Tag: Harmony Inc

Episode 4 of Vocal HERspective with Katie Taylor

Tonight, Amanda and Rachael talk to 3-time Harmony Queen, Katie Taylor.

Katie Taylor is a longtime music educator in New York and won quartet gold medals in Harmony, Incorporated with “For Heaven’s Sake” (1996) as bass, “U4X” (2008) as tenor, and most recently “LiveWire” (2015) as lead. She is also the director of Northern Blend Chorus, the 2017 gold medalists of Harmony, Inc. She loves working with youth at Harmony Explosion camps, and she offers private voice lessons as well as music theory and conducting assistance. She was also 2019 faculty at Harmony University, produced by the Barbershop Harmony Society.

New Tunesday – June 25, 2019

Clearly, there’s no slowing down a cappella this summer. Set aside a good deal of time to catch up on all of the great new music we found this week!

The Filharmonic

A Sing-Off favorite brings us a Jonas Brothers cover for a little summer fun – live.

Business Casual

This Bay Area group is on a monumental rise, and this new video featuring their original tune “Ain’t No Way” is just another step at the top.

N’Harmonics

The final installment from their winning ICCA set, the reigning champions mixed modern with classical to wow the audience.

Vadé

This group wins over our hearts more and more with each video.

Postyr

Capturing the sentiment wrapped up in family scattered around the world, this futurist Danish quartet continues to blaze forward.

New England Voices in Harmony

Harmony, Inc. has unleashed a treasure trove of videos from the 2018 International Contests, including this one featuring the chorus gold medalists.

Zero8

Need to hear something spectacular? How about one of the world’s best barbershop choruses fronted by one of the world’s best barbershop quartets singing something from one of the world’s best barbershop arrangers? Ok, then.

Midtown

With BHS International in Salt Lake City just around the corner, we were thrilled to get a little peek at one of the world’s top quartets through this clever video.

MVP 

This quintet out of Australia keeps us well stocked in fun content – party along with their latest release.

Flow

The fascinating art of pop rock a cappella choirs makes everything a bit more interesting. What would you do with this many voices?

Mendicants

The group responsible for bringing the legend that is Bill Hare into the a cappella fold back in 1988 and many years later, the relationship still stands.

Crimson & Slate

The Colorado a cappella scene is growing and mighty.  Enjoy this throwback video with an arrangement by Johanna Vinson.

The Lost Keys

Who doesn’t love a classic Elvis tune every once in a while?

Council Rock High School South Vocal Ensemble

While we’re on lovable guilty pleasures, here’s a spot on cover of the music of Phineas & Ferb,

Merry Christmas from Acaville!

We hope all of our listeners are enjoying the ’round the clock holiday music on the station. In case you need just a little more, here are a few new holiday releases to enjoy.

PLUS – tune in at 3 pm EST/12 pm PST on Christmas Day to hear the Alexandria Harmonizers’ Holiday Show – The Secret of Christmas. The concert will also air on Friday Night Live at 9 pm EST/6 pm PST on December 28th to close out our 2018 Holiday season.

The Swingles – This Christmas

Voctave – O Holy Night

VOCES8 – Lully, Lulla, Lullay

DCappella – All I Want for Christmas is You

BeatVox – All I Want for Xmas

Pitch Slapped – Intro (Christmas & Chill)

Bluebird – Winter Wonderland

Pop-Up – Carol of the Bells

Legacy – Have Yourself A Merry Christmas

The AcaLumni Project (featuring Jamie Howe of KeyStone) – Little Saint Nick

Shawn Thomas – Last Christmas

And finally, the head on over to Facebook to see the latest release from OneVoice (Briarcrest School) – O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

 

Gold for New England Voices In Harmony and Aged To Perfection

In two very hotly contested finals, Harmony, Incorporated now has a new champion chorus and four new Harmony Queens.

On Friday, New England Voices in Harmony of Nashua, New Hampshire topped the field with a 79.7%. The group performed a special Disney themed set in a risky director-less set, but proving that Director Renee Tramack had prepared them well, they sang “That’s How You Know” from Enchanted and “I See the Light” from Tangled in gorgeous jewel-tone gowns.

New England Voices in Harmony - 2018 Gold Medal Chorus
New England Voices in Harmony – 2018 Gold Medal Chorus

The Village Vocal Chords, under the direction of the legendary Jeanne O’Connor, took second place for the second time with a score of 78.9%. Jordan Travis and A Cappella Showcase from Milton, Ontario finished in third with 78.4%. Limestone City Voices and Sounds of the Seacoast round out the medals in fourth and fifth, respectively.

See the full scores for the Chorus Finals.

The contests came to a close on Saturday afternoon with the Quartet Finals that ended with Aged To Perfection winning the crown. This team of two mothers and daughters scored an incredible 80.7%, edging out T4 who finished with an 80.0%.

Aged To Perfection - 2018 Harmony Queens
Aged To Perfection – 2018 Harmony Queens

Alexa Beal, Gaye LaCasce, Kathy Pomer, and Ellie Pomer are now a long distance quartet and all first time queens. Scoring 1441 in the Semi-Final round with a phenomenal rendition of “Blues in the Night” and “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?,” Aged To Perfection raised the bar in the Finals with a total score of 1463 singing a solemn “Cry Me A River” and a lively, and genuinely adorable uptune in “Together, Wherever We Go.”

Rounding out the medals were Area 3’s Lip Service finishing third with 76.0%, Area 2’s Balancing Act in fourth with 75.2%, and Tonic! in fifth with 73.8%. Tonic! was also honored with the Image in Harmony Award and the Accord Award.

See the fulls scores from the Quartet Finals.

The IC&C closed out with a Showcase of Champions to a room full of Harmony Sisters (and a T-Rex), marking the end of Christina Lewellen’s two-year term as International President. The gavel was turned over to Donna McKay, who will push forward with the new initiative, “Harmony. Stronger.”