Ahoy Mateys! Ha! And you thought you’d heard the last from me for a while. No rest for a windbag. This Saturday May 4th, from 10:30 till noon, we meet at HARRRP to socialize, pat each other on the back for a successful term, return our sheet music, and hear about planned summer & autumn activities. Come by when you can, bring a snack to share, and help our hard-working choir librarian Sue conquer the paper chaos. Timely return of your sheet music saves us stacks of legal tender in future terms, and prevents regrettable incidents like arousing the interest of a copyright lawyer. Scarier than the meanest pirate. Yar! See you Saturday, Brenda Atkinson Hamilton Sings Volunteer

Dear Choristers: Our end of season concert is just about upon us – good golly, time flies! And you guys are about to fly to lofty new heights, powered by the music, your months of preparation, and the lift of our community spirit. In order to assist our mutually assured success, the following are some important details to consider: Saturday April 27th – we meet at our usual time of 10:00am, at our ancestral HARRRP home for our dress rehearsal. Those interested in assisting the sing-along tunes should arrive by 9:30 am. Not only will we put in time polishing up our performance pieces, we will construct our raffle baskets – so please remember to bring in your basket contribution(s). Also, perhaps it’s a good idea to consider planning your next day’s food donation to our concert hospitality table. Simple, non-messy, hand-held items work best. Our concert set list has been finalized. Please arrange your sheet music in the following order to help minimize paper shuffling noise: The Earth, Air, Fire, Water Hear the Raindrops Fall The Water is Wide Merge with the River The Ghost of Oak Island Homeward Now She the Sea A la Claire Fontaine In Een Blauwgeruite Kiel Stone and Sand Sunday April 28th – our big day! The concert venue is Christ’s Church Cathedral, 252 James Street North. Concert commences at 3pm, doors open at 2pm. But you guys must be there, in comfortable shoes and preferred garb, for a warm up/sound check at 1:15. Remind your hordes of invited guests that cash is the sole method of payment for our event – have everyone schedule an ATM stop. As well, let them know that there is plenty of parking available on the east side of the cathedral – street parking on James North can be a little elusive (annoying). The road map for the concert is basically: performance starts at 3pm, intermission at 3:40pm ish to allow for hospitality table grazing and raffle ticket purchases, with raffle winner announcements at 4:10pm ish and a sing-a-long, which should take us to around 4:45pm ish? The time lines are a little soft however an end time of no later than 5pm is likely. As Hanna and Sue reminded us this past Tuesday evening – do remember to have some fun. We know the songs, we know each other, we know to keep our eyes trained on musical direction – we’ve got this! Cheers. Brenda Atkinson Hamilton Sings Volunteer

Hey Everyone In case you missed it – don’t show at HARRRP tomorrow Saturday April 20th as rehearsal is cancelled. It’s too difficult to get all of us together, as many of you are busy with relatives, travel, dinner plans, and/or goofing off on a long weekend. Speaking for myself as a lapsed Catholic, my Easter childhood memories involve an itchy new frock, an overly long church service, and an Easter bonnet seemingly styled to ensure my schoolyard demise. But happily, I’ve clung to the time-worn feast themes of a good home-cooked meal, a noisy gathering of guests, and, well, the chocolate availability is pretty darn good this time of year. Yum. A make-up practice has been scheduled for this coming Tuesday evening, April 23rd, 6:45 to 8:45, at Delta United Church, 47 Ottawa Street South, upstairs in the Sanctuary. Please, oh please, try to make it – we’re sounding sooooo good, and it would be great to keep our momentum going. The Saturday April 27th rehearsal at HARRRP is our “dress rehearsal” – the last one before our Sunday April 28th 3pm final concert at Christ’s Church Cathedral. Also, the dress rehearsal is the date chosen for the soprano and alto sections to finalize their raffle baskets – not sure what the tenor/bass sections are up to but I’m keen to see everyone’s final efforts. It’s really quite amazing what wonders collective intelligence can bring about – you guys are awesome. Oh, and on concert day, wear whatever makes you feel fabulous – anything goes, but do try to get your sheet music into a black noise-muffling folder. As we’ll be standing for our concert’s duration,  comfortable shoes are highly recommended – you want to be shifting with the musical beat, not your arch pain. Bob Edmonds, our faithful Hamilton Sings webmaster, has uploaded numerous additional voice files (courtesy of Hanna and Sue) to the Active Members Page at hamiltonsings.ca. You can now sing along with; Hear The Raindrops Fall, The Earth The Air The Fire, Ghost of Oak Island, The Water is Wide, She The Sea, and Stone and Sand. Additionally, you can print off those beautiful blue concert posters to paper your neighbourhood, as well as a binder copy to adorn your sheet music folder. About a century ago, I was besotted with a boy who had eyes that colour of blue. Oh, will he Sea me? Sigh. Both Hanna and Sue mention this final detail often, and I’m going to echo it, because it’s very far from trivial: you must, must, must, keep your eyes trained on musical direction at all times. No matter how perfect our pitch, pristine our vowels, or measured our air – we must be unified in our delivery. We can only be unified by keeping our eyes up and focused on Sue/Hanna. If not, we cancel each other out and sound like white noise, rather than the warm, focused choir we’re increasingly successful at being. Believe it or not – you guys are totally up for this! Did I say awesome already? Enjoy your weekend and see you all Tuesday. Cheers Brenda Atkinson Hamilton Sings Volunteer

As we stride towards the finish line, confirmation of our upcoming schedule is at hand: Saturday April 13th. Rehearsal as usual Saturday April 20th. Rehearsal CANCELLED. Go chase some bunny rabbits. Tuesday April 23rd. Evening rehearsal 6:45 pm till 8:45 pm, Delta United Church, 47 Ottawa Street South, upstairs in the Sanctuary room. You must attend if you can, we’ll need the extra time to prepare. Saturday April 27th. Rehearsal as usual. Perhaps this is also the date for finalization of section gifts baskets? I’ve been collecting flea market wicker baskets all year, so I’ll bring them all in this Saturday. Do not buy any horrific dollar store plastic baskets! No! They’ll just end up swirling around for centuries in the Pacific gyre. . . . . . Sunday April 28th. Final concert at Christ’s Church Cathedral, 252 James Street North. Concert starts at 3pm, I imagine the doors will open to the public by 2:00 at the latest, and we’ll need to gather for a pre-show warm up, so get your butts, the butts of the volunteers you’ve sourced, and your goodies for the hospitality table, in the building no later than 1:15 Practice makes perfect, so perfect your practice by signing on to the hamiltonsings.ca Active Members page and groovin’ to the ever increasing number of voice files available there. Repeat after me, “repetition leads to learning”. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. You get my drift. You already know Hanna as co-director of Hamilton Sings; however did you know that Hanna is an accomplished performer as well? Hanna will be on stage with Lynne Atkinson and Jamie Sae at Laidlaw United Church (corner of Ottawa and Cannon) this Saturday April 13th at 3:30 pm. Pay what you can. The Sunshine Singers (non-affiliated with Hamilton Sings) is a group of folks who just can’t get enough singing done. We lead a sing-along of popular tunes at BayWoods Extended Care at 6pm on the last Wednesday of the month. We don’t perform as much as we encourage the residents to participate. It’s totally gratifying to see the joy we cause and we’re always open to more members. We meet this Saturday after rehearsal at HARRRP – come join us! In closing, just a reminder to invite everyone you know, even those you don’t know yet, to our concert on April 28th. Accost strangers on the street, drag your mad aunt out of the attic, heck, even your parole officer is welcome. We must insist on a standing room only situation. What fun! Cheers, Brenda Atkinson Hamilton Sings Volunteer

Hi Gang Clues abound that spring has finally shown it’s fresh face; the early buds that gardeners adore, the birdsong, and the neighbours you haven’t seen in months – all signs of winter folding it up for another year. Woo hoo! Similarly, signs exist of the inevitability of our upcoming concert at St. James Cathedral on Sunday April 28th. One of them is our concert set list: A La Claire Fontaine Earth Air Fire Water Merge With The River The Ghost Of Oak Island In Een Blauwgeruite The Water is Wide Stone and Sand Homeward Now Hear the Raindrops Fall She The Sea And in the spirit of spring cleaning your house – get your music neat and tidy in concert order in a black, noise reducing folder so we don’t sound like we’re fashioning paper airplanes on stage when we’re shoulder to shoulder. As spring is a time of renewal – I’ll renew the appeal to you all to put some time into any fundraising effort you can make. We’ve got raffle baskets to fill, advertisers to find for our concert programme, sponsorship ideas to flesh out, and volunteers to source for a multitude of tasks. You can come forward anytime at the front desk or contact the following people directly with your scathingly brilliant ideas: For volunteers, contact concert manager Jen McConnell at jennifermcconnell42@gmail.com For sponsorship initiatives, contact Tony Carlson at aetcarlson@gmail.com For anything and all else, contact board members at hamiltonsings@gmail.com For the security of getting those coveted concert tickets (remember, we sold out last year!) – click the link below. You can also find this link on the concerts page of hamiltonsings.ca https://www.bruha.com/event/4514 Cheers Brenda Atkinson Hamilton Sings Volunteer

Hi there folks. . . . You gotta check out the lovely poster on our web site for the spring concert “Born in the Ocean”.  After this long winter, I can barely remember water exists that’s warm enough to swim in – isn’t it usually slush soiling one’s thin winter boots?  And that colour of blue – you can actually feel the sun blazing through it. Spring’s coming, I’m sure of it now. Have you approached your favourite local businesses yet for concert programme advertising? You should because: A)    you’ve supported them, so now it’s time for them to support you (us). B)    It’s great value – do you know how expensive conventional print advertising is? Eek! C)   Everyone will sleep better for fostering an estimable community endeavour. This update contains additional messages from fellow members so in the interests of brevity, I will resist the temptation to prattle on. However, do try to practice when you can, write a cheque for your favourite choir when you can, and scrutinize the hamiltonsings.ca Active Members page when you can for valuable information as our concert date draws near. The following is a message from Tony Carlson: Sponsorship initiative Can you help us find new sponsors? A subcommittee of the board is developing a sponsorship program, aiming to solicit two types of sponsors: 1) general sponsorship of the choir as a whole and 2) specific concert sponsors. Our approach would be to offer different levels up to a maximum of $3,000 for overall sponsorship and up to $1,500 for a concert. Because each approach requires a good deal of research, we want to target organizations that have some demonstrated interest in community building, especially if it involves support for the performing arts.  Because it’s not what you know but who you know, we are asking any choir member who works for – or knows of – a company that fits that description and would be open to an approach from us to please let us know who to talk to. We have identified and are contacting about a dozen potential targets, but any help from any chorister would be much appreciated. Please let Tony Carlson know of any ideas you have at aetcarlson@gmail.com. Bill Nesbitt, bass, also has a message for his fellows: Hello fellow basses!  I won’t be at practice on March 30th, but would like to get the ball rolling on our “Ghosts of Oak Island” raffle basket.  If this is agreeable, I am happy to fabricate a reasonable facsimile of a Pirate Treasure Chest as our container.  What sort of “booty” do you all envisage to fill it with?  Captain Morgan Rum, chocolate coins?  Your ideas will help me determine how big a chest we need!  Let me know by e-mail, and I’ll report in person on April 6.  Yarrr!  bill_nesbitt@sympatico.ca In closing, what better way to send you on your way but with the calm soothing sounds of your very own choir. Check out this performance of Hanna’s composition “Butterfly”, conducted by Sue at our 2017 spring concert vimeo.com/326358079. Take note that you will find yourselves performing in this stellar venue in a mere 4 weeks! Cheers, Brenda Atkinson Hamilton Sings Volunteer