Competition and Convention

Transcription

1 Heartbeat Sweet Adelines International s Region 14 Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and part of Tennessee By Jackie Bottash Chair of the Regional Convention Just like clockwork, and in between ice storms, spring is on its way and so is regional competition! Who s excited? I see lots of hands flying up in the air hmmmm, maybe some of that is the new choreography to that energetic up tune you re learning! Well, no matter, the contest is within our sights, and the Regional Competition Steering Committee is looking forward to it! Chorus leaders have received the first two contest-related bulletins so we can make sure everyone is registered, has a room, and hospitality suites are secured there has to be a party, right? The RCSC is working on staging, traffic patterns, video billboard presentations, publicity to all in Winston- Salem, vendors, name badges, stringing medals, checking lists (twice) as to who is eligible for specific awards, assigning sleeping and hospitality rooms, designing a beautiful program. Yup, we re a busy bunch, and we love every minute of it! In addition to all the planning being done by the RCSC, the Regional Management Team is coordinating some events during contest weekend. I ve heard through the grapevine that Friday s March Winston-Salem Vol. 2, No. 1, February 2015 Competition and Convention M.C. Benton Jr. Convention and Civic Center Hotels: Marriott Winston-Salem Embassy Suites The Hawthorne Inn and Conference Center Schedule: Flat Floor rehearsals Friday night and Saturday morning Friday, March 27 Chorus Mic Testing - 8:45* Quartet and Directors Briefing - 10 a.m. Master Class with Becki Hine - 10:30 a.m. Mass Sing - noon (song list on page 8) Parade of Flags - 1:30 p.m. Quartet Competition - 2 p.m. Saturday, March 28 Chorus Competition - noon Show of Champions - 7:30 p.m. Judges: Ruth Ann Parker, Sound, Panel Chair Sharon Carlson, Music Char Gurney, Expression *Chorus Mic testing before directors briefing Ida Bilodeau, Showmanship PD Kurfess, Panel Secretary To help mic testing, arrive before 8:45 a.m. All chorus or quartet members are encouraged to serve in the chorus mic testing with How We Sang Today. Participants will be asked to participate in small, midsize, and large chorus arrangement for the judges to set the sound. activities will include a Mass Sing, an education class facilitated by Becki Hine, and another Parade of Flags. Watch your s and the regional website for more information as we get closer to go-time! Every member puts so much of themselves into contest preparations that s why you succeed! The members of the RCSC do the same, hoping that the success is all about you! We can t wait to see and hear you in Winston-Salem, but like every chorus and quartet, we still have work to do. Fortunately for us, it doesn t include learning new choreography!

2 CAL, MAL, or Associate? By Marcia O Neil Membership is a vital part of our organization. We are all working diligently to bring in new members. However, as members decide to leave our choruses, we must be sure that we offer them alternatives to simply resigning. There are three options that can be offered. Chapter- at- Large (CAL): For those who choose not to belong to a chorus, membership at the regional and international levels can be obtained/ continued. CAL enables the member to perform and compete in a quartet at regional or international competitions, participate in regional and international educational opportunities and enjoy all regional and international privileges. CAL members receive the same things from International as are listed in the Associate Membership option. CAL members pay annually $100 for International membership and $100 for regional membership. Member at Large (MAL): Memberat-Large members are affiliated with and pay dues to the International organization. Member-at-Large members are not affiliated with a chapter or region and are New Member Liaison Wanted Are you interested in membership? Are you looking to find a way to help our region welcome our newest members? If so, I am looking for you! We are looking for a New Member Liaison. This experienced Sweet Adeline will be a regional point-of-contact for new members for their first year to keep them apprised of regional issues, to answer any questions they may have, and to provide yet one more resource as they wend their way through their first year of membership. A chorus who successfully recruits a new, never before member to Sweet Adelines as a result of Global Open House is entitled to a $40 ($20 for youth) rebate of regional assessment. Claim the rebate after the new member s regional assessment is paid. RMT Team Coordinator by Julia Olsen not required to pay regional assessments; a member-at-large may not compete or perform. MAL members receive the same things from International as are listed in the Associate Membership option. MAL members pay annually $100 for International membership. Associate Membership: Except for being prohibited from performing or competing in a chorus, an associate member holds all other privileges of active membership. Associate members can belong to, perform with and compete in quartets. Associate members still receive The Pitch Pipe, mailings from International headquarters, member rates for international convention registration and educational events, and discounts on purchases from International Sales. Associate members can re-apply for regular membership in a chorus (chapter) at any time, following the membership and audition procedures established by the chapter. Associate members pay annually (via the chapter they are associated with) $90 for International membership and $100 for regional membership. Associate member chorus dues vary by chapter. Choruses are responsible for their new members, but it never hurts to have another eye or ear out just for them, especially as we enter busy seasons in our Sweet Adeline lives. The NML will be dedicated to the well-being of new members in terms of dispersing regional information and helping to provide resources to the member and the chorus. If you d like to discuss this exciting opportunity to serve the Heart of the Blue Ridge send me an at olsensreva@ comcast.net. I d love to talk with you about it! Claim Rebate For Global Open House Send new member name, member number and documentation showing that the member attended the chorus s Global Open House (date, list of attendees). Send this information to Sharon LeDuc, Region 14 Finance Coordinator. Refund will be to the chorus with no restrictions. Contact Us Team Coordinator, Marcia O Neil marcia@gopcsupport.com (H) (C) Golden Triad (Kernersville, NC) Education Coordinator, Nancy Field nancy.field@aol.com (H) (C) Greenville in Harmony (Greenville, SC) Events Coordinator, Beverly Coe-Cotton cotbcoe@yahoo.com Greenville in Harmony (Greenville, SC) Communications, Emily Christman ebchristman@gmail.com Virginia Coast (Virginia Beach, VA) Finance Coordinator, Sharon LeDuc skleduc@prodigy.net Song O Sky (Asheville, NC) Membership Coordinator, Julia Olsen olsensreva@comcast.net Skyline Harmony (Charlottesville, VA) PR/Marketing Coordinator, Deb Runyon drunyon1@att.net Southern Harmony (Charleston, SC) Interim Directors Coordinator Marcia O Neil marcia@gopcsupport.com (H) (C) Golden Triad (Kernersville, NC) Heartbeat Send your news to newsletter@sairegion14.org Deadline for May issue: April 10. Communications: Emily Christman ebchristman@gmail.com Design: Mary Ann H. Johnson jnayram@vt.edu Distribution: Joyce Darnell singgram@aol.com

3 When Your Address Changes. By Emily Christman Changing your address is a big deal! It s great to be freed from the junk distribution lists your old address accumulated, but it s not so great to lose the connection with people and organizations you value, like your SAI chorus and the regional and international organizations. Action is required on your part to get your new address added to the lists you want to be on. Here are three things to do to update your address with Sweet Adelines Region 14 and International: 1) Update your Region 14 website member information: go to sairegion14.org/ and login. Under the Community tab in the top menu bar, there s a tab for My Profile. Click that and you can edit details, including your . 2) Update your Yahoo profile: this will fix your address for the Region 14 Yahoo group as well as the Sing List and any other Yahoo lists you may be on. Go to Yahoo.com and sign in with your Yahoo username and password. Near the upper right you ll see a little gear-shaped button. Under that you ll see Account Info. Click that, and the second line of the top box allows you to update your address. 3) Update your information with SAI: go to the SAI site, sweetadelineintl.org/, and log in. You should see a purple tab for More Member Options. Click that, then you should see an Update Your Info box. When you click that you have to log in again, then you can edit all the information they have on you, including your address. Google Forms A Better Way to Take Orders By Angelina Stasulis, Song of Atlanta and Boss. Quartet Did you just volunteer to collect your chorus orders for regional photos? Make it easy on yourself, and keep the entire order process online with Google Forms (GForms). GForms is a free, online tool to collect and organize information. Song of Atlanta has been utilizing GForms for everything from t-shirt orders to hotel rooms for the past year with great success. Why Use Google Forms? 24/7 access: The form can be accessed at all times from any internet-ready device. You can send a direct link to your members instead of an, often forgotten, reminder to sign up at rehearsal. Outof-town or absent members can submit information without creating additional work for the order collector. Single, live form: If you need to update the form, you can do it without needing to send a new order form to the entire chorus, or (for small changes) even notify the chorus at all. Chorus members are always directed to the newest information. Order Summary: GForms compiles all responses into a single Google Sheet (GSheet) Responses spreadsheet. The order collector no longer needs to manually receive and summarize individual order s, notes, texts, FB messages, Groupanizer comments, etc. or manage their own summary sheet. Order Verification: The order collector can share the Responses GSheet with members, enabling them to verify that they ve placed an order and that their information is correct without involving the collector at all. Example: Song of Atlanta used Google Forms to take photo orders for International this past fall. We created a GForm and shared its link and the link to the Responses GSheet with our chorus via both our electronic blog posts and a pinned post on our private Facebook page: Please place your semifinals photo order here: Verify your order here: Other Applications of Google Forms T-shirt, costume, make-up orders, transportation to/from events (let members share their departure/arrival times for ride-sharing purposes) Sharing room numbers at competitions (members can add their room number so we can all find each other; link can be pinned on FB and members can use mobile phones to submit/view) How to Create Your Own Form If you don t already have a Google/Gmail account, you ll need to create one for free (Note: Your chorus members don t need to have a Google account to fill out a form or view the documents, only to create/manage them). Learn more at: If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at boss.quartet@gmail.com I wonder how many of us grew up enjoying being Girl Scouts. How many of us learned our first harmonies around Girl Scout campfires? I m sure I m not the only one! SAI s Young Women in Harmony Program has created a Girl Scout activity patch to help girls delve deeper into the joys of singing with others in multi-part harmony! Among the activities required to earn the patch, girls must: Reach Out To Girl Scouts! Visit Sweet Adelines International s website to find a chorus. If possible, plan a visit to a rehearsal or performance. Learn 3 songs that have harmony parts. With friends, schedule a visit to a group or facility where you can share your singing with others. Contact your local Sweet Adelines Chorus or Region and ask about upcoming Young Women in Harmony activities in your area, or volunteer to help create an activity. Learn a song or tag in barbershop harmony and sing it for others. What a great tool for us to use to reach out to our local Girl Scouts, and invite them to visit us and learn about the music we love so much! Find more information on the SAI website under the Education - YWIH tab.

4 Investing in Future Save the date May Raleigh, NC Leadership Training Building a team, retaining a team, growing and marketing the chorus, interpersonal communications, as well as providing leader training were front and center in your responses to the leadership survey conducted last fall. In response, the next regional educational event will be a Leadership Training Workshop, May 29-31, in Raleigh, NC. Therese Antonini (International Board Member) and Paula Davis (International Board Member and President-elect) will serve as facilitators for this learning experience. Attending this workshop will be a great way to start the new fiscal year! The workshop is open to all leaders in your chorus: Board of Directors/Management Team members, Committee and project chairs, Directors and music team members. Both new and experienced members who serve in a leadership role in your chorus will find this workshop beneficial. Saturday afternoon will feature breakout sessions for Membership and Marketing Teams. Recognizing the importance of building leadership strength in our choruses, the Regional Management Team will fund each Chorus President/Team Leader, including round trip mileage and two nights housing. Winter Music School Creating a Star The ballroom of Kiawah Island was jumping with excitement in late January! An energized group of singers and educators came together for the first school centered around the entertainment package. Sharon Babb and Ruth Ann Parker led us through an exciting agenda of classes. The main focus of the weekend was learning about the intricate details of putting together an entertainment package. Attendees were divided into groups to create an outline for an upcoming show. They chose costumes, venues, theme for the performance, musical selections, and choreography. Thirty minutes later, groups presented their ideas. What an array of ideas! As this drew to a close, Southern Harmony Chorus had fun sharing an entertainment package. They appreciated coaching from both Sharon and Ruth Ann. The quartets in attendance had sessions created just for them. After-dinner entertainment was provided by the quartets. Audience members shared in the excitement for the groups that were singing for an audience for the first time. The highlight of the evening was watching Speed of Sound get coached on several pieces. It was amazing watching them take the creative suggestions and apply them to their singing. Participants walked away with an understanding of the 5 key elements needed to create a 10 minute, 25 minute, or full-blown show, whether for Carnegie Hall, a local civic event, a senior living center, or the new Open Division of competition. Many thanks to Sharon and Ruth Ann for an unforgettable event! Arrangers Workshop Anyone in your chorus interested in arranging barbershop harmony, learning to read music, or brushing up on music theory? A separate Arranging track is also being offered at this weekend, organized by the Education Resource Team and coordinated by Claire Gardiner. This Arrangers Workshop will offer training and a learning experience for beginning, intermediate, and advanced arrangers. Interested parties can save the date now! Southern Harmony and director Tom Nawrocki Sharon Babb and Ruth Ann Parker

5 Bound Performance Every school requires working on project. Photos by Claire Gardiner Faculty is a serious group...not.

6 Double Quartet Contest this Fall By Marcia O Neil Hello Region 14! For those of you who missed the Winter Music School in Kiawah Island, let me just say that it was a fabulous weekend where about 120 members enjoyed International Faculty Sharon Babb and Ruth Ann Parker. Kiawah is a gorgeous setting and the accommodations were top-notch thanks to our own Missy Wurthmann (Southern Harmony Chorus) who is the Villa Resort General Manager. I want to alert you to an exciting upcoming event. The Fall Music School to be held November in Charlotte, will feature a Double Quartet Contest on Friday night. The faculty for the weekend will be Jim Arns and Becki Hine and they will be judging the contest, along with our Education Coordinator, Nancy Field. Judging will be based on vocal skills and entertainment value. Each double quartet will perform one song any song it doesn t have to be a contest arrangement. No more than TWO registered quartet members are allowed per double quartet. The intent is to encourage non-quartet members to participate and see what it s like to sing in a smaller ensemble. There will be lots more coming out on this but I wanted to let you know NOW so you can get your double quartets together and start practicing!! The more the merrier!! All regional events for 2015 are on the calendar in this newsletter. More information will be forthcoming but this gives you advance notice so you can INK them in on your calendars and plan to attend. It won t be long and we will all be in Winston-Salem March is coming in at a fast pace! I wish you all a joyful experience on stage. New Name Sound of the Strand Grand Strand Harmony has changed its name to Sound of the Strand. We hope to attract new members with a new look and new attitute. Our website is soundofthestrand.org. Come and take a look. New Competition Coordinator Has Experience from Region 23 Karin Kinder is our new Competition Coordinator. While relatively new to Region 14, she s been a Sweet Adeline for more than 16 years. She began with Georgia Harmony Chorus and competed at International in She later joined Song of Atlanta Show Chorus. She says family and job requirements required that I step back from actively singing for a while, but I stay involved with the chorus and help where I can. Karin has been extremely busy working for SOA. Over the years she served in many chorus positions including Singing Valentine Committee, served on the board for four years, Ticket Chairman, and organized singing of the National Anthem for Atlanta Braves. Karin also served at the Regional level in Region 23 as the Regional Fund Raising Chair. She spent eight years as the Chair of the Regional Convention while in that region. Today she is still an active Associate member of Song of Atlanta and is currently the Show Production Chairman. Karin says, even though I m not actively singing right now, I truly enjoy my time with Sweet Adelines and am very much looking forward to serving Region 14 and meeting lots of new friends. So when you see Karin around the convention center, please take a moment to say hi and welcome her to this role. Rothey Will Keep CALs Informed and Involved by Julia Olsen As many of you know, there may come a time in a Sweet Adeline s life when being a member of a chorus is not feasible. Although she isn t singing with a chorus, she wants to retain her membership with SAI and wants to remain part of the region. So, our member moves her status from regular membership to Chapter At Large. By going CAL, she can take advantages of the education and music events offered by the region at membership prices. Plus, her dues as CAL include the costs associated with annual competition, just as for a standard member. When a member does not belong to a chorus, there is a chance of missing out on valuable information usually transmitted to the membership via the chorus leadership. There is also the issue of the gentle dues reminder! It is important to the leadership of Heart of the Blue Ridge Region 14 to keep our Chapter At Large members involved in regional events and in on all of the information that they need to stay in the loop and continue to share our love of barbershop harmony. To that end, we have a Chapter At Large Liaison. We started 2014 with Beth Brooker as our CAL Liaison. When Beth stepped out for personal reasons, we welcomed Cathy Rothey as our CAL Liaison. Many of the CAL membership have already heard from Cathy. Cathy is a self-professed barbershop brat who joined SAI in 1971 as a charter member of Harmony Hills Chorus in Birmingham, Ala. Cathy says, I ve enjoyed membership in six choruses, two as director. I ve also had the pleasure of singing with a number of successful quartets, winning blue ribbons in 1999 (14 Karat) and 2008 (Easy Street). I served for many years on the music faculty and look forward to serving as liaison for Region 14 s Chapter at Large members. Heart of the Blue Ridge Region 14 is fortunate to have women such as Beth and Cathy, among many, many more, who are willing to do the work of the region. We certainly appreciate a new CAL Liaison as diligent and willing as Cathy has been to jump into the job!

7 Do-It-Yourself Quartet Marathon Charlotte A Cappella Show Chorus quartets have had a January quartet marathon for two years in a row. Singcerely, Phenomena and Finders Keepers quartets split the costs of bringing in the wonderful Leslie Wodday-Shoenhard. They schedule a Saturday at Susan Wells church and plan a fun and educational day! We each had a three-hour session with Leslie, and the other quartets were invited to observe, they said. A few other chorus members dropped by during the day to catch some tidbits from the sessions. There was lunch, snacks and dinner together, a bonding time for the quartet members and wow, did we learn a lot, both from our own coaching and from observing the others being coached. We highly recommend planning a weekend like this for other quartets. And we highly recommend Queen Leslie. She is a fabulous coach! Singcerely: Tera Rockett, Teresa Skinner, Kristi Conner, Cathy Chauncy Phenomena: Liz Wooley, Susan Wells, Sue Demick, Kim Brown Finders Keepers: Karen Williams, Cindy Shook, Vickey Collom, Becky Wilkins Always willing to smile

8 Show Your Colors with a Region 14 Shirt or Pin (and raise funds for the region) The Regional Management Team is excited to offer a regional shirt and pin for you to wear at regional and international events. The shirt is a Port Authority comfortable wash and wear, wrinkle resistant, 55/45 cotton/poly shirt. It has a relaxed look, open collar, and adjustable cuffs. It is available with long or short sleeves in white or Mediterranean blue. Sizes range from small to 6XL; the shirts run small and sample sizes will be at regional events for you to try. The shirts are $25 check payable to Region 14. If you order by the end of February, they will be available for pick-up at Regional Competition in March. Contact gaylecwheeler@yahoo.com for ordering information. The regional pins are available for $15; $1 from every sale will go to the YWIH program. Contact Deb Runyon at drunyon1@att.com for ordering information. Information and photos can be found on the regional website. The shirts can be ordered and pins will be available for purchase at regional events. Songs for Mass Sing Thank You Dear Lord for Music Harmonize the World Power of the Dream We Are Family Thank You World How We Sang Today Important Dates Feb Regional Management Team Meeting March Regional Convention - Winston-Salem, NC May Leadership Training and Arrangers Workshop - Raleigh, NC June 28- July 5 Barbershop Harmony Society Convention - Pittsburgh, PA October 5-10 SAI International Convention - - Las Vegas, NV November Fall Music School - Charlotte, NC 2016 Jan Winter Music School - location TBD March 31-April 3 Regional Convention - Winston-Salem, NC October SAI International Convention - Las Vegas NV 2017 March 30-April 2 Regional Convention - Winston-Salem, NC October 9-14 SAI International Convention - Las Vegas NV