Date: November 5, 2001

Well gang what a fine job you all did at contest. Everyone was relaxed on stage, we had fun and we implemented our music plan. No one could ask for more from a chorus. It was just great.

With competition out of the way we head into the last quarter of the year with great optimism and anxious to do some singing for the public. Christmas Singouts are just around the corner and thanks to John Hatfield and Rudi Flaig we are booked solid in December. Our Christmas repertoire is ready and we will polish it up over the next 8 weeks.

We will put the finishing touches on Words and bring all of our music up a notch in the coming months. Andrew and his presentation team will work very hard to have us look good on every piece that we sing.

We will do more quartetting, learn some tags and maybe even a new song or two before Christmas.

Our annual show "Just An Old Fashioned Love Song" is shaping up for May 25, 2002 with Nightlife as our guest quartet. More on this subject to come shortly.

That's it for now. The music team is looking forward to working with everyone to make the year ahead a great one.

Our hobby was started on the basis of four men getting together and joining their voices to make ear music. I am not talking about an International calibre quartet here. It is about just four guys who enjoy singing together, and have a lot of fun while doing it.

There are many reasons, other than just plain fun. You learn how to balance a chord, lock it and get that ring. You make friends with three other guys in a way that very few other activities permit. You have a great reason to go out another night (if you need one!)

From personal experience I can tell you that it will improve the way you hear the other parts in a song and it will improve your singing. The coaching that is available to quartets in the Northeastern District is continually improving, thanks in no small part to the efforts of our District Music leadership. Mark Lewis in his short tenure as District Music Educator brought the level up.

Recently, Jim Dodge, District VP of Music & Performance has initiated the Singing A’s program to help quartets and choruses to improve their singing levels to score A level in competition. It is there. Take advantage of it.

When you can hear the other parts and put your part in at the right volume and hear the chord ring, the hair goes up all over your body. You have experienced VHF (Vertical Hair Factor)!

So, have I piqued your interest? Would you like to try out singing in a quartet?

The first international chorus contest was held in Detroit at the 1953 convention. The winners, the Great Lakes Chorus of Grand Rapids, Michigan, were acclaimed the "1953 International Convention Championship Chorus."

Fifteen other choruses competed, and the affair was considered a big success. It was an experiment to test the popularity of the chorus contest idea, but not all districts were represented, so it was not until 1954 in Washington, D.C., that the winning chorus, the Singing Capital Chorus of the host chapter, could be crowned the "SPEBSQSA International Chorus Champions." Some 889 men in 23 choruses were involved in that contest, which from then on became an official part of the annual convention program.

Please check the list of jobs to ensure that your name is on the list in a place where you will be comfortable working for the week of the International convention. Have you signed up to take that week as vacation? Do it now!

We will need everyone from our Chapter to be available. This is going to be a massive undertaking, but it will be a lot of fun.

If it is possible for you, plan to come to Portland, OR for the SPEBSQSA 2002 International Convention and Contest. Besides having a wonderful time, you will be able to help us promote Montreal 2003, and to sell advance registrations. We hope that we will have the largest ever attendance at a SPEBSQSA International.

Singing and performing well is fun, isn’t it? Please make sure that you have reviewed all the music that we will be singing this week and the presentation plan for each song, so that we are always in performance mode. We are singing well. Let's make sure that the audience (including Judges!) sees us at our best in all areas!

Feet, knees, shoulders, tongue, jaw. Remember what to do with each, and do it before each song we sing.

Here is our current repertoire list:

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

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