The Newyorker Times · The newsletter of the Poughkeepsie, New York, Chapter of the Barbershop...

The Newyorker TimesThe newsletter of the Poughkeepsie, New York, Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society

New Series, Volume 11 Number 4

Poughkeepsie, New York April 2009

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The Yankee Division Contest is 1-1/2 weeks away, andthere is a total of 2 chorus rehearsals left before contest.Some may comment that this is "only" division, but thatshould not be an excuse to be lax about the preparation forthe contest. A commitment to performing in the contestchorus needs to include being on time for rehearsal, inaddition to the mental and musical preparation of the pack-age. Renée, as director, and the rest of the music team areworking very hard to tune up and polish the music andperformance elements of the songs. It remains our responsi-bility, as committed members of the chorus, to give themthe respect and attention they deserve. When we give themour full attention, it only helps to raise the level of the cho-rus. It's not "just" a division contest. It is an opportunity forus to improve ourselves, both individually and as a chorus,and be better than we were the last time out. The limitedtime we have left to work on the contest package requiresthat we all make the effort to be on time to chorus rehearsaland respect the time and talents of those who have alsomade a commitment to helping us achieve greatness. I wantthe Newyorkers to be the best we can be—all the time.

The Annual Show

Adapted fom material supplied by Steve Miller

As indicated under the heading “Coming Events” onpage 2, this year’s annual show will take place twice, at 2p.m. and 7 p.m., on Sunday, 31 May, at the Cuneen-HackettArts Center, 12 Vassar Street, Poughkeepsie, under thechairmanship of the Chapter Board of Directors. The themeis expressed in the title: “Celebrate Poughkeepsie.” It willfeature the Chapter chorus the Newyorkers, and Chapterquartets Swing Shift, Hudson Valley Edition, and Four tothe Power of One. (The line-up is subject to change pend-ing quartet availability.) There will be no guest quartet.

The cost of all tickets is $15.00. Ticket sales will beginon Friday, 27 March. Eric Dickstein (Continued on Page 2)

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This August, Poughkeepsie’s own Footlighters quartetwill star as the contentious, then harmonious, school boardin TriArts Sharon Playhouse’s production of that greatAmerican musical, The Music Man. The show will run from6 August through 23 August, with some fifteen perform-ances, including three matinees. The on-line box office isalready open for business at http://triarts.net/tickets.php,where the show schedule, prices, and seating chart are allavailable. The Playhouse is located on Route 343 in Sharon,Connecticut, just five miles east of the Route 44/Route 343intersection in Amenia, NY.

The quartet, with Ron Pierson on Tenor, Jack Ostmarkon Lead, Mark Courtney on Baritone, and Bud Fair on Bass,completed two rounds of auditions in January and February,singing for the TriArts Artistic Director and the Show Direc-tor. The boys came in fully prepared with a BarbershopClassic, “Sweet and Lovely,” and then some comedy schtickwrapped around actual Music Man dialog and the hit quar-tet song, “Sincere.” They exited with the show’s “GoodnightLadies” to a laughing review panel of mostly men. And therole was theirs !

Casting is completed and rehearsals will begin in earlyJuly. The Footlighters will keep us posted as the run-up tothe show continues.

The Footlighters previously performed in The MusicMan in 1982 for the Bardavon 1869 Opera House produc-tion in Poughkeepsie. In that configuration, Lew DiStasisang Tenor and Bob Chieffo sang Baritone. Every quar-ter-century or so, they need to do it again.

Men In Black and Our Town Shine!

By Michael KleinNortheastern District VP, Member Services

The weekend of 20–21 March was a big weekend bothfor Men In Black and for Our Town.

In Burlington, VT, Men In Black qualified to advance tothe International Quartet competition this July in Anaheim,CA, and will be joining the (See “Quartets Shine” on Page 3)

Website for Poughkeepsie Newyorkers: <http://www.newyrkerschorus.org>

The Newyorker Times April 2009

The Neworker Times

Published monthly by the Poughkeepsie, NY, Chapter

of the

Barbershop Harmony Society

Yankee Division, Northeastern District

Editor: George L. Trigg

18 Duzine Road, New Paltz, NY 12561-1304

845-255-9488; e-mail [email protected]

Chapter Officers

President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephen Miller

VP, Chapter Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Florie

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845-473-7027; e-mail [email protected]

VP, Music & Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . John Hadigan, Jr.

VP, PR & Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Landa

Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott Salladin

Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Murphy

BOD Members-at-Large . Eric Dickstein, Richard Schaffer,

Rich Merry

Immediate Past President . . . . . . . . . . . . John Hadigan, Jr.

Youth Outreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Standish

Chorus Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Renée Silverstein

Assistant Directors . . . . john Hadigan, Jr., Steve Hagerdon

Chorus Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott Salladin

Meetings

Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m.

St. Andrew’s Church, 110 Overlook Rd. (Co. Rte. 46),

Poughkeepsie, New York 12603

ALL SINGING MEN WELCOME

Website address . . . . . . . . . . . www.newyorkerschorus.org

Poughkeepsie Chapter

Mission Statement

The mission of the Poughkeepsie Chapter shall be:

To perpetuate the art of Barbershop Harmony, and

To promote and provide opportunities for vocal har-mony activities for its members and potential memberssuch as, but not limited to,

Quartetting,

Vocal crafts and techniques

Coaching

Chorus singing, and

Competitive preparation and participation,

and

To provide public appreciation of barbershop harmonythrough public and charitable performances, and

To promote good fellowship and camaraderie among itsMembership, and

To foster and enhance the ideals and principles of the Bar-bershop Harmony Society

17–18 Apr NED Contests, Wachusetts Regional HighSchool, Holden, MA—details TBA.

31 May Annual Show, Cuneen–Hackett Arts CenterTheater, 12 Vassar St., Poughkeepsie—performances at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; furtherdetails TBA

DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE

29 APRIL

Happy Birthdays in April::

Patricia Griffin 4

Barbershop Harmony Society 11

Ron Pierson 17

Bev Waltke 21

Lyndell Schaffer 23

Renée Silverstein 27

No Anniversaries in April

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Our division contest is less than a month away. I can'twait. Just a short note about our performances of the con-test music. The past few rehearsals show things are comingtogether. You're starting to look good, sound good, and theinvolvement is starting to reach a higher level. Our extrarehearsal coming up soon will be time well spent to allowyou to really enjoy the results of all your hard work. We willdedicate the time to work on technique, vowels, breathing,tone, attacks, releases, etc, etc., so by the end of the daythese things will be ingrained internally allowing us to "for-get" about them and have fun and enjoy the music. Let yourperformance on the contest stage be buoyed by the feelingthat you love this music, love singing it, and want to share itwith everyone out there in the audience. I know you'veheard this stuff before from all the musical leaders thatstand in front of you. Perhaps seeing it in black and whitewill have more impact than just the spoken words.

The Annual Show (From Page 1)will handle member ticket sales, while Scott Salladin willdeal with mail sales. For further information about tickets,contact Scott by telephone at 845-471-5845 or 845- 790-3339, by e-mail at events@newyorkerschorus .org, or by U.S.mail at 166 Academy St. A-2, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601.

For information regarding show journal ads, see thearticle by Scott Salladin.

April 2009 The Newyorker TimesThe Newyorker TimesThe Newyorker TimesThe Newyorker Times

Quartets Shine (Frpm Page 1)Narragansett Bay Chorus as NED Representatives for thatweekend. Men In Black placed 11th at international last yearand has won the hearts of barbershoppers all over the world.We pledge our support to them and wish you great luck !

Our Town, our current District Champs, were winnersin a different contest. The Boston Region contest of TheHarmony Sweepstakes was held at Tufts University in Med-ford, MA This is a competition that invites all forms of acappella to compete together. The talent level is extremelyhigh—many groups are professionals. The winners of theRegional earn an expense-paid trip to compete in the Na-tionals for more prizes. Our Town not only won the audi-ence favorite award, but also were the favorites of thejudges, none of whom has a barbershop background. It isworth noting that Roadshow, which had won this contestpreviously, placed second. I am sure that the judges did a lotof battle over which of these great quartets to place as cham-pions. It was a proud moment for all barbershoppers inattendance to see our art form so well represented. OurTown will be flying to San Francisco for the finals against theregional winners on 10 May. There is already a Sweet Ade-lines Quartet (Lovenotes\, formerly Underage) that hasqualified to be in the finals with Our Town.

Coming With Us?

From the Society’s newsletter LiveWire, 27 February

Our international convention and contest is being heldin Anaheim this year—and we need YOU to be a part of it.To be more competitive, some airlines are trying to “oneup” one another with lower fares to gain market share. Butit’s not just airlines trying to woo customers. We just re-ceived word that the Anaheim Hilton (the headquartershotel for our convention) has lowered their prices by $10per night! When’s the last time something like that hap-pened? Hotels in the convention block start as low as $89per night. Better yet, the Disney organization is partneringwith us to create some great opportunities for family funstarting on Tuesday, June 30th.

If that wasn’t enough, if you buy your registrations be-fore March 31, you’ll be automatically entered into a draw-ing to receive two FREE airfares (up to $800.00 value), 5FREE room nights in a block hotel of your choosing, and 2FREE tickets to: the World Harmony Jamboree dinner show,the Association of International Champions (AIC) show,AND the Harmony Foundation International presents show.Wow!

For more information, visit www.barbershop.org/ana-heim.

Spring 2009 Society-WideElectronic Survey Arriving Soon!

By the BHS Operations Team Survey Committee

Here is important info to help insure your voice isheard!

In the Spring and Fall of 2008, your Society's Opera-

tions Team, comprising the Chairs of BHS Committees andrepresentatives of District Presidents, prepared and distrib-uted electronic surveys to gather information concerningyour assessment of the effectiveness of the programs andactivities we offer. These two surveys generated over 9000completed survey responses during the year!

We were also encouraged that over 3000 individualsprovided additional comments to amplify your answerswhich provided more detailed information about your bar-bershop experience. Survey results were distributed to allCommittees and District leadership to help guide them intheir work to improve the ways the Society better serves yourneeds, to improve Chapters health and growth and memberparticipation and satisfaction. Your responses HAVE madean important difference in communicating your opinions toSociety leadership!

It is now time for the next phase of the survey process,to help provide valuable benchmarks and verify measure-ments of the data which will help guide us as we continue toenhance our programs in 2009 to better meet your needs.Around March 27, you will be sent a new survey instrumentvia email from otsurvey@barbershop .org which will directyou to the Survey Monkey survey site for you to let yourvoice be heard! The survey window will be open fromMarch 27 through April 8, 2009. Your cooperation in complet-ing this new survey is critical, whether you completed a previ-ous survey or will now com-plete it for the first time. Thesurvey questions have been modified only slightly, with onlya few new questions added. The consistency of survey ques-tions is intentional. This allows accurate comparisons withanswers from 2008 surveys and helps provide your Boardand Districts with trends to verify our progress.

Here are several important things you can do NOW toinsure your voice is heard:1. Survey invitations were taken from current eBiz email

preferences; always remember to record any changes toyour own emails in eBiz; your chapter secretary istrained to help if there is a question;

• If you have a spam filter for your email, please be surethat [email protected] is listed as a recognizedemail address and is not blocked so the survey invita-tion reaches you promptly without going to your spamfolder; Complete the survey as soon as you receive theinvitation, along with any comments you would like toadd; (Remember! We need your response EVEN IFYOU COMPLETED A PREVIOUS SURVEY!)

• Remember that you will be given the opportunity toprovide your name and contact information if youwould be willing to be contacted to discuss your an-swers. However, if you do not wish to provide that info,your answers are anonymous;

• Encourage your Chapter members through meetingannouncements and notes in your weekly bulletins tocomplete this important survey.Summary results of survey results will be published

Society-wide in a future issue of the Harmonizer. Initialfeedback of 2008 data was contained in the Nov-Dec 2008Harmonizer (page 15). This data is used by your leadershipto help our Society meet its (See “Survey” on Page 4)



Four of Hearts Singing Valentine promo at

Q92-FM: Harlow T, Booth L,

Schaffer Bs, Chieffo Br

"Yona From Arizona": Harlow T,

Booth L, Veltre Bs, Hagerdon Br

Survey (From Page 3)Aims and help you to better enjoy your barbershop experi-ence!

Thank you for your valuable input in this process.

"O, To Be A Baritone"

By Ed HinkleyA friend of Renée Silverstein, who

forwarded itUsed by permission

I wanna sing the bari in a barbershop quartet,My rich and mellow quality you simply won’t forget,You’ll hear me bring to life a chord that’s always incom-

plete,

Every time I add my voice you’ll hear a sound that can‘t be beat,

My voice is like the mortar in between a wall of stones,I love the way I fill the chord with all my many lovely tones,I make the other voices always a cappella strong,That helps to turn a lovely rhyme into another lovely song.

The tenor has a special place where only tenors go,The bass’s voice within a chord is often rather low,Then someone sings the melody that cannot be ignored,But my baritone gets only what is left in every chord.

I wanna sing the bari in a barbershop quartet,It’s my fondest wish that I would be the very best one yet,So if there is a threesome that is looking to be thrilled,I’ll be the very best and that’s the way I should be billed.

More Memories of Ralph Harlow

The March issue of this newsletter contained a tribute to the late Ralph Harlow. One of the aspects mentioned was Ralph’s love of quartet singing. For reasons that are immaterial here, pictures of several quartets in which he sang wre not included. Wepresent them here. To save space, we specify that for all of them, the identities of the quartet members are from left to right.

Ralph and Swing Shift: Ashdown Br,

Hadigan Bs, Howard L, Harlow THudson Valley Edition: Harlow T, Chisholm Bs,

Miller L, Murphy Br



Treasurer Mike Murphy installed by

Larry RandJim Cramer T, Jack Tacinelli L, Rick Greenop Bs,

Bill Standish Br

In Costa Rica :Mike Murphy and Nancy, Lois Hitchcock and Bob,

host Ralph Harlow and Marion

Pictures From the Installation Dinner

Photos by Jeannie Florie

More Installation Dinner photos will be posted on tne Chapter’s website given in the footer

More on Page 6



Eric Dickstein T, Steve Miller L,

Dick Schaffer B, Mike Murphy Br

2008 NYOY, George Trigg Jim Cramer T, John Hadigan Bs, Steve Miller L,

and Mike Murphy Br

Laff time: Bill Florie, John Hadigan, Jack

Tacinelli

Matt Kambic T, Jack Tacinelli L,

Bill Florie Bs, Bill Standish Br

Steve Miller, Bill Florie, John “Duke” Chisholm,

Mike Murphy

More on Next Page



Website for Poughkeepsie Newyorkers: <http://www.newoyrkerschorus.org>

Steve Miller T, Bill Florie L,

Rich Merry Bs, Bill Standish Br

Renée and the chorus

The Newyorker Times

18 Duzine RoadNew Paltz, NY 12561-1304

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