November - December 2010

PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVE

I have been thinking about the current state of the continuing journey of the Downeasters. I ask myself: where are we at? First I would like to share a little history. When I became VP of Mu-sic and Performance my main goal was to im-prove the singing quality of the Chapter. We be-gan with providing vocal lessons for the mem-bers. We then developed the competition chorus as a way of bringing accountability for each of us with respect to the words and notes of at least two songs. My hope was that the audition process would give each of us a new appreciation of the effort it really takes to master this aspect of our singing. I believe that it is this appreciation and resulting work ethic that has carried over to the non-competition songs, allowing the Chapter to sing better than we have ever before. So here we are, singing better than ever. What is next? I was gratified to hear many valuable comments from members at the November 22 Chapter meeting. I have spoken with many of you. There appears to be a clear indication that improving all aspects of our singing and perform-ing within the competition chorus to a high level is important to many members. There also ap-pears to be a significant contingent of members who, for very good and legitimate reasons, do not have the desire to put forth the energy and focus that will be required of the Competition Chorus Members if we are to “take the next step”. As we have proved, there is plenty of room for both – and also room for other common desires. I be-lieve that we are now at a crossroads. We are a

changed Chapter. To continue precisely along the same course we have recently taken (i.e. status quo) would be a mistake. This is not to say that we should change the basic approach – the model we have been living the past year and a half has a significant amount of life left and should be the underpinning of our continuing journey. There are, however, decisions that we all will have to make. I am reminded of a famous quote by Will Rogers: “Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.” I like the following Albert Einstein quote: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your bal-ance you must keep moving.” Another famous one-line dude, Yogi Berra, stated: “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else.” With that in mind, my continuing vision for the Chap-ter can be summed up in three main goals:

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I firmly believe that these three goals are interre-lated and that the correct approach is to work on all three simultaneously. If the correct approach is used, each of the individual goals will dovetail smoothly, creating a vibrant, enthusiastic, and growing Chapter that provides high quality enter-tainment for our audiences. I will be sharing my thoughts and ideas of how to reach these goals with you in the next newsletter. Before ending, however, I would like to briefly explain why each of these goals is important.

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We are a volunteer organization. The reason we meet and the thing we all have in common is that we like to sing. Singing and performing, there-fore, should always be our primary focus. There are, however, many opinions on what is enjoy-able and rewarding in singing and performing. Some members get significant gratification from singing in a quartet. Some find the challenge of the CC rewarding. Some enjoy performing for audiences as an ensemble. Some enjoy learning how to sing better, as a soloist and within an en-semble. Some enjoy all of the above. These are very different perspectives. I believe that the more opportunities we can provide to meet these varying needs, the more vibrant and enthusiastic the Chapter will become and the more new mem-bers we will gain and existing members we will retain. I believe that all of us desire to share our talents with the general public. We work hard to create a product and an image – of course we would want to display this as often as we can to those outside the group. It is pleasing that the vast majority of our membership have consistently participated at recent performances, indicating how enjoyable they must be to us. Not only are performances fun, but they give us focus and are rewarding. They also expose us and the Barbershop genre of singing and performing to the “masses”. Per-forming frequently will increase our proficiency, sharpen our edge, and enhance our enjoyment of this hobby. Performing for the general public with quality will increase our exposure and will eventually result in new members. Performances can also be a way of generating much needed revenue. Finally, I believe that even an incremental in-crease in our intimacy can do much to strengthen us as an ensemble. In addition, the bonds we make can last a lifetime. For some of us this is irrelevant or not necessary and that is fine - how we form our personal relationships transcends our participation in the Downeasters Barbershop Chorus. In fact creating intimacy is not the pri-mary reason we are Downeasters and should not be the primary focus of our efforts. I believe, however, that becoming more intimate – learning about each other and developing new relation-ships – will have significant benefits. It is easy to believe that we are not influenced in our life paths by those around us. But if we think hon-estly about it, nothing is further from the truth.

We come together to share a passion, why not take it beyond? What is the harm? Is summary, I would ask each of you to keep an open mind – let’s try many new things and enjoy and learn from the resulting experiences. I will leave you with one more quote from George Ber-nard Shaw: “Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds, cannot change anything.” I encourage you to share your ideas, desires, and dreams with your leadership team and each other. Let’s em-brace our journey – reflect on where we have been and anticipate the wonderful opportunities and resulting experiences we have in store. It has been and will always be GREAT to be a barbershopper in the Downeasters! Yours in Harmony Bill

Downeasters Barbershop Chorus Greater Portland Chapter P.O. Box 48, Yarmouth, ME 04096 (207) 846-6841 www.downeasters.org Downeasters Leadership for 2010 Bill Peterlein……………………………………. President Walt Dowling .….……..……...VP, Music and Performance Cy Kendrick……..…..….………VP, Chapter Development Dave Marstaller………...……..…………………..Secretary Larry Bean……..…………………………………Treasurer Ted Tracy …...…..…….………………….Delegate to NED Ted Tracy…….. ……………..……………....Past President Jack Baggs……..………………………………… Director Dwight Pensiero……………....……..…………....Librarian Tom Liebert……………..…Marketing & Public Relations Richard Roberge...……………………….Chorus Manager Tom Liebert………..………….……………….Webmaster Dave Brown ………..…………...Board Member At Large Dave Cole….….…….…….…….Board Member At Large Phil Gage ……………………….Board Member At Large Bruce Sturgis…….………..…Downeast Soundings Editor Email: soundings.ed@gmail.com

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December 3 (Fri) What: Christmas Concert Type: Public performance Where: Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School 256 Main Street South, Paris, ME Time: 7:00 PM December 6 (Mon) What: Benefit Concert for Saco Food Pantry Type: Public performance Where: First Parish Congregational Church 12 Beach Street (Corner Beach & Main Streets), Saco, ME Time: 7:00 PM Admission: Food items and/or monetary donation December 13 (Mon) What: Benefit Concert for Cancer Com-munity Center Type: Public performance Where: Mahoney Middle School, 240 Ocean Street South, Portland, ME Time: 7:00 PM Admission: $10.00 December 20 (Mon) What: Holiday Sing Type: Public performance When: 7:00 PM Where: Woods at Canco, 257 Canco Road, Portland, ME May 14, 2011 (Sat) What: Downeasters Annual Concert, fea-turing Scollay Square Quartet Type: Public performance Where: Winslow Homer Audito-rium Scarborough High School 20 Gorham Road, Scarborough, ME

Happy Birthdays: George Feinberg Nov. 3 Gerry Barnicle Nov. 6 Larry Newth Nov.12 John Mansfield Nov. 19 Manen Clements Nov. 23 Bob Turner Dec. 5 Jay Wiley Dec. 6 Tom Williams Dec. 11 Wayne Newland Dec. 12 Richard Roberge Dec. 17 Steve Barden Dec. 18 Eddie Houle Dec. 18 Conrad Beaudoin Dec. 26 Jeremy McCullock Dec. 27 Miles Hunt Dec.28 Jerry French Jan. 13 David Brown Jan. 16 Al Sargent Jan. 16 Cy Ludwig Jan. 19 Bruce Hamlin Jan. 24 Marshall Wagner Jan. 25

Quartet Corner The Four Bari's are off to a very busy season. Along with singing at our chorus singouts, we are performing at the Freeport Performing Arts Center on De-cember 4th. The event is called "A Tuba Christmas". A very large group of brass players get together every year and put on a very interesting concert. The Four Bari's will be performing "Silent Night" in German, then English. After the Concert, we hit the road to perform for the fine folks at The Hawthorne house, where our friend and past chorus member Norm Hodgdon. is now hanging out.

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OCTOBER OLD-TIMER'S LUNCHEON A GRAND TIME FOR ALL Eight Over-The-Hill Downeasters seemed to enjoy a good time having lunch together at Pat's Pizza in Yar-mouth on Tues., Oct. 5. They were: Lin Billings, Manen Clements, Fran Faulkner, Ray Houlden, Wayne New-ton, Dave Sweet, Marshall Wagner, and the "lone arranger," Dick Wheeler. Five are former singers, but three still try to make their way onto the risers -- but all of us are getting up there in years (better than the alterna-tive). ;-[ REW ("Fathah" Wheeler, Grand Poobah of these infamous Curmudg-eon Luncheons) reports much fun in the sharing and hearing of stories from Downeaster history. Some tales were old, some new, some borrowed, some blue (but not really bad). Well, not THAT bad. Some may have even been true (or partially so). ;-o) Thus is completed the annual series of Spring – Summer - Fall 2010 events which shall resume next April. We desist over the winter, not because we are fair-weather buddies, but be-cause it takes extensive and lengthy planning to pull this off. It's reported to be more involved and challenging than even a national political conven-tion. [Placecards and placards to make; nametags, banners, flowers, uniforms, the good china, etc.] REW and his sidekick, WHA (Wheeler's Humble Assistant), will be laboring daily until the reunions re-

sume in the spring of 2011. ;->) Sooo, you young guys out there that can get free at lunchtime, be thinking of joining us. You have six months to get ready. You're not get-ting any younger, you know. ;-]

2011 Annual Show

The 62nd annual show is ready to roll. The Show committee for next years spring show has laid down the basics. Scarborough High School will be the lo-cation. Scollay Square will be our guest quartet. The theme will be members’ fa-vorite songs. All of this will take place on May 14th, 2011. Since this show is about the members, we are looking for "Mem-bers" to stand up and be counted. If you have a special talent.....regarding the show, {Other then singing perfect}, please go to a show committee member and let them know. We just proved we can come together by putting on the best district convention on record. The committee members are: Jim Curtis, David Brown, Jerry Barnacle, Dave Cole, or report to...Walt Dowling. At our last board meeting, after a very lengthy discussion, we want to express our feelings for those who have other events on the same day, & will not be able to sing with us on our annual show. In a good trend, around the area, more and more people are getting out to take in local events, which causes a problem for the local venues. We {The Downeasters} were very lucky to get Scarborough High School. We did not have a lot of choices. Even our last two shows, members have had conflicts. We are truly sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. Hope you understand, In Song, Dave Cole {Member of the Show Committee.}

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Motions Passed by the Board during August, September,

and October 2010

August 2010

The Board voted unanimously to start re-hearsal at 6:45 and lengthen the break to hour to accommodate more social and singing interaction. The Board voted unanimously to cancel rehearsal on September 6, 2010.

September 2010

There was no board meeting in September 2010

October 2010

The Board voted unanimously to:

• Donate $1000 by Nov. 30 to Har-mony Foundation (fundraising arm of BHS).

• For Dave C. to get his 2007 F-150

equipped with a hitch and electric brake control to be able to pull the riser trailer when needed. The Cho-rus will pay up to $425 for the in-stallation and Dave will reimburse the Chorus half this cost by July 31, 2011.

• To increase the Chapter dues from

$34 to $50, with half price for sen-iors and students ($17 to $25). This will be effective January 2011.

• To consolidate the positions of

Marketing and PR and Chapter De-

velopment be combined into one position named “VP of Chapter De-velopment and Marketing and PR.

• To contract with Scarborough HS as

the venue for our annual Show on May 13 and 14.

The Chapter received a solicitation from Mainely Harmony Chorus to purchase four sets of risers from them. They were in the process of purchasing new ones. The Board voted unanimously to not make an offer since we aren’t in serious need of extra risers.

Working With Digital Music Have you been wondering what to do with the files available in the Members Only section of the Downeasters website? Here is how I use them with my iPod Touch. Thanks to the efforts of Tom Liebert, much of our music is available at the “Members Only” section of our website: www.downeasters.org Once you click on the Members Only link, you will be asked for the Username: and Password: I won’t mention them here, please ask, or email Tom Liebert (or myself) for that info. Enter the Username and Password, then click the checkbox to “Remember my credentials” (your computer will remember the username and password for you next time you visit) and click the “Login” button. You should arrive at the “Downeasters Re-sources” webpage where you will find 6 op-tions. Select “Music” to go to the Learning

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Tracks and Scores webpage. Here you will find .pdf files of the sheet-music scores, and .mp3 sound-files of the music, by individual parts and some full-mix. Instructions on how to view, listen to, and download the files are listed right at the top of the page, so you can download the files to your own computer for your listening and viewing pleasure. With an MP3 player, you can then load the songs into your player, put on some head-phones, and listen to your songs where and when you want. I’ve only used iPods, so what I write is about how iPods work, but there are other brands of MP3 players that you can buy and they should work similarly. With iPods (and iPhones), you need to use the program iTunes, which is a free program (available at www.apple.com) to store and manage your music files, and it also synchro-nizes those files to your iPod. There are four types of iPods plus the iPhone, with varying sizes, features and costs ($50 -$400). From the least expensive: iPod Shuf-fle, iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod Touch, while the iPhone would be purchased with an AT&T 2 year contract. Besides music, the iPhone and iPod Touch can also run “Apps”, small software programs available through the iTunes program. There are over 300,000 apps available, including e-books, audio books, games, science, business and many kinds of apps including Pitch Pipe and music learning apps. Many apps are free and many cost from 99 cents to a few dollars, with some costing tens of dollars. I’ll tell you about how I use my iPod Touch. I have already downloaded most of our music files, MP3s and sheet music PDFs to my computer. Using iTunes, I have organized the Downeasters music into Christmas, Show, PoleCats and NextGig Playlists. A Playlist is

a listing of the songs that you can make so that you can listen to just those songs in the Playlist. So when Jack sends out his email stating which songs we’ll be working on, or will be singing, I set up a playlist with those songs, then I can listen to that playlist over and over to prepare for rehearsal or our next show. When learning a new song, it can be set to repeat over and over. I have also stored the sheet-music PDF files on my iPod Touch, although with such a small screen, it isn’t really practical to read them comfortably, but I can check a note or two if needed. With the microphone on my headset, I am also able to record our rehearsal singing. This way I have our latest interpretation that I can listen to, practice with, and learn from. It also works to help me identify places where I may need to check the sheet music for note accu-racy. You may have noticed Larry or Ryan using their iPads with the sheet music on the risers. The iPad is basically an iPod Touch with a larger screen (9.7” screen vs. 3.5” measured diagonally) so it can do everything that the iPods can: play music – run apps. Ryan told me that he learns his music by listening to the music while reading the PDF-sheet music, all on his iPad - everything in one place. iPods, iPads and iPhones are available online at apple.com, there is an Apple store in the Maine Mall, and they are also sold at Best Buy, Radio Shack and Wal Mart stores. There are other MP3 players out there which proba-bly work well to playback music files, but I haven’t had experience with any of them. If you would like any more info or tips on buying or using iPods, etc., please ask or send me an email (soundings.ed@gmail.com), and I’ll be happy to share my knowledge. Harmoniously yours, Bruce Sturgis