ISLAND CITY CHORUS

GREATER MONTREAL CHAPTER

Northeastern District

SPEBSQSA Inc.

The Little Chorus that could!

MINI PITCH

Date: May 3, 2004 Four weeks to show time! Volume 2004 -Issue 19

Next weekend the NED Champs Road Show, are going to be competing in the 2004 The Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival.

The Festival is the premier American showcase for vocal harmony music. The annual national competition draws from hundreds of vocal groups from around the country with regional competitions in eight cities. The winning group from each festival is flown to perform in front of celebrity judges and a sold out house of enthusiastic a cappella fans at the National Finals.

Road Show won the Northeast competition held in Boston earlier this year.

They will also be representing the District at the International Competition in Louisville this summer.

I'm just speaking for myself here. I've been judging for, I think, 15 years, having won Gold Medals with two different quartets. And by the way, I'm still competing and occasionally have the same discussion with a (fellow) judge who gives me a score or an evaluation I'm not happy with, or I have a factual argument with.

But - as a judge, I absolutely do NOT even want to know how a quartet has done in the past. And even if I do know (I never ever look up anything on competitors) I go in with a clean slate.

To the best of my ability I score the performance in front of me. Period. BTW, I'm in the SNG category. I take great pride in the fact that I score it as I see it and hear it. Period.

Judges, work very hard to get certified, and work just as hard to STAY certified at our triennial Category school. I believe with everything that's in me that 99.9% of all judges want to put down the right score, and give the most accurate, informative evaluation they can. I don't know who that 0.1% guy is, and, in all seriousness, I don't believe he exists.

Even when I'm competing and I disagree with a judge (sometimes one in my own category) we just discuss it, and I try to learn something from the discussion

Ever wonder if you really sing all the notes correctly in "Keep The Whole World Singing"? Spend a few minutes and check out your part. MP3 learning tracks are available on the Society web site at www.spebsqsa.org > Sing & Perform > Get Music >Listen to audio previews of Free & Easy. There are separate tracks for all four parts.

Trust me on this. You are very unlikely to be singing the right notes! Everyone learns this by osmosis, and learns other people's mistakes. Check it out!

If you haven't obtained your own learning CD, you can download mp3 tracks of the full mix and your part-predominate from our members' only web site.

Go to www.nedistrict.org/montreal/ and click on the member's only section. Use your membership number and your password as furnished by the Society to enter the member's only area.

Nearly all the tickets for the ground floor are out, and those not sold must be returned tonight, or you have bought them. Most people seem to have done pretty well with their ticket sales.

Alan Kenley has agreed to co-ordinate the Show Program, and he needs to get the advertisements so he can put the book together.

If you have ads sold, get them to Alan as soon as you can. Don't forget that tickets come with ads over one quarter page. What a deal that is.

Since we have such a great show, we should be able to sell out the Salle Pierre Mercure. Give your ticket money to Ray Watkins as soon as possible.

We have two great quartets coming. Four Voices were the 2002 International Champions and The Gas House Gang won gold in 1993, but they keep getting better! Mike Slamka, lead of 2003 Champions, Power Play will be singing baritone with the Gang when they are with us here in Montreal. Commonly Unique will also be singing on the show. It should be a blast.

Another hot show is coming along this spring. The Montreal Chapter of Harmony Inc. are putting on their show June4, 2004. The location and price are to come, but they have Hot Topic2003 Harmony Queens and Commonly Unique on the show along with For the Fun of It (one of their chapter quartets) and of course the chorus, who are singing very well.

Tickets are $18 and the show is at CEGEP Gerald Godin on Gouin Blvd, Pierrefonds.

Put your left foot in,

Your left foot out,

Your left foot in,

And shake it all about.

You do the hokey pokey

And turn yourself around

That's what it's all about.

O proud left foot, that ventures quick within

Then soon upon a backward journey lithe.

Anon, once more the gesture, then begin:

Command sinistral pedestal to writhe.

Commence thou then the fervid Hokey-Poke.

A mad gyration, hips in wanton swirl.

To spin! A wilde release from heaven's yoke.

Blessed dervish! Surely canst go, girl.

The Hoke, the poke -- banish now thy doubt

Verily, I say, 'tis what it's all about.

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

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