RMT Team Coordinator Message |
As we approach the end of this calendar year, I am grateful more than ever before that we’ve had each other to lean on through this challenging time. It never ceases to impress me how each of us cares so deeply and genuinely for our choruses, our sisters-in-harmony and the organization we all proudly belong to. There is no greater reward than the opportunity to work with passionate people like you in an outstanding organization.
Thank you to all of you for your commitment that has helped us continue to connect, learn, and move forward even though we’re not able to be together physically. At this special time of year, we give thanks to you and everything you do.
Warm wishes,
Sue Melvin
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Past Issues
Next deadline
December 31 2020
NEW
members'
login info
USERNAME:
the word 'member'
PASSWORD: 'R16sings'
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Grow From the Inside Classes
Thank you to those who participated in last month’s Grow From The Inside zoom meeting series. To watch the November 21, Diversity & Inclusion – How to Utilize the new D & I Toolkit presentation led by Thérèse Antonini, Click here.
Scroll down the Regional website page to view the PowerPoint presentation referenced during the call for additional resources and information. It was truly a very informative and insightful topic. Thank you, Thérèse.
Next Up, Grow From The Inside session is a Quartet Day Webinar!
When: Saturday, January 16, 10:00 am–3:00 pm. FREE to all Region 16 Members!
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This event will be addressing topics, skills and ideas for quartets to implement in their rehearsals, but please know that all Region 16 members are invited to this free, all-day educational event featuring International Faculty, Caitlin Castilino, Baritone of LoveNotes Quartet and Director of Diablo Vista Chorus. Click here for the schedule of classes. Click here to register. Sign up today!
I have room for two more volunteers to have a personal PVI with Caitlin. Please send an email to me at education@saregion16.com if you are interested in signing up.
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Educational Resources
Have you checked out the education handouts, videos and links on the Regional website? Take a few minutes and look back at what we accomplished this year. We have a pretty amazing Region 16 faculty in our own region! Thank you to all of you who have helped us continue our search for excellence and shared your time and wisdom with the Region. I am grateful for the International faculty who helped us this year as well. Click here to review some great information made available to you for FREE!
Education Schedule: Click here
Happy Holidays and see you on the other side of 2020!
Susann McKinley
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Zoom Tips
FOR ZOOM PARTICIPANTS
Ways to adjust what you see on the screen:
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Side-By-Side Mode — To see both a shared screen and the Speaker/Gallery view at the same time, and learn how to change the size of either side, click here for instructions.
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Switching between Gallery and Active Speaker Views — Do you want to enlarge the speaker? Click here to learn how to switch between the Gallery and Speaker Views for your particular device.
FOR ZOOM HOSTS
Have you found yourself scanning your chorus ‘gallery’ to mute someone with background noise? Save time by using the handy Zoom ‘hot key’ command to mute all but the Host.
Windows: alt+M
MAC: Command(⌘)+Control+M
Click here for a list of other Zoom hot key commands.
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Both Canada and the US have now celebrated 2020 Thanksgiving in the midst of the pandemic. Many people are recognizing that they now place different values on some activities and relationships in their lives, either because some of those things are not available right now or because we have been given an opportunity to re-evaluate how we spend our time and energy.
And speaking of personal introspection....a few weeks ago North Metro member Thérèse Antonini gave a Saturday morning presentation to Region 16 about the work of the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force that she is heading. She gave us insights (and included resources to help) about how to look at our own attitudes and how to identify bias in our thinking. I know the future of our organization is in good hands with this smart, caring woman as President-Elect. QUARTETS are just as responsible as choruses for making wise repertoire choices. The tool on the International website outlines the procedure to investigate a song’s origin, but we all must own any negative effect we might have on an audience member. Remind yourself why we don’t tell blond jokes any more or sexist jokes or make fun of an impediment. Then take that discernment into the lyrics of songs you sing. Any awareness, understanding or sensitivity that grow out of this process will help us be kinder performers.
May you enjoy rich time – even electronically - with those you love – family, friends and especially your quartet mates!
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The Region has been particularly industrious and resolute in its efforts to stay well connected with you all during this time of the pandemic.
- There was a sizeable increase this year in the quantity of communications to Region 16 members and chorus leaders, with goals to ensure we remain connected and not isolated, informed and not oblivious, growing and not stagnant through our many valuable educational presentations and networking sessions.
- Regular Zoom meetings were held with Team Leaders/Presidents, Directors, Membership Coordinators, and Finance Coordinators to encourage a dialogue of sharing positive happenings and to explore problematic areas, find possible solutions and expressly offer support to each other as we adapt.
- SAI offered live chat groups to RMT members from as far away as Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and North America. These creative virtual networking sessions yielded a sharing of success stories that trounced COVID challenges.
- The Regional Directory was updated and on-going efforts to keep our Regional database current and accurate are in progress.
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Sixteenth Notes, designed to share news, event information, and wonderful articles from our choruses showcasing YOU, our members, is published monthly. We encourage you to write to us to share your testimonials of what it has meant to you to have your chorus support you through these arduous times. We also encourage you to continue to use the ASK US button displayed in every Sixteenth Notes should you have a question you need to be answered or a situation you think we could offer supports times. A new Sixteenth Notes banner is in the making with the help of the Region’s creative Marketing Team.
- Under the direction of Martha DeClerq, the Marketing Team most successfully expanded our organization’s social media outreach through regular and creative FB, Twitter, and Instagram communications.
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Our new website, under the management of Leila Brown, continues to be a helpful information source for events and educational resources. Don’t forget to visit saregion16.com often!
International President Joan Boutilier, during the Regional Check-Ins and network sessions, shared, that "all around the organization heartstrings were being tugged as we connect virtually and are reminded of the love we have for one another, and how important Sweet Adelines is to all of us.”.
Wishing you all joy and peace this holiday season. Be well and be safe.
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Earlier this year, the Region 16 website transitioned to a new and improved platform. Have you had a chance to look around?
- A photo carrousel featuring competing choruses and quartets.
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A link to an introduction to Lake Ontario Region 16.
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Easy access to upcoming events, including links, info and event documents.
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A link for visitors to find a chorus near them.
And more! Take a few minutes to visit YOUR website!
Got ideas to make it better? Send your suggestions to Leila Brown, Webmaster!
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A little bird told me that the more you 'LIKE' Region 16 FB, Tweets and Instagrams, the more our website is shared. That means the more we can promote our wonderful Region, choruses and quartets. So go ahead.....LIKE us!
Don't forget to tag us @SAIRegion16 or use the hashtag #SAIRegion16
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Questions?
Do you have a burning question? Is there someone on our RMT who can offer you guidance or answer that burning question? So simple! Just click on the Ask Us square and we will direct your question to the appropriate RMT member, and voila your question will be answered. Not magic....just simple. We want to support you so go ahead and click the box.
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Calling all current and previous YWIH members! I have a special project in the works to help celebrate those who have started their Sweet Adeline journey as a youth member. We need your photos! If you have aged-out of the program, an additional photo would be perfect. Please feel free to share any stories and other information that you would like to see displayed.
Here are my photo examples. I look forward to seeing your submissions!
Alana Regular
YWIH Coordinator
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THEN
A Scarborough Chorus Christmas party.
From L to R: Lauren Daley, Violet (Vi) Saftich, me, Christa Eisenblaetter
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Wow! What an eventful few months! Our chorus, instead of planning for a membership drive starting in October, we thought it would be better for people to get to know us. During our normal weekly Zoom rehearsals it is hard to get the feel of what our regular chorus life is really like, let alone get time to fully meet the chorus. So instead, we thought of ways to showcase ourselves and show what makes us special. We decided upon three virtual Open Houses, a social media campaign and then a full online membership drive to finish off ‘the get to know us campaign”.
First off, three virtual open houses, one per month. What were we thinking? It was a lot of planning, but so worth it! They turned into mini team building and motivational evenings for our chorus. The planning committee decided on three different themes and a new tag was chosen and taught for each of them. In addition, we added themed games and performance videos of our contest performances and chorus shows. Our guests thoroughly enjoyed it all. It actually precipitated a couple of guests to inquire about membership.
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For social media we decided to change things up a bit. Chorus members all have a closet full of costumes and chorus-branded clothing ready to use, so our social media Chorus/Quartet Challenge was born! Although, we have not seen many of the choruses or quartets take us up on our challenge, we have gotten more followers and wonderful feedback. The first post has been seen over 1,000 times already! (Our diva director, Janet Cadman, is pictured above.)
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Karen Meryl, Social Media,
posts with her hammer!
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We still have our final virtual Open House of the year to come on Monday, December 14th, “Tis the Season” our Holiday Party Open House followed by our new Members’ Drive starting Monday, January 18th, 2021.
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In harmony,
Vanessa Echlin
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Northumberland Chorus gets together every Monday evening on Zoom. We sing through a different part of our repertoire each week to backup recordings, one part at a time and then all parts together.
Some of our chorus members attended the virtual Fall Music School in October. All of the speakers were excellent and we learned a lot about singing and judging. I found it really interesting to know how the judges evaluate each element of the performance
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On November 9, we invited the Bay of Quinte chorus to join us, along with Titanium quartet and several other guests. The quartet members talked about their experiences as an award-winning quartet. We were able to ask them questions and they were very personable. It was really an interesting and informative evening.
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The Northumberland Chorus was asked to join the Bay of Quinte Chorus on November 21 to hear Donya Metzger, a voice coach, speak about the relaxation of the body and the connection to the voice. She led us through some physical exercises, which not only relaxed the body, but were very enlightening in the way they changed our voices.
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Some people found they could sing higher or lower than their normal comfort level.
Some of our chorus members attended the virtual “Diversity & Inclusion” class with Thérèse Antonini. There is much more to this subject than I realized. I found the stories told by the guests a real eye-opener.
Laura Heighway
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YHC just celebrated our 50th ANNIVERSARY on October 29th. Our Zoom MC for the evening, Heather Deslauriers McCuaig, and the planning committee did a fantastic job. We were so fortunate to share the evening with many previous members and Directors!
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We were also greeted by some of our most inspiring leaders, including SAI President, Joan Boutilier! Marg Toole, a founding YHC member was our extra special guest for the event. She shared some great stories and reflected on how York Highlands / York Harmony Chorus had been such a important part of her life, giving her lifetime friendships, fond memories, support and a chosen second family. We are extremely proud for how we have grown and we are very excited as we strive towards future successes.
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Heather 'DM' Deslaurier McQuaig |
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In addition to all of this excitement, we have two very special announcements! Congratulations to our very talented tenor section lead and all-around awesome individual, Linda Morrison (previous Director to Pineridge Chorus), who will be taking on a shared role as our Assistant Director along side with Heather DM. Look out! We know we are in good hands. We would also like to welcome a new member to our chorus, Silvana Ferrantone. We are all thrilled that she has joined our lovely lead section and can't wait to harmonize with her in person!
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November 17th, YHC was totally surprised by a visit from the marvelous members of North Metro Chorus. It was so wonderful to spend the evening together sharing various experiences, and some stories from the past! We are all in this together and need each other more then ever! Having this SAI bond reminded all of us that we are not alone.
For our most recent rehearsal, our extra thoughtful Master Director Martha, invited members of the Bay of Quinte chorus to Zoom by. It was wonderful to see their beautiful faces and have them join us.
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Wishing you all stay healthy and stay safe…this too shall pass. and we will sing together once again!
Kelly Nesbitt
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Bay of Quinte with Joel Bootsma and June Dale |
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What fun North Metro had as we bombarded Region 16 with surprise chorus rehearsal crashes these past few weeks. All seventeen of them! The crashes, the brainwave of North Metro's inspirational Director Extraordinaire, Erin Howden, were to celebrate and intimately connect with all choruses, and to specifically remind us all that we are part of a greater whole - that we are not alone and yes, that we are bound in this together.
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In retrospect, perhaps it was us who were surprised as this project brought us so much joy, happiness, and tons and tons of individual chorus information that most of us did not know. We learned so much. We were inspired by the historical facts exposed by our NM emcees through their careful research of the chorus designated to each of them. We were impressed by the tons of community services in which choruses are involved, and their outreach in extending love and care to so many others through their community projects and performances. We loved watching videos of their most recent stage performances, remembering how it all felt doing what we love to do, and again reminding us of the high calibre of talent within Region 16.
These crashes also delightfully uncovered and exposed so many talents shared by our NM emcees as they creatively led and presented the evening's program. We are so proud of and grateful to our emcees who generously and authentically gave so much of themselves to touch the hearts of others.
These close up and personal visits connected us with each chorus as we have never been connected before. Our uninvited visits brought overwhelming joy seeing the smiles on the faces of each surprised (and often confused!) member. To say that happiness was a consequence of our chorus crashing experiences does not adequately express the many gifts we received in surprising and lovingly connecting with our sisters in harmony.
Jacqui Barron
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Well, another Fall season has come and gone and it looks like we may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for our quarantine. At least we hope so!
In spite of the pandemic, Eastside has been hard at work (with lots of fun and social time, of course!) during our Zoom rehearsals. We completed our Christmas project; 4 songs for the Town of Ajax “Cookies & Cocoa with Santa” event. The town was very appreciative of our efforts and we were very happy to have a reason to sing our Christmas songs.
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Rehearsals may look different these days but we love getting together and will keep it up until we can get together again in person. As with other choruses in Region 16 we had an amazing “rehearsal bomb” from the wonderful ladies from North Metro chorus. It was so uplifting and we are very appreciative of their tremendous efforts to keep in touch with the choruses of Region 16. You are welcome at our rehearsals anytime you want, North Metro!
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One of our next projects is completing our virtual choir for our new song, “I Might Just Hold You a Little Too Long”. It’s a very appropriate song for these pandemic times and we know everyone will love our finished product.
Another area of focus for us right after Christmas will be our Virtual Open House in January. We will welcome all interested women to share our friendship, fellowship and song. We have a really fun program planned.
Even though the celebrations may look very different this year, Eastside is wishing all you fabulous ladies in Region 16 a very happy and safe holiday season!
Susan Boissonneault
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Orangeville Show Chorus wishes all of Region 16 the gifts of the season –
Hope, Joy, Peace & Love. Our chorus celebration is illustrated in our show poster.
We hope you’ll be able to tune in. Merry Merry!!
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Bev Kyro
Orangeville Chorus
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We were absolutely overjoyed to be visited by North Metro’s rehearsal crashing party during our last zoom rehearsal before taking a break for the holidays. It was a beautiful and uplifting experience. We can’t wait to see all our fellow Sweet Adelines in person again!
We have decided to take a break from Zoom rehearsals for the holidays, but will continue work on our virtual holiday package to send out to nursing homes in the area. Happy Holidays everyone!
Laura Marie Kleist
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Circle of Harmony has enjoyed sharing our rehearsals with some new friends from our Prospective Members' Program (PMP) this Fall. We started with 12 ladies and 8 of those have continued to rehearse with us each week. It’s been great getting to know them and we are delighted that they have been keen to join in on the fun of our rehearsals.
We have a tradition of dressing up for Hallowe’en at our chorus and this year online was no different.
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With November 11 falling on a rehearsal night, we showed our Canadian spirit and dressed in red and white and poppies for Remembrance Day: |
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Next up – celebrating the holidays! Watch for our Holiday memories via social media on our Facebook and Instagram feeds during the month of December.
Happy holidays to all our sisters in harmony!
Lisa Michaels, PR Chair, Circle of Harmony
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In spite of everything going on in the world, KMC had a terrific spring and summer during quarantine. Of course, that awesomeness has carried right on into the Fall! When quarantine struck and we moved rehearsals to Zoom, our terrific director, Cindy Bennett-Awe, set up an amazing plan for us that was so educational and fun. She dubbed it the “Leaders and Legends” series and it definitely lived up to expectations. It was 13 weeks featuring great barbershop Master Directors, Arrangers, Composers and Judges. We learned so much and were thrilled that our sisters from Eastside Harmony Chorus joined us as well!
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Among the highlights was a fabulous summer rehearsal that our director, Cindy, and our outstanding coach, Sue Melvin, worked hard to organize. KMC (including Eastside) welcomed a special visit with the amazing ladies of Sue’s Rochester Rhapsody chorus. Together, we celebrated our 3 choruses, 2 countries (Canada and USA), and 2 organizations (SAI and Harmony Inc). Sue and Cindy arranged, and each led, various fun activities for us. A highlight was singing “together” the arrangement of “A Million Dreams” that all 3 choruses had learned. This really shows what opportunities are available now that we are rehearsing virtually.
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We were also honored to have a presentation by a Barbershop Harmony Society award-winning composer, Paul Olguin. Paul wrote “I Might Just Hold You A Little Too Long”, a new song we are learning that is very appropriate for these pandemic times! He gave us a fascinating description of how he composed this moving song.
Another of our outstanding L&L series presentations was from Debra Lynn who taught us the “Bel Canto” technique for breathing. It was very interesting to learn. We wholeheartedly thank each and every one of our amazing presenters, and have been putting our learning into practice.
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We took a brief break for a few weeks in August and started up again in September with a distanced and safe outdoor get together at Viktoria’s house. Thanks, Viktoria! It was so nice to see everyone in person, even if we had to stay 2 metres apart. It’s not ideal since we love to hug each other!
We crowned our Sweet Adeline of the Year at the party. She is one of our Zoom geniuses and an all-around wonderful person, Suzanne Bailey! This award is truly well deserved.
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Halloween is always a fun time for us and although we were virtual this year, it was just as fun. We all dressed up and showed off our costumes, which all looked fantastic. We had some spooky warmups, rounds and songs. We saw a rhythm aid that involved rubbing, knocking and squeezing pumpkin shell, seeds and flesh to create interesting rhythmic pattern. Of course, we had fun with the inevitable Halloween Covid-19 parody. |
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November was focused on getting our second Virtual Performance ready. As our Mission Statement says “Barrie Soundwaves is a fun-loving chorus, striving for musical excellence and entertaining performances”. As we all know, living a mission is not that easy these days. We found ways to change our mindset to focus on what we CAN do, and to be willing to experiment and learn ways to motivate ourselves. For us, working on Virtual Performances reinforced who we are and what we do. It is a lot of work, but in return we get the satisfaction of “seeing our name in lights”, and perhaps more importantly the good feeling of giving our gift of music to the community.
We have also learnt so much as singers by finding ways to keep our voice in shape at home, and even developing our voices as we prepare our audio recordings while socially isolated. On top of that, we have become not only “actors” but also “movie directors” by creating our character and “staging” for each of our individual videos. We wanted this video to have a feel of a live performance being filmed on stage. We got help from Denis LaFlamme to give our sound a “rock singer” edge. The creativity of our members was awesome as each created her own costume from a general “video script”. The team became even stronger as members helped each other record audios and videos. One member even built a “movie studio” with lighting and backdrops in her garage, so that members could get help socially distanced, without the worry about the technical aspects of recording yourself.
We are so proud of our latest Virtual Performance of “Somebody to Love” by Freddie Mercury, lead singer in Queen, and arranged by June Dale! We are also so grateful for the accolades from those who have viewed our video. Truly a good feeling and worth the efforts!
Gayle Haley and Jan-Ake Westin
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