Did you know that in addition to being on our currency, the words, In God is our trust" are in our National Anthem? They are in the fourth verse. That's right; our National Anthem has four verses. Here is some background on the Star Spangled Banner."

The melody was first published in England circa 1780 as To Anacreon in Heaven and was probably written by John Stafford Smith. The words to that song were written by Ralph Tomlinson. Both were members of the Anacreontic Club of London. To Anacreon in Heaven was their theme song. The Anacreontic Club was a group of wealthy men who met to celebrate music, food and drink.

The melody was particularly popular in America during the War of 1812 and several Americans wrote patriotic songs to it. The most famous was Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer.

While aboard an English ship trying to secure the release of a friend, Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry. When the bombardment was over, the American flag was still flying. He wrote a poem The Defense of Fort McHenry, which was first printed anonymously on a "broadside" in 1814. On September 20 it was published in The Baltimore Patriot. Key's brother-in- law suggested he set the words to the tune To Anacreon in Heaven.

When the sheet music was published in 1815, the name was changed to The Star Spangled Banner. The song was first adopted by the Army and Navy as the National Anthem. It was officially recognized as the American National Anthem in 1931 by an act of Congress.

Source: Songs of America and Homeland
www.contemplator.com/america/ssbanner. html

At one time Tuesday night rehearsal was something that we all looked forward to. Not necessarily just because it was a night out with the guys, but because it was fun, rewarding, and exciting. There was a lot of variety in the programming. We had craft sessions taught by some fairly knowledgeable people on a variety of subjects. Ultimately, the responsibility for running the Tuesday meeting lies with the program vice president. Joe DeFilippo is our program VP, but because of hea~ reasons, he has not been able to fulfill the responsibilities of the position.

I am as guilty as the next person for allowing our rehearsals to become somewhat monotonous with too much time spent on chorus rehearsal (usually 100% of the meeting). Some of our members who have not been coming for a long time have told me that they stopped looking forward to the Tuesday night meeting, and decided to find something else to do. If we are to attract and keep new members, we must address this issue.

Below are some notes I took at an Apple Corps session concerning more effective chapter meetings. I would like your reaction to these notes, and would like to hear from you, in writing, how you think we can make our meetings more attractive not only for new members, but for all members so we keep them coming on a regular basis.

Elements of an effective chapter meeting:

1. Singers warm-up
    a. Loosen up - bodies, vocal chords, frame of mind, ear.
2. Celebration singing (feel good singing)
3. Singing knowledge (craft sessions)
4. The stop (break)
5. Quartetting
6. Woodshedding
7. Business
8. Rehearsal
    a. Note learning   b. Note reviewing

Questions we need to address:

1. Do members get excited about coming to a Tuesday night meeting? If not, why not?
2. Are members learning anything new at chapter meeting?
3. Does the director have a mission? What is it?
4. Who will plan the effective Tuesday night meeting?
5. What percentage of our meeting is actual singing?

Things to think about:

1. We need to let the membership know what will occur at the next meeting every time. This should be the responsibility of the program VP, the director, and the music committee.
2. Care and feeding of guests:
    a. Introduction should be done at the beginning of meeting, or as soon as the guest walks in.
    b. Whoever introduces the guests should have all the members say his name (in unison - Hi _____)
    c. Guest books are essential.

Make sure the director and president shake the hand of the guest and thank him for coming.

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