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Page 4 InCider Press November 2007 |
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year (that is a 5% increase!). The Most Improved chorus improved 129 (a 7% increase) points from last year. The judges were also very complimentary of our performance. I felt much more emotion coming from the group than I did last year. I also felt that our contrasts were much more pronounced and our sound was significantly improved. If we continue to take to heart what we have heard from the coaches from our leaders, we will continue to improve. We have what it takes to move out of our current "bracket" of choruses and up to the next level. It only takes each of us putting in our extra bit! WE CAN DO IT for the AUDIENCE! On behalf of LNE, I would like to extend a huge thank you to The Little Apple Chorus, Ken, Bill, Don, Bob, and all those who have given us such a tremendous boost by your suggestions, your encouragement, and most of all your belief is us. I, personally, have never had such encouragement (and I have been singing for nearly 30 years) from so many with so much enthusiasm. Thank you! On a final note: I would also like to thank Tom, Travis, and Brian for their friendship and their part in making a dream come true for me (singing in a competitive quartet). I was 14 when I started barbershop (I also took a 20+ year hiatus) and when I first heard Grandma's Boys in 1984, I knew I wanted to be able to do that. I sang in a quartet in high school, college, and grad school (sort of), but none had the enthusiasm for barbershop or for serious singing that we have. Again, thank you and look out Iowa City, here comes Late Night Edition! ♪ |
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This was our first convention/contest and we were impressed with all of it. What a wonderful experience to see how all the chapters come together and put on such great performances. Everyone was so friendly and thanks to everyone that answered our many questions! Although the outcome of the competition was |
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First time .impression By Dave Fink and Connie Lee |
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While this past weekend was not my first contest with this chorus, it was my first contest competing in a quartet. And what an experience it was! The members of Late Night Edition (LNE) started singing together shortly after last year's fall convention and this is what we worked toward over the past year. The results were a complete mix of emotional extremes. While the judges gave us a ranking lower than we expected or hoped, the audience gave a boost much greater than I could have imagined. The disappointment of losing the Novice Quartet title by 16 points (.9%) now takes a back seat to the loud ovations from the audience when we finished both of our songs. After all, we sing for enjoyment of audiences, not the accolades from judges. Therefore, Late Night Edition will be back! We heard a lot of positive comments from our judge evaluations and a lot of things that we can improve upon (things like closing diphthongs - how many folks knew how to spell this one? - and carrying over phrases and lifting final chords and the list goes on). When LNE sang at the afterglow, we gave those folks remaining a taste of what we are capable of (no pressure, smaller audience, and more intimate environment). The comments we received from our fellow competitors then was "WOW! You should have done that last night!" I also wanted to comment on the chorus's performance. While I have not yet seen the video, I have been continually impressed by the dedication of the guys performing and their desire to sing well. I have also been impressed with the steps the leadership team took to improve our group. We improved 88 points from last |
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A range of emotions By Brian Arthaud-Day |
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Thanks to all of you who committed to singing in the contest chorus and sacrificed your time, energy and efforts to making our chorus better. I thought the contest experience was great, and certainly the things we learned along the way made our chapter stronger and our chorus better. Spending a little more time in longer rehearsals, and taking a weekend to perform before professional adjudicators was certainly worth it for the health and welfare of our chapter. The guy sitting or standing beside you in the chorus also benefited from your dedication. The judges sheets revealed that we improved in every judging category (music, presentation and singing). Overall we improved by 88 points, and if we can improve a little every year, we can produce better shows, and all of our presentations will be better. Let's go for it! What do you say? ♪ |
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The hard work paid off By Don Thomson |
