He then presented Jack's wife Alverne (a Sweet Adeline) with a memorial
plaque, "In Memory Of Jack Sidor A Champion Of Barbershop Harmony".
Next
Joe Liles gave a Master Class- Tune It Or Die. Bio excerpt from BHS
website, "Joe Liles is Music Publications Editor for the Barbershop
Harmony Society, certified Arrangement category judge, is now serving
in the Singing category and has taught chorus directing and chorus
rehearsal techniques at district and international schools." Joe gave
a one hour intensive course on barbershop singing technique. He
demonstrated by using the quartet Moxxy in front of the class providing
a lot of instruction and insight. Then he gave some personal
demonstrations and perspective, went over several vocal exercises and
taught helpful warm-ups.
Friday night after Preliminaries and
the fund raising show it was a nice Spring walk in the evening air back
to the McCamly. Everyone was still pretty excited about the quartet
Prelims and there was plenty of tag singing in the lobby. Oh, and an
ice cream Sunday buffet, yum.
Later I went outside for a
walk. Across the street from the hotel I hooked up with a large group
singing tags out in front of a tavern. We were all standing in a large
circle beneath street lights and flowering trees. A great way to end
the evening.
Saturday morning we got up early for a barbershop buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant.
Then
at 8:00am Chordiology gave the Master Class- Singing In The 21st
Century. This 2007 Pioneer District Quartet Champion quartet has had a
lot of success with a free audio editing software called Audacity.
Even though it was early in the morning it was a packed room including several Society and District big wigs.
Spring Convention
Pictured quartet Harmony Transfer
(click image for album)
District competitions get all the
attention and limelight... literally. But they're only half the
fun. Behind the scenes that barbershop brotherhood is open to
anyone wanting to share in the camaraderie, to learn a tag and
sing!
2008 Pioneer District Spring Convention in Battle Creek Michigan April 25th-27th hosted by the Battle Creek Barbershop Chapter
was a big success. While the competition took place at the W.K.
Kellogg Auditorium the convention was at the McCamly Plaza Hotel.
According to reports, "Because of other events like Bowling, softball
and soccer, all rooms within about a 30 mile radius of Battle Creek
were sold out for the weekend."
Friday the 25th the Quartet Champion Association officially inducted 2007 Pioneer District Quartet Champions Chordiology into their association. Along with plaques Chordiology received a personal performance by International Medalist quartet SEP!
Member Jack Sidor had passed away the previous year. QCA President Russ Seely spoke of Jack's love and contributions to barbershopping including his coaching quartets right into his final days.
They use it primarily to supplement their group rehearsal time. When
schedules prevent them from getting together they will record
themselves, email the tracks, mix them together with audacity and have
a recorded digital rehearsal. To demonstrate the editor for the class
they used a projection TV hooked up to a laptop and then recorded some
tracks live.
They also touted the benefits of recording themselves together with a
multi track mixer and then with software isolating individual voices
for polish. All four members contributed to the
class discussion. More information is on their website
Chordiology.com, go to their Blog page, the Archive link near the top,
and then select, "the tyranny of the truth machine".
After
the chorus and quartet finals at the auditorium people began to gather
in the hotel lobby and halls singing barbershop songs and tags. There
were six Chapter Hospitality Rooms open to all including a huge one on
the 16th floor for the District hosted by Detroit-Oakland Chapter. I
hung out mostly in our Chapter's Hospitality Room but many people were
working all the rooms. The hotel room bathtubs were filled with ice
and drinks and there were lots of veggie trays, sweets, chips,
sandwiches, meatballs, etc. Many quartets made the rounds, moving from
one Hospitality Room to another, singing songs and toasting the event.
It's really amazing to sit in a small hotel room with friends while
quartet after quartet sing to you from only 5 feet away, including
quartets of International caliber.
Sunday morning there was even a worship service with quartets singing gospel followed by a recap meeting.
What
a fantastic weekend and I even learned an important lesson. Apparently
sound travels to all the floors from the stairwell so no quartet
singing in there or a nice young man in a blazer from hotel security
will ask you to stop.
