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

Successful Send Off

This past Tuesday the Harmonizers had a great send off evening. Friends and family were there and a few people who read about the event in one of the local newspapers. The audience was treated to an evening of singing by the chorus and by all but one of our quartets. We sang all of our contest songs for the folks.

Followed by very good refreshments, provided by our program committee, concluded the evening. Oh, as always, guys hung around after and sang songs and tags from the end of refreshments until . . . .

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.

We Start Contest Preparation

Contest preparation is underway.

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.