text by Maggie Heineman, photos by Harry Knowles
Here’s a story of the week that was.
On Wednesday, October 19, the Medford Leas Singers performed for 175 residents from 20 New Jersey CCRCs. But on Wednesdays Chris Bass, our amazing conductor who leads the women’s chorus at Temple University, can’t be with us. To perform without Chris is like working without a net. So we scheduled a “dress rehearsal” at the monthly Medford Leas Residents Association meeting on Monday, October 17.
The MLRA performance was well received, but facing the piano was a mistake. Our eyes were on the music, not the audience, and some of the attacks were weak.
So… On Tuesday a phone tree was activated and we scheduled a 20-minute rehearsal prior to Wednesday’s 1 pm performance. On Wednesday, while residents from around New Jersey were having lunch, we were in the Lounge working on both music and eye contact.
Harry Knowles was there with a camera and Deedy Roberts prevailed upon me (Maggie Heineman) to try to conduct. Deedy said, “If you’re in front of us we’ll have something to look up at.”
Harry Knowles likes taking candid photos. Here are a few candid photos of the short rehearsal before our performance for the ORANJ meeting.
At 1 pm we entered the Theater and for a few minutes Harry took both candid shots and posed group photos. Next time we’ll have the group photos showing us singing instead of just smiling — another lesson learned.
The 10-minute performance was terrific — according to audience members.
Video of 10/19 Performance at ORANJ
Well . . . it could have been better. But I do think that on November 12 when we present a full hour-long concert, led by Chris Bass — that will indeed be terrific. So on Friday October 21, we went back to work rehearsing for the November concert. And that is the week that was.
