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We had our first full-chorus in-person rehearsal this month. We found a new facility located in West Sacramento that will at least temporarily work for our Wednesday night rehearsals. We were over the moon to hear live singing again! We are still providing Zoom access for members who choose to stay home for reasons of health/family.
A couple of weeks ago, we hosted a fundraiser at A & R Wood Workshop located in Roseville. The ladies who participated picked a woodworking project that appealed to them, and then they spent about 3 hours using hammers, sandpaper and paints as they worked on their projects. We all thought the projects turned out beautifully!
Another highlight of the month was getting to celebrate our director's birthday. Dede was given a cape and crown and was seated as chorus members filed in singing, and each of us handed her a red rose. We had a great time celebrating her and appreciating all the wonderful things she does for us!
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Next up in our journey to meet some of the awesome members of our chorus is Margaret Farrell! Margaret is one of the most enthusiastic members of our group, always jumping in feet first to do anything the chorus asks! I caught up with Margaret to get to know her a bit more and here are her answers:
1) How long have you been singing?
I have been singing basically my whole life. It started with my Dad at the piano, then in school choirs all through high school and college. After college came Sweet Adelines, and I’ve been hooked ever since!
2) How did you first get involved with barbershop?
After college, I wasn’t singing in a group, and I felt like something was missing in my life! I googled choirs near me, and Hickory Tree Chorus from Region 15, a chapter of SAI, popped up right away. I visited a rehearsal, and it was love at first sight…and sound!! The full chords and four part harmony really drew me in.
3) What is your favorite thing about singing with Bella Acappella?
The camaraderie and support found in this small chorus is out of this world! In February I had a baby, and these amazing women created a meal train and dropped off full meals to us. When they say it takes a village to raise a child, they’re right, and this chorus is a big part of my village! Whether happy news or sad, these women are there for you through thick or thin!
4) What modern song do you wish there was a barbershop arrangement for?
I’m a sucker for ballads. I think the barbershop chords ring so strong ,and the emotional expression can really come through. There are some great ballads that have come out in the past couple years. Two examples that come to mind are Adele’s “Someone Like You” and Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved.”
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After 15 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days apart (but who's counting?!), DVC was overjoyed to begin in-person rehearsals in early July. Our voices may be out of shape, and our stamina is still finding its way back, but our love for each other and for our craft remains as strong as ever.
We're meeting for two hours outdoors, at our regular rehearsal hall in Walnut Creek; until further notice, all members and guests must present proof of vaccination and a signed waiver to participate. We've been blessed with mild weather, and we are so grateful for the amazing in-house tech team streaming our rehearsals live to Facebook every week (thank you, Don and Karrie Shively!). We've moved from several weeks of heavy focus on vocal warm-ups and rep review to working songs in more detail, including a contest uptune learned completely remotely--so fun to hear it live for the first time! The month's highlight was finally getting to meet sweet baby Rylan, who came to rehearsal appropriately bedecked in her favorite barbershop onesie, and she had so much fun she didn't want to fall asleep!
We look forward to strengthening our voices and our bodies, and we are excited to welcome Ryan Heller in September for our first post-quarantine coaching. We hope to see more of our DVC and Region 12 family very soon, as we find our way forward together.
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High Desert Harmony has welcomed nine new members so far in 2021, bringing our membership total to nearly 30! These ladies bring so much talent and enthusiasm to our group, and we are thrilled to have them. Kudos to our Membership Coordinator, Lea Unruh, for her tireless efforts on behalf of membership!
On July 10th, HDH entertained visitors at the 7th Annual Lavender Day Festival, held at the beautiful Wilbur D. May Arboretum in Reno's Rancho San Rafael Park. Despite the heat, we had a great time singing for the appreciative crowd on hand who were exploring all the lavender products on display.
HDH participated in Artown again this July, recording a virtual performance at Reno's First United Methodist Church, one of our favorite places to sing. This performance, which included the fabulous Free Range Quartet, was streamed on July 20th as part of the Church's Sweet Vibrations music series. Artown is Reno's month-long arts celebration held every July.
Here is a link to the video performance:
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We Have a New Rehearsal Space!
We can finally get back together again - IN PERSON! – in a fabulous space, making our singing so much sweeter! Our management team scoured the available spaces in our area, and we are delighted with the space they acquired for our weekly rehearsals.
Every Tuesday evening we now meet at the Luther Burbank Center for Performing Arts – which is a familiar venue to all in Santa Rosa. Named after the innovative gardener of the last century who made Santa Rosa his home town and venue for notable concerts and plays, the LBC is a top tier space for us. We rent one of their smaller theaters, but for us it is HUGE at over 1800 square feet! We can spread out, we can sing and do choreo, and it is impressive. We invite you to stop by if you are in wine country - join us Tuesday evenings at 7:00 PM. The theater is right off the highway at 50 Mark West Springs Road in Santa Rosa, CA 95403.
Our new digs at LBC!
Space to Dance!
Outside at LBC
Sisterhood - How Sweet it Is!
While Song of Sonoma rehearsals were virtual for the last year plus, we found a way to learn more about one another and create a time of bonding using the "Wheel of Wonderful Sisters" or WOWS. During our zoom calls, we spun the wheel and the person whose name the wheel landed on would give a quick overview of herself on an upcoming call - that sense of belonging and security is a real thing!
Coaching with Ryan!
We always learn so much from Ryan Heller! In our most recent session with him via Zoom, he showed us a vocal therapy technique with the aid of a cup, since it is good therapy to exercise the vocal tract on a daily basis to get our skills back in shape after a year of semi-atrophy. Voice therapy with a semi-occluded vocal tract has a long history. The use of lip trills, tongue trills humming, and phonation into tubes or straws has been hailed by clinicians, singing teachers, and voice coaches as efficacious for training and rehabilitation.
It’s simple to do yourself! Make a hole in the bottom of a paper or Styrofoam cup. Pick any vowel and sing through the cup without changing your volume. Then remove the cup and continue to sing. The cup takes care of the equalization of pressure and provides a freer sound when you remove the cup. Try it! Daily!
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We are in the midst of summer now. We had an exciting change this month - we started having hybrid rehearsals on our normal rehearsal nights! Starting July 15, we are meeting in person with a Zoom broadcast every other week. We have been meeting in an amphitheater section of De Anza Park in Sunnyvale, and it has been lovely to be back together in person. The alternating weeks have continued to be fully Zoom rehearsals.
At the beginning of the month, Julie completed her series on vocal production with a session about articulation and a summary of the series. We learned about the parts of the body that take part in the production of sound. It has been fascinating to learn about how all those parts work together to create and change sound. We watched a video of an MRI of a singer singing different styles, which was also very interesting.
On the 15th, we had our first in-person rehearsal! It felt so good to have so many people harmonizing together in person. We were able to meet one of our new members who joined us recently after only experiencing us via Zoom. We had a number of members that had been on leave for much of the pandemic that joined us since we were meeting in person.
For our Zoom rehearsal on the 22nd, we started to work on the beginning section of a new song, a medley of "On a Wonderful Day Like Today" and "It's a Good Day." We're trying a new way to learn the music where we only have the learning tracks for a smaller section of the song so that everyone can focus on the same part of the song. We also worked on modified choreo for a song we have been working on through the pandemic, "Brand New Shoes."
We had another great in-person rehearsal on the 29th. We were finally able to sing and dance to one of our newer songs in person. It seems so much easier to many of us to learn choreo when we're all in the same place! You could see how much members that were able to attend enjoyed being together, and we made sure to include our Zoom members as well. Our wonderful director also signed her contract for another year with us - we're so glad to have her and have appreciated her extreme efforts to keep us engaged throughout the long lockdown period.
We are getting closer to having a new rehearsal space, though we are watching the latest COVID information and guidelines and will be doing what we need to do to keep our members safe. Happy August!
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| Thu, Aug 19 2021 |
7:30pm |
BASC - Kim Wonders Coaching |
Zoom |
| Sun, Aug 22 2021 |
5:30 pm |
RMT Meeting |
Virtual Event |
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| Mon, Sep 6 2021 |
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Region 12 - Travel in Tune! - Save the Date |
Virtual Event |
| Sat, Sep 11 2021 |
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MVC: Coaching by Deke Sharon |
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Fri, Sep 17 2021
to Sun, Sep 19 2021 |
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Fall Regional Weekend - AIM - with Kim Wonders |
Virtual Event |
Fri, Sep 17 2021
to Sat, Sep 18 2021 |
7:00pm |
DVC Coaching with Ryan Heller |
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| Mon, Sep 20 2021 |
7:00pm |
MVC Zoom Author Chat Eileen Garvin |
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Fri, Oct 22 2021
to Sun, Oct 24 2021 |
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RMT Retreat |
Reno, Nevada |
| Sun, Nov 14 2021 |
2:00pm |
OCC Thankful Holidaze 2021 |
Newport, Oregon |
| Sat, Dec 4 2021 |
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MVC - 15th Annual JB Tea - TENTATIVE |
Saratoga Community Center, Saratoga, CA |
| Sat, Dec 4 2021 |
2:00pm |
OSC - SPIRIT OF THE HOLIDAYS |
Christ the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Salem, OR |
Sun, Dec 5 2021
to Fri, Dec 10 2021 |
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SVC - Pearl Harbor Tour 2021 |
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Click on the pictures below to view individual chapters on Facebook. If you have not already liked their page do so now. Next month we will see the next three chapters.
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Facebook is an excellent way to reach out to your audience. Be sure to post weekly. It can be a recap of your latest rehearsal, the announcement of an upcoming event or share a related musical meme.
Pacific Shores Region 12 has two Facebook pages:
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SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL NEWS!
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Join Region 12's own directors -
Dede Nibler and Kathy Scheel as co-directors on a trip of a lifetime to London.
www.harmony-travel.net for more information.
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