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Registration now open for
Harmony, Inc.’s 2021 Virtual Convention!
By Allison Thompson, International Convention Manager
This year’s event is full of exciting sessions that promise to be entertaining and engaging as we welcome 64 choruses and quartets to our virtual stage!
You’ll get a front row seat to Harmony’s Showcase of Stars! Watch these choruses and quartets as they share some of their favorite performances and videos:
Saturday, November 6 @ 11:00 am ET
Moving Parts, Area 5
The Liberty Belles Chorus, Area 3
Sounds of the Seacoast, Area 2
Kindred Spirits, Area 5
Harmony in Motion, Area 3
New England Voices in Harmony, Area 2
Maine-ly Harmony, Area 2
Tonic!, Area 1
Sugartones, Area 5
enJOY!, Area 1
Atlanta Harmony Celebration, Area 6
The Over Tones, Inc., Area 5
Harmony Magic, Area 4
Saturday, November 6 @ 2:00 pm ET
Swag Quartet, Area 5
Rochester Rhapsody, Area 3
Breton Songbirds, Area 1
Sublime Quartet, Area 4
Sisters of Sound, Area 6
Panama City A Cappella Chorus, Area 6
Elm City Echoes, Area 1
Covered Bridge Harmony, Area 4
Remix: formerly Wild Fermatas, Area 6
Coastal Voices, Area 6
Shore Sounds Quartet, Area 6
Bella Nova, Area 3
Saturday, November 6 @ 4:00 pm ET
Crystal Chords, Area 3
The Toronto Accolades, Area 5
TAMbre Quartet, Area 1
Harmony Falls Chorus, Area 3
Generations Quartet, Area 5
Retake, Area 1
Fierce, Area 4
A Cappella Showcase, Area 5
Northern Blend, Area 3
Village Vocal Chords, Area 4
Harmonix, Area 1
Bluegrass Harmony Chorus, Area 4
Scotian Aires, Area 1
Our choruses and quartets have been busy during quarantine! You can check out all of these amazing virtual productions during our pre-show sessions throughout the convention:
Thursday, November 4 @ 6:40 pm ET
A Cappella Showcase, Area 5
Baytones Harmony Inc, Area 5
Bluegrass Harmony, Area 4
Coastal Harmony, Area 1
Crystal Chords, Area 3
Major Trebel, Area 5
Friday, November 5 @ 6:40 pm ET
Elm City Echoes, Area 1
Friends First, Area 1
Happy Together; Kindred Spirits; & Notables, Area 5
Harmony Falls, Area 3
Harmony Heritage, Area 2
Unmuted, Area 5
Saturday, November 6 @ 10:40 am ET
Island A Cappella, Area 1
New England Voices in Harmony, Area 2
Take 4, Area 4
Saturday, November 6 @ 1:40 pm ET
Northern Blend, Area 3
Nickel City Sound, Area 5
Sea Belles, Area 1
Scarborough Harmony Chorus, Area 5
ScotianAires, Area 1
Sugartones, Area 5
Saturday, November 6 @ 7:10 pm ET
Sisters Of Sound, Area 6
The Baritones of A Cappella Showcase, Area 5
The Liberty Belles Chorus and North Pennsmen Chorus, Area 3
The Toronto Accolades, Area 5
Area 1 Virtual Convention, Area 1
Aged to Perfection Hosts the Brightest Star Trivia Challenge
Are you good at Jeopardy? Can you recognize a tune in just three notes? Then you don’t want to miss out on our trivia challenge where you’ll go head-to-head with your peers to vie for the title of Harmony’s Brightest Star by answering harmony related trivia questions! Aged to Perfection will host our trivia challenge Saturday during the afterglow. It’s sure to be a great time of fun and competition – with prizes awarded to the winners in each category!
Don’t forget to register today!
Check out all of the great sessions and go to our convention website to register (click the register button).
Time to play
How many words associated with the virtual convention can you find in this word search puzzle?
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
IBOD holds strategic planning workshop
By Linda Brehaut, International President
Ok... I am starting to accept the fact that we are starting to walk a little more confidently into a new way of life, a life that teaches us to plan for wonderful things but be ready to adjust and be flexible, as required.
I trust that you are all doing whatever you need to do to keep both yourself and each other safe. Those golden moments when we get to sing together (even with a mask on!) certainly give us the lift we need and little bit of “happy” to carry us through the week.
IBOD meets
Your IBOD had a great strategic planning workshop last weekend where we had a chance to talk about our values, both personally and from the perspective of the organization. We followed this session with an opportunity to dump our cares into the bucket but in doing so, we were tasked, not with focusing on the worry, but with looking for the opportunities that are buried in those concerns. It was a wonderful discussion that truly reminded me that we live in a world of opportunities. Sometimes we just need to take a moment and acknowledge them!
As you will read further on, at our Q3 meeting we held our Board elections. These will take effect at the end of our annual meeting the end of October. I am encouraged by the members that you have elected to the Board – great things in the making for sure! Our Annual IBOD meeting is scheduled for October 29-31 – the agenda will be posted to the web site no later than October 14.
Virtual International Convention
This month is all about our Virtual International Convention – some of our section practices on Rockin’ Robin have already happened and the performance session will tie it all together October 14. I am looking forward to spending time with Hot Pursuit on Thursday and our Harmony Queens on Friday. Other guest performers are ready to entertain us, and a number of chapters and quartets have submitted videos.
I am so incredibly grateful to the convention team, the volunteers who have supported the team, and of course, so many of our members who are willing to give up a weekend to come together as an organization to entertain, to be entertained, to laugh, to celebrate and yes, to sing.
Yes, we are making the best out of a tough situation, but that is OK because we are doing it together. “See” you soon.
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| IBOD Announces FY2022 positions |
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International Board announces FY2022 positions
By Debbie Parmerter, International Parliamentarian
At the 3rd Quarter meeting of the International Board of Directors, the members of the board elected new officers and decided who would fill each board position for 2021-2022. These members will assume their positions following the close of the 2021 annual Board of Directors Meeting.
President - Linda Brehaut
Executive VP - Gaye LaCasce
VP Convention & Contests - Kelly Thomas
VP Finance - Jan DelVecchio
Dir. of Development - Sara Wood
Dir. of Marketing & Communications - Laura Oakes
Dir. of Membership - Kim Meechan
Dir. of Programs (Music & Education) - Sara Stone
Area 1 Director - Linda McMaster
Area 2 Director - Julie Schwingbeck
Area 3 Director - Sarah Thorne-Miller
Area 4 Director - Susan Spencer
Area 5 Director - Nancy Flagel
Area 6 Director - Angie Beatty
Congratulations to all, and thank you for stepping up to lead us in the coming year!
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| Dusting off and starting fresh |
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Dusting off and starting fresh
By Anne Bureau, Chorus Director Development Coordinator
Greetings friends – Our passion for singing, music and connectivity has kept us going. We have jumped over huge hurdles and dragged ourselves through the pandemic mud. We are SO resilient. And, things keep changing around us, and that’s OK. We’re OK. As Gene Kelly and Ginger Rogers said in the movie Swing Time (1936), pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again!
Consider this a great time to take a fresh look at marketing your chapter. Marketing to many folks, is a scary word – it’s the organization’s mystery meat. Simply put, marketing means having a solid product with a clear message (your chapter), getting better known in your community and becoming a household name through targeted communication. This will result in attracting new singers and generating new performance opportunities – WHOA!
BEFORE you consider designing a fancy marketing plan, do you know your product? Would it be clear and compelling to someone from the outside? We'll hold our next Leadership Round Table Wednesday, October 13 at 6 p.m. to deal with all things Marketing, inside and out. I invite Directors, Music Team Members, Chapter Leaders and anyone who would love to learn more or share their experience to attend this session – we’d love to have you! Ask your director for the ZOOM link on the day prior to the event or contact me!
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| Harmony, Inc. needs your help |
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Harmony, Inc. needs your help
By Jan DelVecchio, Executive Vice-President
Copyright and Licensing Coordinator
The legal side of Music is all about the rights of the composer, arranger and publisher to collect fees for their work. Fees have to be paid when you duplicate copies of sheet music. Fees have to be paid when you distribute learning tracks. Fees have to be paid when a song is performed. Fees have to be paid when songs are recorded and sold on a CD or a digital platform.
Has your chapter ever put on a show? Has your quartet ever created and sold your recordings? Was it your job to ensure that all the fees were paid? If so, Harmony, Inc. has a position for you that involves three tasks:
- Harmony, Inc. has licensing that needs to be taken care of. We hold the master accounts for ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. The Copyright and Licensing Coordinator gathers information from chapters, Areas and Quartets, for quarterly reports that are submitted by the Finance Assistant.
- Harmony, Inc. has a document entitled Copyright 1 – 2 – 3 and it needs to be updated. We would ask you to chair a committee that would review and revise this document. You would not be alone!
- The Copyright and Licensing Coordinator needs to answer questions from other members of Harmony, Inc. about the correct way to obtain licenses.
A copy of the complete job description is in the Corporate Manual located in the Members Only section of the Harmony, Inc. Website. If you are able to fill this position, submit Form HAR-001. If you have questions, contact executivevp@harmonyinc.org.
Public Relations Coordinator
Have you ever worked with your chapter or your quartet to increase your visibility in your community? Possibly, you assisted in providing news releases or scheduled interviews to celebrate your success in contest? Maybe you worked with the media in your area during Harmony Awareness Week. Harmony, Inc. is offering you the opportunity to be responsible for three areas:
- Serve as a resource to identify and develop public relations opportunities for Harmony, Inc., focusing on external public relations.
- Be a member of the Honorary Member Selection Committee.
- Develop public relations materials for IC&C, forward promotional packets to prospective chapters, and develop a public relations kit for Harmony Awareness Week.
A copy of the complete job description is in the Corporate Manual located in the Members Only section of the Harmony, Inc. Website. If you are able to fill this position, submit Form HAR-001. If you have any questions, contact executivevp@harmonyinc.org.
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| Equity, Diversity, and Me! |
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What is cultural appropriation?
Equity, Diversity, and Me!
Bonita Hester, Equity & Diversity Committee Chair
The theme of cultural appropriation keeps popping up in the arts and music world. We gave some information on this in our May article for the HI Note, but there is so much more. We are all aware that both Canada and the United States are culturally diverse, and we enjoy this diversity in the food we eat, the music we listen to, and even the clothing we wear. Most of us would agree that cultural sharing and learning more about each other is to be encouraged. However, appreciating another culture and appropriating aspects of that culture are two different things, and it’s not always easy to figure out where one ends and the other begins.
Appropriation happens when members of one culture borrow aspects of a different culture without the consent of the originators. Many times, the appropriators belong to a privileged group, while the people they take from belong to an oppressed or marginalized group. From an article in Current Affairs, regarding a cultural style of music, “the problem is not that white men play the blues, it’s that white men who have played the blues have gotten rich from it, while the black people who invented the blues stayed poor.”
People who truly want to appreciate a culture without appropriation may be helped by these criteria:
- The purpose of your use of the cultural item (song, style of music, apparel, choreography) is not solely for your own gain or profit;
- You offer respect to members of that culture;
- You participate only when invited or when you have received permission;
- You are using the cultural items as intended;
- One of your purposes is to educate yourself and others about that culture;
- You are helping to bring that culture to light in a positive way;
- Your use of this element is not depriving the group or person you’re borrowing from;
- You emphasize that you’re not an authority;
- you always give credit to the originators.
These thoughts just scratch the surface. The more we know, the more we know what we don’t know. But none of us wants to unintentionally offer offense or profit at the expense of a specific cultural group.
Just to let you know, your E&D Committee hasn’t been completely idle through the summer months. Our major project this past summer has been gathering chapter representatives who are committed to the organizational goal of inclusion. If you’d like to join this monthly roundtable, or if your chapter has members who are committed to the work we are doing, please contact me at edc@harmonyinc.org.
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Condolences from the Membership
- To Harmony Magic (Area 4), on the death of member Janet Stacy.
- To Sue Melvin (Rochester Rhapsody, Area 3) on the death of her father-in-law, Dan Lindamood.
- To Lisa Twitchell (Rochester Rhapsody, Area 3) on the death of her half-brother, Patrick Lamb.
- To Niagara Frontier Chord Authority and Sing Niagara on the death of former member, Clarice Mooney.
Your donations to the For Love of Harmony program enable you to identify individuals or groups to receive special recognition, while at the same time, provide a monetary gift to Harmony, Inc.
Small Heart
♥ from Niagara Frontier Chord Authority in memory of Clarice Mooney. Clarice loved Harmony and singing, and her friends in NFCA loved her in return.
Deadlines approaching!
OCTOBER 15: Deadline for Big Screen Ad Contract forms
NOVEMBER 4-6: Virtual International Convention
DECEMBER 31: Deadline for Youth Joining Youth free dues program
JANUARY 31, 2022: Honorary Membership nomination forms due
Copyright © 2021 Harmony, Inc., All rights reserved.
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