Harmony
SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL
Rag
UK REGION 31
The newsletter of Quartet of Nations Region 31, Sweet Adelines International
AUTUMN 2005 INTERNATIONAL HERE WE COME! How the Lace City Singers set about planning the journey to New Orleans – in more ways than one! I have just returned home, tired but exhilarated, from Nottingham’s 10,000 seater Arena where the Lace City Singers have been rehearsing for over two hours. A rehearsal? In a 10,000 seater stadium which echoes mainly to the sound of ice hockey games and rock concerts? When the chorus won gold in 2004 we spent a great deal of time planning a campaign which would enable as many of the chorus as possible to represent the Quartet of Nations in New Orleans. Fundraising, of course, was a top priority and our fundraising team (ably assisted by members of the Board and all chorus members) had the unenviable task of overseeing a campaign which, some sixteen months later, has raised over £35,000. As a result of this, 86 of us will be sitting on the plane to New Orleans on October 1st, looking forward with huge excitement to the wonderful Sweet Adelines adventure that is International Convention. Soon after we won gold, our President at the time, Pamelia Robinson, received an email from Gail Jencik, Master Director of Coastline Show Chorus from Rhode Island, with an offer we coudn’t refuse. Her chorus wished to become our sister chorus in New Orleans. As our sister chorus, they would offer us free rehearsal time on their risers in their hotel, and would set up a
network of e-pals so that we would have some ready made supporters and friends when we arrived in New Orleans. We would stay in the same hotel as them, and would be involved in all of their parties, celebrations and banquets too. It was certainly an offer we couldn’t refuse. As Pamelia said, “ I couldn’t believe the generosity of this offer: in fact, it brought tears to my eyes when I read Gail’s email!” Needless to say, the offer was quickly accepted and Lace City now have a bunch of firm friends in one of the choruses widely predicted to be in the top five this Autumn. It will be so valuable to us to have the help and support of seasoned competitors sitting in the audience as we perform. Additionally, our music team set about planning a campaign to improve the chorus’s musical and visual product. We knew that if we were to make an impact in the USA we would need to become A- singers. To help us achieve this we secured the help of Certified International Faculty Gail Jencik, who spent a week and a bit coaching us (and two other choruses in the Region) and Doug Harrington, from Sweden, who is an International Quartet Gold Medallist in his own right. Gail’s visit was funded entirely from the proceeds of a particularly inspired lottery bid (if you want to know how we managed to do this, attend Glenn Chaney and Helen Willis’s class at the Regional Workshop in October!) and we invited all members
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of the Region to attend any of her sessions because we wanted as many people as possible to benefit from her visit. We planned Gail’s coaching visit very carefully during a Music Team Retreat weekend at Matlock Youth Hostel in January so that not a minute of her time would be wasted, and we produced a supporting information booklet for each chorus member. Again, Helen and Glenn will outline how this coaching weekend was planned and delivered during their class at the Regional Workshop – a must for musical leaders!. As Gail said, “You guys certainly know how get the most out of a coach ....sometimes I arrive at chorus retreats and there’s no structure to the weekend at all, so this has made my job that bit easier!” To help us further along the road, recommendations were made that the chorus should sing for evaluation in Plymouth in 2005. This would allow the musical leaders to receive helpful remarks from the judges which would shape future rehearsals in the run-up to New Orleans. Performing in Plymouth was not without its little glitches however, as the champion chorus from the previous year is always called upon to assist in the