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Sweet Adeline Lake Ontario Region 16 Newsletter
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Greetings!
It's the beginning of an exciting new year, and with that comes an exciting new Sixteenth Notes! This year, we are going to try something new. You'll be receiving this newsletter on a monthly basis around the middle of each month.
Our goal is to reach out to you more often so that we can keep you informed about all the awesome things that are going on in Region 16! If you have anything you would like to include in an issue, please coordinate with the leadership of your chorus. Deadline for submissions for our February issue is January 31st.
We hope you enjoy this new format!!
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A Word to our Region 16 Members from the Team Coordinator
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 As Team Coordinator of Region 16, and in representation of our Regional Management Team, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our regional members a most wonderful and harmony -filled New Year.
As we return to our chorus families with a renewed sense of enthusiasm and excitement for what our upcoming year will bring, we applaud the many wonderful accomplishments our Regional members have achieved over this past year, as demonstrated by their many performance and membership successes. With preparations underway for the upcoming Regional Competition, chorus coaching sessions, and retreats, we are once again provided an opportunity to implement new goals and personal challenges to aspire to in this New Year.
Your Regional Management Team moves forward as well, with a renewed commitment to helping you reach your goals and dreams through our scheduled musical and administrative educational opportunities throughout the year, striving for the continued growth and well -being of our Region and its' members.
Thank you for your continued support, we are proud to serve our Region in this capacity
June Donovan
Region 16 Team Coordinator
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Fall Music School Notes
Visit our website to view notes from our recent Fall Music School. Look under Resources / Educational or click here for direct access
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Buffalo Gateway Welcomes...
- Jamie Cunningham
- Rosalie Mattison
- Carla Hurtubise
Durham Shores Welcome...
- Leslie Armstrong
- Laurel Merriam
Harmony North Welcomes
- Laurie Chesney
- Wendy Hunter
- Patti Bonwick.
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 41ST Annual Regional Convention
"INTO THE SPOTLIGHT"
Watch your inboxes for e-Blasts from our Regional Convention Team!
These emails are packed full with all of the convention information that you need to know!
Did you miss the January e-Blast?
Click HERE to see it again!
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 How lucky are we to be part of this amazing organization! To have a place to gather for a song, camaraderie, friendship and harmony. A place where we all fit - a place where we make friends easily - because we share in the gift of song! Canadian Showtime Chorus is so very thankful and appreciative of the support and love that Lake Ontario Region 16 and its members has shown us over the years and in particular during our prep time leading up to Las Vegas 2015! That giving spirit was inspirational and we decided to give back to our own community in the name of this wonderful hobby of ours. It was a bit spontaneous but it didn't take long to make this pipe dream a reality! Our Master Director 700 came to us with the idea of picking a day and donating our time and spreading harmony by singing out at multiple venues around the city. She sent us off on a mission - find some opportunities - bring them back for consideration! Well there was no lack of opportunities and options! With 4 venues interested and available for December 5th, the planning began. We had 42.9 kms to cover and some locations had limited parking so we carpooled!! That was one of the highlights of the day - almost felt like we were heading to contest because our first two stops were shopping malls!!
 First stop -Greenbank Hunt Club Centre Shopping Plaza - noon sharp! Nearly 60 CSC women started pouring out of cars, dres sed in warm coats, red scarves and mitts and various seasonal headgear! Hats, antlers, headbands - you name it, we had it!! We sang outside here and quickly drew a crowd of enthusiastic shoppers. Some even pulled up chairs and sat for a while. Kids danced to a Place in a Choir and others got teary during Hallelujah! All in all this was the ideal place to start our road show!
On to Bayshore Shopping Centre! The mall was bustling, the food court was busy and Muzak was playing over the mall speakers. We could hear the jingling bells of the Salvation Army volunteers and the squeals of delight (or not! J) coming from Santa's Village and photo stand! Lots of competition for attention here! We had time to spare, so we grabbed a bite to eat, visited with our chorus sisters and watched people watch us in our funny, seasonal headgear, wondering what we were all about. Then we lined up, blew the pitchpipe and began to sing. Jingle Bells got their attention and by song 3 we had a sizeable and attentive audience. Kids are so easily drawn in! They clapped, they smiled, they laughed, they danced! After our set, dozens of people came by to thank us. Several said - "I want to do this" - so we gave them business cards and invited them out to see us in the new year!
Our next stop took us to the Salvation Army Grace Manor. We arrived to a lobby full of residents - some sitting alone - some waiting with a family member or friend. They were waiting for us!! One of our members works here and it was very heartwarming to see her interact with the special people that call the Grace Manor home! There were so many of them and so many of us that we moved this party to the activities room. To see the joy on their faces, and sometimes a distant look that no doubt brought back a memory as we sang familiar songs, made this stop one of the best of the day! This is where I felt the power of song most of all! I wasn't the only one with tears flowing when we left - we received as much as we gave!
 What better way to end our day of singing than at an NHL hockey game at Canadian Tire Place. In exchange for singing for an hour and half before the game and at each intermission, we got a deal on our game t ickets, a Senator's tuque and a $10 meal voucher for any restaurant or concession at CT Place. We gathered quite the crowd and got lots of enthusiastic applause. And to top it all off, our Senators won in overtime.
It was a special day for us all and I have a feeling this is going to become a tradition! It cost us nothing but our time and we received so much in return! How lucky are we to have found our place in this choir!!
JD Crowe
CSC Blogger/Reporter
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I write this basking in the glow of the Circle of Harmony's Christmas party which was an amazing success! One of our members has a beautiful home with an open plan on the main floor which allowed over 50 of us to gather all together around the grand piano. One of our members began playing the piano as others finished setting things out, so there was jazzy Christmas music to greet everyone as they arrived! Our party was cocktail style, with delicious, elegant finger food as well as a heavily laden dessert table that was filled with members' home-made baked goods! While everyone was enjoying their dessert and coffee, we had an impromptu concert where some members sang songs, told funny stories or played the piano. We even had a member sing and accompany herself on the banjo! We also held the induction ceremony for some of our new members. It was especially festive to welcome these women in the glittering atmosphere of our Christmas party! We concluded the evening with a carol sing around the piano which was a most thrilling, joyful, (and sometimes raucous!) way to end our musical year!
We had an extraordinary coaching session with Diane Porsch in the first week of December and we embraced some new ideas and explored new territory which we hope will enhance our vocal production. The time flew by and no one could believe it when it was 10 pm and the session had to come to an end!
On November 28th, the Circle of Harmony performed two shows at ClearView Christian Reformed Church in Oakville, which were very well attended. The songs on the show had been our focus for much of the fall, and we were rewarded with standing ovations at both the matinee and evening performances. On the Friday evening, we had a true dress rehearsal, where a videographer filmed us in costume to give us material to update our website. It helped us all "up our game" as I think we all do when we are in costume and make up!
A special moment of the matinee was the Family Choir, where members' children or grandchildren were invited on the stage to sing this year's song, Happy. All the children had a wonderful time, and were beaming, standing next to their parent or grandparent whilst waving their "happy face".
Our special guest, operatic soprano, Marta Greda-Kicek, accompanied by pianist Lauren Cho, gave a riveting performance of a wide selection of songs, and received thunderous applause from the audience.
Our Christmas Choir programme, which began in September, offered women a free membership for the fall, and an opportunity to sing with us on stage at this concert. For prospective members, this gives them an opportunity to rehearse and sing with us before making the commitment to join. This year we had 15 women singing with us at the concerts and over half of them decided to formally join the Circle of Harmony!
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Every year, the Circle of Harmony donates a portion of the ticket sales to a local charity, and this year the Oakville Fare Share Food Bank was the recipient. Their President, Nancy Bromberg, attended the matinee performance and graciously accepted our cheque with lovely words of gratitude.
Our coaching with Erin Howden at the beginning of November was especially fun, and she helped refine some of the choreography for the songs on the show. She, as always, had tons of ideas to help polish some of our numbers.
Each year, in October, we participate in Choirfest, an evening of choral singing where a number of choirs perform for each other. The Circle of Harmony is the only barbershop chorus in the group, and this year we sang four songs, and debuted our new costume scarf, which everyone loves!
The Circle of Harmony is so very proud of our very own Margaret Fielding who won the Jackie Kraft Assistant Director Award. We were able to keep it a secret for a few days and surprised Margaret with the presentation of flowers and the award plaque. Our esteemed President, Carolann Badger, spoke beautifully when presenting Margaret with her award.
"Leaders instill in their people a hope for success and a belief in themselves. Positive leaders empower people to accomplish their goals." (Author-unknown) "...this quote describes our Assistant Director Margaret Fielding perfectly. Margaret has the ability to lead, teach and nurture her fellow chorus members, with humour, kindness and encouragement. Her joy of singing and generous manner, has inspired chorus members to want to sing well for her, and has moved them toward excellence in their singing lives. The Circle of Harmony Chorus is proud to present Margaret Fielding as our nominee for the Jackie Kraft Assistant Director Award."
(Picture of Margaret Fielding, centre, flanked by Vice-President, Leah Hansen, left, and President, Carolann Badger on the right.)
The Circle of Harmony wishes all our sisters in harmony throughout this great organization, a very happy New Year and all the very best of everything in 2016!
Susan Mander
Circle of Harmony
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Harmony North Chorus is gearing up for the Christmas season, with five performances planned, plus our annual Christmas concert. Our concert was held in a local church on Dec. 2, and featured our chorus, flute and vocal solos by our wonderful director, Catherine Robertson, quartets and an octet. We made the occasion a family-oriented event, with fun entertainment for both adults and children, great door prizes, and punch and goodies at our "afterglow". We were thrilled with the over 150 people in attendance, and with the opportunity to spread the word about our chorus in the community.
We held a membership drive this fall, focusing on a program that Sweet Adelines International was promoting several years ago. We held a Ready, Set, Grow program in September, offering women 4 free vocal lessons during 4 of our weekly rehearsals. We had 7 enthusiastic women come out for this opportunity. Our director took these guests aside for 45 minutes each week, and gave instruction on many different aspects of vocal production, and each week we also included some short information sessions from various members of the chorus on Sweet Adelines, costume, music, chorus life in general, and finance information. We are happy to say that 3 of these 7 women joined the chorus, and will be participating in our Christmas concert. All of the women reported a very positive experience - they learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and will, as a result, help to spread the word through the community about our organization.
This year also saw us obtain some funding from our local municipality towards costume costs. Collingwood has an annual Arts and Culture Grant Program in place that benefits many of the local organizations in our area. The grant we received will go a long way towards our "new look" on the contest stage next spring. The local Arts community also held an Arts and Music Festival in which we participated, both with a booth, and by providing entertainment, again helping to promote our image in the community.
Also planned for this coming spring is one of our major fundraisers. We will be holding our Spring Fling Fashion Show on May 4, where we feature fashions from local shops, volunteer ourselves as models, and serve decadent desserts, as well as our music. This is always a fun, exciting evening.
Our rehearsals have been busy as well. We are learning lots of new music with our wonderful director, Catherine. She continues to make our Wednesday evenings lots of fun, but makes us work hard at the same time. One of our Wednesday evening events this November was a first-ever experience for us. We did a "flash mob" at the LCBO and Loblaws in Collingwood, in order to promote our visibility in the community. This was a lot of fun, and it certainly helped to garner interest in our upcoming Christmas concert as well as hopefully attracting new potential members.
We are looking forward to seeing all of you in Syracuse next April, and we hope that all of you have a great holiday season.
Submitted by Harmony North Chorus
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It seems as if the year just began a few months ago - so much has happened this year.
We have just celebrated the Holiday Season with our annual party. Several former members attended and we were so glad to see them. Three quartets brought songs of the season and a trivia contest allowed many members to receive chocolate for their efforts.
Las Vegas and the International Contest was a big part of 2015 for North Metro. We came home with a second place medal and the joy of participating with our fellow Region 16 representatives - Canadian Showtime, Spritzer, and S.L.A.M. Our beloved Karen Romanson has chosen to enjoy retirement and has resigned from Spritzer and North Metro - we wish her all the best. Spritzer has announced that Joan Boutilier has joined them as their tenor. We all look forward to watching them compete and perform with her.
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We got a lot of exercise walking from our hotel rooms to the Arena and to rehearsals. Someone reported that the walk was approximately ¾ of a mile one-way. During the traffic pattern we walked through the casino, in full stage make-up and costumes. I wonder if any of the patrons even noticed.
June has recently announced that two new Section Leaders have come on board. Wendy Laurier will be assisting Catarina Masionville with the Leads. Sharon Dion will lead the tenor section, due to Karen Romanson's retirement. We look forward to their leadership as we move toward competition in Syracuse in April. We have a new, and challenging, package of songs for the Region 16 contest and can't wait to see what Erin has planned for us.
North Metro was saddened to learn of the passing of a long-time member - Bereneice MacEachern.
Until we all meet in Syracuse in April, North Metro hopes that everyone has had a wonderful Holiday Season and a fabulous beginning to 2016.
Suzanne Askin
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Sweet Adelines Region 16
Sue Heighway - Communications Coordinator
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