the orange spiel page 1 april 2019 · the orange spiel page 5 april 2019 to brush away any...

The Orange Spiel April 2019

Volume 39 Issue 4 April 2019 We meet at 7:00 most Thursdays at Shepherd of the Woods Lutheran, 7860 Southside Blvd, Jacksonville, FL Guests always welcome Call 355-SING No Experience Necessary

WHAT'S INSIDE Title Page Spring Contests A Great Success 1 Editorial 2 One Squirrel At A Time / Wall Of Sound 3 Why Did Bernstein Build West Side 4-5 Performance Elements 6 Proper Prep: Practice ≠ Rehearsal 7-8 Magic Choral Trick #377 9 Chapter Quartets 9 Free Your Voice 10 Free Singing Tips 10 How To Keep Your Cool Backstage 11-13 Barbershop History Questions 61 13 33 Most Effective Singing Tips 13 How Do I Do A Vocal Warmup In Public 14 Quartet Corner 15 Chapter Member Stats 15 Board Minute Summary 16 Barbershop History Answers 61 16 Upcoming Schedules 17 Birthdays / Guests / New Members 17 Directing Team / Other Leaders 18 Chapter Officers / Music Team 19

SPRING CONTESTS

A GREAT SUCCESS

W e did well at two competitions last month. We would have liked a higher score, but it was where we were for our new contest package. At Sunshine District in Orlando,

with our PVP brothers, we (as Big Orange) sang away our chorus championship trophy and also sang for score only (not being eligible to compete again this year). We received an overall score of 79.0. The following weekend we competed again with our PVP brothers (as Palmetto Vocal Project) at the Caro-linas District in Charlotte. We won the plateau AA as well as the overall chorus championship (opting not to be eligible to be the representative to Los Angeles in 2020, as we already are the representative to Salt Lake City later this year). We received an overall score of 79.3. We expect to score well into the 80’s by this year’s In-t e r n a t i o n a l Competition. It’s not too late to come join with us in the effort.


The Orange Spiel is published monthly and is the official publication of the Jacksonville Big O Chapter of the Sunshine District of the Barbershop Harmony Society, the home of the Big Orange Chorus. The chapter and chorus meet most Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm at the Shepherd of the Woods, 7860 South-side Blvd. For more information visit our website, http://www.bigorangechorus.com. Articles, pictures and address corrections may be sent to the editor.

EDITORIAL The 3 Ms of Barbershop are: Music, Membership, and Money. We are doing well at Music, relearn-ing many basics and getting better at artistry. Membership and Money, not so much. We need to bring more guests, be positive about what we do everywhere we go, and actually be there for rehearsals, shows, competitions, and special events. This must be our expectation and culture. Fund raisers only work if everyone is involved: paid performances, ticket sales, ad sales, Big O Bucks events, and so on. What are YOU willing to do to keep us moving for-ward? It doesn’t just happen all by itself.

2019 Board of Directors President: Terry Ezell Immediate Past Pres: Brian Kerr Executive VP: Jason Dearing VP Music & Performance: John Alexander VP Membership: Daniel Proctor VP Marketing & PR: Robert Reeves Secretary: Mike Sobolewski Treasurer: Gregg Flowers Finance Chairman: Rick Morin Music Director: Jay Giallombardo

Big O Bucks Coordinator: Mike Sobolewski Bookkeeper: Rick Morin

Committees Show Chairman: Jason Dearing Webmaster: Frank Nosalek Chorus Manager: Jason Dearing Uniform Manager: Dave Walker

2019 Music Team Music Director: Jay Giallombardo Associate Director: George Gipp Music VP: John Alexander Section Leaders: Brian Kerr Tenor Steve Mullens Lead Daniel Pesante Lead George Gipp Bari Timothy Keatley Bari Daniel Proctor Bass Alex Burney Bass Presentation Team: George Gipp Mike Sobolewski Bob Stump

John Alexander, Editor 2429 Southern Links Dr Fleming Island FL 32003 [email protected] 904-278-3987

For more detailed, timely information see my weekly publication:

Orange Zest


ONE SQUIRREL AT A TIME by Brody McDonald

from choirbites.com

I 've been frustrated at the lack of focus/discipline my freshman beginning choir has, and know that their progress is stunted because of it. Today, we discussed attention span and the fact that

they have so many devices these days that they are hardly ever focused on just one thing. We joked that when they try to focus, they see something shiny, shout "Squirrel!" and get distracted. They agreed, and we decided that we would experiment today, and that they could only focus on one squirrel at a time! I asked them how long they thought they could fo-cus for rehearsal without totally "losing it." They agreed upon 12 minutes. I told them that if someone could not stay focused in that 12 minutes that I would gesture quietly for them to leave, so we could continue with the experiment. They wouldn't be in trouble. They thought that was a good idea. So, we worked on one piece for that 12 minutes. I kept things moving, we had fun, and not one person had to leave. They felt accomplished. No one wanted to be the one that had to leave, but it wasn't a negative motivator. It was a challenge to try to make it to 12 minutes with everyone still present. No one wants to lose a teammate. Success! 12 minute time-frames for rehearsal is nothing new, and as directors we know that long rehearsal peri-ods of the same music can be too much, even for older singers. The key here is that THEY decided how long they wanted to focus, and made it a chal-lenge for themselves. If I had been forced to remove someone, it would have hopefully been a motivator for that student to do better next time. Tomorrow, we will try it again, but each voice section has to try to "keep all their teammates in the game." If the ten-ors lose someone, they lose the game. The funny thing is, they see it as a game right now, but in real-ity it was just what rehearsal should ALWAYS be. I'm actually not doing anything different in rehearsal at all except manipulating the situation so that the choir starts to view being disciplined as a fun chal-lenge rather than a chore. My hope is they will fig-ure that out and be convinced they should always "play the game" because it works! Leigh Anderson is the director of choirs at Mt. Vernon High School in Fortville, Indiana. Previously, she taught high school choir in Louisville, Kentucky.

THE WALL OF SOUND by Brody McDonald

from choirbites.com

A problem I face in rehearsal is that of muddy ensemble sound. This is most commonly no-ticed in homophonic passages, where the chords don't ring as clearly as I want. Poor

synchronization of word sounds is often the culprit. I use this process (borrowed from barbershoppers) to clean up the vocal lines. It’s called THE WALL OF SOUND, because it creates a strong, uninterrupted sound from the choir. Vowels are bricks and conso-nants the mortar. In a strong wall there must be much more brick than mortar; the mortar must completely connect the bricks. Step 1 - Model in unison: Sing the passage on one mid-range note that is accessible to the choir (in oc-taves for mixed choirs). Sing it as you wish to hear it. Have the choir then sing it back to you on that unison note. Listen carefully for the treatments of consonants and vowels, including diphthong turns. Make sure the choir is following your timing in all ways, and that the pitch doesn't bend or scoop at all. Make them tunnel forward with a constant stream of sound. The goal is to become one voice. If needed, slow the tempo down to hear the timing of word sounds, then gradu-ally speed up until you hit performance tempo. Step 2 - Spread to a chord: After the word sounds are synchronized across the choir in unison, assign each section a note in a chord in the key of that section. Example: F Major - basses/F, tenors/middle C, Altos/F, sopranos/A. Sing the passage on this static chord, working synchronization as you did in the unison. The goal is to create a constant, ringing sound where vowels are matched, singable consonants ring with true pitch, and plosives click together. Again, vary the tempo as needed to make sure everyone is moving together cleanly. If this is too ambitious, start with the cleanest section, then add others one at a time for quality control. Step 3 - Resume parts: Have sections sing their origi-nal notes but in the new style of the static chord. The goal is to now hear THE WALL OF SOUND. Variation of tempo is valuable in this stage, to ensure every-one’s word sounds are synchronized. There are other considerations to maximize chords in THE WALL OF SOUND, but that's another bite.


WHY DID BERNSTEIN BUILD

WEST SIDE STORY AROUND

'THE DEVIL'S INTERVAL'? by Sofia Rizzi

from classicfm.com

L eonard Bernstein's West Side Story is based on and built around music's most unsettling interval, the ‘Devil's Interval’. Why would a composer do that?

First things first:

What is the Devil's Interval? If you're a classical music buff, you'll know that ‘The Devil's Interval’ is a nickname for a musical interval called a tritone.

In a nutshell, a tritone is an augmented fourth in-

terval (between C and F sharp). It's an interval be-tween two notes separated by three whole tones. For an in-depth explanation, have a look at our tri-tone analysis: What is a tritone and why was it nicknamed the devil's interval?

Why is it called the Devil's interval? The interval is so dissonant that it acquired the nick-name diabolus in musica – the devil in music. Instinctively, the human ear looks for harmony in music, and this jarring interval does the exact oppo-site of this. When used in music it frequently re-solves itself by jumping to the nearby perfect fifth (one semi-tone away) for a musical resolution. It seems a bit odd that Leonard Bernstein decided to use this ugly interval as one of his main motifs in West Side Story. But this was no accident: he knew exactly what he was doing.

Where do we hear the Devil's interval in West Side Story?

Frankly, it's everywhere. Blink and you'll miss a tri-tone. It forms the basis of some of the music's most iconic motifs. The most identifiable use of the tritone in West Side Story is in ‘Maria’. At 0.32 you'll hear the recognisable tritone jump: https://youtu.be/DyofWTw0bqY ‘The Jets’ gang also have their own motif that pops up throughout the music. Unsurprisingly, the tritone takes centre stage.

Why does Bernstein use the tritone? He uses this interval as the central idea that ties the whole score together. It's worth noting at this point that Bernstein did something very different with West Side Story – he revolutionised the art of writing a musical. He wrote it as if it were an opera, with character motifs, musi-cal foreboding and a musical narrative running through the score. The tritone forms the basis of romantic songs, con-

(Continued on page 5)

West Side Story is one of the world's most famous musicals. It's packed with great tunes and catchy rhythms, but there's an interval with a dark history at its heart.


to brush away any unharmonic sound that comes with the tritone. The reality remains however, just like Tony's unfortunate end (spoiler), so the tritone is an integral part of the melody. Even in the most optimistic and romantic of moments in the music, Bernstein keeps the tritone present as an ominous reminder of darker things to come.

Unresolved tritones: Jets motif and finale The Jets motif doesn't resolve its tritone jump, it sits unresolved and does exactly what a tritone is known to do, create dissonance. From its first appearance, these unresolved tritones create the jarring harmony that mirrors the trouble to come in the plot. At the end of the musical, after Tony's death, two tri-tone intervals sit next to each other, again with no resolution. It defines the plot's incompleteness: an unresolved interval, yearning to reach up to a musical resolution that it never quite gets. It's subtle, but packs a big punch. Bernstein, you're the boss.

(Continued from page 4)

flict songs, and the themes that intertwine the score together. It's also famously used in the unre-solved ending of the musical, where two alternat-ing tritones play out against each other. Conductor Marin Alsop described the tritone as: “An interval that requires a resolution, and without resolution it just hangs there and makes you un-comfortable.” In theory terms, it therefore serves two purposes: 1. It creates dissonance 2. When resolved, it creates one of the most satis-fying harmonic resolutions. This is Bernstein's tool to create a truly evocative score. https://youtu.be/wugWGhItaQA

Why does it work so well? Not only does Bernstein use this interval to tie the entire musical together, but the interval itself tells a story, and it adopts different meanings in different situations. In different instances Bernstein will decide to ei-ther resolve the tritone or leave it unresolved. Leaving the tritone unresolved hints at violence and the danger around the corner, but resolving it hints at optimism and a different outcome for the

characters. For example: Resolved tritones: Tony's tritone in ‘Maria’ In ‘Maria’, the music couldn't be further away from the discordant sound that the tritone normally cre-ates. This is because the tritone is only there for a moment before it moves up a semi-tone to create a perfect fifth interval. Tony is filled with wonder having just met Maria, and his optimistic jump up from the tritone seems

WHY DID BERNSTEIN BUILD

(continued)


PERFORMANCE ELEMENTS by Jay Giallombardo

part 3 of 4 Artistic Musical expression requires a command of singing skills.

To be musical requires the ability to perform a consistent Artistic Vocal Line. Artistic Vocal Line Rules for the artistic vocal line requires the master of Syllable Connection Technique. Some Basic Rules include:

• Initial sound can be consonant or vowel

• The Initial Sound has a pitch concept in mind before singing

• Entrance is executed with proper breath technique

• The end of the syllable sound is ALWAYS a vowel

• Connective material

∗ Ending consonant becomes initiating consonant of the next syllable

∗ Diphthong is proportioned in 3 ways:

♦ As %: 50-50, 75-25, 90-10

♦ Equal, More Target, Mostly Target

∗ Reverse Diphthong: Y or W is mostly target (10-90%)

DELIVERY

• Phrasing

• Execution

• Tempo

∗ Steady

∗ Accelerating

∗ Slowing

• Rhythmic Style

∗ Back Beat (Swing on the beats 2 and 4 with Triplet feel)

∗ March (on the beats 1 and 3)

∗ Rubato (ballad-style; free-form)

• Dynamics

∗ p, mp, mf, f, ff

∗ Crescendo

∗ Diminuendo

• Inflection

∗ Legato (Smooth and connected)

∗ Stressed (Tenuto)

∗ Accented (more dramatic)

∗ Marcato (Stress on each beat)

MUSICALITY


PROPER PREP: PRACTICE ≠

REHEARSAL ≠ SOUND CHECK by Karl Winkler

from prosoundweb.com

S omething that easily defines “X number of minutes or hours we can’t get back” are those times when we end up waiting for

someone to fumble around with their gear, seemingly unaware of how to make it work properly. The example that comes to mind is photographers and videographers who don’t remember where certain settings are in the menu or don’t know how to set the white balance. Frustrating, isn’t it? No one wants to have their time wasted on something that could have been prevented with proper preparation. But when the roles are reversed, what are we doing to make sure we’re not the ones fumbling around? First, to me, is having clear in our own heads the difference between practice, sound check, and rehearsal.

Making The Choice As a classical musician, I’ve literally grown up un-derstanding the importance of practice. But in col-lege when I started to play in bands, I ran across musicians who didn’t seem to know the difference between practice and rehearsal. In a professional orchestra, the musicians are fully capable of sight-reading complex music right on the spot. However, most of them still prepare their own individual parts, usu-ally starting weeks in ad-vance of the first re-hearsal. Why? Because rehearsal is not the place to learn the music. In-stead, it’s where the con-ductor shapes the nuances. If the musicians were to show up without preparing their parts, then the two or three rehearsals af-forded the typical pro orchestra just wouldn’t be enough to bring the incredibly complex music to

artistic performance level, and thus to some extent, everyone’s time and effort isn’t being used to the full potential. Even if we are not musicians, we’ve likely heard the phrase “practice makes perfect,” but again, going back to college, one of my professors corrected this idea to “practice makes permanent,” which is an important concept to understand. In other words, we do what we practice – or not. Even the lack of practice can be-come a habit, or, to quote Rush: “If you choose not to decide, you’ve still made a choice.” Another concept I’ve learned more recently is “amateurs practice until they get it right, and profes-sionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.” To bring this discussion a little closer to the pro audio industry, sometimes there’s confusion between sound check and rehearsal. Much of it is on bands or artists – they

should know the difference and not abuse a sound check time slot by re-hearsing. Likewise, we need to know the differ-ence too, and approach sound check from a technical point of view. No question, we should endeavor to use the available time as efficiently as pos-sible.

The one area that I sometimes wonder about this is when 30 minutes are spent working on a kick drum sound. First, not only is the kick drum generally not the featured soloist, but it’s one of dozens or perhaps even hundreds of inputs that need attention during a sound check. If it was so critical, couldn’t the micro-phone and EQ have been chosen and worked out in advance – say, at the rehearsal space?

The Way Forward This brings me back to practice. Let’s look at some

ways that we can be more effi-cient, competent, and client-pleasing. First, we must know our gear in-side and out. Every menu, every obscure patch and plugin, and

every way that the matrix can route signals from one place to another. If we’re in the systems business, we must know the inrush, static and peak current de-mands, available amplifier power, gain structure, loud-speaker coverage specs, and time alignment parame-


No� one� wants� to� have� their� time�wasted� on� something� that� could� have�been�prevented�with�proper�preparation.�



ters for the system. And this is just a start. Manufacturers often go to great lengths to docu-ment these things so that users have access to the information in a readable, logical form. It’s often baf-fling to me, especially as a person working with a manufacturer, how many users just post their ques-tions on Facebook and hope to crowdsource an an-swer instead of pulling up the manual. Sure, it may result in a correct reply, but it’s a lazy way to do things and there’s also significant risk that many of those answering don’t know any more than we do. There may even be those that are dead set on their wrong information being equal to the gospel on high. House mix engineers need to have a good grasp on how to build a mix for the given situation. Perhaps this starts at home – one of the “old-timer” methods was to listen to the record and take notes about the mix: what effects are used? When do solos hap-pen? What’s the overall arrangements of instru-ments for every song? When I was studying audio, one of the instructors had us do this exercise at the beginning of every class. Sure, after hearing and mixing a given set hundreds of times, we can all probably memorize this stuff. But what about the first time? And I cau-tion everyone about thinking we can memorize this stuff without writing it down. Remember, that takes practice!

What If? Next is actually spending time on the gear itself out-side of rehearsal and sound check. About 20 years ago, when I was doing photography more seriously, this meant, the day before a shoot, taking everything out and looking it over, checking the batteries and bulbs, connecting everything, test-ing everything, and getting extra film, more batter-ies, a certain backdrop, another light stand, and so on. It also involved thinking through the process of what the shoot would entail, using the “what if” method – what if “x” happens, what if “y” happens, etc. The same applies to pro audio sound gigs. Prior to

every gig, drag out the toolkit, make sure that every-thing is accounted for and that it all works. (You might also remember to finally get that Leatherman you loaned to your buddy returned.) A really useful tool before setting up any system is to draw a block diagram and then make a list of gear that will be required to make it work. I can’t tell you how many times this was the phase where I discov-ered I was short a cable or two, or that the console didn’t have enough outputs. This is the time to make/source adapters and otherwise figure out a way to get the job done right. Of course there will always be unforeseen problems that catch us off guard. But if we’re as prepared as possible, these kinds of issues shouldn’t stop us, but instead merely have us scratching our heads for a minute before a solution can be found. Then come performance time, everything should just “click” and we can actually have fun without the stress of won-dering if some half-baked, last-minute fix will bring down the gig. At least, that’s the theory. And you know what they say: “In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they aren’t.”

PROPER PREP

(continued)


MAGIC CHORAL TRICK #377

WORKING THOSE

INTERCOSTALS by Janet Kidd

from betterchoirs.wordpress.com

A lthough this takes consistent reminding and practice, the payoff is a much richer, fuller and more blended sound.

While placing the hands over the bottom of your ribcage on either side, take in a long, slow, deep breath and feel the expansion. As you sing a note, press in slightly with the hands, and resist that pressure by holding the ribcage out – using your intercostal muscles to press outward. It’s not necessary to actually know anything about these muscles. The only thought that’s required is that you’re resisting the pressure from your hands. Once you have a sense of this, drop the hands and just focus on leaving the ribs expanded outward, as long as possible, as you sing. There’s also an additional bonus – and that is that when you begin a note with the ribcage expanded it’s much easier to start a vowel without a glottal bump.

CHAPTER QUARTETS

Facts Only

Brian Kerr, tenor Mark Graham, lead Mark Roblez, bari

John Alexander, bass

Slice!

Terry Ezell, tenor Eric Grimes, lead

Jason Dearing, bari Daniel Proctor, bass

On Point

Gavin Andrews, tenor Daniel Pesante, lead Timothy Keatley, bari

Alex Burney, bass

No Name Yet

? tenor ? lead ? bari ? bass


FREE SINGING TIPS by Mick Walsh

from a2z-singing-tips.com M. Music theory. When I began in Musical Theater back in London, it was imperative for singers to be able to sight sing. Nowadays, even on the top West End shows, singers learning new material are given CD’s with the songs already recorded . I think this is a little sad as it’s kill-ing a skill which is A) not that hard to learn and B) a definite advantage when learning new songs. You don’t have to be a Mozart so don’t be afraid to learn Music theory. It’s easier than you think.

FREE YOUR VOICE by John Newell, Lead, Realtime

from Let It Out ©2013 Used by permission

You must elevate your thinking to a different level. If you have been bumping against a glass ceiling, then trying a different coach, or a different approach and mindset, might just be better than remaining convinced that stick-ing to your old ways will eventually work. Open your mind to new ways of thinking. Clinging rigidly to core principles can sometimes hold you back. Get out of your comfort zone. Take a leap of faith. There is nothing to be feared by occasionally do-ing things differently. Sometimes we fail. Some-times we make a breakthrough. It is how we learn and grow. Never be afraid to start over with the basics. For some, like me, it can involve creating fundamental habits anew. Success may not happen until that occurs. Never close your mind and think you have mastered the basics. Like golfers, singers can de-velop problems and often must return to the funda-mentals to find solutions. Some golfers and sing-ers alike have remodeled their fundamental skills from scratch and changed their careers for the better. Be open to what you can learn from other styles of singing and music. After, good singing is good singing, regardless of the genre or style of music being sung. Good singing is freely produced with-out apparent effort, filled with honesty, and driven by passion. Good singing should involve a com-fortably open throat, refreshing diaphragmatic breathing (as opposed to physically rigorous), and as much relaxation of certain muscles as is practi-cal.

FREE SINGING TIPS by Yvonne DeBandi

from a2z-singing-tips.com M = Mirror. Training in front of a mirror can help a singer discover many things about their instrument, as well as confirm that other actions are being done correctly. Be sure to rely on a mirror during vocal training, but be able to leave the mirror to face an audience.

FREE SINGING TIPS by Nicole LeGault

from a2z-singing-tips.com

M is for Music. It is my opinion that a singer is only as good as the song that he/she is sing-ing. You must choose your material wisely; you would be surprised at how it alters peo-ple’s perception of your voice.

FREE SINGING TIPS by Teri Danz

from a2z-singing-tips.com

M = Mouth sounds -- Using mouth sounds such as a creek or a cry, give your voice more resonance and presence. In your chest voice, knowing how to use mouth sounds properly is critical -- especially in getting to record quality. Many singers mistakenly put their sound in their nose. Prac-tice putting the sound in your mouth by placing it all the way in your nose and then forcing the sound into your mouth. FEEL the difference. Your body can as-sist you with correct placement.

The�amateur�practices�until�he�gets�it�right.�

�The�professional�practices�until�he�cannot�get�it�wrong.�

�The�artist�practices�until�‘right’�and�‘wrong’�have�been�transcended.�


HOW TO KEEP YOUR COOL

BACKSTAGE BEFORE AUDI-

TIONS AND PERFORMANCES by Dr Noa Kageyama

from bulletproofmusician.com

F ootball is a very physical sport of course, but there is certainly a mental aspect to the game as well. Likely, you’ve seen

coaches use a strategy known as “icing the kicker.” This is where a coach will call a time-out, right as the kicker is about to attempt a field goal. In principle, the idea is to give them a chance to start overthinking things, and choke. Kind of devious, and it makes sense – even though the data suggests that it probably doesn’t work as well as the team would hope. I remember having a similar experience before one particular competition. I can’t remember if it was poor planning on my part, or if we were all supposed to check in at the same time, but I was at the hall with at least a couple hours to kill be-fore I was scheduled to play. I tried to pace myself, so I sat around for a bit and did a little visualization. I also did some scales, some stretching, and played through a few sec-tions. I felt like I was in a really good place, but then I looked at the time, and – a little like the warehouse scene in Spiderman Homecoming – was a little horrified to see how much time was left! And that’s when things started to go downhill. I figured I’d take my coat off. But then I got cold. I put it back on, but that made me antsy. So I took it off again, but then my hands started to get cold. So I kept them in my armpits. But that made them sweaty and sticky. So I went to the bathroom to wash them and warm them up. But they got cold again anyway. And then the butterflies kicked in. And I started worrying about memory. So I checked the score, and played through the sec-tion – but my intonation was all sketchy. Which made me start worrying about that…and on and on it went, until it was finally my turn to play – at which point, frankly, I was a little exhausted and mentally fried. Obviously, I didn’t use my wait time in the most

effective way. But what should I have done instead? How do the best athletes (or performers) keep their cool and manage their emotions during the inevitable wait before performances?

Table tennis? A team of German researchers recruited 310 competi-tive table tennis players to find out not just what specific emotion regulation strategies they relied on most often, but which ones were associated with the best perform-ances as well (Kubiak, Rother, & Egloff, 2019). But wait…what is emotion regulation, exactly?

Emotion regulation Emotion regulation is our ability to manage and re-spond to the emotions we feel at any given moment. Whether it’s dealing with rush-hour traffic with two pre-teens bickering loudly in the back seat about who hit who first, or managing your fear and insecurities while sitting next to an intimidating stand partner in an or-chestra you’re subbing in for the first time, life con-stantly presents us with situations that induce an emo-tional response. Most of the time, we probably manage these emotions without really thinking about it, and get on with our day just fine. But when it comes to the day of a big perform-ance, it may be more effective to approach emotion regulation a little more purposefully. So to learn how the most successful athletes handle pre-competition emotions, the researchers selected 10 specific emotion regulation strategies, and gave all 310 athletes a questionnaire to find out how often the ath-letes used these techniques when they felt the pre-match nerves kick in. The strategies included: 1. Physical preparation – like scales, long tones, or

perhaps even some stretching or yoga-like move-ment exercises to get warmed up.

2. Distraction – like visualizing best performances in the past or thinking about what you’ll do after the performance.

3. Reappraisal – like reinterpreting the performance as a challenge or growth opportunity, as opposed to a threat.

4. Positive self-talk – keeping the inner dialogue sup-portive and positive.




5. Planning – going through your performance plan, imagining how you’re going to start each piece, how you’ll recover from little slip-ups, etc.

6. Catastrophizing – worrying about memory slips, missing shifts, cracking notes, etc. (and yeah, not all of these strategies are helpful ones)

7. Self-blame – blaming yourself for not practicing more, how you shouldn’t have binge-watched all 5 seasons of Chuck because you got sucked down the Shazam rabbit hole, and so on. Basi-cally all of the “should have’s” that pop into your head after it’s too late to do anything about it.

8. Rumination – dwelling on your sweaty hands, your racing heart, the butterflies in your tummy, and how awful and uncomfortable that all feels.

9. Expressive suppression – trying to calm down or not feel the nerves.

10. Impression management – trying to act more confident than you feel, and change how you ap-pear to others.

So what strategies were used most often?

Most used strategies Well, for what it’s worth, impression management, positive self-talk, expressive suppression, and reap-praisal were the most frequently used strategies over-all. But that’s across everyone. What about the highest-performing athletes? Which strategies did they use?

Player rankings To find this out, the researchers looked up each player’s performance from the past season – most importantly, their official rankings prior to the start of the season, and their ranking at the end of the sea-son. These rankings were based on wins and losses of course, but they also factored in the ranking of their opponent. So winning a match against a higher-ranked player would increase one’s ranking more than winning against a lower-ranked player. And were there any trends?

Strategies used by the best players Yes. Among the players who were ranked highest at the end of the season, there was a significant positive

HOW TO KEEP YOUR COOL BACKSTAGE

(continued)

association between their ranking and the use of four strategies in particular: 1. physical preparation 2. positive self-talk 3. planning 4. impression management There was also a significant negative association with catastrophizing. Meaning, the higher their rank-ing, the less catastrophizing they tended to do.

Strategies used by the most improved players The researchers also looked at what strategies were associated with the players whose rankings im-proved the most over the course of the season. Like the best players, positive self-talk was a signifi-cant factor for these athletes too. Likewise, the most-improved players did less catastrophizing, self-blaming, and rumination as well.

Takeaways It’s important to note that this study doesn’t neces-sarily establish a cause-and-effect link between these emotion regulation strategies and perform-ance. Because maybe winning tends to influence the way you experience and manage emotions in subsequent matches, and not the other way around. Still, many of these strategies are often mentioned by athletes and top performers, and do come up regularly in the research, so they certainly seem worth experimenting with. How, specifically? 1. Well, if you haven’t done so already, consider

developing and practicing a short day-of-performance warmup routine. Something that you can use on a daily basis, but also works really well to help you loosen up and get con-nected with your instrument before perform-ances or auditions too.

2. Working on your self-talk is another helpful daily habit, where you practice keeping your inner dialogue optimistic, constructive, and positive under pressure. Not oblivious to imperfections and things in need of work of course, just pro-ductive.

3. Script out a visualization routine. Something that involves your personal performance highlights. So when you find your brain gravitating towards




worst-case scenarios, blaming yourself for not practicing more, or dwelling on how nervous you feel, you’ll have something more productive and performance-enhancing to redirect your attention to.

BARBERSHOP HISTORY

QUIZ 61 by Mark Axelrod

from probeweb.org The only father-son combo in society history to sing in first place international quartets consists of Harlan Wilson, baritone of our 1961 champs, the Suntones, and Todd Wilson, tenor of the 1990 champs, Acoustix. There were, however, many other intra-family champion duos. In each of the following five questions you will be given the name of a barbershop champion. There are more than five of these top prize winners whom I could have selected, but I specifically chose the ones I did because I feel they have the greatest name recognition. With reference to each, your answer must be in two parts. Part A: Specify how each person became a champion, i.e., as a singer or director, the name of his quartet or chorus, and the year in which he was in the winner's circle. Part B: Identify each person's champion relative, the name of that relative's quartet or chorus and the year in which each relative took the gold. Note carefully, dear students, while doing the heavy research to en-able you to ace this quiz, that I did not specify the relative's gender. 1 - Gene Cokecroft 2 - Brian Beck 3 - Buzz Haeger 4 - Gary Parker 5 - Jim Clancy

answers on page 16

HOW TO KEEP YOUR COOL BACKSTAGE

(continued) 33 MOST EFFECTIVE

SINGING TIPS

from how2improvesinging.com

#19 by Ben Harding

Feel Good, Sound Great

“This quick tip has literally changed the lives of my students because of the rapid and obvious improve-ment that comes out of it EVERY time. If singing feels good, it sounds great. When we sing, we like to listen to ourselves. We think about how we sound, and how we can make that sound better. And that’s actually a big problem because our ears lie to us. Have you ever listened to a recording of yourself singing or speaking? Sounded totally alien, right? So why would we use those lying ears to assess our vocal technique? Instead of worrying about how your voice sounds, focus on how it feels. If your voice feels good (meaning that it is increasingly relaxed and comfort-able) it will sound good. So instead of asking your-self, “how do I sound?” ask these two questions: Question #1: How does it feel? How DOES it feel when you sing that exercise, song, or high note? Question #2: How can I make it feel BETTER? What is one small thing you could tweak, relax, or move to make that exercise, song or note easier to produce? These two questions have made more positive change in my personal development than any other single question, tip, or exercise.” https://youtu.be/Up4MAcB6xKY


HOW CAN I DO A VOCAL

WARMUP IN PUBLIC

WITHOUT LOOKING CRAZY? by Arden Kaywin

from backstage.com Q: I’m having a lot of trouble finding a vocal warm-up I’m comfortable doing in public before an audition. I feel like such a weirdo doing vocal warm-ups on the crowded side-walk or subway, but there’s really no other place to prep before an audition. —@ProfessorMcGonagall, Backstage Community Fo-rum Don’t wait to warm up right before your audition. As you point out, there’s never a good space where you can actually let go and warm up freely and com-pletely, so you end up holding back, feeling self-conscious, rushed, and frazzled, and then take all that into the audition with you. Luckily, there’s a really easy solution: Whether it’s a singing or a speech warm-up, I suggest doing a ro-bust 30- to 60-minute warm-up and practice earlier in the day, when you’re home or somewhere you’re comfortable. You’ll be able to relax, concentrate on your technique, and bring present-moment mindful-ness to your craft, which is just as essential in ready-ing yourself for an audition as warming up your actual voice. Doing a warm-up this way—even if it’s several hours in advance of your audition—will help the voice main-tain a level of “warmed up” so that with a few lip trills and sirens up and down the expanse of your range right before the audition, you will feel back to being completely warmed up, in good voice, and ready to go. A word for those of you singers who don’t have a liv-ing situation conducive to warming up or practicing at home: Take a look around your immediate neighbor-hood for the closest church. Nearly every church has a choir room that sits empty most of the time. Ap-proach the church administrator or pastor, be super friendly, say that you’re a neighbor and love the sense of community their church brings to the neighborhood. Explain that you’re a singer and ask if it would be OK for you to warm up or practice in their choir room from time to time if it’s not being used, since you’re not able to practice in your apartment. If

you are willing to join their community or volunteer for them in exchange, even better! Suggest that as a swap. There’s always a solution!


QUARTET CORNER No news from the chapter quartets. What is YOUR quartet doing? Don’t have one? Find three other guys and start one! Can’t find a match? Drop me a line and I’ll run a list of guys looking to quartet up here in the bulletin. It’s one of those really fun things that you don’t fully under-stand until you’ve done it. It’s never too early to be thinking about Singing Val-entines. Quartets are always needed, officially formed or pickup. It’s only a few easy songs. Learning more than one voice part to these songs can help make you easier to fit into a quartet. Men who have indicated interest in forming quartets (entertain, compete, or both) include:

Don Hartsfield and Ken Moyer ...and hopefully more who haven’t contacted me yet.

CHAPTER MEMBER STATS

T he following are our current membership statistics: type active lapsed

Lifetime 50-Year 1 0 Lifetime Regular 0 0 Regular 31 4 Senior 50-Year 4 1 Senior Legacy 2 0 Senior 15 0 Youth 1st year 2 0 Youth 6 2 Total Membership 61 7

PAST DUE MEMBERS

T he following members are listed separately on the BHS website as past due or within two weeks of due. They will automatically be removed from the society roll at 180

days overdue.

Gavin Andrews Jason Boddie Ryan Henry Bob Lau Brian Moore Jeff Packer Robert Pucciariello Andrew Wohl

COMING DUE MEMBERS

T he following members are coming due in the next 60 days.

Alex Burney

Gregg Flowers Timothy Keatley Jan Stenback Ken Tureski


BOARD MINUTE SUMMARY The board did not meet in March. Board meetings will be scheduled as required. All members will be invited to attend.

BARBERSHOP HISTORY

ANSWERS 61 by Mark Axelrod

from probeweb.org Answers to this month's history/knowledge quiz: 1 - Gene sang with our 1961 championship quartet, the Suntones. His wife, Iris, sang with the 1967 Sweet Adelines quartet champs, the Hurricane Hon-eys. 2 - Brian was in the winner's circle with our 1973 quartet champs, the Dealer's Choice and once again with our 1983 champs, the Side Street Ramblers. His mother-in-law, (Bergen County's own) Renee Craig, sang with the 1957 Sweet Adelines quartet champs, the Cracker Jills; she also directed the Ramapo Val-ley Chorus to the Sweet Adelines top spot three times between 1979 and 1990. 3 - Buzz sang with our 1965 quartet champs, the Four Renegades. Phyllis Haeger, Buzz's sister, sang with the 1955 Sweet Adelines quartet champs, the Nota-Belles. 4 - Gary sang with our 1973 quartet champs, the Dealer's Choice. His wife, Ruth Ann, sang with the 1967 Sweet Adelines championship foursome, the Hurricane Honeys. 5 - Jim directed the Vocal Majority to the society's top position in chorus competition 11 times between 1975 and 2006. Jim's wife, Judy, sang with the 1987 Sweet Adelines quartet champions, Ginger 'N' Jazz.

Here’s a simple way to financially support the Big Orange Chorus, at no cost to you! If you shop on amazon.com you can sign up for the amazonsmile program, and designate the Big O as your charity of choice. Then anytime you make a purchase on amazon (smile), they make a donation to us! No cost to you, and a donation to us: win win! To sign up, visit smile.amazon.com/ch/59-1981228 and sign in to your amazon account. From then on, any amazon (smile) purchase you make will help the Big O. Thanks in advance!!

Here’s a simple way to financially support the Big Orange Chorus, at no cost to you! If you shop at any of the more than 400 merchants or like to purchase eGift Cards, FlipGive will give us back from 1% to 20%, depending on the mer-chant. To sign up, visit https://www.flipgive.com/f/570688 and start shopping. Thanks in advance!!


REHEARSAL SCHEDULE

Thu 04 Apr Shepherd of the Woods Thu 11 Apr Shepherd of the Woods Thu 18 Apr Shepherd of the Woods Thu 25 Apr Shepherd of the Woods Thu 02 May Shepherd of the Woods Thu 09 May Shepherd of the Woods Sat 11 May Mt Pleasant SC Thu 16 May Shepherd of the Woods Thu 23 May Shepherd of the Woods Thu 30 May Shepherd of the Woods

BIRTHDAYS Wyatt Ledford 09 Apr Ken Mull 15 Apr Paul Stiles 15 Apr Dave Scott 17 Apr Jason Dearing 20 Apr Steve Cragg 27 Apr Howdy Russell 28 Apr

NEWEST MEMBERS David Scott Feb Seth Brewer Jan Collin Clark Nov Cyrus Dillinger Aug Wyatt Ledford Jun

RECENT GUESTS Bob Ice Charlie Young Barry Flynn Pat Eimers Juan Stegmann Grant Gladden Ted Louckos Shamus McIver Matt Watts Jake Stonecypher Josh Sanders Matt Setor David Pesante Pat Glenn Dale Pratt Cary Quick John Kerr Bruce Allison Jeff Verhoot Juan Stegman Mike Pruitt William Watts James Matti Paul Williams James Langford Steve Woodbeck Joe Plumlee Keyton Rentz Erik Petroni Jerald Carter Steve Moody Winkie DeLoach Wyatt Ledford Robert Hall Tom Frutchey Wayne Futon Rodney Herlong Dillon Tidwell Tom Rooney Hunter Stanford

WELCOME

{ Big O Buck$ }

BIG O BUCKS SCHEDULE Sat 13 Apr Kenny Chesney Wed 24 Apr Rolling Stones Thu 25 Apr NFL Draft Party Mon 06 May Bryan Adams Thu 09 May Greta Van Fleet Sun 12 May Bob Seger Sat 01 Jun Lionel Ritchie Fri 28 Jun Tideschi Trucks Band Sat 06 Jul Rob Thomas Tue 09 Jul Train and Goo Goo Dolls Fri 02 Aug Why Don’t We Sun 04 Aug Dirty Heads Wed 07 Aug Moe & The Blues Traveller Fri 16 Aug Brad Paisley Sun 18 Aug Bush & Live Sat 24 Aug Pentatonix Wed 04 Sep Peter Frampton Thu 03 Oct Zac Brown Band ...more to come See Mike Sobolewski to help fund your experience

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE Sun 02 Jun Annual Spring Show Fri 05 Jul International Contest Thu 08 Aug Jumbo Shrimp Sat 26 Oct Sunshine District Contest Sat 14 Dec Christmas Show


EDITOR’S NOTE Article and column submissions are solicited. Help make this a better bulletin. Send me stuff! The deadline for May is 26 April. Items without a byline are from the Editor. The Orange Spiel John Alexander, Editor 2429 Southern Links Dr Fleming Island FL 32003 Back issues are available online at: www.bigorangechorus.com/newsarchive.htm More specific and timely performance information is in my weekly sheet, Orange Zest.

2019 DIRECTING TEAM

Jay Giallombardo Front Line Director

Chuck Griffith Director Emeritus

2019 OTHER CHAPTER LEADERS

Dave Walker Uniform Manager

Jason Dearing Chorus

Manager

Frank Nosalek Webmaster Technology

Mike Sobolewski Big O Bucks Coordinator

John Alexander Bulletin Editor

Rick Morin Big O Bucks Bookkeeper

George Gipp Associate Director

Print off two copies of this newsletter to share - one with your family and one with someone you are bringing to a chapter meeting. Let them know they

belong here!


2019 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Terry Ezell

President

Daniel Proctor

VP Membership

Gregg Flowers Chapter Treasurer

Mike Sobolewski Secretary

Jay Giallombardo

Director

Brian Kerr Immediate

Past President

2019 MUSIC TEAM

John Alexander VP Music

Mike Sobolewski Presentation Coordinator

George Gipp Associate Director

Imagine 80 men on the risers

Be a singer-bringer

Daniel Proctor Bass

Sec Ldr

Daniel Proctor Learning Materials

Coordinator

Steve Mullens Lead

Sec Ldr

Brian Kerr Tenor

Sec Ldr

Rick Morin Finance

Chairman

Robert Reeves

VP Marketing/PR

John Alexander VP Music

Jay Giallombardo Front Line Director

George Cipp Bari

Sec Ldr

Jason Dearing Executive

VP

Daniel Pesante Lead

Asst Sec Ldr

Tim Keatley Bari

Asst Sec Ldr

Alex Burney Bass

Asst Sec Ldr

John Alexander, Editor

2429 Southern Links Dr

Orange Park FL 32003

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