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Our mission: To enhance lives by performing with excellence and encouraging singing within our community.

THE BEAT From the Greater Indianapolis Chapter, Barbershop Harmony Society

Winner, 2011 PROBE International Bulletin Contest

Volume 43, Issue 7 August 2012

Portland experiences a “Swedish invasion” Article by Patrick McAlexander, photos from the BHS website

This year’s International in Port-land was full of history. The quality of the quartet contest was unprecedented, the chorus con-test featured some incredibly memorable packages, and we witnessed what the new cham-pion quartet, Ringmasters, called the “Swedish Invasion.” Also, the Cardinal District had its most successful International in a very long time, finishing the week as one of only three dis-tricts (affiliates included) to win more than one medal.

Collegiate Quartet Contest

The college quartet contest set the tone for an exciting week. The main attraction in that contest was the showdown between the Swedish quartet Lemon Squeezy and CCS’s very own Instant Classic. Both quartets were incredibly musical and fun to watch. Instant Classic wowed the crowd with fantastic and expressive delivery of two solid bar-bershop tunes, while Lemon Squeezy had an incredibly clean sound. It was

difficult to choose the better perform-ance, when both were so incredible!

In the end, it was Lemon Squeezy that would win the contest, by a mere nine points. Instant Classic took sec-ond place, bringing Cardinal District its first International medals since 2007. In third place were The Con Men from the Johnny Appleseed District, in fourth was Dominant Prep from the Central States District, and rounding out the medals in fifth place was Bo-

nus Track from the Southwestern District.

The Cardinal District’s other collegiate quartet representative (and my quar-tet), The Ultimate Package, placed 22nd, balancing out Instant Classic’s second place finish by placing second to last. It was the first International quartet appearance for all four mem-bers. The college contest was full of great performances, leaving no doubt that the future of barbershop is bright.

Chorus Contest

The Swedish invasion had begun in the college contest, and it would con-tinue in the chorus contest. Before this year, no non-North American cho-rus had ever earned a medal of any kind at the International competition.

The chorus that set out to make history was the Zero8 chorus, under the direction of 1989 Inter-national quartet champion bari-tone Doug Harrington (from Second Edition). They suc-ceeded, placing fourth in the com-petition. With a mere 34 men on stage, they became the smallest chorus to earn a medal since 2000. Their clean and youthful sound was reminiscent of a mini-Westminster, and their choreog-raphy was fresh and innovative. As incredible as Zero8 was and as

historic as their final placement was, it may come as a surprise that they were arguably the least talked about chorus in the top five.

The battle for the gold medal was really fun to watch. The favorite go-ing in was the champion chorus from 2004 and 2009, the Ambassadors of Harmony from St. Charles, Mo. They did not disappoint with their perform-ance this year. Their ballad, “No Other Love,” was beautifully deliv-ered, but even more memorable was their uptune, “Step in Time” from “Mary Poppins.” The song featured elaborate choreography accompanied by the chorus’s massive sound. 2006 quartet champs Vocal Spectrum and 2009 quartet champs Crossroads were both featured in the number; Crossroads’ feature included a terrific visual bit where a double of tenor Fred Farrell did an acrobatic move while Fred remained hidden. The song and choreography were parodied

(Continued on page 4)

2012 International Quartet Champions

Ringmasters

August 2012 THE BEAT

THE BEAT

Jerry E. Troxel, Editor Member, PROBE (Public Relations

Officers and Bulletin Editors)

129 Yorkshire Blvd. E Indianapolis, IN 46229

317 891-1634 [email protected]

The BEAT is published monthly by the

Greater Indianapolis, Indiana, Chapter

of the Barbershop

Harmony Society,

a proud member of

the Cardinal District.

Chapter Leadership 2012

President Gary Garitson

VP Chapter Development Steve Cline

VP Music & Performance Skipp Kropp

VP PR & Marketing Larry Anthony

VP Operations Jeff Boyd

Secretary Tom Bradley

Treasurer Paul Gabriel

Board Members at Large Scott Beverley,

David Fouts, Scott Wiederoder

Immediate Past President Jerry Troxel

Director Garry Texeira

Assistant Director Andrew Myer

Circle City Sound meets every

Monday at 7:00 p.m. Christ Lutheran Church

345 N. Kitley Ave. Indianapolis, Indiana 46219

As the youngest of four siblings, I have experienced a lifetime of input from my

two brothers and my sister. When the CCS CD was released in June, I sent a

copy to each of my sibs and have received unsolicited comments from my two

brothers.

My oldest brother, Graeme, lives in LaMirada, Cali-

fornia. My other brother, Neal, lives in Teaneck,

New Jersey, so literally their comments combine to

provide a “coast-to-coast” critique of our first re-

cording. Both have offered high praise sprinkled

with a few critical review elements, and I thought

we might all benefit from comments from afar.

Neither of my brothers is a “barbershopper” per

se, although both profess to thoroughly enjoy this

unique harmony style. Following are their reac-

tions to our recording effort.

From Graeme: The CD is a quality job. Played it on our full system, and it

sounded great. The unison is precise. Diction is clear as a bell, understandable

without a script (too rare among choirs and choruses, in my experience).

The dynamic range, as you pointed out, is quite broad, and it is effective. The

rhythms in some of the pieces (a kind of vocal percussion) are fun to listen to.

“Scarborough Fair” is pleasant, though at the end one voice came through as a

solo shout above the ensemble. “Sold” is fun and fast. It taxed my listening,

but the diction was still clear enough even at that speed to come through.

On the critical side, if you don’t mind: a number of the songs end with looooong

holds. I found myself thinking it got to be a bit of a cliché; I was hoping maybe

one would end with some sort of “pop” instead. But that’s just me, and may be

a bit quirky.

If you do come out with a Christmas or holiday CD, I’d be happy to hear it.

And from my brother Neal: As Graeme discovered, the clarity of your rendering

of the lyrics is striking. Often with choral groups, I lose interest because I can’t

understand what the words are supposed to be, but that’s not the case here.

Some of the selections have verses I’d never heard before, so even familiar

songs are at least partially new. On some songs, I may have a personal prefer-

ence for the interpretations I’ve been familiar with. Selections such as “Fly Me

to The Moon” or “Cry Me a River” seem to me more effectively rendered in indi-

vidual voices, as the message of the song seems personal and one-on-one, a

component that gets lost in group treatment. And I think Simon and Garfunkel

did “Scarborough Fair” exquisitely, so I admit a biased listening. New (to me)

songs – “Back in Business”, When I Lift Up My Head” and “Sold” – are my per-

sonal favorites on the CD.

The harmonies are intricate and close, quite nice throughout. It is apparent that

those harmonies are the “raison d'être” for this genre, and it must be quite a

powerful experience for you to be in the midst of a group that sings this vigor-

ously and this well.

Coast-to-coast review of our CD by Jim Rosenau


Calendar

of Events

Indiana State Fair

VLQ Performances Saturday, August 4

12:30, 3:00, 4:00 p.m. Xfinity Main Street Stage

Church Performance Sunday, August 5, 6:00 p.m. First Church of the Nazarene

Rehearsals return to

Christ Lutheran Church Monday, August 6

Coaching Retreat with Brent Graham

Saturday, August 25 Christ Lutheran Church (time to be announced)

Cardinal District Fall Con-vention and Contests

October 5–6 Clarion Hotel/Conference Center

Columbus, Ind.

Fall Party Saturday, October 20

Larry and Bobbie Tolle’s house 3:00 p.m.

Christmas Show Saturday, December 1, 3:00 p.m.

Anderson Auditorium Arsenal Technical High School

For detailed information on all chapter performances check

our bi-weekly bulletin,

SOUND BYTES or go to:

www.circlecitysound.org and visit the

Members Only section

The deadline for the Septem-ber issue of The BEAT is Fri-day, August 24. Send articles

to: [email protected]

Strolling down memory lane A monthly look back at our chapter’s history

by Lew Gillespie, Chapter Historian

Five Years Ago (2007)

On Monday, July 3, Circle City

Sound had a surprise birthday cele-

bration for member Phil Miller in

honor of his 96th birthday that day.

Steve Cline, VP Chapter Develop-

ment, wrote in his monthly newsletter

article that, “the future of our Society

will depend on introducing our style of

music to the high schools and col-

leges, and that they will respond best

by being influenced by younger men.

What we have to realize is that this

age group responds to the ‘fraternity’

concept. That is, they want to sing

with their peers.”

Upcoming events in the chapter were

the Cardinal District fall convention in

Louisville on October 5-7, 2007, and

BOTY Banquet and Installation of Offi-

cers, February 1, 2008. Tom Frank

had returned to the chapter after an

absence of twenty years. Lucas Sny-

der, Board Member at Large, an-

nounced that he would be leaving the

chapter to move to Tucson, Arizona.

He said he truly enjoyed the camara-

derie of all of the barbershoppers.

Chapter Newsletter Editor Jerry

Troxel was looking for more articles

for the bulletin. His plea was for more

officers to get involved with writing

newsletter articles. Brad McAlexan-

der, in his monthly Sound Corner,

featured the background on a new

member in the bass section, Coy

Hutcherson. Coy first discovered the

chorus when it performed by the canal

at the Indiana Historical Society (notes

taken from The Beat, Vol. 38, Issue 8,

August 2007, Jerry Troxel, editor).

Twenty Years Ago (1992)

The Southern

Gateway Cho-

rus, Cincinnati,

Ohio, became the

1992 Interna-

tional chorus

champion at the

New Or leans

convention, with

134 men on the

risers. Second

place went to the Alexandria Har-

monizers, with 141 men singing.

Third place was awarded to the Cardi-

nal District’s Louisville Thor-

oughbreds. In the International

quartet contest, Keepsake from the

Sunshine District won the gold medal,

with The Gas House Gang, from St.

Louis, Mo., finishing second. Third

place was garnered by The Naturals

from Cincinnati, who had appeared on

our 1990 Clowes Hall Show.

Under the direction of Tom Gentil,

the chorus performed at the

Greenfield, Indiana, Court House Sum-

mer Concert Series on July 17, 1992.

The Pride of Indy (now Circle City

Sound) put on a 90-minute show of

songs from the annual Clowes Hall

Show. Merritt Jaggar became the

newest member of the chorus. He

was recently retired from Blue Cross/

Blue Shield, a graduate of Butler Uni-

versity. His brother Lynne was a

member of the Pride of Indy from

1960-1971. (material taken from

Pride of Indy Chapter Bulletin, Vol. 23.

No. 7, August 1992, Lew Gillespie,

editor).

Lew Gillespie

Secure the future of Barbershop harmony through your generous gifts to the Harmony Foundation. Pro-

vide additional support to your chapter and district

with the Donor’s Choice option.

www.harmonyfoundation.org


multiple times by other groups over the course of the week.

The challenger to the Ambassadors was the Great Northern Union, last year’s silver medalists from the Twin Cities area. They also had a beautiful ballad, but it was clear that their sound was not quite as big as the Ambassadors’ sound, though still mar-velous. They reprised their uptune from last year, a medley of 30+ songs based on “One of Those Songs,” com-plete with rip-away vests and light-up

vests, banjos and guitars. It was elaborate and very well delivered. In the end, however, Ambassadors re-peated as gold medalists, and GNU won their second consecutive silver, with a score that would’ve won gold last year.

The two most talked-about chorus performances of the week, however, were by the other two medalists. Our Cardinal District brothers, the Ken-tucky Vocal Union, sang “Every Breath You Take” by the Police and “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins in a package that wowed the audience and

raised many traditionalists’ eyebrows. After that performance, I’d have to say that for me personally, their rendi-tion of “Every Breath You Take” is in my top 10 songs I’ve heard from a barbershop group. For the second year in a row, KVU’s innovation caused them to be one of the most buzzed about groups in the barber-shop world. They finished third, bringing the Cardinal District its first chorus medal since 1999. For many of the members of the KVU, the medal had been long awaited, since the Louisville Times’ two sixth place finishes in the late 1990s. With a mere 39 singers, KVU set the record for being the smallest chorus to place in the top three since 1980 (when singer counts began).

What was probably the most memora-ble performance of the chorus con-test, however, came from an unlikely source. The Salem Senate-Aires have been trying to break into the top ten for about 15 years, never quite reaching that goal. With International

this year being right in their back-yard, they decided to do some-thing crazy. I had heard going in that they had s o m e t h i n g cool planned, but I had no idea what was about to hit the stage. Apparently, neither did emcee Jeff Baker, who, in the middle of announcing the Sen-ate-Aires to the stage, was overtaken by a couple of cavemen. The curtain opened to a whole chorus of cave-men, supposedly reenacting the first Barbershop Chorus Competition. Their presentation package was bril-liantly thought out and performed, featuring rapid changes between caveman language (“Ugh!”) and Eng-lish and also cameos by Jeff Oxley, a few Westminster members, and Jim

Henry (who was crushed by a dino-saur foot on stage!). The Senate-Aires were rewarded for their incredi-ble performance with a fifth place bronze medal. To see a chorus that had never been close to a medal achieve that in their own backyard was truly special. Overall, it was a great chorus contest to watch.

Quartet Contest

For me, however, the highlight is al-ways the big boys’ quartet contest. Portland 2012 featured one of the most competitive and exciting quartet contests ever. A year ago, Lunch Break placed 11th with the highest score ever recorded by a quartet that did not advance to the top 10. This year, the quartets placing 11-14 all broke Lunch Break’s record. I will get back to that later, but first I’ll talk about some of our own quartets.

The Cardinal District was represented by four quartets in the men’s contest this year. Anthem performed well but

did not advance to the top 20. RE-PLAY sang well and also pulled out some comedy, singing a parody about how they knew they wouldn’t be sing-ing in the top 20 round. And their prediction was correct – they didn’t make it. Both Anthem and REPLAY represented the chapter and the dis-trict well, and we should be very proud of them! Instant Classic also competed in the men’s contest, nota-bly debuting bass Kyle Kitzmiller’s

arrangement of the 1999 hit “Spend My Life With You.” They finished 24th, only 12 points out of the top 20 in their International debut.

The top 20 was stacked. New college champs Lemon Squeezy became the second quartet to win the college con-test and make the top 20 in the same week (the first was that other quartet from Sweden, Ringmasters, back in 2008). They finished 19th. Another former collegiate competitor, After Hours, came in 16th for the second year in a row and also, notably, had the highest scoring song sung by a

non-top-10 quartet.

The competition to make the top 10 was fierce. Sixteen quartets scored over 5000 points through two rounds (which is normally enough to put a quartet at 10th or 11th). The cut for the top 10 was around 85%, a num-ber that would typically get a quartet into the finals easily. And this was

(Continued from page 1)


Invasion

2012 International Chorus Champions

Ambassadors of Harmony


not by any means a high-scoring judging panel—these quartets earned it!

2010 fifth place medalists, The Allies, placed 14th (while their score stayed at 84.7%, which had gotten them ninth place last year). A new quartet called Momentum certainly lived up to their name, improving their score drastically from prelims and finishing 13th. ‘Round Midnight finished in 12th for the second year in a row. The mic testing (11th place) quartet was

Wheelhouse, returning from a five-year hiatus.

As for the quartets that actually made it, in 10th was TNS. They managed to overcome food poisoning on the day before the contest and a ridiculously tough field to make the top 10 for the third year in a row. Ninth was Via Voice, who featured the bottom half of 2005 champs Realtime (plus Real-time’s replacement lead) and took on a “Rat Pack” persona. In eighth were 2005 collegiate champs Men in Black, making their fourth consecu-tive top 10 appearance and appearing

to have improved their sound dramati-cally. In fact, their score this year would have earned them a fifth place bronze medal last year.

The most successful Cardinal District quartet was Forefront (no shocker

there!). Though they dropped from sixth last year to seventh, they im-proved their score significantly and had a lot of buzz after the contest. Their rendition of “Georgia on My Mind” was one of the most talked about songs of the contest; the com-bination of soul and flawless chord-ringing brought down the house, leav-ing many people expecting them to get a medal. Though it didn’t happen for them this year, if they have more performances like that, who knows what’s in the cards?

Sixth place went to a new quartet,

Throwback, featuring the lead of 2008 champ OC Times, Sean De-vine. In some ways, Throwback is similar to OC Times, singing young, fresh arrangements and still featuring Sean’s standard eyes-shut-while-singing routine. They seemed to gel more and more as a quartet as the week went on, and they certainly have a lot of potential.

As exciting a quartet contest as this was, the medals didn’t really change much from last year, except the scores got a lot higher, since all of the quartets had improved significantly.

Main Street took fifth for the second year in a row, continuing to thrill the audience with their “Dapper Dans” tap dancing and some pretty killer sing-ing. Third and fourth from last year flipped, with A Mighty Wind finishing in third and Masterpiece in fourth.

Both were very smooth and consistent, and they have continued to work on strengthening their identities and doing the necessary things to get to the “next level.”

You could say that A Mighty Wind was the BHS “champion” since, for the first time ever, the top two quartets were from affiliate or-ganizations. Musical Island Boys (from New Zealand) reclaimed their second place silver medalist title with im-

proved singing and the continuation of the strong presentation that has helped them establish a strong iden-tity. Their rendition of Michael Jack-son’s song “Childhood” was very mov-ing and was another one of the most buzzed about songs of the contest. They were fantastic and weren’t par-ticularly close to winning, but are still (in my opinion) the frontrunners for the gold next year.

But the real story was the champion quartet, Ringmasters, from Sweden. They are the 2008 collegiate champs and thus became the third quartet to

win both the collegiate and men’s quartet champion titles. They are also the first non-North American quartet to win the International quartet con-test. And there was never any doubt all week that they would do it.

After laying out in 2011, the quartet returned with a healthy mix of solid barbershop and innovation; perhaps the best way to describe this is by describing their second set. First they came out and sang a hip arrangement of “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” that was deemed by many as the song of the contest. It was

cool, jazzy, and very well received. They paired this with a barbershop classic, “Love Me and the World is Mine.” Their musicality was incredible, and they appeared to have a lot of fun on stage. The reward was a gold medal, the fifth highest score ever recorded in the current three-category system (which has been in place since 1994), and the fourth largest margin of victory in that system.

Watching them make history was truly a joy, and there was something extra special about singing “Keep the Whole World Singing” after Ringmasters had been crowned champions.

Overall, Portland 2012 was exciting from top to bottom, and there were plenty of memorable performances over the course of the week. I think, however, that when we look back on this International years from now, there will be two words that come to mind above all else: Swedish invasion.


Invasion

2012 Collegiate Quartet Champions

Lemon Squeezy


Well, I must admit this title resounded in my head as I looked at the scores after the quartet contest sessions in Portland. I also admit that my first inclination was to moan and groan about how “our guys” sang better than they were scored! But, my wife Linda always offers sound ad-vice, and her suggestion was to focus on the positive as-pects. She is a wise lady!

The Collegiate Quartet Contest featured two quartets with links to our chapter: Instant Classic and The Ultimate Package. Both gave excellent performances, and repre-sented the district (and us!) very well.

I’d like to take a moment to particularly thank Kohl, Theo, Kyle, and David of Instant Classic for their gracious atti-tude and positive reaction to their silver-medal performance in the Collegiate Contest. I have to believe they were dis-appointed in not winning the gold, but you’d never know it by talking to them. They were very complimentary of their competitors and the judges and talked openly about what a fantastic experience this was for them. I was very proud of how they handled themselves. From now on, I may call them “Instant Classy”!

In the International Quartet Contest, let’s congratulate An-them, Replay, Instant Classic, and Forefront for their respective contest performances. They sang very well in

what proved to be a very competitive quartet contest. We can be proud of each of them!

I did manage to get most of the order correct in the Inter-national Chorus Contest. I agreed that our friends in KVU earned third-place medals – their performance was abso-lutely entertaining! But the Ambassadors of Harmony were equal to the task and won the gold!

I wasn’t quite sure how to score the fifth-place chorus medalists from Salem, Oregon. They did a “caveman pack-age” that was very entertaining (although a little long, run-ning some 22 minutes!). But, it was enjoyable to watch!

Overall, the convention seemed to run very smoothly, with no apparent issues visible to those of us in the rank and

file! Free transportation using the Portland light rail system worked really well to get around town.

I’m not trying to put pressure on any chapter members or

anything, but Steve Cline, George Houk, Jerry Troxel, Randy Freeman, and I purchased our registrations for Toronto. There may be others, too, but I know about this group simply because we all registered at the same time! I mention this because the “CCS Push for Toronto” is now officially underway. Next stop: Fall Contest in Colum-bus on October 6!

Toronto looks like it will be an excellent location for the convention. However, it is really going to be an expensive trip. Each of us needs a passport ($120 to acquire, I be-lieve). Hotel room rates are going to run almost $200 per night! Convention registrations are $189 each. In addition, the exchange rate of US to Canadian dollars isn’t favorable for us right now.

I’m not mentioning this to discourage anyone. On the con-trary, I want you to be aware of what we’ll be facing finan-cially. I hope you’re taking advantage of the opportunity to add funds to your Member Travel Account by working at Lucas Oil and selling show tickets or ads (our Christmas Show is only four-and-a-half months away). Also, the Car-dinal District provides some funding for its representatives to the International contests. But, to qualify for the District travel funds, you must be on-stage with us during the fall contest.

Lastly, many of you are aware of my need to step away from the chapter for a few weeks. I will be undergoing surgery to replace my aortic valve. I’ve known about the issue for the last several years, but it hasn’t been a problem until recently. I need the surgery. Immediate Past Presi-dent Jerry Troxel will preside in my absence. I remain opti-mistic that all will go well, and that I’ll be back on the risers in a matter of weeks. Until then, work hard and sing well!

Gary Garitson CHAPTER PRESIDENT

“...from now on, I may call them

‘Instant Classy”!

“Dey wuz robbed!”

A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight says that he once faced a flight de-

lay just before they boarded. A flight attendant picked up the microphone and

announced: “We’re sorry for the delay. The machine that normally rips the han-

dles off your luggage is broken, so we are having to do it by hand. We should be

finished and on our way shortly.”

The Lighter Side


Around the District

NO BORDERS YOUTH CHORUS

Joe Grimme, Cardinal District VP Music and Performance, sent out an invitation for youth to join the No Borders Youth Chorus for its 2012 production.

On December 26, 2011, the No Borders Youth Chorus debuted at a sold-out Carnegie Hall. Since the debut performance, the value of providing unique performance opportunities to non-professional vocal performers has been realized, and so the No Borders Music Consort (NBMC) has been established to sustain the chorus. The No Borders Youth Chorus will again perform at Carnegie Hall on December 26, 2012, and auditions/registrations for the 2012 chorus are now underway. The 2012 performing chorus will be selected through auditions using the Groupanizer features on NBMC’s

website. Auditions will close on September 9. More information is available at www.nbmconsort.org.

BTP CAMPOUT

For those of you who love spending a weekend outdoors with a bunch of Cardinal District barbershoppers, eating and drinking, laughing, playing games, singing polecats and tags and having informal quartet contests, the BTP campout is just what you’re looking for. The campout will be held the weekend of August 17-19 at Paynetown (IN) State Recreation Area on Monroe Reservoir.

It is an event reminiscent of the old Cardinal District Brown County campouts. More information is available at www.btpcampout.com. You may also direct your questions to Adam Winans, Kelly Andrews and Aaron Hughes, the organizers of the event. As current Cardinal District quartet champions, Instant Classic will be preparing Sunday morning’s breakfast for all attendees at the event.

Ask yourself this question: What do we need as a chapter to move forward? I’m sure most will agree that singing better and a growth in the number of new members will solve most of our problems. What do you think your responsibility is to your chapter? Would you believe that 99% of our Society’s members did not mention bringing in new members as a personal re-sponsibility? Therein lies the problem! We need to en-gage or motivate that 99% of our members to dis-cover that sharing the joy of music with others may actually be in their personality. To do this we need to consider what we think the public thinks about Barber-shop.

The fact is that people who hear our music “live” love it! How many times have you overheard in the lobby after our annual show performance, “Wow, that was great!”?

You will begin to realize that people who hear our music love it. The fact is the majority of people love Barbershop; they just don’t know it yet! I think you will agree that the most effective way to introduce Barbershop to people is to invite them to hear our music “live” at a performance.

So now we understand the most effective way for people to experience our music; the question now is, what is the most ef-fective way to encourage people to become a part of what we do? The fact is that 70% of our Society’s members joined after a

personal, “face to face” invitation from a Barbershopper. The other 30% joined by hearing our music, “live.”

To make it simple: there are two keys to growth.

Personally inviting people. We are a grass roots organi-

zation. No amount of advertising will ever be as effec-tive as a personal invitation.

Allowing people to hear our music, “live.”

Marketing 101 says that you will have to use one of these two keys if you want to grow.

Marketing 102 says that when you use both of these keys at the same time, your success rate goes up dramatically!

We have the opportunity to change people’s lives, and this is done one connection at a time. So, after our next per-formance when you are approached, say, ”SO...WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO DO YOUR SINGING?”

“SO…WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO DO YOUR SINGING?”

Steve Cline VP CHAPTER DEVELOPMENT/

MEMBERSHIP

“...the fact is that the majority of people

love Barbershop; they just don’t know it

yet!”

http://www.nbmconsort.org/

http://www.btpcampout.com


Since we have been doing “You be the judge” at chorus rehearsal every now and again, I thought I could observe all the quartets and chorus performances on the webcast and perhaps pick up something that might be useful to me and the chorus at large. I was especially looking forward to this webcast since it would be the first time I would be able to output it to the 55" HDTV in my living room. It makes a big difference in what you can distinguish with a larger TV screen, but I digress.

I can sympathize with Ann McAlexander agonizing over what performances to miss to be able to eat and be with family out in Portland, as mentioned in her Facebook posts, but I was able to see every single performance of every contest and session while being at home. When we have been out there in Philadelphia and Kansas City, we simply had to miss some performances. It just could not be avoided. But I still think being there is better!

While I am not a certified judge and truly know very little about scoring, I could still tell which quartets and choruses were engaging their audiences (and probably the judges) and which ones were not. I found it interesting that the top

11 preliminary qualifying scores for the quartets before In-ternational in Portland began were the exact same top 11 finishers, only in a different order. I heard vocal faux pas, goofs, or whatever term you care to use, in nearly all of the top 11 quartets in one session or another. Other times, I questioned the song selection of the competing quartets. It was particularly frustrating to me to realize that what I was hearing and thinking about certain song selections seemed to make no difference in scoring or placement. As if I did not have enough things on my plate, I would like to attend a class or something that will help explain to me “the sci-ence of barbershop competition scoring” so I am better

trained when listening or observing per-formances in the future.

Now I did not have a copy of the pre-liminary qualifying scores for the cho-ruses which might have been helpful, but, in the end game, the chorus place-ments (in my own opinion) were spot on for this year. I remember hearing Garry Texeira describe what the Am-bassadors of Harmony do on stage as “theater.” In some respects, I would agree with him, but what the Ambassadors did was more like a “theater revue.” If any of you recall, at one point CCS was going to embark on doing a “Mary Poppins theme” contest set using “Feed the Birds” and “Step In Time.” Our game plan was to cos-tume some of us as chimney sweeps and other very period-like attire for that century in England. What the Ambassa-dors did with “Step In Time” was none of that type of thing, and yet they were pretty flawless in their execution. They had all their moves in nearly perfect synchronization kind of like “A Chorus Line” show but done in a barbershop style arrangement.

Kentucky Vocal Union did extremely well using a popular rack song and one from a popular movie and were in per-fect rhythm and sound on both performances. Other choruses took this approach as well, includ-ing Voices In Har-mony doing songs from “South Pacific.” The songs were from a well known theater show and movie, but they did not try to re-create the im-ages of South Pacific.

Other choruses did not attempt to do very ex-

tensive stage choreography. They simply had really good singing and stage presence and did pretty well but were not flashy enough to get into the top five spots in the chorus contest. The top chorus that I put in this category was the Central Standard chorus from Metro Kansas City, Mo.

Still other choruses made a conscious effort to try and re-create the full image of the theater show or movie, place, and or time period (if you call the Neanderthal era a time period). The Big Apple Chorus contest set was taken


Webcast Watcher—Observations and Opinions Article by Keith Leavell; Photos by Lorin May, from Daniel Proctor’s BHS photo archive

Keith Leavell

2012 International Chorus Third Place Medalist

Kentucky Vocal Union


Chapter

Membership Statistics

Chapter members as of July 1, 2012: 101

Average member age: 56.8

Average years of service: 20.2

Number of active chorus members: 69 (68%)

8/2 Bob Brown

8/3 Steve Grimes

8/5 Jim Pyle

8/7 Larry Tolle

8/13 Bob Boehmer

8/13 Duane Henry

8/13 Harry Roembke

8/18 John Weiss

8/21 Dan Grant

8/28 Patrick Stevens

8/31 Bill Campbell

from the show/movie “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.” The Sound of Illinois used the show/movie “Oliver” for their song selections and had cos-tumes to help create the image of the show. Midwest Vocal Ex-press used the popular “travel gnome” and fashioned their own little “gnome world” setting that was very engaging. Southern Gateway used the show/movie “West Side Story” and dressed up each chorus member as either a “Shark” or a “Jet.”

The Senate-Aires were by far the biggest surprise AND the most committed, with their “caveman package.” The longer those guys were up there and doing their Ne-anderthal thumping of each other and themselves and came back into singing and in tune each time was truly phenomenal and really required their utmost concentration and commitment. It did not have a show or movie theme, but it certainly was obvious where we all were as an audience, and it earned them a well-deserved fifth place bronze medal.

The highest scoring chorus in the theater/movie category

was The Alliance, using “Peter Pan” as the central theme for their contest set. They had set pieces, flying rig cables, a special effect light for Tinkerbelle and all the right cos-tume and makeup that really set them apart from all the other choruses that were using a show or movie theme. There was not a man or young boy out there that gave the appearance that they were anywhere other than in Never, Never Land.

By now you are probably wondering what the point is to all of these observations. As Circle City Sound embarks on the final push to re-create “Pinnochio” after this fall contest,

we are all going to have to “step up our game” if we want to do well in Toronto. I specifically watched The Alliance performance again in the delayed viewing just to be sure of what I saw when they performed. So far we are doing well with our contest preparation for this fall, but we will all have to believe that we are in Florence, Italy, back in the year 1883 during a more simple time and being the neighbors and shopkeeper, shoemaker, tin smith or what-

ever type of person would exist in that city and that time that would have known Geppeto and his desire to have a son. We will have to believe in the miracle that turns a wooden puppet into a real boy and celebrate with him when he discovers he “has no strings on him.” We will have to believe in a “singing, talking cricket” that helps tell the story when Pinocchio comes to life. Theater, at its best, trans-forms the setting around the stage and invites or rather transports the audience into believing they are included in the story. It will not be enough to just have a pleasant expression. We will have to be “believable”!

Do you believe??


Webcast

2012 International Chorus Fifth Place Medalist

Senate-Aires

August Birthdays


WHY are we doing this?

I apologize for missing the article for The Beat last month. I started writing, then I asked “Why am I doing this?” This question just happens to be the next question in the Who, What, When, and Where string of questions. But really, Why are we doing this? By this I mean our hobby. I am sure each of us has his own answer to that ques-tion.

Some of us might answer either that it poses a chal-lenge, lets us be creative, gives us a social outlet, provides a get-away, gives us a release, or is just plain fun. Each of us has our own personal reason for doing what we do. Does it involve being musical or striving for perfection? Does it involve being ac-tive in a hobby or bringing out our inner entertainer? Does it involve being in the spotlight or being a component in a mass production? Each personal reason is probably valid when looking from our own perspectives. I am really ask-ing, however, about our corporate reason. Why do we as a group do this?

There are several very good reasons for doing this great hobby of ours. First and foremost, we really need to pre-serve this beautiful art form. The barbershop style is very intriguing and interesting once you get into the reasons for the fullness of the sound. It is interesting when you dig deeper and understand at any level why certain types of arrangements are better than others in the barbershop style. It is a hobby that will produce chills and “making the little tiny hairs stand up” when you hit that perfectly bal-anced and produced chord. These are sometimes very in-ternal and selfish types of reasons. They are what “we” want to get out of it. That’s ok. We’re allowed to be selfish to an extent. But there is a more global set of reasons.

The barbershop style is something to be shared. It is some-thing to entertain people and bring smiles to their faces. This is what we do. We practice not only for contests but to make our presentations totally enjoyable and pleasing to the ear. You have all seen the reaction when we see the

smile on someone’s face, or see that toe tapping away, or see them drifting away in some memory we have brought

up. It hopefully is a pleasure-invoking experience. When we see an audience forgetting their problems and getting in-volved, it makes us feel good. When Skipp Kropp is run-ning back and forth in front of the chorus to get the audi-

ence involved and we see smiles on their faces and hear their laughter, we feel good, too. Those are very strong reasons Why we do what we do.

My challenge as Vice President of Marketing

and Public Relations for our chapter is to bring our group and product to the attention of our city and surrounding areas. This is also the challenge to every member of the chorus. Other people can’t enjoy our efforts if they don’t know when we are performing. Other singers who have not yet enjoyed the experience we sometimes take for granted can’t share in our enjoyment without either being told by one of us or seeing us perform. Marketing is getting the word out. It is marketing our product. It is getting the word out so that others might get some enjoyment. Public Rela-tions is not only spreading the word but building that good image. When we smile and greet our audiences, we are building our public image or relationship. When we greet visitors and invite them to our practices, we are doing pub-

lic relations. It is all very gratifying if we take that first step.

Why do we do this? We do this to make ourselves and oth-ers feel good. We do this to bring awareness to an ex-tremely entertaining music form. When we stop and think of all of the reasons why we do this, whether for ourselves or others, it makes us want to come to practice to improve. It makes us want to share with others.

Why do we do this? We do this because we can, and we are good at it. Oh by the way, and getting better. Share the word and tell other people Why they need to join in the experience. You’ll be glad you did.

When someone asks WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? Tell them. You just might be surprised by their reaction.

Larry Anthony VP PR & MARKETING

“...when we see smiles on their faces

and hear their laughter, we feel good,

too.”

BHS names new CEO The Barbershop Harmony Society is pleased to an-nounce the appointment of its new CEO/Executive Di-

rector. Twenty-three-year member Martin “Marty” Mon-son was named to the post after an extensive search proc-ess conducted by the Barbershop Harmony Society's Board

of Directors and the search firm Genovese, Vanderhoof & Associates. Nearly 60 candidates were considered for the position.

Marty has been president of the Hilltop, Minn. chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society for the past five years. He will begin his new duties in Nashville on August 13.


The Greater Indianapolis Chapter Board of Directors met on Wednesday July 18, 2012, in regular session. Six of the eleven board members were present. The meeting was held at the home of the chapter president. The following is a summary of the business transacted at that meeting.

Secretary The minutes of the June 18, 2012, meeting were accepted as written.

Treasurer The chapter’s checking account contained a balance of $40,401.27 at the end of June. The restricted portion of this amount was $18,308.04. The board re-ceived the balance sheets, the restricted funds reports, the profit & loss year-to-date comparisons, the monthly cash flow reports and the YTD financial summaries for May and June.

Chapter Development The chapter hosted 14 guests in

June. We are evaluating the possibility of becoming in-volved in the “Supercharging your Chapter” program.

Music and Performance It is likely that another song, “Ode to Joy,” will soon be added to our repertoire.

Operations Consideration is being given to the possibility of transporting risers and/or props to the Toronto Interna-tional.

PR and Marketing An advertising program timeline has been developed for the Christmas Show and the 2013 Sing-

ing Valentines program.

Standing Committees

Annual Show: We will continue to favor the Palladium as the preferred venue.

Christmas Show: The show is being constructed around a “Christmas Vacation” theme.

CD project: Total sales to date are 338.

New Business Discussion centered on an interesting example of a Christmas card with an included CD of several Christmas songs.

Greater Indianapolis Chapter Board Meeting Summary

July 2012

The CCS Board meets the third Wednesday of each

month at 7:00 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church or at other times and locations, as announced.

All chapter members are encouraged to attend.

Tom Bradley CHAPTER SECRETARY

Cool sounds for a warm summer evening: CCS Greenfield concert on the plaza, July 20

Photos by Larry Tolle

Adam Hall and his daddy, former CCS

member Dustin Hall

WANTED: Men who love to sing!

Circle City Sound meets every Monday at 7:00 p.m.

Christ Lutheran Church 345 N. Kitley Ave.

Indianapolis, Indiana 46219

Guests are always welcome!

Jerry E. Troxel, Editor 129 Yorkshire Blvd. E

Indianapolis, IN 46229

THE BEAT

www.circlecitysound.org

We’re so proud of our International competitors! Photos by Lorin May (from Daniel Proctor’s BHS Photo Archive) are the property of the Barbershop Harmony Society

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