The audiences were enthusiastic, our singing was good, and we had a great time. What more can you ask from a gig? Not much.

Sunday started at 2:00 PM, on the small side with 100 – 200 people watching and enjoying our performance on the Scène du Village. We were pretty good; even though there was no amplification for the chorus and got a mini standing O. We were able to pass along the message that barbershop is a fun activity.

After hanging around in the hot sun for a long time we completed sound check for the big stage, and went to our second performance of the day at Collège Laval. Since there was air conditioning, we felt a whole lot better.

The audience at Collège Laval were very appreciative and we got a full-blown Standing O, and rushed back to the Scène Loto-Québec for our final shot for the day. We were singing just before the main act of the day, a choral work by Guy St-Onge with fireworks integrated into the show.

We sang for over 90,000 people, and we did really well. M. St-Onge complimented our precision, intonation and execution.

Tuesday at Collège Laval was another good evening and according to Rob we sang well. The air conditioning was not working in our dressing room, so visits to see the Sweet Ads were required, and warm-ups took place in their dressing room.

Wednesday we finished off in the Chapelle de la Sociétés des Missions-Étrangères without amplification and sang from the heart. It was a great hall and performance.

Thanks are due to Bert Brossoit and Bob Ebers for getting us the gig and to Rob Mance for having us ready to do well when we got there. Thanks to everyone who came and sang and made this a wonderful experience for all of us. We got to share our love of barbershop music with over 90,000 people, and they liked it! There will be a next year, and we will very likely be part of it.

We can use this experience as a springboard to Halifax and District Convention and Contest. So let’s be ready to go on July 11 at our next rehearsal.

In the first three episodes of this exciting chronicle, we heard about the wonderful adventures of "CAPTAIN VOCAL"! You'll remember dear readers, Episode I and the importance of always being polite to your elders and STANDING UP STRAIGHT! Remember how CAPTAIN VOCAL said "Rangers, having the right posture is VITAL to your physical and VOCAL health and it will help you breathe better, too!"

Then, in Episode II, the CAPTAIN told us all about BREATHING IN! WOW! What fun! With our little chests expanded and an All-American posture, we took in our breath low and slow and E-X-P-A-N-D-E-D all around our little belts as we did so!

Next, in the thrilling Episode III, we found out all about how we can fight the enemies of our Way of Life AND combat tooth decay by INCREASING THE SIZE OF THE VOCAL TRACT as we breathe in! Remember, we open the throat, drop the jaw, let the tongue relax forward in the mouth (where else?), gently raise the soft palate, and extend the lips off the teeth in a nice oval shape ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

Now in this episode, gentle readers, we are ready to SING! What, after only three short weeks of preparation, we can now EXHALE and MAKE SOUND WHILE WE DO IT? Read on!

There are several ways you can think of this action, so experiment until you find one that's right for you. They all have a couple of elements in common, though. Throughout the exhalation process:

Keep that erect posture with the chest raised.

Maintain the RELAXED openness of the vocal tract and the shape of the mouth.

Now, you may feel firmness – NOT tension - in the stomach and back muscles while they slowly lift under the breath, OR you may think of maintaining the expansion of the lower rib cage and back muscles while the diaphragm (muscle in the lower middle) rises under the breath. No matter which method you use, always monitor the larynx to make sure that no tension from the breathing process is being communicated to the singing apparatus. Your neck, throat, larynx, jaw, etc. should ALWAYS be free and relaxed.

Most people prefer to bring the stomach muscles slowly up under the outgoing air, but some folks get good results by trying not to let the ribs and chest collapse as they sing. Both methods work.

Experiment to find the one you can do best. In fact, some great singers feel that they’re pushing the diaphragm AWAY and DOWN as they support the breath and tone. The point is, SOME management of the breathing muscles is essential to control the tone. Through it all, you should be completely RELAXED from the chest up and feel the work being done ONLY below there.

A caveat: the key here is "firmness" in the lower abdominal area, not "tenseness" or "tension". Throughout the process of managing the outflow of breath, you should be able to move your stomach wall with a fairly gently push in.

If your "abs" are too tight to be moved, you’re setting up tension in the larynx. Try this: tense your stomach muscles REALLY tight. Notice what you then feel in the larynx. TENSION, right? Well, tension is ALWAYS wrong. So, don’t overachieve.

One last check as you sing a tone. You should be able to gently cradle your chin in your hand and feel the space between your teeth with your thumb and first finger (one on each side, Silly!). RELAX your jaw and tongue. Remember that UNWANTED TENSION is the singer’s worst enemy.

Get help from someone on the Music Team and watch for the FINAL CHAPTER in our thrilling saga in two weeks. Good luck and good singing.

The 67^th Annual International Convention and Contest of the Barbershop Harmony Society will be starting on Sunday, July 3, 2005 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

If you can’t be there, why not set up to see the contests on the webcast. It’s not like being there, but it beats missing out altogether.

This year, you can listen and see the contests from home, without interruptions for fund-raising appeals to support high-bandwidth video. Under the new pay-per-view model, everyone can get the experience he desires at a reasonable price. As of Monday, July 3, 2005, you can sign up online.

Try before you buy: Go to the Webcasts test centre - www.spebsqsa.org/ID_065357 - to make sure that your connection and computer can support the experience you purchase. It is available NOW! They have four test streams that you can check out prior to your purchase. Each one will give you a five-minute stream that will allow you to test your Media Player, your bandwidth delivery and then let you decide which stream meets your individual quality standards.

Use your credit card to order online, starting Monday, July 3, 2005, and choose among these options:

You’re grateful? Want to donate more? They'll let you do that, too!

Invite some friends over to see the best of the best. Maybe one of those guys you have been trying to get to come to a rehearsal for a long time. Or get a few of the guys from the chorus together and hoist a few while enjoying the webcast.

• Please note: start and end times are subject to change
• All times are Mountain Daylight Time (UTC -600) [That’s two (2) hours after Montreal! For example 10:00AM MDT is 12:00 noon EDT]
• Tune in 10 minutes before the event for "pre-game" announcements, analysis, and guests.
• Stream begins 20 minutes before event, to allow plenty of time to process payments, connect players, and accommodate load surges. You can sign up starting on Monday, July 3, 2005. I think I said that before.

Ed Watson, a career Navy Captain with thirty-three years’ experience as a Barbershopper, has accepted the position of Executive Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the Barbershop Harmony Society.

"Ed brings us an impressive background in managing staff and Navy Reserve volunteers, logistics, and an operations budget," said Society President Rob Hopkins. "Ed has exceptional problem-solving skills and a proven ability to enroll diverse people as effective members of teams. Throughout his distinguished Navy career, he has demonstrated particular strengths as an effective communicator, project manager, and mobilizer."

An F-14 aviator with carrier experience, Watson rose through the command ranks to serve as Executive Officer of the Navy Air Reserve/Santa Clara, Chief of Staff of the Navy Air Reserve Force, New Orleans, and Commanding Officer of Navy Air Reserve Norfolk. In 2002, his command was selected in an annual competition as the single best Navy Air Reserve in the country. He recently served as Operational Support Officer for the Navy Air Force US Atlantic Fleet, co-ordinating all Reserve support of the aviation community of the Atlantic Fleet for the Commander, supervising 16 Reserve units, three major staffs and 13 augment units for nuclear aircraft carriers.

"I’ve always been committed to thoroughly understanding the mission before me," said Watson. "Strategically, you must know where you want to go. Tactically, when a 60,000 pound airplane is approaching a steel carrier deck at 130 miles per hour, you better make the right decision every time."

"That’s how I will approach new challenges as the CEO. Powered by the enthusiastic esprit de corps of our tremendous volunteer organization and staff, and guided by our Board of Directors, I want to take the Barbershop Harmony Society to new heights of membership, synergism with like organisations, performance excellence, and unrivalled fun."

Up beat and enthusiastic, Watson is an avid Barbershopper of long experience. He has moved twenty times in the past thirty years but never interrupted his Society membership. His quartet credits include Gold Rush, On Location, Spare Parts and The Quackenbush Quartet. As a chorus singer, he has appeared on the international stage with the San Diego Sun Harbor Chorus with whom he served as music VP and wrote numerous shows and contest packages. He has carried those same roles with his current chapter, the Norfolk Commodore Chorus. Active in Community Theater, he has played Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man, and directed productions of Godspell and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.

Watson is retiring from a successful military career with his wife, Cathy, by his side. Two of his five children, Gillian and Amanda, are grown and living in North Carolina; two, Catharine and Randall, will be in college, and his youngest daughter, Corrinne, will be a junior in high school. His two greatest loves, work and barbershop, now will be the same thing.

Appropriately, Watson is expected to commence his work on the Fourth of July. Interim CEO Roger Lewis will remain in place to co-ordinate the Salt Lake City convention and ensure a smooth turnover of responsibilities. Both men will be in Salt Lake City to meet the membership and sing tags, and then will return to Kenosha to continue the transition. Watson will move his family to Kenosha this summer, assuming the CEO role on July 20.

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