Date: March 13, 2000 FRONT ROW AT 6:30 PM

Whether you think you can or think you can't - you're right.-- Henry Ford

Erin was here! Erin was here! Wow! What a dynamo she is. Erin Howden really got us going. I know that my brain was tired at the end of the evening, and my body wasn't far behind.

It was a fun evening, with lots of movement, and occasionally some good singing. It is difficult to concentrate on several things at the same time, but we will learn to do it. The chorus is going to look and sound fantastic when we get to Division. We all need to listen as Stacy Hugman-Frenette puts us through our paces.

We have to be attentive at all times, because there isn't that many weeks before Division. That is also why the Spring Ahead 2 on March 18 is back on. It will take place at Murray's Church. 176 Westcliffe, Pointe Claire. Front Row and Alternates will start at 8:30 am and the rest of the Chorus will start at 9:30 am. Do your best to be there!

Stacy has transcribed the moves and keyed them to the words. Make sure you have a copy.

Mountain Division Contest transportation. Bert Brossoit is arranging for a bus to leave Eglise Ste-Sixte at 6:00 am on Saturday, April 8. He will be taking reservations for chorus members and guests. Please let him know your requirements TONIGHT.

PLEASE NOTE: Rehearsal on April 3, 2000 will be in Kellert Hall of the Y.M.Y.W.H.A., 5500 Westbury Ave. (corner of Cote St. Catherine Rd.), Montreal, Que. Go in through the main entrance. Our hall is in use by the Church that night.

Hudson Music Club's "Broadway, Encore." The remaining performances of the Hudson Music Club are March 17 & 18, 2000 at the Cité des Jeunes in Vaudreueil. The Club is putting on a great evening of music from Broadway Musicals over the past Century. Key of Eh? is part of the show, and tickets are available from Jeffery, Ron, Al or Murray at $15.00 for evening shows and $10.00 for matinees. All seats are reserved

Big Brothers and Big Sisters Bowlathon 2000 will be held on Saturday, April 15, 2000. Our Presentation Coach, Stacy Hugman-Frenette is organizing the event and would like as many teams as possible to participate. She is suggesting that we go to Le Manoir afterwards for dinner.

If you are interested and would like further details, ask Stacy when she visits us, or ask Richard who will pass along your request for information.

Sell your tickets and 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. This will be Blue Champagne's final performance. More than half the tickets are gone! Advertising is an important part of the program, so ask your barber, mechanic, suppliers…

Reminder 1: Rob Mance is offering Music Theory Lessons. If you are interested, please let him know.

Reminder 2: 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.

Learn your Music. Tapes for Basin Street Blues, I Only Have Eyes for You and Harmony were made available two weeks ago. Don't forget to get yours.

We are off the paper on I Only Have Eyes for You tonight, and Basin Street Blue for next week. Harmony should be memorised by March 20. By March 27, we should have all the songs for the show in our personal memory banks. They are as follows.

"The Old Songs"

"The old songs, the old songs, the good old songs for me . . ." was composed by Geoffrey O'Hara who was born in Ontario in 1882. O'Hara was a banker and professional musician. He received an honorary doctorate in music from Huron College.

O'Hara composed songs for Al Jolson and Enrico Caruso. Two of his better known popular compositions were "K-K-K-Katy" and "Your Eyes Told Me So." He also composed many spirituals including "There Is No Death" and "I Walked Today Where Jesus Is." It isn't known whether he wrote barbershop songs although he was the founder and first president of the Manhattan chapter.

"The Old Songs" is really an introduction to a more complete work of 14 pages, "A Little Close Harmony." It is a glee club type song with banjo and other instrumental background.

In the early days of our Society, O'Hara gave permission to use the introduction as our theme song.

[Editors soap box: The Old Songs is sung at the opening of each of our Chapters meetings. Like the other songs that we sing as part of the meeting ritual, each member has probably learned it by listening to those around him, and learned it wrong. Perhaps, one night soon, we will learn our "songs" correctly.]

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

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