ISLAND CITY CHORUS

GREATER MONTREAL CHAPTER

SPEBSQSA Inc.

The Little Chorus that could!

MINI PITCH

Date: February 3, 2003

The weekend activities are now a memory, but we hope the lessons learned are going to be remembered and applied as we sing on Monday and beyond.

A large proportion of the chorus were there, and enjoyed the coaching with Dave Calland, lead of 2002 Silver Medallist Quartet, Uptown Sound. He reinforced many of the things Rob has said, but with a "new voice," brought us up a level.

The new class on "The History of Barbershop" as taught by David Wright, was very popular. The quartets who came to be coached had some very talented people helping them, as did people who took vocal production classes.

A spy tells me that the Quartet Experience, with Overdrive, was a whole lot of fun as well.

The Faculty was star-studded, for sure. FRED, 1999 SPEB international Quartet Champs were the headliners. Renee Craig of the Sweet Adeline Champion Quartet The Cracker Jills was one of the coaches. She is a musical genius and legend in the barbershop world, and it was great to have her in Montreal.

The after class show was a treat where the teachers, the choruses and quartets that had been coached, entertained the students. While all the choruses and quartets sang well, there are always some pleasant surprises, and we will look forward to seeing some of the quartets on the competition stage.

The afterglow was an opportunity for the faculty to relax and enjoy each other's company.

The real hero of the school has to be Steve Wheaton. Steve spent many hours on the phone arranging things. Even pending disasters didn't phase him, too much. Non-appearing risers, coaches unable to attend or other issues were dealt with efficiently. Well done, Steve!

The tickets should be available for our rehearsal Monday evening. Pick up as many as you can sell, and let's get going!

Our March Show will be a matinee on Sunday, March 23, 2003, starting at 2:00 PM. It will be without intermission, so the show will last about 90 minutes. The Gas House Gang are going to be our guest quartet. They are one of the best show quartets ever, celebrating the 10^th anniversary of their gold medal performances in Calgary this year.

Selling advertising and tickets is everyone's job. The program is a great money raiser, so sell ads to people you do business with. Try your service station, car dealer, you know the way to do it.

We need to sell out the theatre. It can be done, and with YOUR help it will. We have placed an ad in Chanter, the magazine of the Alliance des Chorales du Québec, telling about the show. It will appear in the February issue.

Alan Kenley is Chairman of the Show, and asked for your support last week. His request is even more timely this week!

"As show chairman I need your help to:

"1) Sell tickets
"2) Sell advertising
"3) Suggest/ find an emcee
"4) Suggest and find props for the theatre and stage
"5) Suggest accoutrements to our outfits in keeping with the magic theme
"6) Help in any other way you can. Take charge of the lunch, help with setup , risers, design program book, cleanup etc, etc etc.

"Please see me on Monday night to get the show on the road. We only have 7 weeks to go. I know time is short, but we can do it and do it well with everyone's full support."

Have you signed up to sing? Have you sold a Singing Valentine? Are you ready to go?

St. Valentines Day is on Friday this year, and that means we will be delivering songs of love to the workplaces of people from all over Montreal. It is a wonderful experience, and highly recommended for every member. See Stan Blicker to sign in. The opportunity to see the look of surprise, pleasure and love that comes with the delivery of two love songs, a rose, a box of chocolates and a card are priceless.

The committee chairs will be meeting on Thursday of this week to review our progress. We seem to be on the right track. We want people to remember Montreal 2003 as, The Best Ever.

The International Convention is going to take place in a little less than five months. We are starting to accumulate the reserve of volunteers needed to make this a successful convention.

On Monday please discuss your volunteer role for the International Competition with Alan Kenley. Remember, we will need everyone's total commitment the week of the Contest.

On Monday he needs the sign up sheets for anyone who haven't handed their's in yet.

If you know of any former members, friends and acquaintances who would like to see an International Convention from the inside, we can offer them a fun week and a souvenir shirt for their time and effort.

Our NED entry, Close Encounters of the Seventh Kind placed a very respectable 9^th Place. Congratulations to Chuck Eaker, 63 Tenor, Tom McQueeney, 65 Lead, Steve Plumb, 68 Bari, and George Holbrook, 66 Bass.

Steve Plumb was one of our coaches at the GNHW on Saturday

Here is our current and future 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!