The Road to Contest is about the Journey
February 21, 2011
Each year since 2005 we have signed up for the spring SAI Regional Convention and Competition. Each year we have worked hours and hours on our music and our choreography, agonized over what to wear on stage, and paid many valuable dollars for top notch coaches to help us prepare for the competition. We put ourselves through this process voluntarily. No one forces us. It costs us a lot of time, a lot of money, and causes a lot of stress.
So why do we do it? Well, I won’t speak for Lori, Lori or Kate, but I can tell you why I compete.
First, I am in this to stretch myself, creatively and developmentally. How far can I go? What am I capable of if I work hard? What creative abilities can I develop if I dig a little deeper? What will I discover about myself if I follow this path? For example, over the years I have discovered that I have mental and emotional roadblocks when it comes to “choreography”. I used to think I couldn’t do it, and I used to be afraid of what I would look like. And I still have a lot of room for improvement. But I have overcome those roadblocks a little bit, learned to relax a little, to settle into my own skin. Putting myself on stage forces me to face this roadblock head on. That has been very empowering for me!
Musically I’ve gained skills and an education in barbershop sound and style. This part of the hobby has come the most naturally to me, and it’s been really fun to explore deeper and deeper into the musical side of things. Taking the musical product on stage in a competition setting gives me the opportunity to evaluate how far I’ve come and how far I have yet to go in my barbershop education.
Surprisingly to me, and ever more important to me, has been the teamwork aspect of this hobby. I never expected that the “team” part of quartet singing would be the hardest and also the most rewarding part. Learning to give and accept feedback, learning to compromise with three other equal partners, learning to move forward toward a common goal – these have been lessons that I didn’t expect but have welcomed. Working toward contest with three like-minded, talented women is a study in high-performance teams, and I love it!
There are a lot of other reasons why I sing, but these are the reasons that I choose to sing competitively. None of these reasons have anything to do with “winning”, or achieving an end-game. It’s all about what I’m learning along the way. It’s about the journey!
Baltimore Flower Mart
February 8, 2011
Event Date: May 7, 2011
Join Lustre in the beautiful Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore for a home-town festival celebrating flowers, art, and community spirit. We’ll be entertaining the crowd on the main stage at 12:00pm. This is our third year performing in this venue, and we are excited to be back again, joining in the fun. We hope to see you there!
Singing Valentine Delivery Day
February 3, 2011
Event Date: Feb 14, 2011
Lustre will be delivering Singing Valentines throughout the Central Maryland region all day on Monday, February 14, 2011. If you would like to order a Singing Valentine to be delivered to your special someone, please contact us using any of these methods:
Connect with us on Facebook
Email us at info@lustrequartet.com
Call us at (301) 512-4869
Singing Valentines – A Special Treat
February 3, 2011
We are coming up on one of our favorite days of the year – Valentine’s Day! Each year we have the honor and privilege of delivering heart-warming sentiments of love, affection and friendship to lucky men and women all over central Maryland.
We usually begin the day bright and early, setting out with a pile of orders, a bucket of fresh flowers, a GPS navigator and a pitch pipe. We map our route according to the desired delivery times of the telegram givers. We find our way to the first location, and then the fun really begins.
The telegram recipients are almost always unsuspecting and very surprised. Because so many of our telegrams are delivered to a workplace, it really is a treat to see the co-workers’ reactions as well. Once we find the recipient, we sing a song to him or her, and watch with delight as he or she inevitably becomes a little bit embarrassed but a whole lot touched. The recipient is often surprised and happy to learn that the gift includes not one, but two special songs for his or her enjoyment. We also provide a card with a heartfelt customized message, and a fresh flower to leave behind as a small memento of the occasion.
We have sung for teachers with rapt Kindergarten students watching and cheering in awe. We’ve sung for a staff meeting full of doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, as a gift from their generous and fun-loving department head. We’ve sung for daycare moms, and for stay-at-home dads. We’ve often sung in corporate office buildings, in the middle of a large “cube farm” full of cubicles. It’s fun to watch the heads pop up around the room as the coworkers hear what is going on. We’ve sung for a teenaged girl as a gift from her teenaged boyfriend. We’ve called family members across the country to deliver Singing Valentines by phone.
Each time we deliver a Singing Valentine, the recipient is touched, and so are we. It’s so much fun to spread love and affection in such an outward and demonstrable way.
Once again this year we will be out and about in the Central Maryland area, delivering love and friendship in the form of happy music. If you are interested in sending a Singing Valentine to your special someone, please drop us a note in our online contact form, or email us at “info@lustrequartet.com”, or call Kate at (301) 512-4869.
Singers School with Zing!
January 30, 2011
Event Date: Feb 4-6, 2011
Lustre will be joining Zing!, Maxx Factor, Capri and many other quartets and members from Region 19 for an educational weekend. Looking forward to joining our friends for this event! We will have the distinct pleasure of being coached on Sunday with Zing! as well.