Our annual show "The Fabulous 50's" was a great success. But don't be discouraged if you missed it, there are still plenty of opportunities to come and watch us perform and even more opportunities to come sing with us!
That's right! After the annual show we held our open house and we had a record number of visitors. But don't think that it was the only chance you had to come visit us. Remember,
Indeed, you are as welcome as the flowers in May.
Additionally, we will be singing the national anthem at the Akron Rubber Ducks game on June 16.
For our full schedule visit the calendar page on our website:
Also visit our web page for other awesome information about our chapter such as location and time of our weekly meeting, registered quartets and the Matinee Singers (if you are looking for some entertainment), videos and more!
That concludes this months bulletin. Remember to keep a song in your heart and keep the whole world singing.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Time is Ticking!
That's right, our annual show is right around the corner! Tickets are on sale so if you don't get your's soon then you will miss out on all that Barbershop Doo Wop-ness.
In other news our chapter was challenged to the Tag Challenge!
The new board officers have been installed, new board members as well as some others went to the JAD Leadership Academy in Columbus in January. There the new JAD officers were also installed where are new district president gave an amazing speech challenging us to "Be Batman" and to go above and beyond to benefit our chapter and our district.
The chorus is preparing for our annual show! Tickets will be available soon.
We have inducted some new members as well! If you haven't stopped by for awhile be sure to come in and greet them
Bob Horning turned 90! For the safety of our member, due to the curse, we will just leave it at that. But yes there was cake, singing and merriment to be had. If you weren't there you missed out.
Singing Valentines are for sale! The quartets are prepped and ready to go. Here is one of our lovely fliers with the details.
Also we are still searching for donations as we are a non-profit. So if you'd like to patronize us or give us a donation contact us and one of our members would be happy to assist you with the process.
Lastly as always you are welcome to come join us Tuesday nights to come and sing with us at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church at 50 N Prospect Street Akron, OH 44304 at 7:30.
A Very Merry Christmas from the Akron Derbytown Chorus
This is our Christmas Newsletter and we wanted to let you know of our upcoming event. That's right we have one more performance this year, and that will be at First Night.
When: Wed, December 31, 7:45pm – 9:30pm Where: 139 S. High St., Akron. Zion Lutheran Church. We'd love to see you there and welcome you with open chords. Now here is a special treat for you. From our family to yours.
Yes, Santa made a special appearance to help us with our song and that made it all the more magical.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
November 2014
Chords are ringing and hymns are humming here at the Akron Derbytown Chorus as we get prepared for the big holiday rush! Yes many are excited and are requesting performances around this time of year and we are preparing to bring the best barbershop quality we can. Upcoming events include:
Akron Children's Hospital Christmas Tree Festival (11/22 at 1pm)
Kettle Singing at Acme stores for the Salvation Army (12/6 from 8:30 am -1 pm)
First Night (more information next issue)
Elections have been completed for the board and congratulations to all those who have been elected and thank you to the men who served diligently while waiting for your replacements.
The Pick Up Quartet Contest had some great competitors and congratulations to our winners!
Charlie's Angels
All the President's Men
Honeycomb Quartet
Hasty Four
One Jim Short
All of the videos of the performances are on our Facebook Page feel free to visit and see what you've missed.
Here is the first Bulletin edition of the year. Sue and I had a good winter in Florida. Now, it's time to get back to our normal activities here in Ohio. For me, one of those is putting an edition of this publication online each month. So, here we go.
Since 2013 is a year-long celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of our Society, the Bulletin will feature articles and facts that are related to happenings between 1938 and the present, both inside and outside of the world of music. Since some of you who are reading this were around in 1938, I encourage you to share memories and events that I could share with the all of our readers. Just see me at rehearsal or send an email to the Bulletin address, which is derbytown08@gmail.com
On April 5 & 6 of this year, The Derbytown Chorus presented it's 66th annual show, "That's My Baby". Appreciative audiences on both nights were treated to a musical portrayal of the experiences of a first time father awaiting the birth of his first child while thinking back to his relationship with his own parents.
Featured quartets, Max Q and Main Street were outstanding and presented all of those in attendance with an example of the very best in barbershop harmony.
A big pat on the back to Mike Sitter, Rip Wilson and the entire show committee for organizing and producing this year's show. Congratulations also to all chorus members who sang in the show. It represents many hours of work for everyone and you should be proud of the final product. (I can say that without it sounding like self-praise since my stay in Florida made me an audience member and not a show participant)
As they used to say in the days of real baseball double-headers, "let's play two". On May 4th, the show was reprised at the beautiful Medina Performing Arts Center. Sue and I were in the audience for that one and I can say, for both of us, "Bravo!"
On Sunday, May 19th, Lock 4 entertained the crowd before the start of the game between the Akron Aeros and the Erie Seawolves. The quartet was in fine voice and even attracted a groupie in the form of Homer, one of the Aeros' mascots.
Akron
Chapter’s YIH program continues its mission to support vocal music
education and help perpetuate barbershop harmony by introducing the
art form to young people. Following up on Con Men quartet’s
enormously successful visit to area high schools in December, our YIH
team visited three more schools this winter.
On
February 13, the team made presentations to four of Sharon Risko’s
classes—two at Woodridge High School and two at the junior high
school. Students from 7th
through 12th
grades were captivated by consonant chords, and savored the fun songs
and tags they heard and
sang.
Four
days later the team traveled to Coventry High School for another
all-day affair. Choral director Julie Strebler afforded access to
all four of her choral classes. As with every school we have
visited, her students were delightful and delighted, proving again
that music appreciation bridges the generation gap.
Having
visited Richard Eder’s choir class at North High School last May,
the YIH team was pleased to be invited back on March 8. North is
Akron’s English-as-a-Second-Language high school. Despite their
varying levels of fluency with English, the students clearly enjoyed
our visit and the music to which we exposed them. Our videos of Ring
Masters and Musical Island Boys bore witness to the fact that
barbershop harmony can penetrate cultural, geographic and language
barriers.
As
reported here previously, while planning Con Men’s school visits,
we discovered a promising quartet had already formed at Kent
Roosevelt High School. In fact, Con Men treated the foursome, known
as Tetrad, to a wonderful coaching session during our visit to their
school. Tenor Gordon Wall, lead Luke Schmidt, baritone Clay Magilavy
and bass Matt Stiller continued their rapid progress in the ensuing
months. So great has been their development that the quartet opened
Akron’s 66th
annual show in April 5 and 6. They were a huge hit with our show
audiences, as well at the cast party and the afterglow.
The
following weekend, in their first-ever competition, Tetrad won the
Johnny Appleseed District high school quartet contest at Huntington,
West Virginia. Their victory earned them a free trip to Harmony Camp
this summer. As each of these young men will attend college in Ohio,
they plan to keep the quartet together as long as they can. The
future is bright for Tetrad as a quartet and as fine individuals.
Likewise,
we are optimistic about the future of the chapter’s YIH program.
The lines of communication with music educators have been established
or, in some cases, restored. In the past year, we have exposed
hundreds of students to barbershop harmony. We have identified
existing and potential local high school quartets. The program has
gained considerable momentum, which the chapter can use to fuel the
renaissance of barbershop singing by local students.
Since we have several months to look back at the year of our Society's founding, I will just give a few economic reference points now to set the stage.
In case you didn't know, our Youth In Harmony Chairman, Mike Sitter, was very busy last month spreading the knowledge and love of barbershop to area high school students. This issue of The Bulletin chronicles the events of Thursday, December 13. I was privileged to attend the visit to Firestone High School and took the videos that are included here.
Con
Men quartet wows area high school singers
By Mike Sitter, Youth in Harmony
Chairman
Current International third-place
collegiate bronze medalist and reigning District quartet champion Con
Men provided an enormous boost to the Akron Chapter’s Youth in
Harmony program. The quartet visited Green, Firestone and Kent
Roosevelt high schools on December 13 with Tom Gentry and your
reporter.
Con Men’s tenor David Strasser, lead
Matthew Hopper, baritone Russell Watterson and bass Brent Suver met
as freshman at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio. The quartet
members belong to the Greater Central Ohio Chapter and sing with its
award winning Alliance chorus. These four talented young men
represent barbershop beautifully, and they relate so well with the
high school singers. We were privileged and grateful to be able to
feature them on our school visits.
The visits helped to cement relations
with some of the area’s finest choral programs, and promoted the
chapter’s 2013 annual show on April 5-6. Con Men treated choral
and musical theatre students to first-rate singing, promoted Singing
Buckeyes Harmony Camp, taught tags and mingled gracefully with the
young performers. The YIH team encouraged the formation of high
school quartets and offered to support them with sheet music,
learning tracks and coaching. One of the chapter’s YIH goals is to
spawn student quartets who can compete in district contests and
perform on chapter shows.
The road show began at Green High
School, where choral director Alaina Starr and musical theatre
teacher Scott Bantum welcomed the team. Ms. Starr was familiar with
the Akron Chapter, as Keyed Up quartet had visited one of her classes
a few years ago. About 45 of Green’s choral and drama students
spent an hour and a half listening to, and singing for and with Con
Men. A lively question and answer session followed. Then the
students entertained the barbershoppers with a stirring performance
of Without Love from the musical Hairspray.
After the structured presentation, the
air was thick with energy and musicality as students, teachers and
guests mingled over refreshments. Some of the male students
expressed interest in attending Harmony Camp and in forming a
quartet. One of the leads in the school’s production of Hairspray
regaled the assemblage with a soulful rendition of Mary Had a
Baby.
The next stop on the tour was Firestone
High School, Akron’s magnet school for the performing arts.
Waiting were approximately 70 of Sally Schneider’s male choral
students and half a dozen young men from Barbara Bellamy’s choral
class at Kenmore High School. Your editor was also there to cover
the event and to shoot photos and videos for this bulletin.
After singing a couple of songs and
touting Harmony Camp, Con Men taught the young men the Impossible
Dream tag. The students’ performance of the tag was so
good that it prompted the presenters to ask for an encore
performance. Ms. Schneider then showed her chops by carrying the
lead part to the Bonnie Jean tag with Con Men. The Q & A
session included several questions about the academic and musical
lives of the quartet’s members. Con Men seized this opportunity to
encourage the students to continue singing throughout their lives
regardless what careers they pursue.
What followed was an excellent
rendition by Ms. Schneider’s class of the barbershop chart of
Jingle Bells and of a beautiful arrangement of White
Christmas. Con Men then earned a standing ovation with Taking
a Chance on Love to close the session. Ms. Schneider asked Con
Men to linger a few minutes to work with her women’s choir, who
were polishing a jazz chart of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.
The quartet readily obliged and, predictably, earned new fans.
Kent Roosevelt High School was the
final stop of the day. Choral director Corey Fowler hosted as Con
Men performed for nearly a hundred choral students in the school’s
auditorium. One of the highlights occurred when Con Men called the
school’s own barbershop quartet, Tetrad, on stage and taught them
the In Lillie’s Eyes tag. After singing the tag once
through with Con Men, Tetrad sang it without assistance and nailed
it, much to the delight of their peers.
The day climaxed with a lengthy private
coaching session as Con Men worked with Tetrad on Darkness on the
Delta and Roll,Jordan, Roll. Tetrad plans to
compete in the Johnny Appleseed District high school quartet contest
in the spring. Judging by their performance and their responsiveness
to coaching, they should do very well at contest. If they continue
to progress, there is a good chance they will be invited to perform
on our annual show in April. Wouldn’t that be a treat for our
audience
Ringmasters made history in Portland by becoming the very first quartet from a Society affiliate to win the coveted quartet gold medal. Travelling all the way from Stockholm, Sweden, Ringmasters combined fantastic singing with championship-level entertainment to bring back a gold medal for the Society of Nordic Barbershop Singers (SNOBS) Affiliate. Ringmasters is tenor Jakob Stenberg, lead Rasmus Krigström, baritone Emanuel Roll, and bass Martin Wahlgren.
Chorus Champions
Under the direction of Jim Henry, this is the third gold medal for the Ambassadors of Harmony, having already won the coveted gold medal in 2004 and in 2009.
Collegiate Quartet Champions
Lemon Squeezy is tenor Alexander Löfstedt, lead Victor Nilsson, baritone Jonathan von Döbeln, and bass Martin Jangö. Another gold medal for a Swedish quartet.
(There are videos of the champs later in this issue)
Chapter
quartet is Keyed Up for new citizens
Keyed Up
quartet was delighted to perform as part of the Naturalization Oath
Ceremony at Akron’s Main Library auditorium on June 29. The
quartet sang four patriotic songs during a program that culminated
with 49 people from 30 different countries swearing their allegiance
to the United States.
“It was
the most moving event I have had the privilege of singing at as part
of a quartet,” noted tenor Denny Conrad. “I started choking up
several times while singing, as I realized what the lyrics of our
songs meant to me and to others in attendance. It was gratifying
that many of the new citizens and their family members asked to pose
for pictures with the quartet after the ceremony. Several of them
voiced an interest in visiting a chapter meeting.”
“It was an
honor to share in the joy and pride of our newest citizens,” mused
Mike Sitter, who filled in for bass Jim Murfin. “I was thrilled
for those who were about to enjoy the rights and freedoms we have
known all our lives.”
Keyed Up
sang God Bless America,
Tom Gentry’s arrangement of So Many Voices
Sing America’s Song, America the Beautiful and
Star-Spangled Banner.
The
International Institute, which promotes immigrant integration, ethnic
diversity and international communication, hosted the event. The
honorable John R. Adams, U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Ohio served as keynote speaker and administered the Oath
of Allegiance.
In what has become an enjoyable, annual tradition, The Derbytown Chorus sang "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Akron Aeros' game on Tuesday, July 3. The proximity to our nation's birthday and the fireworks display after the game made this occasion a little more special.
(remember, click on any Bulletin picture to enlarge it)
On June 2, we journeyed to Progressive Field in Cleveland to sing the National Anthem before the Indians-Twins game. The pregame music around the ballpark made it a little difficult to do our usual impromptu concert. Also, the band playing by the Bob Feller statue prevented our friends and families in section 303 from hearing our on-field singing. To their credit, the Indians organization sent a nice apology letter regarding this last problem. The Tribe lost the game, but the post-game fireworks were excellent. Thanks to all chorus members who participated and for those who cheered us on from the stands.
________________________________________
Spreading The Word About Barbershop
Chapter
supports vocal music education
The Akron Chapter made a
monetary contribution to the Cuyahoga Falls High School Choral Music
Association (CMA) at the school on May 18. Choral Director Jesse
Lange and his Choral Elite Ensemble hosted annual show director Mike
Sitter, who presented Mr. Lange with a check for $200.
The Elite Ensemble had
performed a choral set on the chapter’s 65th
annual show, How the West Was Sung,
at the high school in March. Lange said the CMA would use the
donation to purchase new sheet music for his singers.
“Including the Ensemble
on our show begins a revival of our chapter’s Youth in Harmony
program,” said Sitter, who recently agreed to coordinate the
program.
A big Bulletin pat on the back to Mike Sitter for including the YIH program in his busy schedule. There is more information about this program later in today's Bulletin. ________________________________________
Birthdays
Bob McCullough-6/7
Robin Reid-6/7
Bill Weddington-6/11
Bill Halter-6/18
Don Frame-6/20
Chris Eitman-6/23
Charlie Horning-6/28
________________________________________
Now It's Official
Though Lou Elliott has been with the chorus for a while, at a recent rehearsal, he received his framed membership certificate. Congratulations, Lou. It's great to have you singing with us.
________________________________________
Rehearsal Visitors
Chorus member, Chris Eitman, was accompanied to a recent rehearsal by his wife, Sabra and his mother-in-law, Susan Bonnett.
________________________________________
Chapter
launches ambitious YIH program
The
Akron Chapter’s mission statement says, in part, “We support
vocal music education.” Our Youth in Harmony program is the
primary vehicle for addressing this task.
New
YIH chairman Mike Sitter began the revitalization of the program by
including the Cuyahoga Falls High School Choral Elite Ensemble on our
2012 annual show.
“The
next step in the process,” Mike said, “is to visit local area
high schools and introduce choral students to the barbershop style.”
Mike and his YIH team of Scott Giles, Jim Heaton and Tom Gentry
began making school visits last month.
On
May 21, they visited Akron’s North High School and addressed
Richard Eder’s 9th
– 12th
grade choir. “We were very well received by approximately 30
girls and boys, several of whom speak English as a second language,”
said Sitter.
Then,
on May 24, the team traveled to Akron’s Kenmore High School, where
they visited Barbara Bellamy’s select choir. “About 50 girls and
boys responded tremendously,” Sitter noted, “and several students
expressed a keen interest in attending Harmony Camp in August.”
The
team plans to visit many more schools in the fall. “One of our
short-term goals is to include a chorus consisting of quartets from
various schools on our 2013 annual show,” Sitter said.
“Eventually, we hope to feature high-performing individual quartets
on our shows, host local high school quartet contests, and send
quartets to district contests.”
_____________________________________________
For The Good Of The Order Vocal Spectrum
_______________________________________
Upcoming Events
Friday, June 22-Fairlawn Concert
Tuesday, July 3-National Anthem at Canal Park
Watch for details at rehearsals and in the High Notes.
Our chorus knows that our director, Scott Giles, is a very special and hardworking musician, who devotes tremendous time and effort into making our group the best that it can be.
Recently, the JAD recognized these same qualities in Scott when he was awarded the Bob Loose Golden Apple Award as the District's Best Director of 2011.
Congratulations to Scott on this well-deserved honor.
As many of you may know, Oscar (Buzz) Fraley, a Chapter member and 54 year member of our Society, winters in Florida.
As you will soon discover, Buzz was very much involved in barbershop during his latest time down south.
First, Buzz sings with the Hernando Harmonizers, a chorus that represents Hernando County, which is in the west-central section of the state. Among the other chorus activities, they competed in the Sunshine District Chorus Competition, held in Punta Gorda this past April.
He also sang with a quartet that starred as the School Board in a performance of "The Music Man" presented by The Stage West Community Playhouse, located in Spring Hill, FL.
(click on the image to enlarge it)
The Weeki Wachi Springs attraction, which is in Hernando County, was the scene of another quartet gig in which Buzz sang. The quartet delivered a singing Valentine to one of the famous Weeki Wachi mermaids. I, for one, am more than a little envious of that opportunity.
It is great to know that one of our own has taken his talents south for the winter and contributed to the enjoyment of barbershop harmony down there as he does with us in Ohio. Keep up the good work, Buzz, and congratulations on your accomplishments.
On May 5, The Derbytown Chorus performed the main parts of our March show at the beautiful Performing Arts Center in Medina, OH. Chapter quartets, Gear Shiftin', Summit Chordsmen and Keyed Up also performed to a very appreciative audience. Guest quartets What's Next and 4 Way Stop added their talents to top off the evening. An afterglow at Jo Jo's in Medina allowed us to wind down a bit and of course do a little more singing.
Word is that this is an event that may be repeated next year, so watch for future announcements.
(Note:) My apologies to Gear Shiftin'. I did not get a photo of them at Medina.
Next month, Akron Chapter member, world-renowned arranger, and fellow baritone, Tom Gentry, will be inducted in the Barbershop Hall of Fame in Germany. Congratulations, in advance, to Tom. Watch for more details on this story in the March Bulletin.
Wil Veith- 2/5 Bud Couts- 2/8 Mike Sitter- 2/10 Richard Mull- 2/14 V. Frank Pittman- 2/14 Bill Trumpold- 2/20 John Bracht- 2/21 John Rohal- 2/24 Spike Hudson- 2/26 Rich Gintert- 2/28
Recently, in an email conversation with Mike Sitter, I talked a little bit about what I had been doing, musically, down here in SW Florida. He suggested putting some of that information in the Bulletin. So, here goes:
Each Tuesday, the choir here at our RV park practices from 2:00-4:00. It's an SATB choir, this is my third year and I sing tenor with this group. ( not too far removed from a barbershop bari part). Other than having fun, our main focus is to prepare some songs for the big park variety show in March. Last year we did medleys from The Music Man and Carousel. This year, it's a medley from The Sound of Music. Then the men are doing "There is Nothing Like A Dame" from South Pacific and the women are doing a very bluesy number called "Men". Our director was a high school vocal instructor for 35 years. He is great to work with, but pushes us enough to get good results.
On Wednesday, the jam sessions that I started in 2010 are held from 3:00-5:00. Musicians from the park come down and we just come up with songs and figure out how to play them. Basically it comes down to picking a key and having at least one person in the group who knows the lyrics. We do a couple of songs for the variety show also and provide accompaniment for some of the other performers. We have 8 regulars now (4 guitars, keyboard, harmonica, baritone ukelele and drums)
I haven't been singing any barbershop here. The baritone ukelele player in our jam band also sings bass in our choir and with the Naples BHS chapter, The Paradise Coastmen. Sue and I attend their show in March each year.
So, I'm keeping my voice in shape and working on the learning tracks for our show too. There is still lots of time to see the sights and relax in the warm weather that we have had this year. Looking forward to seeing all of you sometime in April.
Last Thursday, our jam band provided 2 hours of music for a happy hour (plus 1) at the tiki hut, next to the pool. Here is a sample of that performance. Since half of our musicians are French-Canadians, I found out that baby boomers from Quebec are familiar with Hank Williams Sr. too.
Here is the first of the brief "Florida Issues" of The Bulletin for 2012. This one is a tad late. The schedule down here is fun but quite busy. I'll try to hit the deadline for Feb.
You know what they say. "Changes in latitude, changes in attitude"
Jeff Garber- 1/1 Curtis Paulette- 1/1 Jim Elliott- 1/11 Jim Wolfe- 1/11 Jack Kunklier- 1/12 Stan Martin- 1/14 Bob Horning- 1/18 Larry Bond- 1/21 Bill Kuntz- 1/22 Doug Husser- 1/24
Note: Phrases appear between the Bulletin articles. See if you can figure out the Christmas song represented by each phrase. ___________________________________
Barbershopper Of The Year Charles (Rip) Wilson
The honor of being BOTY is certainly one that Rip richly deserves. Since joining our Chapter, Rip has been involved in numerous projects, which include the development of the Gospel Chorus, our Singing Valentines program and, most recently, spearheading the production of our 2012 Annual Show. He has always been eager to provide labor, expertise or, on many occcasions, his home to aid in the operation and growth of our Chapter. Congratulations Rip!
_
________________________________________________
(Oh, member of the round table with missing areas)
On Saturday, December 10th at 8:00am, about 30 Chapter members met at The Salvation Army headquarters on Maple St. in Akron. We were divided into two groups and bused to Acme stores all around the greater Akron area. Once at the stores, we met with the bell ringers and did a short performance to help make shoppers aware of the fund raising efforts of The Salvation Army.
Coffee, Donuts, bottled water and our own supplyof Christmas spirit were more than enough to keep us singing carols until after the noon hour. This was a departure from our usual Salvation Army gigs of recent years, but it certainly allowed us to cover a wide area and get up close and personal with our audience.
Later that evening, we gathered at The Spaghetti Warehouse for the December business meeting/Christmas party. After dinner, we were treated to songs by Chapter quartets and the chorus. As mentioned in the opening article of this Bulletin issue, it was announced at the meeting that the 2011 Barbershopper Of The Year award went to Charles (Rip) Wilson.
Thank you to Dennis Conrad, who did his usual masterful job in coordinating the whole day's events. ________________________________________________
(Do you perceive the same vibrations which stimulate my auditory sense organ?) _______________________________________________________________
Fox 8 In The Morning
On Monday, Dec. 12th, we made our holiday appearance on the Fox 8 Morning Show. We were ready to give it our all because we really hadn't sung much since Saturday. This is always a great gig and, through the Fox 8 webpage, we can promote our Chapter and the Annual Show. A round of cyber-applause to all who participated in our Christmas TV appearance.
________________________________________________
(Sir Lancelot with laryngitis)
________________________________________________
You don't have to be a barbershopper to enjoy the many wonderful sounds of Christmas, but we certainly get a lift from being able to sing the songs ourselves. Let's sample a few right now.
________________________________________________
(Duodecimal enumeration of the passage of the yuletide season)
(Listen, the winged heavenly messengers are proclaiming tunefully)
_________________________________________________
Editors Note: Since Sue and I will soon be traveling south to Florida, by way of Cincinnati (for Christmas) and Hendersonville, TN (for another Christmas), this will be the last full edition of The Bulletin until May, 2012. By the way, we already had Christmas in Kent with Mike and Kim. I will post shortened issues each month to recognize birthdays and mention some brief news or entertainment items. Until then, have a Merry Christmas and I'll see you in the new year. Maybe, if I keep up with the show songs online and we do a repeat show in Medina in May, I can actually be in it.
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