This year I was invited by a longtime friend of mine on Memorial Day to participate in setting up American flags at the gravestones of our men and women who served in our Armed Forces in past wars so gallantly and honorably. I was invited by Barry Chapman, Branch Chief Food Services Division- Pacific Area. U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. This was at the Veterans Los Angeles National Cemetery in West L.A., CA.

WE KEEP MOVING ON by Jack Press, President

Our Chapter and Chorus have been weathering this pandemic very successfully. We have maintained our weekly rehearsals and monthly Board and Music Team meetings on Zoom.  Sad to say there are a number of chapter/choruses in the Society who have not done as well as we have.  Thanks to our membership, we consistently have 19-21 singers show up for rehearsal on Zoom. Our Breakout 

Rooms give us an opportunity to rehearse our repertoire and learn new songs.  A big thanks goes to Tom Raffety, Director - Bob Karlin, 

Thank you for attending our past shows.  As soon as the pandemic restrictions on rehearsing and performing are lifted, we will perform for you again, in both our own shows and for your events. Another way for you to help our chorus/chapter is by designating a portion of your purchases from Ralph's Grocery or Amazon, to us.  Go to the top of this Public Site page and click on DONATE.  Follow the instructions to associate your Ralph's card and your Amazon account with our chapter.

PS..  In the Ralphs section, when they are signing up, they need to indicate Community Rewards

On Monday April 26, 2021 at 7:30pm PDT Katie MacDonald, Recruitment and Retention Manager of the international Barbershop Harmony Society, will make a presentation via Zoom to the Valley Harmony Singers. She will discuss virtual recruitment and retention tips. Ms. MacDonald will emphasize that it is possible to increase membership during this pandemic. She will be teaching us how to invite new members to the virtual rehearsals and to keep current members happy and hopeful.

Rob Mance, the artistic director of Central Standard chorus and founding artistic director of SAI chorus, Vocal Standard will speak to our chapter during the first half of this Monday's (1/25/21) rehearsal.  He will be speaking on Principles of Vocal Production, and will cover foundational principles related to how we produce sound, and will debunk popular vocal myths and urban legends about singing.

Rob has completed the coursework for a doctoral degree in Choral Conducting at the University of Kansas. He is an active clinician for high school vocal ensembles, maintains a recording studio, and serves as a BHS judge in the singing category (2016-present), and formerly in the music category (2001-2016).

Each year we recognize those members who have done a little more for our Chapter and Chorus. We usually make these presentations at a restaurant during our installation dinner. This year, as with our rehearsals, we were on Zoom.  None the less, each member receiving an award deserves a big thank you: 

Rang Hansen Memorial Award, given for countless contributions, support, effort and assistant to the President awarded to Tom Raffety

The Valley Harmony Singers wish all a joyous and safe New Year's Eve celebration, and our hope the the new year will bring all of us harmony, peace and health so that we may put this past year behind us!  

We hope to see you all on January 4th, our first rehearsal of the new year.

We wish all of you a happy holiday season, and we will be back on Monday, January 4th 2021.  May your next year be better than this one has been, and the Valley Harmony Singers wish you all a year of Harmony, Health, Satisfaction, and Achievement.