Baby brother is on the way!

Did your eyes pop out on that one?

Here's some background to understand what I'm talking about. Tony's choir began about 32 years ago with 18 boys. Over time more and more boys joined and a second choir was born. So the two choirs were given names; the "tour choir" for the advanced boys and the "town choir" for the new boys.

The organization continued to grow with their increased success and wonderful sound. Four years ago, a third choir joined the family. So now new names were given; the "international" choir, the "national" choir and the "resident" choir. Along with the "resident choir" a twin choir also formed, the "training" choir. These training boys sing right along with the resident boys, but don't perform at concerts.

Two new choirs quietly joined the group with much less fanfare in recent years; the "preparatory" choir and the "alumni" choir for the very youngest and the very oldest of the organization's members. These groups don't tour.

You see where I'm going with this. The program continues its upward trend. Yet again there are too many boys to fill open spots in the tour choirs.

Last night, the staff of the organization announced that a baby brother was on the way; the new "regional" choir.

This choir will take all the successful resident boys, split them from the training choir and move them up into a choir that will present local concerts and have one or two short regional tours a year. Splitting them off the training choir will allow them to focus strictly on music and methods and less on the learning tools the training boys go through. In addition; making the training choir its own choir will allow the trainees to receive a more focused and thorough training program thus improving the sound organization over the next few years. This move will, essentially, improve an already premier choir into a world renowned choir.

Baby brother is due sometime in August.

As far as Tony is concerned - he is very happy to hear of the regional choir. He knows now that he is moving up somewhere. He doesn't care what choir he gets into, "as long as I get to sing at concerts and go on tour."