Atlantic Gazette - Chorus of the Atlantic

Atlantic
Gazette
In this Issue
Volume 84;
Issue 10
October 2016
The Monthly Newsletter of the
Red Bank Area Chapter
Mid-Atlantic District
Barbershop Harmony Society
Fall Festival Fling
By Bruce Hanson
Ready, Set, Sing.....3 T he change of season from Summer to Autumn would hardly be noticed
Elks’ 9/11
Ceremony.............4
Red Bank
Street Fair............5
Hospital
Harmony...............6
The Songs We Sing
“Hallelujah” .........7
without a sing-out at the annual Harvest Home Festival at the Monmouth
County Park System’s Historic Longstreet Farm. The program features
cider making, pie eating and corn husking competitions, craft demonstrations, wagon rides, a medicine show and flea circus, and a variety of
musical entertainment including our own Chorus of the Atlantic. The
chorus has been assigned a strategic location, just outside the visitor
center so that all those entering the festival can stop and enjoy the singing
on the way to the other attractions. The result is an enthusiastic and
ever-changing audience.
Each set featured a quartet which provided a brief vocal rest for the
remainder of the singers. In the first set. our 2016 Harmony Brigade
participants, Terry Schmalzried, Kirk Thomson, Allan Dean and Ken
Hicks sang “Daydream” and “Bye, Bye, Blues” Continued on page 2
Fall Festival Fling
continued from page 1
from their brigade repertoire
(see photo at right) while
Chorus Director Craig Page
“worked the crowd” with chorus business cards. In the
second set, Kirk, Ken, Tom
DeBruin and the author
stepped out to sing gospel
favorite “Swing Down Chariot” and barbershop classic
“Sweet Adeline.” (see photo
below).
This has become one of the
chorus’ most enjoyable and reliable gigs and one we hope to
keep on our calendar in the coming years. Without it, how would
we know when Autumn has arrived?
Below: Visitors stop to listen to
the chorus.
Photos by Liz Hanson and
Wilmar Papa.
Continued on page 3
Atlantic Gazette
October 2016
2
Ready, Set, Sing,
Off to a Great Start
The Ready, Set, Sing program kicked off on
September 20th with 24 eager singers-to-be
meeting at the Red Bank Middle School. The
initial session led by Chorus Director Craig
Page and Idles Director John Huetz focused on
the fundamentals of alignment and breathing.
“Students” then joined the chorus for a
vocal warm-up session led by Associate Director
Kirk Thomson (see photo at bottom of page).
They were then briefly serenaded by the chorus
before returning to their classroom where they
were introduced to
Solvege
(Do-ReMi...) and accidentals and began to
learn
the
song
“Love Me and the
World Is Mine.”
Classes will continue through October ending with a
graduation
ceremony on Tuesday
November 1st.
All photos by Allan
Dean.
Atlantic Gazette
Continued on page 4
October 2016
3
Chorus Sunday Double Header:
Part 1: Elks’ 9/11 Ceremony
T his
year, the Red Bank Elks
marked the fifteenth anniversary of
the terrorist attacks of 9/11 with a
9:00 am ceremony at Riverside
Gardens Park. The early morning
start was chosen to give the Elks
time to travel to another larger
event in South Jersey.
This
worked to the chorus advantage
because they also had a later commitment at the Red Bank Street
Fair starting at 11:00 and were
thus able to be a part of both
events.
The Elks program this year
included representatives from the
Red Bank Fire and police departments as well as brief remarks by
Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna
and reminiscence by Councilwoman Katherine Horgan, who
was working that day in a building adjacent to the
twin towers.
As always, the chorus lent its
collective voice to the solemn occasion.
Atlantic Gazette
Following the ceremony, attendees and
participants were invited back to the Elks Lodge
for coffee, donuts and bagels—an invitation enthusiastically accepted by chorus members.
October 2016
4
Chorus Sunday Double Header:
Part 2: Red Bank Street Fair
Immediately following the
Elks event (and refreshments) a “set-up team” led by
Marketing VP Allan Dean,
headed to downtown Red
Bank to set up the chorus’
booth for the street fair. After
a hiatus of several years, this
has once again become a
regular semi-annual event,
giving the chapter an opportunity to reach out to the
community, showing off our
music and our organization.
Event organizers have
been helpful in locating our
booth where we can be easily heard without having to
compete with other amplified
music sources. We set up on
Monmouth Street, not far
from Maple Avenus in the
same spot that we’ve had
nearly every time since returning to the event. Our canopy,
table and banners gave us
that “professional – we know
what we’re doing” air.
By 11:15 we had “all the
parts” and started some quartetting. Shortly thereafter, we
were a small chorus, entertaining neighboring booths
and passers-by. This early
start had its pros and cons.
Nominally, the street fair runs
from 11:00 to 5:00, though
we’ve always been “sung out”
by 2:30 or so. But this year,
we were done-in by 1:30. On
the positive side, this meant
that the chorus members’ long
“double header” which began
with a warm-up call at the Elks
at 8:15 could end a bit early.
Atlantic Gazette
October 2016
5
More Hospital Harmony
S Inging
at the Riverview Medical
Center Rehab Unit has become a regular monthly gig for the chorus, thanks to
the work of Allan Dean. On this particular Saturday, twelve members stepped
up, led by Associate Director Kirk
Thomson, to serenade the folks who
were recovering from various
surgeries and ailments. It was
also nice to have a special appearance by peripatetic member
Tony Milillo. In addition to the
usual chorus repertoire, two different quartets stepped out to
add a bit of variety. At the end
of the gig, Kirk sincerely wished
the audience good health and
the hope that we would not be
seeing any of them again when
we returned next month.
Atlantic Gazette
October 2016
6
The Songs We Sing
“Hallelujah”
By Chris Papa
D irector John Huetz has truly kept the Matinee
Idles busy, constantly learning many new songs
to add to their steadily enlarging repertoire. To
date, however, no song that he has introduced
has been as enthusiastically boosted by him as
Leonard
Cohen’s
“Hallelujah”. The singers
have appreciated his vigor,
because learning this number has been a very different
experience. It is a truly interesting and very strange song.
“Hallelujah” is written
in 12/8 time, which has been
a unique learning experience. The long history of the
song, Cohen’s most popular,
reveals that the composer
has written 80 different lyrics to the tune. Indeed, as has evidently been done many times
by others, the third verse to the Society’s published version was abandoned by John, who
substituted more acceptable lyrics. Even so, the
singers have questioned the meaning of the
words, which are seemingly open to multiple
interpretations. What makes all well in the end is
the rather catchy, repetitive music. The words
hardly seem to matter.
When one looks into the background of
the composer, there is a better understanding of
the song. Leonard Cohen is a singer, songwriter,
poet and novelist, born in 1934 in Quebec, Canada, the son of very Orthodox Jews who were
religious leaders in their community. Their very
surname connotes belonging to the high priest
class, which they were.
Leonard was very much a
part of this community, but
as he was college educated
in both Canada and the
U.S., he also adopted the
Buddhist religion. With this
background, his initial efforts
were writing both prose and
poetry. His first album of
songs did not appear until
the late 1960’s.
“Hallelujah” was part of an
album published in 1984. It has been performed
by over 200 artists in many different languages
and is the recipient of many awards, and has
had a book written about it. The overall composing career of Leonard Cohen has earned him
induction into both the Canadian Music Hall of
Fame and Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
He is also a member of the American Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame. He earned the Companion of
the Order of Canada, his nation’s highest civilian
award, as well as Princess of Asturias Awards
Important Dates - October
Spouses’ Birthdays
Kathy Ferreira
Phyllis Glaz
Peggy Greene
Margaret McDermott
Ellen Milillo
Frieda Murch
Mary Jane Weythman
Betty Wilderotter
Atlantic Gazette
Members’ Birthdays
Dan Cahalane
Charlie Rein
Paul Richtmyer
Anniversaries
Kathy & Andy Ferreira
Phyllis & Frank Glaz
Grace & Frank Niemann
Connie Seiler & Terry Schmalzried
Marge & Ed Smith
October 2016
7
From the Board
Highlights from the Minutes of the September 12, 2016, Meeting
Present: Allan Dean, Andy Ferreira, Bruce Hanson, Frank Niemann Terry
Schmalzried, Jim Weythman
Absent: Frank Glaz,
Terry called the meeting to order at about 7:36 PM. Ready Set Sing.
Secretary:
July meeting minutes were accepted. Allan proposed we put meeting minutes in Google Drive. Andy
will investigate records retention. Allan will learn more about Google Accounts. Andy will find out the
schedule for Leadership Academy.
Treasurer:
The Chorus is presently on a sound financial footing. A request was made for reimbursement for personal expenses that had not been previously cleared with the board. In lieu of prior authorization and
budgeting and because the specific expense did not seem to be to the benefit of the chapter, the
board voted to deny this request. All members should check with the board prior to spending for unbudgeted items.
Music & Performance:
The board discussed the Music VP job again. One particular discussion was about the potential
function of a music VP in helping the director follow through on working issues and achieving consistency e.g issues that coaches find and work on, dynamic plans. Bruce will find/write a Red Bank-specific job description for VP Music & Performance.
The proposed December 10th show date conflicts with the Brothers’ show date. Frank N. will ask for
December 2 & 3. Red Bank Caroling may have to be moved as a result.
Jim will post Yuletide II pdfs.
We are planning on two guests for Christmas The board approved a ticket price of $15 and $20 with
no early purchase discount.
Publicity
Riverview Medical center is coming up on September 17th.
Work on the Christmas show is spinning up.
Chapter Development
The sheet music for Ready Set Sing is selected and paid for. Learning tracks are still an open issue.
We still have a couple of weeks to resolve this.
There were was a suggestion to give the RSS participants a pair of tickets to the Christmas show.
This proposal was approved.
Terry and Allan will meet with Craig (at least) to understand the scheduling and logistics. Do warmups need to line up for students and chorus.
Frank will follow up with Chris Kautz to get his uniform back. Chris has not responded to attempts to
contact him.
Programs
The number of people signed up for the picnic is small. Terry will make one last attempt tomorrow to
see if we can get more people to turn up. Otherwise, we will cancel the picnic and allocate the
money to the Installation Dinner,
The meeting was adjourned at just about 10:11PM
Atlantic Gazette
October 2016
8
Chorus of the Atlantic
Red Bank Area Chapter
Mid-Atlantic District
Barbershop Harmony Society
P O Box 8403
Red Bank, NJ 07701-8403
(732) 842-3117
Music Director........................................Craig J. Page
Associate Music Director.....................Kirk Thomson
Manager ...................................................Dave Murch
Matinee Idles
Director.......................................................John Huetz
President.................................................Dan Cahalane
Manager.....................................................Rich Dunne
Bulletin Editor
Bruce Hanson
28 Markham Place
Little Silver, NJ 07739
Blhanson@comcast.net
Photographer: John Huetz
Production Manager: Bruce Hanson
On the web at RedBankChorus.org
GUESTS ALWAYS WELCOME!
The Red Bank Area Chapter meets
weekly on Tuesdays at 7:30 P.M. at
the Red Bank Middle School, 101
Harding Road, Red Bank, NJ
Chapter Officers
President.........................................Terry Schmalzried
VP Music & Performance...........................................
VP Programs..............................................Frank Glaz
VP Chapter Development..................Frank Niemann
VP Marketing & Publicity........................Allan Dean
Treasurer .............................................Bruce Hanson
Secretary................................................Andy Ferreira
Member at Large.................................Jim Weythman
Immediate Past President.....................Andy Ferreira
Project Managers
Historian.....................................................Bob Artale
Librarian..............................................Jim Weythman
Uniforms...................................................Dave Murch
Harmony Foundation........................Ed Wengrowski
Sunshine Chairman...............................Carl Stainagle
50-50 Assoc.........................................Armando Orsini
Webmaster.................................................Allan Dean
Atlantic Gazette
Bruce Hanson
28 Markham Place
Little Silver, NJ 07739
The monthly bulletin of the
Red Bank Area (NJ) Chapter
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Atlantic
October 2016
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