ISLAND CITY CHORUS

GREATER MONTREAL CHAPTER

SPEBSQSA Inc.

The Little Chorus that could!

MINI PITCH

Date: January 13, 2003

The March Show may changed to a matinee on Sunday, March 23, 2003. The Gas House Gang are being contacted to see if this will work for them.

We have a hall, a director and hopefully we will be able to find a quartet, all available on March 29, 2003.

Tickets for this year's show will be $20 for adults and $15 for anyone $16 years old or younger

Final arrangements will be announced soon.

Just a few moments to share a thought with all of you ...

January 10, 2002 - I underwent heart bypass surgery, scared out of my mind!

February 14, 2002 - I sang with Penny Arcade as we did Singing Valentines for the nurses who treated me

March 5, 2002 - My stepmother passed away suddenly

March 15, 2002 - My father passed away while preparing for his wife's funeral

April 6, 2002 - I competed for the first time with Penny Arcade and qualified for the LOL District contest

May 10, 2002 - I learned of the deaths of two very close friends - very shocking

June 12, 2002 - Another very close friend passed away

July 6, 2002 - I won my first-ever medal at International with the Midwest Vocal Express after 27 years of trying

August, 2002 - I taught at the best Harmony College ever

August 15, 2002 - My wife was diagnosed with osteoporosis to go along with her fibromyalgia and asthma… The treatments contradict each other.

September, 2002 - I learned I was to be a grandfather in the spring of 2003, but my son moved away to Des Moines

October 26, 2002 - I won my first LOL district chorus contest with Midwest Vocal Express and competed with Penny Arcade

November, 2002 - I experienced my first DELASUSQUEHUDMAC weekend - WOW!

December 17, 2002 - I was hit by a drunken driver and my car was destroyed while I sustained some injuries.

Quite a year, indeed! One in which I could have easily allowed myself to be engulfed in gloom and doom. Yet, my personal highs were enhanced by my barbershop family, and my personal lows were consoled by my barbershop family. While some might look at the losses and concentrate on the mourning, I was fortunate enough to have three other guys in a quartet, 79 other guys in a chorus and about 32,000 other guys in a Society to help me shoulder the load, live to experience the fullness of life and celebrate this magnificent thing we do under a banner marked simply "Harmony!". Barbershopping provided the needed balance to my life when I desperately needed balance for one setback after another.

Everything else seems somehow insignificant to me when taken in the light of support from my friends, brothers and sisters in barbershopping. It really is that simple.

So, thanks for a great 2002 despite the opportunities I had for a miserable year. I could have gotten caught up in all the bad things and been overwhelmed, but you wouldn't let me. Here's hoping all our fortunes improve in 2003 . . . but most important, here's hoping the fraternity we find in this hobby helps us all to remember why we're here and perhaps to be a bit more tolerant of the other guy in 2003, even on the Harmonet.

I know I will, and that's my resolution for 2003. I owe so much to the support you all have given me in one way or another during 2002. It's unbelievably rewarding to know I can count on so many friends, some of whom I haven't even met yet.

Here's to our every continued success in the future.

Work continues on the preparations for the International Convention taking place in a little over six months.

The committee chairmen are meeting this week. We are starting to accumulate the reserve of volunteers needed to make this a successful convention. 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 golf shirt for their time and effort.

Beginning in 2003, the Society will publish six songs each year instead of twelve. Therefore the annual Music Premiere subscription will contain six songs (one package) and will be mailed to subscribers in June.

Annual subscription rate will be $9.95 for U.S. & Canadian subscribers and $13.95 for overseas orders. The package will still contain a demo, now in CD format, of all the songs.

If your subscription runs out as of December 2002, you should have a renewal notice enclosed in your December mailing. If so, be sure to renew for the next set of Music Premiere. Don't delay and miss the next fabulous set of publications mid-year 2003!

Those of you who have purchased an extra year in advance will receive each of the next packages of six songs on an annual basis, around the middle of the year, until your last subscription.

Every chapter and quartet should subscribe. It is a great resource for good arrangements. As part of the Society's 2003 Work Plan, two of next year's songs will be multicultural in nature.

To order call the Harmony Marketplace 1-800-876-SING or go to: http://store.yahoo.com/harmonymarketplace/muspremsub.html

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

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