Category: Included in Newsletter

This year’s Fall convention in Lancaster was full of firsts for me: my first event as your new Events VP and my first time emceeing a District contest – what a rush! Here are a few of my highlights from the weekend:

My favorite moments:

·  Serving as emcee for the quartet semi-finals was a moment I’ll never forget. I particularly enjoyed getting the entire audience to sing the Cry tag as well as a few polecats!

·  Master classes and chorus director workshops were a hit! Our new Saturday afternoon events along with a continued excellent “Tag with the Champs” brought some incredible learning and singing to the Saturday afternoon “lull”.

· Joyful performances from all involved – I particularly enjoyed performing with my home ensembles Voices of Gotham and GOTHAM. Also a (very biased) fan of Sirens of Gotham, our sibling chorus, and Breakfast for Dinner, my fiancee’s quartet!

·  Saturday night Lobby afterglow – folks were tagging until 4 a.m.! Or at least that’s the time I finally turned in for the night…

My biggest lessons:

·  When I stepped into the Events VP role, I knew I was joining an incredible crew of dedicated volunteer leaders. It turns out my high expectations were still too low! I was amazed by the amount of diligent and heartfelt work by everyone behind the scenes. I helped to strike the stage on Saturday night and my body was sore for days afterward! The effort these folks put in to making our events a success is simply unparalleled. If you see someone wearing a blue Events shirt at our future events, please give them a hearty, “thank you!”

·  I was so excited to rollout out our first original “Song of the Convention” at this Fall’s event. We learned a lot from the experience, including giving attendees more time to truly learn the song to be able to share in music for the weekend, so we’ve adjusted the plan from having a new song every 6 months to making it an annual song! We’ll continue with “In the Glow” for all of next year’s events, so check out the materials here and have it ready for the next event!

What’s next:

· I’m excited for our events next year as we resume our annual contest cycle. Expect our typical 2 Spring Divisions including Quartet Preliminaries as well as our Fall District contest. We have some great new programs starting up that I think you will also enjoy. If you haven’t attended a M-AD event in awhile, I hope you will consider doing so again this year!

In consultation with the Division VPs to gauge chapter and quartet participation for the available division dates, we have concluded that we will have two conventions this spring in similar fashion to last year.

1. Combined Central/Southern Division convention including quartet International Preliminary contest March 24-25, 2023.
   • Location still being finalized, however, will most likely be in Greater Baltimore area
2. Northern Division convention including quartet International Preliminary contest will take place April 14-15, 2023.
   • Location is planned to be Nazareth, PA in the same venue as last year. Details to follow.

Our District Convention will take place September 29-30, 2023. We are still finalizing location details as we are continuing our efforts to build a sustainable events model for the long-term.

·  Have any feedback or just want to send a note? You can always reach me at braden.lynk@gmail.com

Thanks all – looking forward to another great year in 2023!

Submitted by Braden Lynk, VP of Events

Let’s face it. All those virtual contests and concerts and videos were nice, but nothing will beat the thrill of the live stage, sitting shoulder to shoulder with fellow fans, making friends, and singing tags! It was quite a week in Charlotte, North Carolina! Barbershoppers from all over the world gathered for the first time in 3 years to compete and enjoy the thrill of singing four part harmony. 

In 2017, BHS made a historic announcement to open membership to all! The strategic vision of BHS has been greeted with celebration and challenges alike and the path forward has been a constant topic of discussion, but the first year of full integration in a genderless contest proved to be a momentous occasion, especially for the Mid-Atlantic District! We were represented in every single contest in the best way. We came home with 7 International medals! Our presence as a district was strong. There is no doubt we are leading the pack! 

Better Together started off our week as Mic-testers for the first round of Quartet Quarter-Finals! They certainly made us proud as Heather and Elizabeth were the first women to step on the International stage! What was to follow was nothing short of incredible. Midtown • A Vocal Quartet, GQ, First Take, Gimme Four, and Round Midnight all advanced to the Semi-finals and Secret Best Friends finished 21st and served as mic-testers for the Quartet Semi-Finals. Their beautiful set even included the great Eddie Holt! If that wasn’t enough excitement, ALL of our semi-finalist advanced to the Quartet Finals!!

Wednesday night was just as thrilling. The Next Generation Varsity Contest was filled with talent that assured our world that the future is in good hands. We had four quartets representing our district! The Quin-Tones and New Socks gave performances to be remembered! Brothers in Arms came in third and Jefferson Plaid Tie TIED for first place! They walked away with second place international medals and we are so proud! 

The Chorus contest certainly didn’t disappoint. We had 5 choruses and all of them placed in the top 11 in the world! How cool is that? The Alexandria Harmonizers had us tapping and Gotham made us want to throw on colorful clothes and DANCE! Parkside Melody had us busting out of our seats as they were the very first treble chorus to debut on the International stage and Parkside Harmony gave such a cool and memorable performance. Last and certainly not least, East Coast Sound presented us a master class in clean, beautiful singing. Way to go  everyone! 

We wrapped up the week with the ever popular Quartet finals! There was not a bad chord sung in the Spectrum Center. Each quartet gave it there all and it was entertaining to say the least. Midtown gave stellar performances all week that earned them a second place medal! History was made as GQ became the first women to receive a medal- placing FOURTH in the world. First Take made their debut week as a quartet one to remember placing fifth! Gimme Four wowed is all week with their incredible sound and charisma and ‘Round Midnight was cool as they come!

Congratulations to ALL who performed and shared your music with the world. You took command of the stage, wowed us with your performances, and inspired others to follow in your footsteps! As a district we were represented in every International contest throughout the week and also in the Chorus and Quartet Festival! 

Quartet Contest Results

• Midtown • A Vocal Quartet- 2nd
• GQ- 4th
• First Take- 5th
• Gimme Four- 7th
• ‘Round Midnight- 9th
• Secret Best Friends- 21st (mic testers)
• Madhattan- 37th
• The Brooklynaires- 38th 

Next Gen Contest Results 

• Jefferson Plaid Tie- 2nd (tied for first) 
• Brothers In Arms Quartet- 3rd
• Quin-Tones Quartet- 6th
• New Socks- 15th 

Chorus Contest Results

• The Alexandria Harmonizers- 3rd
• Parkside Harmony- 4th
• Voices of Gotham/Sirens of Gotham- 8th
• Parkside Melody- 10th
• East Coast Sound- 11th

Quartet Festival Winner

• Midnight Society Quartet 

Chorus Festival Winner

• Voices of Gotham

Let’s continue to make the Mid-Atlantic District a front runner, not just on stage, but offstage as well! Something that was so beautiful to see was the outpouring of love for each and every performer. It was evident that our district was there to support our fellow friends in harmony and there is something to be said for that kind of unconditional love and support. Congratulations once again!!

contributed by Heather Havens

Hello M-AD members! I’m excited to support our great District as interim President through the end of this year. As many of you know, Brian Schreiner had to step down as his business obligations made it impossible for him to serve the District at the level that he thought necessary. I know you will join me in thanking Brian for his many years of service to our District.

Given all the COVID uncertainties, I had no idea if we would have conventions this spring, and all I can say is that I was so thrilled that we did. I saw so many of you at one of our Spring Conventions! We had 466 attendees at the Central/Southern convention and 279 at Northern. It was awesome and so wonderful to see a number of new ensembles sing for our M-AD audience, as well as many of our long time quartet and chorus participants. The feedback that I’ve gotten so far is overwhelmingly positive. There is nothing like getting back to live barbershop! I’m hoping that all of you will be able to attend our Fall convention, which will be held at the Lancaster Convention on October 7-9, 2022. Please come!

Our next event is Harmony College East and if you have not yet checked it out please do so, here is the link. The school is at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. It’s going to be a blast! Lots of new courses, a great faculty and a wonderful venue. See you there!

Submitted by Ig Jakovac, Interim District President

It was so wonderful to see everyone at our two conventions in March and April. Enjoying live barbershop performances from our quartets and choruses was everything that I hoped for. I really didn’t know what to expect. I had no idea how ensembles would adapt to the “time off” and didn’t know the extent to which each ensemble was getting together because each part of our District had different levels of community spread. I was so thrilled with the high quality of the performances that were delivered at both of our conventions. Such fun!

Our March 25 and 26 events were a combined Central and Southern Division Contest, MAD Seniors District Quartet Championship, and International Preliminary Contest.

We had five quartets competing for the 2022 MAD Seniors District Champion. The winner:

• Opus 4 – 64.6%

We cannot yet announce our representative to the 2023 mid-winter convention, as there is a least one quartet competing out of District due to COVID illness.

There were 16 Central (1 for score/eval) and 8 Southern quartets that competed. The top three Central Division quartets are:

1. GQ – 85.1%
2. Secret Best Friends – 80.6%
3. B&B – 78.0%

Our fourth-place quartet was a tie broken by the singing score:

• Rule #1 – 78%

The top three Southern Division quartets are:

1. First Take – 84.6%
2. Fantastic 4 – 73.5%
3. Breakthrough – 71.9%

The Novice Quartet Champion for Central Division is:

• Up & Away – 69.8%

The Southern Division Novice Quartet Champion is:

• The Society of Fellows – 66.3%

Eight Central choruses compete. The top three Central Division Choruses are:

1. Parkside Melody – 85.2%
2. Country Gentlemen – 73.1%
3. The Mainliners – 73.1%

White Rose Chorus is the Central Division Plateau AA Champion.
Keystone Capital Chorus is the Central Division Plateau AAA Champion.
Country Gentlemen is the Central Division Plateau AAAA Champion.
White Rose Chorus is the Central Division Most Improved Chorus.
Three Southern Division Choruses competed.

1. The Virginians – 71.6%
2. Commodore Chorus – 71.5%
3. Heart of Maryland – 69.8%

Commodore Chorus is the Southern Division Plateau AAA Champion.
The Virginians is the Southern Division Plateau AAAA Champion.
Commodore Chorus is the Southern Division Most Improved Chorus.

Thirteen quartets competed, and 3 scratched. The top three Northern Division quartets are:

1. The Brooklynaires – 77.4%
2. Age of Flight – 73.8%
3. Madhattan – 73.6%

The novice quartet Champion for northern Division is:

• Champagne Alley – 72.5%

Ten choruses competed (one out-of-division and 3 for score/eval only) – the top three Northern Division choruses are:

1. Gotham – 85.8%
2. Sirens of Gotham – 76.7%
3. Long Island Sound – 69.7%

The Dapper Dans of Harmony is the Northern Division Plateau AAA Champion.
Long Island Sound is the Northern Division Plateau AAAA Champion.
Somerset Hills Harmony is the Northern Division Most Improved Chorus.

Qualifiers to the International in Charlotte include:

1. Midtown – 90.3% (qualified in CSD)
2. GQ – 85.1%
3. ‘Round Midnight – 85.0%
4. First Take – 84.5%
5. Secret Best Friends – 81.0%
6. Rule #1 – 77.9%
7. B&B – 77.8%
8. Madhattan – 76.5% (qualified in NED)

At least two quartets are still trying to qualify so we could add to this already impressive list!
Invitations to compete at the Fall District Convention will be sent out as soon as contest season is over so, please stay tuned!

Submitted by Ig Jakovac, VP of Contest and Judging