Hello from the Vista Hills Chorus! We have much to celebrate this month and we are - as ever - excited to share all of that with our friends across #R21derful!  

This month saw the launch of our Sing for the Holidays program, a six-week program inviting members of the community to get a taste of chorus life: “Come to rehearsal, learn some new music, make some friends, and sing on our holiday show”. We have had five guests in the first few weeks of the campaign, and four have stayed - which is super cool! We are thrilled to share the stage with them on December 7th for our joint holiday show with the California Note Catchers.  

In the spirit of community outreach, four of our members (Alicia, Ann, Leela, and Lola) attended MiraCosta's One Day Choir event, singing under the guidance of Dr. Arlie Langager. Ann said about the evening of SATB singing, "We (Angelo, too!) represented Vista Hills tonight at MiraCosta College singing four songs with the MiraCosta College Chamber Choir class full of a lot of great singers!" Never one to miss an opportunity, she brought their new friend Bree to rehearsal on Tuesday; she sings Tenor beautifully.  

As if that weren't enough, we also celebrated our 65th anniversary with Sweet Adelines on November 4. We are thrilled to announce that we will be hosting a gala-style event on February 22, 2026, to celebrate this landmark anniversary, and you're all invited!

​- Kaidee Metcalfe 

​Vista Hills is "fall"ing into harmony and loving every note! September was a month packed with music, milestones, and a little bit of mischief - just how we like it at VHC!

We kicked things off, still glowing from SoloVoce's sixth annual Music on the Porch Day, which (as usual!) was a smashing success. There's nothing better than singing under the sun for the best audience around - our barbershop friends and family from across the southwest region! VHC was well-represented, repping not one but two organizations (SAI and BHS), three choruses (VHC (obviously!) plus San Diego and Pacific Coast Harmony), and three quartets (Charmed A Cappella, Clef Hanger, and Fantastique! Quartet). Who says a chorus of 25 can't make a big splash?  

Speaking of that magic number - NEWBIE ALERT! Please join us in welcoming the lovely Catherine to the VHC family! She sings Lead and also performs with San Diego Chorus, bringing even more sparkle (and skill) to our risers. Her addition officially puts us at 25 members - for the first time in about 20 years! That's right, folks: We're growing, and we even had to haul out the fourth row of risers!  

September reminded us how lucky we are to make music together. Whether it's singing on the porch, rehearsing on Tuesday nights, or dreaming up next year's performance goals, we're doing it with heart, humor, and harmony. Here's to more harmony, more laughter, and more reasons to sing!  

With love, sass, and perfectly tuned chords,
- Liz Kost

August was a month of significant progress for the Vista Hills Chorus as we balanced preparing for our big performance with steady internal improvements. The heat was on, but so were our voices!

We were honored to host the talented Charmed at our weekly practice on August 19.  They flexed their coaching muscles and we performed for each other. Their infectious energy and consistent progress over the past year serves as great inspiration for our chorus.

This month, we focused on refining our craft by introducing a new regimen of warm-ups designed to improve physical presence, tuning, intonation, and sustained energy. We also unveiled our cool new chorus banner which highlights our goals for 2026 and serves as a fun reminder of our commitment to continuous improvement!  

On August 30th, we performed at SoloVoice’s annual Music on the Porch Day event, a performance that truly showcased our hard work. Our director, Melanie Jewel, quite literally jumped with enthusiasm to kick off our premiere of "I Can’t Give You Anything But Love" and our audience loved our lively, sassy rendition of "If I Were You I'd Fall In Love With Me," which had them laughing and smiling along with us. It's always a special experience to perform for such a supportive crowd and cheer on our fellow performers!

Lastly, we've had a few big updates this month: We've transitioned from Groupanizer to ChoirGenius with a little help from our friends and we are "officially" located in Encinitas, CA!  Looking ahead, we're eager to dive into our holiday program.  Last year, our "Holiday in Harmony" performance saw the Grinch himself join us in song. We can't wait to see what this year’s season brings! 🎄

- Connie Adams

Hi from a very busy VHC!  This June marked an extra-special one-year anniversary for our spunky and fearless leader, Melanie Jewell!  Yes, we’re going to shout her out again; our newly-minted director led our chorus to a strong “Most Improved” award at contest, earning our endless gratitude and support.  As thanks, we promise to try to stop singing “chew”!  

The VHC delegation in Queen Creek, AZ, reports that the sessions were quite informative, especially those on marking music, retention, and quartet development; they really got the creative juices flowing.  We debuted a double quartet, Sneeze the Day, in a parody of “San Diego Bay Blues”, our more localized version of “San Francisco Bay Blues”.  If you were there, you might have witnessed some bedhead, explosive sneezing, copious amounts of Lyzol, absurdly long hankies, and a few chuckles.  Double quartet members celebrated the display of teamwork, saluting the coaches who really pushed the group’s creative boundaries by swapping some vocal parts and experimenting with some new techniques while still remaining true to our chorus culture.  

At the end of July - a month in which we very enthusiastically welcomed a new Bari named Carol - we kicked off the year with a night of fun and reflection.  Survey says Family Feud was the perfect way to address successes, areas of improvement, expectations, and personal goals.  The chorus came away more bonded and motivated to keep busting through perceived boundaries.  

Looking into August, our excitement is mounting for the 6th annual Music on the Porch Day in Escondido, hosted by our friends in Solo Voce.  We’re working to polish one or two of our songs, and maybe even share a new one!  So excited for the next year!  

​- Tabitha Woolpert 

You never know what to expect with Vista Hills – and we promise to keep it that way!

This month has been a real adventure of Seussical proportions, and we have enjoyed every minute of it. I mean, where would we be without our Grinch-Turned-Cat-in-the-Hat (Kathy W) installing our incoming officers? And what is a Cat in the Hat without their loyal Thing 1 and Thing 2? You know Connie M and Lisa B wouldn’t miss that opportunity, though we’re not sure exactly who was who (only that I somehow wound up being Thing 1.5?). These mischievous characters created a story unique to our new Team, sharing a little bit of their sparkle with our incoming Team and Marketing Coordinator (that’s me… twice…), fancy new Logistics Coordinator Kelley, Financial Coordinator Alicia, Secretary Lola, Member at Large Tabitha, and – of course – Director Melanie, since we’ve decided to keep her around for a while. 

Composed of mostly new (or newish) blood, our Team stepped right into their roles and arranged a guest night for June 3rd – less than a month after taking office! If that’s not a bang-up start to the new year, we’re not sure what is.

- Kaidee Metcalfe 

This year has definitely been an adventure for the Vista Hills Chorus!  We have seen some serious growth this year, what with the new director, new chorus leaders, new competition songs, new members, and all-new (and shiny) ribbons as of just a few weeks ago.  We can officially call ourselves a multi-award-winning chorus - and we're pretty excited for that!  We are putting all the enthusiasm and energy into talking scores and learning several new songs post-contest.  There's even a rumor of a double quartet debuting in Queen Creek, AZ, in just a few weeks!  

Of course, 'tis the season for change, too.  We are incredibly grateful to our outgoing Management Team; Team Coordinator Gloria ("Gramma" to me), Secretary Jennifer, and Member at Large Nikki have all served very successful terms and it is through their leadership that we've been so successful this year.  Returning to the Team are Alicia as Financial Coordinator and Lola as Secretary, while we add Kelley as Logistics Coordinator, Tabitha as Member at Large, and yours truly as Team Coordinator.  We are excited to be stepping into these roles and look forward to furthering the chorus's many successes.  

- Kaidee Metcalfe ​

Wow! What a wild and wonderful ride the past few weeks have been for the Vista Hills Chorus!  A few days after we submitted our last article, I got a text from our darling Director that was literally just a photo.  No context, no explanation, just the photo.  A photo of what, you may ask?  Her certificate of achievement announcing that she had passed the Directors Certification Program and attained the status of Certified Director.  Melanie is a regular reminder of what it means to lead and inspire. She has been with us a little under a full year, but we are quite proud to call her our own! We've decided to keep her for a while if she'll have us.  

And that was only the first exciting thing to have happened this month, in and amongst various rehearsals and discussions and slicktexts.  The second and fifth exciting things came in the form of contest weekend.  Most of us went to the very early morning mic testing chorus on Friday and stayed for as many quartets as we could before heading off to rehearsal; we even got back in time to cheer for our new regional quartet champions, including our friends in SoloVoce.  

Some of us may have stayed up a little late on Friday night, but Saturday morning came early and we were absolutely in the moment.  Taking the stage for the first time under Melanie's direction and with four brand new singers on stage was... intense? nerve-wracking? exciting?  Definitely emotional.  And being the first person in line, I had zero warning before Connie called my name as I walked on stage; if that didn't just about make my performance, I'm not sure what did.  There is something just downright thrillifying knowing you have friends in the audience as you walk on stage.  The energy and enthusiasm that greeted us carried us into one of our most successful competitions, a performance that earned us our first and long-coveted Most Improved medal with an incredible 101 point jump.  Breaking into the 500s, 2nd place in the A Division, and 5th overall left us a teensie bit starry-eyed.  Personally? I can't wait to see what happens next year. 

- Kaidee Metcalfe ​

We've all heard the phrase, "one night a week hobby."  At this point, VHC is pretty sure that's a big ol' fib, as February has been packed sardine-style with chorus activities.  Not that we would ever dream of complaining; after all, we do what we do for the love of music! 

February started off strong with an all-day rehearsal; we were thrilled to work the uptune with Kim Vaughn on sound and Lynne Smith on visual story telling.  The number of lightbulbs that went off in just that one day is simply unknowable, and we carried all of that energy into the rest of the month as the sections played musical chairs in our downtime.  We duetted (and trioed) together to fine-tune our accuracy, awareness, and all those dang vowels.  Near the end of the month, Kim came back up to work with us on the ballad, posing the question, "What do you have to do when you can't hear someone else? You have to trust."  Willing to share her own unique nuggets of truth, Lynne had a lunch date with Melanie and our visual team leaders, Jennifer and Ann.  The very next night, the Lead section drove to Melanie's house to meet with Kim, working to unify their sound and tonal production.  Talk about "busy."  

We have been very, very lucky this month to work with such wonderful coaches and individuals. Every moment we get to spend learning from them is another step forward for the chorus.  Here's to sharing the stage with all of our Region 21derful friends and the new friends we'll make in Region 11!  

- Kaidee Metcalfe ​

Wow! Where do we even begin to talk about January? Simultaneously feeling like it lasted sixteen years and only five days, VHC dove into January with vim and vigor. That first week back, a contingent of seven of our peeps drove up to Anaheim to participate in the California branch of Club 21's Stage Day event, where we made several new friends. We are very excited to announce that our own Kelley and Ann have matched up with regional friends Julissa and Joyce to form Fantastique! The chorus is thrilled to be able to watch them grow and learn in our shared "hobby", and to support their journey together. 

But wait, there's more! Our director Melanie and her quartet - the aptly-named Charmed - also went to Stage Days, where they met and worked with several amazing coaches and where she may or may not have immediately talked Lynne Smith into coming down to coach VHC. Just imagine our faces when Melanie said, "Oh, by the way, we may have two coaches on the first: Kim Vaughn and Lynne Smith." Two legends in the same room on the same day? And they bounce off each other so well; every vocal technique Kim coached us on in the morning played so beautifully with the stagecraft Lynne was teaching us in the afternoon. Be still, our collective heart. 

We're keeping the momentum going with more coaching, extra rehearsals, sectionals/duets, and new members as we tick down these last eight weeks before Competition. Did anyone else catch Lou's update about 34 quartets and 18 choruses? It's going to be a heck of a weekend! 

- Kaidee Metcalfe ​​

Happy New Year from Vista Hills! In true VHC fashion, November, December, and January have been jam-packed with new developments and activities. What would December be without a holiday show, after all? We may never know. What we do know is that our 2024 show, A Holiday in Harmony, was one of our favorite and best-received performances. Secrets, mysteries, and jump scares may sound like a Halloween prank, but we - along with Kathy Whelan and Connie Mitchell, who were amazing sports - added a little holiday magic to spread some festive cheer.
​
After the two rehearsals, six performances, one party, and three weeks of "vacation time" (whatever that is) that made up December, we found ourselves regrouping for our first rehearsal of 2025! On January 7, we met up again and had a raucously good time getting back into the swing of singing, and on January 11, a contingent drove to Anaheim to soak up Club 21's fantastically educational Stage Day event. All in all, we'd say it's been a pretty fantastic start to the year and we look forward to competition in just a few very short weeks! Stay happy and healthy and we'll see you all there.

- Kaidee Metcalfe ​