If you didn't have a chance to fill out a comment card, please e-mail us your thoughts.  We are wanting to know your opinion of what worked well, what didn't, and what suggestions would you have for future events?  We will pass that information along to Tremont for their benefit.  Of specific interest would be the start/end time, the e-invitation via the website, the communication as we went along, the song music (both midi files and sheet music) and anything else you'd like to comment on.  We'd surely appreciate it.

We are considering putting some music clips of this men's sing on the website, along with links to where CD's can be purchased.  What sources do we have for selling our CD's?  I've heard of www.melttheheart.com, but I suspect there are others.  I'll visit with Dennis Virkler about this to make sure that we're not showing favortism to one music store over another :-).  We would welcome other thoughts as well to how the website / CD awareness could be enhanced.  One suggestion was to list each recording made from the 80's until now along with the songs contained in each recording.  If we combined that with some resources where they could be purchased on the website, we feel that would allow many to obtain CD's that otherwise may not have known how or where to get additional copies. 

In closing, thanks again for the weekend.  Please mark your calendars to check back on this site in January of 2011 for information on the next Men's sing.  Note however, the website will not be taken down between now and then.  It will still be functional, perhaps with a few less features from a cost standpoint, but will still be a great resource of information.  As mentioned earlier, our goal is to provide a means for viewers to obtain CD's, and even hear music clips of this event.  That will hopefully be provided within the next couple of months.

Also, for clarification on "fast time" if I confused you before, see the post dated August 7th to define what our time is here.

Safe travels!

On a music note :-) we've had a couple of practices here and the trouble spots are the key changes in a few of the songs and the timing on "Mary's Little Boy Child."  Please make sure you've familiarized yourself with those areas.

Trusting that God will grant you each safe travels and that His name can be lifted up in this weekend.  See you here!!

Our weekend together is nearly here and no doubt we are all looking forward to singing and fellowship. Special thanks to the Remington church for hosting this event and our prayer is that they receive a special blessing for their work. May the name of God and our Savior Jesus Christ be glorified by our singing and recording.

I wanted to jot down a few thoughts for your consideration. Nearly all of you have been singing for years and understand many of the fundamentals of singing in a choral group. A couple of reminders include:

Singing the correct notes is very helpful – please consider listening to the music files on the website as well as those you may have received via email. Follow the written notes as you listen to the music, pick out your part and sing along to become familiar with it. This will help you be better prepared for singing with the group this weekend.

Blend is critical – we have no soloists scheduled and are really not looking for volunteers! If you hear yourself singing louder than the person next to you, you may be singing too loudly. If you are blessed with above normal volume capability, consider saving it for practicing longer. Conceivably some may run out of voice as we approach 8 hours of singing, and the voice you save may be needed in the end.

Watch the director – we want to focus our efforts to make the message and feeling of each song speak to the heart of each listener. In order to have a tight, well-blended sound we need to start, sing, breath, pause, stop, etc. together. Effective dynamics and diction are essential. Excellence in the areas of togetherness, dynamics and diction can make the difference between something a person listens to only once in a while or many, many times.

We will discuss and mark our music for tempo, breathing, dynamics, diction etc. as we rehearse each song. Several brothers have carefully considered these items to be sure the message of each song is delivered as effectively as possible. We are not planning to make changes while practicing or recording but will focus on execution and feeling.

My desire as director is that, by the grace of God, we can work together as brothers and bring this work to a glorious end so that all who participate and hear will be greatly blessed and lifted to a closer walk with Him.

In Christ,

Wayne

P.S. No scooping or sliding – if you do not know what this means, I’ll let you know if I need to!

1)  For each of the singers, we're counting on you (and your wive's if applicable) for meals according to your original registration information.  If you are bringing any children that will also be eating meals, please let us know by Friday the 14th so we can have an accurate count for the food committee.

2)  Transportation - A few of you will be flying into or out of nearby airports.  Please let us know of your plans if you are needing transportation and such.  If we don't hear from you, we'll assume that your needs are taken care of.

Just a note, Remington is 1-hr ahead of all of you coming from IL, MN, etc.  We are the same time as eastern IN, Ohio, CT, etc.  If you're still confused, e-mail us.  Do NOT look at an atlas to determine our time zone!

One more song has been uploaded for your review.  Again, PLEASE practice and come prepared to sing in four weeks. 

Each of you who has registered and has an e-mail account will be receiving an e-mail shortly with seven songs attached to it.  It will be explained why those were not uploaded to the website in that e-mail.

We're looking forward to hosting you all!