Dr. Tim Sharp visits

A few weeks ago I attended my first American Choral Directors Association convention in Oklahoma City.  It was a terrific experience allowing me, the accidental chorus conductor the opportunity to network and learn from those in the choral music world.

As I ventured from workshops to concerts, I kept thinking to myself the Army Chorus should be here.  The Air Force Singing Sergeants and the Navy Sea Chanters were there in the exhibit hall with booths, and we had a handful of guys from our organization, but there were no performances by military vocalists.

Perhaps because I had no scruples, I went to the ACDA website and fearlessly fired off an email to the Executive Director, Dr. Tim Sharp (going straight to the top–shameless!).  The jist of the message: we’d love to be a part of a future ACDA event.

FIVE MINUTES LATER comes the response: he’s coming into DC anyway and would love to see a performance.  Well, rats, we didn’t have one during his visit, so I offered a rehearsal as a consolation prize, and he agreed!

The bottom line is that he did come visit, but the bummer was that I couldn’t meet him.  My new daughter Allie was born and I was suddenly not so interested in anything but her (I hope no one would fault me for that).  But I was delighted to see that Dr. Sharp not only came to see the Army Chorus, but he also brought his family along for some sightseeing, and even did some conducting of the group!

So thank you Dr. Sharp for visiting us in Washington, and I sincerely hope that I will get to meet you in the future!

The Big Apple

It has been a big weekend.  Hardly anyone I talked to could believe it, but it was the truth: I had never before been to New York City.  I hear that if I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.

And what a heckuva way to see New York for the first time…conducting performances in Trinity Church, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, and at the Liederkranz!  All of them went very well, of course.

Hopefully, I’ll have more pictures of those performances to post later, but as of this writing all I have is this photo from the Liederkranz.  Our brush with fame for the evening: Charles Osgood was in attendance (and I would be remiss in not mentioning our special guest singer for that performance, feature soloist from the United States Marine Band, SSgt Sara Dell’Omo).

 

Since this was my first trip to New York, I did as many touristy things as I could manage in my off-time.  First things first–I walked south toward Times Square, since it was only a few blocks away:

But taking a glance down a side street, I saw Radio City Music Hall, so Times Square was no longer interesting to me.  I’m fickle like that.

But the next morning was really fun; I decided to go see The Today Show live.

Who is that riding in on the big flatbed truck with the Rockefeller Christmas tree?  Why it’s none other than Al Roker!

Ooh, Al, can you hold still so I can focus for a picture?

Al?

Oh, well.  Anyway, after the Concert at Trininy, I walked over to see Ground Zero and then south to see the Statue of Liberty.  And here she is, in all her glory and splendor…

Well, you could see all the splendor if it weren’t so hazy.  And if she’d turn around.  This is interesting–if you turn around from this position, you’ll see this:

I don’t know exactly what this abstract piece is supposed to be, but I find it…stimulating.

Here’s a poster I saw.  This is what we conductors look like on the inside.

Feel free to comment with your proposed captions to this picture (Here’s mine: “The Maestro wished the brass had played with a little less volume.”)

More to follow…