Date: November 27, 2000

Ron Dawson heads home! After successful heart valve surgery, our Tenor Buddy spent several rather painful days in the Royal Vic. He is expected to be released from the hospital on Sunday, and will be recuperating at home for a couple of weeks.

Ron and his Mum thank everyone for their support and prayers.

Next week's rehearsal is at St. Patrick's Basilica. To give us a chance to get use to singing in the Basilica, we will be meeting there next Monday at 7:30 pm.

There is some parking at the side of the church. The church is on René-Lévesque Blvd, just east of Beaver Hall Hill.

The performance is on Wednesday, December 6 at 8:00 pm. We will be wearing our full chorus costume, and it is highly recommended that you bring your costume and change there.

A Christmas present to ask for. Since we all need a personal recording device, here are some suggestions gleaned from the H@rmonet. Some of the suggestions come from champs, others from just plain folks. I can't say which ones are best and other than option 3, I don't know if these are even available in Canada.

1. Sony 'TCS-580V with both built-in microphones and a jack for an external microphone. Use it with an external microphone. A microphone small enough to put through a buttonhole in your shirt is available. A belt pack would be very useful. One designed for runners would fit the bill, so once you push the "Record" button, it is totally hands free and you can do all of choreography and physical song interpretation without any restrictions.
2. Sharp MDSR60 Portable MiniDisc Recorder or Sony MZR70 Portable MiniDisc Recorder; SoundPro SPSPSM1 "T" Stereo Microphone, and a box of MiniDiscs. Excellent sound reproduction but not cheap.
3. Go to Radio Shack and find an in expensive cassette recorder, using full size tapes, with an external microphone jack and a small microphone. Carry extra batteries and tapes.

It is highly recommended that we all use a recording device to give us something to practice with each day. We learn with learning tapes, but once we have interpretation included, we need to be practising with the interpretation, so that rehearsal can start at the same level we were singing at the week before.

Chanukah and Christmas singouts schedule. In general, singouts will be for one hour. The full chorus is required for December 6 and December 9. PLEASE LET ROB MANCE KNOW IF YOU WILL MISS ANY OF THE SINGOUTS! Check each date for changes! Full chorus costume is planned for each singout.

Have you "Shared the Dream!" It's as easy as 1-2-3. Here is a challenge to from me to you. Can you remember what got you into singing barbershop? I am betting that in most cases it was because a friend, neighbour, co-worker, family member etc. asked you to come out once. After that first encounter, you were probably hooked. We are at a stage where we want to attract good singers to add to the great sound we are producing. Take the time to ask a friend to come and share our hobby. They will need to be motivated and able to sing, obviously, but the rewards are many and fun. Sharing is a good thing, so let's do it. It's as Easy as 1-2-3.

Pay-as-you-go Joe - Bring a Cheque next Monday! Don't forget the easiest way to pay your annual dues is in small instalments. The $14 Monthly payment hardly hurts. (Nor does the $42.00 quarterly payment, if you prefer that.) This is encouraged for all members of the Chapter.

If you pay $14.00 at the first rehearsal every month, you save a couple of dollars, and make the payment process painless. Start NOW.

Post-dated cheques payable to Island City Chorus can be given to Ray Watkins, Chapter Treasurer. All members who have December 31 as their renewal date should bring in a cheque for $170.00 within the next three weeks. They can then start to pay $14 per month for 2001. This helps us with our current cash flow problems, and makes the bite less painful.

We are entertainers. The Chapter is in need of funds, and good fund raising ideas. Obviously singing is an ideal way to raise money. If you know of a group that is looking for some excellent entertainment at a reasonable price, refer them to Alan Kenley at 514-341-7171.

Raising Funds. Please talk to Jerry Silverberg about any other fund raising ideas you may have. He is willing to consider just about anything that you would like to do (that isn't illegal!)

It would be a wonderful idea for us to have enough fund raisers that we have something that everyone likes to do. That way there would be no nagging from the front each week. That isn't fun for anybody.

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

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