Sweet Adelines Lake Ontario Region 16 Newsletter
April 2019
Regional Executive Committee Update
Our 44 th  annual Lake Ontario Region 16 convention is now behind us and it was yet another FABULOUS ONE! Thank you to the entire Convention Team for once again running our competition like clockwork. We will miss many things about the Syracuse convention  site,  but look forward to our new and exciting St. Catharines experience. (Missed the announcement? Read it here.)   

Congratulations go out to all competitors who crossed the stage both in the quartet and chorus competitions! An extra special congratulations to S.L.A.M.! and North Metro for your first place medals and the beginning of your journey to the International stage! Final convention information will be coming soon from the Convention Team. 

Check out the convention photos here:

View four different Region 16 Convention albums.
 
You may use any of Genine's shots for websites or Facebook pages, etc. BUT please give photo credit to  "Genine Gehret Keepsake Photography www.ggkphotography.com. " You may print as many 4x6s as you like free of charge, but contact Genine directly for larger sizes.
Convention Education Class
Thank you to all those who participated in the interactive "Supercharge Your Money-Making" class on Friday, A pril 5 at the Carrier Theater. It was a productive opportunity to share ideas for making money without raising dues. As a follow-up, visit the Regional website's Education Resources page for the presentation and attendee fundraising ideas.

Please contact Sue Melvin with any questions or for more information.
Future Region 16 Convention Dates
 
Region 16 Convention and Contest dates for the next five years - please note the change of dates for 2021. Put 'em in your calendars!
Verification of Audit
REMINDER: With the end of the fiscal year quickly approaching on April 30, we would like to remind you that your Verification of Audit (VOA) needs to be submitted to the finance department Click here for the VOA form.
In this issue
New to Region 16
Harmony North Chorus welcomes:
Penny Bourne
Past Publications
Submissions
Upcoming submission deadlines:
May 10
June 3
June 29
July 30

Please keep submissions to approximately 500 words. You're encouraged to submit monthly so that articles can be kept to a reasonable length.

Email your articles in a Word document, or in the body of the email. Please do not send as a PDF.

Send your articles to me at  leilajbrown@gmail.com
If you have any questions, please let me know! 

Leila
SOCIAL MEDIA
Like us on Facebook!
Please return completed form to the Finance Department no later than July 15, 2019. Emailing, faxing and mailing instructions are included in the document.
Quartet Corner
National Siblings Day came right after competition weekend. It doesn't matter where we were born, the point is it is another opportunity to appreciate our families. We have them all their lives, even into adulthood and somehow survive the ups and downs. A quartet has close interpersonal relationships too, usually seeing each other more frequently than siblings. 

We have just unpacked our bags from our final emotion-filled experience in Syracuse - joyful, terrifying, exhilarating, exhausting, fun and stressful all packed in to a few days together following months getting ready. After a week of catch-up on sleep, how do you feel about your quartet mates? Are you excited about the future together? Can you own up privately to what happened during the performance (the good and not-so-good)? Did your preparation reflect what was on the score sheets? (If tuning is wonky or phrase endings are dropped in rehearsal, unfortunately it is unlikely that they would miraculously be fixed on stage.)

A few decades ago in a coaching session, Joe Connelly talked about singers' choices and potential for growth. He said some men and women have more natural talent than others but what makes the most difference is in what value is placed on excellence by each individual. He said if you have a modicum of talent and go to great lengths to find out what you need to get better, you can achieve more than you think possible. Of course, all quartet members may not have the same drive to follow through at the same time, but as individuals we can always bring more to the table. That striving can also be infectious to others.
CONGRATULATIONS to the 2019 Quartet Champions S.L.A.M.! and ALL the quartets who sang on stage in Syracuse! (And a big thank you to candid photographer Genine Gehret for capturing so much joy as competitors were backstage.)

That being said, you may be happy and satisfied with your quartet performance, considering you must balance what else is going on around you. The life of Bling or Class Ring may not be the life for you. When you have your annual chat about re-registering and shaping your goals for the next year, bring your own thoughts to the table about what you want and are willing to do. Participating in the quartet school in Oshawa on June 8th (as a foursome or on your own) might be the next step.

The judges accurately assess every two-song performance, based on specific criteria written for every level. You can use comments to plot your course of action but the words and numbers do not define your self worth. YOU get to sing your story, touch others' lives and BE what you are going to be!
Happy quartetting!

Quartet Coordinator
UPCOMING REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL EVENTS
June 8, 2019 - Quartet Workshop  at Durham College, Oshawa, Ontario. This will be a one-day event (Saturday), jam-packed with great education and coaching. Faculty for the quartet workshop will be the talented, Mo Field !  

(Note:   We had originally planned to hold our main regional Music School at this time but ran into venue capacity issues. Thank you for understanding.)

October 25-27, 2019  Fall Music School at the Sheraton Par kway Toronto North, Richmond Hill, Ontario. Among other popular weekend activities, plan ahead to enter the Double Quartet Contest! Guest faculty will be three-time Queen and vocal pedagogist, Kim Vaughn.  

In Memoriam
Sarah (Sadie) Moore
1928 - 2019
As North Metro members prepared for the 2019 Regional Contest, we were very aware that one of our founding members was not on the risers. Shortly before contest, our beloved 90-year-old 'Sadie' passed peacefully in her sleep at Lakeridge Palliative Care Unit. There was not one day during her brief illness and hospitalization that Sadie was without one or more chorus members by her side. Funny chorus memories were shared and sometimes North Metro music was quietly played to her. Towards the end, her chorus friends just sat and held her hands, so that whenever she awoke, she knew she was never alone. She knew how loved she was!

Sadie was the first person new members saw. As one of North Metro's Assistant Directors, it was Sadie who voice-tested chorus applicants. Many recalled how kind and supportive she was, with her warm smile, hilarious sense of humour, and that lovely Scottish lilt in her voice. She made the audition process as welcoming and relaxed as possible.

It was after she emigrated to Canada from Scotland that Sadie met her husband John - also a barbershopper. They were married happily for many years until he passed. She used to say that she came all the way to Canada to meet and marry another Scot!! He was the love of her life and had the same sense of humour. Listening to them chatting together was like watching a comedy show! Sadie's two younger brothers, whom she adored, remained in Scotland but visited her regularly. During the past few years, Sadie became acquainted with the laptop computer. We set her up with 'Skype' so that she could Skype her brothers and speak to them every day!

Sadie loved to make others laugh and over her 50+ years as a North Metro member, took part in many skits and comedy performances in order to entertain the members. She emceed many chorus events and even directed the chorus during the wedding service of one of June Dale's daughters. She spoke often about the joy that being part of North Metro brought into her life. We speak of the joy that she brought into our lives. We loved her, will miss her, and were blessed to have had her with us for so long!
Northumberland Chorus
Singing for our Friends and Family











Socializing with our Friends and Family





We enjoyed an opportunity to share our Convention songs at our Friends and Family Night. 

Northumberland Chorus is back from Convention and energized to prepare for some community singing and more learning. Congratulations to everyone who participated, as well as the amazing organizers who made everything run so smoothly.
 
Our chorus was very pleased with our improvement over our score of previous years.  Thank you to this year's coaches Claire Domenick, Master Director of Greater Harrisburg Chorus, via Skype from Florida and June Dale, Director Emeritus, North Metro. To Maria Godfrey, thanks for ensuring that we had a strong foundation to build on and lastly a big thank you to Sharon Pelton for directing us at Convention and providing our cake. 

Singing at the Lobby Party
We would like to thank North Metro for giving us the opportunity to sing at their lobby party. Their support was amazing and we were all exhilarated when we left to go back to our hotel. Apparently, some of our chorus members who walked back, even sang for some people on the street.

DIRECTOR WANTED
Nort humberland Chorus is seeking an energetic and artistic music director with  excellent leadership skills and a passion for the barbershop art form. We are a small,  enthusiastic chorus with a strong community presence. If interested, please contact Cheryl Langille  by April 30/19.
Harmony North Chorus

Harmony North Chorus has had a busy winter season, as most choruses did, with a membership campaign, a Christmas concert, and getting prepared for competition. Our Christmas show was filled with singing, audience participation, treats and lots of fun!

At the beginning of January we faced a dilemma, however, with some 'snowbird' members not able to return in time to compete with us and some other members unable to join us. We faced the awful possibility of not competing this year due to not having enough singers on stage. Our intrepid director, Catherine Robertson, suggested, "Why don't we ask members of nearby choruses to become dual members and join us on stage in Syracuse this year?" 

We
ll, be very careful what you ask for! We ended up having our coach, Leila Brown, offer to sing with us, plus seven members of Barrie Soundwaves, including their director, Selina Ree! What a thrilling winter it was. In spite of severe weather forcing us to cancel three valuable rehearsals, our dual members were able to attend many rehearsals as we prepared to take the stage. All the usual chorus techniques, such as choreography, tone quality and placement, vowel shapes, phrase endings, synchronization, characterization, and preparing the mind for the pressure cooker on stage were tackled in record time. This learning process was so much fun and such a cooperative effort that we felt like champions just to step onto the stage. 

How amazing it was to be rewarded with the Most Improved Chorus Award, with an incredible increase of 110 points, and to achieve third-place small chorus! We were thrilled!! Many thanks to each of Harmony North's members and dual members! We have learned so much from sharing this experience with you and will treasure the memories of this contest forever.

Now, it's on to the next challenge as we quickly prepare for our annual fashion show on May 1. The repertoire is selected, the hall is booked, the desserts will soon be baked and the wine poured. Our members will be models and it's always a great evening.

In the fall another membership campaign is planned to give new members of our community an opportunity to sing in the next Christmas show.

Congratulations to all Region 16 choruses and quartets who competed in this last year in Syracuse. It was as awesome contest!
Canadian Showtime Chorus

Canadian Showtime Chorus is extremely grateful to our Assistant Directors, Aileen Carney, Julie Sykes, Nora McEwen, Janet Cadman - lovingly referred to as our FAD4 (Fabulous Assistant Directors). We are also blessed with our visual performance experts, Sarah Laham, and rhythm guru Stephanie Turpin in addition to our Visual Team Leads Erica Hills and JD Crowe. Along with Director Joe, they work with each of us to hone our performance skills. We consider ourselves fortunate to have these wonderful resources within our group.

We continue to explore new opportunities within our community! On March 17 , St. Paddy's Day, we sang the National anthem at the final regular season of the OHL Ottawa 67's hockey game at TD Place.  We are proud to make the most of every opportunity to boost our community involvement. You can view our performance at this link.

We were happy to be able to give back to the Region during our Annual Convention by helping behind the scenes in a much bigger way this year.
We hope that we were able to share a smile or lend you a helping hand as you made your way from the buses, on and off of the stage. We were extremely proud to have the opportunity to perform for the Region as the outgoing Region 16 champions. Did you notice our FAD4 in action? We hope that you enjoyed every moment of the 2019 Region 16 Competition.

SAVE THE DATE: Sunday, June 9 - 2-6 pm
We are really excited that Canadian Showtime Chorus will be in concert on board the Ottawa River along with guest Jazz Band, Swampwater Dixieland.

Two cruises - 1.5 hours each on the Ottawa River, from Jacques Cartier Park to the Supreme Court, past the magnificent Parliament Building, Canadian Museum of History and more!  Tickets will be on sale early April. Adults $45, Children $25. See you there!
 
Danielle Shanefield
Lead,  Canadian Showtime Chorus
North Metro Chorus
 
Everyone was in agreement that this year's Region 16 convention was bittersweet!  Af ter a quarter of a century, the annual Regional event was leaving its 'home' in Syracuse to be relocated to St. Catharines, Ontario for the 2020 competition. Although an unknown venue for most of us, it will no doubt immediately become comfortable when we start seeing friends from other choruses begin to arrive!  We are positive that the wonderful spirit of Region 16 will quickly be reawakened, albeit in a new location!

It was doubly bittersweet for North Metro Chorus members who had lost one of our founding members, 90-year old Sarah (Sadie) Moore, a few weeks earlier.  Until her brief illness, Sadie was up on the risers each week. It was so moving when Erin paid tribute to her, and the women who had stood either side of her 'split' so that a space was left where Sadie would have stood!

We are thrilled to have been awarded the privilege and honour of representing Region 16 at the 2020 International Competition. We had quite a number of new members on stage that performed so well, you would never know they were 'new!'  The Region is always so supportive of us, which honestly makes us work harder every week. The contest this year was very entertaining and all competitors performed to their potential. We applaud all those who competed, especially the winners - S.L.A.M., Ontario Heartland, and Circle of Harmony.  We will be cheering on Canadian Showtime, Limestone City, and S.L.A.M. as they represent us this coming fall in New Orleans!

Soon we will be developing our music for our upcoming Fall Show, which will be held at 'The Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts' in North York, Toronto. The show will take place on Saturday, October 5 and tickets for adults will be $40.  Check out our website for ticket purchases and more details as they become available! We do hope to see you there!

In joyful harmony!
North Metro Chorus
York Harmony Chorus
We have LOTS to get caught up on!

What a fantastic Region 16 Convention! It's always very impressive how it all seems to run sooo flawlessly. We would like to extend a big "THANK YOU" to the entire convention team 
and all those who have helped make this exciting weekend so special. We are truly going to miss our Syracuse convention friends, the hotel staff, the transit drivers, the restaurant staff, it's been a lot of fun. We will miss our Syracuse city friends. THANK YOU FOR THE GR EAT MEMORIES.
YHC members want to congratulate all our "sisters in harmon y" for a beautiful 
weekend of s ong and friendship. To all those who exceeded their expectations and performed their best! Everyone delivered SUPERB performances. The judges had their work cut out for them. Congratulations Region 16  SAI Sisters!  With a score of 627, we were quite proud and so very  grateful to all our friends and family for believing in us.
We can't forget our talented quartet SLAM. You were glowing, radiant and sounded "DIVINE". 

Congratulations to our Master Director Martha, Linda, Annie and Stephanie. Next stop, New Orleans!
At our annual retreat weekend; we were once again fortunate to have the fabulous Erin Howden work with us. Thank you for helping us to be the best that we can be. Our theme, of course was all things Magic. The creativity was certainly flowing that weekend.
Also in February, we had an amazing coaching session by none other than Diane Porsch. Thanks Di, for your expertise, honesty and undying sense of humour. With your support and encouragement, we kept our focus on the plan and left it on stage in Syracuse. WOW!! IT'S BEEN AN EXCITING TIME FOR ALL OUR YHC MEMBERS. Looking forward to the months ahead, singing 'til it rings and continuously striving to improve our barbershop sound. We are blessed to have each other!
Greater Kingston Chorus
Wow, what a fabulous time GKC had in Syracuse, our very last time for that venue! What a wonderful contest it was! Congratulations to all the winners and to every single quartet and chorus who gave their very best effort on stage! I'm sure it was the same for many of you - so many memories from so many years of performing on that stage came flooding back!! A couple of our current GKC members competed when Kingston was then part of old Region 1, and a handful of us were part of Region 16's infancy, myself included.
Walkin' on Sunshine 
nostalgically sang in the Syracuse hotels for the last time
But 97% of Regional contests have taken place in that venue, so it was kind of nostalgic and bittersweet at the same time as we all close this chapter together!

W e had a wonderful time, from our Pyjama Party rehearsal Friday night right up to contest stage, and we are so thrilled and proud of our Novice Award winning Co-Directors, Sue Marriott and Andria Coward! This has been a year of change and some uncertainty for GKC, having lost our Aussie Director back to his homeland; however, a decision was taken and more than met when Sue and Andria (only months into her new role as Assistant Director!) agreed to step up and rise to the challenge of taking us into contest. You girls Rock!! We were thrilled at the outcome of our collective hard work, and thankful for the skills and guidance of Erin Howden and Steve Tramack's coaching. It truly was a team effort by every member of the chorus! And next year around this time, I am sure we will all have made some new exciting memories in St. Catharines, Ontario!
 
In Harmony,
Marilyn O'Connor
CHORUS EVENTS
NEWS FROM INTERNATIONAL

Sweet Adelines International has a new website!




Valley Forge Chorus Seeking a Music Director
The person in this position will be responsible for developing and leading the musical and artistic performance of Valley Forge Chorus, in collaboration with our Music Committee, in a way that is consistent with our mission and core values.  Please visit our New Director page to review the job description and candidate qualifications. If interested in applying, please click here to apply online.
A chapter of Sweet Adelines International, Valley Forge Chorus has been entertaining audiences in the greater Philadelphia area for over 54 years with our energetic a cappella harmonies. We believe in empowering every member to realize her potential as a skilled and confident performer, through continuing education and opportunities to compete and perform.
Sweet Adelines Region 16
Leila Brown - Communications Coordinator