ISLAND CITY CHORUS

GREATER MONTREAL CHAPTER

SPEBSQSA Inc.

The Little Chorus that could!

MINI PITCH

Date: June 3, 2002

We invited the male members of our audience to join us for a special guest night on next Monday, June 10, 2002, starting at 7:30 PM, at Ste-Sixte Church.

Here is the proposed program:

7:00 - 7:30pm A. Guest arrival & process:

Greeter: -Ron Schurman*

Register & badge: -Peter Evans & Al Mahoney

7:30 - 7:50 A. Warm up session: -Rob Mance

7:50 - 8:00 Welcoming of guests: -Jerry Silverberg

Greetings from the president: -Alan Mackenzie

Brief intro to our style singing: -Bert Larsen

8:00 - 8:15 Introduction to Director: -Jerry Silverberg

Teach a simple Tag to All: -Rob Mance

9:15 - 9:30 Quartetting: -introduction by Murray Phillips

9:50 - 10:30 Business, Break

Refreshments: -Peter Evans & Gerald Thorne

10:30 Thank guests for coming -Jerry Silverberg

Within one week of "Open House" a letter from the Membership Chairman will be sent out to all males who attended, thanking them and extending an open invitation to return.

After much discussion, logo designs, fabric selection, more discussion, etc. we are finally getting our Summer Chorus Costume.

The golf shirt is in a forest green with beige trim and our logo in beige, red and black. The pants are beige and are hemmed for giants (with a 38" leg.) You will need to hem them to the correct length, but that is a small task.

Each member of the Chapter is going to contribute $50.00 toward the cost of the costume, and the Chapter will pay for the rest.

The Chapter members will look very smart in this outfit.

Jerry Silverberg needs your size! To permit us to have the shirts and pants ready for the gang going to Portland, OR, the order must be made this week. Please give Jerry Silverberg your shirt size and your waist size. The shirts come in S, M, L, XL XXL, XXXL and XXXXL. Pants will be made to size.

A decision on shoes is still up in the air, but the majority seemed to be for brown shoes and belt.

Thank you, to all those who have taken on the responsibility for setting up and taking down the risers. Please lend a hand where you can.

Fraser Brown has competed every year since 1977 except 1978 and 1979 for 22 appearances in a row. So this will be 23 in a row, truly an astonishing record.

Jim Kline has been on the International stage 28 times since 1970 with several breaks before and after a run of 16 consecutive appearances beginning in 1979. And don't forget that Pete Newshul appeared with him 21 times.

John Korby appeared 19 times but he missed 1992.

Bank Street made 16 consecutive appearances on the international stage with Collins, Balsley, and Sparks in everyone of them. Each of that three also made three appearances before that.

Fred King, however, has appeared on the international stage in each decade beginning with the 50's.

In a post to the H@rmonet, an email list for barbershoppers, John Mallett and Juanita Arnold, in replies to another barbershopper revealed a most interesting fact.

"The Northern Lights performed an accapella version of "Guys and Dolls" this year as our annual show, and used some of the Don Gray arrangements that Tom in Cincy referred to. We performed a Four-quartet arrangement of "Fuguefor Tinhorns" (that's 16 parts, if you're counting).

That chart, plus some of the other Guys and Dolls stuff, plus many other great tunes are featured on the Northern Lights NEW CD "Brother Can You Spare a Dime", which will (fingers crossed) be available in the next few weeks!"

"Watch http://www.northernlightschorus.com, our web site, for details as they happen..."

Then Juanita Arnold added: "At Spring contest, TNL did a condensed version of Guys and Dolls after the quartet finals. The fugue was part of the package. The four quartets singing the fugue had just placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the contest! They were still in the contest clothes. It was a complete fluke, but it was such a neat way to showcase the top Ontario District quartets. (That was T.K.O., intrigue, Mirage, and Union Station if anyone was interested)."

Does it seem surprising that this great chorus (second place at International in 2001) has that many top-notch quartets? After all the members have to learn their chorus music and then quartet music as well.

Probably not, since the level of commitment is very high, as well as the level of musicianship.

Quartetting anyone!

Here is our current repertoire list:

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

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