Date: July 16, 2001

I have been trying to catch up on the two weeks I was away, and so far, I haven't made it. My generous offer, to allow someone the fun and satisfaction of publishing their own ideas and opinions is still open. Why not try your hand at the Mini-Pitch. You will probably enjoy it.

The 2001 SPEBSQSA International Convention and Contest was a lot of fun, and we have some ideas on which to build for 2003.

Our hosts in Nashville did a terrific job. They even kept the rain off most events, and the tornado warnings just made for more excitement.

The city of Nashville is somewhat smaller than Montreal, so the hotels were more spread out. Busses were used to good effect to move the crowds to, and from the hotels. The venues for the events were all close to the headquarters hotel, so mass transit wasn't necessary.

Those of us staying at non-convention hotels were able to make use of the convention transportation by going to one of the convention hotels and getting on the bus. The hotel the Wheatons and Phillips stayed at was very comfortable, and the price was quite good.

The contests in 2001 were spectacular. I really enjoyed the entire quartet quarter finals. Fifty (50) quartets entertained us on the Wednesday. ALL 50 did., and not one seemed out of place. I think the judges did a marvellous job in sorting out the contestants. In general I agreed with the placements. (In the semi-finals, I had 18 of 20 and the two who didn't make it were 21 and 22!)

Michigan Jake was an obvious winner. They really sang up an storm, and entertained the audience. The surprise of the contest was Four Voices, the winners of the 1996 MBNA College Contest. Watch for them next year!

After 8 consecutive silver medals, The New Tradition Chorus won gold and the Northern Lights from Toronto placed second. It was a truly amazing contest. The Alexandria Harmonizers, who were favoured going into the contest placed third, and thus the contest next year will feature Toronto, Alexandria and the Masters of Harmony. What a show that will be.

There were 21 choruses in the competition, and they all were entertaining and looked as though they belonged on the stage with the other competitors.

The Ambassadors of Harmony had a wonderful set based on a toys theme. The were dressed as toys and really did a marvellous job of entertaining.

As usual there was some controversy over some of the presentations. The New Tradition Chorus brought some rifle twirlers from a local drum corps to perform with them (and they were spectacular), so the purists came out of the wood work to say this wasn't fair.

Scores are available on the internet.

College Contest. The MBNA College Quartet Contest was held on the Friday morning in the Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel.(HQ for the convention). The calibre of the quartets seems to improve every year and this was no exception. The winners, Reprise, would have faired well in the contest with the big guys.

Since we are hosts for 2003, we will be needing a good number of people in Portland to help sell registrations and to promote Montreal as a destination.

We were evident in Nashville and pinned a number of barbershoppers and gave out a large pile of literature and maps of Montreal.

Make your plans NOW and plan to be in Portland next July.

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

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