Fall/Winter 2003
Reprint from “Way Out West” Region 21 Newsletter
They call them the "lazy days of Summer" but at Harborlites, we've been busy.
Several of our members — including representatives of all our International competing quartets — attended and enjoyed Summer Regional where we were thrilled to have our own Miriam Darr join the Regional Management Team as Communications/Technology Coordinator. Many of our members of Club 21 participated in the annual Club 21 Charge where they honed their own listening and coaching skills to help us along. Another coalition traveled to IES in South Carolina where they learned valuable skills to share with the chorus. And two of our members — Marcia Bosma and Lynne Smith — who are part of the International Faculty taught classes and shared their own knowledge with chorus members and leaders from around the world.
Speaking of learning, we were all enlightened by a weekend-long coaching session in August with the inimitable Dale Syverson who helped us continue to fine-tune our music.
Is that enough education? Never! We also held a Vocal Gold workshop for our members, providing a platform of vocal production knowledge for every singer in Harborlites, including our newest members.
Of course, we are a singing organization! We performed as the featured guests on the SPEBSQSA Fullerton Chapter's charity show at Pearson Park in Anaheim, including sets by Portfolio and Forefront! We had a unique introduction to our performance: Disneyland's fireworks lit up the night sky before we launched into our set.
Harborlites was also honored to serve as the mic testers at the 2003 International in Phoenix. It was a whirlwind! There is nothing like a show call at 7:00 a.m. — at the Convention Center in full hair, costume, and makeup — to get your day jump-started. After a unifying rehearsal, we went out and performed a two-song set to get the chorus contest rolling. It's amazing how friendly those judges look...when they don't have pencils in their hands!
Speaking of International, we'd like to add our voices of congratulations to Enchanted Mesa, Sparx, and Sequel as well as "our" quartets: Portfolio, Forefront!, and 10th place medalists Persuasion. It was a great job, ladies! Region 21 was well-represented at contest.
Now that we're back from International, things aren't slowing down. We're making final preparations for our annual show on Sept. 27th at the La Mirada Theater. We're also working hard on Christmas music as we prepare to sing on the Masters of Harmony annual holiday shows, "Together at Christmas," which will be held Dec. 13 at the Luckman Theater at Cal State Los Angeles. We're also holding a Casino Night on November 15th. For more information on any of these events, check out our website. We'd love to see you there!
We're also looking forward to coaching sessions with Joni Bescos and Erin Howden this Fall as well as our ongoing work with Jeff Baker. Yes, we're back to education again. But to meet our goal of becoming an "audacious" chorus, the learning never ends.
