As the International Convention draws near I feel the excitement growing and I can’t help wondering why many of you that really could go have chosen not to. I know there are some things (weddings, funerals, severe illnesses, finances) that can really screw up a person’s life, but passing up a chance for a barbershopper to go to the International Convention is like a Muslim passing up a chance to go to Mecca. It’s almost criminal. There is still a chance for you to go “on the cheap” if you will. They are still begging for volunteers to help out and most of the jobs will be in the Pepsi Center where the competition events are being held so you would get to see a lot of the show. I ask you to consider volunteering. You certainly won’t regret it.
I also regret to say that with the present lack of commitment from membership it doesn’t look like we’ll be going to Albuquerque either. We can’t go and compete with only one baritone and one or two leads. I sure hope you guys will surprise me and get on the sign-up sheet. If you do, we plan on bringing in a coach to work with us July 28 when we have our annual picnic at Silver City. We can get the old schoolhouse for the coaching sessions and finish up with the picnic at my cabin. The picnic will go on July 28th regardless. Please mark your calendars now.
I got an email from Len Seiler, RMD Events chairman, wondering if we would consider hosting the 2009 or 2010 Spring Convention here in Rapid. The dates for each are one week following our annual show. How many of you would be willing to put on our show and one week later put on the spring contest (with jobs for all)?
Let me know.
The June, 2007 Board of Directors meeting of the Mt. Rushmore Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society was called to order by President Pete Anderson at 7:00 pm at the offices of The Agents of Insurance. A quorum of elected members was present. The minutes of the May, 2007 meeting were approved as presented.
OLD BUSINESS:
HARMONY HAPPENING: Preparations are underway. No Youth in Harmony Camp will be held this year and will be prepared for in the coming year for 2008 Camp. Music and Performance VP John Elving will contact both the District and the Society’s Harmony Foundation for possible support for next year and to go into the Schools to get a reaction as to the interest in a Youth camp. For the 2007 Harmony Happenings, Hill City High School will be used for rehearsals.
NEW BUSINESS/BUSINESS FROM THE FLOOR:
Pete Anderson will call Newcastle for an option on two Saturdays in December for our Sunday Performance. We need to send posters to Newcastle in October so they can be posted a month or two before our concert. We plan to reimburse our members for driving to Newcastle.
About one half of the chorus members have picked up their new shirts. A question was raised as to what we charge non-members for new shirts.
For new guests, after their 3rd visit we should give them the Dues structure and encourage them to join.
We want to use the display case at the Civic Center and Del Beck is going to find some items of interest to put into the case. He is going to put new items from 52-Charlie, like the picture frame we received.
For our trip to Albuquerque, we will possibly have a clinic by Darrin Drown or Chris Vaughn from the Longmont Chorus. The Contest is on the September 29 weekend.
Sign up sheets will be passed around at chorus rehearsal.
Pete will hold his picnic on July 28th and possibly have a clinic.
Wayne Anderson will replace Doug Andrews on the board.
Old Music needs to be turned in to Argyl Ulestad.
There being no further business from the floor for the good of the group, President Anderson declared the meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM.
NEXT MEETING 10 July 2007
Respectfully submitted, Steve Ferley (first assistant temporary recording secretary)
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Anderson, Andrews, Beck, Elving, Ferley, Gogolin.
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Andersen, Andrews, Dannenbring, L’Esperance.
(David’s absence was excused! He showed up, but a family emergency took him away. Ed.)
What are you doing for the 4th of July? I can tell you what several of our members will be doing on that day, plus a few other days. Several of us will be going to Denver for the Barbershop Harmony Convention. I don’t know what the schedule is for many of the others, but I will be there from Tuesday, July 3 through Sunday, July 8.
As you’ve heard from President Pete, this is the chance of a lifetime. This is the closest to Rapid City it has ever been. The next closest is when it will be in Minneapolis in a future year. The questions is, “Why aren’t you going?
There are even single event tickets available for those who can’t take that many days into their schedule, or who can’t afford to drive to Denver, stay in a hotel/motel, and pay for that many meals. It truly has become much more affordable.
If you would like to go, even for one day, or one event, you can purchase those tickets online at: http://www.denver2007.org
Everyone get together and carpool to at least one contest session, and then spend the day conventioneering!
See you there!
What is the PRIMARY motivation for any of us to show up every week at the chapter meetings? Let’s look at three of the possibilities.
First, there are those who show up for AFFILIATION. These are the guys that come for the camaraderie, and also like to sing. Since singing quality is not their primary motivation, these are the guys that lead to a lack of riser discipline, that don’t learn their music, don’t generally care if they sing a wrong note or two here and there. They are just happy coming out and seeing the same comfortable guys week after week for years – who also like to sing. They could probably go to Rotary or Elks and get much of the same thing, and be happy.
Then there are those who are there for ACHIEVEMENT. There are the guys who show up to sing well, who care about singing quality, about singing the right notes and words, about learning new music on a regular basis and actually learning it.
There is NOTHING WRONG about being either of these. However, most of us are somewhere in the middle. They want to sing well – that’s what matters – but also happen to really like the guys in our chapter. Actually, a large portion of the chapters in the Society are a mix.
Every chapter will have some of each. I know which I am, and it is probably pretty evident. But I am also more of a mix than many of you may think. What kind of chorus/chapter member are you?
Whichever, I would like to challenge you all to sing each and every time as though that guy hearing you, whether a guest during a meeting or someone in our audiences, will become the next member. That means singing to the best of our ability each time we sing. Whether it is a barberpole cat song, or a contest tune, our performance should be the same – the best we can do.
By doing that, all of us will enjoy this great HOBBY more, whether we’re in it for AFFILIATION, ACHIEVEMENT, or somewhere between. Someone blow a B-flat and let’s sing together.
My son started taking tuba lessons when he was a kid.The first week I asked him what he learned, and he said “Oh, I learned how to play a C.” The second week I asked him again, and he said “Oh, I learned how to play a G.” The third week he didn’t come home until 2:00 in the morning, and I was frantic. I said “Where have you been? I’ve been worried to death!” He said “Oh, I had a gig.”
I cleaned out a closet with piles, files and boxes of stuff all related to my 35 years as a member of this chapter. I found a big bunch of old chapter bulletins. It so happens that the first chapter bulletin was published in March of 1972. I took over the editing job in late 1973. David L’Esperance was the assistant editor. Here are some of the highlights from those early rags:
March, 1972 – First issue of “THE VOICE OF RUSHMORE” Gary Mischke, editor
July, 1972 – The Rapid City Flood claimed the life of barbershopper Jerry Smith. Six other chapter members sustained major damage to their homes.
August, 1972 – The printed roster of the Mt. Rushmore Chapter lists 76 names. The chapter chartered in 1969. Familiar names on that list include Al Pitts, Bud Jones, Grant Olson and Dick Wade.
October, 1972 – Thirteen new members joined the chapter. The list included the name of Wayne Anderson.
January, 1973 – The chapter roster now numbers 88 names. We recognize the names of Pete Anderson and David L’Esperance.
March, 1973 – Eight more new members have joined the chapter. Familiar names are Del Beck and Chuck Knowlton.
Check back next issue for more “old stuff”.
Editor Mischke added the following humor to a moment of history:
The passing of former President Harry Truman a few weeks ago brings to mind a story attributed to him. It is one of my favorites.
Mr. Truman was speaking to a Grange convention at Kansas City. Mrs. Truman and a friend were in the crowd. Truman, in his speech, was recalling his boyhood in Missouri.
“I grew up on a farm and one thing I know. Farming means manure, manure and more manure”.
At this point Mrs. Truman’s friend whispered to her. “Bess, why on earth don’t you get Harry to say ‘fertilizer’?
“Good Lord, Helen”, replied Mrs. Truman; “You have no idea how many years it has taken me to get him to say manure”..
Contents copyright of the author and copyright © 6/8/2007
Barbershop Harmony Society
7930 Sheridan Road
Kenosha, WI 53143
800-876-SING | 262-653-8440 | fax 262-653-4048
Ever wonder what you should really sound like when singing? I ran across this somewhere recently (don’t remember where – old-timers disease taking over!).
If you really want to know what you should sound like, try this. Take a tape recorder, or some other recording device for those tech savvy among us, and record yourself singing. It’s alright, no one will hear but you. Then on the same tape, CD, whatever, record yourself singing first thing in the morning.
The second recording, done when you first wake up, will give you a fairly true indication of the resonance and timbre (look that word up if needed) that you naturally have. If there is no difference, then you are singing correctly all the time.
If singing for yourself makes you nervous, then record your speaking voice. We all know that it is lower in pitch in the morning, but that isn’t what we’re talking about here. It is only the natural resonance and timbre of the relaxed voice.
After having dug to a depth of 10 meters last year, Scottish scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 110 years ago.
Not to be outdone by the Scots, in the weeks that followed, British scientists dug to a depth of 20 meters, and shortly after, headlines in the UK newspapers read: “British archeologists have found traces of 200 year old copper wire, and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years before the Scots.”
One week later, “The Klub,” a Sunburg, Minnesota newspaper reported the following: “After digging as deep as 30 meters in corn fields near Games Lake, Ole Johnson, a ‘self-taught archeologist,’ reported that he found absolutely nothing. Ole has therefore concluded that 300 years ago Norwegians were already using wireless.
Makes sense to me!
Some say it was an accident, some say it was fate. Either way (or perhaps both) the movement we now enjoy as the Barbershop Harmony Society can be credited to a meeting in Tulsa organized by Owen Clifton Cash on April 11, 1938.
Cash was really only interested in getting a few guys together to sing. There was no grand plan, no grand scheme. He and acquaintance Rupert Hall had met in Kansas City by chance and discussed forming a group. On his return to Tulsa Cash drafted an invitation and mailed it to the 14 singers he knew might show up and encouraged them to bring guests.
The date was set for Monday, April 11 at 6:30 PM. Hall, a member of the opulent, rich oil men’s Tulsa Club, had arranged for the meeting to be held on the Roof Garden (up on the roof - in open air - under the stars). The Tulsa Club still exists and is located on the northwest corner of 5th and Cincinnati. Built in 1923, it stands 11 stories tall. It’s across the street (due north) from the Stanolind Oil Building where Cash worked.
Twenty six men attended and harmonized. Apparently some Tulsa club members on the floors below complained of the “noise” so the next week, April 18, they met at the Hotel Tulsa (3rd and Cincinnati), perhaps an early indication of future growth. 70 men showed up at the second meeting. By the end of May, the newly formed group began meeting at the Alvin Plaza Hotel (7th and Main) and hosting 75 to 150 men. What would later be known as the Tulsa Number 1 Chapter, would continue to meet at the Alvin for 37 years.
All these years later, the passion for singing close harmony has survived and continues.
Thanks to OC Cash and the pioneers in Tulsa 69 years ago.
What is the Barbershop Harmony Society?
With 30,000 members in the U.S. and Canada, the Barbershop Harmony Society is the world’s largest all-male singing organization.
It is comprised of more than 800 choruses and 1800 quartets throughout the U.S. and Canada. Eight affiliated organizations around the world add another 3300 members to the count, and the 33,000 members of female groups such as Sweet Adelines International and Harmony, Inc. bring the total number of barbershop singers to nearly 70,000 worldwide.
The Local Chapter
Chapters meet regularly each week and are the Society’s basic organizational unit. Qualifications for membership are described in the international bylaws, and each chapter screens its applicants for membership within the provisions of that document. The chapter provides an environment in which men can enjoy fellowship and the thrills of barbershop harmony.
The Districts
For administrative convenience, the Society is divided into sixteen geographic districts. Each district is run by elected officers who promote the best interests of the chapters and conduct quartet and chorus contests within the district.
The Society as a Whole
The Barbershop Harmony Society is governed by an elected Board of Directors, which sets policy, budget and dues, and laws and regulations for the organization. The Society Board is assisted by numerous volunteer committees, comprised of Barbershoppers willing to share their special expertise for the good of the organization.
Day-to-day operations of the Society are under the direction of the Executive Director, who is responsible for overseeing the headquarters office staff.
The Harmony Hall staff publishes and distributes music and the Society’s bi-monthly magazine, The Harmonizer, and organizes the annual international convention and midwinter convention.
It also publishes manuals on the subjects of chapter operation, barbershop craft, stagecraft, quartet promotion, scriptwriting, music arranging, chorus development and a wide variety of other educational topics.
The headquarters office staff supervises a harmony education program to keep its members informed. It also produces barbershop harmony recordings for education and entertainment and maintains an audio-visual education program.
What is it that takes up your time? Is it your job? Honeydo lists (retirement)? Church? Family? Being a great husband? Those are all priorities, or should be, in our busy lives.
All of those things can cause stress in our lives. But what about our hobbies? Are we able to “get away” from those things that cause stress?
Many of us come to enjoy the company of other men. It’s fine to want to affiliate. Others are more achievement oriented. That also is alright. Just so long as each of us leaves our worries and stresses at the door when we enter.
Our chapter meetings should be harmonious, fun-filled evenings, where we can, for a short time, forget about our problems. We should go home each Thursday evening with a feeling of exhilaration knowing we enjoyed, in our own way, and allowing others to enjoy in their own way, the time spent together. All of us should have one common goal of making this experience the best for all of our members.
Let’s have some fun singing together!
Sing-cerely & Humm-bly,
This moment for membership brought to you from someone (unidentified) who cares.
The next time you ask why membership is declining, I ask that you take out your most recent chorus photo and count the guys in the picture that were missing at your last meeting. Have YOU called to ask them why?
The point is, there is a myriad of circumstances that will cause a member to drop out. However, I believe there is only ONE cause; it’s just not fun anymore.
For me personally, I just got tired. I know folks here like specifics, so here are mine. I’d had enough of standing on the risers, waiting for a section to learn their words and notes after having learning tapes and music for six weeks. I got tired of hearing a voice as the curtain went up, asking “What’s the first word?”. I got tired of guys cracking jokes while the pitch was being blown, and then missing their first note. Or worse yet, singing the first few bars in their own special key until they figured it out.
I’m not a great singer. I’m not looking to turn my local chapter into the VM (although that would be very cool). I just want to come to rehearsal each week and see the chapter build on what we did the week before. I want to see guys enthusiastic about what is going on, not sneak out during break, and show a little pride in how they sing.
So basically, I quit because it just wasn’t fun anymore. This is the first opportunity I’ve had in 8 years to say this. Why, you ask? No one ever called to ask why I wasn’t at rehearsal last week.
Who have you called lately? Let someone know you care about them.
“The old songs, the old songs, the good old songs for me . . .” was composed by Geoffrey O’Hara who was born in Ontario in 1882. O’Hara was a banker and professional musician. He received an honorary doctorate in music from Huron College.
O’Hara composed songs for Al Jolson and Enrico Caruso. Two of his better known popular compositions were “K-KK- Katy” and “Your Eyes Told Me So.” He also composed many spirituals including “There Is No Death” and “I Walked Today Where Jesus Is.” It isn’t known whether he wrote barbershop songs although he was the founder and first president of the Manhattan chapter.
“The Old Songs” is really an introduction to a more complete work of 14 pages, “A Little Close Harmony.” It is a glee club type song with banjo and other instrumental background.
In the early days of our Society, O’Hara gave permission to use the introduction as our theme song.
--Author unknown, most recently seen in “The Ballyhoo”, La Cresenta Chapter, Bob Barnes, Editor