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Harmony Hawk Buzz
Brown wins bronze medal with There is something about being an international chorus competition participant that just gets under your skin. I hadn’t been to an International Convention contest for a long time until last summer when my lovely wife Arletta and I decided to go to the contest in Salt Lake City, Utah. Arletta had never been to the Pacific Northwest and had never experienced the beauty of that area. An additional incentive to make the trip west was the fact that we had friends from college that we had never visited, and they invited us out to Oregon as their guests. We spent a week there before returning to Salt Lake for the convention. Our visit to the contest was a very enjoyable one, even though Arletta was already in need of a wheelchair to get around. Then we heard the choruses. Wow, what a sound! I had visited with members of the Des Moines, Iowa City and
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Dubuque chapters that had entered the international competition with St. Charles and Kansas City choruses and said to myself, "Why not try out with a medalist chorus that I could drive to?" After hearing New Tradition from Northbrook, Illinois, I knew that was the one I wanted to be in. Because I was a 50-year member of the Society, I was now able to afford being a dual member. I visited the New Tradition Chorus and was impressed with the quality of their singing and the helpfulness of their director, Jay Giallombardo. He was so knowledgeable about the craft of close four-part harmony and had arranged so many songs that the New Tradition sang. I was told that I needed to attend three rehearsals before I could audition to become a member of the competition chorus. My one-on-one audition with Jay was successful. Our competition songs were "Home on the Range" and "Oklahoma Montage." We wore fancy western shirts and white cowboy hats. Buzz Brown continued on page 3
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