Musiktidning Jan. 2010

              Volume CXVIII January, 2010 No. 1
Published by the American Union of Swedish Singers
In its 118th year of Performing Svenska Sånger in America
The ASI Cloudberries, a woman’s chorus
based in Minneapolis, recently celebrated its
fifth Anniversary!
Directed by Carolyn Spargo, the group
joined the AUSS in 2005. The chorus per-formed
in Glenview, IL at the 2006 Central
Division convention and in Portland at the
AUSS national convention in 2008.
The Cloudberries perform at Christmas,
midsummer, spring, and at other occasions.
The chorus supported the historic Andrew
Peterson farm at midsummer with a concert
at Lake Wakonia Park and performed at
Gammelgården in Scandia for the midsum-mer
celebration where the group paraded
down the street from the church.
The chorus rehearses every Thursday
evening from 6:00-7:30 at the American
Swedish Institute at 2600 Park Ave., Min-neapolis.
The ASI Cloudberries Celebrate Their Fifth Anniversary
By Signe Fluegel
ASI Cloudberries, Minneapolis, MN
Five-year anniversary concert at the ASI on November 11 (photo by Hans Fluegel)
The Cloudberries in a parade at
Gammelgården. Director Carolyn Spargo is
playing the accordion. (photo by Alex Fluegel)
The St. Paul Swedish Male Chorus held a
Christmas Party at Gulden’s Restaurant in
Maplewood, MN on December 5, 2009.
Everyone had a good time in their Jultomte
hats. The prospective members, our Vice
President Andy Hennig’s twin boys, aged 2
1/2 years, are already in training. The party
consisted of members, associate members,
family and friends. We celebrated with
games, songs and gifts. The Chorus per-formed
a medley of Swedish Christmas
Songs.
The choir inducted Phyllis Johnson as an
Honorary Member of the Chorus for her sup-port
and dedication to the chorus.
We now look forward to the Central Divi-sion
Convention in Rockford, IL on June 16-
19, 2010. Hope to see all of you there.
St. Paul Chorus Christmas Party
Grant Johnson
St. Paul Swedish Male Chorus
Above: Phyllis Johnson and her brother
Wayne Johnson, a member of the St. Paul
chorus, after Phyllis was inducted as an
honorary member of the chorus.
Below: a group picture at the Christmas Party.
President’s Corner
Alana Mapes
AUSS President
lubedealer@coho.net
A New Year....and all is well. As this year
comes to a close I have been reflecting about
the last year. (Not like they do on TV and
the news, that would not bring peace and
contentment in many areas.) I am focusing
on family and friendships, and I feel blessed.
Dad will be 92 on the 2nd of February, and
is in much better health than he was last year
at this time. He was well enough to take the
family on an Alaskan cruise this year...28 of
us. He is living twelve minutes from the fam-ily
in a retirement/assisted living facility
called, “The Springs.” It is like a resort. At
least one or more family members visit him
every day, the pool is 85 degrees for times
when dad feels like a little water aerobics.
Dad is able to leave for trips to the beach,
visits home, or just drives through Starbucks
and a ride in the sunshine. His mind is sharp
and he remembers all his brother singers and
wants to know everything that is happening
with the AUSS and CHF. His eyes have
dimmed to the point where we read Musik-tidning
and notes, but he listens intently and
enjoys all the news. The rest of the family is
well and happy.
It has been a year of challenges for many
of us. I believe we are not alone when we
have been faced with financial set-backs of
some kind. Instead of dwelling on the type
and severity of these obstacles, I prefer to
focus on the fact that we made it! In spite of
the fact that we “scaled back” Christmas, our
children and grandchildren thought this was
the best year ever.
Now as we close 2009, I would like to be-gin
planning 2010. I have a few goals for the
AUSS I would like to share with you...not
in the order of importance, just what hits my
mind first.
1. We need to change the By-Laws of
each Division to conform to the By-Laws of
the CHF in reference to Convention profit
distribution.
2. We need to streamline the Musiktid-ning
subscription list so we are not paying
for copies that are duplicates, or delivered
erroneously. Jim Maurice has compiled an
up-to-date list of adds/deletes and changes
and sent it to Carl-Erik and Ralph so we will
need to follow up on his great start.
3. We need to promote the conventions,
and support them with our attendance.
There is nothing that energizes a chorus as
much as a convention. I am of the belief
that if you can get a new member to a con-vention,
and help them get involved...they
will be hooked. I have been fortunate enough
to hear the plans for each of the Divisions,
and I know anyone attending will not be dis-appointed.
Being out here in the wild west, I am some-times
not the first to know of requests or
issues facing choruses. If anyone in the
AUSS knows of issues that need to be ad-dressed
that I have not heard about, I have
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