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n 1 December 2012 London City Singers had the privilege of delivering a presentation at TEDx WhitehallWomen*, a prestigious London event that ‘explored the transformational journeys of women
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OUR OWN TRANSFORMATIONAL JOURNEY
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rom Choir of the Year to Cleeve Harmony, February 2013 saw a waterfall of choral risers spread out across the barbershop country. So how
did this all come about? Well… Date: 31 March 2013, I’m watching the clock tick-tock down to lunchtime when suddenly I get an email from my Director, Valerie Taylor, who’d been contacted by Lucy Bull of Green Street Blues chorus about the possibility of
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CIRCLE OF 5THS RISERS
Submitted by Emma Riley, Vocal Dimension Chorus
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NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, APRIL 2013
Celtic Chords who collected our old risers and Heather Byrne and her husband Paul who braved me driving a transit van through central London and helped with the joy that is manoeuvring Wenger risers in and out of a van.
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risers being available to a suitable home. Mission Riser had begun! Lucy had received an email from Choir of the Year (COTY) about their risers which they’d had for about 10 years but hadn’t used recently. She remembered that Vocal Dimension Chorus (VDC) had approached Green Street Blues about hiring theirs for a dress rehearsal so, being quick off the mark, she had called COTY, reserved them, then called Valerie to see if they would be suitable for VDC. Seven sets of Wenger choral risers suitable? Of course they were!! After quite a bit of organisation, and being scuppered by snow at one point, the risers were collected and safely stored in our rehearsal venue. We were very delighted to then be able to pass our old risers on to Celtic Chords, a sister chorus in our region based in Cornwall, who in turn passed their old risers onto the newly formed Cleeve Harmony Chorus in Bristol. The circle of risers was complete! Many thanks to the Choir of the Year organisation, Lucy of Green Street Blues for thinking of us, Sarah Netherton of
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, APRIL 2013
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Chorus Director Surrey Harmony Chorus
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A leading women’s barbershop chorus based in Coulsdon, Surrey, is inviting applications for the position of Chorus Director. We are seeking applications from dynamic and experienced directors to take our already successful chorus forward in the future, following chorus founder and director Jenny Lawson’s announcement of her retirement.
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inging since childhood, Melanie joined Sweet Adelines in 1991 in Burlington Ontario, Canada. She
sang with Bayside Harmony Chorus as “something different” she has been a Lead, then with North Metro Chorus searching for. Melanie shares the love in Toronto Ontario, where she switched for music and theatre with her husband, to Tenor. Within each chorus she held Steve, and together they enjoy going to various roles, such as Section Leader, concerts and shows of all kinds. Music and Show Committees and Board “I am passionate and enthusiastic of Directors. Melanie has sung with about singing, performing and a number of quartets, including Tag competing, learning and improving. Team, Cutting Edge and Frenzy, winning My musical journey to date has been their regional competition 2007 and fulfilling, varied, challenging and competing at International in Calgary, exciting. I do want to be part of a AB. She also provides coaching to competitive quartet, but Baritone is one individual singers, quartets and small part that I have not given consideration choruses. Melanie moved to the UK in to. Having said that, would you be 2009 and her musical journey returns able to give me more details on the to Sweet Adelines in 2013, this time quartet requiring a Baritone so I can as a Musical Director (for London City give it some thought? I look forward Singers), which she believes is the to learning about any Lead or Tenor
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WOULD LOVE TO BE IN A QUARTET! ANYONE OUT THERE?
www.surreyharmony.com
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Submitted by Clare Costello, London City Singers
To register your interest and request an information pack, please email Sandra Sullivan at sandra@marangmail.com
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provides events devoted to ‘ideas worth spreading’, and TEDx is a locallymanaged spin-off series. www.ted.com/ tedx
At Surrey Harmony we aim high, with five gold and seven silver medals to our name and success at international competition, but we also have plenty of fun along the way.
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Deadline for applications is 30th April 2013
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and the skills, tools and equipment they use to break through barriers or bridge the gap between where they were and where they want to be’. The organiser had seen us perform at a gig in August and felt that the event theme was tailor-made for us as an all-female chorus – and we agreed. We jumped at the chance to talk to a room of fabulous, inspirational women about London City Singers! Our performance closed the event and contained extracts from several of our songs, interspersed with a talk about life in our chorus, the art of barbershop singing and Sweet Adelines International. At the time we were without a musical director, so our experience of putting the performance together reflected the theme of the event. With no prior experience, several members stepped up to the plate to write the package, adapt songs, direct and deliver the presentation. We learned new skills as we went along and developed our confidence in ourselves and each other. We ended the evening with wellearned glasses of wine, networking and fielding compliments from the attendees. We were thrilled with our performance and delighted to receive fabulous feedback from the organisers and audience – such a genuine warm reaction makes all the hours of practice and hard work completely worthwhile. *TED is a global organisation that
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, APRIL 2013 BABS Extreme Quartets is open for registration and full details can be found at www.babsextremequartets.co.uk but as space is limited a swift response is advised! Please contact Dick Knight if you have any questions! D1ckKn1ght@aol.com
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ANNUAL REGIONAL EVALUATION To all chorus presidents: you should have received an email from Sweet Adelines Int’l HQ with the link to the ARE survey. We really encourage you to complete it so that we’ll know how best to serve you! Deadline for completing the survey is 31 July 2013.
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eartbeat had such a ball in 2009 when we went and won our first ever medal (bronze) at the Europeans in Veldhoven that we were thrilled to go and represent the region again. It does come, however,
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Heartbeat and Echo On Tour at European Barbershop Championships!
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To contact Melanie, email mhammond19@ gmail.com
at a slightly tricky time in the build up to regional contest as it is just 8 weeks beforehand and we missed the 20 members who couldn’t come with us. It was also a first European contest for Echo Quartet representing the region as the current champions. First up were the quartets and Echo did a stunning job for us. Heartbeat was also represented by the Mix (LABBS champions) whose members are our MD and choreographer Nancy Kelsall and Sandra Lea-Riley together with Jo Braham and Andrea Day from LABBS. The contest was nail bitingly close and Echo won silver with a score of 79% and the Mix gold with 79.9%! Heartbeat faced tough opposition in their contest, including 2009 European Champions, The White Rosettes. We were thrilled with our preparation and time on stage and produced one of our
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decision to move to the UK · 2007 - Regional Champions, International representatives in Calgary, AB · 2006 - 6th Place Regional · 2005 - 2nd Place Regional Cutting Edge Quartet, 2004 – 5th Place Regional Tag Team Quartet, 2003 - 5th Place Regional
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opportunities in and around London as well (I would be willing to travel occasionally by train)” Chorus history in the last 10 years: North Metro Chorus (Region 16) Quartet history in the last 10 years: Frenzy Quartet 2005-2008: · 2008 - Frenzy has change of membership and one voice change (the Lead Bass and Baritone who are now Spritzer) - I sang with these gals for about 5 months, until I made my
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, APRIL 2013
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Submitted by Fiona McGlashan, Phoenix Chorus and Cambridge Harmony Chorus
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hoenix braved the snow to travel to Birmingham on Saturday, 23rd March to compete in the finals of the inaugural Barnado’s Adult Choir Competition and came back with a winner’s trophy! 64 of us battled
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Flamingbirdz heat up snowy Birmingham!
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Submitted by Heartbeat UK Chorus
top prize. The prize for winning is to sing at the Barnado’s Christmas Concert in Westminster Cathedral on December 5th, another event that raises money for the work of the leading UK children’s charity. Victoria Veats, Barnardo’s UK events manager said: “Barnardo’s were delighted with our first fundraising Choir Competition at the magnificent Birmingham Town Hall, to raise money for our work with disadvanftaged children and young people throughout the UK. The appalling weather made it a real challenge as our choirs struggled in from across the UK, a few choirs were unable to make it and ticket sales on the day suffered but nothing detracts from the magnificent performance of Phoenix Chorus who well deserved the Best Female prize!” We will be holding our dress rehearsal for Gateshead on Tuesday 30th April in front of friends and family at Sandy Upper School Theatre and are hoping to raise money for the British Heart Foundation at the same time. We said a very sad goodbye in December, when a longstanding and valued member died suddenly from a heart attack. We have raised over £300 so far for BHF and Cancer charities and are hoping to boost that amount with a bucket collection at our dress rehearsal.
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Phoenix don’t give in easily though - we Please support Viva Acappella! didn’t cancel and Look out for us selling raffle tickets at Convention in Newcastle thankfully got £250 Top Prize for our VIVA RAFFLE there safely. It PLUS was a fantastic Visit our gift stall at the Harmony Bazaar for some fabulous gifts and keep sakes of the weekend day and we’re We look forward to seeing you all at Tyne to Shine 2013! very proud to All proceeds go towards the Viva Acappella Hawaii Fund for International Convention have been joint winners of the best ever competitive performances, through the wintry conditions to sing female class trophy in such a high scoring our highest marks to date on stage at the Town Hall, Birmingham. calibre competition. (78.3%) with just 0.3% between us and We had been working very hard and The competition attracted choirs second place! looking forward to this event for weeks, from all over the country. There Most of the (long) weekend was and on the Friday night it looked as were 15 choirs in the final and the a fantastic experience. We partied, though the weather conditions were standard of singing was high so it is we met people from all over Europe going to make it impossible to get there. fabulous that we were awarded the and we got the chance to see some fabulous singing (men, women and mixed quartets) from Sweden, Germany, Spain, Ireland Holland and the UK.
HAWAII APPEAL
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM REGION 31, APRIL 2013
SUMMER ROLLERCOASTER!
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Sophie (in the middle!) with CCC friends after coaching with Kim Vaughn
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fter 2 years as a junior doctor in the UK I decided to spend a year working in New Zealand. Having caught the barbershop bug at the age of 11, finding a chorus to sing with was
Submitted by Sophie Mills, dual member Lace City Chorus and Christchurch City Chorus
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Barbershop Down Under!
high on my list of priorities. I’ve now been a member of the Christchurch City Chorus for 8 months and can’t imagine life here without it. I was welcomed with open arms and have made friends and memories that will last a lifetime. I even found my housemates through the chorus (a house full of baritones, can you imagine!). With the chorus preparing for competition in Hawaii rehearsals are exciting but hard work. It’s been a steep learning curve picking up so many new songs but with an inspirational director and fantastic coaches you can’t help but push yourself. You won’t be surprised to hear I’m extending my visa.....see you in Hawaii!!
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uk/summerrollercoaster.htm For further accommodation information please go to http://www. edinburghcornexchange.com or http:// www.edinburgh.org
For more information please contact alangoldsmith4@gmail.com
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www.harmonylincs.org
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Our current director, Tony Chapman, has indicated his intention to stand down from the position. Consequently the chorus is seeking a director, male or female, who should have some experience of choral singing, but not necessarily in the barbershop style. Mentoring support is available to applicants who are accomplished musicians in other genres and who seek to widen their experience to embrace barbershop harmony singing. We offer an attractive package which includes travelling expenses, support for personal development and the opportunity to lead a chorus which is well managed, financially sound and committed to a programme of improvement.
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ACCOMMODATION UPDATE We’ve negotiated special rates at The Holiday Inn, 132 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh, EH12 6UA for a limited number of rooms. To take advantage of the following rates please call The Holiday Inn on 0131 314 7027 and quote reference LBK: Twin/double £100 Triple £144 Single £80 All rates are per night, and include breakfast and VAT. Car parking is complimentary for guests and is on a first come, first served basis and cannot be reserved. For further information about the hotel go to their website http://www.ihg.com/ holidayinn/hotels/us/en/edinburgh/edbcr/ hoteldetail To register for our Summer Rollercoaster event go to the Region 31 website – don’t miss out! http://www.sweetadelines.org.
A BABS’ chorus seeks a new director!
Coaching Directory AND RMT COACHES
NOT LONG TO GO!
http://www.sweetadelines.org.uk/regional_faculty.htm
RMT Sheila Doherty – Team Coordinator Surrey Harmony Chorus 020 8395 2765 shortscot@aol.com Petrina Bache – Directors Coordinator Phoenix Chorus 07772 932432 trinabache@btinternet.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 Emma Duguid – Marketing Coordinator – Interim Communications Coordinator Vocal Dimension Chorus 07815 114476 duguidemma@gmail.com
Regional Convention Dates May 10 – 12 2013, The Sage, Gateshead May 9 – 11 2014, TBC Visual Leadership Conference 2013: “Another Step Ahead” June 21 – 23, 2013, Toronto, Canada http://www.erinhowden.com Side by Side Directors’/Judges’ Seminar July 18 – 21, 2013, Orange, CA www.sweetadelineintl.org/index.cfm?id=43 Summer Rollercoaster July 26 – 28, 2013 (Edinburgh Corn Exchange) International Convention November 5 – 9, 2013, Honolulu, HI
Convention & Competition Weekend May 10th – 12th 2013
LABBS and BABS Dates http://www.labbs.org.uk/calendar/index.shtml http://www.singbarbershop.com/diary.htm LABBS Convention October 25 – 27, 2013, Llandudno BABS Convention May 3 – 6, 2013, Bournemouth
COPY DEADLINE Harmony Rag Convention Issue, 31st May deadline for the late June issue. Please send all articles to harmonyrag@sweetadelines.org.uk