Thursday morning, March 9, an exhilarating event took place at the Oak Harbor High School. Over 1,000 local students and teachers, from 5th grade through high school sang and laughed and clapped for each other as they all performed together in the fourth annual “Get America Singing Again Finale.” They sang in choruses by grade, they sang as a rocking jubilant crowd, they sang in harmony and they sang incredibly well.

The An-O-Chords, the Skagit Valley/Anacortes/Whidbey men’s barbershop chorus, feels profoundly pleased to have taken a part in founding and promoting this event. As lifetime singers, we’re concerned that through successive budget cuts, vocal music programs in many area elementary schools have been seriously curtailed. The unfortunate result is that many children leave 6th grade without experiencing the joy of hearing their own voice as part of a larger vocal ensemble.

To counter this trend, in mid-2002, the An-O-Chords, with the Skagit and Island County school districts, launched the Finale program aimed at rekindling the joy of singing in our youth. The An-O-Chords provide the music books and the talented students, teachers and volunteers of the Oak Harbor School District provide the energy. This month’s spectacular success is evidence of just how well it can work. The crowd was impeccably well behaved, enthusiastically appreciative of each other’s performances, and made us “oldsters” feel genuinely welcome.

Congratulations, Oak Harbor!

Keep America Singing!

John Parker

President, An-O-Chords