01/28/2022 – Snowy Friday Missive

I have been given the greenlight to announce our surprise for the choral festival on March 12. I am incredibly excited to announce that members of the Coast Guard Academy Glee club will be joining us on stage for that event. The original spring tour for the group was to be California but considering the circumstances, they are now hitting the East Coast with performances in New York City,  Philadelphia, Washington DC and on March 12, Towson United Methodist Church! I have included a picture of Danny with his Admiral and also being sworn in and a picture of the full glee club from last year. Danny will be bringing approximately 20 selected singers on tour.

We will have a lot to celebrate that day and I look forward to our preparation for the 4th “With One Voice” event. It is an un-ticketed performance and representatives from the First  Fruits Farm will be there to raise awareness of their mission and our collaboration with them.

Now on to business. I was very pleased with rehearsal this past Tuesday. We accomplished a lot and if we keep up this pace and weather does not stymie us, we should be on track for our Spring concerts. Do circulate the posters available in the church lobby. At this point everyone should have all of the music. Please bring EVERY week because we will continue to revisit and review.

I know some of you tried out the N94 mask we gave out free on Tuesday and I have gotten some good reaction. Light, room to sing, not hot and gives good protection. If you prefer a black N95 or your specially made singer mask, that is fine too. Bethel requires masks to be worn at all times but that status is reviewed as numbers change. Hang in there.

Now for our February 1 plan:

1. Warmups will be taken from Volume I. Please have out and ready at 7pm.

2. Will sing Wake Me a Song and Viva la Musica to get us rockin’.

3. Work on Awakening and Let’s Go and review Movement 1.

4. Introduce Hostias and keep drilling Mozart. Will go over pronunciations, translations and continue drilling tough passages starting with the basses and building from there. Will resend recording of the Latin pronunciation.

5.  Wayne will work on Ave Verum and Let the River Run.

6. Close out a glorious evening of music making with Lord, give me just a little more time.

As we get more singers returning to live rehearsals, will bring out Unclouded Day. Due to the divisi, tough without our balanced forces.

Here’s wishing you a lovely football, tennis, and Mozart weekend.

Positively

Marty