I'm a psychic amnesiac. I know in advance what I'll forget.

There was a flurry of posts to the Harmonet this week about bubbling. It started with someone who didn't know what it was, and went from there.

One of the best replies (as usual) was from our friend and coach, Roger Payne. He said:

"Bubbling is essentially making a motorboat sound with your lips.

"The beauty of it is, you can't do it unless you generate a steady flow of air from the diaphragm and eliminate virtually all tension in between.

"And the beauty of THAT is, once you do that, singing is easy!

"Roger Payne, inveterate bubbler

"PS: It also tends to eliminate extraneous mucous and give you nice frontal focus for your mucous-free and thus clearer tone. But those are just happy boni..."

An amusing account of bubbling with an audience was recounted by Raymond Davis, tenor of Special Feature:

"When Special Feature was in our heyday, we used to bubble at every rehearsal. We also did it when we were warming up for a chapter show because it really focused our sound forward.

"We were at a chapter show back east and we were bubbling our usual song of choice, which was "My Wild Irish Rose". We also tended to put our hands in front of our faces when we did this so that we could each hear ourselves better.

"Some of the chapter guys were walking by backstage, inquisitively watching their headliner quartet bubble a song while their hands were out in front of their faces. One of the chapter members watched us intently for a few minutes and then walked up and asked us why we had our hands out in front of us when we were doing this. Was it a new way for rehearsing? Or did it help us focus our sound? Could it be that the society had a new rehearsal technique that hasn't been let out of the bag yet? Our baritone, Paul Olguin, quickly put all of those ideas to rest when, jokingly, he told the guy, "No, we just don't want to spit all over each other"....

Raymond Davis, Tenor, "Q"

So, now we know why Rob likes to get us bubbling at the start of our warm-up. It is funny to see, and it works!

The Chairmen of Committees met last Thursday to review the progress we are making, and the things that need to get more emphasis. The International Convention is going to take place in a little less than six months.

We are starting to accumulate the reserve of volunteers needed to make this a successful convention. The committee members agreed that we would place an ad in Chanter, the magazine of the Alliance des Chorales du Québec. This is sent to all the choruses and many of the singers who are members of the Alliance, including ARCIM.

The design for the volunteer shirt was approved for estimates, and we are hoping to have the actual shirts available in time for the Division Contests later this spring.

Most of the committees have presented preliminary budget requests. These are being compiled and evaluated by Walter Mueller, Treasurer of the Local Committee.

If you know of any former members, friends and acquaintances who would like to see an International Convention from the inside, we can offer them a fun week and a souvenir golf shirt for their time and effort.

The rules are:

1. A VLQ must have from 5 (five) to 10 (ten) men. The Society considers this a Chorus contest, NOT a Quartet contest, so chorus contest rules apply. All participants must be members of the same chapter.
2. All entries must be done through the Society website. Entry procedures are described below.
3. The entry deadline is March 22.

PROCEDURE FOR ENTERING A CONTEST

1. Log onto the Society website at www.spebsqsa.org.

2. In the upper right hand corner of the screen, click on "Members Only/Ops Center".

3. Scroll down to "Contest Registration" on the right of the screen.

4. Click on the kind of contest you want to enter (chorus).

5. At this point you may or may not be asked to log into the Members Only area. Put in your password and the next screen will be the Contest Entry Form It's possible this form will appear without having to enter the Members Only area.

6. Complete the entry form.

7. Submit your entry. I am automatically sent a copy and will acknowledge receipt of it to you within 5 days. If you do not hear from me, it means I did not get it, so please contact me. (Please note...I will be away Jan 16-27 and will acknowledge all entries received during that time after my return).

8. If you have any questions about, or problems with, the entry procedure, please email me or call me.

Cotton Damon, VP Contest & Judging, Northeastern District, 207-743-8545 wcd2@megalink.net

Here is our current and future repertoire list: