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Celebrating Harmony
Reflections on the end of one year and beginning of the next
By Gaye LaCasce, International President
As the final few days of 2024 speed by, I'm inclined to make this column short and sweet. Regardless of which holidays you celebrate (or whether you celebrate at all!) everyone recognizes the year's end and the beginning of the new year. Resolutions? Maybe. The effort to write the correct year on your checks? Certainly. A recognition that the days are getting longer? Yay! The fact that Harmony's spring contests are approaching? Hooray!
I've completed one year as your International President, and I don't need a New Year's resolution to promise my continued work and transparency on your behalf. I also don't need the calendar to reflect "2025" to thank my colleagues on the Board - those continuing and those joining - as well as every volunteer who does a job that makes Harmony run so successfully. With apologies for paraphrasing Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol, I thank them, every one!
May your holidays and the new year be full of music for us all! |
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NEW VOLUNTEER POSITIONS
Seeking volunteer for new Marketing Team Manager position
Harmony, Inc. is seeking a Marketing Team Manager. This volunteer position reports to the Executive Director and oversees the operations of the Marketing & Communications Team.
The ideal candidate has experience in project management and is capable of creating and executing marketing plans from start to finish. This individual will work closely with the Marketing & Communications Team, coordinating efforts among team members to create and present compelling, informative campaigns highlighting Harmony and its members and programs. The role will likely require an average of 5-10 hours of work per week.
If you’re interested in learning more, please contact Executive Director Kelly Peterson.
SEEKING Facilitator Program Coordinator
Harmony, Inc. has identified the need for a Facilitator Program Coordinator. As we continue to achieve the strategic goals outlined in Harmony, Stronger, 2023, it is time to develop a team of facilitators to help our Councils, Committees, and Teams meet their strategic goals.
The Facilitator Program Coordinator will be responsible for recruiting and managing a team of facilitators. The individual works to recruit HI members with previous facilitation skills and experience and/or individuals who are interested in developing these skills. Our Strategic Advisor will support the coordinator as they recruit and match facilitators with program needs. The plan is to start slowly and incrementally building the program, meeting priority needs as they arise.
For more information about this exciting opportunity contact Linda McMaster, Strategic Advisor.
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 Thank You!
By Shannon Shelton-Mueller, IC&C Marketing Assistant |
The Convention Team extends heartfelt gratitude to the 77 dedicated volunteers who collectively contributed over five hundred hours at our Louisville convention. Your commitment and efforts behind the scenes ensured a successful experience for both contestants and audiences.
A special shout-out goes to our Super-Volunteers: Patricia Cassidy, Linda Muise, Nancy Arkin, Marlene Snook, and Gidget Kaert. These incredible women dedicated over 19 hours, each, volunteering at IC&C.
We hope you all enjoyed the experience and look forward to seeing you in Hershey in 2025! |
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Harmony, Inc. choruses participate in global singing event
By Teri Allred, PR Coordinator
Each year on the third Saturday in October, people all over the world gather in groups of all sizes in schools, pubs, parks, shopping malls, and homes to sing and celebrate our common humanity by singing together on World Singing Day (WSD).
This year Harmony, Inc. choruses Harmony Heritage, Montreal City Voices, and Silk’n Sounds sponsored events as part of this global singing event. “It was such an amazing experience; so many people, in so little time, uniting in harmony! It doesn’t get any better!” said Gail Chartier, Montreal City Voices President and Interim Director.
Let’s go behind the scenes and learn more about WSD from Kate Stoddard from Silk’n Sounds, Gail Chartier, and Shelly Pray from Harmony Heritage.
Kate tells us Silk’n Sounds’ performance drew more than 100 guests to the First Church Congregational in Fairfield, Connecticut, well-known for its fantastic acoustics. The program themes were peace, community, and of course, harmony.
Gail Chartier shares, “It was an amazing experience that exceeded our expectations! We had 127 people, from all walks of life and ages participate.”
Shelly Pray extolls, “WSD was a wonderful experience for Harmony Heritage!”
Now, the details
PR: What inspired you to be part of WSD?
KS: Like most initiatives undertaken by Harmony, Inc. chapters, their celebration of World Singing Day (WSD) was initiated and developed by chorus volunteers with the enthusiastic support of our director, Kia Lampe-Onnerud. A chorus member learned about WSD and shared its mission to serve as a “catalyst for positive human interaction through shared love of music”. We were inspired to join in!
GC: We wanted to try something completely different and be a part of a world event. After seeing an ad on a Facebook feed around May, we thought that this would be a wonderful initiative for our small, but mighty chorus to bring together people of all ages and backgrounds musically. We also thought it would be a great opportunity for recruitment and convince people to join this wonderful hobby of ours. What could be better than having a community event that involved one of our favorite things to do?”
SP: A couple of years ago, a good friend and one of Harmony Heritage's coaches, Gail Jencik, was working with a few choruses in New Zealand and Australia. She came back talking about this "really cool event" she was there for. I stored it in my tiny memory bank and this June while trying to come up with some ideas that Harmony Heritage could do to attract attention (the good kind of attention) and add to our email database, I read about World Singing Day. The more I read, I realized that this was the "really cool event" that Gail had told me about.
PR: What was your favorite thing about participating in WSD?
KS: The most powerful moment came at the conclusion of the program when we sang, We Are the World. The chorus fanned out into the audience, as everyone stood and sang together. It was a truly moving experience for all.
GC: For most of us it was being able to bring the community together, making new friends, and singing our hearts out. Seeing people's faces all lit up as they sang with such a diverse group of people joining together to sing the mash-up of the 2024 WSD song of the Year, We are the World/Imagine was absolutely priceless. On top of all this, having the crowd open to do anything that was planned for them, such as singing in rounds and line dancing while they sang, to name a few.
SP: Harmony Heritage chorus members had absolutely no idea what to expect, it was SO exciting the day of the event when more and more people kept showing up!
PR: Any plans for participating in next year’s WSD?
SP: “ABSOLUTELY!”
KS: the experience was fun, and meaningful, and introduced a new audience to the joys of four-part harmony sung a cappella.
GC: MCV would love to host this event, again and hopefully can take it up a notch with even more participants. After all, the sky’s the limit when it comes to people who love to sing, join together as a community.
PR: What advice would you give to someone who’s thinking about participating in WSD? |
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| Silk’n Sounds members enthusiastically say, “Go for it!” to any chorus considering participating in WSD! It’s a wonderful opportunity to promote your chorus’ visibility, engage new audiences, and share the beautiful music you make together. |
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Montreal City Voices brought together 127 people at a community event.
Gail exclaims “Do it!!!” Start planning this song-filled afternoon early and make it an event filled with different activities for an audience of all ages! Find a venue to host it in. Invite other choruses or choirs in your area to join in. Advertise on Social Media. Plan the afternoon whether it be for 30 minutes or up to no more than 90 minutes! |
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Harmony Heritage started early developing a publicity campaign to spark paticipation in their mall singing event.
Shelly’s advice is “Start early! Once the chorus voted "give it a go" in June, I began searching for and securing a venue. We used a mall, which was perfect! We registered our event on the World Singing Organization website (they are so helpful!).
"Our wonderful publicist developed a publicity plan. Each month beginning in July, we ran articles in every free electronic and printed newspaper in our area including a catchy colored flyer with contact information. I answered each email and telephone call and sent an attachment of the printed chart and learning track of the World Singing Day Song of the Year provided by WSD and then added each person's contact information to our database.
“Our director, Bob O'Connell, set aside a short amount of time at rehearsal (we were preparing for Louisville!), so we could become familiar and confident with WSD Song of the Year and planned for a PA System (never crossed my mind!).
"Some members felt we should offer more singing time to participants, as a result, word sheets and music tracks to six familiar sing-along tunes were used. Harmony Heritage's World Singing Event was MUCH larger than we anticipated but was HUGELY successful because of the commitment of this hard-working team and is already on our calendar for next year!”
The rest of the story
We are happy to share performance clips with you: World Singing Day with Harmony Heritage and Silk'n Sounds - We Are The World.
Not only did our HI choruses represent our organization beautifully on WSD, but we are also delighted to see Harmony Heritage and Montreal City Voices included in the 2024 Official WSD Video posted to social media! Click here to view on YouTube.
Thank you so much to Gail Chartier, Kate Stoddard, and Shelly Pray for sharing their World Singing Day experiences!
World Singing Day 2025 is scheduled for October 18, 2025. Whether it's a small event like your quartet rehearsal day or singing for shoppers at the mall start thinking about how you can be a part of this amazing global singing event.
Learn more about WSD here. |
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| Sue Trenchard Award Nominations |
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Nominations for SUE TRENCHARD AWARD open
By Debbi Durfey, Quartet Development Co-Coordinator
The Sue Trenchard Award is given each year to a registered Harmony quartet that demonstrates service to Harmony, Inc., the chapter, and the community in remembrance of Sue who was a remarkably compassionate and giving person. It is not intended that this should be an award only for those who have reached high rank in competition, although such achievement would not disqualify a quartet from consideration. Rather, it is for the unselfish giving of time and energies of the quartet members and their quartet as a group who are, through actions rather than words, living Harmony's “Blend with Friendship”.
Please think about all the deserving quartets out there that give their time and dedication to Harmony, Inc. and their communities, and consider submitting your nomination for this award. To nominate please submit FORM HAR-136 no later than June 30, 2025. If you have any questions, please contact the Quartet Development Coordinator.
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| Corporate Office Words of Wisdom |
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Did you know you can update your Mailchimp preferences? Instead of unsubscribing, which removes you from all the mailings (HI Note, HIVE etc.), you can change your preferences to select which items you would like to receive. At the bottom of this HI Note you will see (in very small print) [update your preferences] or [unsubscribe from this list]. To make sure you don't miss out on an article/news that is important to you we suggest you update your preferences instead of unsubscribing.
Canada Post Strike
As you may have heard Canadian Postal workers have now been mandated back to work. In an effort not to lose any of the new member packages, we will be holding off mailing them until the first of the year in hopes that Canada Post has cleared their backlog.
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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 providing a monetary gift to Harmony, Inc.
?
Teri Allred
Belinda Thompson
Mary Ann Wert in memory of Chuck Wert
Rochester Rhapsody
Hazel Alexander
Anonymous in memory of Linda Janes
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| Condolences From The Membership |
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- to Susie Slavney (St. Louis Vocal Project, Area 4) on the death of her father
Need to post a condolence notice? Please have the information sent to the Administrative Coordinator to be recorded. Thank you. |
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The Contest Information Form for AC&C will be available on line beginning on or before the first week of January.
Note there has been a change for the Song Registration Form deadline from 2 weeks prior to contest to 30 days prior to contest. |
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| International Conventions & Contests |
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2025 NOVEMBER 5-8, HERSHEY LODGE, HERSHEY, PA
2026 NOVEMBER 11-14, GALT HOUSE, LOUISVILLE, KY
2027 NOVEMBER 10-13, NIAGARA FALLS CONVENTION CENTER, NIAGARA FALLS, ON
2028 NOVEMBER 1-4, HERSHEY LODGE, HERSHEY, PA
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The next issue of the HI Note comes to your inbox January 5. What would you like to see covered in our pages? Drop a line to editor@harmonyinc.org and we'll tell the world. Next deadline is December 28.
See you again, soon!
Copyright © 2024 Harmony, Inc., All rights reserved.
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