1. High Notes

• April 1: Good Oak City Sound practice at our usual location and time, experimenting with different 4-row configurations!
  • Good Afterglow at Mac's, with about 6 in attendance, plus one visitor from HCA/Concert Singers of Cary. We all of us sang a song for the patrons there, and it was well received. Good times!
• Apr 8 (Monday): Regular weekly meeting at a different location, but still at  our usual times: 6;30 for Mixed Chorus, 7:30 for Men's Chorus.
  • Location is the Auditorium where we used to practice some years ago. GPS location: 4000 Glenaire Cir, Cary, NC 27511. 
  • Specific parking instructions: Turn from Kildaire Farm Rd west onto Cornwall, as usual. But instead of turning left into the entrance of our usual Monday place, continue further down Cornwall about 150 yards. 
    
    Those who will only be at practice for the Mixed Chorus hour and those who have mobility issues should turn right into Glenaire Circle and park in the  Visitor parking slots around the circle; then enter the building under the Big Portico. This will bring your right into the Rotunda, and the entrance to the Auditorium.
    
    All others should continue driving past Glenaire Circle another 100 yards down Cornwall to the second right turn, Glenhope Court, and park in the Parking Deck. You can either enter the building to the right of the health center entrance and walk down the long hallway,   or you can walk up the sidewalk to the Main entrance at Gleanire Court.
    
    Please do not park on the street.
  • Special Dress Requirement: Please wear our contest uniform:
    • Mixed Chorus: Maui Blue Shirt, black pants/socks/shoes. For those women who don't have their Maui shirts yet, Carol will bring them on Monday night. Further, she will have extras in case the size you thought you needed is not the best fit for you.
    • Men's Chorus: Mixed uniform plus black jacket.
  • Here is what we will rehearse on Monday at Glenaire:
    • Contest songs for both choruses plus show songs for our April 15 Springmoor performance
• Immediate To-Do: Go to our Chorus Home Page / Member Home (Oak City Sound Members-Only Area) and fill out your future attendance plans so that the Leadership team can plan appropriately.
• Another immediate To-Do: Go to our Chorus Home Page / Member Home (Oak City Sound Members-Only Area) / Assessments Section, and submit your recordings!
• April 15 (Monday) 6:15pm: Oak City Sound in concert at Springmoor in north Raleigh. Call time is 6:15pm.
  • Planned song set
    • Almost Like Being in Love
    • Here Comes the Sun
    • Yesterday
    • The Longest Time
    • Desperado
    • Cheek to Cheek - Another Dimension
    • The Lion Sleeps Tonight
    • The Bare Necessities
    • Where Everybody Knows Your Name
    • Two Less Lonely People
    • Over the Rainbow
    • I've Got the World on a String & I Didn't Want to Fall - Mixed
    • Sweet Caroline
    • You've Got a Friend in Me
  • We have a hard stop at 45 minutes at Springmoor, so we will time all of this on Monday and determine if something from the men's repertoire will be cut. 

2. Carol's Korner

• We did some great clean up work in rehearsal last Monday.
• Our primary focus at this point needs to be expressing the story of the song and engaging the audience in those stories. Go beyond the notes, rhythms and words and create experiences!

3. Future Notes

• April 19 to 21: Carolinas District Convention in Pinehurst NC. Quartets will compete on Friday evening. The Mixed and the Men's Choruses will compete, separately, on Saturday!
  • April 19, 12:30pm. A Brigade luncheon will be held at Dugan's Pub in old Pinehurst (2 Market Square, Pinehurst, NC 28374) . We invite all those who are Brigade attenders, or want to be attenders, or who just want to pal around and sing some neat songs for an hour to kick off the District Convention weekend! All are invited, including spouses. Cost is on your own. Contact Nic Cols (ncols21@gmail.com) to sign up (no obligation actually).
  • Approx Weekend Schedule:
    • Registration starting at 3pm at the Convention HQ Hotel: Hampton Inn and Suites, 200 Columbus Dr, Aberdeen, NC 28315 
    • Quartet Contest Preliminary round is Friday evening, at Pinecrest High School, 250 Voit Gilmore Ln, Southern Pines, NC 28387
    • Saturday: Chorus practice estimated start time is 9:30. Location TBD
      • Mixed Chorus Uniform: Maui Blue Shirt, black pants, black belt, black socks, black shoes
      • Men's Chorus Uniform: Same as Mixed uniform, plus Black Jacket.
    • Chorus Competition runs roughly from 11am to 1:30pm. Pinecrest High.
    • Chorus Coaching session: somewhere between 1:30 and 4:30pm. Location TBD
    • Dinner on your own.
    • Quartet Finals back at Pinecrest High starting approx 7pm.
    • Chapter and Quartet Hospitality Rooms and parties back at the Hotel after the conclusion of the Quartet Contest.

4. Long Range

• April 27 (Saturday): Oak City Sound (both choruses) in concert at Cary Spring Daze, to be held (as usual) at Bond Park. Call time is 10:30AM but plan to arrive at least an hour earlier as the parking situation is always a bear. Our performance venue is the Sertoma Amphitheatre (our usual location).
• April 29 (Monday): Oak City Sound in concert at The Templeton, near Kildaire Farm Rd X Tryon Rd.
• May 6: First Special Guest night of 2024 for Oak City Sound! 
  • Who is a special guest? It's the person YOU invite to come and try us out. Start working on your singing acquaintances and persuade them to come and give us a try.