Weekly Newsletter August 30, 2019

Weekly Newsletter

August 30, 2019

Doc’s Corner 19 (Saturday) > Retreat (9:00-3:30) Dayspring United Methodist Church

1365 E. Elliot Rd., Tempe 85284 • I really want to encourage all of you to invite friends and family to attend one of our concerts on Sunday, Sept. 29. I am confident that you guys are going to sing really well Pre-Rehearsal Dining that day. We’ll blow their hair back a bit with “The Music of Living,” make them cry a bit with your New member orientation is over and done with; sensitivity on” O Love,” and then make them smile and everyone’s settled in. Time for a grand and glorious return laugh with “Fisherman’s Son” and “Pirate Song.” Again, to . . . any tickets sold at the door are split between the two

choirs. It is in our best interest to sell tickets ahead of Pino’s Pizza, Thomas Road just west of 1st Avenue. Please time on the Orpheus website. We may have some hard tickets to distribute; no promises. join us at 6:00 before rehearsal Tuesday. Have one of their fabulous Italian sandwiches, a salad, or a plate of • First Tuesday of the month is this Tuesday. All the cool people will be there!! pasta – or even a pizza! Or just come sit with us for some • Please be solid on ALL of your words, notes, and rhythms fellowship. for the pieces for Sept. 29 so we can polish all four of these pieces over the next four rehearsals. We will learn First Tuesday choreography for the first half of “Pirate Song” this week. (video forthcoming) It's that time again – the first Tuesday of the month, and I still have not heard from ACDA about the date and time • time for First Tuesday Orpheus. of our performance. If I don’t hear from them by

Tuesday I will reach out to them. Thank you for your Please join us after rehearsal at Angel's Trumpet Ale patience with this. House, 810 North 2nd Street (between Garfield and • Have a good, safe holiday weekend! McKinley), "one of the best patios in Phoenix." Come sample one of their 31 direct draw tap brews, some crispy Upcoming Events fried "Angel Wings," a hot pretzel, or any of their other snacks, salads, pizzas and more! September 21 (Saturday) Board and Committee Chair Retreat Here's a chance to relax with your fellow Orpheus singers Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center in a fun setting. Hope to see many of you there. 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

29 (Sunday) > joint concerts w/Phoenix Children’s Chorus From the President’s Desk 3:00 (call 1:00) > Mesa Community College AND 7:00 > Camelback High School • We have a Snack Guy! Thank you to Michael Rehm, 4612 N 28th St, Phoenix, AZ 85016 who has stepped up to take on this weekly task. Enjoy the break snacks, don’t forget to contribute, October and please thank Michael for volunteering. 13 (Sunday) > collaborative concert with Saxony Youth • Speaking of volunteering, Jay Murphy is working on Choir from Leipzig one of his popular Google sign-up sheets for us. Location and time TBA Shortly we’ll share it with everyone so that you can Home stay > 42 singers (university age) pick your own Orpheus volunteer opportunity for this

SECTION LEADERS ( * = Administrative) LAST FIRST SECTION EMAIL LAST FIRST SECTION EMAIL * Bickerstaff David 1Tenor [email protected] Ferris Justin Baritone [email protected] Stevens Ryan 1Tenor [email protected] Griset Rick Baritone [email protected] * Bennett Peter 2Tenor [email protected] * Loui Jim Baritone [email protected] Suelflow Jim 2Tenor [email protected] * Janac Dick Bass [email protected] Pentzien Jeff Bass [email protected] McComb Sean Bass [email protected]

fall season. If everyone does something, then we’ll supplied this data, but please supply it if you haven’t accomplish so much! previously done so. • More volunteering news: Judy Wagner (Non-singing Board member and wife of John Wagner) has stepped The roster is the official repository of data re our up and enthusiastically taken on the initial effort to members. Only you can keep it up-to-date. An accurate research tour opportunities for us in 2021. Watch for roster will make it unnecessary to circulate those her to reach out for your individual input and ideas. annoying, disruptive sign-up sheets during rehearsal. • Cyndee Chaffee, our new Operations Director, has been very busy meeting with our front-of-house Order your “A” Uniform NOW! volunteer crew leaders, working on reorganizing the

process and ensuring a smooth experience for our The Orpheus “A” Uniform consists of black tux (no tails) audiences. If you have thoughts or ideas, please and trousers, plain white dress shirt with French cuffs share them with her. (under which is worn a white t-shirt), black cufflinks, black • Speaking of front-of-house volunteering, if you have dress tie, black vest, black socks and black leather shoes. spouses, partners, girlfriends, boyfriends, or other No cummerbund . family members or friends who would like to help support Orpheus directly, front-of-house work is a New members : You may buy the tux anywhere you wish, great opportunity. Plus, they get to hear us sing for e.g. Burlington, Men’s Wearhouse, J.C. Penny, etc. free! Please share their names and contact information with Cyndee. We promise not to New members and members returning to Active status overwork them!! after several seasons : The vest and tie (and, I am told, the • As you’ve probably already experienced, Orpheus is in shirt, although I don’t see it listed on their website) must a period of change and transition this year. (When be ordered from: are we not in the midst of change, you might ask?) As we move through some of the more significant https://besttuxedo.com/product/satin-tuxedo-vest-tie-pocket- changes, I want you to know that your Board of square-set/ Directors recognizes that change can be difficult and sometimes stressful. We want to honor our valuable Order your vest and tie NOW! We will wear the “A” past as we move inevitably toward a different future. uniform at the Legacy concerts on September 29. We’ll work to keep the communication lines open – in both directions. Please share with any Board The vest is a plain black satin vest. member, Section Leader or Staff Member (both Artistic and Operational) your thoughts, suggestions, The tie is a plain black dress tie, not a bow tie . ideas and yes, criticisms. • Thanks for your continued support. The shirt is a standard white dress shirt, not a pleated tuxedo shirt , with standard collar (not wing-tip, not Ira Rubins, Board President buttoned-down). If you can’t find it on the website listed above, you can go to Kohl’s or any other place that sells An Accurate Roster Is Up To YOU! good quality men’s wear.

The socks should be plain black standard crew socks or Our Webmaster, Dick Janac, will be e-mailing you calf-length – no little shortie anklet socks. A gentleman instructions for how to update your personal information never shows bare leg between his sock and trouser cuff. in the Orpheus roster.

The shoes must be plain black leather and must be able to When you receive these instructions, please follow the take a shine – AND SHINE THEM! There is no worse sight steps for accessing your roster entry and updating it as known to humankind than a gentleman in an impeccably may be needed. tailored tux, spotlessly white shirt, and dirty scuffed shoes.

We have recently added place of birth and emergency Current members : Be sure your tux hasn’t, um, shrunk in contact info to the roster – many of you have already the closet over the summer. Also, please be sure to have it dry-cleaned. SECTION LEADERS ( * = Administrative) LAST FIRST SECTION EMAIL LAST FIRST SECTION EMAIL * Bickerstaff David 1Tenor [email protected] Ferris Justin Baritone [email protected] Stevens Ryan 1Tenor [email protected] Griset Rick Baritone [email protected] * Bennett Peter 2Tenor [email protected] * Loui Jim Baritone [email protected] Suelflow Jim 2Tenor [email protected] * Janac Dick Bass [email protected] Pentzien Jeff Bass [email protected] McComb Sean Bass [email protected]

People complain about the t-shirt. Yes, it can be hot on stage, and we do wear a lot of clothes. But the t-shirt will wick moisture away from your skin and prevent the dress shirt from sticking to your chest. No one wants to see chest hairs or certain anatomical parts showing through a soaking wet shirt plastered to the skin.

Bottom line: The “A” uniform is a stage costume. You are not going to the Inaugural Ball or to your cousin Gertrude’s wedding. This is not the place to make a fashion statement. It is important that we all look alike on stage, and that we look our best.

Members’ Corner

[Members’ Corner is a place where members may post news or requests of a personal nature. Please e-mail all copy to Alex Areno by 9:00 Thursday evening.]

PROGRAM NOTES

Ring Those Christmas Bells

This upbeat song epitomizes the spirit of the holiday season perhaps like no other can. “We’ll have a happy time . . . while all around the snow is soft and white.” Holly wreaths, mistletoe, fireplaces aglow, children singing – all invite us to “come on and join the fun!” Lyricist Marve Fisher is perhaps best known for his 1950s hit song “American Girl” – about a girl who “wants an old-fashioned house . . . and an old-fashioned millionaire” who will serenade her with “the sound of oil wells as they slurp, slurp, slurp.” Gus Levene was one of the top music arrangers of the 1940s and ‘50s. He arranged vocals for Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra and orchestrated such films as The King and I, Carousel and The Music Man . Once asked what the most difficult thing was to write in music, Levene replied, “A well placed rest.”

The Hands that First Held Mary’s Child

This deeply penetrating poem by Episcopal priest and Presbyterian minister Thomas Troeger (1945- ) explores the relationship between the Christ Child and Joseph, who has been called the most forgotten person in the Bible. Joseph, a simple carpenter – a nobody, really – laid down his saw, his hammer, his nails, the wooden beams with all their splinters, and “cradled from the head to heel our Lord, newborn and frail.” As Joseph “gazed upon those bright new eyes” he recalled the angel’s words: “This child shall be . . . not God upon the throne, but God with us.” Of course, what Joseph did not know, but what the little baby knew even then, was that “the tools that Joseph laid aside, a mob would later lift.” But not this season. Now, at Christmas, God invites us – nobodies like Joseph – to “cradle Our Lord,” to “gaze upon his face” as Joseph did. Composer, editor, pianist and music educator Dan Forrest has set this lovely poem to a simple yet beautiful score.