Vol. 45, Issue 4 News and views from the Greater Indianapolis Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society April 2014 Our chapter mission: To enhance lives by performing with excellence and encouraging singing within our community. In the warmth of the sun Article by Jerry Troxel, photo by David Meade On a warm weekend in Lexington, Kentucky, Circle City Sound came and captured the Cardinal District Plateau AAAA Chorus Championship, singing When You Wish Upon a Star and Surfer Girl for an average score of 81.8%. Instant Classic (with CCS members David Zimmerman, Theo Hicks and Kyle Kitzmiller) won the right to represent the Cardinal District in the International Quartet Contest with a qualifying score of 84.1%, in second place to Forefront (85.8%). Other CCS quartets and their placement were: Late Shift (Garry Texeira, Andrew Myer, Bob Kendall, Adam Winans; third place, 74.3%), The Fource (Dan Grant, Larry Klein; fourth place, 69.5%), and Rip Chord (Kurt Vogel, Phil Griggs; fifth place, 66.5%). The Reen Family Singers (Dominic, Bernie, Stephen II and Steve Reen), competing as an Out of District JAD quartet, scored 73.0%. More district results are shown on page 6. In This Issue Get the most out of rehearsing Monday Night LIVE CCS Annual Show Circle City Sound, Toronto, July 2013
Page 2 THE BEAT April 2014 Six things every director wishes you already knew about rehearsing by Bill Rashleigh from The Harmonizer, January/February 2003 Jerry E. Troxel, Editor Member, PROBE (Public Relations Officers and Bulletin Editors) 129 Yorkshire Blvd. E Indianapolis, IN 46229 317 891-1634 jerry@troxels.com 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 2014 President Skipp Kropp VP Chapter Development Scott Beverley VP Music & Performance Kyle Kitzmiller VP PR & Marketing Larry Anthony VP Operations Jeff Boyd Secretary Bruce Bellen Treasurer Paul Gabriel Board Members at Large Jason Best, David Meade, David Sanders Immediate Past President Gary Garitson Director Garry Texeira Assistant Directors Theo Hicks, David Zimmerman Circle City Sound meets every Monday at 7:00 p.m. Christ Lutheran Church 345 N. Kitley Ave. Indianapolis, Indiana 46219 Recapping the list from last month s issue of The Beat: 1. For the chorus to improve, each man must leave his own behavioral comfort zone. 2. You should be emotionally involved in the music. 3. Rehearsals will be more productive if you listen and extinguish comments while on the risers. To that list, we now add: 4. Singing well takes a lot of exertion. Singing requires more concentration, for a longer period of time, than any other activity. Psychologists will tell you the mind works in concentration spurts, about 7-10 seconds, then we think of something else. Most activities that require concentration require it for very short periods of time, but a song lasts 2 or 3 minutes. That is a very long time. So train your mind, through a variety of exercises, to increase the length of time you can concentrate, and you will be able to handle the demand of the music. You probably already know how to sing good vowels, sing in tune, balance chords and outwardly exude what the music demands. You have these skills and have done them in isolation. The challenge is to do them all together for the duration of the song and beyond if you are in a performance. Practice does help. Use a mirror and sing, karaoke style, some of your favorite chorus songs to see if you look like they sound. Take ownership of some aspect of singing and practice, practice, practice. Video cameras are also great for giving truthful feedback for such practice. 5. Skills take time to learn and more time to re-learn. The instructions in golf are very simple. Hit the ball into the hole with the club, 18 times in a row duh! But anyone who has tried knows that, although it is simple, it is not easy! Singing is the same way. The instructions are simple: Sing all the word sounds, perfectly matched amongst singers, in perfect intonation in relationship to the chord and the key, in proper balance, with perfect unity and precision while expressing that in a believable, heartfelt manner creating seamless artistry duh! We know it is not easy. Allow yourself the privilege of honing skills and know that it will pay off. Singing is a marathon sport, running over the course of your singing life. 6. You should have fun when you sing. Like each other and share in the joys of making great music because you don t know when you won t be able to do so again.
April 2014 THE BEAT Page 3 Strolling down memory lane A monthly look back at our chapter s history By Lew Gillespie, Chapter Historian Five Years Ago (2009) March 2009 was a busy month for new members and guests. The Greater Indianapolis chapter gained four new members: Brent Vaught (tenor), Daniel Grant (tenor), Andrew Myer (lead), and Steve Massengill (bass). Other guests included Doug Lippert, Ethan Bailey, Matt Allison, Dick Lofgren, Ryan Rosenau, George Okey, Brandon Marks, Donald Quimby, and Chris Elmore. Jerry Troxel, Chapter President, stated that the primary fact in our recent growth and a driving force for the future can be summed up in the old adage: Nothing succeeds like success! Upcoming chapter events included: CCS visit to the Bloomington chapter on Tuesday, April 28; Singing For Life, Saturday, May 2; ArtsGarden performance, Circle Centre Mall, Saturday, May 9; CCS annual show, Warren Performing Arts Center, Saturday, June 13, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and the Barbershop Harmony Society International Convention in Anaheim California, June 28-July 5, 2009. (material taken from The Beat, Vol. 40, Issue 4, April 2009, Jerry Troxel, editor). Ten Years Ago (2004) Another successful Guest Night was held by the chapter, with 34 guests in attendance. The sound of the guests singing for us was awesome, and it was a thrill to have 90+ guys on the risers. Excitement was also in the air at the Spring 2004 Cardinal District contests where all our competing quartets finished in the top ten. Breakthrough finished fifth; Harmonytown, seventh; and Still At Large, tenth. Keep Em Guessin finished in second place and earned the right to represent our district at the International Convention in June. In the chorus division, the Plateau AAA Chorus champions were The Kentuckians from Lexington, Ky., followed by The Chordlighters from Columbus- Greenwood, and The Magic City Music Men from Muncie, Indiana in third place. In Plateau AA, The Men of Note from Kokomo took first place while the Iroquois Valley Harmonizers from Rensselaer finished in second place. In Plateau A, The Sons of Dixie from Northern Kentucky finished in first place followed by The Tri-County Harmonizers from Greensburg, Ind. and The Songfellows from Evansville in third place. (notes taken from The Beat, Vol. 35. Issue 4, April 2004, R. Duane Henry, editor). Calendar of Events Circle City Sound s Annual Show From Doo-Wop to Woodstock Saturday, June 14 The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts Carmel, Indiana 7:00 p.m. International Convention and Contests June 29 - July 6 MGM Grand Hotel Las Vegas, Nevada Harmony University July 27 - August 3 Belmont University Nashville, Tennessee CCS hosts the Cardinal District Fall Convention and Contests Sept. 26-27 Indianapolis CCS Christmas Show Sunday, December 15 Pike Performing Arts Center Indianapolis For detailed information on all chapter performances check your Yahoo! Group emails or go to: www.circlecitysound.org and visit the Members Only section The deadline for the May issue of The BEAT is Wednesday, April 30. Send articles to: jerry@troxels.com www.harmonyfoundation.org Secure the future of Barbershop harmony through your generous gifts to the Harmony Foundation. Provide additional support to your chapter and district with the Donor s Choice option. The preferred cleaners of Circle City Sound
Page 4 THE BEAT April 2014 Wow!!! What a fun weekend we had in Lexington at the Cardinal District spring convention. Forty-two performers from Circle City Sound won the Plateau AAAA District Champion hardware and significantly increased the judges scores from those of the 2013 fall convention. Our quartets performed admirably, with Instant Classic once again qualifying for International competition. l would say that it was one successful convention. YOU... ME... US! by Larry Anthony, VP PR & Marketing How did all of this happen? We have heard over the years from various coaches that they wanted Garry to throw the ball back to us, to give us more power over what we are doing and not lean so much on Garry. While he is, of course, very good, he cannot do it all. During our post-contest sessions with the judges, we were asked about who needs to make it happen? Exactly who needs to step forward and take the ball? We have been told over the years in numerous situations, YOU are not doing YOUR job. Either YOU are not singing the right notes, or not making the right moves, or not standing right, or not selling enough tickets, or not selling enough ads, or just not promoting the chorus enough. The list goes on and on. I don't believe that any of us appreciates someone telling us that YOU need to step up. That probably wears thin after a time. But wait one minute. Something the judges said in Lexington put it in a different light. It's not really about the other guy. Should we be concerned about what the other guy is doing? Well, to a point, yes. But when we look at the very good point the judges brought up, it's really about ME. When I look at myself, am I doing everything I should be doing? What's that phrase? Oh yes, it goes something like, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. That basically means that until I am doing it perfectly, I should concentrate on ME more and not the other guy. Now I fully realize that the only person who was perfect lived over 2,000 years ago, but I should still strive to be as good as I can be in as many categories as I can. The responsibility is on ME to sing the best I can. It is up to ME to do stage presence the way it needs to be done. It is up to ME to sell more tickets and ads than I have in the past. Oh, wow! That is a lot of responsibility. But remember the technique of how to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I can do this if I just take the first step in doing my part in everything I can. Now what happens if all of us MEs improve ourselves on our own? Then the US is now better! The US is now an International medalist. The US is now filling our performance venues. The US is now balancing the budget. The US is now having a ball doing what we love to do and not feeling the pressure of worrying about the next guy. That just seems like a lot more fun. Sometimes we can hear things over and over, and we nod and say, That makes sense. Then all of a sudden, someone new says the same thing in a different way and bingo!, the light comes on! Our directors brought the ME thing up again at the rehearsal immediately following the convention. We can do this. I can do this. I can make ME better and will strive to do that. It may not happen overnight, but I will take one bite or one step at a time until I make ME better in order to help US. Go CCS!! Watch US go!!
April 2014 THE BEAT Page 5 Every Monday night should be a Guest Night by Scott Frosty Beverley, VP Membership/Chapter Development Monday night, March 24, was a CCS Guest Night. We had three guests, and my hope is that all CCS members made them feel welcome. Thanks to the Music Team for taking time to explain things as we went along. Hopefully these three guests will become future members of the CCS family. Even though we are only scheduling three more Guest Nights this year, we should consider every Monday night a Guest Night. With our annual show rapidly approaching, some CCS members might think that this may not be the best time to bring a guest, but that is not the case. If a guest is truly excited about what he hears and wants to be part of Circle City Sound, he could still learn the music and be part of the annual show. If, however, he doesn t get up to speed in time, his time would not be wasted, since the songs we are learning now are the songs we will be performing throughout the next year. Once we get a guest in the door, our job only has begun. It is critical that whether a guest comes on Guest Night or just a regular chapter meeting night that they are made to feel welcome. First impressions can make a big difference whether the guest decides to return and become a member of CCS or not. We only get one chance to make that first impression. Each of us needs to remember how we felt, and how we were received, the first night that we were a guest at a chapter meeting, whether it was Circle City Sound or another chapter. Remember, even though we want to recruit new members for CCS, it is also important to retain the members we have. Always treat your brothers in harmony the way you want to be treated. By the way don t forget to check the expiration date on your Barbershop Harmony Society membership card to be assured your membership is up-to-date. April Birthdays 4/1 Steve Erdosy 4/5 Tom Bradley 4/6 Rick Batchelder 4/8 Robbie Brown 4/8 Steve King 4/12 Dave Cala 4/13 Larry Anthony 4/17 David Zimmerman 4/18 Frosty Beverley 4/26 Eric Turpen 4/9 Greg Roembke Chapter statistics as of April 1, 2014 Chapter members: 110 Average member age: 56 Average years of service: 19 Number of active chorus members: 73 (66%)
Page 6 THE BEAT April 2014 International Quartet Prelims, Qualifying for International in Las Vegas, July 2014 Forefront (CAR): 85.8 Instant Classic (CAR): 84.1 The Con Men (JAD): 76.9 Spring convention results by Jerry Troxel, Editor of The BEAT International Collegiate Quartet Prelims, Qualifying for International in Las Vegas, July 2014 The Con Men (JAD): 76.7 Cardinal District Senior Quartet Contest District Champion: Once Upon a Time : 64.4 Cardinal District Chorus Plateau Contest Plateau AAA Champion: Bloomington, IN (Sounds of Indiana) - 64.8 Most Improved: Terre Haute, IN (Banks of the Wabash Chorus) Plateau AAAA Champion: Greater Indianapolis, IN (Circle City Sound) - 81.8 Most Improved: Lexington, KY (Kentuckians) Other District Awards 2013 Barbershopper of the Year: Kelly Andrews (Greater Indianapolis) 2013 Chapter of the Year: Mammoth Cave (Cavemen) Novice Quartet Champion: Jordan River Crossing CCS Guest Night Circle City Sound was pleased to welcome three guests to our first Guest Night of the year on Monday, March 24. Skipp Kropp, our chapter president, gave a brief welcome and introduced our chapter s history, The Reen Family Singers (pictured at right) entertained us, we had some snacks and fellowship, and the rest of the evening was spent singing side by side on the risers with our guests. photo by Steve McCullough
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