Over the weekend of January 20-22, 2023 at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Wilmington, DE, SAI’s Region 19 will be holding their annual Singers School, featuring special faculty guests Kathleen Hansen and Jennifer Cook! There will be a tag party and a mini quartet brigade!
Registration is open to everyone and closes on Jan 6, so be sure to get yours submitted today!
All chapter leaders, incumbent and -elect…
First: Thank you for contributing to your chapters’ success as a voluntary leader. Many people have already told you that they thank you and that you are doing a great job and are appreciated. I echo all of that sentiment. You already know that you are providing valuable service to your singing community.
Second: Sometimes you need a little help in the way of training. The Barbershop Harmony Society has a tremendous amount of documentation available in their document center. All of the important documents, and changes to policies and procedures are available on BHS doc center. But hearing someone explain how to do critical aspects of the job, or hearing the leaders from other chapters asking questions can be very beneficial. You can pick up some great tips from others, and perhaps adapt some methods to suit your chapter.
Over the past two years COVID forced us to cancel in-person events, but that has allowed the opportunity to record these sessions to make them available to you. The training is available on our MAD Chapter Leadership Training YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZxF1KQ83gJkV9SoiXhPs7g. We’ve curated content from great instructors such as Christian Hunter, Bill Colosimo, Steve Skolnick, John Santora, Terry Reynolds, Doug Brown, Jeff Porter, Katie MacDonald, and myself. I have cherished working with each of these individuals as they are the very best in their field. Many are highly sought-after by other districts for their leadership training events. The way these people explain chapter leadership topics is a vital part of your learning. Some topics of chapter leadership are required (Secretary, Treasurer) while others are completely up to you to implement or adapt. Adaptation within your own chapter is encouraged!
At this time there are no additional Leadership Academy sessions planned for the upcoming 2023 season, neither in-person nor online. In some cases there is just not a better way to deliver the training other than how the instructor did so in the past two years. Having said that, though, be mindful of two important concepts: 1) You are not alone!!! Please find and use the “Who Do You Call” resource (updated regularly; available here (after login) : http://www.midatlanticdistrict.com/pdf/WhoDoYouCall.pdf) and 2) The entire Mid-Atlantic Board of directors, District VPs, Division VPs, Chapter Advocates, and the faculty mentioned above STRONGLY DESIRE to help you be successful in your chapter leadership efforts. Reach out to the people mentioned here via email, phone call, mobile phone text (if you dare.. 
), whatever works. Be connected. In addition, don’t forget that the BHS has support personnel to help you with questions you may have.
(Psst… I’d like to point out that with this content, available as it is, it is possible for you to ‘peek’ at other board position responsibilities. You can spy on what the other board members are supposed to know ). I encourage everyone to listen to the president’s track from both years – Doug and Jeff have some very different perspectives, but both leadership styles are important to consider for each chapter board position.)
Since I have a very aggressive workload and some fairly important family life concerns I am making a choice to step down for a season. I will focus on a few things for a little while and then plan to be back involved. It has been my honor to have served you in various capacities so far, and I want to see you succeed in your chapter. If you need anything for which you think I may be able to help, please feel free to contact me and I can help you be connected to the right resources. It is my sincere hope that you feel connected to MAD and BHS, and that you are supported.
Submitted by Rob France
Are you a barbershop trivia geek? We have a role for you!
The District Historian position is part of the Operations Team, and is responsible for storing, classifying, digitizing and displaying information from district conventions, contests, Harmony College East, youth festivals and camps, and other important district events. This is a great role for someone who has been around for awhile, OR… someone brand new who wants to learn all about the exciting history of our district.
Please email or call John Santora, chair of the District Leadership Development Committee, at jsantora@mac.com, 410-937-2611
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Not interested in this position? Please consider volunteering for other positions, depending on your interest and experience. There are always opportunities to help with district events or other groups within the Operations Team. Please contact District Executive Vice-President Steve Kirsch at spkirsch@comcast.net or take a look at the various teams on the District web site http://www.midatlanticdistrict.com/?Code=Committees (login required) and contact the leader of that team.
Submitted by John Santora, Leadership Development Committee Chairman
Just a reminder from our District Secretary, David Kelly, that all chapters must update their roster of elected officers for 2023 by the end of the year.
Need a handy how-to guide? Click here for a tutorial! (requires member center login)
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.
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
Our Fall District Convention was attended by ~650 people. We celebrated a new District Champion quartet – First Take – as well as a new District Chorus Champion – Parkside Harmony – and qualified threer choruses – Parkside Harmony, East Coast Sound, and Parkside Melody – to represent M-AD at the International convention in July 2023 in Louisville, KY. The Pine Barons (Cherry Hill) and The Voices of Gotham (Hell’s Kitchen) will likely qualify as wildcards.
Current 3rd place International medalist chorus Alexandria Harmonizers entertained the convention and also gave a “master class” on what it takes to perform at the highest levels. Similarly, our 2020 District Champion quartet Pratt Street Power provided a master class to folks interested in learning all the ins and outs of top quartets.
Submitted by Ig Jakovac, President
Hello, Mid-Atlantic District! I hope you are as excited as I am for our Fall Convention in just two weeks!
Hotels: new block of available rooms at the Lancaster Wyndham
We are thrilled and grateful for the positive attendance response we’ve seen so far. In fact, we’ve already managed to sell out our hotel block at the Lancaster Marriott! This is in part due to it being an extremely busy autumn weekend in Lancaster. Many of you have likely seen this reflected in the limited availability and overall high prices of hotels in the area.
Fortunately, we have been able to secure an additional hotel block! This additional block is at the Lancaster Wyndham (2300 Lincoln Highway East), which is about a 10 drive to the convention venue. Please act quickly as the block of rooms will only be available until Friday, September 30th! You can reserve a room at this link, or by calling 1-800-233-0121 (or 717-299-5500) and mentioning you’re with the BHS Convention when making the reservation.
As is the case for any hotel block the District reserves, there is financial liability if we do not utilize the block we have set aside, so we ask that you please reserve a room in the block if you have not already secured lodging at the Marriott.
“Song of the Convention” Program
(“In the Glow” Sheet Music and Learning Materials)
As you saw in Ig’s note this week, we are working to evolve our conventions and add more engaging, fun activities in a financially sustainable approach. At this fall’s District Convention, we are launching one of our first new programs called “Song of the Convention!” This initiative will encourage bespoke song compositions and arrangements in SATB voicing with free learning materials so we can all sing together throughout the weekend on our own unique M-AD song each convention!
This year’s song is called “In The Glow,” and sheet music and tracks are available here. Special thanks to our all-volunteer artistic team: Zachary Zimmerman (Team Lead and Co-Songwriter), Jay Alan Zimmerman (Co-Songwriter), Adam Bock (Arranger), and Alexander Ronneburg (Learning Track Engineer). See a note below from our Team Lead Zachary Zimmerman about the original song:
In writing this song, I wanted to draw from the sense of belonging that I feel from the barbershop community. One of the greatest qualities of barbershoppers is our welcoming nature. When new folks show interest, we are excited to include them and share our passion for harmony singing with them. The energy and ideas they bring move our art form forward. At the same time, there’s a deep sense of tradition and stability that roots us and provides comfort that we can count on singing together for years and years to come.
Thank you all for your continued support and contributions to what is sure to be a fun and fulfilling weekend. We hope you enjoy learning the convention song and look forward to seeing you–and singing with you!–in Lancaster!
In Harmony,
Braden Lynk
Mid-Atlantic District – VP of Events
Barbershop Harmony Society
Over the last couple months, I have hosted three Zoom sessions where I shared information about our finances as they relate to our conventions. I invited all chorus Directors, Presidents, and Chapter Delegates and encouraged them to invite others. Here is a summary of what was discussed.
Spring conventions qualify quartets to compete at the fall convention, summer international, and senior’s mid-winter. Choruses qualify to compete at the fall convention. Over the last 10 years, the number of people attending our Spring conventions declined from about 2000 down to about 750 this past Spring. Our costs, if anything, have risen like everything else, but it’s clear that our attendance at conventions is at an all-time low. The District convention has not escaped the same trajectory.
Historically, we made enough money at the fall convention to make up for any losses from the Spring, however, with an overall decrease in attendance, that has no longer been true.
We discussed several ways to raise income and brainstormed ideas to reduce expenses. I also received input about how to increase attendance. All of this will be taken into consideration as we move into 2023. We are already introducing some new programs at this fall’s convention to continue to improve the attendee experience:
On the cost and income side, we are actively looking at our event model including venue types and staff structure. We can use all of your help with either time or material donations to bolster our margins.
There is also some “low-hanging fruit” that we may choose to pick in consultation with the M-AD Board of Directors and House of Delegates. For example, the average cost of an all events ticket in M-AD is about $40 while the average ticket cost across all the other districts is $60. Additionally, it costs us about $1,000 to have risers available in the ready room at every contest which should also be evaluated. There are many other levers to consider on both the cost and income side and we’ll do our best to maintain the experience you are used to while making our approach sustainable for the long-term.
If you have any ideas or would like to support future conventions, please reach out to Braden Lynk, our new VP of Events, at braden.lynk@gmail.com.
Contributed by Ig Jakovac, 2022 M-AD President
We are holding our District Convention at the Lancaster Convention Center October 7 – 8. That is just around the corner. We are expecting a great showing of quartets and choruses and look forward to seeing everyone there. Please note that the last day for Early Bird ticket sales will be September 9 and the last day for online ticket sales is September 23.
SPECIAL TREAT
I am so excited to let you know that our own Alexandria Harmonizers will be cheering choruses on during the Saturday Chorus Contest and have graciously agreed to offer our convention attendees a Master Class sometime after the chorus contest (stay tuned for details). In addition, the Harmonizers will appear on our Saturday evening show which will follow the quartet finals on Saturday night!!
Come and enjoy our current 3rd Place International Chorus, the Alexandria Harmonizers.
If that weren’t enough, our outgoing 2020 District Quartet Champion quartet, Pratt Street Power will cool the mics following the quartet contest on Friday night and will provide our members an opportunity on Saturday to watch them in a class environment as well perform on the Saturday night show.
It’s gonna be great! Get your tickets now!
Ig Jakovac, District President
On Saturday, September 10, at 7 pm, at Schlesinger Concert Hall in Alexandria, VA, the Alexandria Harmonizers will be fresh off the International contest stage and ready to honor the pandemic’s front-line workers at their fall show titled A Beautiful Morning with themes of hope, renewal, and gratitude. General Admission tickets are just $20, but premium tickets are also available at $100 and include a back-stage meet-and-greet!
You won’t want to miss the set that won the Harmonizers a fantastic 3rd place medal this past summer, along with numbers featuring 17th St. Dance, who joined them on the contest stage and tap danced their way into the audience’s heart. Other guests include First Take, 5th place quartet finalists at International, and Drew Tepe, a premier local pianist and entertainer.
Thanks to a generous grant from the City of Alexandria, front-line pandemic workers are being offered tickets to attend free of charge! If any of you know any front-line workers who would be also be thrilled to attend this show, you may contact the Harmonizers at info@harmonizers.org.
Click here to buy your tickets to see A Beautiful Morning today!
Venue:
Schlesinger Concert Hall
Northern Virginia Community College – Alexandria Campus
4915 E Campus Dr
Alexandria, VA 22311