Special Election Edition

It is that time again. The election of officers will take place in the Fall, so:

Now is the time to come to the aid of your chapter.

We all have busy schedules. Jobs, families and other commitments can certainly fill in an appointment calendar in a hurry. Just the activities related to barbershopping can sometimes make for a busy schedule.

Our chapter has been fortunate over the years. We have had hardworking, dedicated officers who made themselves available so that the Derbytown Chorus remained a vital part of our Society and also our community.

Your help is needed to assure that the success of the chorus continues. If you are currently an officer and would be willing to place your name on the ballot again, that's great. Maybe you want to try another office for the coming year. Fantastic! Your experience and expertise is an invaluable asset.

If you have held chapter offices in the past, maybe many years ago, consider coming forward as a candidate again. Those who have "been there, done that" are the best guides for our chorus.

And if you are relatively new to the chorus, we need fresh perspectives and new ideas. There is no better way to feel a part of your chorus than to become involved in it's operation.

The offices that need to be filled are:

President
Executive VP
Chapter Development VP
Music and Performance VP
Secretary
Treasurer
Program VP
PR and Marketing VP
Delegate
Chorus Manager
Board Member(s) at Large

( Watch for descriptions of the duties of these officers, starting with the next regular (7/27) edition of the bulletin.)

This year's nominating committee members are: Jim Heaton, Vic Dandrea and Bill Halter. Please contact any of these men if you have questions about the elected offices. And if you are asked to be a candidate by the committee, take the opportunity to give your time and ideas to our chapter during 2010, and say YES.

Running (for office) is good for your (chapter's) health.

July, 2009, #1

International Contest

The International Contest in Anaheim has now concluded and reports are that it was a spectacular event. Anyone who has attended a convention would not find that description surprising. If you have not been to an International, or maybe just not attended one lately, mark you calendar for next year when the contest venue will be Philadelphia. In case you have not seen or heard about this year's winners, here is a summary.

Chorus Competition

Ambassadors of Harmony (St Charles, MO)-Gold
The Vocal Majority (Dallas Metro, TX)-Silver
Great Northern Union (Hilltop, MN)-Bronze(3)
Sound of the Rockies (Denver Mile High, CO)-Bronze(4)
The Northern Lights (Toronto, ON)-Bronze(5)

The Alliance (Greater Central Ohio) placed 6th
Southern Gateway (Cincinnati Western Hills) placed 11th

Quartet Competion

Crossroads-Gold
Old School-Silver
Storm Front-Bronze(3)
Ringmasters-Bronze(4)
State Line Grocery( tie-4)

From JAD, The Allies placed 8th, TKO was 17th, Hot Air Buffoons were 20th and 4-Way Stop was 32nd.

Collegiate Quartet Contest

The Vagrants-Gold
Swedish Match-Silver
On Demand-Bronze(3)
Prestige (all Bowling Green students)-Bronze(4)
JAD's 4-Way Stop-Bronze(5)
Go Fish-Bronze(tie-5)

Getting To Know Us

This chorus member, who was born in Bluffton, OH, has been a barbershopper and a chorus member for less than two years. He has also lived in Findlay, Medina and Hannover, Germany.

He grew up on a 250 acre farm, helping to raise pigs, as well as doing other farm chores. His high school was small in size. His graduating class had 70 students. During his senior year, the football team, on which he played halfback, had a 10-0 record and was ranked in the top ten among Ohio schools.

This chorus member's main occupation was as a computer programmer, but he also has worked as a house and barn painter (early in life), a high school math and physics teacher, and a physics instructor at a technical college.

His job with General Tire took his family to Germany for a year, where they all learned to speak and read German. This was necessary because the village in which they lived had very few English speaking residents. The family traveled through much of Europe during this time. In 2005, he spent a short time in London, working for BP. During this period, his wife was on the Tube when terrorists made a second attempt to blow up the subways. Fortunately, the bombs did not go off that time.

This barbershopper plays piano and organ and played both for his church from 6th grade through high school. He is also an astronomy buff. In college, he was president of the men's Glee Club, as well as the Wizard of Oz fan club. This latter group once rented the 16mm movie and watched the whole thing in reverse.

(This man's identity will be revealed in the 7/27 issue of the bulletin)

2009 Annual Akron Derbytown Chorus Family Picnic

submitted by Stan Martin

Saturday, June 20, was our annual Family Picnic, - held at Cuyahoga Falls Waterworks Park., 5:00 PM. A great day! Dan Nichols' blazing grille, blue skies, warm weather and many friends.

Dan thought of it all. The arrangements, grille, plentiful pop, yard games and lots of food. -Vic Estafen brought a double share of his pineapple//cherry goodies, Dick Hudson’s famous pasta salad and all the wives famous cookies/veggies/brownies kept us from hunger. .

Eric Salmons was there with his lovely daughter and the geese feeding boys.

Robin’s beautiful MG and Scott Giles' red convertibles graced the parking lot. Of course, Scott led the way for a variety of Chorus favorites. Our various quartet acappella smoothed the corners.

If you weren’t there, you missed a great evening. (Try again next year!).

Thanks Dan! You did a great job, (as did the many others pitching-in).

Birthday Wishes

Dick Frank -7/21
Charles (Stan) Haught -7/21

Barbershop Glossary

Ballad-A word used to group songs which usually have a strong emotional lyric, and may be sung either in tempo, or freely.

Expanded Sound- The effect created by the combined interaction of voices sung with accurate intonation, uniform word sounds in good quality, proper volume relationships that reinforce the more compatible harmonics producing an effect (greater than the sum of the individual voice parts).

Implosion-Compression of air between the closed glottis and the closed oral and nasal passages, forming the voiceless consonants "p", "t", and "k".

Swipe-An arranger's tool which enhances a song. A series of chords sung while sustaining one word.

Vocal Folds-Two muscular bands in the larynx cavity which vibrate and create varying pitches by adjusting tension against the upward flow of air.

International Tags?

Recently, at one of our rehearsal afterglows, there was a discussion about using the internet to have a quartet sing a song, even though they are all at different locations. The technology is certainly there. If the song was a Barber Polecat, the task gets even simpler. Well, a little digging uncovered the fact that this idea has occurred to others and they have begun to put this process to the test. Here are a couple of examples. The first one features singers from New Zealand, Sweden, USA and Canada who have never met. The second was done by two singers, each contributing two parts. One is from France, the other from Germany.

Conan the Barbershopper

Tonight Show host, Conan O'Brien, spent a large part of a day last week, hanging around with barbershoppers in Anaheim. He was attired in red and white striped jacket and suitable hat to fit the occasion. There is no word yet as to if or when the footage that NBC shot will air on Conan's show, but stay alert for special notices should something definite be scheduled. In the meantime, here is an interview with Mr. O'Brien from the Society webcast. The sound and lip movement don't quite sync, but that happens to us every Tuesday so you should be used to it.

For The Good Of The Order

Board Meeting-Tonight, 7/13, 6:30

Rehearsal Location Change-The rehearsal on Tuesday, 7/14, will be held at the home of Charles (Rip) Wilson. Times are the same: Gospel group at 6:30, Chorus at 7:30.

Aeros' Game-The chorus will be singing the National Anthem (and anything else that we can get away with) at the Akron Aeros' game on Tuesday, 7/28. Contact Jim Mally if you have not signed up yet. No charge for chorus member tickets. Guest tickets are $3.00 and Jim needs the money for guest tickets turned in by 7/14.

June, 2009 #2

Apple Corps
Music Camp
June 12-13, 2009

At last count, 15 members of the Derbytown Chorus attended this year's camp. As always, the classes were great, the food was plentiful and there were lots of opportunities to sing.

In addition to the chapter representation, another camp highlight was the attendance of our newest chapter quartet, Good Fourtune. Tenor, Charlie Wilson; Lead, Jim Wolfe; Bass, Luke Frohnapfel; and baritone, Jim Bishop came to camp for coaching and performed an excellent song for the big show on Saturday night. Check them out.


We also payed a visit to the apple tree that the chapter planted on the Kenyon College campus a few years ago. The tree, which is flourishing by the way, stands as a tribute to Ed Crosley and his years of effort and leadership related to Apple Corps.

(There is a larger picture of the tree at the end of today's issue)

If you have not attended one of these camps, or maybe have missed a few lately, start planning to be there next year. The pictures below show a little bit of this year's activities.

Technical note: Collages, like the one below, should enlarge to be more viewable if you left-click once on them. Then just click on the "back" arrow of your browser to return to the bulletin page.

Who was that guy?

The mystery chorus member from the June 8 bulletin issue was Bill Halter. Not surprisingly, his son Mike was the first to identify Bill.

(Note: We have exhausted all bio sheets, so unless more come in before the next bulletin issue (July 13) we will have to temporarily suspend the Getting To Know Us feature from the bulletin)

Birthdays

Chris Eitman 6/23
Charlie Horning 6/28
George Bachmann 7/1
Virgil Koppes 7/4
Larry Steele 7/4
Dan Nichols 7/7
Kirk Roose 7/12
Kurt Spenoso 7/12

Barbershop Glossary

Afterglow- Informal harmony singing after a performance usually at convention or prelims.

Downbeat- The first beat in a bar. (ok, insert your own joke here)

Inside Smile- A mental imagery concept that aids in lifting the upper lip away from the front teeth. It assists in extending the vocal tract, raising the soft palate and adds animation to the face.

Resonance- A body of air that vibrates. The singer attempts to control the 'containee' which holds the air, thus affecting quality

Up Beat- The last beat in the bar (No more jokes, please)

Copley Show

For the 32nd consecutive year, the Akron Derbytown Chorus and chapter quartets performed at Copley Circle as part of the Summer Music Festival. This year, special guests were Over Easy, the 6th place International Seniors quartet and 2009 JAD champs, Cadillac Jack. MC Tom Gentry kept the event flowing and the audience engaged, and the weather, as usual, was very pleasant.

Recent Guests

On Tuesday, June 16th, five guests were present at our rehearsal. In the picture below, Chapter Development VP Jim Bishop (right) introduces Jim Cleeland from the Salem Chapter. Jim had talked to several Akron members at Apple Corps and wanted to see what we were all about in person.

Below are pictures of the guests(from the right) David Breen, Jim Cleeland, Clifford Crocker,and Taylor and Victor Salmons, sons of Erik.

Congratulations to Doug and Mike

At our 6/16 rehearsal, member Doug Husser received his official membership documents. Doug (left) is shown below with Mike Hoover who received a Man of Note pin for bringing Doug into our chapter.

A Tag From James Estes
(Those who attended Apple Corps got to hang out with James)

(he's on the far left)