(it’s the most wonderful time of the year outside of ......by request is humbled and exceedingly...
TRANSCRIPT
Congratulations to all the International competitors from Region 3! What an
exciting way to spend the middle of October ! What a pleasure to cheer for
our new International Champions—Frenzy Quartet and Rönninge Show
Chorus!
Now we’re all on to preparing for holiday performances and family traditions.
(It’s the most wonderful time of the year outside of International Competi-
tion!) I wish the happiest of holiday seasons to all my sisters in harmony in
Region 3!
The first of the year will find us ramping up for Regional competition in
Springfield, Illinois. Our competition is very early this year—April 7-9. I hope
to see many of you at January Jamboree (which I think is a February Frolic on
February 3-5, 2017.) Betty Clipman is the faculty, so you don’t want to miss it!
Check the Region 3 website for details as they are available.
In Harmony,
Debi
Harmony Happenings Newsletter Editor
November 1, 2016
Harmony Happenings
By Request 2
Crosstown Harmony 3
Danville Chorus 4
Great Lake Sound 5
Heart of Illinois 5
Melodeers 6
Midwest Crossroad 7
Prairie Echoes Chorus 7
Racine Chorus 8
River City Sound 8
Riverport Chorus 9
Spirit of the Lake 9
Toast of Champaign 10
Westosha Lakes 10
Yahara River 11
Calendar of Events 12
Inside this issue:
Regional Management Team
Communication Coordinator:
Mary Ann Neuman
Director’s Coordinator:
Nancy Kiddoo
Education Coordinator:
Angie Williams
Events Coordinator:
Kate Steimel
Finance Coordinator:
Molly Heimerdinger
Marketing Coordinator:
Laurel Meyer
Membership Coordinator:
Julie Quesenberry
Team Coordinator:
Jackie Compton
Quick Links
Sweet Adelines International — www.sweetadelineintl.org
Region 3 Website — www.region3sweetadelines.org
The Pitch Pipe online—http://sweetadelines.com/index.cfm
Twitter— twitter.com/SARegion3
By Request is humbled and exceedingly grateful for the love and support we received at Musical Ma-
hem. Such a fabulous time we all had - sharing laughs with old friends, meeting new friends, sharing
stories and song, and taking in every drop of knowledge we could from the amazing Kim Bone Vaughn!
You welcomed us as your new Champions with open arms. We are so proud to represent Region 3 in Vegas
and we know you will be "standing by our side" when we take the stage. .
A special thank you to YRC for your relentless and selfless love and support. We are forever grateful!
Our hearts our overflowing with love for all of you. Thank you again for your support and friendship. It means
more than words can say!! .
Thank you doesn't even begin to tell you how we feel about you. We were overwhelmed with all the love and
good wishes before and at International! You made us feel like celebrities! We had a great time on the
International stage and hope we did you proud. See you in February! .
Angie, Marie, Jen, and Jane
By Request Quartet
November 1, 2016
Harmony Happenings
L to R, Marie, Angie, Joan Boutilier, Jen and Jane
Crosstown Harmony Chorus has been booking more shows than ever from festivals, to retirement homes,
events honoring our veterans and hoppin’ birthday parties. We just love going out into our communities and
bringing the amazing barbershop sound to everyone!
When we weren’t traveling to performances we were hard at work rehearsing our cabaret. “Come Go With
Me”, a show about the fun, exciting adventures we Sweet Adelines get into when we travel to International.
There was music, merriment and mayhem back on Saturday, October 8th and it was a huge hit! We were
ecstatic to have Special guests Heart to Heart perform as well. They really helped pull the whole show
together. Thank you to everyone who performed, participated, volunteered and attended!
In the past few months we've also been fortunate to work with some wonderful coaches, including Jim Arns,
Kim Vaughn and Lynn Smith whose expertise is invaluable to our success.
Crosstown is ready to bring a little holiday cheer to the community this year. Instead of our normal rehearsal,
we’ll be hitting the road every Monday night between Thanksgiving and Christmas to perform our favorite
holiday songs out in the community. We’re all so excited to be able to bring the joys of the season to people
who otherwise might not be able to see a great performance!
Finally, great job to everyone who competed at the International Competition!! You’re all stunning singers and
beautiful women!
Crosstown Harmony Chorus
Page 3 Harmony Happenings
The Danville Chorus is in the midst of preparing for our annual show. "BROADWAY OR BUST" will be on Oc-
tober 29th with shows at 3 and 7 PM at the Danville Area Community College Bremer Theater. This is our
main money raiser for the year since we sell ads for our program. The songs are all Broadway tunes that eve-
ryone will recognize but not necessarily in Barbershop. We are a small but mighty chorus and audiences are
extremely responsive making it a really fun day for us as performers. The hard work really pays off. We
look forward to seeing everyone at the February Frolic music school.
Danville Chorus
Page 4 Harmony Happenings
Great Lake Sound
Heart of Illinois Chorus
Great Lake Sound Chorus has been busier than ever with the Fall and Holiday Schedule! Our Annual Dinner
and Auction Event was a great success and we loved performing for our biggest crowd ever! We had several
Holiday performances that kept us busy and gave our new members a chance to sing in small groups! Our
community continues to support us with requests for performances and recommendations to neighbors and
friends. We'll be doing Singing Valentines again this year and since the big day is on a weekend, we'll be de-
livering "musical messages of love" on Saturday and Sunday. If you have a loved one in our area, contact us
to deliver a singing valentine!
We on a mission to prepare for Region 3 Competition this year and are putting all of our best efforts into re-
hearsals and homework. We are dreaming of big things!
The Hearts had a busy summer! We were fortunate to have 21 members attend Region 3’s “Musical Mayhem”
that was held here at the Embassy Suites in East Peoria last August. We found Kim Vaughan to have a wealth
of Information and especially liked her vowel warm ups. The various quartets who demonstrated were all
awesome. So many talented people in Region 3. .
Our chorus provided the ushers for all six of the Thursday evening performances of the local Corn Stock
Theater’s 2016 summer season. We are volunteers, but do get to stay and see the shows too. All of the
programs have within them printed that the Heart of Illinois Chorus provides the Thursday night ushers so we
do receive some good publicity for it. .
We were fortunate to have a wonderful audience for our performance at Restmore home in Morton, IL. It was
on a Tuesday evening (our rehearsal night) but they let us stay and rehearse in their meeting rooms so we were
able to do both. We were tickled that Marion Hoffman (whom many of you know as a 60 year member in
Region 5) was in the audience as were many of the resident’s family members. .
Some of you may know that our former director resigned in May right after competition. We scrambled a bit
but our excellent assistant directors (Vicki Cox and JoEllyn Welsh) stepped in. We are fortunate that the
founding director of our chorus, Helen Peters (60+ year member of Sweet Adelines and an international
quartet champion) agreed to come back and get us through until we are able to hire a new director. Helen
recently celebrated her 80th birthday so we understand why she says she can’t be our permanent director. It is
fun to sing with her again and hopefully we are losing some of our bad habits! At this time we are conducting
an active director search. .
Meanwhile we are working on our chorus show, scheduled for October 30. It is entitled “Heart Smart” and is
a take-off of a musical trivia TV game show. Our guest Quartet this year is “DaCapo”, who recently won the
10th place medal at the the Men’s international competition. We are thrilled to also have a special featured
quartet, “Flip Side”, who won the Audience‘s Choice award at our last regional competition.
Page 5 Harmony Happenings
Melodeers Chorus
Thanks for coming out to Mixin’ It Up!
It’s no secret we love being on stage and singing for our friends and
families. Our show, Mixin’ It Up!, provided us the opportunity to do
just that! We began the show with fun repertoire songs and took the
second half of the show to kick off the holiday season. We’re
honored to have shared the stage with the hugely talented Vintage
Mix Quartet! They were amazing!
We were hacked!
Our facebook page was hacked and we no longer have access to it!
We’re trying to get the word out so we can reconnect with our friends.
If you haven’t already, please go to the link below and like our page (be
sure it’s the one showing us sitting on the floor in our profile picture).
We miss you!
https://www.facebook.com/Melodeers/
Our favorite moments from Vegas:
Region 3 was WELL represented!
Page 6 Harmony Happenings
October 2016… International Sweet AdelinesCompetition…. MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
What could be better? What an experience!
In early October MCC and River City Sound joined forces to deliver two shows, one in Shorewood and one in
Belvidere. Each chorus hosted a show with the other as its guest performer, and each show also featured a
performance by Region 3 Quartet Champs, By Request. What a fabulous way to prepare for the International
stage in Las Vegas! The Muppets loved this experience with their sisters in harmony and would strongly
recommend it to other Sweet Adelines on the road to the big stage! MCC was also thrilled to have 13 (!) first
time International competitors on stage with us. It only added to our excitement to see the contest preparations
through their “new eyes.”
Midwest Crossroad Chorus is thrilled to have received a Wild Card bid to perform in this contest. We are
grateful to Jim Arns and Renee Porzel for their coaching expertise on our Muppety journey. We had a great
time from start to finish. Thanks to all of Region 3 for your love and support!
Congratulations to every Las Vegas competitor! As always, the finals performances were breathtaking! It is
awesome to have enjoyed those performances live and in person!
The Prairie Echoes Chorus of Dekalb, IL, is seeking a charismatic, creative, motivated director as we work
through revitilzation to grow our membership to remain a chapter of Sweet Adelines International, and achieve
musical excellence once again. Over our first 30 years we placed first at Regional and were even named
International Small Chorus Champions twice (Harmony Classic). As a small chorus we have a strong desire to
be competitive once again. Please find us on Facebook to find out more about our chorus. If you are the person
we're looking for, please contact us @ (815)508-5445 or email a resume and/or curriculum vitae to
[email protected]. We look forward to singing for you!
Midwest Crossroad Chorus
Prairie Echoes Chorus
Page 7 Harmony Happenings
Racine Chorus
River City Sound
I was proud to be part of the audience at the MGM Grand where we were represented by Spritzer, By
Request, River City Sound and Midwest Crossroad – truly an inspiration to all of us in Region 3! It was an
exciting event while hearing a cappella overtones as well as the vibrant “cha chings” of the slot machines
throughout the MGM Grand.
What a thrill it was for me to represent the Racine Chorus as part of the World Harmony Chorus, directed by
Lea Baker, on Saturday evening before the winners of the competition were announced.
Our annual Cheesecake Sale was, as usual, a popular fundraiser, and delivery is just around the corner as we
all await the upcoming holiday season. The ladies of the Racine Chorus have dusted off the Christmas tunes ,
old and new, as we anticipate entertaining at holiday events. Our Guest Night is planned for November 10th
and the theme is, of course, Christmas!
As Thanksgiving approaches, we are mindful of our many blessings and opportunities we experience as mem-
bers of Sweet Adelines. Jarmela and the ladies of the Racine Chorus wish you all a joyous holiday season …
filled with harmony!
Submitted by, Kristine Hincz
The bags are unpacked, the laundry is done; daily life has returned to routine but memories have been made!
Vegas was quite an experience. We are happy with our placement (17th). Everyone wants the opportunity to
sing on Saturday but the level of singing and creativity of our International choruses and quartets is amazing.
We are all champions and honored to perform on that stage. .
RCS loved cheering for our Boots and her quartet, Spritzer. They look fabulous in their 6th place medals.
It’s great to see Joan in competition mode as a quartet member. She is loaded with talent and we are so hap-
py to have her as our director. .
River City Sound held our 9th annual Sweet Show on October 9th. We did our creative table decorations
again for our sweet show but this time everything was geared towards Vegas. River City Sound had two
opportunities to sing with our fellow Vegas divas this fall. We sang on Midwest Crossroad’s show and the
following weekend we shared our stage with them at our annual sweet show. It was a chance for us to get
to know our sisters in song a little better. I know that Tori and Joan both enjoyed directing our combined
choruses for a couple of songs. .
Time to switch from competition songs to Christmas. Hard to believe it’s November already but we’re
looking forward to getting out in our community and sharing the spirit of the season. May you all have a
wonderful Christmas and the happiest New Year.
All we want for Christmas is a CUB World Series win!
Page 8 Harmony Happenings
Riverport Chorus
Spirit of the Lake Chorus
We love this time of the year – Falling leaves, apples, pumpkins, hot chocolate, football,
and a time to Give Thanks!
Riverport Chorus has so much to be thankful for:
*Successful Annual Craft Fair
*Awesome coaching
*Fabulous new director
*Opportunity to welcome home our veterans at the Milwaukee Airport
Preparing for our Annual Cabaret, Christmas “Gigs”, and our Annual Diva Quest
But most of all we are thankful for the Music!
Wishing that the Autumn season
Brings you Bountiful Happiness
And Joy!
Spirit of the Lakes had a fun and busy summer. We had a number of fundraisers, two of which were held at
PotBelly’s in Lake Geneva and brat sales at the local Piggly Wiggly. We sang at both fundraisers at PotBelly’s
and the customers were surprised and pleased as we entertained them. It was sort of like a mini “Flash Mob”.
We also sang at the “Big One”, Wisconsin’s largest county fair in Elkhorn, WI. This was a great performance
as we shared the stage with our brother’s in song the Country Gentlemen.
We had a Fall performance, “Fall in Love with Harmony”, where we honored our Veterans and first
responders as well as give the audience a taste of our favorite harmonic music. Our Christmas Concert with
the Country Gentlemen will be December 4th at the Horticultural Hall in Lake Geneva, WI. This is a favorite
for many in area as we join together to sing Silent Night with candles lit. We welcome Brittany Day, (an
elementary school teacher) and Carrie Nickels (a high school senior). They are both beautiful additions to
Spirit of the Lakes.
Tessa August is entering her second year as our director and we love her more every week. She continues to
impress us with her musical knowledge, her voice and her always positive attitude. She has us review some
“old” songs we had in our repertoire that we haven’t sung in quite a long time so they feel like we have a
bunch of new songs to sing, but we can hardly wait to sing our “new/old” songs. She’s keeping us thinking!
We wish you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas. See you in 2017.
Page 9 Harmony Happenings
Toast of Champaign Chorus
Currently, Toast of Champaign is eagerly looking forward to watching all the competitors on the Vegas stage,
but especially our very own River City Sound, Midwest Crossroad, and By Request. We know every one of
you will do the region proud.
On the homefront, we just presented our annual chorus show on October 1 st. Toast of Champaign has been in
existence for 64 years, so, of course, our show's theme was "When I'm 64". (Not a lot of thinking on that
one.) We took a different tack this year and called our show a "Sing and Play Cabaret" intending it to be a
family friendly evening with lots of chorus music, games, gifts, and quartet singing. Everyone in attendance
seemed to enjoy this fun-filled evening.
As a chorus we are still putting into practice all the great things we learned from Kim Vaughn at Musical May-
hem this past fall. More than half our chorus members were in attendance for one or more days, and we came
away with great handouts, great information, and great memories. It was especially meaningful to sing our
National Anthem in the hotel's atrium on the anniversary of 9-11. We love the renewed sense of energy these
music schools always give us and eagerly look forward to February Frolic. Hope to see all our
Region 3 friends there.
Page 10 Harmony Happenings
Westosha Lakes Chorus
Westosha’s first annual golf outing was held on Oct 25, 2016. 43 golfer’s came out and enjoyed 9 holes of
golf with only a few sprinkles and 22 folks came to partake in food and drink as well as buying raffle tickets
and bidding for big ticket items. The highlight of the day was when a helicopter dropped numbered golf balls
on a nearby green only to have one drop in the hole for a grand prize of a $1000! Westosha was so impressed
with the success of the event that they plan on making it an annual event.
A couple of Open Houses were also held in October with some prospective member possibilities. The
Member Ambassador Handbook could not have come at a better time!
Just recently, Westosha went to perform at the Village of Victory Lakes Assisted Living facility in
Lindenhurst, IL. One of the girl’s father was recently admitted there so the performance could not have been
more heartfelt by all involved.
Preparations are underway for a Christmas performance in early December in conjunction with the VFW in
Antioch, IL. This a favorite of the chorus as they entertain sailor recruits from the Naval Station Great Lakes
in Lake County .
Yahara River Chorus
Why YRC is Happy???
The chorus has been doing lots of work and having lots of fun preparing for our show on November 5. The
show theme is “Happy”, and we are delighted to have the fabulous quartet Martini on the show. We hope to
see many of you there!
For the first time in history, YRC has a quartet who became regional champs! We can't express in words how
proud we are of By Request. They represented Region 3 with passion and pride. All four of them are first time
champs and competed in the international quartet contest for the first time.
For the fourth year in a row, a YRC quartet has won the Jarmela Speta most improved quartet award. Congrat-
ulations, Charisma!
We started out our coaching sessions in September with the fabulous Joan Boutilier, and we have added new
coaches for this year... Diane Porsche and Jim Arns. Diane coached YRC over 20 years ago, so she is new to
this crew. We’re looking forward to learning lots and developing our skills with these great coaches.
We were very happy to be invited to sing the national anthem in August at Miller Park, home of the Milwau-
kee Brewers, for the second year in a row. It was a lots of fun, and we got lots of positive feedback from the
crowd.
YRC has created a new marketing team, and they are generating strategies and tactics to increase awareness
about our wonderful chorus. We’re looking forward to exciting times ahead with this new team.
Page 11 Harmony Happenings
REGION 3 CALENDAR OF CHORUS SHOWS
Visit Region 3's website for the current listing of chorus shows or regional and international
events.
Does your chorus have a show or special event coming up? Complete the online Chapter Shows
and Events Form found on the region's new website. Just fill in all the pertinent information and
attach a flyer (if you have one) and it will go directly to the webmaster for posting. You may also
send all of the pertinent information and any flyers directly to Mary Ann Neuman, Communica-
tions Coordinator at [email protected].
Upcoming events:
2017
January 15, 2017 Deadline for Winter Harmony Happenings articles
February 3 –5, 2017 February Frolic
April 6 -9, 2017 Region 3 Convention & Competition
June 15, 2017 Deadline for Summer Harmony Happenings articles
September 8-10, 2017 Musical Mayhem
October 9 -14, 2017 International Convention & Competition, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV
October 15, 2017 Deadline for Fall Harmony Happenings articles
2018
January 15, 2018 Deadline for Winter Harmony Happenings articles
April 19 -22, 2018 Region 3 Convention & Competition
October 15 -20, 2018 International Convention & Competition, St. Louis, MO
Region 3 Calendar