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Also, there will always be more we can do to get the message out about barbershop music and finding ways to help out mission of sustaining music education.

What are some ways we can work on those areas of improvement?

Over the past year we have had a wonderful opportunity to improve our singing in have Dr. Regg Pittman as a vocal coach for our chorus. Many say they can already hear an improvement in the way we sound (when we pay attention to the way we sing). Our directors are constantly telling us ways that we can sound better. Each and every pointer is something that falls on the individual responsibility of each singer. Each of us will need to commit to singing better. And when the director is telling us the ways to sound better we could all work hard at doing a little less chatting and more listening. We have been blessed with a level of music directors that is the envy of many chapters. Our directors work hard to make out musical experience one that we enjoy and one that our audience can enjoy listening to.

When it comes to filling chairs with new members. Success in this area rests again on the individual work of each and every member. There are men throughout all of our communities that would love to experience the very things that you have come to love in your hobby. Many of them, like myself 5 years ago, have no idea we exist. They will never know that they can enjoy such a hobby as this until introduces them to it. Don't forsake any oppor

tunities to introduce out hobby to the people you know and/or meet in your lives. You never know, when you ask that person you never thought would be interested, they might just say, "Sure, I would love to sing with you guys." You guys bring them in, we will find a chair for them, hand them a guest folder and introduce them to one of the greatest hobbies on the planet.

We continue to grow in our effort to get the good news out the community about our hobby and music education. Teachers are learning that they have a friend in the Little Apple Barbershop Chorus. There is a wealth of opportunities to preserve music education that we have yet to experience. Last year alone we contributed over $5000 to benefit the Harmony Foundation and musical experiences in our communities. We are capable of doing more. The only way to expand this involvement is for every member to commit to find those opportunities.

Finally, as we grow and endeavor to make the barbershop experience even better for our members, there is work to be done. Unlike organizations that rely on 20% of the people to do 80% of the work, I would like to see our chapter become one where every man has a job to do. I have been making a list and I have come up with something for every man to do to make our chapter a success. Stay tuned, in the coming weeks all will be offered an opportunity to move your level of involvement up a notch or two.

Thanks again for the opportunity to be your president. I look forward to the things we will accomplish in the coming year and I look forward to working toward those things with each of you.

Rodney