HARMONY RAG Special Convention Issue June 2014
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Domino
2014 Region 31 Quartet Champion
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Maecenas faucibus mollis interdum. Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis dapibus posuere velit aliquet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec ullamcorper nulla non metus auctor fringilla. Aenean lacinia bibendum nulla sed consectetur. Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis dapibus posuere velit aliquet. Maecenas sed diam eget risus varius blandit sit amet non magna. Curabitur blandit tempus porttitor. Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis dapibus posuere velit aliquet. Maecenas sed diam eget risus varius blandit sit amet non Curabitur blandit tempus porttitor. Maecenas sed diam eget risus varius blandit sit amet non magna. Cras mattis consectetur purus sit amet fermentum. Praesent commodo cursus magna, vel scelerisque
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Lace City
2014 Region 31 Chorus Champion
Contents Features
15 n Target the Top - 2014 Region 31 convention results Competition results from the first ever convention in Nottingham
22 n Target the Top - Winners’ stories Hear from the 2014 winners Usuals 4 n 12 n 30 n 34 n
Regional Buzz Warmed Up RMT Updates Coaching Directory
QUARTET OF NATIONS Sweet Adelines International Region 31 Sweet Adelines International is a worldwide organisation of women singers committed to advancing the musical art form of barbershop harmony through education, competition and performance
One for the history books The first ever Convention in Nottingham. The Open Division. The record-breaking score of Lace City with 675 points. Call the historian, we’ve got new entries in Region 31 history! As always, spending the weekend with like-minded people is a real pleasure. It’s the ultimate girlie weekend without getting too drunk or in deep trouble (maybe not for some…). It was great to see old friends and meet new ones AND getting a piece of ‘bling’ is really just the icing on the cake. We’re delighted that so many people have taken part in the online convention survey, your input is very important and the RMT are meeting in July to discuss this year’s new venue, things that worked well and those not so well, and how we can make next year even better. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this special issue and re-live that
Harmony Rag is published quarterly in March, June, September and December by the Regional Management Team (RMT) of the Quartet of Nations in digital format. The June issue is also published in print format. Materials sent for publication are at the author’s/ contributor’s risk and while every care is taken, neither the Quartet of Nations RMT nor Sweet Adelines International accept any liability for loss or damage. Send all queries, copy and images to the Harmony Rag Editor, harmonyrag@ sweetadelines.org.uk Deadlines are one (1) month prior to publication
wonderful and historic weekend again with your favourite cuppa.
Charl
Layout and printing by Caktus Ltd.
CHARL ASUIT COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR charlasuit@gmail.com
Harmony Rag | June 2014 | 3
REGIONAL BUZZ
DIRECTING FOR 21 YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONG Submitted by Elaine Cox, President, Somerset Hills Cynthia Tucker was actually born in Wales, but she has always lived in Taunton, Somerset. The year after she retired from a busy working life, she picked up a leaflet advertising an Open Evening with Apple County Chorus, then part of the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers (LABBS), and was encouraged to attend. That was 30 years ago. It wasn’t long before she was singing in a quartet, Whisperwood, then with Karizma, Uptown Girls and C’est la Vie. Over the years she has won several gold medals and competed at International level several times. Cynthia was also involved with the arrangements to transfer Apple County Chorus to Sweet Adelines in 1987. In 1992, Cynthia was inspired to form another chorus. She began the Somerset Hills Chorus, receiving our charter in February 1995. Under her direction, this chorus has gone on to win Division A in 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2009 at regional contest, gaining 5th place overall in competition three times (1998, 2003, 2004).
She took the Director’s Certification Programme and received her qualification at the age of 70! We are very proud of her achievement, and because of her we, too, have achieved in so many ways. She’s an incredible example and amazing role model. Her unstinting efforts have made a lot of difference to so many people. She has rarely missed a rehearsal – even when she broke her arm two years ago and had to have it re-set twice, she still came and conducted with one hand! She is, in fact, the best illustration of how good singing is for health and wellbeing. She is living proof that there is still so much more that’s possible in life for those who are young at heart. Cynthia always had the wholehearted and generous support of her husband Bob and her family. Their home has been
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freely available for PVIs, extra coaching, section practices, business meetings, music team planning and singing sessions, quartet practice and coaching – even a shoulder to cry on! A natural performer herself, she has far more energy than many of us in the chorus, and with her excellent listening ear, we can’t get away with anything! She watches TV talent shows and competitions that have something to do with singing to get ideas and keep up-todate. She’s also been known to conduct the chorus in her sleep! She sets a high standard – but is still one of the girls! The Regional Management Team would like to offer their warm congratulations to Cynthia on her long involvement and success in the barbershop world. She’s clearly a dedicated, energetic, inspiring director, loved and admired by her chorus - a great example to us all!
REGIONAL BUZZ
BE PART OF TEAM GB SCREAM TEAM Submitted by Ellie Blackeby, Fortuity and Lace City Team GB are getting ready to take Baltimore by storm with the help of a massive Region 31 Scream Team! The order form for the Scream Team t-shirts has been emailed to all chorus and quartet contacts and is available on the Region 31 website. Please contact Fortuity at fortuity@hotmail.co.uk if you have trouble locating it.
who, for five years, used satnav to find her local shop. Her organisational skills more than make up for it though. Gemma’s geographical skills aren’t much better than Sarah’s as she thought Mexico was in Spain. However, she tells the best cake jokes, so we’ll let her off. The member of the quartet who can carry off a spectacular quiff is also the one who sent us photos of herself bald, dead, burned and in various other dramatic states. It’s the funky and stylish Veryan Zimber, who is a qualified stage and film makeup artist. The accolade of building a big princess castle lies with our bass Ellie. It even had turrets and a moat… that is until Sennen, Sarah’s son, decided to turn it into a princess pirate ship! We are really looking forward to sharing the stage in Baltimore
with such amazing friends from Region 31. We’ll surely have many tales to tell when we return. In the meantime, thank you very much for your ongoing support and if you would like details about how to book us for any event please contact us at fortuity@hotmail.co.uk, or message us on Facebook!
CAN’T STOP THE BEAT Submitted by Sandie Kirk, Surrey Harmony 2013 saw the retirement of Surrey Harmony’s much-loved Master Director, Jenny Lawson. With the appointment of new Director, Lolly Thomas, the decision was taken to take a year out from competing, to regroup and reinvent ourselves under our new leadership.
You may recall that Penny Hay shared some of our quirks with you on the Show of Champions. We figured it was time to ’fess up! The proud owner of a tiger onesie, complete with ears AND a tail, is the oldest and wisest of the quartet: solicitor, Sarah. She’s also the member
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REGIONAL BUZZ
A whole new music team was appointed and a show tour booked in the diary. Exciting times!
Congratulations to all the amazing choruses and quartets. Region 31 is a force to be reckoned with!
A dedicated Show Team started work on a vision for an entertaining and completely new show that would showcase the chorus to a whole fresh audience, as well as giving our friends and family something completely different. Tried and tested show formats were abandoned in favour of a new contemporary and theatrical performance style. Initial ambitious plans had to be pared down, in the face of financial and time constraints, but the final structure and repertoire was something extremely rewarding for audience and chorus members alike.
PHOENIX NEWS
One of the most thrilling elements of spending the year working on a full repertoire, rather than concentrating mainly on competition songs, was the satisfaction of getting our new repertoire up to the same standard as our barbershop packages. Other choruses will relate to the scenario of having barbershop songs in a show set that put the rest of the repertoire to shame! Well, this is no longer the case for Surrey Harmony!
Submitted by Fiona McGlashan, PRO, Phoenix It’s been a year of NEWS for Phoenix this year: NEW Coach – Phoenix came to Convention 2014 not really knowing what to expect not only in terms of the venue but of our own performance. Hot on the heels of the experience of singing in Westminster Abbey for the Barnardo’s Christmas Concert and our sell-out Christmas Show, we had jumped straight into some amazing coaching sessions with Mo Field, renowned coach and director of Las Vegas bound Stockholm City Voices. NEW Vibrance – Mo’s infectious enthusiasm has rubbed off on everyone in Phoenix and instilled our performances with
And what a treat to attend Convention in Nottingham this year as spectators rather than competitors.
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renewed energy, emotion and spontaneity – thank you, Mo! NEW Costume – Great work by the chorus costume team produced a new costume for us in record time so that we could all feel at our most confident on stage. NEW Venue – What a great new venue the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham turned out to be. Amazing acoustics, a very comfortable friendly stage, even the slightly challenging traffic pattern was made simple by our wonderful volunteer backstage couriers. NEW Silver Medal – Phoenix are extremely proud to have been awarded 2nd place in this year’s amazing chorus competition. Congratulations to Lace City our new Regional Champions – what a stunning performance! NEW Trip to Vegas – Phoenix are absolutely overjoyed to be able to accept our wildcard invitation to help represent our very talented region at
REGIONAL BUZZ
International Convention in Las Vegas in 2015! Embracing the NEWS – so exciting!
A FIRST TIMER’S PERSPECTIVE Submitted by Sue Bellingham, Lace City I’m Sue Bellingham, a new member of the Lace City Chorus. What a Convention weekend! It started on Friday afternoon, watching the fantastic quartet competition, followed by a rehearsal session for us that night. Then our big dayhad arrived… my very first Convention! Also the first one with Lace City for my ‘newbie’ friends Kara and Michelle, too. Our riser buddies were looking after us so we just went along with it all. We had a brilliant rehearsal in the morning with lots of excitement in the air then it was time to get ready. So much to do - make-up, hair, costume. More makeup, then costume and makeup check. We were ready! There was an amazing buzz of anticipation in the air as we arrived at the Royal Concert Hall. The mix of all the wonderful chorus costumes and friendly faces immediately added to the whole fabulous experience. The next thing I knew, we were in the warm-up room preparing to perform. Ellie did
have to remind me to breathe at one point. We practiced our visualisation technique which also helped and we were ready in mind and body to share our passion with the audience.
Gasping, mouth and eyes wide, I shouted out loud in disbelief, “Was that us? Have we won?”
The lights were on us and all I could see was Glenn. It was a surreal experience because as we started singing, I was completely relaxed and felt such an amazing connection with everyone around me. That 7 minutes on stage was over oh so quickly. The applause was loud and long was that really for us? Wow!
We were jumping, cheering and embracing to the deafeningly loud applause. I will never forget that electrifying moment as long as I live. I had never experienced such emotion with so many like-minded people. Everyone was still clapping as we were presented with our gold medals on stage. It was my very 1st medal of course. The best part of winning was that we got to sing again. No pressure. We were told that we sang even better the 2nd time round. Is that possible?
All of the choruses had now competed and the judges were ready to give the results. We were all seated in the hall nervously awaiting the results and you could hear a pin drop. 5th place ... not our chorus. Lace City came 4th last year so hoped to do better. 4th place... still not us. Hope we are in the top 3. 3rd place... hearts beat faster, breath quickens. It goes to another chorus. 2nd place… we can’t bear it. I hear the loud applause, but not for us. Breathe… breathe... my heart skips a beat… and in 1st place… with a score of 675 points, (our fingers are now white with tension)… Lace City Chorus!
“Yes, yes!” someone shouted back, “We have won!”
I joined Lace City after less than a year ago through their 6 week singing course. It took me some time to take everything on board. Gradually, with a lot of help and support from all of the members, my confidence has grown and grown. Glenn works tirelessly to help us improve – tough love he calls it. We have a brilliant Music Team who work on all aspects of our singing, breathing, choreography and visualisation. We have had some fantastic coaching from Britt-Heléne Bonnedahl and her daughter Anna Öhman of the Rönninge Show Chorus. They worked on lots of things including our characterisation, to help bring out the best of us on stage. Was it all worth it? A BIG FAT YES!
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RMT UPDATES REGIONAL BUZZ
FOOTLIGHTS: COUNTDOWN TO CONTEST Submitted by Barbara Green, Footlights Monday – dress rehearsal in front of Cambridge Harmony. OK, though sang REALLY fast. Chorus polite, said they enjoyed it. Not overwhelmingly whole hearted though.
claps in the last song? Ooh yes! Friday morning – the claps didn’t work at all, neither did the finger clicking. Hmmm. Sam suddenly giggles and throws in this really daft move, waving her hands about like a lunatic. YES, THAT’S IT! A couple of run throughs and we’ve all got it.
beautiful singing. And they are such nice girls – almost a pleasure to lose to them! As a bonus, Fiona and Hilary came away with silver medals following Phoenix’s great performance. What a party we had.
Tuesday – ran package again at Phoenix’s dress rehearsal. Still not bad, managed to say all the talky bits without fluffing, no costume malfunctions, fair bit of laughter. Still not the enthusiastic reaction we were hoping for. Wednesday – last coaching session with Nicky Salt. Help! It’s not right, there’s no time left, we’re going to bomb on stage, why isn’t it FUNNY? Nicky, bless her, took us firmly in hand! It IS funny, don’t change anything. Just slow down so people have time to join in. Really? Is that all it will take? Well, you don’t question the opinion of the 4th best (and by far the funniest) Bass in the world, do you? Feel better, still slightly anxious. There can’t be anything more cringeworthy than trying to be funny when nobody laughs (and collecting the video afterwards to prove how much it didn’t work). Thursday – could we add hand
We really shouldn’t change anything on the morning of the competition. But it feels right, so what the heck! Hilary adds a doughnut instead of the pitch pipe, plus a few of Sam’s rollers for extra effect, and we are ready to rumble.
REGION 31 VS ROSA – THE STATS
Friday, 8:00pm – we did our thing. The response from you lovely people was everything we hoped for – we had a ball. Disappointed we didn’t win, but the next night watching Vocal Zone in the show, they clearly deserved their victory – very entertaining and
Well, we certainly had a great convention this year! Not only did we have a competition seemingly scored by two different panels – an awesome scoring chorus contest but no quartets over 600 – and all the drama of Saturday, but we also, along with the Rest of Sweet Adelines (RoSA),
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Submitted by Geekus Maximus (a.k.a. Emma Riley), Team Coordinator, Vocal Dimension
REGIONAL BUZZ
started to get to grips with the Open Division which looks like it will develop into a wonderful addition to our organisation. Anyhow, on with the stats! Competition sizes Lordy, it got complicated this year! Region 31 fielded 19 quartets in the International Division, 1 for evaluation and 2 in the new Open Division, which was in the middle again, size-wise. Smallest this year was Region 2 (Border Lakes) with 9 quartets and 1 for evaluation; and largest, with a whopping 30 quartets in the International Division and 1 in the Open Division, was Region 4 (Harmony Heartland) – those judges would have been practicing for International! And speaking of Open Division, 8 regions had no entrants, 6 had 1, 8 had 2, Region 13 (North Pacific) and Region 8 (Rocky Mountain) had the most with 5. For the chorus contest, we had a smaller field this year with 16 entrants for International Division, 3 for evaluation and 2 in the Open Division, so we were in the middle rankings. Smallest goes to Region 35 (New Zealand) with only 6 competing choruses in the International Division and 2 Open Division. Largest is an interesting thing this year since many choruses were either evaluating or trying out the Open Division. On International Division alone, Region 16 (Lake Ontario) and Region 19 (Atlantic
Bay-Mountain) both had 20 choruses, but if you count Open Division, too, Region 34 (Southern Cross) pops out on top with 18 International Division entrants plus 4 in the Open Division. Biggest Open Division contest for choruses? Region 25 (Heart of America) where 6 tried it out. A quick look at the overall numbers. In quartets, only 6% (30) went for the new Open Division, 4% (19) evaluated which left 90% (441) still chomping at that International Division bit. About 13% of choruses (55) went for the Open Division with 1,846 singers. 79% of choruses (340) were in the normal International Division, with 12,014 singers. 9% (38) evaluated. Largest region singerswise (not counting evaluation-only choruses)? Region 34 (Southern Cross) just pipped us with 808 singers to our 796, smallest were our other antipodean cousins Region 35 (New Zealand). Quartets Overall there were no penalty points handed out this year, though there was 1 disqualification, so we have 440 in the rankings, down from 2013’s 467 but not surprising since we have the Open Division now, too. Scores on the doors? 89% scored over 400, 43% over 500 and 7% over 600, all up from 2013. For us, what a difference a year makes! Not one quartet over 600? Really? Ah well, our average score was just one point down from last year at 498 and our region is
still very strong in the upper ranks for average score. Domino did well against the other regions winning virtual 1st in Region 34 (Southern Cross) and virtual 2nd in 12 other regions. On straight world ranking based on score alone (sorted by grand total then down the categories with Sound as the first decider for a tiebreak), they rank 40th of the 440 a very solid performance for a 9 month old, first time out quartet. With 6 months in hand they have plenty of time to build that blend for Baltimore! What about the Open Division? I wanted to rank the Open Division competition, too, so we could easily have a look at some comparisons, therefore I have assigned a number score to each level (geek alert!). Vocal Zone are 3rd in the world ranking. In 7 of the 10 regions that had more than 1 competitor in the Open Division, our Audience Choice winner was also the highest ranking. Does that mean we’re generally voting with our ears? I don’t know but it is definitely interesting! Choruses A total of 433 choruses competed regionally this year, 340 in the International Division, 38 for evaluation and 55 had a stab at the Open Division which suggests that HQ’s idea of getting more involved at a regional level is going to work. Of those in the International Division,
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REGIONAL BUZZ
229 were Division A (small) and 115 were Division AA (midsize). 91% of choruses scored 400+ points, 58% 500+, 15% 600+ and we added 2 more to the number of choruses scoring over 700 making 6, only 2%! Lace City took that gleaming gold with a regional record of 675, despite spending an unplanned hour in the traffic pattern (now there is focus and preparation), which gives them a world ranking of 10! Wow! Our wildcard chorus, Phoenix, grabbed a world ranking of 24 with Harmony Classic-bound DaleDiva just a couple of hops away at 28. Both would have won the contest outright in other regions and DaleDiva smashed most of the Division AA competition. We continue to raise the chorus average score year on year from 2010’s 506, 2011’s 512, 2012’s 516 and 2013’s 535.5, and always stay above the total worldwide average for regional contests, which this year was 515. Our average score this year? 553. OMG! I think we forget how strong our entire region is – as Di Porsch pointed out in her judges’ Q&A session, we have everyone at a B- level or above – unheard of! Though London City Singers may have been a little disappointed with their placing, they should take heart with their great haul of virtual medals: Division A 1st in Region 35 (New Zealand), Division A 2nd in Region 32
(Nordic Light) and Region 11 (Sequoia Pacifica), Division A 3rd in Region 14 (Heart of the Blue Ridge), Region 3 (Midwest Harmony) and Region 13 (North by Northwest), Division AA 1st in Region 8 (Rocky Mountain) and, holy moly, an OVERALL 4th in Region 35 (New Zealand)! Way to go! Every single chorus in Region 31 has a bulging virtual medal haul across other regions! For the Open Division, using the same method as the quartets ranking, most Audience Choices were not the highest “scoring” but in the mid to upper quadrant of their peers so perhaps the entertainment factor overrode our ears a little! Top five of my highly unofficial and unscientific ranking? 1st Rönninge Show, 2nd Skyline, 3rd Woodlands Show, 4th Top of the Rock and 5th Forth Valley (yay!). In conclusion Region 32 (Nordic Light) again pipped us at the ‘Average Chorus Score’ post by 3 points but we continue to be in the leading pack. We have Domino off to Baltimore to join Finesse and Fortuity and imagine what Las Vegas in 2015 will be like with three of our powerhouse choruses in the mix! On the flip side of that, with them out of contention, 2015 regional convention could see some new blood in the medal table. It is all so exciting! If you wish to play with the numbers yourself, my excel
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spreadsheet, as last year, is available on the Quartet of Nations website (any inaccuracies are wholly mine!). I would like to raise a bit of cash for both the Young Singers Foundation and the Vocal Dimension International fund again. So if you enjoy this article or the stats file and feel like showing a little appreciation you can send whatever you feel appropriate to me by PayPal (e.riley@hotmail.co.uk), and I’ll split it 50/50 between the two. Happy statting!
MOOR HARMONY: FIRST TIME ON STAGE Submitted by Wendy Pickering, Moor Harmony Moor Harmony began 3 years ago in Bodmin Moor, Cornwall with a group of ladies who just love singing in harmony. The chorus is a mix of experienced and inexperienced women in barbershop singing but just happen to be a wonderful group who tackle everything with enthusiasm and good humour. The group grew in numbers and moved to Wadebridge, where Sian Netherton the Music Director inspired the chorus with her knowledge and enthusiasm for barbershop, and without whom we would not be on stage. Sian,
REGIONAL BUZZ
sadly, had to leave us but the chorus had become a close knit group with a mission to sing at convention and Assistant Director Meg stepped up to continue our journey to Nottingham. The members of the chorus who had not been to Convention before were blown away by the talented choruses and quartets they watched. They loved the sparkle, the buzz, did not feel out of place, but right at home! Who knew this world existed? It was an amazing experience! Everyone was so welcoming, good company and friendly. Nobody got lost or lonely and everything was well organised.
Being on stage at the Royal Concert Hall for the first time was surreal, rabbit-in-the-headlights, went-in-a-blur, voice-faltered, blinded-by-the-lights, time-stoodstill, then-in-a-blink-it-was-all-over experience! Loved it! Can we do it again? We were so pleased with the judges’ comments, which were fair and encouraging. Now we know what we need to do to make our performance better. Our friends from Celtic Chords and Champagne gave us 100% encouragement in the concert hall and we proudly waved our St Piran’s flags in return.
It was so interesting to see what everyone else sang and how they did it. Some listened to a lot more quartets and choruses than they thought they would as they were all so different – Fortuity singing “One Fine Day” and Forth Valley “Gotta Be Startin’ Something”. Looking to the future, we want to continue and compete again at the Sweet Adelines Region 31 Convention. We want to improve our performance and the education sessions on Sunday by Emma Duguid, “Make it Magical”, along with Finesse’s session have encouraged us to believe we can.
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COLUMN: WARMED UP
as a gentle lead-in to ensure that the vocal mechanism is sufficiently warmed up for the rehearsal ahead. It’s vital to do these exercises with intention and focus so that the vocal warm-up becomes an even more important part of your rehearsal. Try these:
Alyson Chaney, a Certified International Faculty member, presents a new regular column about how to devise a great vocal warm-up routine for your chorus. She would love to hear from you too, so if you have any great warm-ups to share please email Alyson at alysonchaney@yahoo. co.uk and she’ll include, with your permission, your favourite warmup(s) so that we can, as a region, put together a useful resource.
• Hissing with dynamic contrast! Start on a soft dynamic (sssss), then move to loud (SSSSS), then back to soft again (ssssss) so the exercise would look like this ssssssssSSSSSSSSsssss. • Reverse the process by starting on a loud dynamic (SSSS) then gradually get softer (sssss) then back to loud again (SSSSSS), as SSSSSSSSssssssssSSSSSSS. • Finally, alternate soft and loud dynamic levels, as sSsSsSsSsSsSsS. • Use the spoken sound “buh”,
Thanks to those of you who contacted me to comment on my new column. It’s great to hear from you and I’d be pleased to find out which warm-up exercises work for you. So keep them coming! Here’s a quick reminder of the acrostic which highlights some of the most important things to remember when warming up: This time I’ll be looking at phonation exercises. Phonation is the preparation of the voice to produce sound and should always be used
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repeated several times, to ensure your lips are tension free. The sound also encourages a resonant placement within. • Again use another spoken sound “voh”, emphasising the vvvv sound and making the vowel as open and resonant as possible. • We all know the value of bubbling, so always make this part of your warm up routine. Try having a bubblespeak conversation with your neighbour on the risers, where you talk about your day using the full range of sounds and gestures, but by bubbling only! It makes for very interesting sound effects. • Humming is also a great way to prepare your instrument. Starting on an E, using an “nnn” sound, try the sequence of two short sounds then one longer sound, all on the E pitch. After completing this sequence move
COLUMN: WARMED UP
down a semitone and repeat. As you breathe in, have an image in your mind of the pitch you are about to sing to encourage accurate onset. • Hum a slow slide going from 1 to 5 and back down to 1 again – slowly. Semitone up or down at the end of each completed slide. • Repeat the above exercise but change the sound from “nnn” to “mmm” and then to “ng”. These sounds all help to open up resonators. • Extend the exercise even further by, this time, introducing a further note, so the sequence would be 1–1–121. This time go up by a semitone at the end of each sequence. • Sing “oh” on the pitch of C, making sure the sound is open, free and buoyant. Use your hand in front of your face to draw a circle which will gradually get bigger and bigger (and the sound will become freer and more resonant – you may be able to hear the overtones at this point!) • To encourage and develop the overtone pattern use this simple exercise. Start on a D, sing “mo mo mo mo mo mo mo mo mo mo mo mo moh”, then repeat the exercise going up a semitone at a time. Listen out for the overtones! You will hear them. The sound “mo” is a great one for freeing up the vocal mechanism so do use it a lot when you are warming up. • Let’s now extend the vocal range a little further by doing some 5-4-3-2-1 exercises, e.g. by using the sound “pre” (rolling the
“rrr” if you are able to). Again raise or lower the pitch at the end of each ovEd mpr i sequence by a semitone. • Another good exercise which involves dynamic contrast is this one which I heard the Rönninge chorus All NEW design complete with product use in rehearsal last photos and descriptions. November in Hawaii. A helpful “Frequently Asked Questions” page. Use the sounds “va” New EAsy to navigate product categories. and “vee” and the All Published Sheet Music is available for sequence of “vavavava / immEdiAtE download upon purchase. veeveeveevee/ vavavava/ veeveeveevee/vavavava/ veeveeveevee/va “ to the tune of 1234/5432 /1234/5432/1234/5432 /1. Introduce dynamic contrast by starting softly and getting louder in the middle of the sequence then returning to a soft dynamic at the end. It’s a great exercise to develop flexibility and to keep the sound to CheCK It out At WWW.sWEEtAdEliNEiNtl.org come in the mask. JuSt CLICK • For more information on phonation look at of unhelpful vibrato which the class notes in the education we know can be an issue section of the members’ only with some of our singers. part of the Sweet Adelines International website where Thanks again – keep those there are even more great warm-up exercises coming ideas for you to use. Here’s the in. I’d love to be able to link: http://sweetadelineintl. incorporate some of your org/ImgUL/files/Phonation%20 own ideas. ’Til next time. &%20Resonation%20-%20 Johnsen%202007.pdf
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Next time I will be looking at how to encourage the production of straight tones and hence the elimination
Harmony Rag | June 2014 | 13
14 | June 2014 | Harmony Rag
Domino
Heartbeat UK, Vocal Dimension Score: 594 All The Way (Brent Graham) | Cry Baby (Marcia Hill & Nancy Bergman)
Target the Top results Lace City
Director: Glenn Chaney Score: 675 Time After Time (Arns) | I Love Jazz Medley (Wright)
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QUARTET RESULTS
Mac4 Forth Valley, CAL
Hot Note Viva Acappella
I Wanna Be Around (Giallombardo) If You Love Me, Really Love Me (Nancy Bergman)
What’ll I Do (Ed Waesche) Taking A Chance On Love (Giallombardo)
Incognito Heartbeat UK
SPARK Aberdeen, Forth Valley CAL
Score: 562
Score: 554
Most Improved Quartet Red Hot (Nancy Bergman) I Will Love You Till The End Of Time (Al Baker)
Farenheit DaleDiva Score: 507
Tired of Me (Renee Craig) Red Hot (Nancy Bergman)
Score: 554
Score: 541
Goody, Goody (Bescos) If I Love Again (Waesche & Bergman)
Blonde Ambition Milltown Sound, CAL Score: 495
You Don’t Know Me (Clancey) Fit As A Fiddle (Arline B. Cardoso)
Raise the Roof Plymouth Mayflower
Chatterbox Solent Sounds
How Deep Is The Ocean (Hopkins) I’ve Got A Feeling I’m Falling (Bergman)
My Romance (Larry Wright) I Don’t Know Enough About You (Nancy Bergman)
Carousel Plymouth Mayflower, CAL
Mayhem Heartbeat UK
It’s Only A Paper Moon (C Hine) My Foolish Heart (Joni Bescos)
You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You (Volk) When I Fall In Love (Ann Minihane)
Score: 486
Score: 485
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Score: 486
Score: 485
QUARTET RESULTS
Backbeat Phoenix
Simply 4 Rhapsody UK
Rockabye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody (Nancy Bergman) | What’ll I Do (Ed Waesche)
When I Leave The World Behind (Joni Bescos) I’ve Got A Feeling I’m Falling (Bergman)
Q Music DaleDiva, Phoenix, CAL Score: 450
Accent! Forth Valley, London City Singers
I Never Meant To Fall In Love (Joe Liles) Don’t Break The Heart That Loves You (Greg Volk)
Where Is Your Heart (June Dale) Whose Honey Are You (Jean Shook)
Wicked! Heartbeat UK Score: 388
Fortuity Celtic Chords, Lace City, CAL
Last Night On The Back Porch (Bergman) There Goes My Heart (Bergman & Steinkamp)
I’ve Got A Feeling I’m Falling (Bergman) My Foolish Heart (June Dale)
Vocal Zone Aberdeen
Open Division
Footlights Cambridge Harmony, CAL
Fields of Gold | Hello, My Baby Jazz Me Blues (Minihane)
L.O.V.E. (Bergman) | Lipstick On Your Collar/Who’s Sorry Now (Zwicker) | Big Girls Don’t Cry (Zwicker)
Score: 475
Score: 458
Score: 442
Evaluation only
Open Division
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CHORUS RESULTS
Phoenix Director: Lynda Wood
DaleDiva Director: Ally Law
Once Upon A Time (Dale & Harrington) Never Say Never
Get Me To The Church On Time (Gentry/Diamond) If I Had My Way (David Harrington)
Viva Acappella Director: Gaynor Schofield
Spinnaker Director: Jenny Savory
Score: 632
Score: 606
All The Way (Gentry) | Oh Look At Me Now (Dale)
Aberdeen Director: Gwen Topp Score: 551
Score: 622
Score: 596
How Deep Is The Ocean (Hopkins) | I Love Jazz (Wright)
Cheshire A Cappella Directors: Wally Saunders & Angela Lewis Score: 549
Time After Time (Arns) | Five Minutes Ore (Twadorsky)
If You Love Me, Really Love Me (Bergman) Don’t Break That Heart That Loves You (Volk)
Milltown Sound Director: Kim Potter
Rhapsody UK Director: Helen Gavina
How Deep Is The Ocean (Hopkins) | How Many Hearts Have You Broken/Them There Eyes Medley (Brent Graham)
Lover Come Back To Me (Waesche) After You’ve Gone (Bergman & Leola Wright)
Plymouth Mayflower Director: Sarah Gill
Champagne Cornwall Director: Tracey Bailey
When You Wish Upon A Star (Joni Bescos) This Joint Is Jumping (Bergman)
I Never Meant To Fall In Love (Liles) Taking A Chance On Love (Giallombardo)
Score: 542
Score: 541
Score: 542
Score: 534
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CHORUS RESULTS
Hillfoot Harmony Director: Catherine Macdonald Score: 519
Solent Sounds Director: Lorraine Howden Score: 512
Most Improved Chorus Goody, Goody (Bergman) | For All We Know (Dale)
My Foolish Heart (Berg) | I Can’t Give You Anything But Love/I’ve Got A Feeling I’m Falling (Brent Graham)
Celtic Chords Director: Sarah Netherton
Somerset Hills Director: Cynthia Tucker
It’s Only A Paper Moon (Hine) When I Fall In Love (Minihane)
If You Love Me, Really Love Me (Nancy Bergman) The Moment I Saw Your Eyes (Liles)
London City Singers Director: Melanie Rice Score: 471
Prospective: Moor Harmony Director: Meg Nelson
When You Wish Upon A Star (Bergman) Razzle Dazzle (Lund)
The Moment I Saw Your Eyes (Liles) If You Love Me, Really Love Me (Nancy Bergman)
Vocal Dimension Director: Valerie Taylor
Prospective: Singing Unlimited Director: Anita Zengerink
Score: 482
Evaluation only
Score: 475
Evaluation only
Evaluation only
I’ll Never Say ‘Never Again’ Again (Tom Gentry) If I Had My Way (David Harrington)
If I Give My Heart To You (Jim Clancey) Can’t Buy Me Love (Tom Gentry)
Forth Valley Director: David Sangster
Flying High Singers Director: Marie-Ann Pak
How Many Hearts Have You Broken/Them There Eyes Medley (Brent Graham) Iona Boat Song | Wanna Be Startin’
Aquarius | How Deep Is The Ocean (Hopkins) Beyond The Sea
Open Division evaluation only
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Open Division
WINNERS STORIES
THE DOMINO EFFECT! Submitted by Emma Duguid, Domino and Vocal Dimension Domino is so thrilled to be your 2014 Quartet Champions and is very excited to be representing Region 31 in Baltimore later this year! It was such a wonderful contest and we would like to congratulate every quartet who shone during their 7 minutes of fame on that gorgeous stage - what a region we are!
As one of the judges said, “We don’t know just how good we are!” Congratulations, too to our Chorus Champions, Lace City, our Division A Chorus Champions, Milltown Sound and our Division AA Champions, DaleDiva. Before we share our journey with you, here is a little bit about our barbershop background: Emma Duguid ~ Tenor Emma, originally from Edinburgh, now lives in Surrey but started her barbershop life
in the USA (Region 3) and in 2010 was one of the founders of Vocal Dimension. She is now Choreographer, Assistant Director and Tenor Section Leader of the chorus. She is Events Coordinator on the chorus management team, too, as well as a visual/performance coach in the region. Suzanne Mansfield ~ Lead Suzanne is a barbershop brat! She began her barbershop life in LABBS, singing with Cheshire Chord Company for many years. She is a former chorus Director and now sings with Heartbeat.
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WINNERS STORIES
Suzanne formally sang with Miss-Demeanour quartet - their successes include winning gold at LABBS in 2011 as well as competing as a wildcard in Denver in 2012.
We had a very quick sing together during the afterglow of the 2013 convention and then after two trio rehearsals, we had our first rehearsal together in August 2013.
Valerie Taylor ~ Baritone Valerie has been a baritone for only 10 months… since Domino was born! She was a Lead for many years and found barbershop nearly 18 years ago. Alongside Emma, Valerie is one of the founders of Vocal Dimension and is now the Master Director of the chorus as well as being a Sweet Adelines Sound Judge – the very first approved judge outside of the USA and Canada. Valerie does a lot of coaching in the region and she and Emma often join forces to offer a vocal and visual coaching package. Valerie also mentors three choruses in Germany.
With Suzanne and Sarah living in Derbyshire and Emma and Valerie living in Surrey, the 200 miles in between us means it is impossible to rehearse on a weekly basis. We meet monthly (almost!) and managed to squeeze in 7 rehearsals together between August and May. It doesn’t sound a lot, but when we’re together we work hard – always rewarding ourselves with a little celebratory Bellini and dinner out at the end of the first day, of course! So if you typically only see photos on Facebook of us with alcohol, that’s always AFTER our rehearsals! We also try to incorporate some coaching into our weekends together, so it’s always a tiring yet productive and very satisfying few days. Duet rehearsals do exist in between… sometimes… okay, not so often! Let’s face it, Tenor and Baritone isn’t the most pleasant duet to endure for 3 hours!
Sarah Cole ~ Bass Sarah lives and breathes barbershop! Joining Heartbeat at the age of 8 (aww!), she has never looked back. She is now the Assistant Choreographer and works her magic with Heartbeat’s front row. Sarah sang Bass with Miss-Demeanour so she is no stranger to winning medals! Many people ask how Domino was formed but we aren’t 100% sure! We were chatting individually and together about our own quartet goals and somehow it all miraculously came together.
So who has helped us along the way? We all had coaching via Skype in previous quartets, so knew that although it’s best to have coaches in the room, it was a lot cheaper than flying coaches in from the USA. Betty Clipman was our first coach via Skype, and having her for just
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an hour at the beginning of our initial rehearsals together worked so well. The video and sound connection were always fabulous and worked in our favour every time. Our first face-to-face coaching session was in January with Dale Syverson, Master Director 700 of the RichTone Chorus. We had an amazing day with Dale and learnt a huge amount. That was really the turning point for us, and from then on in, it was hard work! Dale recommended that we work with the wonderful Finesse and Beth Brimmicombe coached us during our last rehearsal weekend in April – she worked magic to help polish things up before our first competition. Thank you to all our coaches who have inspired us on our journey so far. We will have the joy of working with Erin Howden in the autumn so we are really looking forward to that! We would like to thank our choruses, Heartbeat and Vocal Dimension, for the wonderful support they’ve given us from the start. A big Domino thank you to ALL of you - we are so proud to represent two fantastic choruses! Valerie and Emma are already going to Baltimore with Vocal Dimension, representing Region 31 in the Harmony Classic Division A competition. It will be very special for Domino to have Vocal Dimension there as part of the Team GB Scream Team.
WINNERS STORIES
We can’t wait! We’re also so happy to be competing alongside our good friends in Finesse and Fortuity. We are all in the last section of the contest on Wednesday, so it will be a great atmosphere with all our supporters out in full force! We’re in the process of learning a song to sing together so the 12 of us can entertain as one big quartet. And then of course we get to cheer on Forth Valley Chorus on Thursday – fun times ahead! That just leaves us to say a final thanks to YOU! The feeling when we came off stage in Nottingham was amazing – we received so many encouraging comments, and that love and support continued throughout the weekend. We hope to see you all soon and if you would like Domino to appear on your chorus show, then do get in touch by emailing duguidemma@gmail.com. Love Emma, Suzanne, Valerie and Sarah xxxx
YOU CAN DO IT! Submitted by Glenn Chaney, Director, Lace City With the words of our outstanding coach Britt-Heléne Bonnedahl in our heads the Lace City Chorus walked onto the stage at the Royal Concert Hall. Britt-Heléne had said repeatedly to us during our two coaching
weekends with her, “You can do it!” Alongside her daughter Anna Öhman (International Champion with the Growing Girls and SALT quartets), Britt-Heléne (director of the current International Champion Rönninge Show Chorus) taught, inspired and encouraged us to the point where we believed that we could indeed do it. To understand the context of this we need to go back to last May when the Lace City Chorus came 4th in the Region 31 contest. I know, many choruses would love to achieve 4th place but after we’d won the last four times we’d entered, this was something of a wakeup call. There’s an old saying, “If you keep doing what you’re doing you’ll keep getting what you are getting”. In our case, that was the problem. Many leadership styles can get results for a while but unless you move and change as the group develops it can begin to run out of steam and become counter-productive. Following a disappointing International experience in Houston we had begun the process of change sometime before last May. The reconstruction process wasn’t complete in time for last year’s contest but we kept the faith and moved forward with our plan for change. I’ll let our Music Team Leader Helen Willis take up the story: “The work started with a visit in October 2012 from
Jan Carley, member of Lions Gate Chorus, Canada, and author of ‘Harmony from the Inside Out’. Jan introduced us to the performance equation: PERFORMANCE = potential + attitude – interferences which says that in order to give our best possible performance we need to minimise our interferences, which are actually almost always in our own heads. Basically, we need to stop getting in our own way! Jan also trained our chorus management and music teams in the use of the ‘appreciative approach’ – a leadership approach which creates a better environment for learning by focussing on the positives and on what is going right. Glenn also took up the opportunity to continue to be coached by Jan on this. Inspired by the success of the British Cycling team at London 2012 and noticing the distinct parallels between competitive sport and competitive singing, we started to study the ideas in the book ‘The Chimp Paradox’ by the cycling team’s psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters, and looked at developing their application to the performing arts. Through a number of small group and whole chorus sessions, chorus members were encouraged to manage the fight or flight, emotional, ‘chimp’ part of their brains - with the goal of getting the chimp to stay happily in its box during performance and
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WINNERS STORIES
allowing the rational ‘human’ part of the brain to stay in control. Chorus members also worked hard week by week at rehearsal to programme the storage ‘computer’ part of their brains with the plan for the contest songs, both vocal and visual. On stage they were able to just run the programme, trusting the work they had done and that everything they needed was in place.” We took the bold step of reorganising our Music Team (one that had served the chorus well in many ways over the years) to create smaller focus groups, each concentrating on fewer aspects of our work. The other part of the formula was the return to basics. Directors who attended Di Porsch’s session on the Sunday morning at the Convention will recall her saying that if you ever think you have the basics covered you are wrong. The top choruses in the world focus on basics all the time – it’s easy to think you are above basics and that more artistic and higher level aspects should take priority. We introduced our “passport” which is a document carried by members onto which they collected stamps for achieving in various areas of our art form. From attending blending rehearsals to receiving oneto-one tuition on singing skills and from passing their vocal and visual auditions to attending a minimum number of performances
the members developed an understanding of their personal ability. “You can do it” began to become a possibility. Coaching was an essential ingredient in our preparation. In my view you have to have another pair of eyes and ears even if you think you know what you are doing. Our choice turned out to be exactly right for us. Even before the fabulous Rönninge Show Chorus won gold in Honolulu we had asked Britt-Heléne and Anna to coach us. They worked on all aspects of skills and performance but it was their mindset work which worked especially well for us because we had done all the work described earlier. Helen Willis picks up the story again: “Britt-Heléne encouraged us to do everything with a specific intention in mind and
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to have a personal goal for the performance which is under your control. For many of our singers, this was ‘to enjoy the experience’. We began using a check-in procedure at the start of each rehearsal to ensure we were in the right mindset to give our best during the evening. Britt-Heléne also gave us relaxation and visualisation techniques which we continued to use, and in our final rehearsals the chorus was often to be found lying on the risers and the floor, walking through the contest day in their minds and deciding how it would be for them. All these things culminated on the day in an amazing sense of calm within the chorus, and the Director, even when we were held in the wings for 45 minutes before going on stage.”
WINNERS STORIES
Britt-Heléne developed our understanding of the process goal (rather than the result goal) which is about defining the concept of success in terms of what you can achieve. Although it is a natural human trait, we can’t do anything about what the other competitors are doing and it only consumes energy and serves no purpose trying to account for it. Even before the results were announced and regardless of who was going to receive the gold medals we knew we had succeeded because we had achieved our goal in our own minds. Receiving the gold medals was a wonderful reward but it wasn’t the point of the contest for us.
to do before we represent Region 31 in Las Vegas.
None of this would have been possible without our amazing Music Team and a Management Team willing to support the initiatives we needed to introduce. My wife Alyson, familiar to most of you as coach, International Faculty member, workshop organiser and top class Tenor has had to put up with a lot from me over the last year as I worked with our teams to effect change in the chorus and myself. The process was often tiring and emotional and she has supported everything. And a big thank you to the astonishing members of Lace City who trusted the leadership and willingly embraced all the new approaches with open minds. We think their faith was rewarded. However all of us know that there is much more
References Harmony From The Inside Out by Jan Carley: Available as an ebook on kindle or from http:// www.harmonyfromtheinsideout. com where you’ll find links to Jan Carley’s coaching services
A word also to everybody in the audience as we performed our contest set. The way you greeted us was just what we needed after the long delay and the warmth of your response to our performance will live with us for a long time. Many of you will be disappointed with the outcome of the contest this year for your chorus or quartet just as we were last year. So long as you apply the process goal principles and if you are prepared for the need for change, success is achievable. YOU CAN DO IT!
The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters: Go to http:// www.chimpparadox.co.uk for information about Steve Peters work – the book is available as an ebook on Kindle and is widely available in bookshops
MILLTOWN SOUND: DIVISION A CHAMPIONS Submitted by Lesley Sheridan, Team Coordinator, Milltown Sound
Well what a weekend for Milltown Sound. Not only did we win the 1st place small chorus award but our quartet Blonde Ambition placed 7th with their highest ever score. We couldn’t be more proud! Congratulations to all the competitors who crossed the stage especially Midsize Champions Dale Diva, Chorus Champions Lace City and Quartet Champions Domino. They will be fantastic ambassadors for Region 31. This year was extra special for us as it was the first time that our AMAZING MD,Kim Potter, directed us on the Convention stage. Kim is a founder member of Milltown Sound – she has been our Assistant Director, Tenor Section Leader, Team Coordinator and PRO. To say she is an integral part of our chorus would be an understatement! Kim took over the helm at Milltown in July 2013 and since that time she has taken us on a fantastic musical journey full of fun and laughter. Kim inspires all of us to be the best performers that we can be and she is very much the captain of our ship! We were very lucky to have 3 new members on stage with us this year, all from the same family, too! Our chorus really is a family affair with more than 40% of the chorus being related to each other in some way. We have
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WINNERS STORIES
mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, granddaughters, aunties, nieces and mothers and daughters-in-law! We had so much fun at Target The Top in Nottingham and we are already on countdown for next years Region 31 Convention, only 49 weeks to go!
DIVA LAS VEGAS! Submitted by Ally Law, Musical Director, DaleDiva We’re thrilled that DaleDiva has qualified to take part in the Harmony Classic competition in Las Vegas next year. Excited is an understatement! For me as a director this is a dream come true. Twelve years ago I said that one day I’d like to direct my own chorus and I’d like to take that chorus on a journey to international. I launched DaleDiva just over six years ago and now the time is right – my dream is becoming a reality and it’s a wonderful feeling. I’m so excited because in Harmony Classic we’ve got 15 minutes to show the international world who DaleDiva is and what we’re all about. I also feel really proud to be sharing the experience with Lace City and Phoenix – what a year for our region! It’s particularly special for me
because I used to be one of the choreographers in Phoenix and have some very special friends that are still as dear to me today. It’s awesome! I’m very excited and very proud to be representing Region 31 with the Divas at International – needless to say, I’m not sleeping at night! I’d also like to say huge congratulations to our fantastic newbie first-time Conventioners Rachel, Jacqui, Elizabeth, Rachel and Shelley who did an amazing job on stage. They rose to the challenge, loved the experience and now can’t believe the amazing Diva journey they’re on! Thank you to the many of you that took time to tell us how much you enjoyed our contest performance. That’s why we do it. Congratulations to everyone who took to the contest stage at Nottingham, particularly our new champions Domino and Lace City and a big high five to our sisters in harmony Viva Acappella.I want to make special mention of our fabulous coach Nicky Salt who has been with me since our journey began. She simply gets who we are, what we want to achieve and does
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so with her unique sense of humour and skill set. Supported by the very talented Zac Booles we have the perfect GB coaching team – how lucky are we! Meanwhile, it’s still Divas as normal. We’ve got new songs and shows lined up and are looking forward to a summer entertaining our lovely local audiences. It’s business as usual, but now with such an exciting goal in sight.
WINNERS STORIES
Diva Las Vegas! One of our aims in the run up to Vegas will be to get to know as many Sweet Adelines as possible – even if it’s just via Facebook. Please drop us a line at www.facebook.com/dalediva.
FLYING HIGH SINGERS GETS FIRST EVER AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD Submitted by Maria Zwegers and Jennifer Schols (First Timer), Flying High Singers
audience. We participated in the Open Division, where the audience had, for the first time, the opportunity to vote for their favourite. To our surprise and delight we won the first ever Audience Choice Award. It was an easy decision for the audience, since we were the only chorus that competed in the Open Division. Getting the award meant that we got the chance to sing in the Show of Champions that evening at The Royal Concert Hall. We loved singing again and were more relaxed than in the afternoon so we really enjoyed ourselves this time.
The chorus competition was at a very high level and all the Flying High Singers thoroughly enjoyed the performances of all the competitors. The whole weekend was memorable. We sang for security at Amsterdam Airport, laughed at the trials of putting on false eyelashes, enjoyed a group dinner with a spontaneous performance at the local pizzeria, and sang with all the choruses in the afterglow at the theatre and into the late hours at the hotel bar. All in all it made the long trip from Holland certainly worthwhile.
The Flying High Singers were in Nottingham this year for the Quartet of Nations Region 31, Sweet Adelines Convention. Our members looked forward to the event with a healthy amount of excitement and anticipation. This was especially true for first timers. We have seven new members and it was also the first Sweet Adelines Convention for our director, Marie Anne Pak. It was a fantastic experience to sing at Convention. We were the last of 21 choruses to sing, so we had a very large
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WINNERS STORIES
Before our performance, we all felt the nerves that we have at any gig, but nothing like the nerves we have experienced when competing in previous contests.
VOCAL ZONE IS REGION 31’S FIRST AUDIENCE CHOICE QUARTET WINNER Submitted by Val Muir, Vocal Zone and Aberdeen When our quartet Vocal Zone first read about the Open Division in the October 2012 Pitch Pipe, we immediately thought that this was tailor made for us, as we just love singing and entertaining. The four of us - Dorothy (Lead, sometimes Baritone), Gwen
(Baritone, sometimes Lead), Val (Tenor) and Anne (Bass) have competed at regional contests both as a quartet and with the Aberdeen Chorus over many years, so we were really excited by the possibility of doing something different. In planning for the Open Division we knew we had to sing two or three songs (one of which had to be a contest song) as an entertainment package suitable for any audience. Rather than choosing the theme first we looked at our repertoire and chose the songs which our audiences seemed to like best – Fields of Gold, Hello My Baby (the gramophone), and Jazz Me Blues and linked them together in a nostalgia theme.
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The relative informality and fun aspect of this competition made us feel much more relaxed. And what support we had from the audience – we loved it! We so enjoyed the accomplished and humorous performance from the other quartet in the Open Division – Footlights – and we were surprised and delighted to be awarded the audience choice and with it the opportunity to sing again in the show. We had the same buzz from singing as we do at any performance – all we want is applause from the audience and some adulation afterwards! The judges’ comments were so constructive and helpful and we were thrilled with the level they awarded us. We found the whole experience most enjoyable and we’re sure the Open Division will be a popular ongoing part of Convention. We hope to continue singing (and laughing) together for many years to come and will keep on working on our game. Between us we have over 100 years of barbershop experience – as one of the husbands recently remarked “You’d think you’d know how to do it by now.”
YOUR TARGET THE TOP PHOTOS
The official photographer for Convention has provided us with some wonderful photos of a fantastic weekend but they couldn’t be at different places at the same time so we asked you to tag your tweets, photos and social media updates with #TargetTheTop. Here’s what you’ve shared.
By jennyjustjenny
By piggynaut
By barbaramutsaers
By piggynaut
By barbaramutsaers
By utterprints
By piggynaut
By utterprints
By piggynaut
By barbaramutsaers
By Viva Acappella Twitter
By Vocal Dimension
By Forth Valley
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RMT UPDATES
BOARD OF DIRECTORS OR MANAGEMENT TEAM: IS YOUR CHORUS THINKING OF CHANGING?
Submitted by Fiona McGlashan, Membership Co-ordinator
and appointed members, including the chorus director.
Each chorus may choose its own form of governance. There are two approved forms of governance - a board of directors and a management team.
The following table compares specific criteria of each approved form:
A board of directors provides for a total of 6 to 12 directors, each elected for a twoyear term. A management team consists of elected
Which governance structure is best for your chorus? The role of a board of directors and a management team is: • To develop a long-range plan based on the goals and core values of the chorus.
Board of Directors
Management Team
Number of members
6 to 12
5 to 8
Method of selection
Election
Election or appointment
Term of office
2 years (number of consecutive terms should be defined in the Standing Rules)
1 or 2 years (terms and number of consecutive terms should be defined in the Standing Rules)
Chorus Director involvement
May participate in discussion but not a voting member
Team member
Required positions
President Vice President Secretary Treasurer
Team Co-ordinator Secretary Finance Manager Director
Selecting officers
Board vote
Specified in Standing Rules
Committee required
Membership Nominating Bylaws and Rules
Nominating plus others specified in the Standing Rules
Meeting schedule
At least monthly, specified in the Standing Rules
Specified in the Standing Rules
Decision making
Motion and vote
Discussion and consensus
Responsibilities
Manages chorus funds Plans for goal achievement Organises and evaluates Ensures open communication
Manages chorus funds Plans for goal achievement Organises and evaluates Ensures open communication
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RMT UPDATES
• To oversee and evaluate the implementation of the strategies developed to achieve long-range plans. • To establish an appropriate structure of task-oriented groups (teams, committees, staffs etc.) that are responsible for developing the strategies. • To ensure open communication at all levels of the chorus. Your selection of a governance structure depends on the leadership style of your chorus Director and chorus members. Before making the choice, it is strongly suggested that your chorus hold a special meeting to discuss and agree on core values and goals. Your chorus’ leadership – board or team – will make decisions based on the direction established by these goals and values. Board of Directors If your chorus chooses a board of directors governance structure, the Standard Form Chapter Bylaws allow your chorus to choose a 6 to 12 member board of directors. The size of the board depends on your chorus’ size and the availability of leadership. The Board of Directors makes decisions on administrative matters and approves musical decisions made by the music team headed by the chorus director. The board also oversees the work of individual committees. It is important that the board seek input from the chorus membership when
making decisions. Chapter officers are chosen from the board by a vote of the board. Management Team If your chorus chooses a management team, it will: • Elect five to eight team members. • Automatically appoint your chorus director (member, non-member, female or male) as a decision-making member of the team. This group of elected leaders plus the chorus director may appoint up to three additional team members. You could have as few as five if you choose not to make any additional appointments and as many as eight members on your management team. Your standing rules must specify the actual number of elected and appointed team members. The entire chorus gives input to the team through such means as goal-setting, questionnaires and discussion of values. The team is responsible for planning and managing the process in much the same way as a board of directors would, but the chorus director is an integral part of the decision-making. What is consensus? • An agreement among team members to support each other for the common good. It can be experienced only when everyone has participated in the decision-making process and can support the final decision. Consensus means that even those
who do not fully agree can at least support the group decision, if only for a trial period. • A flexible process, which often uncovers thoughts and ideas that otherwise might not surface. • A process that accommodates varying points of view. Consensus also means that you have a voice and can block decisions that you cannot accept. However, you must then be prepared to present a viable alternative, not just reject the ideas of others. One value of a diverse team is hearing many points of view, which can lead to better ideas. Decisions made by consensus bring people together rather than polarizing them, as voting often does. Consensus does not mean: • That team members are 100 percent sold on every course of action. Not only will different points of view be expressed, but more than one “right” solution may exist. In fact, total agreement on a complex issue is rare. To successfully implement any significant change, team members should be at least 70 percent comfortable with an action. Be aware that the process of reaching consensus can delay a decision. • Saying “yes” when you really mean “no.” It is important that team members be honest and forthright in stating opinions. Giving your “real” opinion after the meeting, to friends in the parking lot, for example, defeats the team’s purpose. Lack of commitment and follow-through are almost always the result when
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the “Nos” are not expressed and fully discussed during team meetings. • Majority rule that forces the minority to go along. When this happens, subtle and overt resistance may occur. Consensus decisions require a degree of discussion and interchange that doesn’t occur in voting.
A number of choruses in Region 31 have adopted a Management Team governance structure with great success. The Management Team structure seems to work well for choruses with fewer individuals available to take on leadership roles and at the same time seems to reduce confrontation while encouraging discussion.
If your chorus is proposing a management change please remember that changes to governance structure can only be made at the time of rechartering. All the above details are extracted from the SAI Chapter Guide Section 1 – Chapter Organisation.
NOTICES OFFICER UPDATES Choruses, don’t forget to update your chapter’s office information on the Sweet Adelines International database via the website by 01 July. TARGET THE TOP Feedback survey is still open until 15 July. Go to http://sweetadelines.org.uk/ convention2014feedback.htm. This is an important and valuable part in the preparation of next and future conventions to know what works best for our region. Taking part also enters the respondent to a draw to win a half-priced All Events Tickets (AET) for next year’s convention. ANNUAL REGIONAL EVALUATION Choruses, please don’t forget to complete the Annual Regional Evaluation survey prepared and sent to you by Sweet Adelines International HQ on 13 May. Only 1 response is required per chorus so we suggest that you discuss this with the rest of your board or management team. Go to https://www.surveymonkey. com/s/ZW2CK2B. Deadline for completion is 31 July. Please note that this survey is from International and does not form part of the Target the Top convention feedback survey.
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COACHING DIRECTORY ELLIE BLACKEBY Lace City mills_ellie@hotmail.com
NANCY KELSALL Heartbeat UK nancykelsall@hotmail.com
ANNE CARGILL Aberdeen annecargill2012@btinternet.com
SANDRA LEA-RILEY Heartbeat UK sandraleariley@virginmedia.com
ALYSON CHANEY RMT Workshop Coordinator Lace City alysonchaney@yahoo.co.uk
DOROTHY MAIN Aberdeen themains@talktalk.net NICKY SALT CAL nicky.salt@hotmail.co.uk
GLENN CHANEY Lace City glenn.chaney@yahoo.co.uk
DAVID SANGSTER Forth Valley carsonsangster@aol.com
EMMA DUGUID Vocal Dimension duguidemma@gmail.com
VALERIE TAYLOR Vocal Dimension valerie.taylor@privacysolutions.co.uk
NORMA FERRIER Forth Valley CAL norma.ferrier@whec.edin.sch.uk
GWEN TOPP Aberdeen gmtopp@yahoo.co.uk
ELAINE HAMILTON RMT Education Coordinator CAL elainemrssh@aol.com
MICHELLE WALKER Lace City shelbywalks@yahoo.co.uk
TANYA JENKINS CAL tunefultan@virginmedia.com
LYNDA WOOD Phoenix lynda@pottonwoods.co.uk
COPY DEADLINE The next Harmony Rag will be issued in September - please send all contributions to harmonyrag@sweetadelines.org.uk by
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Vocal Zone
2014 Open Division Quartet Audience Choice
Flying High Singers
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DaleDiva
2014 Region 31 Division AA Chorus Champions
Milltown Sound
2014 Region 31 Division A Chorus Champions