EYBS Blog
Still Lots to Hear This Week!!
Sing! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival, featuring some of the world’s great a cappella performers, is winding down its two-week-long run this weekend and, although the first week is finished, there’s still a lot of amazing music to enjoy.
On Thursday, May 25, O Canada! The Golden Age of Canadian Pop reflects back on Canadian music from the 60s, 70s and 80s with Retrocity and this year’s Sing! Legacy Award is presented to Elaine Overholt. On Friday, Micah Barnes and FreePlay Duo host New York Voices and special guests Blue Jupiter in Sing! Loves New York at the Jane Mallett Theatre. The Grand Finale is Art Battle on Saturday night featuring 12 artists and 3 Toronto a cappella groups, Element Choir, Beatsync and Countermeasure.
This is just a sampling. For a complete listing of the remaining events click here.
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Fellow East York Barbershoppers & Guests:
For me, last night was by far the most rewarding rehearsal experience, since I joined East York Barbershoppers many years ago. The "building blocks" that Pat and Jesse have been teaching us, are finally paying big dividends, by laying a strong foundation from which our vocal craft, performance quality and story telling will be based.
Showing up ready to sing at 7:30pm and generating multiple, positive response reactions from Pat were by far the most rewarding for me personally. "Do that everytime you come to rehearsals!" are his words we need to live by.
The intensity, velocity and the cadence of the rehearsal was a first for me. No wheel spinning. Plenty of vocal & performance traction. And we did this with our most welcomed Guests present throughout the evening and on into the practice afterglow downstairs. Amazing.
The quartet program led by Dr. Morrison has been way overdue in my view. Your eager participation in this program is appreciated. The Ontario Quartet Event (OQE) showcase and VLQ (Very Large Quartet) performance were impressive. Your investment in extra curricular practices clearly showed the positive results. I am convinced that East York will be better represented than any other chapter in Ontario District at this OQE event at Harmony Ranch on August 12.
So, it is all starting to (finally!) happen. As our vocal craft is perfected and we perform at our very best for each and every minute of our rehearsal, our Guests we bring to the risers each week will witness and experience this. Guest attendance will continue each week feeding our chapter growth through new membership. Do your homework each week. Come to practice on time and ready to perform for our team and our Guests.
Congratulations To All Of You!
Barry Tripp / Membership and Chapter Development
Remember to mark your calendars for East York's Annual Live Auction Sale on May 5th. This is always a great evening of amazing bargains. And, with Matt Penstone as the auctioneer, you know there will be plenty of laughs too.
The weather outside was frightful, but the choir was so delightful. Actually, the weather was a bit cold and breezy but it was the perfect night for a tree lighting. The only thing that could have added to the atmosphere would have been a gentle snow, but we didn't get that. And the East York Barbershoppers who attended had a great time drinking hot chocolate, eating cookies and singing Christmas songs at Councillor Janet Davis' tree lighting at Dawes Crossing (Victoria Park and Dawes Road).
Fellow East York Barbershoppers, do you remember Dan? For you and other readers of this blog entry, he was our Guest (singing tenor) who dropped by Harmony Hall last year. He wrote kinds words of his visit which I posted in another blog which I posted here. I have been in contact with him to join us once again. He just launched his new book, "A thousand steps from home". Go to his website below. Click the blue start button on the main page and then scroll through the pictures using the arrow to the right until you reach the last picture. Wow! Click on the text "loving that old barbershop style" and enjoy the read.
Singing in the Barbershop style is Life Changing. Pass it on.
Barry Tripp
Membership & Chapter Development
The East York Barbershoppers have been strong, long-time supporters of the Harmony Hall Centre for Seniors / Call-A-Service, a wonderful charity that operates out of the Hall that we own. The charity was featured in a great article in the Toronto Star today, which can be found by clicking on:
http://startouch.thestar.com/screens/0d75d596-8271-47d9-bce3-a695d7c180bf%7C_0.html
Congratulations on the article, and for all the great work that you do!
We had a tremendous Ontario District Fall Conference with East York members in 5 quartets and 34 performers on the risers for the chorus competition.
At the conclusion of Happy Together, our show in May this year, East York Barbershoppers were thrilled to be able to present a $7500 cheque to Harmonize for Speech (H4S) through its Chairman, George Shields, and Treasurer, Bruce Dibble. This allowed H4S to fund two initiatives that were in jeapordy. And with that cheque the East York Chapter has now donated a total of $500,000 since the charity was founded in 1977.
We were thrilled to see Toronto Northern Lights' story about our recent visit to their rehearsal as the first story in the May 6 edition of LiveWire, the BHS' electronic newsletter. The story read as follows:
Just a quick reminder to all that East York's 48th Annual Auction Sale is less than two weeks away! We hope you have the evening of Friday, April 29 blocked off, and look forward to seeing you at Harmony Hall. Don't miss out on the fun and fantastic deals!!