I had to miss our Heath Village performance on Sunday July 25th. The heat brought the performance inside this year. By all reports the show was well performed and the audience loved the singing and performance.
So now it is time to get ready for the activities scheduled for the rest of the 2010 year.
Yesterday we began to take a serious look at our contest songs to be performed in October on the 1st through 3rd as part of the Lancaster PA District Convention and contest. We are pleased to be among the about twenty percent of the one hundred chapters in the district who qualified in Division contest in May that leads us to the final big event in October.
So Tuesday our Program VP, Greg, set up a “Magic Cube”. Sixteen men are placed so that any line of four singers constitute a quartet of all four parts, including a diagonal line. The group starts singing a song as a group. Our music director, Don, then calls one or another line, or quartet, that take over singing the song. One group after another continues to the end of the song. A second group of men then take the place of a singer with the same voice part as their own and the process starts again. A great exercise that tests our command, as individuals, of these songs and our ability to sing our part on our own. Just one of the fun things we do every week.
A table is covered with signup sheets on which our singers can indicate their participation in the many events that are part of our fun.
Our annual Harmonizer Family picnic for our singers, their families, and their guests will be at the Deer Path Park from noon until 6:00 PM Sunday August 22nd. We all bring a covered dish and the host committee provides hamburgers and hot dogs and Soda. This year the bass section of our chorus has challenged the other voice part sections for a face off on the volley ball court. That will be interesting. I am going to have to miss that fun while away for family vacation. I think the leads can win that contest.
There is a sheet for our singing for the crowd at the Somerset Patriots on Tuesday August 31. We will be joined by singers from other chapters, including the Morristown, Somerville, and Rahway groups when we perform a show before the game and when we sing the National Anthem.
There was a sheet for our Craft Fair performances on September 18th and 19th, Saturday and Sunday. We will be performing a free show about 1:00 on the old court house steps on each of these days. Some of our quartets will be performing though out the town during the fair.
Of course there is also a sign up sheet for the October 1 through 3rd contest.
And, although there is no sign up sheet, because these are regular meeting and rehearsal nights, there are scheduled coaching sessions for our singers next Tuesday, August 10th, and again on September 14th.
To say we are busy having fun is an understatement.
Looking further ahead there is a sheet for our December 4 Holiday show and one for another show – this one to be performed at the Hunterdon County library on Wednesday December 15th.
Now is the time for men who love to sing to come out and visit us any Tuesday at 8:00 in Flemington in the church at the corner of Main and Maple Streets. We love having guests and give men who want to an opportunity to sing with us.
We say we can take a singer from the shower to the stage in six weeks. Come out and challenge us to do so with you, or ladies with your man. Check our web site at NJHarmonizers.org and call 908-806-NOTE for more details on any of these events.
