Date: January 3, 2000 Our First rehearsal of 2000

This is the first rehearsal where the date starts with "2000". Well, the good news is that TEOTWAWKI did not happen at the click over from 1999 to 2000. For those of you reading this on your computer, congratulations. You must either live a charmed life, or you did some advance work to make sure that you were ready for anything that y2k was going to send your way.

Many of our members were anxiously watching the New Year come in from New Zealand and each time zone until ours.

This meeting marks the beginning of Steve Wheaton’s term as President. I am pleased to be able to continue to serve as Past-President and Bulletin Editor.

Friday was New Year’s Eve with the Veterans. This has become a tradition of our Chapter and Chorus. We were invited to participate in the New Year’s Eve Show at St. Anne’s Veteran’s Hospital once again. We met in the hospital recreation office area at 11:00 am, and sang on several floors in the wards.

We were part of the show and were the last act before intermission. We performed for the Veterans and their guests along with the many others that came to entertain the audience on New Years Eve.

This is a highlight of the season and those of us able to attend were pleased at the reception.

When Rob is working with another Section you are free to quietly sit down, move or stretch. You should still be paying attention to what he is saying, because quite often the information he is passing along is applicable to you as well.

Instead of a weekend long retreat (Spring Ahead) we will be having two day sessions. The cost will be less, but they are just as important. Please put them in your calendar, and make sure that you are there! All chorus members are expected to attend all events between now and May 2000.

Be there, or B². [I can’t believe I just said that.]

Reminder 1: Rob Mance is offering Music Theory Lessons. If you are interested, please let him know. The day and place have not been decided, but Rob’s offer is open to anyone who wants to learn more about reading music, chord structure, intervals, etc. Sounds like something that many of us could use. As of last week there will be two classes.

Reminder 2: Register tonight for the February 5, 2000 Harmony School. Have you paid your money to spend a day with Marquis, Blue Champagne and Limited Edition? Learn more about good singing techniques and how our hobby works. Steve Armstrong, Director of Toronto Northern Lights will coach the chorus in the morning, and you will have the afternoon for one of the other great classes, or quartet coaching. You will get all this for $35.00 US ($52.50 Cdn), which includes lunch and a new piece of music. What a bargain! Steve Wheaton will be pleased to get your payments and registration forms.

Do you sing in a church choir? The members may be interested in participating in our school. Ask them! We need to have 220 people to break even.

Tickets and advertising for our Annual Show/Concert. Our show for 2000, "Beginning to See the Light," will be on Saturday, May 20 and will feature PLATINUM, the 1999 Silver Medallist Quartet with Joe Connelly, Tony DeRosa, Kevin Miles and Gary Lewis. We will also have the 1998 Harmony, Inc. Gold Medallist quartet Blue Champagne with Laura Holmes, Lindsay Chartier, Stacy Hugman-Frenette and Elisabeth Mance.

Criteria for Division Contest. Over the next few weeks Rob Mance will be asking each of us, individually, to work with him for 5 to 10 minutes so that he can get an idea of how we are doing with our competition repertoire. He will then give us some suggestions on things we need to work on, and possibly set-up another time to meet with him.

This should help him to see the level each of us has achieved and for us to find out what areas we need to work on in order to make the chorus as a whole progress to that next level.

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

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