Thursday, January 8, 2009

That NEW Gang Of Mine...

Last night was the quartet's first rehearsal with our new bass...yet another Dave. New Dave is the chapter president, has been active in his own quartet for several years, and is going to make a GREAT addition to Coda Honor!

After leaving work, picking up Lou (who's car was in the shop), and congealing at our baritone's house, we exchanged pleasantries. Once we started singing, things just seemed to gel. The nicest part is that New Dave has been in the chorus longer than any of us and has a litany of tunes buried in the bundle of neurons in his noggin. I composed a list of tunes from our usual repertoire and the chorus for us to try out. Of the 26 songs I came up with, at least 20 of them were solid enough to perform in public. A handful of others needed some work before we'd be brave enough to let "real people" hear them. One has officially been retired (unless we get a specific request for it). Yes, Coney Island Baby has been interred next to Heart Of My Heart in the Coda Honor Graveyard, by popular demand.

New Dave still has a half dozen songs he needs to learn from our regular repertoire, including our contest pieces, my arrangement of Rainbow Connection, and Underdog. He also has to learn his part to the chorus tunes he was too busy directing to sing. He's a CRAZY busy guy, with a legal career, teaching responsibilities, his other quartet, and hid duties as chapter president, but I have faith that he'll step up to the plate. In the meantime, we have enough songs under our collective belt to do the gig next week I was surprised to get contacted about a few days ago.

New Dave's personality is a good match for us, his sound is bright, yet bassy, and his learning curve is high. He's no Big Dave, who had to leave the state rather suddenly for several reasons - both personal and professional, but he'll do nicely. We'll all miss Big Dave's caring and gentle demeanor, as well as his great ear and low...low basement, however we wish him nothing but the best in his new endeavors and hope we'll get the chance to sing with him again soon.

Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Coda Honor 4.0!
(and hire us...a lot)

Coming up next: Holiday Recap!

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