Goodbye Albert Street School

Tonight was a blast, performing in the Green and Gold Review at my old Juniour High School. It is being replaced (finally!!) with a brand new school - long overdue. But of course now that the old building's days are numbered, everyone is nostalgic. Tonight was a variety show featuring current students, present and former staff, and many alumni. The Principal, Peter Steeves, has been a close friend of mine since we were in Grade 4 or 5 - we don't need to say how many long years ago THAT was, but it's more than a few!! Peter and I have been in a number of "musical adventures" together over the years, but probably the most enjoyable and memorable was singing in "Four by Four".
This was a group of friends (most of us had been in "Glee Club" and Musical Productions at FHS) who formed a four part harmony group to sing and perform for fun. It lasted through most of the 70's.... yes we are talking a while back... We were all in university and/or starting our careers. There were 16 of us- 4 soprano, 4 alto, 4 tenor and 4 bass... hence the name Four by Four. We had a pianist, and for a while a percussionist as well. We did some of our own musical arrangements, and our own choreography (such as it was... not too fancy!)..we had a lot of fun and got to sing at some pretty impressive engagements. We travelled around the Maritimes and even represented New Brunswick at the World's Fair in Spokane Washington in 1974! That trip required a lot of fund-raising, but oh what fun we had. Other memorable performances included singing on one of the first nationally televised Lottery draw shows (filmed in Quebec City), and taking part in a provincial Talent Show that was held in Dorchester Penitentiary!! Talk about a "captive audience"!! Our opening number was a medley from the Musical "Oliver", which started with "Consider yourself at home, consider yourself part of the family..." Hmmm perhaps NOT the best choice... Even worse- later on we sang "Born Free"... WHAT were we thinking?? Well I guess we weren't thinking... we look back now and laugh...
Anyway, the group faded as marriage and young families interfered with practice and travel, and the group folded. The majority of us turned out to be teachers, some in the Music field, and most of us stayed in, or have now returned to "Freddy Beach" ... AND ..most of us had attended Albert Street School. So when the school was looking for acts for this Variety Show, Peter asked us if we would consider a "reunion" for a performance. Every one of us who still are in town said Yes! The only No's were from those who now live too far away. So, we held a few practices and quickly pulled together two of our old numbers, and re-wrote the words to "Those Were the Days" to reflect our younger years at Albert St. What a hoot! We had sooo much fun...and the audience actually gave us thunderous applause! I wonder if there were any big talent scouts in the crowd?? We might be on a roll... Maybe Simon Cowell will be calling...

Piece,
Linda

"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." ~ Aldous Huxley