous Ms. Gail Jensik was coming in to coach us and teach us the choreography plan she had designed for the song. As anyone who has ever had the pleasure of working with Gail can tell you, she has great energy! She is sassy and friendly, but she won't let you get away with anything less then what you are truly capable of.
As we got into learning the choreo it was decided that anyone who had interest in dancing in the front row would come down and learn the choreo and the line-up would be chosen later. Being the Dance & Theatre majors that we were, Steph, Sabrina and I all came down to learn it. The rest of the day went by in a flash of steps, turns, laughs and song. It was our first big coaching session with the chorus, and just one more thing to seal in the fact and this was a group of ladies that we wanted to sing with for a long time.
At the end of the day we helped take down the risers and load them back into the van. We went back in to get our things and hug people goodbye. On our way out we passed our director, Scott, and he said something like "I just wanted to thank you girls for your energy. Good rehearsal - see you Wednesday night." Well we just about floated to the car! A brilliant end to a very exciting rehearsal.
The next week at rehearsal most of the people who came down to the front row were still there and some others simply went up onto the risers. Did this is mean I had made it into the front row? Well the next week at rehearsal we were going to be voice placed. One by one Scott listened to each voice in the chorus and put us up on the risers and switched us all around until he had a configuration that sounded best. Steph ended up on the stage left side of the front row. Sabrina ended up on the 3rd or 4th row by Edie and Mary Jo - a sweet spot indeed. She was a lead who had "infiltrated the jungle. " And I came to get my second riser placement in the chorus splitting front row center with Ms. Sharon Guzi with Faith to my right - I was pleased as punch! The only thing I like better than singing is singing and dancing, and I was going to be doing just that.
Chapter Six: Showtime & Dreamy Boy Quartets
The debut show of the Harmony Celebration Chorus was "Celebrate A'Capella" on December 1, 2007 - and I had a lot of work to do if I wanted to sing on that show. As it turned out the show was broken into three main parts: an opening section, the Lion King Package, and the Heart Package - with quartets in between.
It very quickly became apparent to me that there was nearly no way for me to cover the breadth of material I would need to learn, both vocally and visually, to be onstage for the entire show. But luckily it was broken into those three nifty sections So I learned the first three songs, I already knew the last two songs from auditions, and all the visual elements to go with them. I even learned all the music for the Lion King Package, but just couldn't learn all the choreo in time.
One of the coolest things about being in your first chorus show, is getting your very first riser placement. During my time as a perspective/new member I had been floating around in the middle of the chorus, which as a bass, is usually where we end up. In my chorus we lovingly refer to that thicket of low voiced, passionately wonderful singers as "the jungle." I was placed up on the third row of the jungle, splitting center with the one and only Ms. Edie Murphy. Edie Murphy (aka Big Mama.. well at least that's what I call her) is a bass as I can only hope to be. She's one of those women that just has the range and the spunk and the class to wail on a bass line - an frankly sings notes so low I can only pray I will be able to sing them someday. On top of all of that, she is funny, kind, and welcoming. Right behind me, over my left shoulder was another bass, Ms. Stephanie Robinson, the compiler of our weekly newsletter "The Party Line." I couldn't have been luckier than to have two cool basses like these for my first riser buddies. Here's a taste of them - when I was still learning a lot of the music, I would get up on the risers for warm-ups and then run down and grab my binder and bring it back up. Well they weren't having it "you don't need it" would be the response or "fake it." It was a combination of putting confidence into me and getting me into that performers mode - and I thank them for it! I would also be remiss in my riser buddy story were I not to mention a lovely lead and lovely lady, Ms. Lorraine, who stood on my right and was always there with a hug and a smile!
On the day of the show, my crazy gals (Steph and Sabrina) and myself got to the venue nice and early to get to work on our "crew duties." Both of the girls were taking grad classes that fall, and so they didn't have time to learn all the new stuff to sing on the show. But being the people I love, they were still as involved as anything! Sabrina designed the lights for the show, which I can tell you was no easy business because she wasn't allowed to refocus any of the lights. But she came through in her standard magnificence and made the chorus sparkle and shine brighter than ever before. Steph and I were posted as backstage crew during the show. Since I wasn't in the Lion King Package and didn't have to change or prepare for it I was able to page the curtains for the performing quartets, and help our director with his quick-change for Lion King.
After the chorus got there and warmed up, sang through our songs, and got used to the new space and the lighting we had a quick break for dinner and a chance to watch the sound check. That's when the magic started - and by magic, of course I mean polished and delightful men's barbershop quartets. First we had Our Town. Our wonderful director Scott on lead, two men's AIC Champs on Bass and Bari, and one heck of a tenor busted out with a sound that I can only describe as barbershop the way it should be. When I think to myself "barbershop" the sound that comes to mind is the sound you hear when Our Town starts singing. What I mean by that is you have four men, with four rich, distinct voices that come together in a sheer explosion of crackling barbershop sound - and four more natural entertainers you could never hope to meet. Simply put -sweet mother of man sound. Like I said, magic. Then, completely on the other end of the vocal spectrum, we had Vocal Spectrum. [sorry I love a good pun, I just couldn't resist] Now up until this day I had never heard them. I knew they were the 2006 men's champs, and I heard they were young and cute, but with getting myself musically ready for my first show I don't think I even bothered to YouTube them. Well was I in for a treat. Picture it - a 23 yr old girl [just 23 mind you, my birthday was the day before] who has been running around with little barbershop ladies for the past 4 hrs sees four handsome young men come strolling into the auditorium and onto the stage and then hears a more than handsome sound - Swoon.
After mic-checks for the quartets the make-up and glitzing rituals began downstairs. This was my first exposure to the chorus make-up plot, but with the help of LilyLou and Sharon Guzi, I was properly glammed up to code in no time. Once we were all perfectly primped we headed to the stage. The upstage was split off from the part of the stage with the risers and we had chairs set up in a reverse-split of our riser order so we could get to where we needed to be with as much ease as possible. When it was time we walked around to get onto the risers and wait for the curtain to open for the very first time, on the very first song, of the very first show of the Harmony Celebration Chorus.
The first set went by like a flash, and before I knew it the curtains were closing to thunderous applause. The chorus quietly exited the risers and went back to change for Lion King, while Steph and I got ready to page the curtains. We had The New Singers sing a tribute to Ann Minihane. Then the lovely ladies of Vanity Fair. Next up was our wonderful 5th place regional medalists, Fanfare followed by the incredible man-sound of Our Town and a quick costume change for Scott. This change took place between when his quartet exited the stage, the chorus was reintroduced and the opening song of the package was performed.. Here comes an anecdote: During our rehearsals of the Lion King package Scott would always tell us about how when his son was younger, Lion King was his favorite movie. He would tell us about how excited his son got dancing around and singing, and then how excited he got, and how we needed to have more of that "6 yr old boy" energy when we were singing things like Just Can't Wait to Be King. Well on this night, as he stood in the wing watching the opening song of the package and I was trying to tie the side of his costume, he had plenty of that 6 yr old boy energy. He would stand and I would go to tie and just as I did, he would turn and I'd get it again, and he'd turn. I was laughing to myself as it was happening just thinking "I cant wait to tell the chorus about this later." The only thing that topped that was right as he was about to go on, his baritone Larry takes a look at him is this crazy jungle-getup we had him wearing and says "Man, you're outta the quartet." I almost died, but instead chimed in with an "I can sing lead" which was responded to with an "Ok kid, you're in." Scott jumped right into the Lion King package, I sang quietly from the wings, and the first half of the show came to a successful end.
Intermission time, aka put on those shiny beaded purple collars. During intermission it was also my job to make sure that both of the guest quartets knew what was going on for/where to come out from during the callbacks at the end of the show. Scott had told his quartet so my job was to tell Vocal Spectrum, and as you can imagine, I was totally looking forward to it. I headed over toward where their dressing room was, off on stage left. As I was walking over I saw Jonny Moroni.
Me: Hey, how are you?
Jonny: Good, you?
Me: So far so good. Has anyone told you guys where to come on for the callbacks?
Jonny: Yes, they told us.
Me: Damn, well there goes my excuse to come over and talk to the cute quartet.
Jonny: Wait, where do we have to be?
Ah a good sense of humor - love it.
With a beaming smile I went to man my post at the downstage curtain as the chorus was ready backstage and the first quartet of the second half was ready to go on, Just 4. These ladies were hysterical and sang beautifully, as always. At the end of their set our dreamy guest quartet came right to where Steph and I were paging the curtains, to listen and be ready. I think it was Eric who made a comment about the ridiculously sparkly collar I was wearing, just something like "you ladies look nice, or like you're ready to sing" or something generally polite like that. To which I responded with a thank you and the recent realization that I had to do a shoulder shimmy in this fringy-beaded getup, which I proceeded to demonstrate to the muffled giggles of the 6 of us in that immediate area. "Well I can do that," says Eric, and then shimmys away. "Well next time bring your purple collar and be ready to get out there with us," I say. "Sure." Next thing you know they're being introduced, Steph and I are opening those curtains, and then sitting down behind them to listen to one of the finest quartets in business. They finished their set to a huge round of applause, that was neatly segued by our MC Ms. Katie Holden, into our final set. The Heart Package flew by as we sang and danced our way through the two final number of our first show to end our show with thunderous applause.
After the show I ran into the audience to find my Mama, Lee, Aunt Gracie, and Gianna who all gave big hugs and rave reviews. Then I had to find Sarah, Kelsey and Beka who had all come up the night before for my birthday festivities and had stayed for the barbershop fun! After a quick clean-up of the stage, a change out of our costume, and another sweep of the dressing area we were off to the AfterGlo. The ride (or attempt) to get to the AfterGlo was filled with entirely more adventure and confusion that it should have been, and that's all I'm going to say about that. [right SQ?]
Our AfterGlo was at a TGIFridays and we were all crammed in to a bunch of tables while quartets wandered around to sing. Our table had Beka, Sarah, Kels, Steph, Sabrina and myself. We ordered some typical snacks and prayed they would get there before we were forced to start gnawing on each other - a good day of barbershopping sure will work up an appetite. After the food came and we had listened to some of the chapter quartets that were singing, I decided to wander down to the other end of the room to see who was singing down there. First I came upon Our Town and Just4 singing Lida Rose/Ladies duet from Music man, which I love. After I was done being transfixed by that I made it down to the end of the room where Vocal Spectrum was singing and Ms. Jeannie Froelich was shouting "Charlie! Charlie! Sing Cheer up Charlie!." As she was doing that I happened to bump into Eric again.
Me: Eric I have to ask you a question?
Eric: Sure, what is it.
Me: Do you sing happy birthday?
Eric: (very seriously and totally looking like he's going to say no) Yes.
Me: Well it was my birthday yesterday, so I was hoping I could request a serenade.
Eric: Sure no problem, just remind me your name again...
Me: Alexis.
Eric: Alexis, great. I'll take care of it, no problem.
Then he went back over to the quartet and clued them in, they blew the pitch pipe and the proceeded to deliver the coolest 23rd birthday present ever.
It very quickly became apparent to me that there was nearly no way for me to cover the breadth of material I would need to learn, both vocally and visually, to be onstage for the entire show. But luckily it was broken into those three nifty sections So I learned the first three songs, I already knew the last two songs from auditions, and all the visual elements to go with them. I even learned all the music for the Lion King Package, but just couldn't learn all the choreo in time.
One of the coolest things about being in your first chorus show, is getting your very first riser placement. During my time as a perspective/new member I had been floating around in the middle of the chorus, which as a bass, is usually where we end up. In my chorus we lovingly refer to that thicket of low voiced, passionately wonderful singers as "the jungle." I was placed up on the third row of the jungle, splitting center with the one and only Ms. Edie Murphy. Edie Murphy (aka Big Mama.. well at least that's what I call her) is a bass as I can only hope to be. She's one of those women that just has the range and the spunk and the class to wail on a bass line - an frankly sings notes so low I can only pray I will be able to sing them someday. On top of all of that, she is funny, kind, and welcoming. Right behind me, over my left shoulder was another bass, Ms. Stephanie Robinson, the compiler of our weekly newsletter "The Party Line." I couldn't have been luckier than to have two cool basses like these for my first riser buddies. Here's a taste of them - when I was still learning a lot of the music, I would get up on the risers for warm-ups and then run down and grab my binder and bring it back up. Well they weren't having it "you don't need it" would be the response or "fake it." It was a combination of putting confidence into me and getting me into that performers mode - and I thank them for it! I would also be remiss in my riser buddy story were I not to mention a lovely lead and lovely lady, Ms. Lorraine, who stood on my right and was always there with a hug and a smile!
On the day of the show, my crazy gals (Steph and Sabrina) and myself got to the venue nice and early to get to work on our "crew duties." Both of the girls were taking grad classes that fall, and so they didn't have time to learn all the new stuff to sing on the show. But being the people I love, they were still as involved as anything! Sabrina designed the lights for the show, which I can tell you was no easy business because she wasn't allowed to refocus any of the lights. But she came through in her standard magnificence and made the chorus sparkle and shine brighter than ever before. Steph and I were posted as backstage crew during the show. Since I wasn't in the Lion King Package and didn't have to change or prepare for it I was able to page the curtains for the performing quartets, and help our director with his quick-change for Lion King.
After the chorus got there and warmed up, sang through our songs, and got used to the new space and the lighting we had a quick break for dinner and a chance to watch the sound check. That's when the magic started - and by magic, of course I mean polished and delightful men's barbershop quartets. First we had Our Town. Our wonderful director Scott on lead, two men's AIC Champs on Bass and Bari, and one heck of a tenor busted out with a sound that I can only describe as barbershop the way it should be. When I think to myself "barbershop" the sound that comes to mind is the sound you hear when Our Town starts singing. What I mean by that is you have four men, with four rich, distinct voices that come together in a sheer explosion of crackling barbershop sound - and four more natural entertainers you could never hope to meet. Simply put -sweet mother of man sound. Like I said, magic. Then, completely on the other end of the vocal spectrum, we had Vocal Spectrum. [sorry I love a good pun, I just couldn't resist] Now up until this day I had never heard them. I knew they were the 2006 men's champs, and I heard they were young and cute, but with getting myself musically ready for my first show I don't think I even bothered to YouTube them. Well was I in for a treat. Picture it - a 23 yr old girl [just 23 mind you, my birthday was the day before] who has been running around with little barbershop ladies for the past 4 hrs sees four handsome young men come strolling into the auditorium and onto the stage and then hears a more than handsome sound - Swoon.
After mic-checks for the quartets the make-up and glitzing rituals began downstairs. This was my first exposure to the chorus make-up plot, but with the help of LilyLou and Sharon Guzi, I was properly glammed up to code in no time. Once we were all perfectly primped we headed to the stage. The upstage was split off from the part of the stage with the risers and we had chairs set up in a reverse-split of our riser order so we could get to where we needed to be with as much ease as possible. When it was time we walked around to get onto the risers and wait for the curtain to open for the very first time, on the very first song, of the very first show of the Harmony Celebration Chorus.
The first set went by like a flash, and before I knew it the curtains were closing to thunderous applause. The chorus quietly exited the risers and went back to change for Lion King, while Steph and I got ready to page the curtains. We had The New Singers sing a tribute to Ann Minihane. Then the lovely ladies of Vanity Fair. Next up was our wonderful 5th place regional medalists, Fanfare followed by the incredible man-sound of Our Town and a quick costume change for Scott. This change took place between when his quartet exited the stage, the chorus was reintroduced and the opening song of the package was performed.. Here comes an anecdote: During our rehearsals of the Lion King package Scott would always tell us about how when his son was younger, Lion King was his favorite movie. He would tell us about how excited his son got dancing around and singing, and then how excited he got, and how we needed to have more of that "6 yr old boy" energy when we were singing things like Just Can't Wait to Be King. Well on this night, as he stood in the wing watching the opening song of the package and I was trying to tie the side of his costume, he had plenty of that 6 yr old boy energy. He would stand and I would go to tie and just as I did, he would turn and I'd get it again, and he'd turn. I was laughing to myself as it was happening just thinking "I cant wait to tell the chorus about this later." The only thing that topped that was right as he was about to go on, his baritone Larry takes a look at him is this crazy jungle-getup we had him wearing and says "Man, you're outta the quartet." I almost died, but instead chimed in with an "I can sing lead" which was responded to with an "Ok kid, you're in." Scott jumped right into the Lion King package, I sang quietly from the wings, and the first half of the show came to a successful end.
Intermission time, aka put on those shiny beaded purple collars. During intermission it was also my job to make sure that both of the guest quartets knew what was going on for/where to come out from during the callbacks at the end of the show. Scott had told his quartet so my job was to tell Vocal Spectrum, and as you can imagine, I was totally looking forward to it. I headed over toward where their dressing room was, off on stage left. As I was walking over I saw Jonny Moroni.
Me: Hey, how are you?
Jonny: Good, you?
Me: So far so good. Has anyone told you guys where to come on for the callbacks?
Jonny: Yes, they told us.
Me: Damn, well there goes my excuse to come over and talk to the cute quartet.
Jonny: Wait, where do we have to be?
Ah a good sense of humor - love it.
With a beaming smile I went to man my post at the downstage curtain as the chorus was ready backstage and the first quartet of the second half was ready to go on, Just 4. These ladies were hysterical and sang beautifully, as always. At the end of their set our dreamy guest quartet came right to where Steph and I were paging the curtains, to listen and be ready. I think it was Eric who made a comment about the ridiculously sparkly collar I was wearing, just something like "you ladies look nice, or like you're ready to sing" or something generally polite like that. To which I responded with a thank you and the recent realization that I had to do a shoulder shimmy in this fringy-beaded getup, which I proceeded to demonstrate to the muffled giggles of the 6 of us in that immediate area. "Well I can do that," says Eric, and then shimmys away. "Well next time bring your purple collar and be ready to get out there with us," I say. "Sure." Next thing you know they're being introduced, Steph and I are opening those curtains, and then sitting down behind them to listen to one of the finest quartets in business. They finished their set to a huge round of applause, that was neatly segued by our MC Ms. Katie Holden, into our final set. The Heart Package flew by as we sang and danced our way through the two final number of our first show to end our show with thunderous applause.
After the show I ran into the audience to find my Mama, Lee, Aunt Gracie, and Gianna who all gave big hugs and rave reviews. Then I had to find Sarah, Kelsey and Beka who had all come up the night before for my birthday festivities and had stayed for the barbershop fun! After a quick clean-up of the stage, a change out of our costume, and another sweep of the dressing area we were off to the AfterGlo. The ride (or attempt) to get to the AfterGlo was filled with entirely more adventure and confusion that it should have been, and that's all I'm going to say about that. [right SQ?]
Our AfterGlo was at a TGIFridays and we were all crammed in to a bunch of tables while quartets wandered around to sing. Our table had Beka, Sarah, Kels, Steph, Sabrina and myself. We ordered some typical snacks and prayed they would get there before we were forced to start gnawing on each other - a good day of barbershopping sure will work up an appetite. After the food came and we had listened to some of the chapter quartets that were singing, I decided to wander down to the other end of the room to see who was singing down there. First I came upon Our Town and Just4 singing Lida Rose/Ladies duet from Music man, which I love. After I was done being transfixed by that I made it down to the end of the room where Vocal Spectrum was singing and Ms. Jeannie Froelich was shouting "Charlie! Charlie! Sing Cheer up Charlie!." As she was doing that I happened to bump into Eric again.
Me: Eric I have to ask you a question?
Eric: Sure, what is it.
Me: Do you sing happy birthday?
Eric: (very seriously and totally looking like he's going to say no) Yes.
Me: Well it was my birthday yesterday, so I was hoping I could request a serenade.
Eric: Sure no problem, just remind me your name again...
Me: Alexis.
Eric: Alexis, great. I'll take care of it, no problem.
Then he went back over to the quartet and clued them in, they blew the pitch pipe and the proceeded to deliver the coolest 23rd birthday present ever.
Chapter Five: Auditioning for the Queen
So now I started to get the scoop. I was getting all the official info on Sweet Adelines International, about contest every year in Philly, about the regular schedule of events and performances the chorus had. And also getting the info on this new entity of Harmony Celebration.
My next big step would be my audition into the chorus. The two songs I had to learn were If I Give My Heart to You and How Many Hearts Have You Broken? (which I would later come to find out are some of the most popular songs in the organization.) Just to give you a taste of my madness you should know that I listed to the bass learning tracks so many times that when Sabrina and Steph went to audition, they basically had to un-learn the bass, and then work on their parts.And then came the fateful night, the night of my audition (dum dum duuumm!!) To be honest, I was so nervous that I'm not even sure who sang in my audition quartet. I want to say it was Faith on tenor, but I could be lying and it might have been Audrey or Alice. I think Ms Peggy Bastone was singing lead, but theres a chance it was Jean. And as for who sang baritone? Umm, Donna maybe oh jeeze, I was standing next to the tenor, so the bari was on the other side of the world from me. And then of course there was my very own bass section leader who listened to me, the one - the only (my favorite two time Queen) Ms Jeannie Froelich.
It was, as I'm sure any barber-shopper could tell you, the longest and fastest few minutes of my life (much like a contest set, eh?) But much to my delighted surprise I passed! Ms Jeannie informed me that I had made it through and done a wonderful job. I couldn't believe it, I passed my audition the first time out?!!? It just goes to show you that hard work pays off, that we're always getting better... or maybe just that I lucked right out - but I was thrilled!
At the next rehearsal I was presented with my official Harmony Celebration Name Tag in front of the whole chorus by President Pat and given a big hug and a standing round of applause. Now thats what I call a welcome! {It should also be noted then I then proceeded to wear that name tag on everything I wore for a week straight}
Chapter Four: Guest Night
As it turns out my first night with the Harmony Celebration Chorus, was the chorus's first night with its new director, Mr. Scott Brannon. I was greeted by the lovely Ms. Beth Fulton. I will always remember her warm smile and beautiful red sweater. She had me sign in and put on a name tag. Then I was right up on the risers warming up with all the ladies. I had my guest folder so that I could follow along with any songs we were working on. I was lucky too, because that first night we broke into sectionals on A Wink and a Smile and Lazy Day. I say that was lucky because it meant that when we got back into the big group I could sing along more.
Then Beth had the guests step out of the chorus. As we did, we were introduced by our name, where we lived, and how we came to the chorus. I was Alexis from Dumont, and I had moved to the area from Region 16 and was looking for a new chorus. I also remember that Maggie was a guest that night, she was from Westchester, the fiance of our new director, and just about one of the nicest women you could ever hope to meet. Maggie and I (and the other guests) settled into our chairs to watch the chorus work on The Lion King.
Then Beth had the guests step out of the chorus. As we did, we were introduced by our name, where we lived, and how we came to the chorus. I was Alexis from Dumont, and I had moved to the area from Region 16 and was looking for a new chorus. I also remember that Maggie was a guest that night, she was from Westchester, the fiance of our new director, and just about one of the nicest women you could ever hope to meet. Maggie and I (and the other guests) settled into our chairs to watch the chorus work on The Lion King.
Holy Cow!!! But I'm getting ahead of myself, lets describe it all first. The package starts off with The Circle of Life, featuring two soloists: Ms. Jean Schoenlank and Ms. Jeannie Froelich. It then moves through In the Jungle as a background to a short monologue given by Ms. Jeannie about the music that binds us all together in this great circle of life. Then its on to the uptune! Just Can't Wait to be King, which is followed by the beauteously arranged (by Renee of course) Can You Feel the Love Tonight? And then to wrap it all up we come back to The Circle of Life. Now I don't know how many people in this world have had the privilege of seeing this music performed live, but it is breathtaking. You have goosebumps, that's just all there is to it. Watching those women sing and dance, watching them bring the messages of the music to life - it was one of those "So this is what I need to do for the rest of my life" moments. This is what I need to do, and these ladies are definitely the ones to do it with!
Now, the only thing better than finding something you love to do is dragging your friends into that something. The next week I brought my roommate Sabrina with me to rehearsal. She voice tested and was told that she could either sing lead or tenor, but at the moment we were in need of good leads, and so a lead became she. And of course the only thing better than dragging one friend is dragging two! So the next week (which was an official HCC Guest Night) we took our third, Ms Stephanie, along with us to rehearsal. Guest night was great. There was a mixture of riser time and viewing time. We learned a tag. We got to see chapter quartet Just 4 sing! The best part was that they sung their classic Have a Nice Day, and because I had been coming for a few weeks, but was still a guest, I got "picked on" in the song! "Some people greet you with a sunny smile, and they say to you Have a Nice Day like Alexis. And I find myself thinking all the while I wish... that they'd just go away! far away!" Love those gals - funniest quartet around.
At the end of rehearsal Steph went and was voice tested. She was told that she could sing lead or bari, but since she had an ear for the part a bari she became. (As we all known Bari's aren't created, they are born - and if anyone was born a baritone, its SQ.) That week the three of us left rehearsal thrilled to be on the start of a new creative adventure with each other and Harmony Celebration.
Chapter Three: Renee Who? Ramapo What?
SQ: "Come get a job at Mville and we'll all move in together!"
Me: "OK!"
SQ, aka Stephanie Quinn is one of my girls. We met each other freshman year of college & hung out a bit, were politely social for the next two years, and became sisters our senior year through the shared joys & struggles of putting up our thesis projects. She is a talented music & voice teacher, dancer/choreographer, actress, seamstress, quilter, sister, fiance, and dedicated friend. I Love Stephanie! The long and short of it goes like this - she and her boyfriend (now fiance) aka The Dan, were moving in together and wanted some roommate company in form of Sabrina and me.
Sabrina, aka Brina-doo, aka Doolottle MALE, is also one of my girls. We met her freshman, my sophomore, year of college and lived together for two years after that. Sabrina is my tech theater goddess, my MacGuiver. She is a boy scout, set/lighting/sound designer, the daughter of a general contractor, graphic designer, clarinetist, actress/dancer/singer, sister, lover, confidant and dear friend. I Love Sabrina!
I interviewed for, and was offered my current position at the college. I am the Secretary for the Office of Field Placement, Certification and Community Outreach in the School of Education of Manhattanville College. (try saying that one 5 times fast) We got an awesome apartment in Dumont, NJ. Hooray for an exciting move! Living on my own (like a big girl and everything!) But wait - that would mean leaving my chorus!!!!! [Personal side note: You know you're a Sweet Adeline When... you're moving away and you're more upset about leaving your chorus than leaving your boyfriend.]
Me: "OK!"
SQ, aka Stephanie Quinn is one of my girls. We met each other freshman year of college & hung out a bit, were politely social for the next two years, and became sisters our senior year through the shared joys & struggles of putting up our thesis projects. She is a talented music & voice teacher, dancer/choreographer, actress, seamstress, quilter, sister, fiance, and dedicated friend. I Love Stephanie! The long and short of it goes like this - she and her boyfriend (now fiance) aka The Dan, were moving in together and wanted some roommate company in form of Sabrina and me.
Sabrina, aka Brina-doo, aka Doolottle MALE, is also one of my girls. We met her freshman, my sophomore, year of college and lived together for two years after that. Sabrina is my tech theater goddess, my MacGuiver. She is a boy scout, set/lighting/sound designer, the daughter of a general contractor, graphic designer, clarinetist, actress/dancer/singer, sister, lover, confidant and dear friend. I Love Sabrina!
I interviewed for, and was offered my current position at the college. I am the Secretary for the Office of Field Placement, Certification and Community Outreach in the School of Education of Manhattanville College. (try saying that one 5 times fast) We got an awesome apartment in Dumont, NJ. Hooray for an exciting move! Living on my own (like a big girl and everything!) But wait - that would mean leaving my chorus!!!!! [Personal side note: You know you're a Sweet Adeline When... you're moving away and you're more upset about leaving your chorus than leaving your boyfriend.]
Once everything was settled (as far as the job and the moving) I had to break the news to my chorus; I started with the Management Team. We were meeting at Cheryl's house in the lovely historic district of Ballston Spa. We had been going over a bunch of items, but primarily were working on the edits for our standing rules. Once we had broken into the cheese and cookies and were wrapping up, I told them that much to my dismay, I had to resign my position on the team. They were as bummed as I was, but quickly got down to the business of "what region is that?" and "what choruses are near by?" I told them that I had already starting looking and that I was going to be living/working in Region 15 and the two choruses closest to me (whom I had already sent emails to) were Golden Apple and Ramapo Valley. Then came the influx "..and they're going through a change over," "..international champions," "Renee is retiring,""..retiring the old name with her."
Me: "Renee Who? Ramapo What?" I had no idea. The Ramapo Valley Spotlight Chorus, under the direction of Ms. Renee Craig, had won international gold three times, and countless regional medals. She was the lead of The Cracker Jills, the first international champion quartet to win without the help of an outside coach, and also one of the quartets credited with changing (for the better of course) the barbershop style and standards. She directed the Coronet Club, which I came to find out was the yearly gathering of all past champions, or Queen's of Harmony.
So that was a little intimidating. But I had sent out emails to both choruses and had yet to hear back from either. I made the move in August, started the job, had a housewarming and did that settling in stuff. My Saratoga Soundtrack ladies were scheduled to have their first performance at Malta Community Day. We had "auditioned" for it over the summer. The day of the audition I was a little late getting to the venue for warm-ups because I went to the old community center instead of the new one. When I got there the gals were in full swing rehearsing the three songs we were going to sing and I jumped right into my spot on the end of the front row. (granted in a chorus our size that meant a front row of 3 people, but still) The other thing about it being such a small chorus was that we only had one tenor, aside from our director, and unfortunately she couldn't be at the audition. This meant that Nancy had to step in and sing - from Deanna's spot, back row center. "Alexis can give us the cut-offs, she knows when they are." "Alexis, move center." "She's MC-ing the song anyway." "Yea, that'll be good, Alexis can just do the cut-off's from the front, we can all see her." What?! Yes, I became a front row, three song director! Fake it till ya' make it. We were singing Overture, Curtain Lights! So in the middle I got to step out and introduce the chorus and tell some shticky jokes. Then it was on to Can You Feel the Love? For that song one of our members who knows american sign language, signed along with the lyrics - it was beautiful. And because we were auditioning for a community day, we ended with the ever so patriotic God Bless America. These were the same songs that we ended up singing at the event, though luckily Deanna was able to be there for it, so Nancy could direct. (I still got to do my MC-ing though!)
And so it was that my Saratoga Soundtrack journey came to an end. Their first performance was my last with them. A more loving and generous group of Sweet Adelines to be my first chorus home I couldn't dream of. Saratoga Soundtrack will always be my chorus at heart.
As it happened, I wasn't going to be between choruses for long. Later that week I got an email from the membership chair of Ramapo Valley/Harmony Celebrtaion, Beth Fulton. She said that she was sorry she hadn't gotten back to me sooner, the chorus was going to through an exciting new time, and that I should come to rehearsal in Ridgewood, NJ this Wednesday night. So I emailed her back and asked for directions to the rehearsal space. A new chorus adventure was about to begin.
Chapter Two: Saratoga Soundtrack
Our original number hovered around 12 singers, 1 director. The first membership campaign was a four week singing class. The class was held on Mondays (through the continuing ed program at the local high school) when our weekly rehearsals would be, so all of our members attended. We learned about the anatomy of the voice, proper breathing & posture, what makes it barbershop. We listened to and watched DVD's of fantastic quartets known as Queens. We learned two tags & a song. The song was God Bless America complete with the super cool, but often unsung, opening verse. On the last night of the class we went around the high school and sang for the yoga class, the African drumming class, and anyone else who wanted to hear us ring! um, I mean sing! From this class we gained one or two new members, but most importantly we brought the entire group up to speed. We began to develop a common vocabulary and understanding that would serve us throughout our chorus life. The first song we worked on after the class was Overture! (curtain lights) - you know, the one BugsBunny sings. It's a really fun chart with a great section of "doo doo doo's" in the middle where an MC can break out and be all "Good Evening everyone we are the Saratoga Soundtrack Chorus! Have we got a show for you!" The only problem was the tag was finicky. Everyone knew their part, and could hold it. But even when it seemed like everything was in tune it didn't always come together right - luckily our talented director was also a talented arranger - she went to work on putting together something new.
In the life of a young chorus, putting together a sound administrative body is just as important as getting new members and learning new music. We decided that a Management Team system would be best to govern our little chorus because it required less people than a Board of Directors and included the Chorus Director in the mix. When all of the nominations, elections, and assignments were said and done our team was made up of:
Does everyone remember their first ballad the way I do? I have this crazy nostalgia attached to mine. Every time I hear it sung, whether its a chorus or a quartet, whether I love their interp or not - it gives me goosebumps. Dancing this Dance, in the Wrong Romance "when I should be dancing with, (bass/tenor) dancing with only you." Uhhhh, I love it. I always used to think I was totally an uptune girl. I have a great sense of rhythm and I love to dance - bring on the uptunes! But man oh man was I wrong. There is nothing, and I mean no-thing like a good ballad. When you are totally lost in the message, the story of the song and all the harmonies glide right into place. Goosebumps in the extreme - its the greatest feeling ever. Learning and working on my first ballad with the Saratoga Soundtrack ladies was a big barbershop milestone for me.
In the life of a young chorus, putting together a sound administrative body is just as important as getting new members and learning new music. We decided that a Management Team system would be best to govern our little chorus because it required less people than a Board of Directors and included the Chorus Director in the mix. When all of the nominations, elections, and assignments were said and done our team was made up of:
Director: Nancy Faddegon
Team Leader: Jennifer Hunter
Financial Manager: Sally Larimer
Secretary: Alexis DePersia-Norelli (thats me!)
Team Leader: Jennifer Hunter
Financial Manager: Sally Larimer
Secretary: Alexis DePersia-Norelli (thats me!)
Corresponding Secretary: Barbara Castelli
We started meeting bi-monthly to really get the ball rolling. We had to make sure that we had a membership plan so that we could get enough singers to charter (15 plus the director.) We needed our own logo - which we got by tapping into one of the talented women in our chorus who designed one. Next was making sure that the chorus became a sound financial institution. As a part of that we wanted to perform in the community (and when we could) get paid to do it - sing for our supper so to speak. We had to go through and edit/create our own standing rules. And of course we had to set dates for regional visits, those all important bench marks on the way to our final goal - becoming a fully charted chorus of Sweet Adelines International. [I would also like to note that I was voted onto the Management Team before I ever passed my audition into the chorus. This would only fly in a tiny prospective chorus, mind you. For the record, I passed my audition at the end of our first team meeting. And it was this one note I was having trouble with - the whole song had this octave jumps and the last time you jumped you had to flat the octave. I could sing it by myself, but it was a hell of a time doing it in the audition quartet. My real point being its just one of those fantastic anecdotes that can't go unwritten. The song by the way was Keep the Music Ringing.]
The regional faculty member who came to visit us was the lovely Ms. Sue Melvin. This was my first ever "coaching" experience. She had Nancy warm us up and then jumped in and tried some exercises with us. She was amazed at the quality with which we were singing! I was excited that she thought we sounded so good for such a new group, but not entirely surprised because Nancy always made sure that we sang well. But more importantly, she made sure that we knew what that meant and how to do it. From my very beginnings as a Sweet Adeline education was there. Yes singing is fun. Yes, harmonies are exciting. We sing! We dance! We wear matching outfits! But none of that matters if we are ruining these God given voices -doing it right is just as important as doing it at all.
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Does everyone remember their first ballad the way I do? I have this crazy nostalgia attached to mine. Every time I hear it sung, whether its a chorus or a quartet, whether I love their interp or not - it gives me goosebumps. Dancing this Dance, in the Wrong Romance "when I should be dancing with, (bass/tenor) dancing with only you." Uhhhh, I love it. I always used to think I was totally an uptune girl. I have a great sense of rhythm and I love to dance - bring on the uptunes! But man oh man was I wrong. There is nothing, and I mean no-thing like a good ballad. When you are totally lost in the message, the story of the song and all the harmonies glide right into place. Goosebumps in the extreme - its the greatest feeling ever. Learning and working on my first ballad with the Saratoga Soundtrack ladies was a big barbershop milestone for me.
That whole chorus was a milestone for me. For me, it set up what it means to be a Sweet Adeline. Its about singing together, well. Its about performing, sharing our gift and having fun. Its about education, competition and improvement. But its really about these women. These extraordinary women who share their lives with you week to week. Who cheer for your smallest successes, pray for you in your darkest hour, and who validate your life and your passion. Being a Sweet Adeline is about being the best woman I can be, for them and for myself, each and every day.
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