Whew! The word for the fall for the Greater Richmond Chorus has been BUSY! We’ve spent most of our time hard at work preparing for our October 22nd annual show, “Bright Lights Over Broadway”. While this presented all of the normal challenges and excitement of putting on a show, this one is a little bit different for us. Our wonderful director, Roger Tarpy, conceived of the concept of a show-within-a-show and developed a new Broadway package for the chorus to use for the first half of the production. The chorus worked very hard to learn several new songs (and choreography!) from various Broadway shows as well as a script that tells the story of Rosey, who goes to New York to make her run on fame and fortune. The beauty of the idea is that we can now take this act “on the road” and sell it as a complete performance that we can expand to various lengths with the use of quartets. Our hard work paid off in spades with two great shows that featured guest quartet Southern Yankees as well as chorus quartets Moonglow, Southern Exposure, and Breaking News.

GRC had the opportunity to try out some of those songs the week prior to the show with a unique performance at the Science Museum of Virginia. We were invited to sing for a private gathering of science educators from all over the world as they toured the museum, which is a converted train station. We were thrilled at the prospect of exposing so many new people to barbershop harmony. The setup was that the chorus was on a balcony two stories above the main atrium of the museum, which sounded like a terrific idea. Unfortunately, apparently train station designers don’t know anything about acoustics, and the crowd below couldn’t hear anything we sang! We ended up having a great rehearsal for the next week’s show, though!

We’re now in the process of conducting a series of four weeks of voice lessons. While we’re certainly hoping to attract new members, we’re also encouraging our many new members who have joined since competition to attend as well. It seems that we’re always so busy during rehearsals that we don’t necessarily stop to explain the basics and terms of barbershop to them, so this is their opportunity to stop and take a deep breath before our big push for Las Vegas! More about Vegas to come . . .!

Greetings from the South Carolina Upstate! Greenville in Harmony Chorus has been moving the last few months, one of the most exciting ways being our physical move into a new rehearsal hall. The city of Mauldin is renovating the old elementary school, and we now occupy the auditorium of what is becoming the Mauldin Cultural Center. We are able to use the space basically rent-free, and an added bonus is that we can leave our risers up all the time. We are grateful to have expanded from four sets of risers to seven, and we actually have three more sets still in storage! Thank you again to Song O Sky, Southern Harmony, and Heart of Illinois Choruses for their riser donations.

Perhaps more exciting than a new place to rehearse however, is the move toward our first annual show, Harmony Celebration. Tickets are on sale now for the November 12 event, which will be a dessert show at the First Baptist Church in Mauldin. Performing in addition to Greenville in Harmony will be our two quartets, Fringe Benefits and Velvet Touch. Carolina Connection from Queen Charlotte Chorus will be our featured guest quartet.

The costume committee has been working on some flashy accessories for us to wear. We also are so grateful for June Rich, who has been fine-tuning our choreography moves.

The next exciting move will be in the spring, to our first Regional Competition in Winston-Salem. Our director, Peggy James, has chosen two great songs for us to compete with, and we are working hard on them. We are definitely looking forward to our scheduled coaching sessions with Cindy Shook in December, and Ann Gooch in January. Our costumes and make-up have been decided and modeled; now it’s just a matter of getting fifty of them made!

Greenville in Harmony has come a long way, and we are so pleased with the moves we have made. Some wonderful talent is emerging from within our chorus. Our feet are untangling, and we’re sounding more and more like beautiful songbirds. We received our first standing ovation at a sing-out this month, guests are continuing to visit, and we’re producing occasional overtones in rehearsal. How exciting are those moves?!

We’re ba-ack … from Columbus, Ohio, and we had a great experience at the Buckeye Invitational. We’re proud to say we placed third in the small chorus division, competing against both men’s and women’s choruses.

All of the “Buckettes”, as we fondly called ourselves, loaded on a tour bus for the eight-hour trip, having been told that the Buckeye would be lots of fun. We sang, we laughed, we slept, we ate, and we even shopped a little on the way. We also got to know each other a little better, thanks to our “tour bus entertainment director”, Becky Ross. And some of the things we heard were… well let’s just say, “What happened on the bus, stays on the bus.” We even gained a groupie, our favorite bus driver, Donnie, with Holiday Tours. He treated us so well, we don’t know how we would have gotten by without him.

We had a full weekend of barbershopping and good fun. Thursday night we went to the mixed quartet competition – two men and two women in each quartet. Friday was quartet competition all day, with some of our own rehearsals squeezed in. Friday night a show that was one of the most entertaining I’ve seen. And just imagine a chorus of 150+ young men, another chorus of 200+ young women, and their combined chorus, with enough youthful energy to raise the roof, not to mention their outstanding quality singing. Saturday was chorus competition all day. We had a good time slot – not too early, not too late, so we enjoyed seeing about half of the other competitors. It was quite different from SAI regional competition with more variety in the contest packages. Saturday night was another terrific show, featuring “The Buzz”, among other men’s and women’s champions.

The whole weekend was a delight to see all the talent and love of barbershop from around the country. We would love to have an opportunity to go back! A big thanks goes to Cindy Simpkins for coordinating the entire trip, and to Larry Goudy for all his help and support.

In September we gave a performance for an audience of about 200 at Faith Lutheran Church in Faith, NC. We also volunteered to staff a concession tent at the Chrysler Classic Golf Tournament in Greensboro, NC, as a fund-raiser for the chorus. We thank all our volunteers for their time and energy.

OH – one more Buckeye story. Did I mention we ate at the original Wendy’s in downtown Columbus? As we were leaving Wendy’s and they were closing the doors for the evening behind us, we found a Buckeye program on a table, left by an earlier customer. Beside our chorus name, they had hand written, “VERY small chorus - BIG sound.” We’re certainly glad we left a good impression in Ohio.

The Hilton Head Shore Notes have been busy entertaining locally. One of the highlights was singing with the men's Lighthouse Barbershop Chorus for the 2nd Annual A Cappella Night on September 23. Our quartet, No Strings Attached, was part of a benefit for the Red Cross and Katrina victims at the Arts Center, and has sung for several private parties this fall. Now the chorus is getting ready for a busy Christmas season and learning new music for the spring show.

Three of our members, Iris Christ, Cheryl Thomas, and Hannah Reinmuth, have been singing with the Jacksonville Harmony Chorus for the last 15 months and were fortunate to have been able to sing with them in Detroit. What an experience!

We are thrilled to announce that our new director will be Larry Mercer who will be assisted by Sweet Adeline coach Tom Nawrocki.

Oh my gosh! Is it THAT time already? You would know it is if you were at rehearsal last Tuesday when the strains of "Jingle Bell Rock" rang out loud and clear. We have new members who will be singing with us at various locations for the Holiday Celebrations of Christmas. So taping is in progress and choreography is being learned. (Never can get that "up/down thing" right in "Night Before Christmas").

We've had two performances at local retirement communities recently and had a wonderful time with the people we sang for. It's great to see the audience sing along when they hear songs they remember from years ago - and some newer ones too. We had former barbershop guys enjoying the music as well.

Our next big performance will be in November when we are the guest chorus for a new men's group, the Bay Tones, in Kilmarnock, VA. We are really looking forward to that.

Seven chorus members attended International this year and we enjoyed our trip to Detroit. A big Congratulations to the Sweet Adeline organization on the fine work they did to produce another fine competition under very difficult circumstances. Also congratulations to our Region 14 representatives, "Reckless!" and "Potomac Harmony" on good performances.

Southern Harmony Chorus made a commitment this year to improve our musical product and we have been learning new songs and we started a new taping program several months ago that has required a lot of work, but the end results are that our sound is getting better all the time. Tom has us working on new things to improve our expression as well using techniques that were learned at Music Camp and I.E.S.

Our Halloween on the Harbor Cruise is set for October 30, which is always a lot of fun for everyone. We have been asked to do the preshow for the Charleston Christmas Show so we’re busy learning our Christmas music. Our hockey team, The Stingrays, has asked us to sing the National Anthem at some of their games again this year, so things are definitely getting busy for us.

Our CBS television affiliate, WCSC, asked us to help with answering telephones as part of the Hurricane Relief Telethon. We enjoyed doing something that helped others and the community. When we sing this month at the Coastal Carolina Fair, Channel 5 has invited us to come by their booth to sing during their broadcast! So we will have two audiences—the ones that are there to hear the television audience and us. We certainly have been getting a variety of opportunities to perform!

The Vienna-Falls Chorus is on the national anthem singing circuit. Our home field is RFK stadium in Washington DC! Well, not really, but we did get to sing there twice recently. On September 21 we sang at the Washington Nationals baseball game and on October 13 we sang at the DC United soccer game. Our fans, various vendors that work in the stadium, even remembered us! What a honor and thrill it is to stand before thousands of people and sing this renowned song celebrating our great country.

At the end of September V-F’s management team began honoring a member each week for their contributions to the chorus. At this writing, Carolyn O’Connnell, Regina Reninger, and Colette Martin have received this tribute. V-F members send them a heartfelt “thanks”!

V-F would like to congratulate Reckless Quartet and Potomac Harmony Chorus for representing Region 14 in Detroit in October. Your performances were awesome and we are proud to call you our own!

Wilderness Road Chorus proudly announces our new director, Lavelva Stevens, and new assistant director, Joyce Beliveau. Both have been long time singers with the chorus.

Lavelva truly understands the Sweet Adeline sound. She has already been working to bring each of the chorus members to new levels of personal achievement as she develops the unit sound. During the past several years, she has directed the vocal production warm-up sessions as she served as assistant director.

She is music minister at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Wytheville. Many people throughout the New River Valley have been inspired by her music because in her career as a church music minister she has been music director and organist in several area churches including Christ Episcopal Church and Trinity Lutheran Church in Pulaski and Luther Memorial Lutheran Church, Blacksburg. She offers private music lessons--piano, organ, and voice--to many people in the area and in addition sells Avon.

Lavelva holds a B.A. in organ performance from Lenoir-Rhyne College in North Carolina, and a Master of Sacred Music from Wittenburg University.

Her skills also extend to performance. A member of several different quartets through the tenure of her membership, she is currently singing with Coffee Break.

Joyce Beliveau, also a long time member of the group, will be assistant director. Joyce, who also sings with the quartet Coffee Break, has been a director, providing leadership for the Roanoke Star Chorus. She has completed the requirements of the DCP (Directors Certification Program) program to become an approved director. She also has provided dynamic leadership for the chorus, serving as its president.

Everyone enjoyed the end of the summer party with kookie kombos singing parodies. Featured in the show along with Coffee Break were the Extension Chords, the Wal-mart Shoppers, the Board of Directors and the Lucky Ladies.