ISLAND CITY CHORUS

GREATER MONTREAL CHAPTER

Northeastern District

SPEBSQSA Inc.

The Little Chorus that could!

MINI PITCH

Date: March 15, 2004 Volume 2004 -Issue 11

had an interesting discussion with Society Board member Bob Brutsman. The board is in the process of contacting each chapter in the society in order to gather information that will help them provide the members with the support they need.

As part of our discussion, Bob had sent me a list of several questions. The questions dealt mainly with membership and with singing. I want to share my response to the following question: "On a scale of 1 to 5, how does your chapter rate the importance of singing better?"

If I were to survey our members and tally your answers, I think I would probably rate this as a 4 or even a 5. After all, singing better is what we are constantly trying to do! But if I step back and try to evaluate this objectively, I have to look at the typical effort that each of us puts into improving our singing, both individually and as a chorus.

How many of us spend time between Monday evening rehearsals going over problem areas and perfecting our part? How many of us eagerly signed up for our recent school? How many of us practice our choreography between rehearsals?

So even though we might quickly react to this question and proclaim that we rate singing better as being very important, do our actions accurately reflect this?

What do you think? How would you answer this question? Give it some thought. Next week I will share my reply to Bob with you.

The Board of Directors has decided to charter a bus to go to the Division Contest in Schenectady, New York. The bus will leave Église St-Sixte at 6:00 AM, Saturday, March 20, and will take approximately 4 hours to make the trip to the contest site, Schenectady High School. The bus will leave after the chorus competition and evaluations are completed and return to Montreal by late evening.

As Bert Brossoit said at last week's rehearsal, "If you arrive at Église St-Sixte at 6:05 AM, have a nice drive to Schenectady, because the bus will leave at 6:00 AM!" There is no charge for chapter members and their families to travel on the 50-seat coach.

May 29 is Show Time! Have you sold any ads yet? How about tickets? Have you thought about people you would like to invite to see you do "that thing you do on Monday nights?"

We should be able to sell out the Salle Pierre Mercure, and have a great program. Give ticket money to Ray Watkins.

We have two great quartets coming. Four Voices were the 2002 International Champions and The Gas House Gang won gold in 1993, but they keep getting better! Tony De Rosa will be singing baritone with the Gang when they are with us here in Montreal. It should be a blast.

Of course you know that we are singing very well and that we are learning a bunch of great new songs.

As it stands now, we are going to be singing at the ARCIM Competition on Saturday, March 27 at approximately 3:00 PM. That means we should be there by about 1:30 PM to warm-up and get ready to entertain the audience.

We are not entered in the competition, but we are there to provide an exhibition of our style of music. The audience members have enjoyed us when we have sung in the competitions and we can provide them with a good show. It is also an opportunity to sell a few tickets to our show, May 29.

Frank Thorne, International President, 1946 & 1947. He was medium tall, slender, balding, very distinguished, with a moustache; he presented a commanding appearance but at the same time seemed to have a twinkle in his eye. He was an excellent businessman, being vice president of one corporation and president of several others as well as a member of the board in additional companies. Frank was a good instrumental musician and a fine singer; he sang bass with the 1942 International Champion Elastic Four.

Frank's trademark in the Society was his writing longhand notes in the margins of letters sent to him to mail back as replies. One of his most famous replies was one he addressed to then International Secretary Carroll Adams; at one point on a margin of a letter several pages long, Frank wrote: "Nuts!"

Frank Thorne was one of the most aptly named men; Frank was really "frank!" He had a way of making comments and offering constructive criticism which was startling in its bluntness and brevity, but you remembered what he had to say and you knew he said it for the good of the Society or your own personal good. He was outspoken but never mean or vindictive.

He had a sense of humour too. He was asked by the Executive Committee several years prior to his death to talk to a recalcitrant District President, one who called a lot of us Communists and was really stirring things up. Frank was asked to tone him down.

When reporting on his success, he opened the conversation by saying, "I talked to God last night."

He was an excellent correspondent and took great pains to say the right thing and to be as helpful as possible in letters to arrangers and quartet men.

Here is our current repertoire list: [mp3] means that the mp3 file is on the Members Only web site

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

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