 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
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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  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! - Kaidee Metcalfe 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! - Kaidee Metcalfe
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. - Kaidee Metcalfe |
