Some major announcements were made this week regarding the 2005 International Convention and Contest in Salt Lake City, UT.

The quartet contest will be a two round contest with about 48 quartets in the Semi-finals and 20 advancing to the Finals. A Show of Champions will take place on Saturday evening and on Sunday a Sacred Gold Concert with the 360 voice Mormon Tabernacle Choir being joined by 600 Gold Medallist barbershoppers.

As John Schneider said in his letter, " It will be better because more people will have the opportunity to experience more and different activities than ever before at our International Convention. We are a Society of singers and we want to give everyone the opportunity not only to sing but to improve their craft,-all the while experiencing the best singing that barbershop has to offer."

Big changes, but hopefully good ones.

We held our last Board meeting of 2004 on December 29. It was also our first meeting with our new Board. Bert Brossoit has taken on the task of VP Membership, and Bob Ebers is in the newly created position of VP – Public Relations and Marketing. These two men will be focusing their efforts on one thing – increasing membership. It is not a secret – our numbers have been decreasing over the past several years, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a competitive singing level with fewer and fewer guys on the risers.

We have succeeded musically this past year. We have a terrific Director in Rob Mance, Morgan Lacroix has helped out immensely, and each of you has put in the effort to improve the over-all performance level of the chorus. Congratulations!

But if we want to maintain and build on this musical success, we must attract new members. Bert and Bob are enthusiastic about this challenge, and they have the talent and the drive to make things happen – if we give them the support they need! As Bert put it, he has 25 guys on his membership team.

Each of us must do his part if we are to grow. One important aspect is the perception that people have of us as a chorus. Whether it is our audience, or a prospective new member, we must put forward a positive, professional appearance. We will be changing our approach to recruitment, and we will be actively searching for singers who are prepared to take on a challenge and to raise the chorus’ level.

In order to do this, we must create and maintain a professional, competent perception of the chorus. There are some things that each of us should be doing to help promote this image of the chorus. These are commitments that we made when we became members.

• Each of us is responsible to ensure that we are properly groomed and dressed for any chorus appearance. This includes clean, pressed clothes, whether it is our casual summer outfit or our full-dress performance uniform.
• We are responsible to each other to be at rehearsals on time, ready to begin at the prescribed time. Imagine the first impression we make on a new guest if we are wandering in late for rehearsal. Being on time shows respect for each other.
• We are responsible to participate in all of the Chorus activities. Our Fall Forward was a great example of what can be achieved when we get full participation and enthusiasm.
• We are responsible to spend time learning our music. It has been a while since Rob published monthly schedules. These schedules give us the chance to know well ahead of time what songs we will be working on each evening, meaning that we should be that much better prepared. This has not always been the case. Rob must put a lot of time and thought into the preparing of these schedules – time that is well-spent only if we make use of the information and put in the effort to practice our music prior to Monday evening rehearsal. Rob will try again to publish these monthly schedules – let’s make sure that it is time well spent!

If each of us does his part, we can build on the success of 2004 and make 2005 even better. I wish each of you a happy, healthy and musical New Year!

All members of the Chapter should be registered for the Saturday, February 5, 2005 Great Northern Harmony Workshop at Champlain College, Longueuil, QC. We are going to be coached by Kevin Keller, former baritone of Cheers, a Music Judge, sings with the Ambassadors of Harmony (current International Chorus Champs), and all around good guy. It will be a fun event, and ALL MEMBERS MUST ATTEND.

You will also have a chance to choose another half-day course to further your musical education. The course material was sent by email, and copies have been available at Chapter meetings.

Please ensure that your registration is in to Steve Wheaton TONIGHT at the latest!

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!