Early bird registration and hotel deadline August 18!

Transcription

1 Official Newsletter of Spirit of the Midwest Region 5 Sweet Adelines International August TAKE FIVE Spirit of the Midwest, Region 5 Early bird registration and hotel deadline August 18!

2 Calendar of Events ( at Sept Arrangers Workshop DoubleTree Hotel, Overland Park, KS Sept Tribute to the Top Music School DoubleTree Hotel, Overland Park, KS Sept City Voices Chorus Show Ritenour Auditorium, St. Louis Oct Harmony Central Chorus Show Hoyt Sherman Place Theater, Des Moines Oct Metro Mix Chorus Show Coralville, IA, Center for the Performing Arts Oct Sound Celebration Chorus Show Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, IL Oct SAI 69 th Annual Convention & Comp, Las Vegas Nov Topeka Acappella Unlimited Show Colmery-O Neil VA Medical Center Auditorium, Topeka Nov Gateway Spotlight ChorUS Show Hope Lutheran Church, St. Charles, MO Dec City Voices Chorus Holiday Luncheon Genesis Banquet Center and Catering, St. Louis Dec St. Louis Harmony Chorus Holiday Concert Kirkwood Community Center, Kirkwood, MO 2016 Feb R5 Faculty Training Drury Inn, Kansas City Airport March 31-April 3... Region 5 Convention & Competition DoubleTree Hotel/Paramount Theatre, Cedar Rapids, IA April Directors Retreat Drury Inn, Kansas City Airport June Battle of the Barbershop Choruses Tan-Tar-A Resort, Osage Beach, MO Sept Tribute to the Top Music School Embassy Suites, St. Charles, MO Oct Harmony Central Chorus Show Hoyt Sherman Place Theater, Des Moines Oct SAI 70 th Annual Convention/Comp, Las Vegas 2017 April Region 5 Convention & Competition Topeka Performing Arts Center, KS June Specialty School/Directors Retreat Sept Tribute to the Top Music School Topeka Performing Arts Center, KS 2018 April Region 5 Convention & Competition Topeka Performing Arts Center, KS Oct SAI 71 st Annual Convention/Comp, St. Louis 2

3 Regional Management Team Team Coordinator Twilla Duvall - twilla_duvall@centralbank.net Events Coordinator Joan Groves jmroberts1961@gmail.com Membership Coordinator Linda Gross - lindalgross@gmail.com Calendar of Events Communications Coordinator Janet Clark mclark@machlink.com Marketing Coordinator Judy Kaeser judy.kaeser@gmail.com Education Coordinator Karen Koch karenskoch@aol.com Directors Coordinator Annette Wallace cwallace4@cox.net Finance Coordinator Pat Kies kieskcsa@swbell.net Region 5 Songs Log into the Members Only section of the Region 5 website then to Music for ordering information. Learning tracks coming soon. Harmonize the World How We Sang Today Send Your Love Battle Hymn of the Republic We Are Family Happy Together HEAT Quartet Hello from HEAT! We are VERY excited to be joining the Region at Tribute to the Top in September and want you to be aware of our raffle item and bag sale. Turn up the HEAT with a portable Coleman grill, and carry all your important items in a stylish blue bag while representing Region 5 in Vegas! See you all soon!!!! 3

4 Fundraisers to help our Champion Quartets & Choruses! Purchase or donate at Tribute to the Top on Sept Legacy Quartet... Raffle Win a Wine Basket, $100 Bill HEAT Quartet... Large Tote Bag - $10 Region 5 logo on front; Region 5 competitors list on back. Great for music, shoes, and to carry on the plane as we fly off to Las Vegas. 14 wide, 12 tall, 6 deep; front and side pockets; long adjustable shoulder strap To pre-order for delivery at Tribute to the Top, contact Grant Hunget by Aug. 26: grant@jwilbur.com With how many you want. Bring cash or check (made to HEAT ) to TTT. Kansas City Chorus... (To Be Announced) River Blenders Chorus... Music -Themed Apparel T-shirts, fleece vests, jean jackets, part shirts, tote bags/music bags portable speakers for your electronic devices ClassRing Quartet... Ladies Fit V-Neck OR Unisex Crew Neck Ladies Fit V-Neck (T-shirts run small; order next size up) Small-X Large - $15-2X/3X - $17 To pre-order for delivery at Tribute to the Top, contact Heather Krones with your style & size: heatherkrones@gmail.com Fierce Quartet... T-shirts, headbands and more! 4

5 2015 Regional Competition Recap What a wonderful weekend we had in Cedar Rapids! The Paramount Theatre is one of the best in the Midwest, and we heard a lot of wonderful comments about singing on a stage again. Well, you get to do it again in 2016! As with all competition/convention weekends, we learn a lot what things worked and what things didn t; what can we improve on to make it the best experience we can for all competitors/guests. Busing Unfortunately, we had some communication issues with the busing we arranged on Friday from the Marriott to the DoubleTree and Paramount. This will be reviewed and corrected for 2016 to ensure that those members/guests being housed at the Marriott will have transportation available to/from the DoubleTree and Paramount. We will also review the busing schedules on Saturday to make sure all drivers/buses know where to drop off and pick up at the Paramount to make sure everyone is returned to their hotel. Hospitality Rooms (DoubleTree) Events Coordiinator Joan Groves Choruses who rented hospitality rooms at the DoubleTree we would like to clarify why you were asked to leave your room at midnight on Saturday. When you sign the hotel contract, it is for the day, and the day ends at 11:59 p.m. If you wish to keep your hospitality room past midnight, you need to book it (and pay) for the following day as well. I spoke at great length with our contact at the DoubleTree regarding the issues some choruses had with their food functions and those have been addressed with the staff at the DoubleTree. It is my hope there won t be any issues in Financial Recap We received the final bill from competition and have finalized the competition budget. Our final numbers for 2015 are: Income... $56, Expenses... $42, Profit... $14, Please keep In mind the 2015 competition profit helps carry us through the year to help offset expenses at future music schools for all Region 5 members and training sessions for regional faculty. If you would like to review the financial report, it can be found on the regional website under the Members Only section at: After you review the financial recap, if you have any questions, please contact me. I will do my best to answer your questions. A huge thank you to the City of Cedar Rapids for their generous contribution of $3,000 to our budget. This money was used to offset expenses for busing, and we will receive another $3,000 in 2016 from the City. The ladies who serve throughout the year on the Convention Steering Committee put in a lot of hours to make sure our competition/convention weekend goes smoothly. They are very mindful of expenses and keep them at a minimum. Enjoy the rest of the summer, and I look forward to seeing many of you at the Tribute to the Top in September. It s going to be a fabulous weekend with Sharon Babb and includes chorus coaching (RiverSong, Heart of Missouri, and City of Fountains), PVI s and of course our Saturday night show where we will recognize our Las Vegas competitors Kansas City and River Blenders Choruses, HEAT, Legacy, ClassRing and Fierce! Early bird and hotel registration end August 18! 5

6 Region 5 Quartets Take 4 Quartet Greetings from Take 4! June was a really fun and busy month for us. We started off with a coaching session with the amazing Betty Clipman. She gave us so much to work on, or as she phrases it, "so many points to grab." Later in the month we made our way to St. Louis for a week of coaching and performing. We were able to perform for St. Louis Harmony Chorus, along with Musical Island Boys, and sing for the Ambassadors of Harmony at their send-off rehearsal before Pittsburgh. During that week we also coached with David and Sandi Wright and the one and only Queen Jean Barford. Needless to say, our heads were spinning, and we are still working to process all that great information. If that wasn't enough, we also had the extreme pleasure of leading a barbershop workshop at the Summer Sounds Music Camp in East St. Louis, IL. This was the first time the kiddos had ever been exposed to barbershop. We explained the style and voice parts and also taught a simple tag. The kids were begging to come up and sing a tag with us. They did a great job! We all agree that this was one of the most amazing experiences we have had as a quartet. As we left, the children greeted us in the parking lot, asked us to sing more and ran alongside our car waving as we left. Talk about rock star treatment. It was clear the barbershop style had impacted those campers, and equally clear that the campers had impacted us. What a great hobby! Looking ahead, we are excited for our upcoming coaching session with Rob Mance, working on some new custom arrangements and the arrival of Melissa's son Brysen who is due at the end of August. We love making music together and, as always, are thankful for the Region's support. We are so thrilled that Region 5 will be so well represented at International this year. Best of luck to the Kansas City Chorus, HEAT, Legacy, ClassRing and Fierce! Region 5 Rocks! In Harmony, Wendy, Kristin, Chacey and Melissa 6

7 4 s Company Quartet Pat It s hard to believe, but 4 s Company is getting ready to celebrate their 25th anniversary this year! Bobbie Sooz Kimi Charter members included Kimi Ruder (tenor), Liz Robertson (lead, and Queen with the Hallmarks in 1979), Diana Duff (baritone) and Jan Reinhart (bass). Originally founded (Kimi didn t even know they were ever losted ) in the fall of 1990 as a one-time competition quartet, this comedy group has been ringing chords and pulling props out of their cleavage ever since! Kimi is the only original member remaining, but Pat Duncan (the third bass, after Jan Jankowski) has been with the quartet for 20 years (and people think she s pretty original, too!). Bobbie Brown, the group s second Bari, has been singing with 4 s Company since The newest lead, Sooz Combs (the quartet s third, following Cindy Orzel), joined just a year ago, in mid Though they ve all been scratching the travel itch in the past year with trips to Ireland, England and a variety of cruises, they still love to entertain audiences with their signature comedy flair! As they prepare to celebrate their Silver Anniversary year (Pat s hair has a head start!), they are dedicated to working on new music and building their repertoire. They re delighted at the prospect of regaling new audiences and longtime friends in Region 5 and are looking forward to regional competition next spring! 7

8 Region 5 Choruses Acappella Omaha Omaha, NE ACAPPELLA OMAHA BLAZES THROUGH A BUSY SUMMER OF EXTRA FUN AND UNIQUE PERFORMANCES Acappella Omaha had a great time promoting the chorus at Aksarben Cinema s Pitch Perfect 2 Premier Party in May. In honor of the Bella s individual costume theme from their last performance of the first movie, we each wore our hippest look in black layers with silver accents. It was great fun to see what each of our members came up with, and the high energy buzzing around this event was electrifying to the chorus. We had a SWEET SING membership drive in June where prospects could learn The Star Spangled Banner to open a ball game with us, and we recently welcomed Nancy Elias and Gail Poskey to the ranks. We were also delighted to have some of our members attend Karen Breidert s Hallmark School the weekend of June 12th and bring back some nuggets of wisdom. July started off with a bang when Acappella Omaha performed The National Anthem at an Omaha Storm Chasers baseball game in Werner Park Stadium. The month progressed to a more spiritual note when the chorus served as the musical guest for a Sunday service in Omaha s Presbyterian Church of the Master, where Acappella Omaha s Monday night rehearsals are held. We re looking forward to performing at two county fairs and enjoying time together at our annual Sweets Bash Potluck before the summer is over. We re also anxious to see who might be forming a caravan to Kansas City for the Tribute to the Top educational symposium this September. Maybe we ll see YOU there! Submitted by Ingra Winkler Anderson Acappella Omaha Publicity Chair 8

9 Cedar Sounds Chorus Cedar Rapids, IA Wow! What happened to July? This summer is just flying by. Cedar Sounds has been very active since competition. A very capable committee planned a style show which turned into a trunk showing by CJ Banks, paired with a delicious luncheon. Those coming for lunch enjoyed not only the food but the Back to the Fifties theme of the event. Oh yes, the chorus earned a nice profit too. After passing the audition to sing our National Anthem at the Kernel s baseball (an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins) game on July 21, we went full steam ahead with inviting prospective members to sing with us for that event. We were totally delighted with eight guests showing their lovely faces on our first night to rehearse. Several of them were even interested in learning the parts for that song. What a bunch of quick learners! We sang with great pride and enjoyed many compliments as we found our seats to watch the game. We believe that several of those who sang with us will be coming back for more learning about our wonderful sisterhood. Now it s time to think ahead to...gulp...christmas! Chorus members special talents make City Voices hum (City Voices Continued on Page 10) City Voices Chorus Town and Country, MO There s a lot more to running a successful Sweet Adeline chorus than entertaining audiences. There are the people who manage the money, sew the costumes, order the makeup, book the performances, maintain the risers, lead warm-ups, organize auditions for prospective members. In the City Voices Chorus, the list of invaluable volunteers includes bass Lola Nosker, who since 2004 has added $7,028 to the chorus budget through five successful grant applications two winning funds from Boeing and three from the Missouri Arts Council. 9

10 (City Voices Continued) The chorus learned in early July that Nosker s latest score is a $1,245 grant from the Missouri Arts Council to boost the upcoming chorus show, City Voices in Living Color, set for Sept. 26. Peggy Leon, an assistant chorus director, has also won grants for Young Women in Harmony events in recent years. Nosker estimates it takes about 40 hours to prepare a grant application and nearly an equal amount of time for follow-up reports on how the money is spent. The secret to success? Carefully read the criteria, Nosker advises, and then make sure you fulfill it. It takes accuracy and follow-up, she said. In other chorus news, lead Barb Anderson won the 2015 Sweet Adeline Leading Lady of the Year (S.A.L.L.Y.) award, a lifetime award selected by the membership that recognizes one chorus member s special contributions. In addition to the Sept. 26 show, which will be held at Ritenour Auditorium, the chorus is planning a Dec. 12 Holiday Luncheon. Please mark your calendar. Chorus member Barb Anderson, who won the 2015 Sweet Adeline Leading Lady of the Year (S.A.L.L.Y.) award. Flint Hills Harmony Chorus Topeka, KS This summer, Flint Hills Harmony (FHH) is joyfully learning new music and reviewing our repertoire as we prepare for two upcoming performances. FHH will appear with the Cody Choraliers, a men s barbershop group in Leavenworth, KS, in Leavenworth on November 15, 2015, and we will again celebrate the holidays with the Little Apple Chorus, the Manhattan, KS, men s barbershop group, at its holiday concert in Manhattan on December 13, Flint Hills Harmony awards an annual scholarship to a deserving female music student of high school or college age. This year, FHH selected Charlotte Benjamin, a recent graduate of Manhattan High School. Charlotte was honored at an FHH practice recently and has been attending practices ever since. We are thrilled that such a talented young woman is a potential Sweet Adeline! Charlotte has performed in musicals since she was in the fifth grade and in all of her high school productions. She also performs in area summer musicals and was a member of the State Honor Choir. Charlotte will attend Kansas State University this fall, majoring in Music Education. 10 (Flint Hills Harmony Continued on Page 11)

11 (Flint Hills Continued) FHH Director Cindy Orzel and Section Leaders Linda Rousser, Lead, Cara Wittkopf, Tenor, and Bev Newton, Bass, are eagerly anticipating attending Harmony University in Nashville on July 26-August 2, to experience the diverse musical opportunity provided. FHH is looking forward to hearing all about it! Several FHH members were enthusiastic about the June Hallmark music school in Maryville, MO, featuring Karen Breidert. We are incorporating her great suggestions into practice! Flint Hills Harmony enjoyed an evening together at a Topeka restaurant for its FHH Board installation ceremony on June 16, Pictured L to R: President Linda Rousser, Vice-President Jane Cooper, Board Members Virginia Easton, Kathy Kovar, Joanne Drury, and Becky Wolfe. Gateway Spotlight ChorUS St. Charles, MO Recently chartered Gateway Spotlight ChorUs from St. Charles, MO, was thrilled by the invitation to sing on the plaza before the presentation of My Fair Lady at the St. Louis Muny in Forest Park. A majority of the members braved the weather in their new summer costumes to sing several songs as Muny patrons arrived in the rain. The entire program was later presented under cover on the rehearsal stage. The following is a summary of the evening. MUNY Report - June 16, 2015 While "singin' in the rain," Gateway Spotlight ChorUs members in new "purple rain" attire "let a smile be your umbrella." Members were not going to let "rainy days and Mondays always get me down." Did the "rainy day women" each feel like a "fool in the rain"? Though no one declared, "I love a rainy night," there was much "laughter in the rain." Alas, the show was canceled. "Riders on the storm" headed home, shaking their heads and murmuring "have you ever seen the rain? Sincere apologies to: Gene Kelly, Prince, Sammy Fain, Carpenters, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Eddie Rabbit, Neil Sedaka, The Doors, and Credence Clearwater Revival Gateway Spotlight Chorus members warm-up while singin in the rain at the Muny, an outdoor musical amphitheater. Submitted by: Teri Brecht (Tenor) Gateway Spotlight ChorUs Historian 11

12 Harmony Central Chorus Des Moines, IA "Selfie" of our new director and those of us at a rehearsal!) yet scared him away! In fact, it feels like we have a head start on the learning curves that come with a new director and are well on the way to getting our music for our October show learned and polished. Nathan has been singing barbershop since he was a young man, and is also currently the director of Pride of Iowa barbershop chorus. In his own words: My personal vision is to move people through the art of music. Barbershop harmony has been my passion and will continue to be the source for which I accomplish my vision. It is my desire to become a Master Director and inspire any ensemble I have the pleasure of leading to transcend the technical and experience the purity of the emotion in the music we make together. Harmony Central shares my desire to move people! We are looking forward to continued work, fun, laughter, and ringing chords together! Harmony Central Chorus has been enjoying a busy season since contest. Following the retirement of our former director, we have been learning repertoire for our fall show, welcomed many guests, and had a new member join (with additional women at various stages in the joining process). In addition, we are incredibly excited to announce that we have hired a new director. Nathan Green has accepted the position and officially started on July 1, Nate has been serving as our interim director since May 1, and we couldn't be happier that we haven't Heart of Iowa Chorus Marshalltown, IA Director Search The Heart of Iowa Chorus, located in Marshalltown, IA, seeks an energetic, dynamic director. The chorus is involved in community performances, attends regional competition, and seeks musical excellence. Please contact the president of the group at ldeige@hotmail.com if interested. 12

13 Heart of Missouri Chorus Columbia, MO Greetings Region 5 songstresses! Are we hot? Heck, yes, and not just temperatures. We're cookin' as singers every chance we get. The Hearts have had two fun performances recently. One was at The Candlelight Lodge in Columbia, MO. Really great space, fantastic audience, and acoustics of the kind we all hope for in performance venues. The second was in Tebbetts, MO, at the town picnic. While we didn't experience the same good acoustics and sound system, we did have a great time performing and enjoyed a fun dinner together afterward. Fun together was the idea at the June music school with Karen Breidert in Marysville, MO. Several chorus members attended because we "Karen'uf" to send the very best! (That was on the Region 5 flyer.) Our biggest news this summer though, is the welcoming of Janell Paviolitis as our new co-director. We're so glad to have Janell on board and hope the experience thus far isn't too much a trial by fire! We think she's super! The picture shows Janell and Marj signing the official contract (Janell in foreground). We've also got several good singers visiting and trying us out. Here's hoping they'll fall in love with barbershop and stick around until the dye sets! We look forward to seeing you in Kansas City at the Tribute to the Top Music School in September! Heart of Missouri Chorus was chosen to be coached Saturday morning as a learning tool for all during the school. See you there! by Meg Poché Kansas City Chorus Kansas City, MO Time is zooming by! International Competition is only about eight weeks away, and the Kansas City Chorus has been abuzz in preparation for International Competition in Las Vegas!! We are so excited to represent Spirit of the Midwest Region 5!! And we are extra pumped and proud to accompany River Blenders Chorus (Harmony Classic competitor), as well as four fabulous quartets from our region HEAT, Legacy, ClassRing, and Fierce! Ladies, we are bringing a mighty force from the Spirit of the Midwest!! Our chorus was warned that the Las Vegas venue will require a LOT of walking to and from our hotel rooms and rehearsal room and show venue, so we got out our track shoes! (Kansas City Chorus Continued on Page 14) 13

14 (Kansas City Chorus Continued) That s a good thing, because we scheduled three coaching sessions with legendary bundle of energy Cindy Hansen this year! Jean Barford coached us in March, and in late August, Cindy and Jean will join forces at our Chorus Retreat er, Advance! Our May coaching session with Betty Clipman and PVI s for each of our members with Rob Mance have also given us a great boost! We hope we can do them all proud in October! Coaching with Betty Clipman One more stop before Vegas - the Region 5 Tribute to the Top with Sharon Babb, June Berg and Kay Bromert September We look forward to sharing a wonderful educational experience with our Region 5 sisters before we head off to International Competition in Las Vegas! 14 Metro Mix Chorus Iowa City, IA One Fine Day in early August, our YWIH day long festival was held. As always it included singing and laughing, plus learning music, choreography, and lyrics to two songs, not to mention tags. Never a dull moment. The day culminated in a short show for parents and friends with our YWIH gals singing One Fine Day and When I m Gone (the fabulous cup song). The chorus sang some of our new music as well. Indigo quartet led the program and worked hard to involve the girls and the chorus together in a great learning experience. That is just a small part of our busy summer. We have been learning new songs for our repertoire and especially to sing in our annual show (October 3). This year s show is entitled Metro Mix Chorus presents: No Bad News! Looking for news in all the right places, Metro Mix reporters present a unique, humorous and musical look at news, weather, and sports. Eat your hearts out SNL weekend update! We have anchors, cub reporters, an interactive weatherboard made up of colorful pixeladies, an ongoing suspenseful? news story and coverage of the possibility that barbershop singing could become an Olympic sport! I don t know about you, but I think that singing our hearts out on the risers for three hours every Monday, with breath control, choreography, passionate performance, etc., is pretty athletic, not to mention the workouts during the week. Wait till you see their compulsories and final program, complete with sports reporting. (Metro Mix Chorus Continued on Page 15)

15 (Metro Mix Chorus Continued) On top of all this, we are excited to bring the dynamic quartet Fever from Lincoln, NE, to the stage in the second act of the show. Co-director (and show director) Barb Read and Bev Hamilton, director, are leading us toward a terrific performance. If any of you want to make a fun trip to Iowa in October, I suggest the first weekend, so you can get your Sweet Adeline show fix. Check our website at for more information. In the mix this summer, we are even finding time to sing for several festivals, parades, and sharing spiritual music at churches. Yes, summer and singing just go together naturally for Metro Mix Chorus. Bring on the heat! We ll bring the harmony! Written by Lynda Black-Smith River Blenders Chorus Ellisville, MO Our director search is over! Diane Huber came out of retirement to lead us forward again and we re ecstatic! In addition to our new director, we welcomed over 10 new members in the past few months and are thrilled to watch our chorus grow. On June 26, we were fortunate to sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame at the Cardinals vs. Cubs game at Busch Stadium. We sold over 670 tickets! Even though we were seated on different sides of the stadium, the Blender bond was still strong. We had a great time on the field and look forward to doing it again next year! (River Blenders Chorus Continued on Page 16) 15

16 (River Blenders Chorus Continued) We continue our tradition of "Sing for Scholarships. Twenty young men and women auditioned before our chorus on two of our regular rehearsal nights. Chorus members rated their performances on ten different qualifications. The top five singers will perform at the annual St. Louis Art Fair with us on the main stage. All five contestants sing one song, then the audience votes for their favorite. Each of the five students receives a scholarship with the winner receiving the most. It is a great experience for the young singers and thrilling for us! We are very happy that we continue to raise enough money to be able to keep this tradition alive and growing. If you re in the St. Louis Area, we ll be on the main stage at 5 p.m. on September 12 for the St. Louis Art Fair in Clayton. Go to for all the details! 2014 Sing For Scholarship Contestants Las Vegas and Harmony Classic here we come! New song, new choreo, new costumes, and new package! As you all know, it's fun and challenging to put together a package. There is so much theatrical performance and vocal excellence expected of all of us we are learning a ton. This is a very exciting time in the life of our chorus. A big thank you to Renee Porzel and Jim Arns for their invaluable coaching sessions! We can t wait to take the stage in Vegas! RiverSong Chorus St. Joseph, MO Lazy, hazy (maybe), crazy (definitely) days of summer for RiverSong. We were honored to be the research subject chorus for Dr. James F.Daugherty,PhD. and Director of Graduate Studies, Music Education and Music Therapy and Director, Vocal/Choral Pedagogy Research Group at the University of Kansas. Study results were presented at The Voice Foundation Annual Symposium in Philadelphia. Thank you Region 5 for providing such an outstanding music school with the fabulous Karen Breidert. We learned lots of good stuff to take home and really enjoyed all the singing. (RiverSong Chorus Continued on Page 17) 16

17 (RiverSong Chorus Continued) We anticipate Tribute to the Top and are over the moon to be selected for coaching with Sharon Babb. We also look forward to performances of Las Vegas competitors River Blenders, Kansas City Chorus, Fierce, Class Ring, HEAT and Legacy. Six representatives from Region 5, WOW!! We welcomed Vickie Maybury and Cindy Hansen for two out-of-this-world coaching sessions, and Cindy returns for another off-the-wall session soon. A major performance at St. Joseph s Trail s West festival on August 22 and manning a pop concession booth for three days approach. Plans are being made with the St. Joseph s men s barbershop chorus, Voices of America Chorus, for a joint show with them and the featured guest, Sweet Adelines Swedish quartet Vocality, on Sunday October 4. Plans are in the early stages so keep an eye out for further details. Happy 70 th Anniversary to Sweet Adelines International. RiverSong is proud and honored to represent such an awesome organization. Sound Celebration Chorus Springfield, IL The three months since April's competition have flown by as we continue to be even busier than we were before competition. We were delighted to receive our official invitation as one of five top-scoring small choruses to be invited to perform at the October 2016 Harmony Classic in Las Vegas as a part of next year's International Convention! Plans are already underway for that exciting chorus opportunity. We have already sung for several of our scheduled summer performances and are looking forward to others including one on August 16 for Veterans Day at the Illinois State Fair on the Lincoln stage. We have welcomed a steady stream of seven to nine guests at every rehearsal and are hard at work on the music for our October 3 annual show called "Haunted Harmony" at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in the main theater. The show will be a fun-loving fall/halloween romp featuring a foursome (no, not Dorothy and her three well-known companions!) lost in the woods while on their way to a costume party. On the way, they meet many familiar spooky creatures and characters while fun holiday novelty songs, other familiar favorites, and a few total surprises are sung. A number of special guests will round out the evening including men's quartet True Blue, Main Attraction, and chorus quartets. Terry Ludwig directed us through competition very successfully and then agreed to become our front-line director shortly thereafter. We will celebrate our first dynamic year together this coming fall and look forward to many more musical adventures as a team. We hope that you are having as exciting and enjoyable a summer as we are! Sue Baker Business Manager Sound Celebration Chorus (Sound Celebration Chorus Continued on Page 18) 17

18 (Sound Celebration Chorus Continued) Take Five Deadlines October 15, 2015 January 15, 2016 April 15, 2016 July 15, articles and pictures to Editor Marilyn Fairchild at 250 words and 1 picture only Read the latest Newsletter online at 18

19