SLD Happenings
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Our Mission: Make Life Better Singing Barbershop Music
The Seneca Land Vision: To be an ever-growing fraternal singing organization that is ageless, colorless and dedicated to the average singer having fun creating and preserving extraordinary music in the barbershop style. A Brotherhood known in their community for making a difference through singing.
To fulfill our Mission and reach our Vision, the chapters and individual members that make up the Seneca Land District are MOST proud of the many ways we have reached out and connected directly to our communities. As a district we believe that music, either barbershop or other forms, holds the power to inspire, heal, encourage, and simply spread love and happiness.
Take a moment to celebrate with us the great things happening in our SLD communities from Erie to Canton, and every stop in between! Feel free to email us at SLDwebmaster1@gmail.com to submit pictures and descriptions of what your chapters and members are doing for us to update each quarter!
Harmonic Collective Thrills in Cleveland!
In July of 2024, the Liverpool Chapter (Harmonic Collective) represented the Seneca Land District in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Barbershop Harmony Society's International Chorus Contest.
The chapter shares: "We could not have done it with out the tireless support of friends and family. We learned so much throughout the week - attending classes, watching other choruses rehearse, singing together with other barbershoppers from around the world, cheering on our friends in the SLD Seniors Chorus who took part in the Chorus Festival, and bonding together as a chorus! We were so honored to represent our District and we hope that we made the Seneca Land District proud. We can’t wait to see what happens next!"
Greetings from the Appalachian Division!
On June 8th, five of the six chapters in the Appalachian Division got together for the first time ever in what became known as SingFest. A total of 56 members & 12 guests from Canton, Watertown, Oswego, Liverpool & Mohawk Valley came together at a centralized location in Lowville for a day of singing, camaraderie, renewing old friendships & creating some new ones. There was no competition that day, other than to see who could have the most fun. After signing in, folks spent some meet & greet time before directors from three of the chapters led the group in warm-ups, tags & some polecats. Then it was on to randomly drawn names in pick-up quartets. They found a corner and picked some songs to sing. After they had “rehearsed” a while, each quartet came up and sang for the group to rousing applause. One of the neat ideas that the planning team came up with was to have a common song that all chapters got music charts & learning tracks for ahead of time. So when we all got together, we did a little rehearsing under Don Drake’s guidance on Brouhaha’s “Mary’s a Grand Old Name”. Since the event was held in a VFW, we decided to do some patriotic songs for any of the VFW’s members who were there. So Sky Harris worked us through “The Star Spangled Banner” & Barney Johnson went over “God Bless America” with us.
Once everyone had filled up on a great cook-out style meal supplied by the awesome staff at the VFW, it was time for the Show-of-Shows. It started with everyone singing the National Anthem, under the direction of Sky Harris and “God Bless America”, under the direction of Barney Johnson. From there, a mixture of quartets & choruses came up and sang some songs for the group. This included The New Horizons Chorus, Impromptu quartet, The Goldenaires Chorus and several of the pick-up quartets. It must be noted here that it was awesome to see Brad Lundquist make it to the SoS and direct the Turning Point Chorus! We weren’t expecting him to be able to be there. Glad you’re up and at ‘em my friend! The last two performers were Full Circle quartet, who debuted “Can’t Buy Me Love” for the group, and finally Harmonic Collective performed their International set ”Desparado” & “Taking a Chance on Love” much to everyone’s enjoyment! We wish them well in Cleveland! To end the event, Don Drake led us in “Mary’s a Grand Old Name”. It was my pleasure to have the honor of directing, or in my case waving my arms in time with all the singers, “Keep the Whole World Singing”.
There were many helping hands, but there are a few that I must thank personally. The planning team of Don Drake, Sky Harris & Barney Jonson, this would not have happened if it weren’t for your help & guidance putting this together and running it my friends, I thank you all. The staff at Lowville VFW Post 6912, Randa, Stacy & Cassandra and their helpers made everyone feel welcome and fed us well. I think they were a little surprised how much water Barbershoppers can drink & how much we love our food!! Note – during the event a 50/50 raffle was held. The proceeds, $107, were given to the VFW to show our appreciation to the staff and the VFW member’s service to this country. Finally, I must thank my biggest supporter Laura Winchester for all her help & idea’s getting this event put together. She also ran around in back ground that day making sure everything ran as smoothly as possible & keeping me on track. You are most definitely my much better half!
Harmoniously Yours,
Steve Feldman
