Chancel Choir Update 10/10: Annual Fall Choir Retreat
Chancel Choir 2005 Fall Retreat Sets Record
The annual Chancel Choir fall retreat moved back to Mercy Center in Frontenac this weekend and saw a record number singers participate. More that 114 Chancel Choir members were registered for the retreat this year with 12 spending the night at the center. This a second visit to Mercy Center for the choir. The annual retreat was held there four years ago with about 80 attending. That year about 40 stayed over night. The choir will return to Mercy Center next year in 2006 and will explore other options for the 2007 retreat and beyond.
Rehearsals during the annual fall retreat were held in the main chapel at Mercy Center, a retreat center operated by the Sisters of Mercy religious order. The chapel is round in design and has excellent acoustics for group singing.

Revised Retreat Format Brings More Singing and Less Play
While the Chancel Choir members love to spend time with their fellow singers, recent surveys indicated they don't really like to play group games. So, this year those elements were eliminated from the retreat agenda. As a way to break up the morning and afternoon rehearsal sessions, Kevin did have the choir form into groups along the wall of the chapel. During the first break he asked choir members to line up by birth date so people could see when their fellow singers were born. It appeared that July and August were the most popular months for birthdays among choir members. The afternoon break found Kevin asking for singers to divide up by the number of their siblings. This results showed there are 12 only-children in the choir and the record for brothers and sister goes to Baritone Jim Web with 10.

On Friday evening, the retreat was opened with a skit prepared by Vice President and Tenor Chris Kennedy. He was "interviewed" by President and Soprano Mary Dean and answered her questions by singing phrases from popular church hymns. The short recital set the tone for the retreat this year -- happy, mellow, low-key and relaxed.

Retreat Overnights View Two Movies and Overeat
The 12 choir members staying overnight at Mercy Center were joined by one other non-staying member and watched two movies in the downstairs recreation room. Your reporter was too tired to catch the names of the shows, but remembers one was about the Boston Red Sox and had Drew Barrymore in it and the other was about Christmas. (He was acused of sleeping through the second movie.) The overnight party broke up after the second movie at 1 a.m. Kevin says next year he plans on including some additional programing during the late night shift that will attract more overnight guests.

Saturday Morning Begins With Visit From John Rutter
Those of you who missed the retreat probably wonder how we kept the visit by composer John Rutter a secret. Expecially since we are planning to perform a special concert this fall honoring his 60th birthday. Truth is, he visited us by way of video tape.

Kevin showed a recent story about Rutter broadcast on the CBS newsmagazine show 60 Minutes. The piece delved into Rutter's composing style, why he writes church music, how he composes, and his family, including the tragic death of his son a few years ago. We leared from the show that the Pipe Carol was Rutter's first commercial composition, published when he was just 19 years old. After the video viewing, the choir went upstairs and sang Rutter's Pipe Carol.
Tables of choir members arranged around television set in the recreation room at Mercy Center to see a 60 Minutes interview with Rutter, shown at left.