Date: February 11, 2002

The Island City Chorus has once again qualified to sing in the ARCIM contest. We have an excellent record, having won our category in all of our previous contests.

This year we will be singing in a special category of the second time. It gives us more flexibility in our repertoire choices and provides the audience a change of pace as well.

We will be singing:

• Orange Colored Sky
• You'll Never Walk Alone
• How Deep Is The Ocean?
• Sixteen Tons
• Steppin' Out

We will be singing on either Friday or Saturday, April 12 or 13, 2002 and on Sunday, April 14, 2002. The time and location will be confirmed later, but mark the dates on your calendar.

How High is the Sky?

A few issues back, I gave you the answer to the question, "How Deep Is The Ocean?" [The deepest part of the ocean is the Mariana Trench, located in the Pacific Ocean, near the Mariana Islands. The Mariana Trench is 36,201 feet deep.]

Now here is information on the height of the sky. Scientists have attempted to simulate views of the Earth's atmosphere by considering the scattering and absorption of light in a spherical, gaseous envelope whose density diminishes exponentially with height above the ground.

The atmosphere is an envelope covering the earth, and is divided vertically into four layers based on temperature: the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere.

The envelope consists of pure air extending from a radius of 6371km to a height of 200km and the change in density with height is represented by a scale height of 8.4km. The Thermosphere extends beyond the 100-km mark, and beyond 200km we assume a vacuum.

For pure air we assume a single scattering model and Rayleigh parameters for the scattering coefficient and phase-function. Numerical integration of the radiative transfer equation for this simplified situation is used to calculate radiances leaving the atmosphere.

I presume this clears up the question, "How high is the sky?"

On February 13, 14 & 15, 2002, we will be delivering love songs, roses and candy to lovers around the Greater Montreal area. We will be doing it in quartets and we need YOU! We will be working on the songs at tonight's rehearsal.

So here is where you come in. You can post the great flyers at work, at church, in the barbershop, at the service station … you get the idea. Then you sell a Singing Valentine to a co-worker, friend, neighbour … you get the idea there, too.

The next thing you do is get three other guys (one from each of the other voice parts) form a quartet and learn the three songs we are going to use. You never know, but you may find out that you really love singing in a quartet and keep on going.

Sign up, sell a few Singing Valentines, sing up in a quartet, have a great time. That's all we have to do, and the best part is it is a lot of fun.

Jerry Silverberg has obtained some fine Hershey's ™ Chocolates for us to sell. They are a fine addition to our sweet sound.

If you need more, ask Jerry. If you need some, ask Jerry.

You co-operation in selling the chocolate covered almonds, or chocolate bars will also make the chapter a little more financially sound.

It will also help your "participation account," since 5% of the selling price is credited toward your account and you can apply it to those activities requiring an additional financial commitment.

We should be singing Words as if we really know it. We will be practising for Singing Valentines tonight.

As usual, this schedule is subject to change.

Practice is something we do at home, every day, between rehearsals!

Rehearsal is where we reinforce what we have been practising every day!