All Blog Posts (10)

Hi guys --- I've been preaching for the last few years that we need to learn how to sing softly and with greater dynamics. We've been told that our Director's idea of what singing at a level 2 (out of 10) is much diferent than many men in the chorus (who sing it at a 6 and not a 2 volume). And we've also been told by Society coaches that as a chorus we steadily sing louder as a song progresses unless the Director really reminds us by strong gestures to soften. While we do need a lot of work o… Continue

Thank you Bob Minor and Don Meeker, for making the RV Harmonizers sound more professional, I promise to give more attention to the song words and to give more to the chorus. Continue

Just sitting this morning reading through my copy of the Harmonizer from our Society and I notice a paragraph written by a Mark Larsen of the Rogue Valley Chapter. It describes an idea the chapter has about having a vocal coach do individual coaching of our members. I confess to spending too much time on this keyboard. What happened was this; I was just reading on the society blog, www.barbershopHQ.com. There was an article there about the value of vocal coaching and we had just had a board meet… Continue

It's time to be thinking ahead about our Christmas singing. Yup...it comes again in December this year! Do we want to devote time to new songs...I hope so. We've worn out the red Yuletide book and the same songs year after year. Have we got the time to learn 3 or 4 new Christmas songs (there are some great ones) as we prepare for our other shows? And where would you like to sing? A number of guys have mentioned they'd like to sing at more senior retirement homes, care facilities, etc. and not j… Continue

The attendance has become less and less each Thursday, we must think about breaking with tradition, in other words the same old stuff and songs have become a bore to some of the members to include me. We need rhythme and jazzier songs. Can we make the audience clap their hands and give a standing ovation or make the church people feel as if they had a visit form GOD. Enough said I think I"ll go sing a jolly song to cheer myself up. Love you guys please wake up and be happy. Continue

I hear quite a few comments both good and bad about the new "Chuck Greene" format we're trying at our meetings. We need to evaluate these new approaches soon ... the whole chorus and see what to keep and what to toss out. I ask the Board to work up an evaluation plan for next month before our "unhappy" members walk out. Continue

Compellingly Attractive Chapter Meetings The Harmonizers sponsored Chuck Green to come and tell us how we could have much more fun and sing better and learn faster. The Board and Friends of Harmony offered to pay for any member of the chapter who wanted to attend. The theory was that if we were going to ask members to make changes, it would be easier if they understood exactly what those changes were likely to be, they would be more likely to accept the changes if they heard from the “horse’s m… Continue

We have a slightly controversial new method of trying to establish a little discipline in chapter meetings, the “Two bits buckets”. The idea is that if members have to put two bits into the bucket whenever they are disruptive in a meeting, they might think more often before engaging in the disruptive behavior. The idea was mentioned by Jim DeBussman during his visit. Richard Ripper suggested at a board meeting he thought it was a good idea, and no one objected so here we are. First let’s decide… Continue

Let's start a spirited discussion of how to recruit new members. What worked well in your previous chapters? What do you think we should try that we have not already tried? I'll start out the discussion by noting that most of our new members join us as a result of personal contact by a member. Sometimes asking someone "Do you sing? is enough to get a conversation started about singing and what we do as Harmonizers. Invite prospects to visit us to experience barbershop. Better yet, invite to dri… Continue

Here is a good subject for a social website. Just checking to see if any one is looking at this? I wrote this to our director. What do you all think? Kenne, Below please find the notes I received from John Dutcher and Alan Burt. It seems to me a great idea. You have done a wonderful job of getting us to actually write down in our music the breathing plan for several songs. That has been a help for me. I practice the songs with breathing in the right places and maybe (just maybe) I will now actu… Continue