Date: January 24, 2000 "Are you a prepared singer?"

Installation Night was a success. The atmosphere was great and so was the food. Although it was cold outside the warmth of the evening was exceptional. Bruce Checca did a wonderful job installing the officers. He assigned each post a song title that was appropriate.

There were several awards presented including the Ray Mcleod Quartetting Trophy to Key of Eh?, Presidential Citations to Ron Schurman, Walter Mueller, Mike Cassidy and Rob Mance. The Barbershopper of the Year was awarded to Murray Phillips.

The Chorus sang a couple of songs, and considering the fact that we weren't warmed up, we were tired, [insert your own excuse here], we sounded darn good. Thanks to all that organised and executed the evening. Well done.

VP - Chapter Development Since Bert Larsen is going to be away on business a lot, he has stepped aside as VP - Chapter Development. Murray Phillips has agreed to act until Bert is able to return to the position.

The VP - Chapter Development is responsible for the membership recruitment & retention and marketing & public relations activities of the Chapter. He develops a team to work with him in each area and reports to the Board at their monthly meetings. Murray will be asking people to be part of these teams. Please say, "Yes!"

Quartetting our repertoire continues. Our new Quartetting Chairman, Stan Kido, debuted the new repertoire quartetting program last week. You line up your quartet one-week, practice the next and perform the week after. Quartets (or octets) sing one of our current repertoire songs. Have you signed up yet?

This is an excellent way to prove to yourself that you really know our chorus repertoire. If you can sing your part in a quartet or octet, you know you aren’t relying on someone else for anything regarding your part. You must also listen to the other three parts and make sure that you are in balance with them. This is what our Society was founded on, singing in quartets. This is a great opportunity to try your hand (voice?) at it. Don’t be afraid to ask -- go for it!

Stan will take reservations for two quartets (or octets) a week. You can chose any week, up to the end of the year.

Get your tickets and sell advertising for our Annual Show/Concert. Our show for 2000, "Beginning to See the Light," will be on Saturday, May 20 in Salle Claude Champagne at Université de Montréal and will feature PLATINUM, the 1999 Silver Medallist Quartet and the 1998 Harmony, Inc. International Champion quartet, Blue Champagne.

The $18.00 tickets are available now, and since all seats will be reserved, the early bird gets the best seats. We are using a system where you sell the ticket and bring in the money, or you can provide a post-dated cheque to cover the cost of the tickets you will be selling. When we have the money, the seats will be allocated "best available at the time money is received." So if you pay in advance you will know what seats you are selling. All the seats are good and the sound will be great in all parts of the hall. Tickets for the afterglow are $12.00 and they are in very limited supply. Get yours now. The Show/Glow package is $30.00.

Sign up for your convention job. Since everyone will be working on the two conventions, chose your job now! If you have no preference, one will be assigned to you. The people working on a committee for the District Convention will work on that committee for our International Convention in 2003.

Coaching makes us better (Spring Ahead 1 and 2) We will be having two day-sessions. They will be at Church of St. Augustine, 176 Westcliffe Ave., Pointe Claire. Saturday, February 26 and Saturday, March 18, 2000 should be in your calendar. Make sure that you are there!

The first day session on February 26, will be followed be followed on Monday, March 6 with Erin Howden (Choreographer for SAI Champions, North Metro Chorus, and Mega City Chorus) coming to give us a presentation plan for "Love Me" and "Beginning to See the Light." If you are planning to be at the Division or District Contest or in the show, you should be at all these coaching sessions.

There will only be one month to get comfortable with the presentation plan before the division Contest and Stacy Hugman-Frenette has agreed to remind us what Erin teaches us. She will be our resident coach and we will give her time and our attention when she is there. Stacy will be with us on March 18 to march us through our paces. After the show, we have asked Tony DeRosa, baritone of PLATINUM and Director of the "Heralds of Harmony, to stay to coach us on the Monday night. All chorus members are expected to attend all events between now and May 2000.

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: February 5, 2000 Harmony School. Just a few members have not paid 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. Every one should be there.

Reminder 3: 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!