At last Thursday’s Voices of Gotham rehearsal we were joined by Tony-nominated actor, Douglas Sills. Among his many accolades, Douglas performed major roles in The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Secret Garden, two shows that served as the source material for Voices of Gotham’s 2015 contest set.

In 2013 Voices of Gotham’s set at the International Chorus Competition included two new charts arranged either in part, or completely, by members of the chapter. The songs were Fastball’s “The Way” (arranged by Josh Ehrlich), and the “New York Medley” (arranged by Adam Bock, Josh Ehrlich, and others). Although VoG has a strong tradition of using in-house arrangers and arrangements, the experience of a complete set of homegrown arrangements, and the discussions and development of those arrangements in the lead up to contest, brought out the idea of creating a place for the emerging culture of arrangers in our ranks.

My earliest musical memories involve a turntable and a series of great old barbershop albums. My dad, the late Fred Gallagher (still my all-time favorite Baritone), played the Four Renegades, the Schmitt Brothers, the Oriole Four on what seemed to be an endless loop. Most often, though, it was the powerful sound of the Boston Common that filled our home. I would later come to love the recordings of the Bluegrass Student Union, the Louisville Thoroughbreds, the Four Rascals, the Vocal Majority and many others; but I always come back the recordings of the Common. They never feel fussy, over-produced, slick, or artificial. The listener gets a from-the-heart delivery, unparalleled blend, and even the rare note error—reminding us just how close to a live performance their albums could bring us.

Rumor has it that there is a grace period of sorts where intellectual property rights are waived when posting videos on the web. After all, everybody does it all the time, don’t they? For years, people believed that as long as a video clip or sound file was under a certain number of seconds it could be used without securing permission of the copyright holder. That is entirely bogus.

June 20, 2013, 10:20 AM: My plane’s wheels touched down on the runway at JFK airport. After several hours in the air and an overnight layover at MSP airport in Minneapolis/St. Paul, I had arrived in New York City, my new home. After disembarking from the aircraft and gathering my luggage, I found my way to a car and caught a ride to the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.

A few months ago, our chorus decided to put together an online fundraising campaign. It has been an incredible learning experience, and we were pleased to find that it was not only effective - but much easier to set up than we ever anticipated. You can check out our campaign here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/support-voices-of-gotham-chorus