Sweet Adeline Lake Ontario Region 16 Newsletter
March 2016
 
This is such an exciting time of year for Region 16 as we are working hard to prepare for our annual convention in Syracuse in just a few short weeks! Totally explains why there are not as many chorus articles in this issue, but not to worry... there is still a lot of great information included this month!
 
Please keep in mind to submit a short article to the Sixteenth Notes following contest so you can share some of your favourite memories with the entire region! Deadline for the May issue is April 30th
 
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about material you would like to see in the Sixteenth Notes, please contact me! 
 
Sue Heighway
Region 16 Communications Coordinator
A word from our Regional Events Coordinator...
Hello everyone.
 
I hope that these newsletters are making a difference in how you are planning your Sweet Adeline year. Using this means of communication ensures that all of the important information is being sent straight to your inbox so that you receive information quickly and first hand.
Regional Events are an important part of your chorus life.  These events are an excellent combination of education and fun!  Meeting new friends, reconnecting with old friends, singing and learning are all part of these exciting events. We are striving to get information into your hands so that you can see the year ahead, making sure you don't miss a thing!
 
Convention weekend is right around the corner and is the pinnacle of our year. The convention team has been working hard to add the final touches to your contest weekend. Below are a few key things that we don't think you'll want to miss out on:
  • Friday mornings Education Class with Kristen Stevens and Vanessa Patterson presenting "Planning and Scripting for the Open Division/Performance Package or Your Annual Show"  You definitely won't want to miss this!
  • Immediately following Kristen and Vanessa's class, join your sisters in song at our annual Mass Sing. This will happen outside, if the weather cooperates, adjacent to the auditorium, and inside on the lower level as in past years if Mother Nature is not on our side.. See your convention program for more details.
  • Our webcast will also be a big highlight of the weekend. Please make sure that your family and friends at home are able to watch your performance. Also if you want to subscribe yourself, then you have access for two weeks after contest weekend so you can see all the performances from the weekend. Look further down in this newsletter to see details on how to register!
Included below is a list of upcoming 2016 Events.  Please watch your inbox for more details and registration instructions! We will continue to send you these dates in the Sixteenth Notes so that you can plan to attend these exciting events coming to Region 16. We have 5 years of planning done, but figured it was too much to add to this newsletter!!!!
 
Email me, I am always available to answer your questions, or just talk!
 
I am proud to serve the Region as Events Coordinator, and look forward to seeing everyone at one of our upcoming events.....
 
Cathy Stovold
Region16 Events Coordinator
In This Issue
Region 16 Newbies!
Watch for our Region 16 First Timers at contest... You know you'll be able to pick them out!
 
Buffalo Gateway Welcomes...
  • Cathy Lawson
Durham Shores Welcomes...
  • Lesley Bonell
Orangeville Chorus  Welcomes  
  • Bev Edgar
Circle of Harmony Welcomes
  • Deborah DeChamp
  • Cathy Dunn
  • Sunny Hwang
  • Kathryn Ingram
  • Janice May
  • Debbie Phillips
  • Anna Shen
  • Robyn Simpson
Past Publications
Click on the link below to see past issues of the Sixteenth Notes

 
 
 
 
 
 


Quartet & Admin
Education Event
June 3-4 , 2016
 
Durham College,
Oshawa, Ontario
International Guest Faculty
Harriette Walters
Master Director - Greater Nassau Chorus
SAI International Convention
October 18-22, 2016
 
Las Vegas, NV
Fall Music School
November 11-13, 2016
 
 
Adams Mark Hotel,
Buffalo, New York
International Guest Faculty
Tori Postma
Master Director - Mountain Jubilee Chorus
 

MASS SING INFORMATION
Friday, April 15th
High Noon
 

       
The mass sing will be held on the steps of the Onondaga County Court House. (Montgomery Street, next to the Civic Center) The Rain location will be the Civic Centre, Lower Level.
 
 
Joan Borden
"KICKIN' IT UP A NOTCH"
Lynn Brown
"HOW WE SANG TODAY"
Pam Calveric
 
"DANCING QUEEN"
Cindy Klinger
"CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT"
Margaret Fielding
"THANK YOU DEAR LORD FOR MUSIC"
Erin Howden
"SEND YOUR LOVE"



 
Looking forward to seeing all of you
on the 15th!
Sonne Durphy
Region 16 Director's Coordinator
WEBCAST INFORMATION
  

It has proven to be very popular and successful and we are delighted to confirm that the quartet and chorus contests will again be webcast live in April 2016! Your co-anchors are Diane Porsche and JD Crowe.

A publicity campaign will soon be launched and you will be encouraged to share the link to your chorus, quartet and personal social media pages to help spread the word. We hope you will forward to all of your family and friends as well so that they can live those precious minutes on stage with you from the comfort of their own home or office!
 
Think of webcasting not only as an opportunity to have your fans at home watch you live but also as an education tool for yourself, your quartet or chorus. How many times have you been excited about a late draw only to realize you won't get to see any of the contest? Well do we have a deal for you!!!! With a two week archive period, you can watch at your leisure from home! You can even host a webcast viewing party with some of your chorus sisters! Great value for money!

We have reduced the webcast price to $25 USD. This price includes both the quartet and chorus contests and two weeks of archived viewing following contest.

Lions Mane Productions has already configured our site so you can register any time by clicking on the following ink. 

Thank you for your interest and support. Enjoy the show!!

J. D. Crowe,
International Board of Directors, Sweet Adelines International
Canadian Showtime Chorus

A word from our Regional Convention Chair
Are your calendars marked?
Region 16's 41st Convention ... April 14th, 17th, 2016, Syracuse, New York
 
Your Convention Team is working diligently, for you, Region 16, to be sure that everything is in place for your convention weekend.   Your Convention team is buzzing with activity now .... Convention assistants, audio-visual staff, theater arrangements, hotel rooming and banquets, to mention a few are finalizing the hundreds of additional tasks that you would never imagine need tending to, but they are getting completed.
We continue to have an action packed weekend with the education class, the Mass Sing outside on the County steps (inclement weather and we bring it inside) quartet and chorus competition, socializing, meals, good food and let's not forget the awards.
 
NOT COMING to the 41st Annual Convention ... say it can't be so!!!    Just in case you really can't be there, please be sure to be sure to read the note from JD Crowe, our Webcast Manager in this 16th Notes, regarding our 3rd Annual Region 16 Competition Webcast.
 
Did you find that you were able to change your plans and travel to Syracuse, well, there is still time to contact Cathy Stovold cathystovold@rogers.com for registration badges, Andrea Thorne-Percy [email protected], for housing and April Jackson [email protected] will of course, accept your payments.
 
We are so looking forward to seeing and hearing all of you. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me or any of the Convention Team.
 
Sandy Blamowski
Chair of Regional Convention,
Region 16
Bay of Quinte Chorus
Director: Cheryl Street; Assistant Director: Colleen Stickle; President: Chrissandra Plattner
Submitted by Helen Bates
 
The Bay of Quinte Chorus, currently with 21 members who rehearse Monday evenings at Amica Quinte Gardens, Belleville, Ontario, has kept up a busy schedule in the past few months. After a few weeks summer hiatus, practices got underway again in September, and on Saturday Oct. 31st, Martha de Clerq, director of the York Harmony Chorus, gave us an excellent day of coaching at the Electrolab's building, thanks to the timely intervention of member Liz Roberts, after our original venue became unavailable. Throughout the fall, members represented the chorus at a seniors' expo, took part in a Boston Pizza Celebrity Servers night, and attended the Kingston, ON Fall Music School.
 
The Chorus held its 40th. Anniversary Party on November 7th. at the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club. Current (including one charter member) and former members, family and friends shared a wonderful evening of reminiscing, laughter (especially at costumes/photos of previous years.) We really enjoyed the buffet, the anniversary cake, the 50/50 draw, and the chance to dance and sing along to entertainer Ian Roy who charmed us all with his 50s/60s music and Roy Orbison impersonation.
 
Once again, the chorus invited women who love to sing to join us in rehearsing our Christmas Repertoire and they accompanied us on our Christmas Caravan as we sang to the residents in several local retirement homes. We also sang out at two Festivals of Trees, the Trenton and Belleville Probus Clubs, and local retired teachers and hospital employees' luncheons. We rounded out the year with a lovely Christmas dinner.
 
We are so happy to have three new members join us since the beginning of 2015: Ardith Quanbury, Bernadette Hymus and Suzanne Goacher, all of whom have added immeasurably to our sound and social mix.
 
On Feb. 13th, the gentlemen of A Cappella Quinte (formerly The Trentones) hosted the ladies of the Bay of Quinte Chorus to a cheerful Valentine's Pot Luck supper in the lovely hall of St. Thomas Anglican Church. About 60 male and female chorus members and their spouses and friends attended. The food was awesome. Both groups entertained, and the men and women sang a number together in a "mixed" chorus, in a key suitable for all voices.
 
Up-coming, on Saturday, March 5th, we will be having another coaching session with Martha.
 
Finally, we are delighted that two quartets were started this year. As Lead Dale Lehtila writes:  
Considering Quarteting?  In the fall of 2015, we started a new quartet. All four of us were very interested in trying this and none of us had ever been in a quartet before. First, let me say, I am a lead in the quartet and in the chorus. The other three women (Bass Ardith Quanbury, Tenor Chrissandra Plattner, and Baritone Helen Bates) sing completely different parts in the chorus from what they do in our quartet. They are so brave to do so. It takes so much dedication and practice to learn completely different parts and to do it well.
 
We started off somewhat hesitantly, but as time went on we got better. We decided to practice often (once a week if we could get together) and continued to do so even if someone was away on vacation. We have four very dedicated and committed people who love to sing and do a fine job at it. We have supported each other in every way possible. Our expectations are simple at this stage.
 
We didn't know each other very well at the start.but now, I must say, we are having a great time getting together and practicing. We enjoy each other and provide as much positive support as possible so we grow together. We've become real sisters in harmony and have finally realized that we may even have crossed that threshold where things are finally falling into place after all these months.
 
It has been challenging and most enjoyable. Although our repertoire at this stage is very small, we are hopeful that our future is bright. We plan on auditioning in April so we can sing at chorus events, and once we are a formal registered quartet, we intend to sing out at area retirement homes. We feel we can bring so much joy to the seniors in our community.
 
If you haven't tried quarteting it is well worth the effort and you will be surprised at just how exciting this can be. The more quartets you have in your chorus the stronger it will be.
Do yourself a favour and put a quartet together and simply try this for yourselves. You will be surprised that the quartet and the experience is definitely bigger than the sum of its parts!
 
"Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens."- Maria Augusta von Trapp

I write this basking in the warmth of the Circle of Harmony's retreat weekend. Our retreat began on Friday night with Erin coaching us on our ballad.... it really began with laughter and camaraderie as we greeted each other and gathered together happily anticipating one of our favourite times of the year! Some of us had had dinner together so we were already coasting on the retreat highway!
 
Saturday was a big day of coaching and even though we rehearsed quite intensively, none of us could believe how quickly the day flew by!
 
We have such a wonderful time with Erin whenever she visits our chorus - especially at our retreats. She is a true kind spirit, brilliant at what she does, and she somehow makes each and every one of us feel good about ourselves. She digs a little deeper at our retreats, and goes way beyond the notes, words and moves! We love her.
 
Our free time until dinner (can you say margarita?) was spent mingling, relaxing and for some of us, setting up for our evening activities.
 
One of the absolute highlights of the weekend was an impromptu command performance! On the other side of the hotel, a lovely lady called Muriel was celebrating her 95th birthday with her family and her daughter had heard us sing earlier and made a special request that we sing Happy Birthday to her mother as a surprise.
The Circle of Harmony snaked our way through the hotel and the look on everyone's faces as we entered the room was just amazing! We sang Happy Birthday to Muriel and she was awestruck (or as awestruck as any 95 year old lovely lady can be!). We continued with Happy, and all the cell phones came out as everyone started taking pictures and videos! They were all truly delighted and it gave me, and I am sure many of us, goosebumps singing for such a lovely group of people. The applause and cheers continued as we left, each of us beaming with happiness! I think most of us could have stayed and sung our entire repertoire, it was so much fun!
 
Following our dinner on Saturday night, we had our first-ever Slumber Party! We all came down in our pyjamas and rocked the night away singing and dancing and playing games well into the wee hours of the morning! One of our gals brought huge professional DJ speakers that her husband set up and it was truly stunning to have such a great sound to dance to!
Our slumber party included the limbo, and this picture shows our amazing choreographer, Jane Zaroski showing us all how it is done!
 
From left to right: Sabine Findlay, Sherry Hinder, Jane, Karen West, Peggy Churey
 
 
 
 
On Sunday morning, our esteemed Assistant Director, Margaret Fielding led our morning wrap- up where we discussed and wrote down all the points to the songs that we needed to remember!
 
And so another Circle of Harmony retreat is now history but the date has already been set for next year's retreat in April, so the plans have already begun for 2017. It will be hard to top this year, that's for sure!
 
Exciting News! The Circle of Harmony won the Platinum prize in the Burlington Post Reader's Choice Award! Every year the Burlington Post hosts an online nomination site where people from the community can go to nominate their favourite businesses and / or professionals from the community so they can be recognized. There are 3 winners in each category - Diamond, Platinum and Gold. The Circle of Harmony was nominated in the category: Best Entertainment / Sports - Local Entertainers.
We are very pleased and proud!
 
Susan Mander
Circle of Harmony


Sweet Adelines Region 16
Sue Heighway - Communications Coordinator