Call for applications Deadline December 15 The following RMT positions will be reaching their end of term as of April 30, 2020 and will be open for applications to all members: Membership Coordinator Communications Coordinator Team Coordinator You'll find all the details in this email . November 2019 Welcome to Region 16: Bytown Beat Judy Stark Karen Taylor Canadian Showtime Tina Perry Harmony North Sylvia Lichti Wanda Ree Past Issues September 2019 October 2019 November 2019 Upcoming submission deadlines December 30 January 30 February 28 Region 16 website members' area login info UserID member16 Password singalong

BREAKING NEWS! Region 16 Logo Contest Deadline has been extended to January 8 Click here for details

Education Materials

Have a little extra time over the December holiday break? Why not catch up on some educational materials!

Region 16 Website > Click here for education resources from past regional events Sweet Adelines > Click here to download a list of training video, hand-outs Barbershop Harmony Society > Click here for free educational video and tutorials Sue Melvin Regional Education Coordinator

Membership Matters

At Fall Music School, Membership Coordinators and other chorus leaders met over lunch to share ideas about how to successfully attract and retain new members. One of the questions they answered was, "Where are the places that you have found most effective to advertise for new members?"  Check out some of the great ideas they had: Local “Events Magazine” – Look Local, Snapd, In the Hills, etc. Starbucks bulletin boards – younger demographic, discretionary income Other Singing events – they already love to sing Social Media – leverage word of mouth by having members share with their other communities on Facebook, Instagram, etc. Local newspapers Community performances Farmers markets Banners for membership nights Street billboards with eye-catching graphics Local media website (picture & press release) Facebook paid ads “Advert Cards” in local businesses where women go (gyms, pet stores, salons) Christine Yorke Membership Coordinator

Quartet Corner

‘Tis the season! Please allow me to gush a bit. Sweet Adeline women are like no others. Besides being dedicated, talented, creative, smart and fun-loving, they (we) are women who care deeply about each other. That comes in part from not holding music when we sing and dance and partly because of the caring culture we nurture both in our choruses and quartets. We interact with riser buddies, we know what is going on outside the rehearsal hall and are there to support each other. That is why guests like what they experience when they visit and why audiences remark about the palpable energy they feel when they attend a performance. I have been acutely aware of that support in the past month since my husband Bill died. The morning after I returned home from the Fall Music School at the end of October he became gravely ill and died one week later. Singers from all round this wonderful Region have sent their support. I am also full of gratitude to my Greater Kingston Chorus for so many acts of kindness… they dropped off food at my door, spent an afternoon putting my gardens to bed, gave the gift of song and hugs. My note today is to encourage you to find someone who needs a hug or a phone call. It means so much.  Because of my character building and growth through five decades in this organization, I know there is resilience somewhere inside. Because of YOU, I can believe that I CAN DO THIS. So many other women have already experienced what I am going through. We can all be there for each other. THANK YOU! Please take the opportunity this season to donate a coat to a local shelter or your coins when you pass a Christmas kettle or genuine sincerity when you sing the lyrics of hope that this season promises.  Paula Allen Quartet Coordinator

Director Deliberations

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” and possibly the “most busiest” time of the year for singers! But what a joy to share such beautiful and fun holiday music with our communities. I am sure that we will all be ready for a couple of weeks to catch our breath before we jump into our contest preparation season. As I sit here December 1, looking at our tickets for the Toronto Northern Lights show today at the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre, and listening to the weather forecast, I am feeling really disappointed that we are probably going to have to stay home, just like we did for quite a few January and February rehearsals last winter. So, in this pre-contest time, I encourage Directors and chorus members alike to make the most of every rehearsal. Do your work at home and come prepared, create an intention for each rehearsal, and be satisfied with nothing less than the best you can give. My Christmas wish for each of you is safe driving conditions on your rehearsal night!! In harmony, Joan Borden Directors' Coordinator

Canadian Showtime Chorus

In the last couple of months, CSC has been performing at major events whenever possible. We are striving to become a household name in the Capital! With that in mind, we have had several opportunities for smaller singing groups (see photos). We have added 10 new and returning singers to the Holiday Chorus who will be performing with our regular chorus members December 1 st at our Holiday Gala. We are hoping they will catch the “a cappella bug” and remain as permanent members beyond that date.   We welcome Tina Perry, Lead, as a new member to our team.

Our fearless leader, Joe Connelly with some of the lovely ladies who performed at the Bytown Beat Show November 9 th – matinee and evening performances at Centerpointe Theatre A CSC small chorus and Joe braving our frigid Ottawa winter participated in Remembrance Day ceremonies in Kanata on November 11 at the Cenotaph in Village Green Memorial Park. A small group will also be singing on CTV Morning Live on November 28 at 9:30. Our chorus is gearing up for the big day Sunday, December 1 at Sala San Marco on Preston Street. With all hands on deck, this year’s Gala promises to be even more exciting than last year's. Come join us and see for yourself!

November 29 – 1015 Bank St., Ottawa - Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony -- CSC will be singing at the Ottawa Christmas Market official tree lighting ceremony. This European-style Christmas market brings Ottawa’s holiday magic to life every weekend from Nov. 29-Dec. 22 and features 30+ vendors, performers, a site-wide liquor license and the tallest tree in town! December 17 at 7:00 p.m. A CSC small chorus will have the honour of performing at Tom Jackson’s The Huron Carole, Dominion-Chalmers United Church, 355 Cooper St., Ottawa. For more than 40 years, actor, singer, producer, activist Tom Jackson has crafted a compassionate stage of caring. He has embraced his life experiences, championed for the marginalized, and entertained a continent of concert-goers and TV watchers. This benefit supports organizations doing hands-on work with the homeless and hungry in Canada. For further details, check out this website . As one busy year draws to a close, we look toward a busy year to come.

Before looking toward the coming year, however, I think we all deserve a bit of a break, and thankfully some days off are on the way. We plan on celebrating the end of a busy year with a fun-filled holiday gathering and you can bet that it will include good food, good drinks, and relaxing and friendly comradery.  All of us join in wishing you a joyous Holiday Season and a happy New Year!

Orangeville Show Chorus

Ruby Sisters , OSC’s VLQ, placed third at Fall Music School. They then kicked their heels together and ‘kicked off’ the Christmas season! “And so it’s been said many times many ways, Merry Christmas to you” is a line from a familiar Christmas tune. Orangeville Show Chorus personifies that line this year, sharing the songs of the season “many times and many ways”. They began at the Orangeville Santa Claus Parade, entertaining the assembled crowd while waiting for the parade to begin. It was a very cold day but they bundled in layers and gave the vocal chords a test, which they passed, as one little boy exclaimed at the end of a song, “You guys are AWESOME!”

Next stop will be the ‘Christmas Caravan’ where the chorus will climb on a bus, kindly donated to us by Denny Bus Lines, and travel to six different long-term care facilities and then ending at the local hospital. A Christmas programme has been prepared that the chorus will perform at each facility. The end of the day will find them at a local restaurant to unwind and enjoy a meal together (and perhaps a well-deserved glass of wine!).

On both of these occasions, the chorus was and will be joined by some of their Christmas Chorus, a group of 15 women who have been rehearsing with the chorus the last few weeks, to get a taste of what four-part harmony sounds like, finding out what fun it is to sing, and looking at the prospects of becoming a member of the chorus.  Their weeks of practice will culminate in singing the four songs they have learned with the chorus on December 11 at Family & Friends Night, the annual Christmas performance. The chorus is crossing their fingers that we have them ‘hooked’!

The chorus will make their annual visit to Bethel Hospice to sing at the Christmas Tree Lighting in remembrance of folks who have passed away this year. With all of this happening, the rehearsal hall has been full of Christmas music for weeks now. The Orangeville Show Chorus is filled with the spirit of Christmas and wish all of you in Region 16 the gifts of the season… Hope, Peace, Love & Joy! Submitted by Anne Richardson

Image City Sound Chorus

Image City Sound has been busy preparing for our annual show held on November 17. ‘Celebrate America’ focused on recognizing our beautiful country and paying tribute to our military veterans, who represent the reason for our freedoms. We had some fantastic guest performers, starting out with an organist extraordinaire that played some patriotic and military tunes on the spectacular pipe organ, followed by a few songs by her students, ranging in age from 4-24. ICS then sang a few of our rep songs, followed by Vocal Point, a group of female a cappella singers from the University of Rochester who sang several songs, including my favorite Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. We hope to stay connected with this group of energetic, young singers who just may want to sing some barbershop after college.

Velvet Blue Quartet performs a couple Patriotic tunes: Holly, Suzanne, Ellen and Carolyn

After a short break, ICS sang our patriotic set. We were joined by 10 women from our community who had come to two rehearsals to learn our songs, but we did encourage them to hold music while performing. A few of them have decided to stick with us during the holiday season and learn songs to sing for our holiday performances. We’re hoping they decide to stay with us for contest and beyond. Our show was closed out by Prime Time Brass , a local powerhouse band that always demonstrates amazing showmanship and crowd interaction. Maybe some of you have heard of them or seen them before – they do a few gigs/parades in Canada every year.

We are all exhilarated from the planning and execution of our show but we now move forward into the holiday season. ICS has many performances scheduled during December, and we always look forward to a few weeks off before we head into the new year, for contest planning and whatever else presents itself in 2020. Hoping everyone has a wonderful holiday season. Submitted by Ellen Rightmyer

Greater Kingston Chorus

Like most of you, our preparations for Christmas events continue full speed ahead! We will be performing in concert with Orchestra Kingston at our upcoming show on December 13. Just this past weekend a group of GKC-ers performed as the opening act for Matt Cage's Elvis Tribute Artist Christmas show,   and then sang three songs with him during the show at the Grand Theatre in Kingston. We had so much fun doing it two years ago that everyone was eager to do it again when asked this year. Another upcoming event on our calendar is a VERY EARLY morning performance on our local TV station on Dec 4! In addition, during the coming weeks, our GKC elves will be busy gift-wrapping again at one of our local malls, and an assembly-line team of jar-fillers will produce festive Soups and Sweets-in-a-Jar, which make popular seasonal gifts. Yummy!

Looking back to late October, ten of our members attended Fall Music School in Richmond Hill and had a wonderful time. I can't say enough about the fabulously talented and thrice-crowned Queen of Harmony guest faculty Kim Vaughn! I personally love these events where I'm sure every single attendee learns something new, no matter how long they've been a member of this organization. And for a little levity on Friday evening, those of you who attended may remember six of us who entered the Very Large Quartet Contest as Fancy Pants ( Sue, Janis, Marilyn, Andria, Michele, Deb) , and were thrilled to earn second place for our efforts among the many talented, creative entries!! (And next time, we may ALSO try 'bribing' the judges! - who knew, LOL!) By the time you read this, our American friends/choruses will have just celebrated their own Thanksgiving, so I do hope they incorporated Fancy Pants ' sage advice – stretchy pants will do!!!

I do love this time of year with all its hustle and bustle and, in particular, the joy of sharing our gift of song within the community, whether in small groups or in larger performances. There is something very poignant about visiting a seniors residence or nursing home and singing for the residents there. Music is so therapeutic, and as the universal language, it really does brighten the day for many of the shut-ins. You can see how music reaches them, including the very elderly and those who are no longer able to communicate, in ways that are truly heartwarming and in the true spirit of the season. Of course, we always look forward to our own annual chorus Christmas dinner/party and all the shenanigans that entails. Always a lot of fun! We'd like to wish all of our friends and choruses in Region 16 a joyous holiday and a happy, healthy New Year! And finally, a very warm welcome to our newest GKC member, Denise Ryce!  In Harmony, Marilyn O'Connor

Bytown Beat Chorus

As the Christmas season approaches, Bytown Beat Chorus can take life a little easier. We have been working hard over the past months learning new music for our show, “Feelin’ Groovy”, which we staged at the Centrepointe Meridian Theatre in Nepean on November 9th. Everyone was on board to make this a success and, if two enthusiastic audiences are anything to go by, it was very well received. The first half of the programme showcased the music of the 60’s, that “groovy” era, and the second half music from the movies.  We are very grateful to Belinda Boekhoven and Anne Higgs for taking on two important roles, and to their chorus, Canadian Showtime , for bringing a mini chorus to help entertain our guests. Thanks also to former member of Bytown Beat , Jeannie Smith, for bringing her guitar and starting a rousing singalong. Five-year-old Adria stole hearts in the second half as the chorus tried, unsuccessfully, to sing her to sleep. Special mention must be made of the appearance of Sonny and Cher, our assistant director, Kelly Edwards, and director, Janet Cadman. They brought the house down with their rendition of “I’ve Got You, Babe”. We can watch it all again on the CD that Joanne’s husband Waldo is producing. Thanks to the other husbands who pitched in, too. We can’t say enough about the effort that the show committee put into staging the show, and how some of our newest members rallied round. It was a day much enjoyed by all. Thanks to Kim Hoy, we have a collection of great photos to help us remember it.

We are growing again, having welcomed Judy Stark and Karen Taylor to the ranks. Judy was able to join us for our most recent sing out at Beacon Hill Retirement Residence. But “into each life some rain must fall” and it was with heavy hearts that we learned of Sandra Fraser’s passing. We all loved this little English lady who was a big part of our chorus for five years, three of them as team leader. Her family were great sponsors of the chorus, and the show was dedicated to Sandra in recognition of all that she and her family have done for us. She took on the battle against ALS as we would have expected, with grace and courage and we all feel the loss of a very fine lady. Now it is full steam ahead with preparations for going to St Catharines in April and putting on a good showing there!

Bay of Quinte Chorus

Our big news this edition is a brand spanking new website! We are excited and proud of our new chorus website home, and we hope to attract many women in our area to explore our pages to learn more about us and to ultimately entice them to come out to our open practices Monday evenings. Please take the time to check it out  www.bayofquintechorus.com   As we move into December we will wrap up the fun of singing Christmas carols with our Christmas Chorus guests. They have been sensational and we hope they choose to stay on with us as full members. We will take our break starting December 9 with a big Christmas party dinner together before taking the time off to spend it with family and friends. We will start up regular practices again on January 6. Wow! It’s hard to believe that 2020 is just around the corner! To all our sisters in song, “Weeee wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” Love and light wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a New Year filled with much song, laughter and joyful moments for all!

Northumberland Chorus

Our Christmas Tea and Show, one of our biggest fundraisers, was again a huge success. Guests enjoyed delicious treats and performances by our chorus alone and combined with the Christmas Chorus and the Colborne Library Ukulele Band. VIA Rail once again donated a travel voucher for our raffle draw along with Peg McCarthy photography and Cucina Urbana Italian Kitchen and wine bar. The Silent Auction and 50/50 Draw were popular with all.

Tenth annual Christmas Chorus joined us for our first practice

December 2018

Northumberland Chorus has been very busy singing in the community. In addition to events mentioned in the previous Sixteenth Notes , we are singing on December 21 at Wal-Mart in Cobourg beside the Salvation Army kettle. This is the second year for doing this and it is so much fun seeing all the Christmas shoppers on the last Saturday shopping day before Christmas. We are looking forward to our Christmas potluck on December 16 with lots of good food and enjoying musical numbers by various members of the chorus. We also invite our Christmas Chorus to join us. It gives us a chance to get to know them better, when we are not working so hard at preparing for our Tea. After our Christmas get-together, we will take a couple of weeks to relax and enjoy Christmas. In January we will be working very hard to prepare for competition in April. We will also have some coaching sessions, to which we always look forward.

Circle of Harmony Chorus

What a fun weekend we had with our two Perfectly Seasoned successful shows last week! It’s always the greatest feeling of all performing for a live, appreciative audience, and it was wonderfully gratifying to receive standing ovations at both concerts! We had small groups from Circle of Harmony perform, as well as our special guest quartets Just Jump and Why Not? who held the audience spellbound.   As a great fundraiser, each member baked several dozen cookies that were packaged beautifully by a group of ladies who had far too much fun doing it, led by JJ Piccolotto. We sold nearly 200 dozen cookies, the first show selling out in seven minutes and the second in eight!!! This is one fundraiser we will likely be expanding upon next year!   Our Christmas Choir (prospective member program) attracted twelve lovely ladies who sang with us on our shows and we are delighted to report that nine of these women have decided to become members of Circle of Harmony and passed their auditions at last week’s rehearsal! Congratulations, ladies!

Here they are! Kathy Wettlaufer, Bass Section Leader and prospective member program leader, fourth from left, back row, and COH President Sabine Findlay, third from left, front row, with our Christmas Choir, nine of whom have decided to join Circle of Harmony !   We have a busy December coming up with a performance at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oakville at the end of November, a performance led by Assistant Director Margaret Fielding at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington on December 15 and our fun end of the year Christmas bash, where we will gather to sing and play and officially welcome our new members to Circle of Harmony!   As the days grow shorter, and we gather together in love and friendship, Circle of Harmony wishes all our sisters in harmony loving kindness, warm hearts and the stretched-out hand of tolerance, all the shining gifts that make peace on earth!

Harmony North Chorus

Well, it’s a busy time of year but there is always time for singing. Harmony North held their annual Christmas show on November 27 and presented a nice variety of Christmas favorites, some new tunes and a carol sing along. We had a very appreciative audience and a lovely evening. We had learned several new songs for this, the favorite of which was the one about the Grinch. The audience loved our “pet” Grinch that was passed around during the song, complete with a lot of facial and body language on our part that we had a lot of fun with. Our beautiful director, Catherine, entertained us with a flute solo, and our quartet, Rhythmix, also provided some great seasonal tunes. Joining us on the risers were three prospective new members, who did an amazing job, as well as two newcomers who have transferred to us this fall.

We had a great coaching session in November with our fearless coach Leila Brown. Thank you, Leila, for always bringing us back to the basics, and making us better singers. We’ll be ready for our retreat in January! January will find us gearing up for contest, as the rest of you will no doubt be doing as well. We are all looking forward to our new venue in St. Catharines. Thank you to the Regional Convention Team for all their work in finding this new opportunity for us. It looks like it will be fabulous. We wish everyone in Region 16 a great holiday season, and look forward to seeing all of you in April. Submitted by Marion Boyd

North Metro Chorus

As North Metro starts ramping up for 2020, we were thrilled to begin our coaching journey with the fabulous Debbie Cleveland for two nights this month. Famous for her award-winning quartets Showtime and, of course, the Buzz, she is also well-known for her classically trained voice, her sparkling wit, and inspiring teaching methods. Although her initial focus was to be the Lead section, Debbie worked with all parts to improve and enhance vocal production. Everyone left the hall feeling empowered and confident. Thank you for sharing your gifts with us, Debbie! We're sorry to say that we lost another long-time former member this week: Jean Guarascia. Jean was a lovely woman who loved to laugh and loved to sing. An avid quilter, she also belonged to North Metro for over 30 years. She will be missed. Many of you will be singing at different events this festive season. Have a wonderful time sharing our passion with your audiences! From Erin, June and all of North Metro , may you and your families enjoy a Merry Christmas and a Singsational New Year!

York Harmony Chorus

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! We would like to give a huge shout out to the Region 16 Fall Music School committee who did an amazing job organizing another top-notch convention. Thank you for organizing such a great weekend and for all your expertise. Thank you to Patti Bowyer, Debbie Antonacci, Heather Deslauriers McCuaig, Pat Crawford, Marion Campbell, Rhonda Gribbon and Katrina Trautrim – your craft talents really shine through. Lastly, to all our volunteers who sold tickets and who took some time working at our “Road to Louisville Gift Basket and Raffle” table during FMS. It was a great success.

Earlier this month we had the honour of being coached by Kim Wonders. Being the amazing sound coach that she is, she gave us some incredible insights into our overall sound highlighting special nuances to each of our songs. We worked hard, learned a lot and had some good laughs. Thank you, Kim!

Breaking News! We are very proud to announce our two newest members to York Harmony Chorus. Andrea Yustin (lead) and Laura Mansillo (baritone). They are very enthusiastic, and we are so happy to have them as part of our wonderful chorus.

With the holiday season upon us, we have already begun our sing outs, with our first performing at the post-parade event in East Gwillimbury. Saturday November 30 we are hosting our annual holiday show, which is themed “A Claus for the Season”. It’s sold out – we can’t wait. We will be singing at the Tree Lighting ceremony in East Gwillimbury on Friday December 6. On Saturday December 14, YHC members will be performing at the “Old Fashioned Christmas” at Pioneer Village. In the coming weeks, our music team will have a few local sing-outs to help share the joy of these beautiful songs of the season.  We would like to wish all our sisters in harmony of Region 16 a safe, healthy and happy holiday season! Louisville 2020, here we come!

Eastside Harmony Chorus

Eastside Harmony is in the process of embracing the spirit of the season by planning a number of Christmas events this year. We have been busy the past few months learning new Christmas songs and new repertoire songs, as well as improving on our older songs to be even better than ever. We were so lucky to have the fabulous Sue Melvin come to coach us twice so far this year and every time she comes, she inspires us to improve our sound and have even more fun!  December is going to be a very busy month. We will hold our second annual Christmas Caravan on December 14. We will be singing at four different hospitals and nursing homes that day, and then end with a wonderful Christmas celebration dinner together. We had so much fun doing this last year and love sharing the joy of music and the holidays with those who aren’t able to get out.  We are also looking forward to our upcoming Friends and Family Christmas night. We have an amazing evening planned that includes performances jointly with Kawartha Music Company, as well as KMC on their own, and our guest quartet, Riverblend. Our friends and family always love our Christmas carol singalong with the guitar and chorus as well. Our performances will take us right up to our Christmas break and really set the stage for an amazing holiday season for us all. Here’s wishing a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our wonderful friends in harmony in Sweet Adelines Region 16!