Useful info and links at the bottom of the page
Important News:
There is a LOT of important new information in this email.... Please read
2020 RALLY CHANGE OF DATE
We have always been the weekend with the 3rd Saturday of the month, and we will do our best to keep that pattern. Next year (2020) we will be one week early (September 11-13), to assist our attendees who observe the Jewish High Holidays. In 2021 and beyond we expect to return to our regular pattern.
CHECKING UPDATE
Your NEHB staff and officers, and your sponsors, are committed to helping you be prepared for the rally - being fully prepared is the best way to have fun and make fantastic music together.
We make preparation as easy and fun as possible. You have always responded - the payoff has been that nearly all attendees are well prepared.
In recognition of that, checking will be different and largely invisible this year.
All you will need to do, is sing.
We will have a few key staff listening. If our staff identify under-prepared singers (or if you confidentially identify them to us), we will privately speak with them, and see if we can help them at this and future Rallies.
We have confidence in you, and that is why we are doing away with checking panels for this year. Your commitment to us has inspired us to try this approach.
I avoid the phrase, but this seems like a good time to say it: "Coming unprepared is not an option".
Please continue to ask for help with your preparation, so that you can come and sing with confidence, ease and total enjoyment.
HOTEL UPDATE AND DEADLINES
We want you to prepare and participate - but if for some reason you have to drop out of this years rally, the deadline is August 1, 2019. If you drop after that date, we will have committed to the hotel for your room, and you will be liable for the full amount. You will be receiving a final statement for what you owe some time after July 1, 2019. We remain in the same hotel we have used since our inception: Courtyard By Marriott Boston Marlboro, 75 Felton Street, Marlborough MA 01752.BROTHERLY REMINDER TO BASSES
You really don't want to wait until the last minute to work on Change The World. Musically it isn't hard, but the opening rhythm is very tough. 5 minutes a week starting now on the rhythm will make your life a lot better.
- Reminders:
- If you are a new or returning attendee and want a sponsor assigned to you, someone who can help you prepare better or answer your questions, please ask.
- Additional part learning tracks are available for your personal use only. $20 per part, contact our Treasurer to purchase.
- We are beginning to plan run-throughs - please attend or host. May is songs 1-4. To schedule a run-through, email Rob Sheridan. You can access the calendar on the web, add it to your own online calendar or find it on the NEHB web site.
- Current members - a reminder that to retain your membership you must have a current BHS membership and you must also attend at least every other year. Memberships expire after the second consecutive failure to attend. Future members - if this is your second consecutive NEHB you can apply for membership during the rally via a recorded audition. More details coming down the road.
Sweet Lorraine
Music by Cliff Burwell, Words by Mitchell Parish
Arrangement by Mark Hale and David Wright
If a song is arranged by Mark Hale and David Wright, you KNOW it is going to be good.
A simple jazz song from 1928, recorded over and over but basically languishing until Mister Nat King Cole (Nathaniel Adams Coles) picked it up. In his lush hands and silver throat, a love song blossomed into the American consciousness. Still a popular jazz song with a simple AABA structure, it charted briefly and faded - until 1940.
This song (which legend has it that Nat King Cole sang when a patron asked for a different song he didn’t know), launched his career. (And according to one website, earned him the nickname of “King” Cole). Nat King Cole became known for many other songs, but this song continued to stay with him.
Cliff Burwell never produced another popular song. His lyricist went on to pen such famous songs as Stardust, Stars Fell On Alabama, Moonlight Serenade, and others.
There isn’t much to say about the song itself - just a boy, and the girl of his dreams. Sing to the love of your life with a smile and hope for a happy tomorrow.
VIDEO LINKS
The master - Mr Nat King Cole
1932 version from the Isham Jones Orchestra
Michigan Jake (featuring one of the arrangers, Mark Hale)
Useful Info And Links
- The Preparedness Blog
- Geomap of participants
- Our Guest Quartet and Judges will be Rooftop Records! Get to know them on Facebook, their website, or their most recent performance at the SUN District this spring.
- The New England Harmony Brigade Home Page
- The NEHB Application Page
- A Video Retrospective of the 2018 Rally (credit Jim Schumacher)
- Run-throughs
- Volunteer by sending email to Rob Sheridan
- See the calendar on the NEHB web site
- Add the calendar to your own.
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