Thousands of Long Islanders Come To The FareNew York, New York, a helluva town. The Bronx is up, but...

As we continue to crank it up for our New York-themed 66th Annual Show here’s some tidbits about those two familiar songs - both of them named New York, New York - that, just like Heart of My Heart, express sentiments in different ways. One of them, reflecting love for the world’s greatest city, accomplishes it with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein. It was written for the play, On the Town, and later featured in the movie version. The best known line of the song that called the city a helluva town, was changed in the movie to wonderful to placate Production Code officials. New York, New York, a helluva town.

The Bronx is up, but the Battery's down.

The second New York, New York was written by John Kander and Fred Ebb for a movie of the same name in which it was performed by Liza Minnelli. Frank Sinatra began singing it at concerts in Radio City Music Hall in 1978, and it became one of his signature songs after the release of Frank’s triple album entitled Past, Present and Future.

Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today.

I want to be a part of it, New York, New York.

Photos by Bill Vesely

Thousands of Long Islanders Thousands of Long Islanders Thousands of Long Islanders Come To The “Fare”Come To The “Fare”Come To The “Fare”

NM-I Chapter Returns to Fairgrounds of Our Lady of Mercy Church - Hicksville, NY August 2, 2015

Many Hear Barbershopping For The First TimeMany Hear Barbershopping For The First TimeMany Hear Barbershopping For The First Time

Toosday Toons - - September, 2015

A publication of the Nassau Mid-Island Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, a nonprofit, charitable and educational society.

Chapter meetings are held at 7:30 pm on Tuesdays, until Sept. 8th in Calvary Protestant Church (2801 Park Ave.), Baldwin, NY. Rehearsals return to Winthrop Hall, Church of the Advent in Westbury (555 Advent Street) on Sept. 15th. All articles not accompanied by a byline have been written by the editors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the members nor of the officers of the Nassau Mid-Island Chapter. Opposing points of view are welcomed and encouraged.

All editorial submissions must be received no later than the 21st of every month prior to the upcoming issue in order to be considered for publication.

Editor Bob Heim

[email protected]

Assistant Editor Bill Ruth

[email protected]

Additional Contributing Team George Seelinger

Maurice Debar Eva Milauskas

Bill Vesely

Design & Wiz-bang Dan Gilmartin,

Chapter Webmaster

Chapter Census Life - 1

Regular- 28 Senior (SL) -16 Senior (SN) - 10

Youth - 1 Total - 56

www.LongIslandHarmonizers.org

We are a 501(C)(3) Not-For-Profit Organization

Toosday Toons

From the Corner Office George Seelinger, Chapter President

This may seem like very far away, but I'd like all of us to keep the weekend of June 3 to 5, 2016 free for the Northern Division Convention in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. We haven't been to a District convention as a group since 2012, and to my mind, that's far too long an absence.

If you're new to our chorus and have never been to one of these, I can promise you that it's an eye-opening experience. As good as we are, we're just a small part of a much larger organization of like minded men who enjoy our hobby as much as we do, or maybe even more so. Conventions provide us the opportunity to meet and interact with some of these people and see what they're doing that we might adapt to our own bag of tricks and make us a better, more entertaining group.

I once studied horse race handicapping with the idea of paying for my day's entertainment with profits at the windows. A very good book on the subject advised the horse player to ignore inside information because even if the people connected with a horse know that it's in condition to run well, they frequently are ignorant about the condition of other horses in the race. They frequently overestimate their own prospects and in a sense, I think we've been there. We're pretty good, but in the horse racing analogy, we're Allowance grade horses, not Stakes race contenders.

If you've ever been to an International Convention, you get to see the real cream of the crop - the Triple Crown runners, so to speak of the barbershop stable. I've only been to one, but at this point I fully expect to go to Nashville next July and once again be blown away by the incredible talent on display there. If you love this game as much as I do and want to see how the big boys play it, maybe we can go as a group to both of these great events.

Absence Makes The Heart Go Yonder


Major Bowes Amateur Hour, radio's best known talent show was one of the most popular programs broadcast in the 1930s and 1940s. It was created and hosted by Edward Bowes (1874–1946), who in his 50s became a national celebrity known as Major Bowes. The show was broadcast on the CBS Radio Network from its inception in 1934 until Major Bowes' death on his seventy-second birthday, June 14, 1946.

In 1935, the first year of radio network broadcasts of Major Bowes' Amateur Hour, more than thirty thousand acts auditioned for the talent contest program. One of the successful acts (see application, pictured) was the Hoboken Four. The vocal quartet auditioned as Frank Sinatra and the 3 Flashes, but was renamed, purportedly by Major Bowes himself. The act won the competition of the September 8, 1935, broadcast and joined one of Major Bowes's traveling vaudeville units. Sinatra soon left the tour to strike out on his own.

Before you think about throwing out those items that have become household clutter, I’d like to throw out an idea. A way to provide some monetary help for Chapter organizational budgets. Yard sales.

You are aware, I’m sure, of that saying that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That can apply to another man’s treasury (read Chapter funds), as well.

I’m thinking of how a “Buy For Barbershop” sale of what might be unwanted home items could tangibly impact on needed Chapter monies. Either through individual yard sales with collected money passed along to a Chapter OR a collective members-supported sale held at some other site.

A simple sign indicating that the funds would go to perpetuate barbershopping would prompt interest. Playing a CD or tape of four-part harmony would add appeal. Live singing by chorus members or quartet would also drive interest. (Do I envision news coverage? Of course.)

What say? If not this year, how’s about in 2016?

Major Bowes with the Hoboken Four (that’s Frank at right).

Making Barbershop Progress A Yard at a Time


Bess Bell, Michael Creaney, Marilyn Goodman,

Bill Hardman, Bob Heim, Gene & Dorothy Kammerer,

Jane Marrin, Joe Massaro, Mary McCoy,

Sally O’Connor, Mo (Muriel) Roth,

Bill Schlageter, Jim Schlegel, Steve Stojowski,

Jack & Susan Szaluta, & Joel Trent

September Celebrations! Birthdays: Arline Ennis (2)

Dorothy Kammerer (4) Mary McCoy (8), Will McCoy (9)

Eleanor Schlegel (14) Carolyn Eckhardt (20)

Sharon Ritz (22), Vida Brausa (28) Bill Vesely (29)

Anniversaries: Hal and Lois Verity (8)

Jim & Eleanor Schlegel (14) Bill & Marie Hardman (22)

Bill & Arline Ennis (24) Gene & Dorothy Kammerer (30)

Barbershop Quartets 101

First you need three other singers. If you believe that Donald Trump will call and offer you the position of his CEO, sit around and wait for three guys to call who are just dying for you to join them.

Choose people you like as you will have to endure criticism weekly from them. As The Crusader said to Indiana Jones ... “choose wisely.” If your lead can’t stay in tune you have no chance of ringing chords!

The voices should match. You can develop this but the bass needs to be strong enough to match the lead. Four light voices will blend as will four dark ones. Start with easy music. You are not trying yet to perform, you are learning about each other’s voices. Some men need more breaths than others so you must accommodate this.

Choose songs with limited ranges. Be aware of the ability of the singers. If you have a low lead pick a song that goes no higher than e or f. The same thing applies to the bass. You may have to raise the pitch of the song so that the bass can fill out the chord. The polecats are ideal for this. Choose 3-4 of them and master them. Once you have a song singing really well, sing it for the chorus. It’s a lot different singing for your peers than singing in someone’s living room.

Be aware of the matching of the vowels. People from different parts of the country pronounce words differently. Also you need to be sensitive about balancing out the voices. The lead should predominate followed closely by the bass. The tenor should be heard and the baritone should be seen moving his mouth.

After 3 weeks choose a song that you can perform as part of the chorus sing outs. During this process ask for coaching. Asking someone to help is telling them how much you respect their ability and opinion. Inside the quartet it is hard to make judgments. One singer will say the song is too fast and another will say it’s too slow.

The old joke is that after hearing your group perform someone will say… “get matching socks.” An outfit is the last of your concerns. You need to develop a repertoire based on chorus songs and those of your own choosing. You then need experience. You can get this by asking to sing every week at rehearsals or volunteering to sing at nursing homes.

“A painter paints pictures on canvas.

But musicians paint their pictures on

silence.” ~Leopold Stokowski

Get Well Soon!


Do you have the “write” stuff?

A REMINDER The Long Island Harmonizers return to Winthrop Hall, Church of the Advent in Westbury for Tuesday evening rehearsals , beginning September 15th at 7:30 p.m.

All editorial submissions must be received no later than the 21st of every month prior to the upcoming issue in order to be considered for publication. - The Editor.

Do You Sing About A Puppy OR Do You Sing About Sparky

By Paul Ellinger (Facebook) As Seen In: The Voice of Rushmore, August 15 Issue - John Elving, Editor

I was working with my eight year old son, Parker, on a speech recently and had a familiar experience. He had the words down pat, but if they didn't mean anything. It really was just a bunch of words being read in time.

Parker's poem was about a puppy that was fun. Even though that puppy got in trouble doing things that puppies are want to do, like chewing up shoes (and only the new ones, of course), barking, and tracking snow in the house, the storyteller still loved that puppy so. I finally said, "Parker, whose puppy is it?" He looked confusedly at me. I asked, "What does he look like? What color is he? How big is he? And whose story is it?"

After a few questions and answers, he started to get it, but we went a step further and brought down HIS puppy. It was his stuffed puppy named Sparky that he's had since he was two. I held Sparky and animated him as Parker shared the poem. Although Parker was enamored with Sparky's antics the first time through (he watched the video we made of it about five times in a row, belly laughing each time through— we even shared it on FB), he really started to understand that it wasn't about learning all the words in the right order. It was about HIS puppy. And more importantly, it was HIS story about HIS puppy. When he started thinking that way, then it was amazing. How many times have we seen this with music? All the right notes, with all the right words, on all the right vowels, with all the right tuning and dynamics being interspersed throughout the piece and it just doesn't wow you. You want to be wowed, but something is missing. What could it be? All the important elements have been methodically accounted for. So what is it?

Whether we are talking about a child's poem or an intricate musical expression, there's a difference between recitation and feeling a story in such a way that it allows you to share YOUR story. So the question becomes, "Do you sing about a puppy or do you sing about Sparky?”

It's better to sing every day, for short periods, than to practice for long sessions once or twice a week. Practice mentally. This actually works, and you can do it while you're driving in the car or eating lunch! Sing through your songs in your mind, imagining you are singing the individual notes. Analyze the song structure. Think about the mood, style, and dynamics. Memorize the music. Those who practice mentally advance much faster.

Practice at home right after rehearsal or first thing in the morning. Martha Beth Lewis, Ph.D, writes: "Research shows that maximum retention occurs if repetition - that is, practice - takes place within 24 hours or less. Retention is approximately 90%. If repetition does not occur until 48 hours later (skip a day of practice), retention drops off drastically, as the graph of time vs. retention is a curve rather than a straight line. By 72 hours (skip two days), retention is virtually zero. (Material that is already learned is retained longer, of course. I speak here of new material, such as a new song or a new section of a song begun very recently.) The longer you wait between practice sessions, the more frustrated you will be with your inability to remember what and how your music was rehearsed."

I Just Don’t Have Time! By Fred Green

Excerpt As Seen In Nugget April/July 2015 - Fred Green, Editor


Flashy Performances Flash mobs that gather to sing four-part harmony rate this month’s looks and listens. They have been, and will continue to be one effective approach in bringing attention to our art form. Here are three instances that indisputably resulted in positive impressions. First, we direct your attention to barbershoppers when they informally sang I’m Sitting On Top of the World as well as the Star Spangled Banner at the BHS International Convention in Portland, OR. Your browser will find it at: https://youtu.be/hj_g8USOPS0 Next, we invite you to hear HAH (High Altitude Harmony), our brothers in Australia, as they pridefully sang I am Australian at Clifford Gardens in Toowoomba in 2013. Check it out at: https://youtu.be/1u2_OzEq6cM Our third example of this effective flash mobbing approach comes from The Great Western Chorus of Bristol in South West England before the group jetted off from “across the pond” to the International Barbershop Convention in Kansas City. The chorus offered One Voice to pleased and unsuspecting travelers in a Gatwick Airport departure lounge. Listen as they beautifully performed One Voice, at: https://youtu.be/MFnIkruQMWE

What O.C. Cash Forgot To Tell Us By Bill Gibbons

Excerpt From The Heartbeat - July 2015 Elbie Ford, Editor

1. There is no such thing as being a little flat. 2. The older you get, the better your voice used to

be. 3. There is too much apathy in most chapters . . .

but who cares? 4. Chorus sadist—The guy who feels obligated to

blow the pitchpipe at the end of the song. 5. God has given man the seemingly infinite

capacity to remember countless tags, plus one of the chapter chorus contest songs.

6. Leads; the longer a song is, the higher the probability that the tag will be in your comfort zone.

7. Wear white pants to all chorus rehearsals. No one will ever ask you to help with the risers.

8. Volunteer to be the chorus pitchpipe person. You'll never again have to sing a song outside of your range.

9. I'd like to live long enough to see; a quartet who could sing the phrase "gonna build a little home for two, or three, or four or more" without using their fingers as counters.

10. Your favorite song, on your favorite barbershop tape, will always come out of your car speaker when you reach your destination.

"Mum's" the Word

My Dad bought my Mom a piano for her birthday. A few weeks later, I asked how she was doing with it. "Oh," said My Dad, "I persuaded her to switch to a clarinet." "How come?" I asked. "Well," he answered, "because with a clarinet, she can't sing...."


Good Vibes, Good Vino and Good Voices At the Veritys’ Summertime Deck Party

August 22, 2015

Photos by Bill Vesely


End Notes

Emotion in Motion – Move With Music If you have a daily exercise routine, try taking music along with you. A morning walk or run, or even yoga or stretching, can become easier and more enjoyable if you have music as your personal coach and companion. It is important for you to choose music that works for you and that you know will have the effect you are trying to achieve. This may take a little trial and error to sort out at first, so be sure to take note of the musical selections that help you feel inspired and promote a sense of personal wellbeing. Movement—whether walking, stretching, yoga, running, playing sports, or other kinds of workout—can also be one of the best ways to eliminate built-up tension and lactic acid that gets trapped in our bodies and creates stress and disease. Adding music can enhance the effect.

Active Listening – Tune In With Music There is more than one way to listen to music. We can let it play in the background while we give our attention to something or someone else, or we can become actively involved in the listening process. “Active Listening” engages more areas of the human brain and resonates more deeply in the cells of our bodies. This makes it a more powerful process for transforming our thoughts and emotions. Active Listening, however, requires you to give your full and undivided attention to the sonic experience.

Start by eliminating any distractions and choosing a slower piece of music with which you resonate deeply. Then close your eyes, slow down your breathing, and tune into something inside the music with which you can follow along—like the melody or a particular instrument.

Happy Hour – Recline With Music Instead of rushing to catch the evening news, jumping on the Internet, or flipping through the TV channels to unwind when you finally arrive home, try making music part of your end-of-day unwinding ritual. Put all the connections to and from the outside world on pause and replace it with a few of your favorite tunes. This time however, instead of practicing Active Listening, let the music do the work. If there is too much distraction in your home, try lying down with some headphones and an eye pillow. Allow the sound to move through

you and simply let go—of your thoughts, of your day, of your stress. Ease your transition from the challenging world outside, and slip into the healing world of sound.

Daily Groove – Dance With Music Dancing, and especially dancing to music, is an incredible way to reduce stress and land you in a better mood. You receive all the benefits of physical exercise

and Active Listening while having fun. Simply add a few cools moves to your five-minute tune up, dance around your home or office alone, or join your partner or group of friends dancing out on the down. Taking a dance class can be a great way to raise your spirits, release your stress, improve your health, and help you feel more confident and relaxed when you decide to step out.

If you are someone who worries that dancing is not a productive way to spend your time, you can relax about that, too. According to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine, dancing can even make you smarter. The author of the study claims that one of the best things we can do to improve our cognitive functions is to dance in rhythm with music.

Reducing Stress With Music (Excerpt From The Internet)


Why are pirates great singers?

They can hit the high C's!

Almost Famous Howie Bailin, Tenor Tony Leone, Lead Ken Wunsch, Bass

Bob Miraglia, Baritone Contact: [email protected]

Just Duckie Harold Verity, Tenor Steve Brausa, Lead

Maurice Debar, Bass George Seelinger , Baritone

Contact: [email protected]

Quatrain Bob Kelly, Tenor

Steve Marrin, Lead Al Fennell, Bass

Paul Santino, Baritone Contact: [email protected]

Chapter Quartets

Election of seven officers and two trustees for the 2016 Board of the Nassau Mid-Island Chapter will be conducted on Tuesday, October 6. Hal Verity and Bill Spencer are putting together the list of nominees for the voting that night… Weeee’reee back to our happy-to-hear Winthrop Hall rehearsal sounds at the Church of the Advent, 555 Advent Street in Westbury as of September 15 and the fall/winter seasons… Michael Creaney tells us that he’s been to every continent except one. That will

be remedied when he and Diane visit Antarctica in late November and early December… Jeff Glemboski handles guest baton duties for a rehearsal in August while Maurice is out of town on a vacation

day. Let Bill Vesely know what you've been doing.

I made these with: marshmallows Americolor

gourmet writers tiny confetti sprinkles large

gum drops peppermints fruit roll-ups

toothpicks pretzels rainbow chip sprinkles light

corn syrup as glue

-Meaghan Mountford

A Matter Of Taste In Music

Thousands of Long Islanders Come To The FareNew York, New York, a helluva town. The Bronx is up, but...

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