Convention-Day 4

We attended both sessions of the chorus competition yesterday. What a show! The morning session ran from 11:00 until almost 4:00. Then the evening session went from 6:15 until after 10:30. They stopped the competition at about 9:00, so that we could watch the Nashville fireworks display on a live TV feed, on the two giant screens in the Sommet Center. The background music was provided by the Nashville Symphony. In the end, we had listened to 28 groups from around the country and the world.

The choir from Sweden came out in full Viking garb, including horned helmets. They actually sent three guys out before they were introduced. Two of them dragged the MC off the stage, while the third one introduced the chorus. Then they started their program with, "Here Comes The Showboat." (Viking boat, that is) How can you not get choked up with lines like, "we love our shields, we love our swords, but we really love those barbershop chords"? Immediately after that line, they hustled into groups of four and did the "When I leave the world behind" tag. The crowd loved it.

The Midwest Vocal Express, of "Fish" and "Little Green Toy Soldiers" fame, came out dressed as penguins. This was mom's favorite. They started with "The Cold Songs."

Not all the choruses were as wacky. Many of them just knocked you over with their singing. At the end of the day, while the judges wrapped up the final tallies, The Westminster Chorus (last year's gold medalists) sang two numbers, thanked everyone for their support and then did another number. Wow!

Here are the medal winners for this year:

Gold: Masters of Harmony, Santa Fe Springs, CA
Silver: Ambassadors of Harmony, St. Charles, MO
Bronze(1): Voices in Harmony, Bay Area, CA
Bronze(2): Sound of the Rockies, Denver Mile High, CO
Bronze (3): New Tradition Chorus, Northbrook, IL

Today we went out for a late breakfast with the Moomy clan, (Sue and I didn't get back from the convention until after 1:00am ). We are hanging around the house today and will go back tonight for the quartet finals at 7:30. The barbershop intensity has been high all week. It's all been fun, but I think that by tomorrow we may have Post Chromatic Stress Syndrome.

We plan to visit with all the relatives tomorrow and then drive home on Monday. Wickett, if you are reading this, hang in there. We are comin' to get ya'.