Page 9 - Summer 2023 Tags and Swipes Newsletter

Tags and Swipes, Summer 2023

Chorus Lines

Acappella Sounds Chorus

My Road to Contest

I moved to Montreal, Canada, in the summer of 2019. The summer was spent getting my two boys
ready to start a new school, and sorting out where we were living. Once the boys were at school, and
our furniture was on its way, I realized I still didn’t really know anyone. I joined Meetup and started to
look for groups in my area.

I sang in a Girls’ Choir as a teenager and remember enjoying it, so I looked for singing groups. I
stumbled across Acappella Sounds Chorus and reached out. I got a reply inviting me to the next
rehearsal, which I went along to. Singing completely a capella was somewhat new to me, but I quickly
fell in love with it, the ladies already in the chorus were so friendly and welcoming, and I passed my
audition at the beginning of December 2019. We were already looking at our contest music as the next
Region 1 competition was scheduled for April of 2020. I think you might already see where this is
going….

I went on vacation for the first two weeks of March in 2020 and sent in my recordings from a hotel in
Florida! At the time I had no idea that I’d already been to my last in person rehearsal for 2 years, or that
we wouldn’t be at competition for another 3 years!

We flew home from Florida, while everything was shutting down around us.
Quebec had the strictest Covid regulations in Canada, so meeting in person wasn’t possible until
October of 2021, and then we weren’t on the risers, and we still had to wear masks. Sadly, these
rehearsals only lasted until Christmas, then we were back on zoom for another 6 weeks. Coming back
to in person rehearsals only in February of 2022 meant there was no way we could be ready to compete
that year. Instead, we got used to rehearing in person, getting back onto the risers and finally, losing the
masks!

By then I was also on the Management Team as the Membership Coordinator.

We did our first concert at the end of November 2022, half general repertoire and half holiday music,
which had our largest influx of new members as we had a “Sing with us for the holidays’ program –
inviting people to come and learn 2 songs to sing with us. From this we gained 5 members in one go!

Immediately after the concert we started working towards contest. The decision had already been made
that we were going to compete in the Open Division. Parodies of “Witchcraft” and “Yes, Sir, That’s My
Sweetie” were quickly produced and visual communication skills were introduced too. We did,
however, miss 3 rehearsals in January of 2023 as so many snowstorms came through on a Thursday
evening!

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9 (continued on the next page)

North Atlantic Region 1 Sweet Adelines