Also Sprach Ray (Thus Spoke Ray)

What does it take to keep a chorus together? The eight years that I have been a member have brought many changes.

Chorus members have come and gone for many reasons. Some have moved away either because of a new job or because of retirement. One young fellow is studying to be a doctor in a major university back east, another is studying engineering also on the east coast. Tragically, one member succumbed to cancer at the all too young age of 45. New members have come to us from a variety of sources. Some have heard us sing at a summer festival, stopped by our booth, sung a tag, and later visited one of our rehearsals. Others were brought in by a friend. Still others came to a performance, and then decided to give us a try. One fellow visited the chapter after one of our members heard him singing to his dog at a pet store. Whatever the reason, our common bond is our love of music and singing and barbershop gives us a chance to express that love.

There have changes other than personnel, as well. Within my first couple of months, the chorus brought in an outside coach for an all day rehearsal on a Saturday, for the purpose of getting us ready for an upcoming contest. I remember being exhausted at the end of the day. I had never sung for that length of time before, and had not been a member of a chorus since the fourth grade, but I also felt exhilarated at the experience. It was only dampened a little when we learned that the coach had recommended that we not compete. In the next couple of years we did compete but our scores were at the bottom of the list. Undaunted, we began to compete every year and saw our scores gradually improve. The goal, by the way, of these contests is not to win the contest, as our director constantly reminds us, but to entertain our audience. Accomplish that and the scores will take care of themselves.

All of this looking back, I suppose is due in part to the “Back to Barbershop” night that we recently held. We invited all of the former members that we could find to join us for an evening of ringing chords and just having fun. It was good to have all four members of my first quartet back together again, and all of the others who were there that night. No matter how much time passes, it is never too late to get together and sing “One More Song.”

Who Will Buy

“Who will Buy,” is a song from the musical “Oliver,” which made its debut on June 30, 1960 at the New Theatre in London. This was the first of 2618 performances. The musical is based on the novel “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens. It was the first time a Dickens’ novel set to music became a stage hit, and represents a tour de force for Lionel Bart, who wrote the book, lyrics and music. These three components are rarely done by one person. Among the other songs from “Oliver” are “Where is Love,” “Consider Yourself,” “I’d do Anything” and “As Long as He Needs Me.” With songs like this, how could it not have been a success?

“Who Will Buy” is sung amd the backdrop of a busy London Street. The Rose Seller asks “Who will buy my sweet red roses?” The Milkmaid queries, “Will you buy any milk today, mistress?” The strawberry seller calls “Ripe strawberries, ripe”. The Knife Grinder shouts “Knives! Knives to grind!” but Oliver asks “Who will buy this wonderful morning?” It is the start of a glorious day. Appropriately enough, New Dimension Chorus director Demaster has chosen this as the opening song for the chorus.

The interpretation is that of unbounded joy. “Such a day you never did see.” The chorus is striving to communicate the feeling that you get when a day dawns that is so wonderful that you wish you could “Keep it as a treasure to last my whole life through.” It is designed to be an attention grabber right from the start and to be the beginning of a great evening of entertainment. The challenges of bringing this to fruition is one that the chorus is tackling with great enthusiasm and it is a chorus favorite, and hopefully will be an audience favorite as well.