New Holiday Music

We have come to the time of year when we begin to prepare for our annual Holiday Show.

We still have the 9-11 events where we will sing. We still have to get ready for our own Flemington Main Street Craft Fair where we will perform on each Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. We still have to do some more work to get ready for the fall contest. But one of the most fun things we get to do is to put on a Holiday Show.

In the picture some of our music leaders introduce a new song that will feature dancers and children and grandchildren of our singers. We project the new sheet music while a quartet introduces the song. Then the quartet leads their section through the song. The guys leave with the sheet music and a learning recording for practice at home or in their cars.

The show itself will help raise funds for the Hunterdon Medical Center, our local hospital. One more community service project for our Barbershop Chapter.

We Sing at the Ball Game

Beautiful weather greeted us and our friends from three other area barbershop chapters when we gathered to perform a show before the Patriots ball game in Bridgewater this evening. Included in the show package was out rendition of America the Beautiful, part of which I captured in video.

Of course we also sang the Star Spangled Banner before the game began.

The Memorial Day Parade

It has become a tradition for the Harmonizers to participate in the Flemington Memorial Day Parade. It is fun to be together to sing in public and to honor our veterans. A number of our singers are themselves veterans.

I did not get a picture of our singing in front of the veterans monument because I fully participated in the singing myself.

It was a beautiful day, although a little hot for us dressed in our formal uniform. But the occasion deserved, in fact demanded, nothing less.

Something Different Tuesday This Week May 17

Because the church where we usually meet and rehearse needs to use their full facility, because of an event they are holding, the Harmonizers had to find another place to gather for the evening.

Where better to spend an evening singing our new songs, and preparing to sing on Memorial Day in Flemington, than in an ice cream parlor on South Main Street in Flemington. What could be more American that ice cream and barbershop singing and harmony? Nothing !

Guests are welcome to come out and enjoy the singing, participate if you wish men, and enjoy ice cream too. See you there at 8:00

Getting to Contest Time

Contest for the Harmonizers is just a week away. And that means that our send off, open house, guest night is just a couple of days away. Yes, Tuesday night the Hunterdon Harmonizers will be having a final get together before going off to Morristown to participate in the Northern Division Barbershop singing and performing contest. Join us at 9:00 (an hour later than our usual rehearsal time) for a free performance by our chorus and some of our quartets. It is free and there are refreshments too!

As always you can find out more by calling 908-806-NOTE or visiting our web site at www.NJHarmonizers.org.

Today we had a final rehearsal before the contest. Vida was there to drill performance. Sandy was there to make sure all were fitted out with the great costumes she has gathered or made for us. And all of the section leaders of our music team were there to run us through final preparation.

And of course Don, with very few small changes, drilled our singing to get it up to what he and our coaches know we can do. Do come out Tuesday to see what we are up to. And with the contest behind us at the end of the month it is a great time for men who always wanted to do a little singing to come out and give it a try.

The video is just three minutes of clips of what we were doing this morning.

Coaching & Dressing for Contest

Just a couple of more times to get together before we go off to the Northern Division singing contest of the Barbershop Harmony Society Mid Atlantic District. Close by this year as we will only be going to Morristown.

This past Tuesday we were coached by Stephanie, Vita worked with the back row, and Sandy continues in the process of getting the guys dressed for their part in the performance.

You can come see the results of all of this work by coming to our open house, guest night, send off that will take place in the back of the church (our usual place to gather) on Tuesday April 26 at 9:00 in the evening. The Harmonizers will gather to make final preparations to entertain you and get their party set up at their usual time of 8:00. The show, featuring their competing quartets and the chorus will perform at 9:00.

Love to see you there.

Improving Our Singing

The goal is to always improve. We measure progress through participating in singing contests. The guys know that if we are to improve as a chorus each singer has the responsibility for his own improvement as part of the group.

Of course the music team takes responsibility to work with each singer that wants to be part of the process. No man who works to be part of the group is left behind.

We obtain coaching for the group, and individual voice coaching for our singers. In the included photos you see Pat, the lead section leader working with his guys. You also see visiting coach Mark working with our director Don and both of them working with the chorus.

Getting Ready for Coaching

Ever Tuesday is a fun busy time for the Hunterdon Harmonizers. But anticipating coaching, especially in the weeks before getting ready for contest, is especially fun.

Why do we participate in contest? It is about the only way to measure our progress toward our goal of improving our good singing to make us, as a group, even better singers.

This past Tuesday our director, Don, went over the vowels that we sing. There was discussion and comparison of the sounds for a fifteen minute session. When one sits and listens it appears that singing is not a very complicated activity. And it is not, except when a singer, or group of singers, want to improve their singing as heard by practiced listeners. We are always up for improvement.

This year in contest we will sing two very fun songs that have been put together by our music team last year. We prepare to do so while introducing three new songs in the first three months of this year.

Come out any Tuesday evening and listen, If you are a man, and so inclined, we invite you to join in singing with us. Call 908-806-NOTE for more information and someone will get back to you.

Fun and Learning

We have fun celebrating the monthly birthdays of our members. A new idea our President for this year has started. Here he is with with the monthly cake lined up with the birthday boys in the chapter for February.

We also send time learning some of the technical background of and reasons for what we do. How do we make our vowel sounds consistent? How do we handle the sounds that are not vowels? If we are on the third of a chord do we sing differently than if we are on the root or the fifth?

Yes all of that helps us sing better as we work our way of the scale of achievement as a group of singers. Last Tuesday George conducted the lesson for us all.

Section Rehearsals

An important part of learning a new song, or polishing any song, is bringing all the singers on one part together and working out the details. Here the leads are working with Pat, the section leader. While this goes on the others sections are meeting with their leaders in different parts of the building.

After the section rehearsal the sections come together and put the learning all together to produce music from the words and notes. We drill what we have learned. The next step will be putting the performance package in place.

Hunterdon Harmonizers Annual Patriots Baseball Game

The Hunterdon Harmonizers finished the month of August with one of their annual fun activities. They gathered together yesterday with friends from a number of other barbershop chapters to perform a show for the early arrivals of the crowd of more than 5,000 fans at the Somerset Patriots baseball game in the TD Stadium in Bridgewater New Jersey. The stands were packed with children and their parents interested in the Star Wars theme of the night.

Rusty Williams of the Harmonizers organized the event. He invited the leadership and singers of all of the chapter in the Northern Division of the MidAtlantic District. Participating, in addition to the Hunterdon Harmonizers, www.NJHarmonizerrs.org were singers from the local chapter, The SomerTones of Somerville New Jersey, www.somertones.org, the Morris Music Men of Morris County in New Jersey www.morrismusicmen.org the High Point Harmonizers of Sussex New Jersey, and singers from the Jerseyaires of Rahway, New Jersey. www.Jerseyaires.org.

Music had been provided in advance for the 20 minute show to be performed. The singers gathered outside of the stadium to practice their show set. All of the singers came prepared and opened the show with a rendition of Coney Island Baby.

The music directors of each of the chapters took turns directing a song with all of the singers joining in. As the crowd entered the stadium they heard the performance of this barbershop group projected over the stadium sound system. As the audience grew the applause level increased. It was obvious that the performance was appreciated.

The staff from the patriots ball team filmed the singers, projecting their video on the large scoreboard so that everyone in the stadium could see the close-up faces of the various singers.

At the conclusion of the show the group paused for the introduction of the ballplayers of both teams, the introduction of the game officials, and a representative of the sponsor for the night throwing out the first pitch. Star Wars characters were introduced. Following that pause the barbershop group sang the National Anthem which concluded with thunderous applause from the appreciative audience.

The singers and their guests took their seats in the stands and watched the Somerset Patriots defeat the Camden Riversharks 5-2 before 5,043 fans. Representatives of the participating chapters took turns staffing a table in the food court area that was used to promote barbershop, and the participating chapters in particular.

The next major Harmonizer event is the annual Craft Fair on the Main Street in Flemington on Saturday and Sunday September 18 and 19^th. The craft fair will feature a full free show performed by the Harmonizers chorus and quartets at 1:00 pm on each of the two afternoons.

An Educational Opportunity

Although the Hunterdon harmonizers are best known for the fun they offer their singers, the great sound of their four-part harmony, and the entertaining performances they provide to their audiences, there is a great deal more to the organization.

To hear them sing you would not know that more than half of the singers do not read music. That does not mean that they do not want to learn all they can to improve and support their singing. A regular part of the harmonizer activity is an educational component.

The group is blessed with excellent, experienced, music leadership. The music vice president has many years of singing, both in barbershop chapters and in church choirs. The music director has been singing from the time he was in college and has sung in a renowned barbershop quartet. He is best known for his exciting and entertaining shows. But the depth of his music knowledge, and his leadership of the group as a musician, are invaluable in producing the results the audience hears.

The music leadership has among its members three assistant directors. Two of them having been front-line directors. It is this music leadership that contributes mightily to the wonderful close harmony sound produced by the group.

One of the assistant directors, George, teaches a course we refer to as “Barbershop 101”, or as some call it “Barbershop For Dummies”. The course itself is really not for dummies, but is for singers who want to learn the theory of barbershop Harmony, and want to learn to read music. The pictures here were taken a couple of weeks ago during the course George has been teaching every week for six weeks. The course is repeated from time to time.

It is the dedication of experienced, as well as new singers, reaching for the educational opportunities offered, that make the Harmonizers what they are. The educational opportunity provided by this program is taken advantage of by all levels of singers. Guests of the chapter are invited to join the group as well so they gain an understanding of what they may become part of if they join the chorus.

Additionally, every other year the chorus takes its singers to a weekend of coaching and educational experience at the society provided Harmony College East. Our members look forward to this opportunity because of the exposure to some of the leading music educators in the country involved in the barbershop style of singing.

Anyone who is interested in getting the benefit of these educational opportunities is invited to be a guest of the harmonizers at their regular Tuesday night meetings and rehearsals. Additional information can be obtained by calling 908-806-NOTE, or by visiting the website at NJHarmonizers.org.

Successful Guest Night

Our 2010 Guest Night ran without a hitch, with wonderful participation by the Harmonizers all evening. The conduct of the program itself, the singing by the chorus, the welcoming and reception of our guests and evident enjoyment of the evening by all is a great positive.

Two of our quartets, Re-Mix and Chordhouse Steps wowed our guests with great performances. Dan Hunter was comical in presenting his teaser of our 2010 show to be performed in December. We received applications for membership from two previous guests, a great development. We also had two new prospects, who reported they enjoyed the evening and have interest in returning again soon.

We were joined by four members of the High Point Harmonizers as we extended our fraternity with our neighboring chapters, this time all the way to Sussex County.

We give special thanks to Christian or organized the evening with the help of his committee, and to Regina, Liz and Tracey for the set up of refreshments! It is good to see some new faces from the women’s group pitching in to make our events a success.