I hope you all are getting some well-deserved rest after a busy week of preparation for the Gospel Concert. It went about as well as it could have. I thought all the guest performers were wonderful! Their quality was excellent, and many patrons told me they appreciated the variety of music they presented.
A special thank you goes to Chad for preparing us so well. We sang very well, and may have had our best yet performance of “Yes, Indeed.”
The crowd nearly filled the lower level of the auditorium, and that’s a reflection of the good work done by Mary Huneke, and also the promotion done by His Hands Free Clinic, our guest performers, and all of you.
A special thank you to the Harmony Hawks wives who helped with ushering.
We will take some time at Business Meeting time to share your impressions of the concert. Did you receive some comments from your friends and family in attendance? This will be a good time to share those.
We will have a new member installation Tuesday as well.
Next up – Christmas Caroling
Please bring your Yuletide Favorites booklet to Tuesday’s rehearsal. That will be the emphasis for the next rehearsal.
Mary has done a great job making sure our posters and flyers have good exposure, and there is an ad set to appeal in the Gazette soon. We have placed posts on Facebook and some of you have boosted them by liking and sharing them on your own Facebook posts.
Here is what’s next: Please email each friend in your email contacts with a brief message sharing your enthusiasm for the Gospel Concert, including a link to HarmonyHawks.org The landing page there will tell them everything they need to attend.
Focus for the week:
Totally of the music on all GC songs:
“Yes, Indeed” is our opener and will be a great start to the program, but each of us needs to have in memorized for the next two rehearsals so Chad can work his magic. Did you mark anything in your scores to work on?
“It Is Well” sounds terrific – keep working on vowel targets
“You Raise Me Up”: Baris and tenors have the one section to smooth out that we worked on tonight. Everyone: Consider how this is a Gospel song. It doesn’t mention God or Jesus. Look below for my meditation on that; it may be something to think about as we sing.
“An Irish Blessing”: Leads, be confident on the first pickup. Work to eliminate any doubts you have. Other sections: there is one pickup that we join the leads. The leads have three pick ups – “May the road .., May the wind…, May the sun…, May the rain fall softly on your fields. ”Then we all join them on the pickup notes “And until we meet again….’ So four lead pickups and then all four parts sing the And until we meet again….”
To Larry Hlavacek for leading us so capably on Chad absence.
Exciting news
It’s official, Peter Sherman in a Harmony Hawk, with a join date of 10/17. 2026. Welcome aboard, Peter!
Focus for the week
Totally of the music on all GC songs:
“Yes, Indeed” is our opener and will be a great start to the program, but each of us needs to have in memorized for the next two rehearsals so Chad can work his magic. Did you mark anything in your scores to work on?
“It Is Well” sounds terrific – keep working on vowel targets
“You Raise Me Up”: Baris and tenors have the one section to smooth out that we worked on tonight. Everyone: Consider how this is a Gospel song. It doesn’t mention God or Jesus. Look below for my meditation on that; it may be something to think about as we sing.
“An Irish Blessing”: Leads, be confident on the first pickup. Work to eliminate any doubts you have. Other sections: there is one pickup that we join the leads. The leads have three pick ups – “May the road .., May the wind…, May the sun…, May the rain fall softly on your fields. ”Then we all join them on the pickup notes “And until we meet again….’ So four lead pickups and then all four parts sing the And until we meet again….”
Meditation on “You Raise Me Up”
How have you thought about this as a Gospel Song? There is no mention of God or Jesus, although we can easily imagine them being the “You” addressed. There are two lines that seem to refer to Jesus “… walk on stormy seas” and God “When I am on your shoulders….”
So, I think of this song as a prayer where we speak to God / Jesus directly. It starts out as many prayers do, in a time when our hearts are burdened, looking into the face of Jesus and quietly listening. Thinking of that helps me sing the opening quietly and sensitively while listening for the parts around me. Later in the song, as God lifts us up, we can sing with more confidence, just as prayer can lead can us to face challenges.
