Pacific Edge Chorus - Black & White Checkered Flag
The past year has been different, to say the least, and our hearts go out to the families who have been more directly affected than some of us have. It's been a hard road of education, over and above what any of us signed up for, but we are enriched because of it. We did it and we sang all along the way – which we believe is our saving grace.
Words of encouragement have been a strong force in completing another successful year. Positive words of support are continual from our Directors, Leaders and the membership itself. We don't much talk about the reason why we're at this place in this time, but we talk about our plans and new music and just other fun and interesting things going on in our work, personal and chorus life, and we often revisit things that we, as a chorus, have done together; what we're up to now; and what we'll do next – like a virtual song together.
Our breakout rooms have become a huge source of insight and proving to be instrumental in determining a way back to perhaps a different degree of normalcy. Smaller groups offered a secure place where we have more time for each to voice opinions, ideas and even feelings on how we view our situation. Suggestions have been made that we continue with this sort of less intimidating way to stimulate communications in our post covid world. Many ideas have come from the chat rooms, so many that we can't outline all in this update, but if you want a list, contact us as we're all about sharing with our sister choruses. And if you've done the same sort of outreach in your chorus, we'd love to hear yours.
Sneak preview of some post covid ideas: One ZOOM a month; Staggered attendance at live rehearsal hall with the other half of chorus on ZOOM - then visa-versa the next week, to enable safe distanced in the live hall experience; The use of a 'singer's masks' – who'd a thought – see what great things come out of tragedies sometimes; A 'Stay home' policy when not feeling well. Again, important issues that would not have likely been addressed seriously, but knowing what we know now, these are paramount issues to enforce in future. The way we see it, if we can successfully get through a year of being apart, we have the ability through our new ZOOM tool to play with many ideas, while still learning, educating, and sticking in there together - the possibilities are limitless once the flag drops.
Since our last MLX up-date we've had the brilliant Sandy Marron come visit us and take us on a tour of her lens and ear in judging. Sandy, as did Marcia, explained that there are many things to consider in a final score, and each performance is judged in a consistent manner to deliver the optimum result to all contestants. She also mentioned that the judging process is being revised. This was reassuring to know that the adjudication process is moving into the future with us.
'Beatles-a-Day' with Mo and Amelia – Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! you guessed it, through a request of our Pat Larre, Mo and Amelia took a detour of their virtual world tour and dropped in on our rehearsal one evening to jam with us. We spent the evening singing along to our favourite Beatles songs. We played Trivia and quiz games, where our Gail Parry (new board member) nailed every question on the fab-four. Mo and Amelia were fab themselves – Amelia rocked us (literally) with a physical warm up and Mo worked with us on our vocals to get us ready for the Beatles 4-part harmonic levels. It was super fun.
Many of us attended hours at the Region 26 - 2021 Unmuted virtual contest. It was a Blast from the get-go – right down to the craziest, fun-filled afterglow on Saturday night. Two of our members, Teresa White (newly elected to the board) and Rose Justice did a fabulous job of MCing the quartet portion of the event and our Marcia Pinvidic gave a heartfelt keynote address. Marcia and four of our Sweet Adelines' prominent Judges rocked this contest with their positive feedback and comments. We didn't think it could get better than last year – but it did.
There were so many outstanding performances during the event, and we 'all' got to watch, listen and enjoy them. We were thrilled that our Co-Director, Arranger extraordinaire, Diane Butler, received so many accolades for her arrangement of our Sky Fall. We were equally grateful for our chorus 'Spirit' Bonnie Dennis for her ongoing commitment in the chairpersonship of many past and our upcoming show in her pure imaginative, visionary way. Hats off AGAIN to our ingenious Region 26 members for giving us something 'out there' to grab onto, that resembles the gathering of the minds and voices so close to our hearts at this time of the year.
On May 4th, 2021, we held our annual installation ceremonies where 8 members stood for the board to be elected unanimously prior to installation night – 5 new to the board and 3 standing for an additional 2 yr term. Ode to our past President, Fran Errington, was beautifully delivered by Sue Averil (our new Treasurer). The evening was topped with lots of entertainment and a walk down memory lane, thanks to so many that I can't name them all here. We are so proud of their willingness to take the time and produce something to brighten our hearts and event, and to those who stepped forward to help 'steer the ship' (our director's words) during these unusual, challenging times.
We continue growing our repertoire and membership, with two (2) perspectives in the wings currently. Planning for our 'Some Nights Show' Scheduled for this coming fall is on par, if permissible. Our secretary Kathy Lockhart has received our Maritime Tour Pins designed specifically for us. We will each receive one before we head east in the summer of 2022. The world will recover – it just may take a wee bit more time for everyone to figure out how.
We're anxiously waiting for that black and white checkered flag to drop, but it'll seem more like a rainbow of bright neon colors – Right! Remember the noise we all made every evening to celebrate and thank the medical profession and frontline workers for being out there amidst the danger in the beginning – well you can bet, there is going to be a lot of noise which will be music to our ears.
Until we are released, we will continue to work at what we do, because when you belong to a sisterhood of choruses in this international organization, there's always something going on, and Region 26 is one of many in the world that refuses to stop the train for a piddly ole pandemic. All we can do is our part in this fight – so please adhere to the health guidelines, make informed decisions, and sing every blessed day.
