The Joy of Performing

I do not think there is any better, or happier, activity for the Hunterdon Harmonizers than performing for the local crowds in and around Hunterdon County. This past Thursday evening we had one of those opportunities when we performed for the crowd at the County sponsored series of Music Under the Stars in Deer Path Park. We were one of the free series of concerts that include the Hunterdon Symphony and a number of traveling musical groups from out of the area.

The County Park system does a good job of setting up the venue and providing the sound system so that all we have to do is bring our risers and perform for the enthusiastic audience. People tend to gather about an hour before the performance to set up their seats in a good location, and often to picnic with their families while waiting for the program to start.

Although it had rained a little earlier in the day the skies had largely cleared by the time of our performance. Although it was not as hot out as a day or two earlier, it was hot. One gets the sense of standing on the risers in a reflector oven as the sun sets shining in our faces.

The guys arrived early to warm up their voices. We practiced the start of several of our songs and talked about a few changes in the script for the show. We started almost exactly at 7:00, the published starting time.

We opened with The Star Spangled Banner from our Inspirational and Patriotic recording, followed by Applause, and then Happy Together. Five of our quartets, interspersed throughout the program, including Life Renewed, Chordhouse Steps, Voice Odyssey, ReMix, and Untamed, all participated.

We featured one of out new songs, the Armed Forces Medley, during which members of the audience who had served in the various branches of our military stood to be recognized as we sang the song representing and honoring their branch of service. We displayed the flags of each service as we sang about that particular service.

God Bless the USA, You Raise Me Up, When I Lift Up My Head, and God Bless America concluded our program. With the last song the audience was invited to join us in singing God Bless America. Many people had the fun of singing that important song with us.

We all agreed that we enjoy singing for the County series as we have for a number of years. We already look forward to next year.

A most exciting few days. . . .

Probably the most exciting, and most intense, few days every year in the life of the Barbershop Harmony Society are during the annual International Convention. The 72^nd, held practically in our back yard this year was during the days of June 28^th through July 4^th in Philadelphia. The Hunterdon Harmonizers had about 30 members in attendance.

We have not made it a priority to attempt to qualify to sing in the international chorus contest since we did so in 1997. To do so takes an incredible amount of work and dedication on the part of our singers, to the exclusion of the shows and local performances that we enjoy so much. Every year or so we ask our singers what they consider to be our top goal or goals. Singing in contest usually comes in third or fourth. The year it comes in first we will have to change our priorities.

For those of our singers who are driven to sing on the big stage there are opportunities for them. Four of our members have become members of three different highly competitive chapters, as well as remaining a member of our chapter, and these guys did get to sing in Philadelphia. One sang with the chorus which sang first to test the sound system, two sang with the Big Apple in New York City, and one sang with the Chorus of the Chesapeake from Maryland (he is getting his doctorate degree at Johns Hopkins).

I personally enjoyed the freedom to attend chorus and quartet contests, socialize with friends from all over the country, and attend open rehearsals of some of the great choruses that did compete. Our group from Hunterdon got together for dinner together. We also sat together in several clusters during contests and shows, depending on when ticket orders went in.

The activities of the week started with a college quartet contest. I had to miss that because I could not get there until late during the first day and the college contest was over when I got there. I would like to have heard the group from Cornell that finished in the middle of the very large group. My specific interest was partly because I went to law school at Cornell, and partly because one of the Cornell singers went to Hunterdon Central High School.

My first evening in Philadelphia was spent at the rehearsal of the Westminster Chorus from California. This group of young men, most all of them less than thirty years old, had been the surprise winner three years earlier in Denver. Now they were one of the favorites. I enjoyed watching their display of energy, hearing their quality singing, and everything about their performance during those couple of hours of intense rehearsal. I have also enjoyed several opportunities to talk to their very pleasant members and leaders. They represent all of what barbershop fellowship is about. You may have seen them on the second season of the TV show America's Got Talent in 2007, where they were passed to go to the second round by all three judges, but were eliminated at the first cut of the second round. By the way they won the contest again this year. You can learn more about them at: http://www.westminsterchorus.org/westminsterchorus/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=29

The Hunterdon Harmonizers got together for dinner. We attended much of the quartet contest. We attended all of the chorus contest together. And we sang all over the convention venues with old and with new friends in quartets and small groups.

Most of our guys also got to watch our VP of Membership live up to his pledge that if we added a net ten new members in the year since the Patriots ball game of a year ago he would publicly shave his head. His brother did the honors of actually shaving his head, in public in the Harmony Market Place, while many of our chorus sang our rendition of The Impossible Dream to the assembled crowd. Linda, our prize winning editor of our chapter bulletin took photos that will soon be appearing in our publication In Tune. I include a couple of her pictures here.

The Hunterdon Harmonizers look forward to carrying the inspiration of the performing at the International Convention to our own stage when we perform this coming Thursday at Deer Path Park, next to the YMCA just off of Route 31, as part of the Concert Under the Stars series put on by the Hunterdon Park System. It is a free concert that starts at 7:00 in the evening. Most people bring a picnic supper with their family an hour earlier.

See you there. The weather prediction for this year is for a clear day.