Hi Everyone,

Great job again at last Thursdays rehearsal. We got a lot done! The
music for Memorial Day sounded great and we will put it all together
this Thursday with our accompanist. The Memorial Day music we be
rehearsed first this week to accommodate people who would like to
join us for Memorial Day only. In preparation, please review your
notes on "My Country 'tis of Thee." It is a different arrangement
than some of you are used too. Remember that everyone will sing verse
1, then on verse 2, only the baritones will sing the words while
everyone else hums their parts, then we all sing verse 3. Please make
sure your music is marked.

For "The Navy Hymn," we will be adding in the Coast Guard verse.
Please write in the verse underneath the words to verse . We will
repeat section 1 twice in order to sing the words to verse 1 and the
new coast guard verse, before moving on to the solo section. I will
clarify this more in tomorrow night's rehearsal, but please have the
Coast Guard verse already written in:

Eternal Father, Lord of hosts,
Watch o’er the men who guard our coasts.
Protect them from the raging seas
And give them light and life and peace.
Grant them from Thy great throne above
The shield and shelter of Thy love.


The music for our June concert is going well also. Continue to work
on "Drunken Sailor," reviewing the parts we have learned so far.
Especially focus on the rhythm on the top of page 7. Basses practice
your notes and rhythm on page 6. We will learn the last part of the
piece this week and start to do some polishing on it.

"The Water is Wide" is coming along very well. Remember to stagger
breathe throughout. The biggest issue with this piece is the tuning.
Pay particular attention to the long notes you sustain. We will
continue to work on this as a group and focus on tuning and expression.

"Hoodah Day" is close to being ready for performance. Those of you
singing the verses (Tenors); please continue to review the words and
memorize them as much as possible so that you can have fun with them.
I don't want people to be buried in their music during this piece.

At this week's rehearsal we will review: "Calm is the Sea," be ready
to sing it without accompaniment and with loads of expression! We
will also review and fine-tune: Fogarty's Cove, We Saw the Sea, The
Mermaid, Away from the Roll of the Sea, and Cape Cod Girls. We will
be adding some additional verses to Cape Cod Girls, and we'll be
handing out the words to them at tomorrow's rehearsal. In the
meantime, review your parts and see if you can start to do it from
memory!

Thanks again everyone for all your hard work! See you tomorrow

Brittany