GNU’s News October 29, 2009 Volume 14 Issue #3 GNU 2009 Land O‟ Lakes District Chorus Champs! The Mayo Civic Center in Rochester was the site of Land O' Lakes District The Great Northern Union’s Land O’ Lakes District Chorus Finals: Rochester, Minnesota competition victory. The eighty-man chorus scored 1065 out of a possible 1200 points to post an average October 24, 2009 1 Hilltop, MN Great Northern Union 88.8 score of 88.8. Midwest Vocal Express of Greendale, 2 Greendale, WI Midwest Vocal Express 82.5 Wisconsin finished second in the competition with 3 Minneapolis, MN Commodores 78.5 an average score of 82.5. A total of nineteen 4 Fargo-Moorhead, ND Great Plains Harmony 74.9 choruses competed. 5 West Allis, WI Heart of Harmony Chorus 67.6 6 Appleton, WI Fox Valleyaires Chorus 66.9 7 Stevens Point, WI Northern Gateway Chorus 65.6 8 St Croix Valley, MN Croix Chordsmen Chorus 64.5 9 Mankato, MN Riverblenders 64.3 10 Oshkosh, WI Winnebagoland 64.2 11 Polk County, WI Indianhead Chorus 62.8 11 Racine, WI Racine Dairy Statesmen 62.8 13 Greater St Paul Area, MN North Star Chorus 62.0 14 Plymouth, WI Hometown Harmony Tradition 61.8 15 Willmar, MN West Central Connection 60.3 16 Winnipeg, MB Golden Chordsmen 59.9 17 La Crosse, WI Coulee Chordsmen 58.8 18 Manitowoc, WI Clipper City Chordsmen 58.2 18 Albert Lea, MN Harmony Junction 58.2 1 Top Ten District Expedition Wins Chorus Scores 2009 the 2009 District Finals: 1 Expedition 75.2 1. Vocal Majority, Dallas 2 Engage 72.6 Quartet Title! 3 CounterPoint 71.6 Metro, TX 94.9 4 Sound Image 70.7 2. The Westminster 5 The Cheery-O's 70.4 Chorus, Westminster, 6 Quantum 67.9 In the quartet competition, Expedition was 7 Perfect Timing 66.3 CA 92.4 8 3 Men Of Song 65.9 3. Sound of the Rockies, crowned 2009 District Champion with an 9 Notorious 65.1 Denver Mile High, CO average score of 75.2. Quartet members are Jeremy Ganswindt, Jay Fahl, Bryan Ziegler, 89.8 and Jake Umhoefer. Engage was runner-up 4. Great Northern Union, with a 72.6. A total of nineteen quartets Hilltop, MN 88.8 performed some great music during the two-rounds of competition. The Alliance, Greater Central Ohio, OH 88.8 In This Issue: 6. The Northern Lights, Toronto, District Results-page 1-2; ON 88.3 Director‟s Corner-page 3-4; Expedition 7. Alexandria Harmonizers, Alexandria, VA 87.5 Autumn Choral Classic-page 5-6; 8. Music City Chorus, Nashville, The Singing Judge-page 6-7; TN 83.9 Joe Connelly-page 7 9. Circle City Sound, Greater Indianapolis, IN 81.6 Twins Sings-page 7-9; 10. Central Standard, Metro New Member Profile-page 9-10; Kansas City, MO 81.5 Season Finale Nov. 21-page 11-12 Great Northern Union More District Photos-page 12-13; Quartets-page 15 2 Great Northern Union-Officers & Directors Director‟s Tom Semple – President Corner Bob Dowma – Treasurer by Peter Roger Wambheim – Secretary Benson Ken Slinde – VP-Membership P-R-I-D-E comes from your Personal Responsibility In Wal ly Brink – VP-Marketing & Public Developing Excellence. Relations, Project Manager This article will outline Pete‟s “State of the GN- Gary Little – Chapter Chorus Manager Union Address” given on Oct. 29, 2009 Luke Norell – Member at Large Recap 3 year plan o What did we do? Why did we do it? Scott Kvigne – Member at Large, Assistant How did it work? Music Director . 20 yrs/Periodic Jay Fahl – Member at Large Medals/Caught in a cycle hoping to get better Brent Buresh – VP-Music & Performance . Review of 5 M‟s . Decision to sit out of Int‟l Bill Lydecker – Immediate Past President competition in 07 & 08. Marty Monson – VP-Chapter Development My personal commitment to winning a gold medal with GNU Ken Gilmore – Member at Large o Ideas about how to do that o GNU’s News is an official publication of the It takes more than just working harder each year and trying a little Hilltop Chapter, 10,000 Lakes Division, LOL rd District, of the Barbershop Harmony Society. harder. We did not achieve 3 place Bulletin material may be contributed by chapter this year, by just trying harder. members, copied from Society Publications, or o Strategy. Our accomplishment was may be borrowed from other chapter bulletins. due to many calculated strategies. All articles will be credited to the author. Articles not carrying a by-line have been written by the Factors that led to our success in 2009 editor, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions o Many Exciting Performing of the officers of this chapter. Opportunities Terry Wheeler, editor . Recognition in our own e-mail: [email protected] backyard! Home Phone: 507-662-5166 . NC-ACDA Convention Cell: 605-321-1607 . Mini Tours . Amazing Collaborations GNU’s News October 29, 2009 (St. Olaf, Luther, 3 . TC-Gospel, St. Johns, The What can we learn from past Singers) success/failure? o Mystique Proposal for Upcoming International . BHS: What‟s going on with Contests. the GNU? Where are they? o Continue to be perennial LOL o Great material (contest District Champions! arrangements) o Set our sights on Kansas City 2010 o District Score (Int‟l Seeding) – Forego Philadelphia Int‟l o Ample time to develop uptune! o Gives us a chance to grow . Had the opportunity to work o Explanation of custom arrangement PYAAMH for over 18 process months o Added Mystique Factor . Incidentally, the same was true for Midnight Choo Plans for the future!! (Your help needed) Choo, the last time we o New uptune Dec/Jan. (plan to sing earned a medal in 2005. at District next fall) . We continued to increase o Try to get ahead with arrangements other repertoire and do more for following year (discuss hurdles) performing as well. o CD Release (Early 2010) o Excellent Contest Material o Repertoire Development (PYAAMH, BIOMY, MBY) . Discuss need to turn over o Numbers more rep for Season Ticket . We had an additional 20 Audience and ourselves! men on the risers (86) from . Work for higher standards the previous contest (66). of learning among all . Do you have to be big to be singers good? No, but you have to o Comprehensive programs for vocal be big to win! Statistically, techniques (specifically word you either need to be 120+ sounds) or have an average age of o Radical scientific riser placement under 30 to win. This strategies cannot be overlooked. We o Membership Growth/Retention must grow in order to win. Teams o Great leadership, coaching, and 2010 Highlights (partial list) smart working. o 6th Annual Collegiate w/ The . Not just belief, but belief Singing Statesmen from UW Eau with action and measured Claire and „09 BHS Collegiate success. Champs The Vagrants . It‟s not the will to win that o 2010 Tour to Luther College & SE matters, it‟s the will to MN prepare to win. How are we o 2010 Season Finale with StormFront preparing to win? What is our goal in International Contests? 4 three composers-in-residence, Abbie Betinis, Jocelyn Hagen, and Joshua Shank. The Singers is directed by Matthew Culloton. The eighty-five member Great Northern Union Chorus has earned the right to be considered as one of North America‟s elite men‟s a cappella choruses. Since their inception in the mid-1980‟s, the Great Northern Union‟s emphasis on excellence in The Singers Join the GNU in performance has resulted in numerous Concert (from www.gnunion.com) medalist performances. Competing against the “best of the best” that the It was a great collaboration when Barbershop Harmony Society has to The Singers and the GNU joined offer, the GNU has earned numerous together in concert in Bloomington “Top Ten in the World” placements by Wally Brink over the years. In July 2009, the GNU competed in the International The Great Northern Union Chorus Barbershop Harmony Chorus (GNU) presented an Autumn Choral Competition in Anaheim, CA and Classic concert with Twin Cities earned a third place bronze medal out ensemble The Singers. This was the of hundreds of competing choruses first ever collaboration concert worldwide. The GNU is directed by between the two music groups. Peter Benson. The concert event was held Saturday, Joining the concert was Hopkins High September 26, 2009, at St. Michael‟s School student ensembles GEOFF and Lutheran Church in Bloomington. Midori. It was a unique collaboration with the Founded in 2004, The Singers perfect interpretation of The Singers organization is dedicated to giving and the high impact medalist world-class performances of the finest harmonies of the GNU! choral literature. The Singers exist to serve as artists, educators, and ambassadors of the choral art form. Dedicated to the work of today's composers, The Singers has premiered and commissioned nearly forty new works since its founding. The ensemble has been honored to debut works by Stephen Paulus, Eleanor Daley, Craig Carnahan, as well as from 5 From the Singing Judge by Jim Emery Oo-ay-err Fer-uh-mm Hee-err? By the time you read this, we will have finished our LOL District competition and be working hard preparing for our concert series finale. We should have successfully defended our LOL chorus championship and be looking ahead to how to take ourselves to an even higher level in 2010. Before we do that, we must thank our talented musical leadership led so ably by director Pete Benson.