1 February 2008
Dear HPHS Concert Choir Alumni, Classmates, Family Members, and Friends:
By now those of you who requested the HPHS concert choir CDs should have them in your CD players and be enjoying the remarkable performances delivered by our stellar HPHS choirs. If you requested the CDs and didn’t get them, please contact me immediately. Those of you who were concert choir members probably started with your own years and then—once you satiated yourselves on those songs—moved on to other years. As you can imagine, I have listened to the CDs numerous times by now, and each time I listen to a year other than my own I adopt that year as “my” year. That is how good each choir was. I have a 5-CD player and I put on all 3 of our CDs along with two other CDs of professional choral groups. In my slightly biased opinion, our choirs always top them all. Besides our choirs, my current favorites include Libera angel voices (a boys choir) and the movie The Chorus and its score. Oh, if only we could have had access to a studio and computer enhancement the way these kids have!
I would like to apologize to Maryann Chan-Yew for mistakenly assigning her to the class of 1963. Although I am sure the class of 1963 would happily claim her, she actually graduated in 1964. Also one class claimed that they were sure that they didn’t sing the music assigned to their class on the CDs. Well, just in case you may be thinking the same thing, here is how I replied to them, “Yes, indeed you did. I have the actual program for that Spring Concert and the CD matches the program notes exactly. It is certainly understandable that you wouldn‘t remember; it was more than 40 years ago! When I heard the 1965 tapes (my sophomore year) I didn‘t recognize most of the songs either, at first. However, now that I have listened to the tapes and CD numerous times, it has all come back to me, and I bet it will for you too.”
I have truly enjoyed making contact with so many of you, and hearing from you pleases Mr. Sturdevant as well. He carefully places each of your correspondences into a special choir scrapbook he has put together. From your e-mail messages and our phone conversations, it is clear to me that Highland Park, Michigan, produced graduates who are first class. I have especially enjoyed hearing old HPHS stories, choir stories, as well as Sturdevant and Gifford stories. I have even started copying choir pictures from old yearbooks that I can find, but my favorite so far is the picture of the 1961 choir running joyously through the halls of Cobo Hall in Detroit, apparently after delivering a jaw dropping performance to a huge crowd. Mr. Sturdevant mentions this performance at every opportunity. It must have been very special. I would love to hear the details from some of you who were there (and I am sure that many of your choir mates would too). In fact, there must be many stories that each of you could tell. If these CDs trigger old memories and you are so inclined, I hope you will write them down and send your thoughts to me. I am also looking for pictures taken during our choir experiences. Who knows, maybe someone would be willing to create a HPHS concert choir web site.
I would also like to thank those of you who have contacted your classmates and given them my e-mail address. In the past few weeks, I have been able to reach a number of choir mates as a result of your efforts. However, special accolades go to the class of 1964; they really are together. Because of their network system, I was able to make contact with 12 choir mates in less than a month. The class of 1966 comes in a close second with 10 contacts. On the other hand I am very disappointed with the class of 1969, who are featured prominently on CDs. I have found only three members of that choir. It would be awful if the members of that choir didn’t receive the CDs. If you know anyone who might want a copy of these CDs, have them contact me soon, because once this supply is gone I am not sure whether I will be able to produce more copies.
Now, I have an important announcement, so I want you all to sit down (especially those of you over 60). Since I sent out my first announcement in August of 2007, I have gotten numerous inquiries about Mr. Gifford’s JFK composition entitled, Let the word go forth : 6 excerpts from the inaugural address of John F. Kennedy : for unacc. mixed chorus with narrator. Once the inquiries started to flood in I stepped up my search for Mrs. Ruth Gifford, his wife. My search has finally been fruitful and this past weekend I found two of Mr. Gifford’s children, Margaret and Paul. I contacted both of them on Sunday and they informed me that Ruth, their mother, is no longer alive. When I inquired about the JFK composition, Paul informed me that he is in possession of a reel-to-reel tape that contains one of our choirs performing that composition; however, he was not sure which choir is performing. But don’t stand up and cheer yet! As a bonus, he informed me that he is also in possession of another Gifford piece performed by one of our choirs entitled, At This Farewell. I don’t remember this composition, but it appears to be something that Mr. Gifford wrote for our graduation ceremonies.
The Giffords have given me permission to distribute the music to you, but before I commit more time to another project, I would need to know how many of you are interested in having this music. Furthermore, there are two major hurdles to overcome, as I see it. First, since this is not a part of my original agreement with Mr. Sturdevant, I am not sure at this time how to finance this, but the cost should be minimal. The second hurdle involves the sound quality. Once again this tape is more than 40 years old, and in the digital copy Paul sent me there is some noise distortion, thumps and clicks that occur at unpredictable intervals. Addressing these types of problems can be both time-consuming and tedious because it has to be done manually, and in attempting to eliminate the flaw you may also inadvertently eliminate a bit of the music as well. However, I think that the general sound quality is as good as the CDs I sent you except for the flaws I mentioned. I believe that these can be at least diminished to make the sound presentable, but it will take some time and perhaps a small amount of money. Whether I pursue this project depends on your interest and perhaps a small donation may be needed.
Well, that’s all for now. I love you all, and I will be in touch.
Love,
Clifford Larkins, ‘67