Sings Good Cheer
Manhattan Chapter’s Big Apple Chorus discovered a new way to enjoy the holidays, spread the joy of Barbershop Harmony, and, not incidentally, increase the Chapter Treasury by a substantial sum. For the past eight years, the Chorus had been called on to fill in at New York City’s busy South Street Seaport for the classical St. Cecelia Choir, on the night that the Choir gave its traditional Holiday Concert at another venue. This generally entailed two performances of holiday music on a Saturday or a Sunday.
In 2002, the South Street Seaport management contacted the Chapter and asked if they would like to take over the entire concert series at South Street Seaport. The series consisted of 17 weekend dates, with two performances on each date, a total of 34 performances for the Chorus. The series was to begin the weekend immediately following Thanksgiving, with the final concert to take place on New Year’s Day. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during this period the Big Apple Chorus would be required to provide a minimum of 30 singers, who would perform, rain or shine, either outdoors on the traditional Chorus Tree, or indoors at the Seaport’s Pier 17 shopping complex. The series would also include a concert on Christmas Eve.
To suggest that this was a commitment of enormous size would be the understatement of the year. It required the co-operation of not only the chorus members, but of their families as well. Many in the chorus thought it would be too much to ask that members commit to spending so much time away from their families during this holiday season. This was especially true since during the months of November and December the Chorus’ active membership hovered around 55, which meant that everyone had to be involved at some point.
However, the up side of fulfilling this commitment was huge. Not only was there the opportunity to spread Barbershop Harmony to the many shoppers and passers by who travel to South Street Seaport from the four corners of the world at holiday time, but there was also a large potential for membership recruitment, and, of course, a significant 5 figure pay day for the Chapter! It was, in short, too good to pass up.
Big Apple Chorus Director Joe Hunter was the first to get on the bandwagon, committing to direct at all but one of the 17 dates (Associate Director Roger Payne took the remaining date). Joe began to drill the chorus on its holiday repertoire, which included everything from “Silent Night” to “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”, as well as a couple of special Chanukah songs in keeping with NYC’s multi cultural celebration of the season. The Chorus Manager and Part Captains started to marshal the troops making certain that the chorus had both sufficient numbers to satisfy the contract, as well as proper distribution of voice parts for each performance to satisfy our musical needs. The goal was for each member to commit to making 2/3rds of the 17 dates. We also extended invitations to inactive members and other area Barbershoppers who were willing to attend rehearsals to join the Chorus at any of the performances.
As demanding as this commitment might seem at first, especially for a moderate sized chorus of 55 singers, the Big Apple Chorus managed to not only fulfill the commitment, but we learned a lot about the spirit of our members, and their willingness to sacrifice for a worthwhile goal. When the concert series had ended, we tallied up the numbers and discovered that we had not only met the contracted minimum of 30 singers at each of the 34 performances, but that we had actually averaged 40 singers! We had wives, girlfriends, kids, family members, and friends at each performance who assisted us with set up and CD & merchandise sales. Thanks to them, we made a tidy sum on these little “extras.”
In addition to 34 very enjoyable performances, aided and abetted by NYC’s best and most authentic Santa, the Chorus benefited in so many ways from this series. First, we made many new friends for the Chorus, and for Barbershopping. Second, the Chorus actually garnered some new singers (at this writing the Big Apple Chorus is now 70 plus singers strong!). Third, we were able to fatten the Chapter Treasury. As an added benefit, South Street Seaport offered the chorus free use of a space where we recorded our first ever Holiday CD, containing the repertoire from this series!
Finally, we learned so much about ourselves and our willingness and ability to reach beyond what we thought we were capable of doing. The resulting spirit of togetherness is still with us, and has, in fact, grown and intensified in the intervening months. We are often asked if we would attempt this kind of commitment again. Well, we’ll let you know. South Street Seaport has just invited The Big Apple Chorus to do a return engagement this coming holiday season. Same deal. Same number of performances. And, we’ve accepted, joyfully!
While it is certainly better to give than to receive, the Big Apple Chorus has learned that is best to give AND receive! If you’re in New York City during the holiday season, stop by South Street Seaport to say “Hello!” and ring a chord or two with The Big Apple Chorus!
