New chorus sings way to ‘Raymond’s Got Talent’ win

By Erin Rose

Newly formed women’s a capella chorus Harmony 207 captured the audience’s votes to win Raymond’s Got Talent on Friday, July 24.

Formed earlier this year, women's a capella chorus Harmony
207 was the winner of the 'Raymond's Got Talent' contest
on Friday, July 24 at the Hawthorne House in Raymond.
SUBMITTED PHOTO

“Everyone had a great time, and it was a great confidence booster, because it was the first time they’ve sung anything in public as a group,” said Denise “D” Dyer, founder of the group. “It was amazing.”

Hosted by the Hawthorne Community Association at the Hawthorne House, the event featured 12 performances from talented members of the local community, including singers, jugglers and comedians. Two acts were given golden tickets, and the audience selected Harmony 207 as the ultimate winner.

Dyer’s sister, Debbie Redmond, helped embroider shirts with the Harmony 207 logo, enabling the group to look the part during the competition.

“We looked put together,” Dyer said, noting that there were about 45 people in the audience. “Everyone had a blast.”

The group performed two songs, including “Christmas Chopsticks,” a song set to the tune of “Chopsticks” with lyrics that begin with “Twas’ the night before Christmas.”

“We figured we could get away with it at the Hawthorne House because it was July 24,” Dyer said. “If you think of Christmas in July, this was Christmas Eve in July. We did that first, and then “Let There be Peace on Earth”, which is universal and good at any time of the year.”

When asked to perform, Dyer said that the group, which was founded on May 5, was unaware that it would be a competition.

“The really cool thing is that some of the members, when we found out we got to perform, they said ‘what if we suck’ or ‘what if we lose?’” she said. “First of all, I explained, it’s just a performance and a chance to sing before a friendly audience.”

“I know we call it a competition; I prefer to call it a performance and someone else has to decide where it ranks,” Dyer continued. “We just do our best and enjoy the performance and our audience will enjoy it as well.”

The win has energized both those who performed and the members who had to miss the event. While the group membership has grown to 19 women, 13 were able to perform in Raymond.

“These ladies are excited to learn more music and sing in public,” Dyer said. “It was shared with the rest of the group who couldn’t go and made them want to be able to go to the next one.”

The next event will be a Christmas benefit concert that will be held at the Windham Hill United Church of Christ where the group rehearses from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday nights. Songs at the performance will include “Let There be Peace on Earth” and Con Fullam of Windham’s “The Maine Christmas Song.”

“Their chapel is one of those quaint beautiful New England chapels, with wreathes on the door,” Dyer said, adding that the church permits the group to use the space throughout the year without charge. “It’s what you would picture as a Christmas church.”

“It’s the perfect setting to do Christmas music, including “The Maine Christmas Song”,” she said.

The group continues to grow as the Christmas concert approaches, and Dyer reminds anyone still interested to attend a rehearsal and join in.

“If you know someone who wants to sing but they worry that they’ll feel like they are behind, they shouldn’t worry,” she said. “We’ll help them prioritize what to learn, what to work on, and they’ll learn right along with us when we get the new stuff.”

The upcoming rehearsal on Tuesday, Sept. 1 will present a great opportunity to join, as they regroup after the busy summer. Members will bring food for a potluck, allowing them to reconnect over a meal and share the tales of their summer adventures before setting goals and beginning rehearsals for the Christmas concert.

“Singing and rehearsing through the summer has been difficult with rotating vacation schedules, so we’re doing a potluck welcome back from summer on Sept. 1,” Dyer said. “Anyone who is interested in singing with us is welcome to come.”

“My goal is that people remember that family comes first and we’re singing because we love to sing, not because we want to compete or because we want to win,” she added. “Right now, the expectation is that people are coming to sing and learn Christmas music to do the concert on Dec. 12.”

As the group grows, Dyer has accelerated her plan to join international parent organization Harmony Incorporated, as a chapter charter, citing the benefits of the extensive resources provided by membership. Founded in 1959, the organization represents 2,000 women, and more than 65 chapters of choruses in the United States and Canada.

“There are a lot of resources available from Harmony Incorporated,” she said. “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, we can join and be able to reap the benefits of the resources that are available.”

The focus is currently on the Christmas concert, but Dyer said that future goals will likely not be to compete. While the group may ultimately join competitions, the goal is to perform as a way to raise funds to purchase music and other items to support the chorus.

“Competition is expensive,” Dyer explained, accounting for event passes, hotel rooms, food, and transportation to the event. “Music costs money, music tracks cost money. If we want to perform more than Christmas music, which we do, it’s best if we can raise money by doing singing than by having extra events or selling things.”

Dyer continues to seek out new members via the group’s Facebook page, Harmony 207 Windham, Maine, reminding anyone who may be nervous that the group exists to support all singers.

“The voice is an intensely personal thing,” she said. “People are reluctant to put that out there because they fear criticism. There is none of that. This is a place for everyone to sing.”

“If you can sing “Happy Birthday” in tune, you’re welcome to sing with us,” she said.

The Windham Hill UCC is located at 140 Windham Center Road in Windham. More information about the group or meeting can be found on its Facebook page or by reaching out to Dyer at [email protected]. <

Women's four-part a capella chorus set to launch in Windham

By Erin Rose

Harmony is coming to Windham. Standish resident Denise “D” Dyer is forming Harmony 207, a women’s four-part acapella chorus, and will be hosting the inaugural meeting of the group at the Windham Hill United Church of Christ from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5.

A  new four-part a capella women's chorus called 
Harmony 207 will have its inaugural meeting from
6:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 5 at Windham Hill
United Church of Christ, 140 Windham Center
Road in Windham. SUBMITTED PHOTO

“The meeting will be an introduction to our parent organization, Harmony, Incorporated, and to the genre,” she said. “People can feel what it’s like to experience those harmonies.”

The chorus is the realization of a longtime goal for Dyer, as in the past, she has had to travel more than an hour north or south to participate in an affiliated chorus. She is a lifetime member of Harmony, Incorporated and has also served as the organization’s International President from 2010 to 2012.

“The feeling that you get when you lock and ring a chord is absolutely amazing,” she said. “You have people who each sing a different part; they go off and learn their part, and when they come together, it all locks, and it’s magic the way that it fits together. That’s the magic of the seventh chord, the barbershop chord. It is just absolutely amazing when it’s done well and done right.”

Harmony 207 has been accepted as a prospective member of Harmony, Incorporated, an organization of 2,000 women and more than 65 chapter choruses in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1959, the organization hosts area and international competitions and provides educational resources for its membership.

The dues for membership are less than $100 annually, Dyer said, explaining that it would be little higher for new members. However, no fees will need to be paid until April 2027, as the group’s charter will not be official until the organization’s new year, which begins in April.

The inaugural meeting will include the attendance of two Harmony, Incorporated-affiliated choruses, Maine-ly Harmony, based in Gardiner, and Sounds of the Seacoast, from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Dyer said that their attendance helps show the bond that forms between members of the choruses.

“The women I sang with in Gardiner and in Portsmouth are coming on May 5 because it’s more of a sisterhood than an organization,” she said. “They say, ‘Music brings us together, harmony unites us.’”

While the organization hosts competitions, that is not the immediate goal of Harmony 207, as Dyer is seeking to start by building a community of like-minded women.

“It’s not mandatory to compete or attend conventions,” Dyer said. “My short-term goal is to get a group of women together that like to sing four-part harmony.”

During the inaugural meeting, attendees will be given a welcome packet which will include music for two songs, “Happy Birthday” and “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” written in four-part harmony.

“Everyone knows the words and everyone knows the melody” for Happy Birthday, Dyer said, adding that ensuring everyone can sing along will help “gauge which parts they find most comfortable to sing.”

Dyer explained that the vocal ranges for the chorus will differ from the standard soprano, alto, tenor, and bass parts, to accommodate the female singers.

“It’s tenor, lead, which is mostly melody, the baritone that fills in the chords in the middle, and then the base, which is a low alto,” she said.

While many people think of classic barbershop music in association with older music, Dyer said that the chorus will look at songs from popular Broadway musicals, including “Wicked,” and movies like “The Greatest Showman” and “Pitch Perfect.”

“We have to overcome the idea that barbershop singing is hokey and old fashioned,” she said. “This isn’t the barbershop that people know. It’s the structure of the chords that make it a barbershop song, not the era its written in.”

To start, members of the chorus will be learning holiday music, as the familiarity helps newer singers as they learn to navigate singing in four parts.

“We’re going to try to aim for the holiday music, and make it as much Maine as we can,” she said. “People already know the words and recognize the melody, so it will be easier to memorize over the course of the summer.”

Dyer says that the chorus will perform at the Windham UCC Church during the holiday season, in exchange for the use of their space to rehearse the rest of the year.

A perfect selection for the group is “The Maine Christmas Song,” written by Con Fullam of Windham about Christmastime in Maine. The song was arranged in a four-part harmony at the request of Maine-ly Harmony, and Dyer worked to receive the songwriter’s blessing to use the piece as part of their repertoire.

“He’s thrilled that we would use his arrangement and that we asked permission,” she said.

The Harmony, Incorporated charter requires a minimum of 14 members, so Dyer is hoping to recruit at least that many members from the inaugural meeting. There is no maximum number of members, and Dyer noted that the largest groups are 60 members. In competition, there must be 12 members performing on stage.

“I have no idea what to expect” as far as turnout, she said, “but I have welcome packets prepared for 100 people.”

The group’s Facebook page, Harmony 207 Windham, Maine, is helping to reach interested women, and there are already other local members of Harmony, Incorporated looking to join the chorus.

The Windham Hill UCC Church is located at 140 Windham Center Road. More information about the group or meeting can be found via its Facebook page or by reaching out to Dyer at [email protected]. <

Mullins steps down from Sebago Lakes Chamber leadership role

By Ed Pierce

As President/CEO of the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, Robin Mullins has poured her heart and soul into promoting the community and local businesses but as it’s been said before, every good thing must eventually come to an end.

Robin Mullins is stepping down from
her position as President/CEO of the
Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of
Commerce after five years of leading the
organization. FILE PHOTO

Mullins, who has led the chamber since 2019, will step down from her chamber position to focus on her new role as Marketing Manager for Octagon Cleaning & Restoration in Windham.

“Now seems like the right time to leave my chamber President/CEO role as I was offered a position too good to turn down,” Mullins said. “It was hard turning down no more nights or weekends for a bit more money and a company car. What I love about my current role is all of the relationships I have built and the marketing I have done for the region. In my new position I will do what I love and continue to build and foster relationships, and instead of marketing hundreds of businesses in eight communities, I will be able to focus all of my efforts on just one company.”

She said she has worked for Octagon before, so she knows the business.

“The coolest part is that it is a family business and my family,” Mullins said. “My brother and sister-in-law, Robert and Kathy York, own the business and my dad, nephew and cousin all work there.”

She grew up in Windham and graduated from Windham High School in 1986. Although she earned a degree in elementary education, Mullins has spent most of her career working for Hannaford Supermarkets in both retail and corporate environments. She worked 22 years at Hannaford and the company paid for Mullins to obtain a master’s degree in training and development while giving her experience in every aspect of human resources management.

Mullins left Hannaford to spend more time with her family and then became the part-time HR Director for Octagon Cleaning & Restoration. She later joined the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce as its part-time office manager and in 2019, Mullins assumed the full-time role as SLRCC’s President/CEO. Her last day leading the chamber will be July 12.

SLRCC Board Chair Jonathan Priest said that Mullins has left an indelible positive stamp upon the chamber.

“I am excited for her in her new role, but I know we will all miss her boundless energy, her giant heart, and her passion for the people and businesses of our region,” Priest said. “She has worked tirelessly during her time with the chamber to support our area businesses, grow our membership, expand chamber member benefits, boost attendance at our Business Breaks, and raise money for worthy causes like Feed the Need.”

Priest said that her membership in various organizations like MAACE, the Gray New Gloucester Optimist Club and the Sebago Lake Rotary Club allowed her positive energy, sharp mind and articulate voice to be seen and heard by business owners, state and federal representatives and community leaders. And, he said that Mullins attended many trainings and conferences to make sure she always had the most accurate and up-to-date information for the chamber board and communities she served.

For her efforts on behalf of the chamber, Mullins was honored last fall as the 2023 Maine State Chamber Professional of the Year.

According to Mullins, her family including husband John and daughters Cassidy and Ainsely, are proud of what she’s accomplished during her time working for the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce and excited about her new job.

The people are what Mullins says that she will the most about working for the chamber.

“I have an amazing Office Manager, Denise Dyer. I will miss working with her every day. I will miss the SLRCC Board of Directors, especially our Board Chair, Jonathan Priest,” she said. “But you know, as I think about it, I am not going that far away. I will still be in Windham. Octagon is a member of the chamber, so I'll still participate in chamber events. And all of those relationships I have will not go away. They will just change. Don't get me wrong, I do not wish water or fire damage on anyone. However, if it should happen, I know an amazing restoration company that can take care of anyone I have come to know and adore in my role as chamber President/CEO.”

Above everything else, Mullins says the thing she’s learned the most about herself from her time working for the chamber is fundamental.

“I hate to sound like a broken record, but it is all about relationships. I have learned how much relationships mean and how the relationships I formed in the past continue to benefit me today,” she said. “I have always told my girls to be nice to everyone and to never burn bridges. You never know when someone will come back into your life and how you might need them or they you. So many of the people I have known from other roles in my life have proven to be extremely valuable in my chamber President/CEO position and will continue to be in my new role as Marketing Manager at Octagon Cleaning & Restoration.” <