Region 31 Quartet of Nations, Sweet Adelines International
Spring 2012 | Issue 5
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY AND WELCOME Regional Convention Dates May 11 – 13 2012, Birmingham May 10 – 12 2013, The Sage, Gateshead May 9 – 11 2014, The Sage, Gateshead Regional Education Dates Regional Satellite Education, 15 September 2012: Ignite Scotland 15 September 2012: Ignite Central 15 September 2012: Ignite South East 15 September 2012: Ignite South West 22 September 2012: Ignite North West See venue information and more details on page 9 Education weekend with Coastline Show Chorus July 26 – 28, 2013 (Edinburgh Corn Exchange) More information in the next Harmony Rag!
Region 31 Quartet of Nations,
Sweet Adelines International
Autumn 2011 | Issue 3
Region 31 Quartet of Nations,
Sweet Adelines Internatio
nal
Winter 2011 | Issue 4
Region 31 Quartet of Nations
, Sweet Adelines Interna tional
Spring 2012 | Issue 5
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
International Convention October 30 – November 3, 2012, Denver, CO November 5 – 9, 2013, Honolulu, HI International Education Event AHA 2012 July 19 – 22, 2012, Chapman University, Orange, CA REGISTRATION OPEN NOW! http://www.sweetadelineintl.org/index.cfm?id=43
A d e l i n e s
Barbershop in Harmony Events July 7, 2012 Solving the Puzzle More information on page 4
S w e e t
European Convention Dates March 14 – 17, 2013, Eindhoven, Amsterdam
@SAIRegion31
R e g i o n
3 1
Q u a r t e t
o f
N a t i o n s ,
LABBS and BABS Dates http://www.labbs.org.uk/calendar/ http://www.singbarbershop.com/diary.htm LABBS Convention October 21 – 23, 2011, Harrogate BABS Convention May 25 – 27, 2012, Southport BABS Harmony College August 24 – 26, 2012, Venue TBC
2
WELCOME Hello everyone! Well, it’s Harmony Rag time again and you’re in for a treat - there are lots of great articles that our members have shared. Wow! Exciting things happening in Region right now! I have my own piece of news to share. Back in January, I was invited to be the webcaster along with Cammi MacKinlay for the whole of the Harmony Classic contest in Denver! So, if you usually tune into the webcast, then please do on Tuesday 30th October – I will be sure to make lots of Region 31 shout outs! I also feel privileged to have been invited onto the SAI Editorial Review Board for the coming year. Such a honor (without a ‘u’) to be a part of this wonderful organization (with a ‘z’ instead of an ‘s’)! Note: practicing my ‘American’ spellings in anticipation for a lot of Pitch Pipe reading! Can’t wait to get stuck in! Congratulations to Valerie Taylor and Elaine Hamilton too – Valerie has been invited onto the Nominating Committee and Elaine has been invited onto the Young Singers Foundation Committee. Region 31 is making it’s mark internationally – exciting times for the region. I will see you all at Convention! Not long now! I hope all your preparations are going really well – let’s be shining stars on stage! In harmony, Emma Duguid Region 31 Marketing Coordinator Vocal Dimension Chorus
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
Double the Excitement For 2012!
S
3 1 Q u a r t e t o f N a t i o n s ,
Submitted by Ruth Linden, Sheffield Harmony Chorus PRO
S w e e t
Musical Director, was delighted. “Our new ladies have been amazing. They’ve
been dedicated and enthusiastic throughout and we’ve really enjoyed working together. Our sound on the final night was fantastic. We had seventy-two voices singing in close harmony, with no accompaniment and sounding brilliant – it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!” After the fun and excitement of the singing course, many of the women decided to become full members of Sheffield Harmony Chorus, more than doubling its 2011 membership numbers. “I know I speak for all the women who joined the singing course when I say we all had a great time,” said Gladys, now a new Chorus member. “The women of Sheffield Harmony made us all feel really welcome and the course was great fun – plus, of course, we really benefited from the expert tuition of Barry on how to improve our singing.” The hard work really starts now though as the Chorus prepares for Convention. “Everyone’s so excited!” said Membership Secretary Debbie. “There’s a real buzz to our rehearsals and so much energy. We’re loving it!”
R e g i o n
heffield Harmony Chorus is celebrating 2012 with twice it’s normal excitement - having recently doubled its membership to 55 members! “Chorus members come and go. Women move home, family commitments change, work priorities alter and by summer 2011 our numbers had dwindled to around twenty-five,” said Sue Finnigan, President of Sheffield Harmony Chorus. “We know it’s quality and not quantity that counts but it was becoming difficult for us to ensure the right balance of parts for our public performance engagements,” continued Sue. In order to recruit new members, Sheffield Harmony put on a free twelve week singing course open to women of all ages and voice ranges. Each Chorus member committed themselves to handing out 200
leaflets each. The joint effort paid off and the course attracted more than sixty attendees. The course culminated in a sell-out Christmas Musical Social in December 2011. Barry Clinton,
A d e l i n e s
DORDOGNE, FRANCE and MARBELLA, SPAIN
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
France: House with pool and garden to let in Dordogne area. Sleeps 8. Attractions locally include Rocamadour, Sarlat, Gouffre de Padirac. Spain: Luxury apartment at Mijas Costa with magnificent views overlooking 3 golf courses. Sleeps 4. Large shared pool. Details / availability at www.gitevisit.com T: 0034 617 697 778 or email: rgmb55@yahoo.com 3
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
Mach 4 – For Hire!
M
A d e l i n e s
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
ach 4, winners of the BABS Youth Quartet trophy in 2010 and again in 2011 and the highest scorers in the BABS 2011 Quartet Preliminaries, are busily preparing for their visit to Portland in June to compete in the Collegiate Championships in the International Competition. All four members of the quartet sing with the National Barbershop Youth Chorus while three of them sing in the Vale of York’s Spirit of Harmony Chorus. Bass dental student Joe White and lead Tim Briggs have growing experience as chorus directors, each being responsible for chorus songs
with Spirit of Harmony while Joe is MD of the NBYC. Tim is also rapidly developing skills as choreographer with both choruses. Meanwhile brothers Alex and Antoine Kaiserman are each highly
accomplished in the music world. Antoine has recently completed a music degree whilst Alex, holding a physics and philosophy degree, sings and arranges for music groups
in Oxford where he is studying for a doctorate. The brothers have recently set up a web-based arranging business - Strikeforce Kaiserman.com - and are available to work with individual singers, quartets, choruses or small groups. All aged under 26 - they will have to leave NBYC when they reach that milestone - they clearly have much success ahead of them. They are more than willing to undertake singouts but with few weekends available for rehearsal, not before their prime concern - Portland. Submitted by Ken Hulme, BABS Harmony College & Spirit of Harmony Chorus) acting on behalf of Mach 4, kenaitch@btinternet.com
N a t i o n s ,
S w e e t
Solving the Puzzle ONE DAY WORKSHOP
3 1
Q u a r t e t
o f
✪ Get to grips with chorus management fundamentals ✪ Join us for fun and interactive sessions on ✪ PR and Marketing ✪ Recruitment and Retention ✪ ✪ Fund Raising: including ‘How to Make a CD’ ✪
R e g i o n
Saturday 7th July 2012 from 10.00 hrs until 16.30 hrs BVSC (Birmingham Voluntary Services Centre), 138 Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 6DR Contact Jacqui Edwards on 01737 355306 or email: jeedwards@btinternet.com
4
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
Open House + Chris Evans = Fab-U-Lous!
S
o, how do you get from the Sweet Adelines International Open House event to the Radio 2 Chris Evans Breakfast Show? Via Vocal Dimension’s 2nd Birthday of course!!
3 1 Q u a r t e t o f N a t i o n s , S w e e t A d e l i n e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l
rehearsal. So, given that we were both celebrating 2nd birthdays in the same week, I had the idea that our chorus could record Happy Birthday for him (in 4 part harmony of course!). It was agreed by the Management Team at the
same November meeting (it was a busy night!) and Valerie Taylor, our director, planned it into our rehearsal a couple of weeks later. Song recorded and edited, we waited until the New Year before sending it into him so it wouldn’t get lost in the Christmas rush. Our two pronged campaign was to send the recording by email and also as a physical CD, however, he was on holiday the first week of 2012 so, at the beginning of our birthday week, I forwarded it to the show again, then once more on the day itself and texted too. At no point did I have any response from the show or indication that there was any hope of it being aired so I got on my morning train resigned to our birthday wishes for him disappearing without trace. Twixt Guildford and Woking I got the first text: unbelievably he had played it, not just once but THREE TIMES! We even got a rarely bestowed “Yay” from Noah (a sound bite of Chris’s son for those of you who don’t listen to the show)! I cannot tell you how utterly exciting it was. Texts, emails and calls were flying around all day and we just didn’t come down from the buzz! One of our technically talented chorus members, NickyNoodle (a.k.a. Nicky Blumfield, Bass), put together an amazing picture montage of the chorus with the clip from the Radio 2 show, http:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=OTPLp_boHbg It was quite emotional to see as it shows our journey in pictures from founding to chartering, to the 2nd place small chorus in our first Region 31 convention, 2011, and beyond. What a hobby!
R e g i o n
At our November Management Team meeting we decided to get with the SAI programme and hold a Global Open House evening to coincide with celebrating our 2nd Birthday. Claire Miskin, our MarComms Coordinator, did a great job advertising the night on Facebook and Twitter. She also managed to get a great little article published in the local paper encouraging women in our area to join us for a free night to hear what we do and experience the fun we have singing and making music together. It was an amazingly successful evening with 30 guests arriving, 9 of whom were potential members, meaning the audience was bigger than the chorus! Included in those guests was an elderly couple who quietly came in as we were doing vocal exercises. You could feel the chorus wondering who they were as nobody seemed
to know them and they didn’t wave at anyone in particular as they arrived. A couple of minutes went by when suddenly Emma Duguid, RMT Marketing Coordinator and our Events Coordinator and Choreographer, went running off the risers to give them a big hug! It turns out that when she was a child her family went on holiday to a particular hotel in Jersey for about 10 years in a row and this couple were always there at the same time. They hadn’t seen one another for about 15 years, hence the delay in recognition, but they live just down the road from the chorus and had been kept up to date on what we were doing by Emma’s parents. What a tiny world we all live in! Barely had Vocal Dimension recovered from this superb Global Open House evening where we introduced our potential new members, friends and other visitors to our wonderful hobby, when, the morning after, our week became even more exciting! The Chris Evans Breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 started broadcasting on 11th January 2010, 1 day before Vocal Dimension’s first ever
Submitted by Emma Riley, Vocal Dimension Chorus Team Coordinator 5
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
Britain’s Got Talent!
A
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
couple of weeks ago, 58 members of The Aberdeen Chorus headed South to Edinburgh to take part in their second audition for “Britain’s Got Talent”. With lots of positive comments from the music producers at the autumn audition ringing in their ears, the chorus added some
And then - the culmination of the day – an entry on stage to a packed auditorium and the judges, some further filming with some questions from the judges to the Director of the Chorus Gwen Topp and the Chorus President Debbie Pern and then the ballad “At Last”. So how did it go? The Chorus sang extremely well. One judge liked the chorus, 2 judges
for any performer and plays an important part in developing performing skills. Listen, learn, and move on! The chorus will continue to work for the next important events in its calendar - without the need for counseling! Tribute must be paid to Gwen Topp, Chorus Director and Debbie Pern, Chorus President, for their work both in preparing for the event and also for their handling of the interviews. Both succeeded in giving very eloquent responses which not only promoted the chorus and the organisation of Sweet Adelines, but also the value of singing in a group as great fun, a wonderful hobby, a promoter of well-being and a source of support and friendship to those who take part. And this message has the potential to reach many thousands of people, should the clips be televised.
A d e l i n e s
Submitted by Linda Allan, Aberdeen Chorus Marketing and PR Coordinator
R e g i o n
3 1
Q u a r t e t
o f
N a t i o n s ,
S w e e t
more polish to the ballad “At Last” and donned their “Black and Sparkle” ready to brave the “fearsome 4” and a huge live audience. The day passed with photo and video shoots, interviews, run-throughs, serenading the enthusiastic public, endless trips to the facilities to check apparel and make-up – all of this punctuated regularly by the awful foghorn sound of the dreaded buzzers bursting through from the stage. At Last the intrepid songsters were escorted down endless flights of stairs, along miles of corridors, past mounds of cables and whole forests of cameras and microphones until arriving behind the curtain of the big stage where comments from the judges and the scary buzzers could clearly be heard. 6
liked the song “At Last”. One judge commented on the lovely involved faces. All judges acknowledged the technical expertise of the chorus and the polish and quality of the singing. In the end, two voted for the chorus to go through and two voted against them - and because the judge who had the casting vote had voted against the chorus, they will not be going through to the next stage. The genre of music was unfortunately simply not to their liking. How does the chorus feel? As with everything they undertake there are valuable opportunities for learning. The experience gained from preparing for the event, the process of being involved in such a big competition and dealing with uncertain procedures and everchanging timelines is very valuable
dHarmony Director Support Network
F
ollowing Convention last year when Champagne had worked so hard and we had not achieved our desired results, I was looking for ways in which I could regenerate and rejuvenate myself to provide further support to the chorus. An email from International inviting participants in the dHarmony Director Support Network was timely. dHarmony is an informal networking opportunity where directors of 501+ scoring choruses are paired with directors of 600+ scoring choruses. This email was sent out to all chorus directors who had scored over 500 for the last three years and I grabbed the opportunity to have access to a 600+ director. It was offering a chance to those
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012 going well - constructive and to the point - until another reference, this time from Britt-Heléne Bonnedahl: “Ladies I want you to sing from your hair line… Not your upper one.” t was always going to be an Well it was funny at the time! exciting and informative class with Sally merits some of the White Sally McLean and Glenn Chaney. Rosettes success story with Between them they have an the chorus’s adoption of Steve astonishing history of barbershop Jamison’s “Platform Singing”; a
I
3 1
series of 3 physical platforms leading to a unified dynamic shape. The theory supposes that dynamics are not just changes in volume, but are the artistic manipulation of the audience’s emotions using five dimensions of delivery: volume, vocal colour, vocal texture, pace, and intensity of delivery. Each platform has a definite default place which affords greater chorus unity. There is so much to pack into this summary, but I feel it would not be complete without a mention of the ‘AW’ space to line up those vowels “Make space in the face” seemed to be a favourite phrase of Sally’s. We had gone 10 minutes over time meaning we were late for lunch, but it was worth it!
o f N a t i o n s , S w e e t A d e l i n e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l
success. They shared much of their own experiences whilst offering lots of ideas from other barbershop ‘greats’. The classes were fun, interesting, well-paced and interactive. We started with a great vocal skills class, stating the importance of ‘alignment’, followed by work on spatial awareness that likened our inner space to the “Sistine Chapel”. Swiftly on to the hot air/cold air analogy and ways on how to blend better. The importance of correct breathing was reinforced. We must aim to inflate the back of the chest cavity as well as the front, to feel more expansion over the posterior rib cage. We all had a go at this, being reminded of course, to add support from our core abdovminals. All was
Q u a r t e t
Submitted by Tracey Bailey, Champagne Cornwall Chorus Director and Region 31 Directors Coordinator
Good to Great in a Few Easy Steps
R e g i o n
who were looking to increase their skills, wanted some assistance, or were just looking to develop their networking. Cornwall is a long way for coaches to come and the costs are such that they outweigh the benefits at times, so this seemed to be the perfect way of securing some support whilst not incurring costs for the chorus. I completed an application form that required frank and honest responses, including why I wanted director support. This did involve some soul searching, but as they say ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’, and sent off my form, warts and all, to International. I have been very fortunate to be networked with Lori Lyford and even more so that she was our guest coach at the Directors’ Day in January 2012, enabling me to spend some time with her on the Friday evening when we discussed lots of ways to work with the chorus, some of which she then took into the day itself and demonstrated some practical exercises to resolve issues, enhance sounds etc. I can contact Lori by Facebook, email and Skype, send her recordings of the chorus for feedback and generally just be honest, ask anything and not feel that I should know the answer, be coached to look at my own solutions and explore the options available. It’s reassuring when you are in an isolating role such as the chorus director to have, through this networking, a reinforcement of your own ideas as well as being given suggestions that can take them to the next level. If the chance comes round again I would recommend it. So if you are director of a chorus that has scored over 500 and this email comes to your inbox, don’t hesitate, grab it and see where it leads you.
7
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
S w e e t
A d e l i n e s
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
We returned for “directing skills“, and well done Glenn and Sally you DID manage to sort out more than a few directing techniques! We all now know to be “slow and low”, and to be didactic during training so that chorus and director can then arrive at the performance fully prepared. The importance of being consistent with our directing was emphasized, and we were told to lead from the wrists, to translate any tension into strength, and to always remember the default position of “putting your shoulders in your back pocket”. Lastly, Sally explained the Steve Jamison way of “how to stack your chorus”. Basically, our singers are either a 1, 2, or 3, depending on whether you resonate best in the back, side/ middle or front of the head. The 3s, who resonate in the back of the head, are placed in the back row. The 1s, who resonate in the front of the face are placed in row 1, and in the middle all the middle placed resonators who are the 2s! For the front row it’s slightly different (isn’t it always!) 1s in the centre moving out to 2s and then the 3s. Thanks Sally and Glenn on behalf of the “Good to Great”.
N a t i o n s ,
Submitted by Catherine MacDonald, Director of Hillfoot Harmony Chorus
C
Back To Basics
R e g i o n
3 1
Q u a r t e t
o f
heshire A Cappella is a three year old chorus, already 14th in the rankings at last year’s UK Convention and eager to continue it’s positive path forward when competing again this May. So it was no small wonder that a group of nine of us jumped at the wonderful opportunity that Region 31/LABBS provided when hosting a visit from the amazing Lori Lyford. The day was very well organised and full of delights shared with Lori and
8
right track with the training we impart back home at Cheshire A Cappella’s rehearsals. However, the additional insights they gave us were really valuable, showing just how many other complementary ways there are of injecting fun and with other UK luminaries! positivity into physical and vocal Whilst our directors disappeared warm-ups, PVIs, brain workouts off to enjoy Lori’s Masterclasses, (ouch!) and singing. There’s a the rest of us listened to Alyson weekend’s workshop in just these Chaney and Monica Funnell in the areas that surely all of Region 31 superb Starting from Scratch classes. would benefit from. As Section Leaders and Assistant Thank you ladies! We will never
Section Leaders, it was more than a little gratifying to hear from these talented, experienced and medal winning ladies that we are on the
start another rehearsal again without BUBBLING !! Submitted by Hilary Pinnock, Cheshire A Cappella Chorus
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
Ignite Workshops, September 2012 – Coming To A Venue Near You!
P
R e g i o n
Ignite Scotland Darlene Rogers Saturday 15th September
3 1 Q u a r t e t
Ignite North West England Gail Jencik Saturday 22nd September Ignite Central England Mo Field Saturday 15th September
o f N a t i o n s ,
Ignite South West England Åse Hagerman Saturday 15th September
Ignite South East England Vickie Dennis Saturday 15th September
S w e e t
ut these dates in your diary now – Ignite workshops are being held in an area close to you! As all workshops have their own very talented International Faculty leading the day, classes will be slightly different in each area. However, the content of all workshops will cover Breath Support & Management, Energy, Unity & Tuning, all topics mentioned by judges at the last two Conventions as areas for development. The cost of this whole day of Education? An amazing £15.00 per person! Ignite workshops will run from 10:00 – 17:00 (venues will open from 9:00). Please bring any snacks, lunches, tea/coffee you may want during the day. Our aim is to have as many members attending as possible and we hope that by keeping cost to a minimum, most people will find it an affordable way of gaining a great day of education! Be there! Information on registration will soon be available but for now, SAVE THE DATE! Any queries, please contact Elaine Hamilton, Region 31 Education Coordinator, elainemrssh@aol.com
VENUE
FACULTY
15 Sept
City of Roses Hillfoot Harmony
Bell’s Sports Centre, Hay Street, Perth, PH1 5HS
Darlene Rogers
15 Sept
Cambridge Harmony Lace City Phoenix
DaleDiva Lincoln Sounds Rhapsody
Voyager Academy, Mountsteven Ave, Walton, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE4 6HX
Mo Field
15 Sept
Coastline Harmony Solent Sounds Surrey Harmony Vocal Dimension
London City Singers Spinnaker Viva Acappella The Warwick School, Noke Drive, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 4AD
Vickie Dennis
15 Sept
Apple County Dres Kernow Somerset Hills
Champagne Cornwall Plymouth Mayflowers St. Luke’s School, Hart’s Lane, Exeter, Devon EX1 3RD
Åse Hagerman
22 Sept
Cheshire A Cappella Liberty Belles Sheffield Harmony
Heartbeat Milltown Sound
Stockport College, Wellington Road South Greater Manchester, Stockport SK1 3UQ
Gail Jencik
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
CHORUSES Aberdeen Forth Valley
A d e l i n e s
DATE
9
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
The Judging Journey
A
S w e e t
A d e l i n e s
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
s some of you may know, a few years back I applied to join the Sweet Adelines judging programme and this year I will be on my first official panel as a Sound judge in Region 19. I thought it might be interesting to explain how you get from “applicant” to “approved” so that any of you who might be interested in judging know what is involved. The Past How did I become interested in judging? I remember very clearly how the idea first surfaced, Jim Arns was here in the UK on a
piano and flute to grade 8 – and the technicalities of music had always appealed. I applied to join the programme… and was rejected. I received a very encouraging letter from Betty Clipman (past International President and then chair of the Education Direction Committee) suggesting I should get some more regional and international experience. What exactly does that mean? I had been on the chorus management team for a couple of years, I was a member of the music team and I had done the DCP. I wasn’t sure how I could get more international experience short of getting myself adopted by the International
R e g i o n
3 1
Q u a r t e t
o f
N a t i o n s ,
coaching trip and was telling us how proud he was of Renee Porzel (choreographer of the Melodeers and soon to be International President) who was training as a showmanship judge. He asked whether anyone was interested in judging and I found myself putting my hand up. Looking back on it, I don’t really know why I did that, but it made me think yes, I can do this. The thing that really attracted me was the opportunity to learn more about the art of barbershop, to really get to know it inside out. I had already decided that the Sound category, with its slightly more technical approach, might be the one for me. My background was in classical music – I studied 10
President. So I asked Betty what she meant. She replied that I should consider applying for the RMT. Luckily I had been thinking about doing that anyway so I submitted my RMT application and soon found myself the Communications and Technology Co-ordinator for the Region. I spent
5 years on the RMT as CTC and then Education Co-ordinator and I have to say that it was one of the best things I have ever done (aside from the judging programme, oh, and getting married of course!). It really gives you a wonderful insight into how things work in the Region and internationally. Ever wondered how convention runs so smoothly? Join the RMT and find out! I met so many wonderful people and learned so many things from being part of the team that runs the Region. During this time, I was invited by Alyson Chaney (then Regional Education Co-ordinator) to join the Regional Faculty. This is the team of regional educators who coach choruses and quartets in the Region, run classes at education events and help the RMT with chorus visits. This also gave me valuable experience in working with groups in our Region and learning more about our art form – plus it gave me lots of opportunities to listen to barbershop singing! Another opportunity I had was to attend the International Education Symposium (the International education event that ran from 1998-
2008). They ran a track for aspiring judges, and there I learned more about the 4 categories and met the person who would later be one of
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012 where one of the judge analysts reads each and every one and sends you feedback. You are also marked (given a score out of 5) on the various judging skills. I think it’s safe to say that they are looking for potential rather than perfection in the applicant year! After successfully completing the first year of trial scoring you are invited to join the judging programme as an Approved Candidate Judge (ACJ). Once you become an ACJ you are invited to attend the ACJ Workshop. This is a weekend of intense education built around a regional competition. It usually takes place in early March on one of the first weekends of the contest season. The panel is made up of the judge specialists in each category (Sharon Babb for Sound) and the Panel Chair is Marcia Pinvidic (Judge Specialist Moderator). I attended my ACJ Workshop in 2009 in Dallas, TX (home of the RichTone chorus). You trial score the contest as normal, but there is a host of wonderful education which runs before, during and after the contest. This includes explanation of
3 1 Q u a r t e t o f
for becoming a judge. The second paper is a category paper with questions about your chosen judging category and why you want to be a judge. (If you want to be a Music judge you have to sit a music theory paper and analyse an arrangement or submit one of your own.) The papers were sent off to SAI to be marked and, having completed them successfully, I was invited to trial score the following contest season. On advice from other judges, I chose to trial score in two regions in 2008 to get a bit more experience, although the minimum requirement is one contest. I chose Sweden (not too far to go) and Cleveland (their contest was the weekend after ours). My, that was a busy couple of weeks. I trial scored in Sweden, then we had our regional contest, then I flew off to Cleveland to trial score again! So what is trial scoring? You judge the contest just like the official panel, but you sit behind them and your contest sheets aren’t given to the competitors, instead they are sent off to International HQ
R e g i o n
my referees when I applied to join the programme – Jackie Hall, a wellrespected Sound judge. I also had the opportunity to shadow judge the Harmony Classic competition which in those days was held at IES. This was another wonderful opportunity to learn more about the whole process and to get an idea about whether I had what it takes to be a judge. So, after joining the RMT and the regional faculty and attending the International Education Symposium, I reapplied to join the judging programme 3 years after my original application and this time I was successful. The Present Once accepted onto the programme as an Applicant Judge I had to sit 2 exams. Those of you who’ve done the DCP will recognise the format: you nominate a person to act as a monitor and you take the exams under their supervision in a “closed book” environment. The first paper is general knowledge – that is, Sweet Adelines general knowledge, testing your knowledge of the organisation and the process
N a t i o n s ,
Judging Timeline
S w e e t
Jan 2004 Applied for International Judging Programme – unsuccessful Jan 2007 Applied for International Judging Programme Aug 2007 Accepted onto the programme Nov 2007 Completed General Knowledge and Category Tests Dec 2007 Invited to trial score May 2008 Trial scored in Region 32 (Sweden) and Region 17 (Cleveland, OH) Aug 2008 Accepted as an Approved Candidate Judge Nov 2008 Trial scored at the LABBS Convention in Harrogate March 2009 Attended ACJ Workshop in Region 25 (Dallas, TX), funded by SAI, and trial scored in Region 9 (Daytona, Fla) and at the European Barbershop Convention in Eindhoven, Holland July 2009 Attended Judge training workshop in Detroit (funded by SAI) March 2010 Attended ACJ Workshop in Region 23 (Chattanooga, TN) April 2010 Trial scored in Regions 7 (Kansas City, KS), 21 (Pasadena, CA) and 12 (Reno, NV) June 2010 Invited to trial score in Seattle Oct 2010 Trial scored in Seattle April 2011 Trial scored in Regions 13 (Spokane, WA) and 5 (Springfield, IL) June 2011 Invited to trial score in Houston July 2011 Assigned to the official panel in Region 19 for 2012 contest Attended Judge training workshop in Pennsylvania (funded by SAI) Oct 2011 Trial scored in Houston April 2012 Judging in Region 19 (Ocean City, MD)
A d e l i n e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l
11
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
R e g i o n
3 1
Q u a r t e t
o f
N a t i o n s ,
S w e e t
A d e l i n e s
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
a judge’s role and responsibilities as well as scoring mock competitions and discussing judging techniques for your category. After the contest you review your score sheets and compare them against the panel’s scores and you get a chance to review any discrepancies and discuss why you over or under scored. I was lucky enough to be invited to a second ACJ Workshop in 2010 so I had two opportunities to learn from the category specialists. After that, it is trial scoring and more trial scoring. People often asked me when I would be qualified and the answer was always: “When I am ready”. There is no set period for the ACJ phase. It takes as long as it takes for you to be comfortable with the process, consistent with your scoring and clear and relevant with your comments. Some people are in the ACJ phase for only 2 years, others for 6 or 7. I was fortunate to receive a contribution from the Region towards my trial scoring expenses for the first 2 years of my judging career. Once you are an ACJ you are also invited to the biennial judge training workshops, so I attended my first in Detroit in 2009 and my second last year in Pennsylvania. Here you get a chance to get together with the other judges in your category and share experiences and learning. I was also invited to trial score the International competition in Seattle and then again last year in Houston. That should probably be the subject of a separate article! You trial score the entire quartet and chorus contest (excluding Harmony Classic and Rising Star) so it’s an intense week. The Future Even though I am going on my first official panel this year, I am still an ACJ. In order to progress to the status of Approved Judge, I will have to do a good job on my first panel (no kidding!) and also submit an essay on the Sound category. This will be reviewed by the Judge 12
Specialists and assuming it is acceptable, I will then progress to Approved Judge status. There is a lot of work involved in the International Judging Programme but there is also a lot of support. The “real” judges are only too willing to share their knowledge and experience and will gladly take time during the contest weekend to discuss the contest with you and compare score sheets. I have learned such a lot from the discussions I’ve had with Sound judges during my training. In addition, every year each judge’s score sheets are reviewed by the Judge Specialists and each judge receives feedback on their language, scoring and other aspects of the judging process – including a mark out of 5 for each area. This process ensures continuous improvement in the judging programme, so bear in mind that while the judges are judging you, someone else is judging them! If you are interested in applying or would like to know more about the International Judging Programme, please get in touch and I’d be happy to help. Submitted by Valerie Taylor, ACJ Sound and Vocal Dimension Chorus Director, valerie.taylor@privacysolutions.co.uk
Chorus 2.0 - Bringing Your Chorus Into The Digital Age
I
n these days it is pretty essential for your chorus to have a presence on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to create awareness and engage with the community. But did you know that there are plenty of other web-based applications that are available which you can access over the internet? They will not only help
you spread the barbershop love but also make the management of your chorus more flexible. Below are three (3) free apps and tools that we are using at London City Singers (LCS) and how they are bringing value to our chorus. MailChimp (mailchimp.com) MailChimp is an email marketing service that helps you manage a mailing list, design your own newsletters and publish them. At LCS, we use MailChimp to create and deliver our weekly news bulletin for members and prospects. This replaced our Word and PDF-based documents that we distributed over emails with a more interactive newsletter where we can embed media sources and provide easy access for the recipients. We also use MailChimp to automate part of our prospective members management. Moreover, we will soon start sending newsletters to our friends and followers so we’ve compiled the email addresses of guests at past events along with those who have signed up to receive updates from us on a separate mailing list on MailChimp, too. MailChimp is completely free for lists up to 2,000 subscribers and allows you to send up to 12,000 emails each month. SoundCloud (soundcloud.com) SoundCloud is a social network where members can upload sound files and share them. LCS uses SoundCloud to share our audition track to prospective members (we do not allow them access to our website until they pass their audition). The link to the audition set is included in the email automatically sent by MailChimp following confirmation of the prospect’s interest to join our chorus. The prospective members do not need to have an account with SoundCloud to listen and download the audition tracks. SoundCloud also hosts our demo tracks which we send to people asking for samples of our
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012 performance. SoundCloud has mobile apps for iPhone and Android where you can record sounds and upload them to your profile.
notification. The progress of each task is also visible to the rest of the Chorus Coordination Committee (CCC) for discussion
Farenheit Quartet introduces new Tenor!
L
Q u a r t e t o f N a t i o n s , S w e e t A d e l i n e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l
Submitted by Charl Asuit, London City Singers
3 1
and collaboration. At present, there seems to be no limit to the number of users, tasks and projects that you can setup with TaskAnt. There are hundreds of apps and tools that are introduced almost every day to make chorus marketing and management more efficient and flexible. At LCS we are always eager to try them out. When we do, I’ll be happy to report them here again for you to have a go at it in your own chorus. I will also be starting a discussion on the Sweet Adelines International group on LinkedIn where the 3 tools above will be mentioned to start with and for you to share your feedback and your own experiences.
R e g i o n
Guillermo Alvarez
Some of our members are using it to record their part and sharing it (privately) with their voice section leader to verify if they are indeed singing the right notes. This saves extracting the sound file from a recording device and emailing a potentially large file to the section leader. SoundCloud is free for up to 120 minutes of uploaded audio. TaskAnt (taskant.com) Our Events Coordinator at LCS is a very organised person. For every event, she produces spreadsheets with tasks to ensure it runs smoothly. She’s recently been introduced to TaskAnt which makes it possible for her to send each task in her spreadsheets to the person responsible via email as immediate
et me introduce myself. My name is Esther, I sing tenor and I am the newest addition to the line up that is Farenheit quartet. Farenheit are now sporting their third tenor and hoping I will be the last. I was originally asked to merely step in to help out for a performance for DaleDiva’s “ Don’t Stop Believing” Show as their previous tenor, Pippa, had a baby a few short weeks before. During that very busy yet exciting day Ally, Amie and Leisha, the other members of the quartet, asked me if I would like to become a permanent fixture. They did not have to ask twice. This was a superb opportunity for me to develop my singing skills while enjoying the friendship of the funniest trio I have ever come across in this game. My answer, YES. I am not sure what my expectations were when I imaged what It would be like to be a member of Farenheit. Maybe something along the lines of very tiring rehearsals that lasts for hours or until we had lost our voices, however the reality is very different.
I think I can honestly say that we all have a desire and the drive to be the best we can while including into the mix a great big dollop of humour. Over the past few months we have been very busy working on our 13
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012 new sound. It has been a blast for me to be involved in this, working together to develop something unique. We have had the pleasure of working with Gail Jencik and Nicky Salt and are looking forward to competing this coming May. We are now however facing the biggest dilemma a quartet ever has to face, “The Convention outfit.” All we have decided on is we do not want to look like a sack of potatoes, which I think is a good enough starting point as any. Please come and say hello to us if you see us in Birmingham this May and we wish everyone taking part all the best. Let’s make it a rip roaring weekend.
Sheila Doherty takes on RMT Team Coordinator role
M
y name is Sheila Doherty and I am delighted to be your Team Coordinator. Taking over from Chris Bentley is a hard act to follow for she has done such a good job for the Region.
N a t i o n s ,
S w e e t
A d e l i n e s
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
Submitted by Esther Boyd, Farenheit Quartet Tenor
Team Coordinator in the 2000s. It is a challenging task but a lot of fun and it is fascinating to see and be part of the work that goes on ‘behind the scenes’ to enable this region to grow and improve. I have been a member of Sweet Adelines for 20 years and a member of Surrey Harmony for 21 years. It seems like only yesterday that I joined for that harmony singing that caters for voices in the lower register (Yes! I’m, a Bass!) like many members I explained to my family that it would be ‘only one night a week!’ Huh?! In my other life, I have been involved with music in a primary school for many years and my biggest thrill was last year when our Infants Choir took part in the Schools Proms for Music for Youth in the Royal Albert Hall and because I accompany them, I had the opportunity to play the grand piano in the Albert Hall!! Unforgettable! I am so looking forward to the months ahead; there are some very exciting events coming up and I hope to see many of you there. Submitted by Sheila Doherty, Surrey Harmony Chorus, Region 31 Team Coordinator
PS = PANEL SECRETARY
R e g i o n
3 1
Q u a r t e t
o f
P
This is not the first time I have been a member of the RMT; I was 14
S - Sounds quite like an afterthought, doesn’t it? But the panel secretary is actually a member of the 5-person judging panel for each region’s annual competition. In the days before computers, all judge calculations were transferred by hand from one sheet to another to another, thus allowing for the possibility of error. With the advent of our friend the computer, the panel secretary is responsible for ensuring that correct totals from judging sheets are entered and that final totals are accurate and listed in the correct order. The Panel Chair
and Panel Secretary thoroughly check everything before any announcements are made!
Each panel secretary uses her own personal laptop onto which she downloads the region’s information from headquarters as well as the drivers for whatever printer the region uses. Prior to contest, much as the judges prepare, we practice over and over to ensure that we’re comfortable with all steps to reach the final results. Once we’re onsite with laptop loaded and backup information on a flash drive (just in case!), our contest job is to time a contestant’s performance (along with the page), check numerical totals that judges give for each contestant, enter those numbers into the computer and then check and recheck to make sure the information is correct. Once the contest is over, final results are printed – one for each judge and trial scorer (if any), one for each contestant, copies for regional leaders and some to share with the membership. With the help of the Official Panel Liaison, we put a results sheet and each contestant’s score sheets in their envelope and then distribute them at the end of the contest. Following the close of the chorus contest, we immediately send all information electronically to
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012 international and when we arrive home, all paper copies of judge score sheets are sent to SAI. Panel Secretaries take our responsibility to your regions and the judging program very seriously. We love having the opportunity to meet and talk with so many of you during this very important weekend in your Sweet Adeline year, and the entire panel always hopes that you put your very best performance onstage! Submitted by Marilyn Cox, Panel Secretary for Region 31 contest, Velvet Hills Chorus, Region 8, marilync427@comcast.net
3 1 Q u a r t e t
A
Submitted by Marilyn Cox, Worldwide Liaison, Velvet Hills Chorus, Region 8, marilync427@comcast.net
o f N a t i o n s ,
Spinnaker Chorus is proud to present…
S w e e t
S
he’s funny, talented, full of energy and enthusiasm, passionate about singing and barbershop - and she’s our new Musical Director! How fantastic is that? Jenny Savory took up the baton (well, skilful arm waving really!) after convention last year and our collective feet haven’t touched the ground since. So much has happened in a relatively short space of time it’s hard to believe it all. We had a great “Learn to Sing” course which
A d e l i n e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l
re you aware that, in addition to the current 28 numbered Regions in Sweet Adelines, we also have a Satellite Area No. 30? This Area consists of the organization’s worldwide chartered Chapters (currently only 2: Tokyo Chapter & Germany’s Palz Pepper Chapter.) In addition are Prospective Chapters that are in locales not assigned to a specific numbered SAI geographic Region or Area. Right now there are 16 official prospectives, although by the time you read this, one of them – the Pros. Honolulu Blend Show Chorus - may be chartered! The countries represented by these prospectives are: • AFRICA: Prospective in Cameroon • ISRAEL: Pros. Barberina in Ramat Hasharon • JAPAN: Pros. Aoyama HarmonyTokyo; Pros. Brilliant Singers-Oita City; Pros. Urayasu-Chiba; Pros. Yokohama Portside HarmonyYokohama • GERMANY: Pros. BarbarellasBonn; Pros. Sugar n SpiceBremen; Pros. Mainstream Magic-Elsenfeld; Pros.
working hard toward becoming an Area, which is the preliminary step toward establishing their very own Region, complete with regional contests and Sweet Adelines judges! We’re all wishing the very best for them, and I know they would welcome any support and encouragement you could offer!
R e g i o n
The Worldwide Satellite Area
HarmunichsMunich; Pros. Heart of Hessen-Wiesbaden; Pros. Barberlights-Stuttgart; Pros. Rhubarbs-Bonn; Pros. A-Cappella Ladies-Pattonville • USA: Pros. Honolulu Blend Show Chorus-Hawaii • UNITED ARAB EMIRATE: Pros. Dubai Harmony-Dubai To oversee these groups, the International Board appoints a Worldwide Liaison to be its link to these prospectives and chapters. The Liaison’s job is to act as an advisor to worldwide members and to the Mentors she appoints for each of the chapters and prospectives. These Mentors are responsible for staying in contact with their groups, offering advice and assistance and answering any questions they might have. Almost all of this work is done through written correspondence, and the Mentors provide information about their groups to the Worldwide Liaison person who, in turn, writes a report for each meeting of the International Board. One of your very own Region 31 members – Alyson Chaney – serves as a Mentor to the German Pros. Harmunichs and Barberlights as well as to the Pros. in Cameroon! All the groups in Germany are
15
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
Coaching Retreat Gets Dalediva’s Year Off On The Right Note
W
R e g i o n
3 1
Q u a r t e t
o f
N a t i o n s ,
S w e e t
A d e l i n e s
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
attracted 20 + women, and resulted in 11 new chorus members- and very welcome they are too! Word seems to have spread as we regularly have people turning up to see what we are up to, so here’s to a constantly growing chorus. We sang at the Mayor of Havant’s fundraising show, entertained Christmas shoppers at a local supermarket on 2 evenings in the week leading up to Christmas , and even managed to fit in a party night of our own. 2012 is building up to be a great one too. We had an amazing retreat weekend in Bournemouth with the fabulous Joan Boutellier. We are in the process of learning and developing a completely new repertoire (it’s brilliant), We have had a choreo weekend along with performing in a hospice charity concert, music festivals, as well as our own show planned for later in the year, a promotional video in the making, and a couple of lovely sing outs booked for the summer . Oh and then there is something called Convention coming up soon too! Jen grew up in a musical family with Dad, and members of the 16
various bands he performed with, always around to entertain her and sharpen up her musical ear. Although her musical talent was obvious she wasn’t always prepared to play things by the book, she would frustrate her piano teacher by quickly picking up and learning pieces by ear, rather than following the dots. Despite this she gave up music in favour of volleyball and ended up as an England junior player. In 1999 Jenny joined Purbrook Harmony where her love of barbershop started. She also enjoys singing in quartet and, to date, has performed with Crystal Spirit, Pandora and Timeless. Now mother to two lovely girls she still manages to find the time and energy to enthuse and inspire 70 ‘Spinnakerettes’- including mum, Mary, who is a member of our baritone section. So, on behalf of all the chorusWelcome! Welcome! Welcome! - ‘Good Luck’ for convention, and we guarantee that each and every one of us will give 100%- and more!! Submitted by Mary Golden, Spinnaker Chorus PRO
e’ve started this year off as we mean to go on – with lots of hard work to learn new skills and techniques to develop our chorus. We’re in our fourth year now and under our director Ally’s guidance we’ve all committed to building on the work we’ve already done – and aiming higher. As part of this plan we were delighted to welcome international coach Gail Jencik from the US to join us for a weekend retreat in early February. Our music team joined Gail for dinner at the Yew Tree Hotel in Kegworth on the Friday evening to get to know her and talk about our aims for the chorus and each section over the weekend.
A lesson on posture, breathing and firm foundations
The rest of the Divas joined us early on the Saturday morning to get straight down to work on our breathing, posture, vowels, diphthongs... You name it – we worked on it!
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
Tone-acity are back!
W
ow we have so much to tell you, so much has happened since our regional win in 2009. We might have been off the radar for a couple of years but believe us we’ve been keeping busy, it surprising just how much can happen in the lives of four people in such a small space of time. We’d like to share with you all the changes and exciting things we’ve been up to. We’d like to start with the introduction of our new bass Lesley Sheridan. After the departure of Claire our bass back in early 2010 we didn’t think we could ever sing with anyone else, after all we’d been singing with Claire since the beginning of our quartet life which was over ten years ago. The three of us got together and thought about who we could ask, we didn’t want to go down the normal protocol of auditions and we wanted someone who would not only suit us vocally but who could also be as bonkers as we are and become part of the family, you quartets out there know how important friendship is! We could only come up with one name, so we invited Lesley Sheridan (Sheri) to have a sing and a chat with us. We had such a great evening and laughed a lot, we knew straight away she was the one, her infectious bubbly personality and good vocal range would suit us to a tee. So in March 2010 Sheri became our new bass, anyone one who knows Sheri can verify that her excitable nature is hard to contain at the best of times so you can imagine how she was, just our gal! We didn’t compete in May we felt we just wouldn’t be ready, it did feel very strange not gearing up for convention and we felt a little sad but we knew we’d be back the following year at least that’s what we thought. Not long after Sheri joined the quartet Lesley our lead
R e g i o n 3 1 Q u a r t e t o f N a t i o n s , S w e e t A d e l i n e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l
our newest members feel part of the chorus and helped us all bond towards our common goal. Divas that we are, we also made sure there was plenty of time for fun (in the pool, spa – and bar!) Following our Saturday evening meal each section staged a music or comedy act to entertain the others (but we have We w ere a to admit our fabulous ‘newbies’ with ll Cal fl i stole the show with their amazing Mari ower po fornia dr w e lyn, J a n et e r g i r l s A a m i n g James Bond parody in inimitable and V unty B, iv DaleDiva style – terrific!). During her week’s stay with us Gail also held evening coaching sessions for two of our quartets Farenheit and Forté – something both groups found really valuable – then joined the Divas for our regular rehearsal on the Thursday night to consolidate what we’d learned over the whistle-stop weekend. It was a fabulous opportunity ith us w ’s to work with a world-renowned d e n od ai ntert a Wo ors e f Victori coach and we got so much out of n e t Our ersion o o It!’ D v our week with Gail. We learned so their itty ‘Let ’s d much and look forward to working epic with her again, hopefully next year. Meanwhile, by the time you’re reading this we’ll have performed our first formal singout of 2012, a sell-out show at the Whitworth Institute – a lovely venue near our base in Cromford – to help celebrate Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s 50th anniversary. All b From then on we’re booked up us barb y taking ersho n for at least two gigs a month and p kno otes as G ail sh w-ho are particularly looking forward ares w her to performing at Derby Assembly Our regular coach Nicky Salt, Rooms as part of International from Finesse quartet, also joined Women’s Day celebrations on us for the weekend to make sure March 10 and later the same day as everything we learned would be guests of our friends Grand Central carried forward to Convention and Chorus in their evening show at beyond. Derby Theatre. It was extremely hard work but All this plus lots of extra we enjoyed every minute, staying rehearsals for Convention of course! focused right up until leaving for We look forward to seeing you home late on the Sunday afternoon. there in May. Submitted by Liz Tomes, But the weekend was also a DaleDiva Chorus PRO great social event which helped
17
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012 British Association of Barbershop Singers 38th Annual Convention - Southport - 25th to 27th May 2012 Featuring
The Musical Island Boys
2011 International Silver Medal Quartet
The British Association of Barbershop Singers invite you to come to Southport for their 38th Annual Convention. Last year’s event saw over 2300 enjoy a wonderful weekend and this year should be no different. Come and experience a BABS convention for yourself, it runs from Friday morning through to Sunday evening. The full weekend Registration is just £50.00, single and two day registrations are also available. Show tickets are extra and start from as little as £10. There’s a great weekend in store for everyone.
* After Glows * Sing-a-long Sessions * Three Great Shows * Masterclasses * Quartet & Chorus Contests * Three Great Shows * Quality Guests * Ladies Scratch Chorus * Party
Plus lots, lots more!
Register Now Online! or
Telephone the BABS Box Office I n t e r n a t i o n a l
01492 872000
R e g i o n
3 1
Q u a r t e t
o f
N a t i o n s ,
S w e e t
A d e l i n e s
45 Hours of Barbershop Singing, Entertainment & Fun!
18
The British Association of Barbershop Singers
www.singbarbershop.com
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012 of years we have seen many changes and new beginnings for us. We’re back again rehearsing with one goal in mind and that’s to make it onto regional stage in May, we’re really excited about competing again and in such fine company too. Sheri has fitted into our quartet world perfectly and we can’t wait for her to experience the thrill of a Region 31 quartet contest, some things are just meant to be. Good luck to all competing choruses and quartets. It’s great to be back. We can’t wait to see you all in May peeps Tons of love Jen, Les, Lorna and Sheri Tone-acity Xxxx Submitted by Lorna Williamson, Tone-acity Baritone
Q u a r t e t
V
Our Viva Year
3 1
iva Acappella are approaching their third anniversary and are very excited about the future. We’d like to tell you about some of our favourite moments from the past year. In April 2011 we entered Top Choir Kent and, despite some tough competition from a wide range of
o f N a t i o n s ,
at not being able to compete again but it was a small price to pay. In May 2011 BABS came around and here our Baritone Lorna found her Mr Right with Andy the bass from Crossfire, we are thrilled for them both and they make a lovely couple. We sang at Jen’s little brother’s wedding in the August then in October we saw Jen, Sheri and Lorna travel to Houston USA to compete with Milltown Sound in the Harmony Classic, this was Jen’s first Sweet Adelines contest as a Director, International… ha ! “no pressure then!” Sadly we left Lesley at home with five month old Cohen. We had an amazing time and the Millie’s did a fantastic job representing our region as the first Division AA Chorus to make it form the UK. The icing on the cake was being there in person to see Finesse become the first Region 31 quartet to make it into the top ten, in the International Quartet contest, a proud moment as I’m sure you’ll all agree. Lace City and Surrey Harmony did an amazing job and it was brilliant to be there with Region 31 representation in three categories. We just wished Les could have been with us, we felt like we’d lost a limb. As you can see we’ve been incredibly busy. During the last couple
R e g i o n S w e e t A d e l i n e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l
announced the news that she and hubby Glen were expecting their first child. We were so happy for them, and the year just kept getting better and better. In May 2010 we sang our fist official engagement with new bass Sheri at BABS. We’d been invited to sing on the Saturday evening show and thought we’d have to pull out but thankfully Sheri rose to the challenge, got the songs on board and did us proud, she looked so at ease with us on stage. Even more excitement was to follow, Jen our Tenor was invited to audition in June for Milltown Sounds’ director, and soon became their official director in September 2010. Jen loves directing her own chorus, a great little chorus they are too. During the same time the four of us were also helping Jen’s Mum, Lesley Carson; founder and past director of Heartbeat UK for over fifteen years form another new chorus . We proudly named it Affinity Show Choir, Affinity are not yet affiliated to Sweet Adelines but watch this space! In October 2010 we decided to compete in IABBS, Sheri had never competed in a quartet before so we thought this was a good place to start and came home with a bronze medal, we were thrilled with the result. In January 2011 we began to meet regularly for rehearsals again. All the while Les’s bump grew and grew, she nicknamed her baby pudding and on April 26th Cohen Harold Carson joined the outside world, we couldn’t wait to meet him after singing to the bump for so long. We are three very happy Aunties, Les and Glen have fallen wonderfully into parenthood and Cohen is adorable and full of smiles. Again we didn’t compete as Les’s due date was so close so we couldn’t risk it. At the great age of two weeks old Cohen went to his first SA Region 31 convention, we loved showing him off and it was great to get there to show our support to everyone, we were a little jealous
19
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
R e g i o n
3 1
Q u a r t e t
o f
N a t i o n s ,
S w e e t
A d e l i n e s
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
choirs, we were delighted to win! In fact we’ve been invited to return to Canterbury next month to sing at this year’s competition. In July, we were invited to provide live music at the annual Chelsfield Show. This was a great community event and we rose to the challenge of performing outdoors and next to a very busy beer tent! Our friends The Kentones, a sixty strong male barbershop chorus, also based in Orpington, asked us to sing at their annual show in November. The show, which took place at Bromley High School, was a huge success and we were delighted to be part of it. The audience was very kind and made November 11th a very memorable night for us all. We’ve just hosted our second highly successful show at All Saints Church in Orpington. We were joined by the fantastic duo “Perfect Dilemma” and were proud to share the stage
20
with two fantastic quartets from within our own chorus, “The Late Show” and “Vice Versa.” We sang to a packed house and are so grateful to everyone who came along to support us. We do love having the opportunity to perform our repertoire for such an appreciative audience. We’ve also been lucky enough to receive some top class coaching during the past year. The mellifluous tones of Paul Davies are always a pleasure to hear and we learn so much from his insight. Last month, we were delighted to welcome Joan Boutilier to Orpington! She provided us with so much food for thought; we’re constantly recalling her advice and really loved her vibrancy. If this wasn’t enough, we’re now looking forward to our annual retreat in March (this year to be held in Suffolk), where we’ll be receiving the benefit of Doug Harrington’s wisdom! We really can’t wait. We’re looking forward to another wonderful convention, can’t wait to see you all there! Submitted by Jo Lewis, Viva ACappella Chorus
Twitter Quartet - First Tweeted November 2011 ....
W
e are 4 old birds from Heartbeat Chorus who decided it would be fun and good for our singing to sing in Quartet. Dulcie Bass 57 1/2, Karen Bari 52 3/4, Loraine Lead 50 and Colette Tenor under 50. As yet, we have no plans to compete but simply to improve our singing technique and have a lot of fun, friendship and laughter. I am happy to report that so far we are doing all of that... I can highly recommend quartetting for lots of reasons other than competing. Here are the first 3 we have found... 1) Getting out of ones comfort zone is always good for self development, building self esteem and improving confidence. This is happening for us all to some extent, and we are convinced it will continue. 2) The close connection and trust one has to develop in each other is also an exercise in kindness, diplomacy and honesty... “Was that me who was flat ther” “Er yes Dulcie it was but this is a really high bit for the bass”. 3) We have to “really” know our part and be at once sensitive to our 3 partners whilst keeping the integrity of the arrangement and interpretation....this sounds rather lofty especially as we are still working on the first bit! Being part of a competitive Chorus it’s interesting that we have chosen not to be a competitive Quartet. We have had comments suggesting that preparing for contest makes you improve faster, and working to a deadline is always a good motivator. I personally agree with this but I am only one of four and all partnerships
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012 so please come and have a twitter with us... We really must get a Twitter account and a Facebook page! Watch this space! Submitted by Dulcie Williams, Heartbeat Chorus, Twitter Bass and incoming Region 31 Communications Coordinator
LET’S FLY HIGH IN THE SILVER ANNIVERSARY SHOW WEEKEND
T
3 1
ime flies! 25 years ago Ladies Barbershop Chorus Flying High Singers was formed to become part of Sweet Adelines International at the same time. Currently we are proud members of Region 31 Quartet
29th and 30th of September 2012. Location: NH Hotel en Conference Centre, Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands. The Saturday evening show will have performances of barbershop choruses from Sweden and the UK. To mention a few of our guests: Lace City Chorus (NottinghamUK), Alba Show Chorus (Stockholm– Sweden), Phoenix (Potton-UK) and Cottontown Chorus (Bolton-UK)! On Saturday morning we will take our guests on one of those famous canal tours through the city of Amsterdam! If you want to be part of this barbershop experience, please contact the chorus (flyinghighsingers25@gmail.com) and we will let you know how to register. Flying High Singers is very much looking forward to this event and
R e g i o n Q u a r t e t o f
wants to add another 25 years of happy and thankful membership to Region 31!
S w e e t
of Nations. Enough reasons to celebrate our 25th anniversary in a weekend full of barbershop harmony. This huge barbershop partyweekend will take place on 28th,
N a t i o n s ,
require respect and compromise, and I just want to sing in Quartet and am delighted that we get along so well.. We have 4 people whose barbershop experiences are at very different places. Karen our Baritone has been singing Barbershop in Heartbeat for 15 years... Loraine our Lead has been singing Barbershop in Heartbeat for 3 years. Colette our Tenor and myself as Bass joined Heartbeat within weeks of each other 5½ years ago. Before we started singing together some of us were very confident people some less so, what we have found is that singing with confidence is entirely different to speaking, acting, dancing, working or parenting with confidence. It is also unlike singing in Chorus. It has been said “There are no passengers in Heartbeat” and that is the case, but you still feel more “ responsible” and “exposed” as the lone Bass, Bari, Tenor or Lead. We record ourselves and then judge with Gold medal ears, which is a tall order when we are stumbling toddlers at Quartetting. The great thing is we know how we want to sound, whereas a toddler has no idea how little they know So it’s very early days for us and who knows where our singing saga will end, what we know is our singing has improved and that can only be good for Chorus and our confidence is slowly and surely improving... who knows we may soon be singing at an afterglow near you someday soon, if
Submitted by Barbara Mutsaers, Flying High Singers Chorus
A d e l i n e s
Dres Kernow Is looking for a Deputy Musical Director – would you fit the bill?
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
The position is to support their Musical Director to move the Chorus forward. Dres Kernow is a Ladies’ Barbershop Chorus singing in 4-part unaccompanied Harmony, that meets to rehearse in Carnon Downs near Truro, Cornwall, and is renowned for its friendliness and enthusiasm. Further information can be found at www.dreskernow.org.uk Please contact either Madge on 01726 66874 or Pam on 01872 865596 21
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, SPRING 2012
STOP PRESS – Region 31 Coaching Directory created!
A
A d e l i n e s
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
s Region 31 has grown and become more and more successful, there is a need to continuously look at adapting the help and support we provide in a variety of areas. To this end, we have been reviewing the Regional Faculty function and have decided we need to update this. The Regional Faculty Team have served the Region well over the past years, but it is clear we also have many more very talented people who are out there coaching and who also have an input on the progress of our choruses and quartets. The current Faculty have all been instrumental in helping the Region become more successful and now is the time to build on that success. To increase the Regional Faculty Team in its present structure
would make it very difficult, if not impossible, to manage so we have decided to re-vamp this completely and, instead, have a Coaching Directory. Details of all coaches in our Region will be available from this Directory, which will be available on the Regional website. The current Regional Faculty will automatically transfer to the Coaching Directory and we will add some people who we already know are doing great work in the Region. As we will still need someone to oversee this function and maintain records of coaches skills sets, Alyson Chaney has kindly agreed to move into this position, from her current role as Regional Faculty Coordinator. (N.B. Alyson will not be responsible for arranging coaching for choruses or quartets. This will still be done through contacting the coach directly.) Her new title will be Regional Coaches’ Coordinator. If a chorus or quartet are unsure who to invite to coach them, Alyson will be the first point of contact to assist with
their selection. Alyson will also provide support for all the Regional coaches, gathering information and assessing their development needs so that appropriate training may be considered for the future. If you are currently coaching choruses and/or quartets and you want your name to be included in the Directory, please contact Alyson by email alysonchaney@yahoo.co.uk, or myself - elainemrssh@aol.com Finally, please note that inclusion in the Coaching Directory does not mean the coach has been endorsed by the RMT. The Coaching Directory will be self-evaluating in that, if someone is doing good work, word will spread and they will be booked by others. If, however, someone is not so successful, they may not be booked in the future. This is what is currently happening in the Region anyway, so there is really no change. Please see the back page of this issue for the latest Coaching Directory listing.
N a t i o n s ,
S w e e t
Have you Had Your AHA Moment Yet? A Cappella Harmony Academy July 19-22, 2012 Chapman University • Orange, California
o f
I
Q u a r t e t
Invest in yourself and expand your musical potential by attending the new Sweet Adelines International A Cappella Harmony Academy in 2012.
R e g i o n
3 1
Discover your AHA moments in a variety of tracks ranging from vocal, visual, musical and mental subject areas. Whether you aspire to be a choreographer/visual coach, learn more about music theory, improve your vocal skills, or exude confidence as a performer, there are classes designed for your specific area of development.
22
Registration
Fees include all classes, materials, links to download seminar songs with learning media, on-campus housing and meals: Members: $549 Non-members: $649
Register today!
RMT 31, SPRING 2012 NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION Coaching Directory Sheila Doherty – Team Coordinator Surrey Harmony Chorus 020 8395 2765 shortscot@aol.com Tracey Bailey – Directors’ Coordinator Champagne Cornwall Chorus 01726 63937 allthebaileys@aol.com Nuala Hobden – Finance Coordinator Spinnaker Chorus 02392 231569 nualahelen@aol.com Elaine Hamilton – Education Coordinator CAL 0131 334 2372 elainemrssh@aol.com Petrina Bache – Events Coordinator Phoenix Chorus 07772 932432 trinabache@btinternet.com Fiona McGlashan – Interim Membership Coordinator Cambridge Harmony Chorus/Phoenix Chorus 07860 704443 impact@appleshack.com Jean Graham – Communications Coordinator Mayflowers Plymouth 01752 783724 jean.graham2006@btinternet.com Emma Duguid – Marketing Coordinator Vocal Dimension Chorus 07815 114476 duguidemma@gmail.com From May 2012 Dulcie Williams – Communications Coordinator Heartbeat UK Chorus 01758 730 858 dulciewilliams@hotmail.com
R e g i o n 3 1 Q u a r t e t o f N a t i o n s , S w e e t A d e l i n e s
Anne Cargill Aberdeen Chorus acargill@lochside.fsbusiness.co.uk Alyson Chaney – Regional Faculty Coordinator Lace City Chorus alysonchaney@yahoo.co.uk Glenn Chaney Lace City Chorus glennsings@yahoo.co.uk Elaine Hamilton CAL elainemrssh@aol.com Nancy Kelsall Heartbeat UK Chorus nancykelsall@hotmail.com Sandra Lea-Riley Heartbeat UK Chorus sandraleariley@virginmedia.com Dorothy Main Aberdeen Chorus themains@talktalk.net Ellie Mills Lace City Chorus mills_ellie@hotmail.com Nicky Salt CAL nicky.salt@hotmail.co.uk David Sangster Forth Valley Chorus carsonsangster@aol.com Valerie Taylor Vocal Dimension Chorus valerie.taylor@privacysolutions.co.uk Gwen Topp Aberdeen Chorus gmtopp@yahoo.co.uk Michelle Walker Lace City Chorus shelbywalks@yahoo.co.uk
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
COPY DEADLINE The Summer Harmony Rag will be issued at the end of June. Please send all articles to harmonyrag@sweetadelines.org.uk by
31st May 2012 23