Chapter Four: Guest Night

As it turns out my first night with the Harmony Celebration Chorus, was the chorus's first night with its new director, Mr. Scott Brannon. I was greeted by the lovely Ms. Beth Fulton. I will always remember her warm smile and beautiful red sweater. She had me sign in and put on a name tag. Then I was right up on the risers warming up with all the ladies. I had my guest folder so that I could follow along with any songs we were working on. I was lucky too, because that first night we broke into sectionals on A Wink and a Smile and Lazy Day. I say that was lucky because it meant that when we got back into the big group I could sing along more.

Then Beth had the guests step out of the chorus. As we did, we were introduced by our name, where we lived, and how we came to the chorus. I was Alexis from Dumont, and I had moved to the area from Region 16 and was looking for a new chorus. I also remember that Maggie was a guest that night, she was from Westchester, the fiance of our new director, and just about one of the nicest women you could ever hope to meet. Maggie and I (and the other guests) settled into our chairs to watch the chorus work on The Lion King.

Holy Cow!!! But I'm getting ahead of myself, lets describe it all first. The package starts off with The Circle of Life, featuring two soloists: Ms. Jean Schoenlank and Ms. Jeannie Froelich. It then moves through In the Jungle as a background to a short monologue given by Ms. Jeannie about the music that binds us all together in this great circle of life. Then its on to the uptune! Just Can't Wait to be King, which is followed by the beauteously arranged (by Renee of course) Can You Feel the Love Tonight? And then to wrap it all up we come back to The Circle of Life. Now I don't know how many people in this world have had the privilege of seeing this music performed live, but it is breathtaking. You have goosebumps, that's just all there is to it. Watching those women sing and dance, watching them bring the messages of the music to life - it was one of those "So this is what I need to do for the rest of my life" moments. This is what I need to do, and these ladies are definitely the ones to do it with!

Now, the only thing better than finding something you love to do is dragging your friends into that something. The next week I brought my roommate Sabrina with me to rehearsal. She voice tested and was told that she could either sing lead or tenor, but at the moment we were in need of good leads, and so a lead became she. And of course the only thing better than dragging one friend is dragging two! So the next week (which was an official HCC Guest Night) we took our third, Ms Stephanie, along with us to rehearsal. Guest night was great. There was a mixture of riser time and viewing time. We learned a tag. We got to see chapter quartet Just 4 sing! The best part was that they sung their classic Have a Nice Day, and because I had been coming for a few weeks, but was still a guest, I got "picked on" in the song! "Some people greet you with a sunny smile, and they say to you Have a Nice Day like Alexis. And I find myself thinking all the while I wish... that they'd just go away! far away!" Love those gals - funniest quartet around.

At the end of rehearsal Steph went and was voice tested. She was told that she could sing lead or bari, but since she had an ear for the part a bari she became. (As we all known Bari's aren't created, they are born - and if anyone was born a baritone, its SQ.) That week the three of us left rehearsal thrilled to be on the start of a new creative adventure with each other and Harmony Celebration.