 October and November have been busy, busy months here at Vista Hills Chorus HQ. We bid our dual members Cherie, Debra, Denise, Diane, Melanie, and Sue the very best of luck and love as they took International stage and they gave two spellbinding performances, bringing home lovely seventh place medals that we continue to admire. They really do inspire us, and we could not be prouder of all of our friends who crossed International stage this year.
One very short week later, we had our first all-day rehearsal with Melanie and "busy" doesn't begin to describe it. Setup crew showed up at 8 with caffeine in hand and at 830, we all got started on our Mission: Retention challenge for November, a neat exercise about recognizing each others' strengths and contributions. This was a great way to start our day on a positive note and with a little bit of good cheer, energy that was put to good use as we worked on our contest music and learned about Visual Communication from Ann Grannan and Jan Pruett. Over lunch, we did some talking about the chorus image and mission statement; we even had some creative ideas going for a potential new logo. This has been a particularly interesting project for our chorus as we learn and grow under our new musical leadership and start to establish ourselves within our community. After lunch, Jan got us all moving with a new choreo plan for one of our favorite songs, a hybrid plan built on what Jennifer put together with a little bit of updated flair. With all of that going on, you might think we had enough moving pieces for one day. But wait, there's more! We had to add just a little bit of extra shine to our day by announcing the holiday show theme and doing a full read of our script with emcee Nilene Thompson-Finn and a surprise character played by yours truly (for now). This year has been a wild ride and we will continue to work hard as we prepare for our holiday show on December 14th. Of course, we owe a great big shout-out to our very own Melanie Jewell, who shows us every week what it means to lead with grace and enthusiasm. Thank you, Mel!
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Have you ever tried to throw a surprise party for your longest standing member, who also happens to be your current Team Coordinator? And in my case, my grandmother? It’s not an easy thing to do! But in true VHC style, we did it. Mrs. Gloria Ives celebrated forty years with the chorus and made it known she wanted a party, so we threw a party – a tea party (a for-tea (40) year anniversary party). Friends from around the region gathered to celebrate her remarkable dedication and contributions. She recounted stories and experiences involving directors, competitions, and the near collapse of the chapter, tracing back to 1984. She highlighted the journey through different leaderships and celebrated the remarkable growth we've achieved in recent years.
It takes people with Gloria’s dedication to build and lead the chorus, just as much as it takes new singers. Gloria currently serves as our Team Coordinator and Tenor Section Leader and has sung bass, lead and tenor. She is a driving force behind getting our name out into the public and bringing new people in. Thank you Gloria, for your many years of dedicated service to the Vista Hills Chorus. As we mentioned above, Vista Hills is growing in number and skill. We have welcomed three new members (Connie, Sandy, and Liz) in the past few months and have been enjoying the challenge of singing in quartets and small groups to polish our music, learn independence, and develop confidence. We are very excited about these developments (and the opportunity to party) and we’re looking forward to continued growth. To our friends and dual members who will be competing on the International stage in just a few weeks: We love you and wish you the best of luck!
2024 has been a year of rapid and exciting change for the Vista Hills Chorus. In April, we competed under Denise's direction and shortly thereafter, said farewell to her as she relocated to Boston. Denise was with Vista Hills for six years and we are ever so grateful to have had her as our director.
In May, we met Melanie Jewell and in June, she became our new director. Melanie has extensive experience in various musical capacities, including a degree in Music Therapy from Shenandoah University. With ten years' experience as a Sweet Adeline, four choruses and four quartets under her belt, and being an active participant in the Women's Harmony Brigade for six years, we're confident she has the background and experience we need for this next part of our journey. In August, we promoted two incredibly talented individuals, Diane Thornewell (Lead) and Joan Baird (Bass) to Section Leaders, and had our very first performance under Mel's direction at Solo Voce's fifth annual Music on the Porch Day. We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to debut two new songs, several new members and a new director with our friends around the region. And the fun certainly doesn't stop there! As we begin to settle into September we have show meetings for our December 14th show, Management Team meetings, and a couple new members auditioning. There's even been rumor of new competition music in the works, which is always an exciting development. Oh - and did we mention Kim Vaughn's class, The Golden Touch, which took place on September 14 at our rehearsal venue in Encinitas? Several of our members attended to learn more about what it takes to be out front. It seems no matter where we look, we find opportunities for growth and change. We're excited for the coming year, and look forward to the adventures ahead.  Our chorus has been fortunate enough to work with and be directed by Denise Brinkerhoff for almost six years. She has now moved across the country, but before doing so, she introduced us to a fellow Sweet Adeline named Melanie Jewell. Melanie brings enthusiasm and wit and we are so excited to have her in front of us.
Melanie was born into a musical family and has been singing her entire life. She graduated with honors from Shenandoah University with a degree in Music Therapy. With over 25 years of experience, Melanie has served in various leadership roles, including Lead Musician, Interim Music Director, and Music Director, and has directed numerous adult and children’s choruses. For the past ten years, Melanie has been an active member of Sweet Adelines, participating in four different choruses, four quartets, and attending the Women’s Harmony Brigade for six years. She is thrilled to combine her love for directing with her passion for barbershop as the Director of Vista Hills Chorus.  While February was a bit rough around the edges for VHC (we see you, cold and flu season!) we are eager to have everyone happy, healthy, and back on the risers - and just in time, too! This month, the Vista Hills Chorus is thrilled to be working with the woman, the myth, the legend - Kim Vaughn! Kim and her Cute Husband joined us Tuesday the fifth and took us through a myriad of exercises that challenged our precision and understanding of the relationship between parts, and left us with many, many "doot" exercises. We followed that up with a two day retreat, working and reworking the intricacies of the changes and further developing our competition package.
Speaking of competition, we want to wish our regional siblings love and the very best of luck when they take the stage in April! We want to give a special shout out to Nick of Time, our director's quartet, and San Diego, with whom we share several hardworking members. The Vista Hills Chorus has had a busy singing season, with four sing-outs around the community, a holiday show, and a holiday party to attend. We are pleased as Christmas punch to report that our holiday show was our biggest show in recent memory and that energy and support carried us through to the new year! We are excited to be getting back on the risers as of January 9th, and are committing to putting that same energy into our contest package.
On January 6th, we were thrilled to have almost half of the chorus represented at Club 21's Quartet Matching Day, including our chapter quartet! The techniques and information shared by the very talented faculty of Solo Voce, Bonnie McKibbon, Pam Pieson, and Kim Vaughn - not to mention the quartets and singers being matched! - will be invaluable in the coming months.  The Vista Hills Chorus is back at it with creative goodness and growth! Our goals for the 2023/2024 year are to continue to hone our vocal production skills and hold ourselves to a higher standard: to learn our music more efficiently, to train our voices more thoroughly, to further our individual and collective education as it relates to barbershop music - you know... this hobby that we all know and love!
To that end, we hosted a very successful guest night. With advertising both online and in physical print, as well as an interview with a local paper, we had an amazing turnout of 10 guests! We taught some tags, had some cookies, and shared our love of barbershop music with our new friends. As of the end of September, we have three new members and two of them came from that night. Say hello to our new Lead, Lola, and our two new Baritones, Kathryn and Kelley! Special shout out to former member, Judy (singing Lead) who is visiting for the holiday season! On the other end of the spectrum and in the interest of continued personal growth, two of our longest standing members have swapped parts: Gloria has moved (back) to Tenor and Jennifer has moved to Bass. We are all enjoying the new challenges this puts in front of us and look forward to sharing our efforts with our regional friends very soon.  Caroling, caroling, through the town, Christmas bells are ringing! Caroling, caroling, up and down, Christmas bells are ringing! So what if it's only September?
The Vista Hills Chorus is getting a head start on seasonal music, and we want YOU to sing with us! If you're ready to put your voice out there, learn a few fun songs, and have the time of your life this wintery season, come check us out on Tuesday! 926 Second Street / Encinitas, CA 92024 | 7:00 p.m. Vista Hills Chorus is so proud of Linda, Grace, Leela, Debra, Jennifer, Kaidee, Gloria, and Alicia! Tonight, these 8 ladies stepped out of their comfort zone and onto the stage at Summer Regional to compete in their first double quartet contest. All their hard work and extra rehearsals paid off because they earned second place! #tbd |
