A
Musical Lifetime of Fun and Barbershop
Meet Your New International President
Pat LeVezu
By Pat McCandless, Sacramento
Valley Chorus, Region 12
Pat LeVezu stands on the risers
every Thursday night, fitting her fine baritone into that Bay Area
Showcase resonance. Sometimes she talks and jokes with riser mates,
much to her director’s consternation. Before the rehearsal
begins, you can find her selling apples and cookies to other chorus
members, part of a chorus moneymaking scheme developed by her quartet,
Bay Area Fun Raisers.
Raised in Kokomo, Ind., Pat graduated from Purdue University with
a degree in physics. After working in New Jersey for a while after
graduation, she met and married Chuck LeVezu and moved to California
a short while after that. She and Chuck recently celebrated their
50th wedding anniversary.
Along the way Pat and Chuck established their home in Saratoga,
Calif., and raised two sons, Alan and Kevin, and a daughter, Carolyn.
Alan is the producer of the Barbershop Podcast and sings in a quartet
called Checkmate when he isn’t working as a computer engineer.
Kevin is a banker and Carolyn is currently pursuing a nursing career.
Four grandchildren grace the family, too. Just ask. Grandma Pat
will proudly tell you all about Alicia, 20, Karl, 12, Christopher,
8, and Cameron, 7. Son Alan is a barbershop aficionado, as is his
son, Karl. Karl has been a part of the Barbershop Harmony Society
with his dad since he was eight years old. In fact, legend has it
that when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, four year
old Karl responded that he wanted to be a barbershop chorus director
“just like my grandma!”
Bay Area Showcase Chorus (BASC, originally called San Jose Chorus,)
has played a starring role in Pat’s life for 43 years. For
29 of those years, from 1973-2002, Pat directed the chorus, leading
its membership to its first regional championship in 1987 and to
the international stage seven times after that. Along the way she
served Region 12 as director of musical activities and regional
faculty, and as coach for many quartets and choruses. She found
herself involved at the international level before long, first as
judge in the Sound category, then as a member of the technology
task force, Education Direction Committee, and finally on the International
Board and as a Certified International Faculty member. Pat chaired
the first two International Education Symposiums — an innovative
program now entering its eighth year.
Pat’s leadership skills go beyond titles. She has the remarkable
ability to spot potential in people around her and the good sense
to develop and use them. At one point, she had 14 assistant directors,
each with a specific musical job to help move the chorus forward.
When Pat was away, her team of assistants planned and carried on
productive rehearsals without her. The training Pat provided helped
each one further her own leadership and directing skills, talents
several of them now use in directing other choruses in the region.
In fact, BASC director Julie Starr was one of the “stars”
whose talent Pat spotted and helped to rise.
Those who know Pat as the gracious, talented leader she is may not
realize some of the other aspects of her personality that endear
her to those of us who have known her for a long time. Pat’s
sense of humor and her affinity for mischief provoke many good times.
Her reputation as baritone of High Notoriety quartet (note the shower
curtain costume on regional contest stage) and tenor of her current
Bay Area Fun Raisers quartet sets the atmosphere for hilarity and
harmony. All quartets have funny stories. Pat’s quartet experiences
are beyond funny. Ask her about little old ladies in tennis shoes,
or Harry the Ape, or how to order an ice cream cone at a Jack in
the Box trashcan. Though audiences love their humor and their harmony,
Pat’s favorite part of the quartet experience is the rehearsing.
She loves spending time with good friends and the feeling of growth
that happens when they work together to make good music. You can
bet there’s lots of laughter, too!
Learning is key in Pat’s book. “When I first joined
the organization,” she reports, “I told myself I’d
stay involved as long as I kept learning.“ That’s still
true. She’s still learning right along with the rest of us.
The educational focus of our organization assures us many opportunities
to continue learning about this remarkable art form of barbershop
harmony. With Pat at the helm, we can be confident that those opportunities
will continue to enrich our lives and those of the audiences for
whom we sing. And we’ll have fun. After all, we talk on the
risers now and then, too.
