Page 11 - Summer 2023 Tags and Swipes Newsletter

Tags and Swipes, Summer 2023

Berkshire Hills Chorus

Summer is here and we have a spring in our step! It has been a great springtime for our chorus... with
the opportunity to begin learning some fun new songs, coaching sessions to help us improve our sound,
an installation ceremony, and our first indoor performance in three years. Our chorus made the difficult
decision to take this year off from performing in our Region 1 Contest and it was definitely the right
decision for us. We have missed gathering with everyone from the region, but we are eagerly starting to
prepare for next year’s contest already.

We were thrilled to have Karen Sweeters and Cheryl Wilcox come to rehearsal to coach us this spring.
It is always so good to be reminded of timing and rhythm, pronunciation of diphthongs, dynamics,
emotions, and all of the other things that make our music beautiful and more meaningful. We look
forward to more coaching in this year ahead as we continue to rebuild our stamina and sound following
the three challenging pandemic years which we have successfully made it through.

We have said some welcomes and goodbyes this spring. We remembered a former member of our
chorus, Naomi Rauff, who passed away this spring by singing “How We Sang” in her memory. We also
said goodbyes to Marcy Cohen who is moving across the country and will be greatly missed. We
eagerly welcomed our new member Lauren Harvey to our lead section and are happy to have more
visitors showing interest in joining our chorus. It was wonderful to meet together again for our
Installation Ceremony to welcome new members to our Leadership Team. We are so fortunate to have
consistent, excellent leaders in our small chorus.

As for performances, we were very excited to sing at the Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield, MA this
spring. We have been running through our entire repertoire of songs and it was so amazing to perform to
a full house at an INDOOR venue! We love to perform for local audiences and we are thrilled to have a
busy summer of performances scheduled. This summer will be singing at local nursing homes, farmers
markets in Lee and Pittsfield, the Great Barrington Bandstand and “Berkshire Busk!” Street Festival.
We are also thrilled to return to sing on the lawn for audiences at Tanglewood on Parade before the
Boston Pops concert in August.

One of our chorus traditions before every rehearsal is to have a Mindful Moment. Last week, we
listened to a poem read by our amazing directors, Gail and Pat. I wanted to share it with all of you, our
sisters in song in Region One.

the next time
you refuse to sing
because you’ll never
fill a stadium
or decline the joy of dance
for fear of looking
Ridiculous
or you resist risking
the new adventure

11 (continued on the next page)

North Atlantic Region 1 Sweet Adelines