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Dateline: January 16, 2020

The time is upon us to gather for the 2020 Dixie Spring International Quartet Prelims and Chorus Convention/Contests. This convention will be held March 20-22, 2020 in Alabaster, Alabama. 

HOTELS

The headquarters hotel is the Holiday Inn Express, 260 Cahaba Valley Rd, Pelham, AL 35124, 205-987-8888. And we are using Sleep Inn Pelham Oak Mountain, 200 Southgate Dr., Pelham, AL 35124, 205-982-9800. An additional hotel, Comfort Suites, may be added for overflow depending on the registrations. The distance between hotels is 0.3mi.

VENUE

The contest site will be at the Alabaster City Schools Performing Arts Center on the campus of Thompson High School, 1921 Warrior Pkwy, Alabaster, AL 35007. The distance from the hotels to the ACS PAC is 10.2 miles (21 min) via US-31 S. Buses will be available for chorus transportation. 

CONTESTS

We will have an International Quartet Prelim (2 rounds), a District Chorus Championship, and a Most Improved Chorus award based on chorus scores from last spring. You have SIX WEEKS to enter the contests of your choice. The deadline for contestant entries will be midnight Friday, February 28, 2020.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

We will also offer a “Score for Evaluations” only session, INVITATIONAL, for ALL choruses/quartets who do not wish to compete and to all singing groups (Seniors quartets, Mixed quartets, Female Quartets, Female Choruses, and Mixed Choruses) who would like to receive your personal score sheet and up to a 60-minute coaching or a 30-minute evaluation-only session. We just need YOU there to participate! There will be something for everyone! ALL male/female/mixed quartets MUST be BHS members EXCEPT FOR youth quartets (mixed, male & female) from college-age down.
 
District Championship Competitions AND all Prelim sessions will officially begin in Fall 2020. More information will be forthcoming following the 2020 Spring Convention.
 
PLEASE REMEMBER, EVALUATION/COACHING CHOICES will be sent out to the chorus/quartet contacts 2-3 weeks prior to contest by email. BUT YOU MUST INDICATE ON YOUR BARBERSCORE ENTRY FORM IF YOU WANT AN EVAUATION OR COACHING SESSION! 

JUDGES

Here are the judges who are on the Official Panel: 
MUS - Joe Cerutti (MAD) & Steve Tramack (NED)
PER - Sean Devine (MAD) & Shawn Mondragon (RMD)
SNG - David Mills (SUN) & Mark Stock (NSC).
 
I can assure you that each of these men are well-trained, experienced, and are ready and willing to work with each of you to help improve your performances regardless of what level you are.

BARBERSCORE 

If you have any trouble filling out the Barberscore entry for your chorus or quartet, PLEASE contact me ASAP and allow me to walk you through the process. Again, I am available to help you fill out your Barberscore entry if needed.  Quartet admins can login at barberscore.com.
 
Again, the cut off for Barberscore entries for this convention is Friday midnight, February 28^th which NOW gives you a full 42 days to get your entries filled out. That is 3 weeks from the start of the convention weekend. Please let me hear from you SOON as to what your plans are for this convention. I would like to know what your intentions are as early as possible so that I can prepare for the numbers of competitors expected.

I will be sending out weekly reminders as to our progress and to help light fires under some of you who like to procrastinate. And we want you to have a grand experience at this 2020 Dixie Spring Convention. Bring your family and friends to enjoy the very best that DIXIE DISTRICT has to offer!
 
ALL y’all come now, ya hear??!!
 
Jim Sams
VP Contest & Judging-Dixie
jimsamsca@bellsouth.net
(901) 488-3128

****************** COMING-FALL 2020-Start planning NOW!! *******************
 
QUARTETS:     District Male, District Female, District Seniors, District Super Seniors, District Mixed, District Novice, District Super Novice CHAMPIONSHIPS, and International Seniors Prelims!

CHORUSES:  District Male, District Female, District Mixed-INTERNATIONAL PRELIMS

Hey, folks! Like youth singing barbershop? You're in luck!

The BHS Next Generation Junior Division quartet and chorus contests are today and tomorrow at Midwinter in Jacksonville. Dixie District is well represented this year: Here's a schedule:

TODAY, Thursday, January 9, 4:00 - 5:30 EST

Next Generation Quartet Contest. Sonic Sound Quartet is a mixed foursome from Marietta High School, Marietta, GA is singing sixth. 3:1, a mixed quartet from Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet High School, Nashville, TN is singing eighth.

TOMORROW, Friday, January 10, 11:00 - 8:30 EST

Next Generation Chorus Contest (held in conjunction with Seniors Chorus Contest). MLK HS's Bella Voce women's chorus is scheduled to sing at 11:48. Georgia Spirit mixed chorus is scheduled for 12:58. MLK HS's Bro Re Mi men's chorus is scheduled for 7:34.

You can catch all contests and shows LIVE on FloVoice (flovoice.com).

If you're not in attendance in Jacksonville, tune in. All these groups have worked very hard and our moral and financial support goes a long way! Thanks!

Lee Frnaks
Vice-President, Youth in Harmony
Dixie District

Location change for Spring Contest 2020

The Dixie 2020 Leadership Academy will take place on Saturday, January 4th 2020. The location will be the Morris Hill Baptist Church at 1804 Morris Hill Rd, Chattanooga, TN 37421. The sesion will run from 12:00 noon until 4:00PM EST.

Classes will be available for new and returning chapter leadership positions:

• President & Executive Vice President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• VP Music & Performance
• VP Membership Development
• VP Marketing/Public Relations
• VP Youth in Harmony

The Healty Chapter Initiative class will also be presented by a certified HCI facilitator.

Dean of the Academy is Bob Davenport.  If you have questions, please contact Bob at tenorbob@comcast.net.

Registration for the event is now open.

Latest Town Crier 

After serving much of the last decade as the editor of the Dixie Town Crier, David Belden has decided to retire. While he plans to continue to sing with the Music City Chorus, the time has come to retire from the extra duties associated with the district newsletter editor position. David is a retired teacher and prin-cipal originally from Ohio. In addition to his career in education he spent 23 years as a reporter, photogra-pher, columnist, and editor for The Leader Enterprise in Montpelier, Ohio. David has also spent much of the decade as editor of The Huzzah, the Nashville Chapter newsletter, a position from which he is also retiring. David and his wife Barbara will use some of their extra time making trips to Ohio to help to care for Barbara’s father and step-mother. 

A new editor for the Dixie Town Crier is expected to be named soon. Watch the Dixie District webpage for upcoming information. 

Ringgold, GA, Oct 4, 2019

Congratulations to the new Dixie District Quartet Champions - Wildfire.

The Dixie Novice Quartet Champions are Goodness Gracious.

The Dixie Senior Quartet Champions are Silver Ring.

The Dixie Super Seniors quartet champion is Rock City 4.

The DIxie Chorus representative to BHS International in 2020 is the Sound of Tennesee chorus from Cleveland TN.

The Dixie Seniors Chorus performed and recieved a score of 73.3%.