“From the Bridge” By President Dave Kirkpatrick Gents: It is truly an honor to serve as your president for next year. As I attended the Districts Leadership Academy, LEADAC (formerly COTS) it became quite clear that we are indeed very fortunate in many ways compared to the vast majority of chapters in Flor- ida. We have a director that other choruses would die for. We have a tremendous depth of experience in our membership. People like Pat Haley, Ken Carter, Wayne Page, Bill Bernard, Elbie Ford, just to name a few, have held the highest positions of leadership at dis- trict and chapter levels. My task as president of the chapter will be to get out of the way of our Board of Directors. They are the strongest in the District without question, and will serve us very well. I do have areas I’d like to concentrate on. The first of these is the commitment level of some of our members. The life style at The Villages lends itself to many activi- ties in which most of you participate, and that’s the way it should be. As you prioritize your time, please keep in mind that when the chorus commits to a sing out or con- test, we expect you to participate in rehearsals, and take your place on the risers when we ‘strut our stuff.’ A cho- rus with 130 members that only produces 30 – 40 at show time is indicative of a low level of commitment. We need to do better. Many of our fellow members work extremely hard and put in many hours of work to make this chapter go. Nothing we do happens by itself. Please keep your “oar in the water” and do your share. What can you do? Attend as many rehearsals as possible Learn the music, words and notes Be on time for rehearsals, if possible Don’t talk when we are working on a song; that’s The Heartbeat January and February—2009, Volume 6, Issue 1 The official newsletter of the Heart Of Florida Chorus, Central Florida Chapter, Barbershop Harmony Society The chapter meets every Thursday evening, 6:30 p.m. at North Lake Presbyterian Church, 975 Rolling Acres Road Lady Lake, Florida heartoffloridachorus.org SINGING VALENTINES . . . A TEAM EFFORT By Valentine Chairman Dick Fischer The planning, organizing, purchasing, and marketing team is in place. The board members involved are Dick Fischer, chairman; Paul Smith, VP Marketing and PR; Keith Mullen, Quartet coordinator; Bob Wakefield, Candy man; Reed Johnson, Rose Guru. The most important people on the team are not named here. If you want to know the rest, start by looking in the mirror. If each active member takes responsibility for selling two singing valentines, we'll exceed our goal of 150. It's a great product, so selling should be pretty easy. Putting out flyers is a good start, but one-on-one contact is the best way to close the deal. This is a major fundraiser, guys, so please dust off your selling skills. Organize your own quartet and put together two easy songs (“Heart of My Heart,” and “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”) and be ready to perform on February 13 and 14. A prize of $200 will be awarded to the quartet selling the most Valentines. There will also be a $50 prize awarded to the individual selling the most. That will go a long way toward a great dinner with your sweethearts. Scotty’s job Help with the risers if you are physically able Be a part of the performing chorus; that’s where the real fun is Enjoy your hobby
Transcript
“From the Bridge” By President Dave Kirkpatrick
Gents: It is truly an honor to serve as your president for next year.
As I attended the Districts Leadership Academy, LEADAC (formerly COTS) it became quite clear that we are indeed very fortunate in many
ways compared to the vast majority of chapters in Flor-ida. We have a director that other choruses would die for. We have a tremendous depth of experience in our membership. People like Pat Haley, Ken Carter, Wayne Page, Bill Bernard, Elbie Ford, just to name a few, have held the highest positions of leadership at dis-trict and chapter levels.
My task as president of the chapter will be to get out of the way of our Board of Directors. They are the strongest in the District without question, and will serve us very well.
I do have areas I’d like to concentrate on. The first of these is the commitment level of some of our members. The life style at The Villages lends itself to many activi-ties in which most of you participate, and that’s the way it should be. As you prioritize your time, please keep in mind that when the chorus commits to a sing out or con-test, we expect you to participate in rehearsals, and take your place on the risers when we ‘strut our stuff.’ A cho-rus with 130 members that only produces 30 – 40 at show time is indicative of a low level of commitment. We need to do better. Many of our fellow members work extremely hard and put in many hours of work to make this chapter go. Nothing we do happens by itself. Please keep your “oar in the water” and do your share.
What can you do? Attend as many rehearsals as possible Learn the music, words and notes Be on time for rehearsals, if possible Don’t talk when we are working on a song; that’s
The Heartbeat
January and February—2009, Volume 6, Issue 1 The official newsletter of the Heart Of Florida Chorus, Central Florida Chapter, Barbershop Harmony Society The chapter meets every Thursday evening, 6:30 p.m.
at North Lake Presbyterian Church, 975 Rolling Acres Road Lady Lake, Florida heartoffloridachorus.org
SINGING VALENTINES . . . A TEAM EFFORT By Valentine Chairman Dick Fischer
The planning, organizing, purchasing, and marketing team is in place. The board members involved are Dick Fischer, chairman; Paul Smith, VP Marketing and PR; Keith Mullen, Quartet coordinator; Bob Wakefield, Candy man; Reed Johnson, Rose Guru. The most important people on the team are not named here. If you want to know the rest, start by looking in the mirror. If each active member takes responsibility for selling two singing valentines, we'll exceed our goal of 150. It's a great product, so selling should be pretty easy. Putting out flyers is a good start, but one-on-one contact is the best way to close the deal. This is a major fundraiser, guys, so please dust off your selling skills.
Organize your own quartet and put together two easy songs (“Heart of My Heart,” and “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”) and be ready to perform on February 13 and 14. A prize of $200 will be awarded to the quartet selling the most Valentines. There will also be a $50 prize awarded to the individual selling the most. That will go a long way toward a great dinner with your sweethearts.
Scotty’s job Help with the risers if you are physically able Be a part of the performing chorus; that’s where the real fun is Enjoy your hobby
Immediate Past President: Marty Martin 352-307-5634 [email protected]
Board Member At Large (2 Year): Bob Wakefield 352-259-0633 [email protected]
Page 2
The Heartbeat Staff
Articles with no byline are written by the editor. Clip art courtesy of the Barber-shop Harmony Society.
V.P. Music and Performance: Ken Carter 352-259-3574 [email protected]
HOF Director Team
Deadline Deadline for articles submitted for pub-
lication in the Heartbeat shall be the 20th of the month
Purpose: The purpose of this chapter shall be 3-fold: 1) To perpetuate the old American institu-tion, the barbershop quartet. 2) To promote and encourage vocal harmony and good fellowship among its members. 3) To en-courage and promote the education of its members and the public in music apprecia-tion of barbershop harmony.
The chapter activities shall be conducted without personal gain for its individual members and any profits or other inurn-ments to the chapter shall be used in pro-moting the purposes of the Society, district or chapter.
Mission Statement: We are an organization of community minded singers, dedicated to spreading the joy of close harmony in our schools and in our community.
Purpose and Mission Statements of the Heart Of Florida Chorus
CHAPTER ETERNAL Men who have passed-on from us but will always be on the risers
with us in our hearts: Charlie Borders Floyd Guernsey
Mel Lee Harry Olds
Don Polley John Raymon
Bob Yenney Emil Bajus
George Murphy Spike Kenn
Don Himmelman Bud Mason
David MacEllven
Board Member At Large (1 Year) Keith Mullen 352-259-9893 [email protected]
Board Member At Large (1 Year) Dick Fischer 352-750-6755 [email protected]
Board Member At Large (1 Year) Reed Johnson 716-433-8506 [email protected]
Barbershopper Of the Year Hall of Fame
Joe Pfeifer 2003 Wayne Page 2004 Marty Martin 2005 Ken Carter 2006 Dave Kirkpatrick 2007 Joe Burns 2008
Jan./Feb.
The Hear tbeat Page 3
Sight Reading Submitted by Scott Werner
Many of you have expressed an interest in learning to read music. If you are really serious, I would suggest you sign up for the course at the Villages Lifelong Learning College (753-3035). The class is being taught by Dr. Sandra Willetts, a former college professor and the cur-rent director of the Village Voices chorus. The class is held on Tuesdays for 8 weeks beginning January 13. Leads and Tenors, 4:00 to 5:15; baritones and basses, 5:30 to 6:45. Cost is $76 for Village Residents and $81 for General Public. It will be held at the Villages High School, Room 135 (west). Scotty
Editors Note: I picked this up from an email and realize it’s too late to participate in this session, however, check with the college about them offering it again in the future.
Ralph Quosig Reno, Nevada Lou Nicharot Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Dennis Marchand Niagara Falls, Canada Jim Falotico The Villages, Florida Walt Trevaskis Lakewood, NJ Dave Moeller The Villages, Florida Dave Klocko Bellview, Florida Frank Dagliarulu Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pete McDonald Lavrille, NY Dean Nicholson The Villages, Florida Gene Chancy Atlanta, Georgia
Jan./Feb.
Board Doin’s By Secretary Jim Gehrlein
At the January 2009 meeting of the board the following directors were present: Dave Kirkpatrick, Pat Haley, Ken Carter, Harold Lathom, Jim Gehrlein, Paul Smith, Dick Gordon. Keith Mullen, Bob Wakefield, Reed Johnson and Dick Fischer. Absent were Andy Papineau and Marty Martin. Also present were Richard Fritch, Scott Werner and Elmo Wagner.
Secretary’s Report: The minutes were approved on motion. Treasurer’s Report: The Treasurer’s Report was received on motion. Pat Haley received input from the board and will present the 2009 budget for approval at the February meeting. President Dave Kirkpatrick appointed Lee Sobania and Erhard Oppenheimer to conduct the audit of chapter financial records from the most recent audit through December 31, 2008.
Music Directors Comments: Scott is pleased with the progress on the new songs (“Rose Colored Glasses” and “There’ll Be No New Tunes On This Old Piano”) and anticipates sectional rehearsals and Febru-ary 7th full-day session to be productive. He expects to be able to select the two songs for the Spring Convention competition by the March 7th Show or shortly thereafter.
Other Reports: Music and Performance: On approved motion the board agreed to pay $590.03 to VOCE for one half of their travel expenses for the March 7th Show. Chapter Program and Chapter Development: For the purpose of seeking younger members Dick Gordon stated that the chapter pro-vide quartets or an octet to appear at local service clubs and men’s clubs. Membership: Keith Mullen reported eight visitors in December. On approved motion the board accepted the membership application of Tom Bradley.
Marketing and Public Relations: Paul Smith requested a quartet to sing and promote Singing Valentines at “Art in the Park” in Lady Lake on February 7th and reviewed his other promotional activities for Sing-ing Valentines. A discussion of the use of MP3, Finale and PDF files and the duplication and distribution of sheet music was tabled until the February board meeting. Paul Smith and Jim Gehrlein will meet and prepare a proposal for board review.
Singing Valentines: Dick Fischer reported that sales were proceeding but slowly. New Business: The Sunshine Chairman, Rich Fritch, presented a “Heart of Florida” greeting card for board approval. On approved motion the board directed Rich to make 200 cards. President Dave Kirkpatrick requested that all board members con-tribute at least two articles per year for inclusion in the Heartbeat.
Looking forward to the Annual Show
The Annual Show will be on March 7, 2009, at the Savannah Center in The Villages. Our Headliner will be Voce from Chicago. There is one show this year, which will start at 7 p.m. Doors will open at 6:30 so we should be there at least by 5 p.m. You may dress there. We will be wearing our tuxes, black shoes and socks, regular white dress shirt (no button down collars), teal vest with bowtie and pocket square. NO white flowers. Make sure all is cleaned and pressed. Let’s look sharp! Everyone who can is urged to take part.
Spring convention looms Sunshine District Spring Convention will be earlier this year—April 3-4, 2009. I feel everyone will want to go, even though our songs haven’t been finalized. Be sure to register and reserve a room, if staying. You may do so by going to Sunshinedistrict.org. Hope to see you there. Let’s have some fun!
Willson on Harold Hill Submitted by Shelley A. Herman, from the Harmonet
Let me tell of a conversation I had with Meredith Willson. I asked him if he originally wrote The Music Man for someone other than Robert Preston, as I had long thought that it should have starred Phil Harris. Mr. Wilson’s answer was: “I wrote it for Phil Harris, but he was unavailable!”
The Hear tbeat Page 4
By dee Burns
Well, ladies, we just had a lovely breakfast, a short meet-ing and then a gab fest. I should mention that all of you are members of the HeartThrobs. And that all you have to do to be involved is to attend a gathering every other month—either a breakfast meeting or a meeting during the time the chorus is practicing on Thursday. Every-one is welcome and it always boils down to a short meet-ing and visiting with other women.
Can it really be February? I hope you had a very special holiday with family and friends and wish you health and happiness in the New Year.
The Installation Dinner was a very nice affair and I wish you all could have been there . . . perhaps next year. Congratulations to the new board and we appreciate all your hard work.
Am going to write a personal note . . . when Joe was named Barbershopper Of the Year, he was speechless and that is hard to do as he always has something to say. But he was pleased and happy and couldn't believe it. It was a very special eve-ning for both of us.
Roz Fischer says, “Please save your Christmas cards (new and used) for Operation Shoebox. Also, everyday cards and stationery (i.e. thank you, blank cards, thinking of you, just a note, etc.) patriotic stickers from address labels, shampoos and lotions from motels, hand disinfec-tant, decks of cards, plastic bags from the daily newspa-per, pens, pencils, cotton fabric, yarns, coupon sections from Sunday's paper, the entire page from everyday com-ics, the entire page from crossword section. These can be given to Dick Fischer at HOF practice on Thursdays.” your email address, email address of your spouse, or your phone number has changed this past year, please no-tify Roz Fischer at: 352-750-6755 (C) 352-455-0470 OR <[email protected]> please put "Heartthrob" on the subject line, so I know it is not a prank message. Thanks so much, Roz Fischer
February 14—Singing Valentines. Love songs, roses, candy and hand written card. Know anyone who needs this kind of "LOVE" reminder. Let the guys know.
March 7—HEARTS FULL OF HARMONY. Time to get your tickets for the Spring Show. I might mention
that there is only one show at 7:00 p.m. and we feel cer-tain that it will be a sellout. Also, there will be an After-glow Party that evening at 9:30 p.m. Lots of time to visit, socialize and sing and eat. Ken Carter will be selling tickets at practice.
Again, Ken and Kathleen will have vouchers for you to give to your friends and neighbors who do not live in The Villages. You can purchase up to ten(10) tickets with a voucher for each ticket and they will receive the same selling price.
March 19—Meeting at the North Lake Presbyterian Church during the time the chorus is practicing.
March 20—HIGH HOPES. Belle Chords will present their Spring Show at 7:00 p.m. at Church on the Square. It’s always a great show.
April 3 and 4—Sunshine District Spring Competition in Jacksonville. Now is the time to make your reserva-tions. This is always a great weekend of barbershop sing-ing.
May 20—Breakfast Meeting—details to follow.
Jan./Feb.
BARBERSHOP HISTORY QUIZ Author: Mark Axelrod, editor of
Blue Chip Chatter, Teaneck, NJ.
Editor’s note: I will run this column each month as I have room for it. It will refresh some memories while others can learn about our heritage.
1- In a recent quiz it was noted that the M-AD is the only district ever to send back-to-back champs to the international chorus competition; this was in 1970 and 1971. What else about the M-AD also connects the 1970 and 1971 internationals?
2- Name the person who made the connection referred to in question # 1.
3- SPEBSQSA's "Old Songs Library," housed at Head-quarters, is the world's largest privately held collection of sheet music. How many individual songs are in this collection? For extra credit, what is the total number of sheets contained within those individual songs?
Chapter meetings should al-ways be about finding ways to have fun through barbershop. The Central Florida chapter is pretty one-dimensional: The Heart of Florida Chorus. We even refer to Thursday night as chorus re-hearsal, not chapter meeting. Each member comes to sing
every Thursday, with certain, personal expectations. Every member has a slightly different idea of what is fun. If he doesn't fulfill that expectation, he will probably stop coming. I often wish our chapter had more to offer. in this vein, I'll relate some of the events that have had a lasting Impression on me . . ..
Caveat: Most of these took place in a small chapter. They may not be as easy to schedule in a large group.
-------------First Event---------------------- In the Warsaw, N.Y. (near Buffalo) Chapter, our director, with no explanation, announced that the second half of the chapter meeting would be a Pick-Up Quartet Con-test. He selected the members of each of the three quar-tets (we had about twenty members). He also cleverly promoted our members with limited quartet skills, to the rank of quartet judges. He let them know that, although they were to pick the best quartet, They also were to make the proceedings, light-hearted and fun. The named quartets had only the break time to practice. The fun as-pects were stressed to all.
We had an emcee to introduce the quartets, also three judges with note pads to keep scores on, and the rest of the members were the audience. The best part, for me, was; our quartet won! Then, the following week, the di-rector asked us if we would be willing to perform on the annual show three months away! For a newbie barber-shopper, it was a dream come true. And, our director gained a quartet for the annual show.
----------------------Second Event----------- The Batavia, NY (near Warsaw) Chapter is very quartet friendly. The PVP used to start the evening with pick-up quartets (We always boasted that, every member has an opportunity to sing in a quartet, at every chapter meet-ing). He would stand up front and pick quartets using humorous criteria. For example: four guys with glasses, or, with blue shirts, or, bald headed guys, etc. He kept us all in stitches with his antics. Sometimes the quartets ended up being octets when there was a dispute over who met the criteria.
This was a wonderful program, because everyone lost there fear of being singled out and looked forward to be-ing called on to perform. Which leads me to . . ..
-----------------Third Event------------- The Batavia Chapter Director was also a great quartet coach. One night, when we were looking for some new
way to enjoy quartetting, someone asked our director, "Could you demonstrate how you coach a quartet?" He readily agreed, and asked for four volunteers (pick-up, not a regular quartet). He had them sing a few bars of “My Wild Irish Rose,” then suggested some changes in the way the lead and bass were singing. The result was amazing! He made a few more suggestions to the quar-tet, and the quartet was even better! We assumed that was the end of the demonstration, but he said, "Okay, four more guys get up there." And, he did it again.
We spent an hour, observing our fellow members im-prove their quartetting skills. We all walked away from that demonstration knowing that coaching will make a profound improvement in a singing group. Even if you don't have an opportunity to try this. learn this lesson: Every quartet should get coaching from outside the quartet. At the conclusion of the event, someone asked our direc-tor, "Do you coach you own quartet?" (He's a baritone, don'tcha know.) He said, "Only to a minor degree.” You need a point of view from outside the quartet to achieve the best results.
----------------Fourth Event------------------ The Barberpole Cat program, if administered weekly, is a wonderful program. Everyone learns and qualifies to sing the songs that let us join in confidently with strangers at barbershop events. They also encourage us to try singing other harmony parts (some members qualify in all four parts). At one of my chapters, we carried this one-step-further. Three months prior to our Ladies Night/Installation Banquet, the PVP announced a Section Quartet Contest. All four members of each quartet must be from the same section (actually, because we only had three tenors and two bari-tones, they were allowed to combine. A larger chapter would be able to have four contending quartets). Quar-tets had to sign up and practice on their own time. On the night of the banquet. The contest took place between dinner and the Installation ceremony (If you're lucky, the person doing the installation will volunteer to judge the contest. Awards/trophies can be serious or frivolous). ----------------------------------------------- I notice, that all of these events are quartet oriented. There are equally as many (and more) fun ways to learn: vocal technique, vowels, musical interpretation, warm ups, etc. All you need is a dynamic member who is will-ing to prepare, and implement each event. It also gives the director a chance to be one-of-the-guys for a while, and puts different members in front of the chapter. I could probably go on and on in this vein but these are the best examples of programming fun into the chapter meeting. Speaking of chapter meeting, I have a pet peeve against the current trend of calling our chapter meetings, chorus rehearsal. If all you get from your chapter meeting is chorus rehearsal . . . you're not getting your money's worth! I realize this is a petty opinion but if you've ever experienced a well-rounded chapter meeting,
Jan./Feb.
The Hear tbeat Page 6
Singing In Tune by Fred King, international coach
Editor’s note: This is a nine-part article on singing in tune by the late Freddie King, bari of the 1970 Inter-national Champion Oriole Four. I reprinted two chapters this month.
From the Dundalk Maryland’s Charivari, Tom Wheatley, editor
Chapter 3 The resonating cavities can be fully utilized only when the throat is relaxed, open and the upper throat arched in a high palate position. The mouth is best used as a reso-nance chamber when all the muscles, including the tongue, are relaxed and the cavity of the mouth is enlarged. The naso-pharynx and the nasal cavity are most effectively used when a slight opening between the oropharynx and the nasopharynx is maintained, thus al-lowing an extension of the vibrating column of air ema-nating from the larynx. The feeling involved in this is similar to yawning.
If the resonance is closed, muffled, nasal, or pinched, as the result of partially closed resonators, the singer will tend to flat. Let's take the first three areas covered and make up an expression which holds true to a great degree.
Alert Posture + Accurate Hearing + High Arched Tone Utilizing the Resonators = No Flatting.
Chapter 4 Breath control is certainly an important factor, and mate-rial is available to make it possible to learn or to teach how to breathe properly. It's important to avoid flatting in particular because it is necessary to keep an adequate supply of air exerting pressure against the vocal chords. Wasting breath initially by uncontrolled attacks at the beginning of phrases or taking too little breath causes the singer to run out of air before reaching the end of the phrase. This will result in flatting.
Singing softly seems to cause special problems for many singers. They have the tendency not to energize them-selves sufficiently, thus permitting the pharynx to col-lapse, eliminating the resonance and destroying breath support. This results in a lowering of tone. To control this, have the singer show his upper teeth slightly when singing softly. This helps take the weight off the voice. An elongated movement of the jaw should be minimized. On the other hand, singing loudly with too heavy a tone quality also leads to flatting, as will ex-cessive vibrato and tremolo. These last two do not allow the other parts to tune to the problem voice.
A quartet or chorus that fails to embrace the basic bal-ance rules of volume relationships as written up in the
singing category and the Basic Barbershop Craft Man-ual will sometimes produce a rough or dissonant sound. This impedes the singers' ability to hear good tuning. The dissonance also may be perceived as being out of tune.
Next month, we will touch upon other causes of flat-ting. Remember, there's a test coming. Actually, the test is given each time we have a chance to sing to-gether. Next month, we'll get into more of the discus-sion of control aspects needed for good singing.
C R a f t O
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Jan./Feb.
The songs we sing I heard this song on the 2001 International Chorus CD and fell in live with it. It was sung by the Cambridge Chapter Chorus fron England (BABS). I had never heard it before but it was written many years ago by Cole Porter, one of my favorite composers.
Do I Love You? Words and Music by Cole Porter
(Verse) After that sweet Summer afternoon, When for the first time I saw you appear, Dreaming of you I composed a tune. So will you listen to it, dear?
(Chorus) Do I love you, do I? Doesn't one and one make two? Do I love you, do I? Does July need a sky of blue? Would I miss you, would I? If you ever should go away? If the sun should desert the day, What would life be? Will I leave you, never? Could the ocean leave the shore? Will I worship you for ever? Isn't heaven forever more? Do I love you, do I? Oh, my dear, it's so easy to see, Don't you know I do? Don't I show you I do, Just as you love me? Do I love you, do I? Doesn't one and one make two? Do I love you, do I? Does July need a sky of blue? Would I miss you, would I? If you ever should go away? If the sun should desert the day, What would life be? Will I leave you, never? Could the ocean leave the shore? Will I worship you for ever? Isn't heaven forever more? Do I love you, do I? Oh, my dear, it's so easy to see, Don't you know I do? Don't I show you I do, Just as you love me?
The Hear tbeat Page 7 Jan./Feb.
As of last count, we have six registered quartets in our chapter. If there’s one that has just organized and is out there lurking just waiting to be noticed, or if I’ve missed naming yours, please contact me so that you may be in-cluded in the quartet base. My intention is to beg and plead with any active quartets out there to send me their activities each month so it can be included in the Heart-beat. Others would like to know what you’re doing!
Chapter Quartets Aged To Perfection Bobby Vincuilla – tenor Scott Werner – lead Ken Carter – baritone and contact man – 259-3574 Jerry Tobin - bass Four Sharps Joe Pfiefer – tenor and contact man – 352-751-2415 Rich Castanzio – lead Don Barnes – baritone Ric Blind – bass Northeast Extensions Wally Costello – tenor and contact man – 352-307-7910 Jim Lawrence - lead Dave Mann – baritone Mo Foisy – bass Over the Hill Gang Jeremy Reynolds – tenor and contact man – 751-4845 Norb Schneider - lead Ralph Peckham – baritone Pat Haley - bass So Far So Good Together ten years. Registration number - 305915. Jerry LaDue - tenor Dave Kirkpatrick – lead and contact man - 352-455-3068 Dick Fischer - baritone Jerry Weisenreder - bass Eventide Lloyd Cole - tenor Dick Baird – lead Dick Petersen – baritone Brent Beirsma – bass and contact man – 352-750-2272
By Elbie Ford
Reserved for the men that have worked out the butterflies to be able to stand in front of an au-dience and harmonize. handicap am unable to take photos or even take notes as
it’s happening. I need someone or ones to step up and supply the write-ups of what were doing. They don’t have to be masterpieces because that’s where I come in as editor. I’m here to make you look good!
Tom Holbrook did a great job for me but is no longer a member. Ron Dudley does a fine job when he’s here but I understand he has a health problem and hasn’t come South yet this year. Pete Loeper did a good job with the photos but has dropped out for health reasons. I’ve been told by one of the members that he will be supplying pho-tos but would like one of the wives that attend most sing-outs to capture us in action.
Something else I need is a short write-up about each one of you. I’m presently developing a form to be distributed to each member—a sort of fill in the blanks thing. Then when I get ready to include some ‘meet the members’ sketches, I’ll have them.
I’ve also listed our organized quartets elsewhere in the Heartbeat. What I need is you activities each month to share with the readers. I’ll depend on the contact man of each quartet to get that information to me each month whether he writes it or not.
With a little tweaking here and there we could end up in the top five in the International Bulletin Editor Contest!
Editorial By Editor Elbie Ford
I need help guys and I come to you on bended knee. I like to see coverage in the Heartbeat on our past events but with my
This is the sight that greeted me the next morning after my arrival at my daughter’s house in Chicago, It was taken through her patio door. Temperature was around 10 below!
The Hear tbeat
Annual Christmas Show 2008 By Elbie Ford
Our Annual Christmas Show was December 6, 2008. The Heart Of Florida Chorus was well-represented—dressed in our colorful Holiday wear. Ticket sales were not as well as we’ve seen for our other shows—due to the economy. The Villages people say that all their shows are experiencing the same problem. During the first half, we gave the audience many of the old favorite traditional holiday songs. We even saw an appearance from Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. There were three chapter quartets that sang also—So Far So Good, The Over the Hill Gang and 4 Sharps. They all sang well and came prepared.
Page 8 Jan./Feb.
The chorus singing thr Christmas Story
The Over the Hill Gang. One weird guy seems out of uniform
In the second half it was all religious Christmas tunes with Dan Jackson a pastor from First United Methodist reading about the birth of Christ interspersed with the music. There was also some scenes being played out by the Covenant Players from the same church. We even sang a song concerning the celebration of Hanukah.
The 4 Sharps. Ya gotta love those hats!
The Humdingers take the stage
The Covenant Players acting in the manger scene.
Pastor Don Jackson and the Serviceman during the finale
The Hear tbeat Page 9
Installation Of Officers--2009
The Installation Banquet took place at Laurel Manor in The Villages on January 10th. Although I wasn’t there I can report that everyone had a great time, according to
Photos-at-large for viewing with no captions
Jan./Feb.
The 2009 Central Florida Board of Directors (some are cut off on the photo) out of the photo.
the attendees. I do have photos courtesy of Peg Kirkpatrick, which I’ll paste up here; Ken Carter provided the captions. If I error or omit anything, I hold them blameless. Here are the recipients of awards:
PIA AWARD - Jim Gehrlein
OIL CAN AWARD - Pat Haley
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD - Paul Smith
PRESIDENT AWARDS - Bill Bernard, Jim Gehrlein, Pat Haley, Keith Mullen and Bob Wakefield
OUTSTANDING SERVICE AWARDS - Rich Casanzio, Lloyd Cole, Richard Fritch
FOUNDER'S AWARD was renamed to THE DON HIMMELMAN MEMORIAL FOUNDERS AWARD - Rich-ard Fritch and Ralph Peckham
The Barbershopper Of the Year award goes to Joe Burns in a hotly contested contest. (I understand that even I was in the running!) Congratulations to you, Joe, for all that do.
The Hear tbeat
Meet the Members By Elbie Ford
This month we feature Fran Dono-hoe. He has been a barbershopper sine 1999. He has belonged to Cen-tral Florida since 2004, where he sings bass. having been recom-mended by Jim Lawrence. Fran, who is married to Barbara, lives in Hernando having moved there from
North Hampton, NH. They have five children between them—Paula, Michael and Kathleen Donahoe; Joseph Ebert and Dawn Ferry.
Fran has a history of being involved in many kinds of music all the way back. He sang in a rock-n-roll quintet in the 50’s in NYC; in a college glee club; sang in a church choir for 22 years; sang bass in a production of “The Music Man,” both in Citrus County and in NH and he has also been playing piano/organ/keyboards for 58 years. For you early birds to rehearsal, he can usually be found playing piano before we sing and he will take re-quests!
Fran is the bass in the Aluminum quartet. He told me they chose that name because Platinum was already taken by some other guys. He also sings in another quar-tet The Young And the Rest-Of-Us as well as an octet named, Alligator Eight. Fran not only belongs to our chapter but is also Director of the Chorus Of the High-lands in the Citrus County Chapter.
He has worked 21 years in the specialized air freight shipping business as an independent representative for Airways Freight Corp. He is also a private pilot (formerly with Flying Tiger Airlines).
Origin of A Cappella by Fred Grometer, from The Pitch, San Jose, California
We all know that “a cappella” means singing without accompaniment. But do you know where the term came from? In the olden days in Italy, the main part of the church had musical instruments, such as an organ or an orchestra. But they couldn’t afford to have such elabo-rate instruments in the small chapels on the side of the church. In Italian, the phrase “a capella” means “in chapel.” Thus, when a choir sang without accompani-ment in a side chapel, they were singing a capella. Now you know the whole story.
Page 10 Jan./Feb.
Answers to Barbershop History Quiz on page 4:
1- The baritone singer of the 1970 quartet champs (the Oriole Four), and the director of the 1971 chorus champs (Chorus of the Chesapeake) is one and the same person.
2- SPEBSQSA and M-AD all-star, Fred King (recently deceased).
3- 125,000 songs comprised of 750,000 sheets.
CLASSIFIED: For Sale
I have a white casual chorus shirt, a red pullover, and a turquoise vest with bowtie, all are sized Large. The price is $25 for the lot. All are in excellent condition. My wardrobe is full of old barbershop stuff and I need to get it emptied. Allen Mellor—352-351-8742
Another editor's opinion Words and Notes—Step One
From the Nor’easter Some barbershoppers think that words and notes are the goal. They believe that if they learn them, they’ve done their job as singers, but it’s not true. Words and notes are not the end, they’re just the beginning, the first step to beautiful music. That’s what “bel canto” means. To think that the job ends with words and notes is to deny the pursuit of beauty in harmony that consumes us as barbershoppers. You might as well equate the alphabet with Thomas Jefferson’s masterpiece, The Declaration of Independence. The real relationship is that the first was used to create the second, just as bricks can be used to build the Taj Mahal—or an outhouse. It’s the same with words and notes. They’re basic material, not a finished product, and they’re yours to work with. You can use them to create beautiful mu-sic or tripe—excellence or mediocrity. What are you going to create?
The Hear tbeat Page 11
Inside the Chorus—learn what goes on that got us where we are OK, you’ve insulted the baris much too long. This is a glimpse of one of the things we go through to make sure our sec-tion remains the superior section that it is!
Jan./Feb.
Place Postage
Here
The Heartbeat
The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sing the best”
Henry David Thoreau
Printing of The Heartbeat done by
Utrex Printing 306 Oak Street
Lady Lake, FL 32159 352-205-8222
See them for your printing needs.
The Heartbeat— Jan./Feb. 2009
All-Day Rehearsal at North Lake Presbyterian Church - February 7, 2009 Spring Show, Savannah Center - March 7, 2009 Sunshine District Spring Competition, April 3 and 4, 2009 4th Annual Barbershop Extravaganza, Savannah Center - June 13, 2009 Christmas Show, Savannah Center - December 5, 2009 Spring Show, Savannah Center - March 6, 2010 Christmas Show, Savannah Center - December 4, 2010
