With spring officially here (tomorrow), it's time to look for what the new year is holding for us.  We had a wonderful time at Boston Pizza, serenading numerous couples and families on Valentine's Day, and having a wonderful time at it, and we just finished welcoming Paul Hunter's mother, Dorothy, to her 85th year with harmony and song.  So, what does the future hold for us?

If you happen to be in the Lower Mainland during the last weekend of March, you may catch us and many other talented singers as we compete at the Barbershop Society's Evergreen District Division One competition in Abbotsford, March 30th and 31st.  We'll be at the Abbey competing with 13 (!) other quartets for a shot at the title on Friday night, and we have choruses from BC and Washington State also competing Saturday, with a Show of Champions on Saturday Evening for the top placing choruses and quartets!  If you want to hear some of the best singing BC and Washington have to offer, you would be well served to be there!  Wish Us Luck!

It's odd that it's December 14th, and barely a skiff of snow on the ground here in the North Okanagan.  However, the weatherman has promised that will be changing, just no firm time-line on when.

So, Some Other Time has completed another Christmas singing season, rather early this year, which is fine for their wives, who patiently tolerate being Barbershop widows.  Our final scheduled engagement for the year will be at our little private quartet Christmas party, where we celebrate with our wives another wonderful year gone by and the promise of a wonderful new year to come.

We have also decided to do our part to fill in some of the wintry quiet by taking our acapella tunes to some of the local area senior's facilities in the new year, a time of year that usually doesn't get a lot of singing time (maybe because most groups are worn out from Christmas performances?)  We, however, are just getting warmed up!

If you chance to hear us soon, be listening for some of our new favorites, like I'm My Own Grandpa and If My Nose Was Runnin' Money.  If you're up for some frank honesty (or at least tongue-in-cheek humour), then you may also appreciate The Truth About Men.  We're also adding some spiritual content to our repertoire, like I'm Feelin' Fine and When I Lift Up My Head.  We've got lots of good music to bring to you in the new year, so be on the lookout for us.  We'll try to keep our website updated, but you never know when we may just turn up... Some Other Time

Nothing quite like a cold to help a tenor sing like a bass.  Now, if only colds could help basses sing like tenors, with a little work, we'd still be able to balance sound! :-D

Fortunately, even though cold and flu season is upon it, that isn't stopping us from doing our best to make our next performance lively.  We're eager to bring you new songs in our repertoire (just check out the changes on the Songs We've Sung page to see what has graduated from "maybe" to "gonna happen".)

And speaking of graduating, Dan (the tenor) has a son that will be graduating this year and moving to the coast to study Computer and Electrical Engineering at BCIT.  While that will keep that household busy from now to September with plans for this and that, it won't be keeping us from making our appointed rounds.

...which reminds us, Have you made an appointment?  We're ready to sing for you at the drop of a hat (or note), Some Other Time.

So, we're now back from Abbotsford, where we performed our two best songs before a crowd of our peers and judges from the Barbershop Harmony Society.  There were 10 choruses and 10 total quartets (one was from "out of district" so they didn't factor in to the division scoring), and out of 9 quartets, we placed 6th, with a very narrow lead between the 4th and 6th placed quartets.  We felt very good about our performance, and we believe the scoring represents the growth we've made as a quartet over the last two years, which is when we last performed at competitions, as a novice quartet.


When we first competed, nerves definitely got the better of us.  The number one critique of our quartet was weak, quiet, tense singing (Hello Nerves!) and the remedy was to sing out and be more confident of what we had to offer.  This time, there were no comments of that sort - our singing was solid, our musical interpretation was thoughtful and for the most part accurate, and everything we practiced, we brought to bear at competition.

Now, we've entered into the next phase of our performing, that of working harder to engage the audience in our vision for the song we're singing.  This involves clearer body language (both unified and separate) via choreography, as well as being aware of different visual elements we can employ to draw the audience into a deeper sharing of the interpretation of the song.  We'll be working on this as we prepare for next year's competition.

Fortunately, all of these things we practice in preparation for competition are directly relevant for public performances, as one of the hallmarks of the Barbershop Harmony Society is engaging and entertaining public performances.  Every time we tweak and twiddle, it's all for the goal of bringing you the best entertainment we can muster.

You can see what we're capable of now by attending the Vernon Community Singer's spring show, called "Classics to Country", Friday April 15th at 7pm and Saturday April 16th at 2pm.  Things are only getting better!

That time is upon us once again, when the Evergreen District of the Barbershop Harmony Society holds its Division 1 competition.  You may recall that it was 2 years ago that Some Other Time got its start, as we joined together as a novice quartet to compete, placing in the top of our category.  While we have no aspirations of placing in the top of our new category (non-novice, meaning everyone else), because there are some EXCELLENT quartets in our division, we still look forward to a weekend of enjoyable singing and rubbing elbows with some really great people.

If you happen to be in Abbotsford during the April 1st weekend, be sure to check out the competition at the Abbotsford Arts Center.  Details available at the competition website http://www.divisiononecontest.com/

In preparation for competition, we are also getting out there in the public, singing our stuff.  Next week we'll be at the Vernon Performing Arts Center, welcoming the Windwood Theatricals production The Music Man.  We'll be singing in the lobby before the performance and during intermission, as well as enjoying the production with the rest of the theatre-goers.  It promises to be a fun time for all.  Tickets are available at the Ticket Seller (http://www.ticketseller.ca/) and a write-up of the performance from the Vernon Morning Star staff can be found at http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/vernonmorningstar/entertainment/118276144.html

It's the week before Christmas, and all through the house... Some Other TIme has enjoyed entertaining crowds with Christmas cheer, and is looking forward to a short break before getting back at it (see our home page for ways you can help to make our hiatus short!)  Our non-Christmas repertoire has languished a little during this last season, and we're looking forward to practicing those songs again, as well as adding a few new ones to the list.

All of us wish all of you a wonderfully close time with family and friends.

Merry Christmas!

What a joy it was to participate in the Vernon Rotary Carol Festival!  It's always a joy to perform, but this had the added benefit of allowing us to hear some of the other performing groups that are available in the North Okanagan.  It was a real joy to hear performances from both the Vernon Community Singers and the Aura Chamber Choir.

The Aura Chamber Choir, with about 40 singers, performed the Candlelight Carol and For Unto Us from Handel's Messiah, and put out a wonderfully tight and dynamic sound that was full of meaning and substance.  The Vernon Community Singers, with more than 130 members, performed Where Are You Christmas (from The Grinch) and Long Ago On A Winter's Morning, and also did a very good job of putting out a unified sound that conveyed the meaning behind the words well.

We were blessed to have participated in this worthwhile event, both for what it allowed us to give back to the community, but also in that it opened our eyes a little wider to the wonderful music that is being produced in our valley.  We've always known that Vernon has some great musicians; now we know where more of them can be found!

May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white!

The temperatures are dropping, and so are we... into a number of different venues this season.  We're pleased to be invited to be a part of the Downtown Vernon Business Association's Light Up For Christmas event, as well as the Vernon Rotary's Carol Festival and the O'Keefe Ranch's Victorian Christmas.  This will be the busiest winter season yet our quartet has experienced, and we're excited!

We've been practicing our list of Christmas tunes now for what feels like a very long time (although I know it's only been a couple of months) and we're eager to start performing these tunes, for your listening pleasure!  Dan has even (finally) gotten past the shudders he was getting when singing Christmas carols in the fall.  Maybe the colder temperatures have made it a little more "Christmassy".

Stay tuned to our main page, where we'll be keeping our singing schedule posted, as opportunities arise.  Also, be sure to check out the web pages for the Carol Festival (http://www.vernoncarolfestival.com) and O'Keefe Ranch (http://www.okeeferanch.ca) for more details on tickets.  The Licht Up For Christmas event is free to attend.

Yes, I know that it isn't even Hallowe'en yet, and it's way Way too early to be hearing songs of a certain style in the stores, but, when you are an entertainer, you need to prepare.  The best things don't happen "at the drop of a hat" without a lot of preparation.

So, in order for us to be able to being you the best Christmas tunes, we have to start practicing.  Three months before Christmas.  Just one of the many things we do to please our fans.

Another thing we do in our efforts to please the crowds is to ask you what you want to hear.  We'll be putting the question out on our pages here, as well as on our Facebook page: What is your favorite Christmas song, and would you like us to perform it?

It may already be one we're practicing, but if it isn't, then hearing from you may be just what we need to add it to our list!