SACRAMENTO VALLEY CHORUS is still working hard and having fun during this shelter-in-place situation in our lives. Our director, Dede Nibler, keeps things fresh with renewed enthusiasm at each Zoom rehearsal. She changes the focus each week to whichever skill or song or activity seems appropriate and the variety helps keep things interesting.
This past month Dede presented two regional Zoom classes. These events were open to all SAI Region 12 members at no cost. Her first class, "The Art of Legato" explained how to sing in a smooth and connected way, keeping the body both relaxed and yet still core-supported. Her second class, "The Aging Voice" was taught with help from our own Dar Haag, who is 89 years young. Dar has been a Sweet Adeline for over 50 years and gave us some insight into how to keep singing well as we age. Dede reminded us that it’s never too late to keep learning new vocal skills and that with proper care we can help ensure continued vocal health into the future.
In August we were lucky to spend an evening with International Sound Judge Mary Rhea. Mary gave us a lot to think about regarding the instruction of target vowels, target vowel replacements, diphthongs and vowel matching in her Zoom class called "I'd Like To Buy A Vowel". Her instruction helped us think about how to blend together better with consistent word pronunciation which is necessary for that barbershop ring.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY CHORUS is staying healthy and even thriving, and so much of that is due to the women who provide all of these opportunities for continuing education. It fuels our passion to sing! Many thanks to all of our sisters in song that take time out of their busy schedules to make that happen.
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San Francisco Sound Wave celebrates 65 years as a chorus! We are so excited and thrilled to hit this milestone as a chorus. While we couldn't recognize this momentous time in person, we organized via zoom to rehearse and celebrate. Fittingly, we hosted our first virtual guest on the night we presented this milestone - representative of SFSWs efforts towards membership growth and providing a singing space for all.
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Is it time to cue the Locusts? It’s been quite a month for PEC.
The month started with our dear Director Patty being very sick for days, did she get food poisoning, COVID? Doctors couldn’t figure it out and she suffered for over a week until they determined she had a 10 mm Kidney Stone! We knew she was hurting because she had never missed a rehearsal before because she was sick. She was even able to start our weekly Zoom Rehearsal that week before heading back to bed. Patty Pennycook aka Wonder Woman! We are glad to have her back and rehearsals and feeling great!
Then on August 16 th at 5 am the skies lit up with lightning and roared with thunder, followed by light patches of rain. While it was going on it looked so beautiful, the designs in the sky were spectacular. Then we all woke up and found out there were 100’s of places that the lightning had touched down and there were fires all over the state including the 5 counties our PEC members hail from. Our ladies in Vacaville and Fairfield were hit first, we had one gal who had to evacuate and we all sent her prayers with the fire only 1 mile from her home. Just over the hill our ladies in Napa had their bags packed and watched as the fires grew. Luckily, the fires didn’t get close and no evacuations in Napa County for us. The Walbridge Fire was still raging in Sonoma County with Dry Creek Valley vines and the Armstrong Redwoods at risk. Two of our gals from Healdsburg were on evacuation warning for over a week as the fires were only 2 miles away. We feel very lucky that everyone is home now and the fires, as of this article are at 85% containment. We appreciate all the positive thoughts and comments on Social Media for our members, all we can say is we are thankful.
Thankful to see each other again at our Zoom Meetings each Wednesday and thankful that all of our members are safe. We were extra thankful this month to have a coaching visit from our favorite Barbershopper, the awesome Joe Connolly. He always knows what to say to make us feel good. We had a great session pulling apart the “sneak breath”. He gave us some great new techniques for creating our own breath plans. This is our month for being thankful, we are so proud to be a part of this chorus, this region and this fabulous singing organization. We are looking forward to AIM Weekend coming up and 75 th Anniversary International in October. See you there!
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This month, we have focused on the choreography for one of our newer songs. We have been taking advantage of the breakout room capability within Zoom for this, and our choreography team has also created videos for us to review when we are not at rehearsal. Though it's a bit more difficult to do this virtually, we have made great progress learning it, and we can't wait to be able to do it together in person. We have also begun learning the singing portion of another new song.
In addition to doing our regular physical and vocal warmups and working on our repertoire, we have continued to provide music education. We learned to identify more intervals, and Judie Wykoff taught a class in marking our music. We've continued to break out into sections to focus our efforts. Julie also gave us all an opportunity to release some of our stress by screaming into a pillow unmuted for a few seconds! No need to worry - it was not long enough for us to hurt ourselves. This was very cathartic and fun.
Last week, we had a wonderful coaching session from Sandy Marron, who taught us about Speech Level Singing, a school of thought that encourages us to sing the way we speak. We did some exercises where we first spoke a line of a song with energy and animation. Then we chanted it on a single tone using the same energy, and finally, we sang it. This helped us to focus less on forcing the sound to come out a certain way and allowed us more freedom to produce the sound more naturally. We always enjoy our sessions with Sandy, and it was great to have her back with us.
As mentioned in last month's newsletter, we have been working to create a virtual chorus presentation. A number of chorus members have submitted audio recordings, and we'll soon progress to the video recording submissions. This month's storytelling gathering was a back-to-school theme, where people shared their school experiences. We continue to have daily coffee chats and occasional tea gatherings as well. Although we do find this time apart challenging, we are trying to encourage opportunities to maintain connection with each other.
We have intensified our efforts to meet new people this month by reaching out on Nextdoor and other social media channels. We will be hosting a guest night in early October as well in hopes of encouraging more singers to see what we are all about. We are hopeful for the future. We hope our regional community is doing well.
It seems like just yesterday we were looking ahead to the summer, and now it's September already! We have been doing virtual rehearsals for almost six months now. We have learned so much about technology during this time, and we continue to improve our skills in spite of not being able to be together in person.
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OREGON SPIRIT NEWS
This summer has certainly been an interesting one for Oregon Spirit! We sure appreciate our awesome director, Kathy Scheel, for keeping everyone motivated and connected and getting so many great “guest star” presenters to continue our education. She is now planning to use snippets of their sessions to create themed videos like “What do the experts say about resonation?” or “How important are vocal skills?” Here’s a list of all the experts we learned from since March:
Paula Davis
Kathleen Hansen
Dede Nibler
Nikki Blackmer
Ann Downton
Elizabeth Davies
Sandy Marron
Ryan Heller (hosted by Seattle Seachordsmen)
Kim Vaughn
Rob Mance
Jan Carley
In between all these amazing educational mini-sessions, we have learned four new songs this summer! And our youngest member, Amy Amato, is incredibly talented and comfortable with technology so even we’re starting our first virtual chorus project in a few weeks.
Now almost done with our vacation break, and will be back to regular rehearsals on September 8th. But we’ve been away from Zoom rehearsals, we’re starting preparations for our eventual return to in-person rehearsals. With the recent aerosol studies being done on “Safety in Singing”, we are starting to feel more hopeful that we will be able to sing together again in the next couple of months. Of course, we will still need to use masks and limit the number of singers to <25 at a time, but the prospect of hearing 4-part harmony is something we eagerly anticipate! According to the recent study, a group can rehearse for 30 minutes but must vacate the room for an air change, so we’re checking with our facility’s systems, as well as the ability to use multiple rooms during an evening. There are many other details involved in preparing for a limited return and we’re doing everything we can to ensure the safety and health of all singers. It’s great to have a goal in sight and if we are able to do this, it’ll certainly be an emotional occasion!
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ALL IN-PERSON REG12 EVENTS
CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
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Fri, Sep 11 - Sat, Sep 12 |
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REGISTRATION NOW OPEN - Fall AIM w/ Therese Antonini- Session 1 & 2 |
Virtual Event - Zoom Webinar |
Mon, Sep 14 |
9:30am |
Morning Warmups w/Dede Resumes! |
Virtual Event |
Mon, Sep 14 |
7:00pm |
HFC - Coaching with Lynn Smith |
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Tue, Sep 15 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Tue, Sep 15 |
7:30pm |
MVC Guest Night Kick Off On Via Zoom |
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Wed, Sep 16 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Wed, Sep 16 |
7:00pm |
MVC Author Chat Lewis Buzbee via Zoom |
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Thu, Sep 17 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Mon, Sep 21 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Tue, Sep 22 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Tue, Sep 22 |
7:30pm |
MVC Guest Night via Zoom #2/7 |
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Wed, Sep 23 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Thu, Sep 24 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Thu, Sep 24 |
7:15pm |
BASC Coaching w/Jan Carley |
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Fri, Sep 25 -
Sat, Sep 26 |
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Region 12 - Fall AIM w/ Therese Antonini- Session 2 |
Virtual Event - Zoom Webinar |
Mon, Sep 28 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Tue, Sep 29 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Tue, Sep 29 |
7:00pm |
OSC Zoom with Guest Star Rob Mance |
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Wed, Sep 30 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Thu, Oct 1 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Mon, Oct 5 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Mon, Oct 5 |
7:00pm |
MVC Author Chat: J.A. Jance via Zoom |
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Tue, Oct 6 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Wed, Oct 7 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Thu, Oct 8 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Mon, Oct 12 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Evetn |
Tue, Oct 13 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Wed, Oct 14 |
9:30am |
SVC'S WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS |
Virtual Event |
Thu, Oct 15
to Sat, Oct 17 |
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Virtual Event: SAI's 75th Diamond Anniversary & 74th Annual International Convention and Competition |
Virtual Event |
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WAKE UP WITH DEDE - VOCAL WARMUPS
Come join Dede Nibler - Master Director of Sacramento Valley Chorus, is hosting WAKE UP WITH DEDE, a daily 25-minute vocal conditioning and warm-up session, which begins at 9:30 AM Monday through Thursday. You are invited to join in for humming, bubbling, trilling, arpeggioing, appoggioing, and many other fun warm-ups. There will be fun songs and rounds.
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Facebook is an excellent way to reach out to your audience. Be sure to post weekly. It can be a recap of your latest rehearsal, the announcement of an upcoming event or share a related musical meme.
Pacific Shores Region 12 has two Facebook pages:
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