REGINA GOLDEN HARVEST Barbershop Chorus

Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America

# Sharp Notes #

Publication of the Regina Golden Harvest Chorus

Golden Harvest Chorus meets most Monday Evenings, 7:30-10:00 at
Knox Metropolitan United Church, corner of Victoria and Lorne, Regina, Saskatchewan
Guests always welcome!

October 2000

Happy Thanksgiving (and Hallowe'en)

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Holiday – and not too stuffed with Turkey and dressing to be able to sing. We're going to be busy learning new music and polishing our current repertoire.

Trick or Treat!

Bruce Fish,
President

Welcome Guests

Welcome to our guest Mark Coulter – and thanks to Bill Coulthard for making the effort to invite Mark out.

We Sing

A small group of us gathered at Knox Met this past Saturday to sing during the church flea-market fundraiser. Congratulations to Ron for his excellent job at arm-waiving and keeping us in line (and on-key) and thanks to all of the members who were able to join us. "Unbiased" reports from the audience were that we sounded pretty good.

Remember – Every night is a Guest Night!

Executive Meeting

A small contingent of the executive met Sunday October 15 at Bruce and Elaine Fish's – a quorum but just barely. Business items covered included:

Chapter will cover the $50 registration fee and gas money for members attending the Brandon COTS school.

Bingo's continue to be a source of needed revenue – but also a thorny issue that we need to resolve. Bruce, Rod, Bill Coulthard and Lynn will provide a report for the membership on where we stand and how we might move forward on these issues.

Lots of activities planned for the next few months – see the calendar on the back page.

Need to (re-)decorate our float for the upcoming Christmas parade.

We need to find a location for our Chapter Christmas party.

Next Executive meeting will be on Sunday November 5 - location to be determined. If you are unable to attend please let Wayne and/or Bruce know and send a report and/or alternate representative. Members in good standing are welcome and encouraged to attend any executive meeting. Please let the president and host and hostess know in advance so that they may plan accordingly.

Northwest Division COTS and Music School

There will be a vanload or possibly two heading off to Brandon on Saturday November 18 for the Northwest Division COTS and Music School. This will be from 9:30am to 4:30pm at the 1^st Presbyterian Church in Brandon Manitoba.

This school will feature classes for Chapter presidents, Music Directors and Assistant Directors, Music and Performance VP's, Membership VP's and Treasurers.

This will be a fast moving school with many handouts and will provide the same amount of teaching time as the regular COTS in Eau Claire.

The faculty will consist of Del Ryberg (Presidents), Bruce O'Dell (Directors), Scott Kvigne (Music VP's), Duane Hutton (Membership and Treasurers - the treasurers will rotate between Duane's and Del's classes to give them a well-rounded class covering all chapter activities).

This should be a great school – and a great complement to the Clear Lake Mini-Hep. The focus of Clear Lake is music, whereas the focus here is on the running of the chapter. The LOL district is continuing to provide schools and other opportunities for those of us in the furthest reaches of the district, so we need to continue to support their efforts.

Mark this date on your calendar and make sure we have your name on the registration list.

Santa Claus is coming to Town

Well, not quite yet, but real soon. The annual Santa Claus parade will be Sunday November 12 and we're planning on entering our float in the parade again this year. We need help redecorating the float for the winter season. Our music is on CD so we just need members to ride on the float and to wave to the crowds. These parades are not only a lot of fun, and a great way to support out community, but they're also a marvelous opportunity to keep our chorus visible within our city.

You'll also see that we have the Rotary Carolfest coming up at the end of November, the tree lighting at the Legislature on December 7 and our Chapter party on December 18. We won't start working on our Christmas music right away (let's wait for Hallowe'en to be past first) but be sure to mark these dates on your calendar.

Government House

The chorus will also be singing on Sunday November 19 at Government House. The Regina Stitchery Guild is holding a Victorian Market, and we'll be singing for a half-hour or so during the afternoon. Families are invited, and there will be tea and goodies available.

Rotary Carolfest

The Rotary Carolfest will be one week earlier than usual this year – and as usual, we'll put our name in to sing on the Monday night (November 27) in place of our regular practice.

Music on the Internet

There are a number of interesting sites where you can listen to A Capella music on the internet – the www.cassa.org or the a capella radio show list at www.geocities.com /sunsetstrip/4762/ radio.html is one source. (www.casa.org also lists a number of sites). I've been listening to several of these while putting this edition of the Sharp Notes together, but I keep going back to the ARI page on Society's own website. There's a hilarious tour of 20^th century musical styles all featuring Shine On Harvest Moon. Www.live365.com / cgi-bin / directory.cgi ? autostart = spebsqsa (without all the spaces) is another site that plays strictly barbershop – mostly from recent name quartets that you should recognize. The Society webpage and a number of the district websites also have "recordings" from their convention quartets and choruses which are well worth the listen.

Check these out and give them a listen. (I'll put all these links onto our website so you can get to them a little easier.)

Sunshine District Webcast

This is outside our LOL district, but if you'd like to listen in on some excellent barbershop – here's yet another opportunity.

The Sunshine District is supporting the society's technological initiatives by WebCasting our Quartet Finals and the Sunshine Show of Champions at our fall convention in Jacksonville.

The show times are . . .

Saturday, October 21st

Quartet Finals - 4:00pm Eastern

Show of Champions - 8:00pm

We have enlisted the help of computer guru, Scott Hoge, from the international staff to work his wizardry with this project. At this time we plan on broadcasting 3 separate feeds that can be linked from the page listed below. If all goes as planned those with a slower modem will be able to get a mono ~24k download, those with a 56k modem will be able to get a stereo ~48k download and those lucky ones with T1, LAN, Cable or DSL access will be able to get a spectacular ~120k stereo download.

Our current International Champions, PLATINUM, will be performing on the Quartet Finals and the Show of Champions so don't miss it.

The WebCast Link is at:

www.sunshinenet.org/Convention/WebCastFR.htm

Enjoy,
Dan Proctor

MEMBERS ONLY site

Officer rosters can be updated on the Members Only site by clicking on the "Update Chapter Officers" link. This option is available to all chapter officers including folks such as the director and others in leadership positions. To date, 65 chapters have entered their 2001 officers into the system using the on-line form (a total of 661 guys).

We are pleased to announce another great feature of the Members Only section of the SPEBSQSA web site http://www.spebsqsa.org/members. Our "Members Only Forums" will give you a great way to interact with your fellow Barbershoppers. Whether you're looking for that perfect quartet-mate you can't find or are just getting started in barbershopping, you'll find a forum for you! (Ideas for other forums graciously accepted!) Just click on the "Members Only Forums" link under the "Society Info & Services" section of your Members Only menu.

If you're not already a member of the Society Members Only site, drop a note to membership@s... with your name, membership number, and e-mail address, and we'll get you signed up.

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INCLUDE NEW PHONE NUMBERS WHEN YOU UPDATE ADDRESSES

When using the Members Only site to update personal information following a move, be sure to check phone numbers and e-mail addresses -- they're often overlooked. Staff reports that 50 recent changes did not include phone number updates, and many involved a change of state.

Reed Sampson
PR Specialist, SPEBSQSA

Fargo - May 4,5,6 2001

The Land o' Lakes Spring 2001 convention will be in Fargo – and we're planning on being there – so make sure you mark this date on your calendar and join us for a fabulous fun weekend.

President Eisenhower's mother had a sister. This lady constantly had trouble in bright sunshine because her nose was so sensitive that the skin peeled off every summer. Her doctor made a simple remedy, a small cone of paper (like a Dunce's cap) which she stuck onto her nose at the first sign of sun.

Do you believe this? I didn't until Mick Jagger sang about it.

"Ike's Aunt gets nose hat is fact, son."

Share the Dream – Easy as 1-2-3

- Ev Nau

Recently I asked a group of more than 200 Barbershoppers who had recruited more than 20 new members each to share their recruiting "secrets" with me. The response has been terrific, and I want to share their ideas with you as well. I do this knowing that many of you may also have some ideas that work for you. If so, please send them to me and we’ll continue to build our "bag of tricks" so that all may be successful; male or female, young or old, quartet singers or chorus singers . . . everyone can find new members with whom to share this hobby.

Recruiting Tip#1

The following came from a long-time friend from my NED days, and one of the true gentlemen of our Society, Lou Bernard. His approach is ideal for those who fit his description of himself:

"Hi Ev: This is in response to your request for "techniques" in attracting and sponsoring men to membership in our Society. I think you know me well enough to realize that I’m NOT a "hellfire and brimstone" type of person. I prefer to take my time in acquainting prospective guests with barbershopping.

When I’ve met someone whom I think may be a good prospect,

1. I tactfully inquire if the person does any singing: church choir, glee club, or whatever.

2. If yes, does he enjoy singing?

3. Has he ever heard of the Barbershop Society?

4. Has he ever attended a barbershop show?

5. If yes, did he enjoy the performance?

6. Would he like to find out more information about the Barbershop Society?

7. Is he free on chapter rehearsal nights?

8. Would he like to accompany me to a rehearsal some evening and sing a few oldies", (with no pressure applied) and to make some new acquaintances?

9. If he says "yes" to most of these questions, then he’s probably a prime candidate for membership. (Notice, I haven’t mentioned dues yet.

Once he has attended a rehearsal or two and sung a few oldies and maybe even singing a tag or two in a quartet, then I begin to tell him of the many advantages of membership in the Society such as free music, music schools, conventions, competitions, quartet possibilities, then I ease into the question of dues.

What the Plattsburgh Chapter needs now is a well-defined follow-up program to keep these prospective members coming back. We’re not an affluent society here in Clinton County in the northeastern part of New York. In addition, Clinton County has a population of only about 65,000, so we have to pick and choose carefully.

Well, that’s it. I hope in some way it’s helpful.

Warm personal regards,
Lou Bernard, NED Secretary"

(note: Did you notice that he said "If he says yes to MOST of these questions . . . "? Lou uses a qualification procedure that we can all incorporate into our everyday speech. Keep gathering information and linking your contacts and you’re bound to find a new member. Thanks, Lou . . . and my warmest regards right back at you and your lovely wife. Never will forget the time the Awesome Nights did the show in Plattsburgh!!)

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Articles in this bulletin do not necessarily reflect the views of the chapter. Unless carrying a byline, they are those of the editor. Items received may be referred to the executive before publication. All chapter officers and members are encouraged to submit articles to the Sharp Notes. Submissions will be credited to the author. Please address any comments, suggestions or submissions to the editor –

Bruce Fish, 2327 Brodie Bay, Regina, Canada S4V 0V1 phone: (306) 761-2503; email: bfish@accesscomm.ca.

Current and back issues of the Sharp Notes can also be found at www.gpfn.sk.ca/culture/arts/gharvest.

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