Harmony Rag June 2015 Edition

HARMONY RAG June 2015

Special Convention Issue

Heartbeat UK

2015 Region 31 Chorus Champion

Harmony Rag | June 2015 | 1

Viva Acappella

2015 Division AA winner 2 | June 2015 | Harmony Rag

Contents Features

9

Nottingham 2015 results

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Full results of the 2015 Quartet of Nations Region 31 Convention

15

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Winners stories

Let’s hear from the winners - Heartbeat UK, Hot Note, Viva Acappella and Vocal Dimension

Usuals 4 n 7 n 21 n 25 n 26 n

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.

Regional Buzz Column: Warmed Up RMT Updates Coaching Directory Calendar of Events

One point makes the difference We know that our region continues to be a top scoring one when it comes to regional contest. But with this year’s results, it should now

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.

come with a health warning label! How close was that? Just a single point separating the champion and the second place. And not just in one but in both the quartet and chorus contests! Wow! What’s even more amazing is that those scores were given by such a powerhouse panel of judges. Our regional contest has been blessed and honoured with these amazing women Sharon Babb, Dale Syverson, Sandy Marron and Peggy Gram sitting in the judging pit and giving us useful feedback on our respective journeys in barbershop singing.

It was a great weekend and I hope you’ve all enjoyed it! Roll on Gateshead 2016, yes? Of course!

Charl

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 Layout and printing by Caktus Ltd.

CHARL ASUIT COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR charlasuit@gmail.com

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REGIONAL BUZZ

RAISING MONEY FOR A GOOD CAUSE Submitted by June Campbell, Rhapsody UK

On a windswept and rainsoaked Sunday morning, 20 members of Rhapsody UK chorus took part in Race for Life at Burghley House, Stamford in aid of Cancer Research. Some ran the 10K, others the 5K but most of us walked the 5K, singing in the rain, of course!

The rain couldn’t dampen our enthusiasm as can be seen by the photos. My quartet members and I (JASper) had managed to buy plastic festival ponchos and we could have sold them ten times over to other competitors!

This fundraiser, which incidentally hopes to raise £1,000, has been part of a year long campaign for Rhapsody which culminates in our Christmas Show on Saturday, 05 December. More details can be found on our website www.rhapsodychorus.org.uk.

JASper quartet in ponchos

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Rhapsody UK chorus were initially approached by the charity Target Ovarian Cancer at the end of 2014 to see if we could help raise funds for them. Committee members commented how lucky we had been as no chorus members had battled cancer. That sentiment, however, became ironic because in January 2015 one of our tenors, Lucy, told us that she had ovarian cancer and needed radical surgery and chemotherapy.

were all amazed to hear that our efforts had raised £1,000 for Target Ovarian Cancer.

As for Lucy, she had her surgery and chemotherapy and is currently undergoing another round of it. Through it all she has been incredibly strong and positive and we cannot wait to welcome her back to the front row of Rhapsody UK chorus just as soon as she feels well.

CONVENTION DOWN UNDER

Submitted by Anne Cargill, Aberdeen and member of the International Board of Directors Fun continues despite the rain

Whilst the chorus were shocked that such a young woman could get ovarian cancer, all members were soon spurred into action with ideas about how to raise money for Target Ovarian Cancer and Cancer Research – both were suggestions from Lucy.

Some thought they would give something up for Lent, others thought of cycle rides and of course the Race for Life. Many felt it was incredibly important to raise awareness of ovarian cancer so in March we all took leaflets to work, to our families and friends and launched a social media campaign to raise awareness. At a chorus away day we held a silent auction where local businesses has been incredibly generous.

At the end of the month we

What to do after convention?

Why, go to another region’s convention! “How about Region 34? Why don’t we go there?” said my friend Val, over a drink at the 2014 International Convention in Baltimore. “My sister, Jill, who used to sing with Surrey Harmony, lives in Tasmania and runs a bed and breakfast with her husband John. We could stay with Jill and we could all go to the convention in Hobart.”

So we did! After competing at convention in Nottingham we sent our costumes back to Aberdeen with our chorus pals and travelled to Australia to be met in Tasmania by Jill some 30 hours later.

Neither of us had ever attended another regional convention despite having attended many

REGIONAL BUZZ

international conventions.

It was so interesting to be a non-competing member, watching and listening to all the performances. Meeting old friends from all over the world made me realise what a truly international organisation Sweet Adelines is. There were others, like us, who were visiting from other countries and came just to watch.

So many things about their convention were similar – the singing, the suspense waiting for the results, the friendship, the laughter, the lack of sleep, the afterglow, the parties!

The members of the Regional Management Team (RMT), like our own in Region 31, were amazing – not only had they organised a great convention but also sang in choruses and quartets and directed choruses.

Indeed there are talented and competent women the world over – and down under.

Great view of the Hobart

The venue was superb taking place in the Wrest Point Hotel with many choruses also staying there – we were fortunate to get rooms there with beautiful views of the Hobart.

Like our own region, the standard of singing was so high with Hi Jinx from A Capella West in Perth winning the quartet contest. I was delighted to be asked to present the quartet trophy to the quartet champions, especially as my friend Jo Oosterhoof sings tenor with Hi Jinx. Jo will be well known to many people in the UK as she lived in the UK for a few years and played an active part in Region 31.

Hi Jinx singers Jo Oosterhoof (tenor) and Lyndsey Dyer (bass) are co-directors of A Cappella West and went on to win the

weeks prior to the contest and after two rehearsals we sang our song Take A Chance On Me while the audience was waiting for the results of the chorus contest. Of course we also participated in the mass sing with some different regional songs – Waltzing Matilda, I Am Australian and I Still Call Australia Home to name but a few.

chorus contest the following day with 628 points making both of them Master Directors – what a weekend for them.

One part of convention seemed to go down well with the audience – instead of having a two to three-hour show, the Show of Champions started an hour after the chorus contest was finished and lasted exactly one hour with many choruses and quartets given the opportunity to sing one song only with no chats in between! This meant that the audience members who hadn’t heard the contest could hear many winning performers – not all of whom sang their contest song which made it more interesting for those who had listened to every competitor. The performers simply lined up in the auditorium so that everybody saw every performance.

Afterwards, everyone had enough time to go and eat before the afterglow and parties!

Jill, Val and I all chose to sing in the STAR chorus – Singing Together at Regional – this is a chorus made up of people not taking part in the contest, so we met Sweet Adelines International members from non-competing choruses and quartets from Australia and New Zealand.

We were sent the music some

Guest performers were The Establishment, a men’s quartet from Australia and the He Tangata Chorus from New Zealand directed by Master Director Virginia Humphrey Taylor, who is also the director of Christchurch Chorus. This chorus rehearses four times a year and is made up of singers

Anne and Val presenting the quartet trophy

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REGIONAL BUZZ

from all over New Zealand. They delighted the audience with barbershop as well as some traditional New Zealand songs.

One of the many things which really impressed me was the Leaders’ Breakfast on the Sunday morning. Chorus leaders were invited to breakfast by the RMT and had a chance to network with leaders from other choruses as well as the members of the RMT. Amazingly over 100 chorus leaders showed up at 8:30am for this event!

The rest of Sunday was similar to ours with great education classes from the judges – Showmanship Judge, Judy Pozsgay, and Expression Judge Lea Beverley.

The regional awards – Novice Quartet, Most Improved Quartet, Novice Director, including a new award this year, the Publicity and Marketing Award were also given out on Sunday.

Everyone made us so welcome and we made so many new friends – we might just have to go back again sometime in the future!

A FIRST TIMER’S STORY Submitted by Alison Roberts, Milltown Sound What an experience!

What a weekend!

I was a convention first timer and along with my friend Charlotte,

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we arrived in Nottingham late on Friday night and our feet didn’t touch the ground until Sunday afternoon! Our weekend began with an impromptu singalong in the bar – accompanied by a stag do which was interesting, indeed.

Milltown Sound was on stage mid-afternoon so we were able to dive into our preparation after a hearty breakfast. Military operation is the only way to describe getting ready for convention. Millies arrived in our room and lined up ready to be bronzed! Complete with fabulous eyelashes and super sparkly costumes we began our warm ups. You could feel the excitement and anticipation in the room. Once we were ready, we made our way to the venue.

Under the guidance of our amazing director, Kim, and chorus coordinator, Lesley, we were raring to take the stage to show everyone what we had been working so hard on this year. Even more importantly, we were ready to entertain and enjoy ourselves. Personally, I don’t remember ever being so excited waiting for a performance as I was waiting in the wings of the stage that day.

As we stepped onto the risers the next seven minutes were a bit of a blur – but what a buzz!

Standalone moments for us as a chorus have to be the reactions we got from the audience.

You could feel the emotion at the end of our ballad, it was a real ‘hairs on the back of the

neck’ moment. People smiled, laughed and cheered just as we had hoped throughout our package and the comments we received from our peers and audience we so kind and sincere.

Being awarded second place small chorus was the sparkly icing on our cake. Can’t wait until next year – bring it on!

PITCHED PERFECTLY

Submitted by Viva Acappella In true Viva fashion, we took over Cineworld Cinema in Bexleyheath on Thursday (28th May) for an exclusive family and friends viewing of Pitch Perfect 2. Hiring out the 88 seater screen proved much cheaper for individuals than attending a normal viewing and it was a great atmosphere.

We also managed to fit in a bit of singing in the foyer beforehand, which enabled us to promote our Recruitment Day on 13th June to fellow cinema goers and Pitch Perfect fans.

Viva Acappella pitching perfect at the cinema

COLUMN: WARMED UP

Exercise 1 The 151 13531 123454321 – ensure that each interval is clean and the tuning is accurate.

Exercise 2 An advance version of exercise 1 is the 151 13531 123454321 then chromatic scale up to 5 and back down again.

Exercise 3 Using OO vowel sing the melody to Happy Birthday – again focus on producing clean intervals without little detours on the way.

Exercise 4 Same as exercise 3 but this time use the song My Bonny Lies Over The Ocean.

INSTANT ACCURACY AND NO SCOOPING! We strive for clean intervals when we sing in order to achieve instant accuracy – which is always preferable to the S word (scooping).

If we adopt instant accuracy there are immediate rewards: 1. We maintain the correct pitch throughout.

2. We keep the chords aligned and in tune.

3. Correct pitch throughout means lock and ring is more likely to occur.

4. The basses will thank you!

Here are some exercises which will help you to focus on achieving instant accuracy:

Exercise 5 Use the same melody but put a consonant onto the vowel sound - try BOO, GOO, KOO, LOO and finally JOO. Exercise 6 Change the vowel to ah – BAH, GAH, KAH, LAW and JAH. Exercise 7 Repeated notes: use 5 5 5 54321 with MAH, VAH, plus any other consonants and vowels you choose.

Exercise 8 The surprise symphony: 1133553 4422775 1133553 88445 – sing firstly to vowels, then consonants plus vowels, and then choose words from your repertoire songs which are likely to impede instant accuracy. You can identify these words as they often start with consonants like J, D, G, B, K, T and L. In a song like How We Sang Today you could use the words DAY, PRAY, BE, GONE, LAUGHED, LOVED, TAKE, GLAD, TODAY.

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Hot Note Viva Acappella Score: 615

You Don’t Know Me (Jim Clancy) | Shanghai: Why Did I Tell You I Was Going To (Nancy Bergman)

Most Improved Quartet

RESULTS

Heartbeat UK Director: Nancy Kelsall Score: 654

What’ll I Do? (Ed Waesche and Renée Craig) | Cabaret (Larry Wright) All photos © Event Photos http://event-photos.co.uk/

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QUARTET RESULTS

Fortuity Celtic Chords, Lace City

Storm Lace City

I’ve Got A Feeling I’m Falling (Joni Bescos) | My Foolish Heart (Joni Bescos)

When the Red Red Robin Goes Bob Bob Bobbin Along (Greg Volk) | My Foolish Heart (Joni Bescos)

Mac4 Forth Valley, CAL

Vice Versa Viva Acappella

I Wanna Be Around (Jay Giallombardo) | Time After Time (Jim Arns)

Flirty Eyes (Nancy Bergman) | My Foolish Heart (Joni Bescos)

Raise the Roof Plymouth Mayflower

Road Trip London City Singers, Spinnaker, CAL

Score: 614

Score: 574

Score: 539

If You Love Me Really Love Me (Nancy Bergman) | I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling (Nancy Bergman)

Score: 583

Score: 563

Score: 538

You Turned The Tables On Me (Nancy Bergman) | I Will Love You Til The End Of Time (Al Baker)

DeciBelles Viva Acappella, CAL

SPARK Aberdeen, Forth Valley

If You Love Me, Really Love Me (Nancy Bergman) | Deed I Do (Aaron Dale)

Sweet Adeline (Jay Giallombardo) | Goody Goody (Joni Bescos)

Blonde Ambition Milltown Sound, CAL

Inspiration Champagne Cornwall

At Last (Nancy Bergman) | Never Say Never (Tom Gentry, mods by Mo Field)

Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown (Bev Sellers) | Taking a Chance on Love (Jay Giallombardo)

Score: 538

Score: 530

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Score: 533

Score: 525

QUARTET RESULTS

Oops!

Surrey Harmony Didn’t Want To Fall (Joe Liles) | If I Give My Heart To You (Jim Clancy)

Junction 4 Viva Acappella Score: 494

I’ll Never Say Never Again Again (Tom Gentry) | The Masquerade Is Over (Ed Waesche)

Stardust Aberdeen, CAL

Carousel Plymouth Mayflower, CAL

I Can’t Give You Anything But Love (Nancy Bergman) | When You Wish Upon A Star (Nancy Bergman)

It’s Only A Paper Moon (C. Hine) | My Foolish Heart (Joni Bescos)

Mayhem

Chatterbox Solent Sounds

Score: 479

Score: 467 You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You (Greg Volk) | When I Fall in Love (Ann Minihane)

Score: 469

Score: 467

My Romance (Larry Wright) | I Don’t Know Enough About You (Nancy Bergman)

Backbeat Phoenix

FourEffect Vocal Dimension

My Foolish Heart (Joni Bescos) | Bye, Bye Blackbird (Carolyn Schmidt)

Angry/Bill Bailey Medley (Nancy Bergman) | Over The Rainbow (Nancy Bergman)

Note-Ability Plymouth Mayflower

Mixology Cheshire A Cappella

You’ve Got To See Mama Ev’ry Night (Janet Landstrom) | If I Give My Heart To You (Jim Clancy)

Stars Fell on Alabama (David Wright) | Love Letters Straight from Your Heart (Wal Saunders)

Score: 440

Score: 403

Score: 430

Score: 377

Footlights Cambridge Harmony, Phoenix, CAL OPEN DIVISION

Audience Choice Winner Fair Bottom Carnival (Hilary Allen) | Curvaceous Colleen the Carnival Queen: parody of La Wanda Darlene the Rodeo Queen (Marcia Hill and Nancy Bergman) | It Should’ve Been Me: parody of It Had to be You (Carol Schmidt)

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CHORUS RESULTS

Viva Acappella Director: Gaynor Schofield

Forth Valley Director: David Sangster

Most Improved Chorus Division AA WInner

For All We Know (June Dale) | How Many Hearts Have You Broken/Jeepers Creepers Medley (Marsha Zwicker/Jim Arns)

Score: 653

Once Upon a Time (June Dale) | Oh! Look At Me Now (Aaron Dale)

Vocal Dimension Director: Valerie Taylor Score: 603

Division A Winner If I Had My Way (Clay Hine) | I Never Knew/I’m Getting Married (Renee Craig and Fred King)

Aberdeen Directors: Gwen Topp and Sophie Radcliffe Score: 582

Score: 639

Spinnaker Director: Jenny Savory Score: 602

How Deep is the Ocean (Rob Hopkins) | The Moment I saw your Eyes (Joe Liles)

Surrey Harmony Director: Lorraine Turner Score: 570

Time After Time (Jim Arns) | Five Minutes More (Doris Twardosky)

My Foolish Heart (Joni Bescos + original verse) | The Joint Is Jumpin’ (Nancy Bergman)

Milltown Sound Director: Kim Potter

Cheshire A Cappella Director: Wal Saunders

If I Give My Heart to You (Jim Clancy)| Goody Goody (Joni Bescos)

If You Love Me, Really Love Me (Nancy Bergman) | I Used To Call Him Baby Medley (Jay Giallombardo)

Plymouth Mayflower Director: Sarah Gill

Sheffield Harmony Director: Tim Briggs

When You Wish Upon A Star (Joni Bescos) | The Joint is Jumping (Nancy Bergman)

Just the Way You Look Tonight (Larry Wright) | Deed I Do Medley: Deed I Do, Put Your Arms Around Me Honey, I Never Knew I Could Love Anybody (Larry Wright)

Score: 546

Score: 537

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Score: 537

Score: 530

CHORUS RESULTS

Rhapsody UK Director: Helen Glavina Score: 527

Toot, Toot, Tootsie! (Nancy Bergman) | The Bandstand in Central Park (Nancy Bergman)

Hillfoot Harmony Director: Catherine Macdonald Score: 514

For All We Know (June Dale) | You’ve Got to See Mama Every Night (Janet Landstrom)

London City Singers Director: Melanie Rice

Champagne Cornwall Director: Tracey Bailey

When You Wish Upon A Star (Nancy Bergman) | Whose Honey Are You? (Jean Shook)

I Never Meant to Fall in Love (Joe Liles) | Sweet Georgia Brown (George Avener)

Singing Unlimited Director: Anita Zengerink

New Land Singers Director: Kit de Bolster

If I Give My Heart to You (Jim Clancy) | I’ll Never Say “Never Again” Again (Tom Gentry/Sandy Marron)

Where is Your Heart (June Dale) | Love Me (Aaron Dale)

Moor Harmony Director: Dick Knight

Solent Sounds Director: Lorraine Howden

Before the Parade Passes (Carolyn Schmidt via Larry Wright Productions) | If You Love Me, Really Love Me (Nancy Bergman)

My Foolish Heart (June Berg) | Take Me to the Land of Jazz (Ann Minihane)

Lace City Director: Glenn Chaney

City of Roses Director: Mary Robertson

Time After Time (Jim Arns) | I Love Jazz Medley (David Wright)

Jeepers Creepers (Marsha Zwicker) | My Mother’s Eyes (Renee Craig)

Score: 504

Score: 477

Score: 438

EVALUATION ONLY

Score: 499

Score: 456

Score: 389

EVALUATION ONLY

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CHORUS RESULTS

Apple County Director: Anya Peat

DaleDiva Director: Ally Law

Over the Rainbow (Joni Bescos) | My Baby Just Cares For Me (Nancy Bergman)

That’s What Makes You Beautiful (Shelley Gray) | If I Had My Way (David Harrington) | The Parting Glass (Shelley Gray)

EVALUATION ONLY

Cambridge Harmony Director: Hilary Allen OPEN DIVISION

Audience Choice Winner Breaking Up is Hard To Do (Joan D’Agostino and Nancy Bergman) | Are You Lonesome Tonight? (Nancy Bergman) | Who’s Sorry Now

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OPEN DIVISION

WINNERS STORIES

IS IT US OR IS IT HOT IN HERE? Submitted by Hot Note

Take one Beauty Therapist, one Clinical Hypnotherapist, one Learning & Development Consultant and an Alloy Wheels Refurbishment Manager – mix them all up and what do you get? Hot Note quartet, the winners of this year’s Region 31 quartet gold medal!

Wow, what a wonderful surprise it was for all of us! Three of us had sung together before, but in this line up for only 20 months.

As soon as we started singing together we knew we were going to have fun and didn’t let a minor detail like having three basses

and a tenor get in the way.

Nor did it matter that we were spread across three counties.

this year, representing Region 31 with Finesse and Fortuity, will be the icing on the cake – yay!

Anyway, what’s not to like about having your nails done, your car wheels sorted, relaxation therapy and some motivational activities thrown into your rehearsals and have your very own ‘Mrs Overall’ (Chris’ mum) to wheel in tea and Victoria sponge at every rehearsal?

What other hobby can take you all over the world, where friendships are for life, is a huge amount of fun and gives terrific sense of achievement?

As Greg Clancy said at BABS in May this year, “Close your eyes for a moment and imagine life without barbershop. Can you?”

We certainly can’t and would like to thank our choruses who have supported us – Viva Acappella and Signature.

We were delighted to win the bronze medal at our first Sweet Adelines International regional contest in May 2014 and then after a closely-fought preliminary round in June, semifinals and final round in October, we were ecstatic to win gold at the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers (LABBS) Convention in October 2014.

Things were getting very exciting indeed! Then in May 2015, also after another extremely close contest, we were astonished and delighted to win gold in Nottingham. So double gold for Hot Note, which completely exceeded all our expectations.

It’s been a whirlwind of activity since – invitations to sing on Radio Kent, the British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) convention, Irish Association of Barbershop Singers (IABS) Convention, Barbershop in Germany (BinG) in March and Nashville at the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) International in 2016. But competing at Las Vegas later

Las Vegas here we come!

Chris, Rowena, Colette, Gaynor

HEARTBEAT: THE ROAD TO GOLD

Submitted by Annabelle Williams, PR Officer, Heartbeat Winning the Region 31 chorus competition has been a dream come true for every member of Heartbeat chorus. It is truly amazing (and challenging) to be in a region where the top five choruses score over 600!

We are humbled and delighted to have scooped the gold medal amidst such talent.

After taking a year off we were raring to go, but with two new challenging songs we wanted the songs to accurately reflect what Heartbeat is about. Nancy Kelsall, our Music Director, summed

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WINNERS STORIES

this up well in her final email to chorus before the contest. It read, “What makes us special? Passion, sparkle, emotion, sound and teamwork. Go, team Heartbeat, let’s make their hearts sing.”

The culmination of our success was a thrilling surprise that can be attributed in part to the meticulous planning from our Musical Director. As a selfconfessed planner, Nancy has five-year plans, 12-week plans, three-week plans and week-byweek plans! These are put in place to ensure we harness the talent we have within the chorus while working harmoniously as a team. In addition to Nancy, our music team, section leaders, the super talented assistant director, Emma Shanks, and choreographer Sandra Lea-Riley all worked hard to raise our levels and embed the visual and vocal plans. Sandra came up with an innovative visual plan with the choreography team and drove it through with her customary energy, which one described as more energy than the national grid! Our support teams and committee also worked hard to take pressure off others.

They supported the plan, found rehearsal venues and efficiently booked a different hotel when our original hotel cancelled on us six weeks before convention.

This past year, Nancy wanted to advance the level of our individual singers so she developed a mentoring programme which involved our members guiding each other’s

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progress on vocal skills. It was important that we encourage each other in a supportive and positive way, and the programme proved invaluable.

And to ensure that we were confident and on track, Nancy assembled small groups who performed the package to her and were positively evaluated on areas for development.

bringing an emergency backup bra on the day of contest! Finally, we had an array of wardrobe malfunctions, which we noted as could be distracting on stage (dropped hats, hat pegs, dress sequins attached to tassels) which resulted in two extra dress rehearsals for the front row and many of us learning the art of ‘hatography’!

Critical to our success, too, was the coaching we received from the fantastic Sandy Marron with whom we had two fabulous weekends. Sandy brought us amazing musicianship, tools to sing and perform better. These were all communicated to Nancy and the chorus in a wonderfully down to earth and enabling way. Sandy has truly become part of the Heartbeat family.

On the morning of the contest, we were feeling positive, well prepared and full of excitement.

Being the final chorus to perform meant that we had plenty of time to rehearse and concentrate on being composed and focused throughout the day. Our performance on stage was a truly thrilling experience and as all singers will attest, those seven minutes fly by in an instant! Coming off stage, we felt delighted with our performance, knowing that we had given everything we had, done our best, and had a blast!

The plan, however well organised wasn’t without its minor (often hilarious) complications.

Our award-winning front row bass, Sarah Cole, badly sprained her ankle four weeks before competition and had a boot strapped on for our final rehearsal, particularly challenging for our uptune ‘Cabaret’ with its high octane choreography! Because of this injury we had to replace Sarah in helping with ‘the lift’. With two weeks to go, the only way to keep ‘the lift’ in was for Sandra to do it! Lesson learnt: training a backup is always worth it!

Nancy also (famously) forgot her most supportive undergarment at our final dress rehearsal which resulted in three singers

As we hurriedly made our way back into the auditorium to hear the results, the buzz in the theatre was palpable.

Whilst the results were read out we squeezed hands, held our breath and hoped for an improvement to our previous.

We also wondered if we dared to pray for a medal – knowing that Region 31 is such a high scoring region – we realise that this would be no mean feat.

We listened with bated breath as fifth, fourth, third, second and most improved chorus results

WINNERS STORIES

were announced. We tensed and wondered, “Dare we hope, dare we hope?” And then Sharon Babb said, “With a score of 654 the first place chorus goes to HEARTBEAT CHORUS!” We leapt up, throwing our hands in the air, kissing, hugging, crying, screaming and whooping!

We did it. WE WON GOLD! Karen Marshall is an original member of Heartbeat and has been singing with chorus for 17 years. She said, “My mother and I were looking to join a barbershop chorus and had visited a few in the area, what drew us to Heartbeat was the excitement of joining a chorus from its inception and that we could all learn together. I had previously sung with operatic societies and what I recognised and love with barbershop is that everyone works as one big team. It’s been wonderful to see Heartbeat grow and

mature over the years. When we began, the notion of winning gold was a distant dream.”

in August, supporting the wonderful Britain’s Got Talent winner Jonathan Antoine.

Another long-standing member of Heartbeat is Jackie Greenwood who has been singing with the chorus for 15 years. Her 70th birthday was a few days after convention and Jackie said, “Winning gold has been the best present I’ve ever had!” Anyone who knows Jackie will agree that she is a true Heartbeat superstar, between tap and dance classes, she is often last on the dance floor, and we love that she brings this energy to the stage.

2015/16 sees a fundraising agenda packed with singouts (Stockport Fringe Festival), our own Heartbeat Show in early 2016 and events where we aim to entertain those who have not yet been exposed to the amazing world of barbershop.

Over the next year we plan to enjoy being champions and continue the work that’s gone into the past year.

Of course, the fundraising for Las Vegas will begin in earnest. We are delighted to be singing at Gawsworth Hall

Thank you to all our friends in Sweet Adelines International, our supporters, friends, family and partners who have put up with the bubbling, the lashes and the rehearsals that take up our time. You’ve helped us achieve a long held dream. Most of all, we are grateful to be a part of Heartbeat Chorus and the Quartet of Nations Region 31. Thank you for all the laughs, harmony and friendship. As the song goes, “Life is a cabaret old chum, come to the cabaret!”

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WINNERS STORIES

VIVA LAS VEGAS! Submitted by Helen Mitchener, Viva Acappella

Wow! What a weekend that was and we still haven’t come down to earth! This year’s Region 31 Convention proved to be one of Viva Acappella’s most successful yet. The chorus arrived in Nottingham on the Thursday for the quartet competition. Fourteen members of Viva made up 3.5 quartets out of 34. First on stage was DeciBelles, made up of two of our youngest members. They were followed by Junction 4, our newest quartet. Next came Hot Note and okay, this may sound biased, but their performance was stunning. Finally Vice Versa, another very strong and slick performance from the girls.

You can imagine the feelings of electric expectation amongst us in the audience as we awaited the results. We are so proud of all our quartets. Junction 4 came

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in 13th, followed by DeciBelles in joint eighth and Vice Versa with fifth place. We couldn’t believe it when Hot Note took the gold medal by one mark!

Despite being warned by our President to not scream to save our voices, we couldn’t contain ourselves. The place erupted!

Our girls get to represent Region 31 in Las Vegas this November!

The amazing results in the quartet competition really fired us up for the chorus competition. After weeks of preparation and extra rehearsals we all stepped on to that stage believing we could win and with Gaynor’s final words ringing in our heads, “Just do the plan.” That’s exactly what we did! We can’t recall receiving a standing ovation for both songs – this must have been the first time.

So that was it, the waiting game began, until finally the results were announced. We were over the moon to have won gold in

the midsize chorus division and even more elated when it was announced we had won the Most Improved Chorus award by 47 points. This news really got us excited! And then, to our delight we were announced as silver medallists overall, missing out on the gold medal by a mere point. Having secured a wildcard with our score, we can’t wait to join Heartbeat in Las Vegas in October 2016!

With the competition being probably the best we’d ever experienced, you can imagine that our Saturday night party wasn’t going to be anything less than amazing! With the theme being ‘Onesies and PJs’ we celebrated an amazing weekend well into the early hours of the morning.

Our congratulations to all competitors, medal winners and organisers – it was certainly a weekend that Viva Acappella won’t forget in a hurry!

WINNERS STORIES

PULL OUT THE STOPPER! LET’S HAVE A WHOPPER! Submitted by Viv Cooper, Vocal Dimension

After returning to the UK with our second place Division A medals from Baltimore, Vocal Dimension immediately got stuck in to building up our depleted funds. Our Christmas Fayre and carolling singouts, culminating in Kew Sparkle, were as popular as ever, borne out by the ever increasing sales of our Christmas CDs. Finally, we relaxed at our Christmas party. After a great evening featuring much singing, eating and drinking we set off to celebrate the festive season, each wondering what new challenges 2015 would bring for Vocal Dimension.

In January our director Valerie Taylor started working on our new uptune with us. I Never Knew/I’m Getting Married in the Morning is lively, energetic and a riot to perform! Early in March we gathered together for coaching with the legendary Sandy Marron. However, poor Sandy was taken ill on her way to a US airport and had to cancel. After a frantic ring round, Valerie was able to secure a day’s coaching with Jan Alexandersson from Sweden. Jan is an acclaimed choreographer and amongst many others, has worked with Rönninge Chorus, who are known for their breathtaking synchronised moves. We had a wonderful time working with Jan, who added embellishments to Emma Duguid’s existing visual plan to the point where, at the end of one exhausting but triumphant day we had ‘nailed’ our choreography!

Finally, in May we took our package to Nottingham to see if all the hard work had paid off.

The uptune was well received and finished on a high as Valerie tossed her bouquet into the chorus – an unpredictable move as it’s never certain whether the same person – or, indeed, anyone – will catch it! Winning the Division A gold medal was wonderful, then coming fourth overall (our first ever ‘big girls’ placing) was thrilling, but the icing on the ‘wedding cake’ was learning that we’ve qualified for the Harmony Classic Division A competition in Las Vegas in 2016! Vegas here we come! Can it get any better than that?

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RMT UPDATES

NEW RMT APPOINTMENTS Meet the new members of the Quartet of Nations regional management team (RMT) – Dorothy Main, Sophie Radcliffe, Sara Wilcox and Sue Finnigan.

Dorothy Main Finance Coordinator Dorothy joined the Aberdeen Chorus in December 1987 after seeing them in a local concert.

She thought it looked like a good group that she could join as she likes to sing, enjoys the harmonies and thought there were enough people in it that she wouldn’t stand out and could just be one of the crowd.

She was put into the baritone section, and four months later she competed with her very first quartet, Hopscotch, where they came second.

Four years later in 1992, Hopscotch became the UK & Netherlands Area champions (before it became the Quartet of Nations Region 31).

When the UK & Netherlands Area became Region 31 in the late 90s, Dorothy joined the RMT as Events Coordinator from 1999-2002.

Dorothy formed her second quartet, Quartz, in 1999 where she sang lead and in 2001, Quartz became the Region 31 quartet champion and travelled to Portland, Oregon in September of that year to compete at International.

In late 2001, Val Muir, then Quartz tenor, and Dorothy formed the current quartet, Vocal Zone, which is still very busy singing, performing and laughing to this day.

Her barbershop life has only ever been fun, challenging, exciting, full of friendship and travels, and educational. All of which added extra dimensions to her life – more than she could ever have imagined.

Dorothy is now happily retired and felt it was a good time to offer her services to the RMT once again – this time as Finance Coordinator. She is looking forward to working with a great team of women and expanding her skills even more.

Sara Wilcox Marketing Coordinator Sara (or Sazzle as her chorus, Milltown Sound, calls her) is from Wigan, born and bred all her life. She always used to love singing when she was younger but never did anything because she was too shy to perform or

join a group. It was only later when she started taking singing lessons that she realised how much she loved it. She had never really come across barbershop singing before and never knew anything about it until she met a fellow chorus member and now a good friend, Lesley Sheridan, at a party who suggested coming along to a rehearsal.

This was around 2006 with Riverside Harmony Chorus.

Sara loved it straight away!

In 2009, a few people decided to form a small chorus and Milltown Sound was formed.

They were extremely fortunate and lucky to compete and win at their first competition in May 2010 and even luckier to find out that they qualified to sing at the International Convention the following year in the Harmony Classic Division.

Sara is so proud and lucky to be singing with her Millies. She recently started singing in a quartet as a baritone although

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RMT UPDATES

they are not ready to compete yet but hope to one day.

Sara’s been thinking about joining the RMT for a while before she applied but thought that she had not been doing barbershop long enough or knew enough about it to be able to do it. But she soon realised that the being in the RMT is not about who knows the most about barbershop – it’s about the other skills and talents you have outside of that and how you contribute that to our organisation.

She looks forward to seeing how it all works, meeting lots of new people, making new friends, being able to use her work skills for Region 31, being behind the scenes, seeing how much work the RMT does. Sara is keen to show the world what Sweet Adelines International is and what we can do, as well as encouraging new members and getting the word out there. People should know how amazing we are!

Sophie Radcliffe Directors Coordinator Originally from Gt Yarmouth, Sophie moved to Aberdeen when she was seven. She had no interest in singing until the age of twelve when she auditioned for her school’s production of Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat. The music teacher, however, was very quick to tell Sophie that she couldn’t sing a note.

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Two years later, her neighbour, Rita Kermack (a fellow Sweet Adeline), asked Sophie if she

would like to come and see her chorus sing at one of their weekly rehearsals. She knew Sophie sang in the school barbershop group and thought she would be interested in coming to watch the chorus.

Rita couldn’t have been more right. That very first visit to the Aberdeen Chorus of Sweet Adelines kick-started what can only be described as Sophie’s ten-year love affair with barbershop music. She knew in an instant that she had found her passion in life!

To allow Sophie to be a member of Aberdeen Chorus, they actually lowered their admission age from 16 to 14.

The chorus really helped her realise her passion for singing and all things musical and she went on to study a degree in music at the University of

Aberdeen, specialising in Vocal Performance. She was recently appointed as co-director of Aberdeen Chorus, alongside the wonderful Gwen Topp.

Sophie sang in two quartets during her Sweet Adeline life - first with Shindig and most recently with SPARK. Joining the RMT seemed like the next step for Sophie in her Sweet Adeline journey. Many of Aberdeen’s chorus members have been on the RMT before and did not hesitate to tell her what an amazing experience it was! She would like to be as involved in the organisation as possible, mainly to educate herself and to be able to pass that information onto others.

She is looking forward to learning as much as she can during her time on the RMT. She feels this will be such a great opportunity to really get to know the region and how it’s run, and of course make even more wonderful Sweet Adeline friends!

Sue Finnigan Events Coordinator Sue grew up in Stretford near Manchester and moved to Sheffield to go to University in 1982 where she promptly met her husband Mark. As well as being a proud Mum to Dan, age 20, she was a Physics teacher for 20 years before becoming an eLearning consultant ten years ago where keeping children safe online is her major interest. Her other passion in

RMT UPDATES

life is supporting Manchester City – her family knew she was hooked when she put convention before seeing her beloved blues at Wembley!

Sue always loved singing and she sang first soprano in a mixed choir ten years ago but she and her friend knew the repertoire wasn’t for them when they found themselves week after week looking at their watches and waiting for the break! Barbershopper Barry Clinton told her about an open evening at Sheffield Harmony and from first hearing the chorus sing “Moon River” she was bitten by the bug and joined as a bass. Sue will always be indebted to Barry, the wonderful Sheffield Harmony women and to Beryl, Ally Law’s and DaleDiva’s Auntie ‘B’, for bringing barbershop into her life. Beryl, who was singing with Sheffield when Sue joined, was a

great encouragement when she was finding the transition from first soprano to bass very tough.

Sue was president of Sheffield Harmony from 2011 to 2013 and during that time they grew from a chorus of 23 to over 55 members, which was really exciting. But it presented plenty of leadership challenges. Nevertheless, Sue realised she loved this aspect of life as a Sweet Adeline. This, along with a desire to know how the organisation worked better led her to join the RMT. By joining she believes that it also allows her chorus to feel more connected to the region. The initial daunt was blown away by the friendly reception she received from the amazing RMT ladies. Sue is looking forward to working hard to ensure that everyone has a brilliant convention and that Region 31 continues to go from strength to strength.

MEMBERS ONLY LOGIN

In an effort to increase the security of our Member Profile pages on the Sweet Adelines International website http:// sweetadelineintl.org, all member passwords to the Member’s Only section were reset on Monday, 2nd March 2015. If you haven’t already done so, you must retrieve a temporary password in order to login to the Member’s Only section. Please go to

http://sweetadelineintl.org/ index.cfm?id=250&action=s howforgotform to enter your email address and receive your temporary password.

If you have any issues with accessing your temporary password or logging in to the Member’s Only site – please contact the membership department at member@sweetadelineintl.org.

COMPLETING THE ANNUAL REGIONAL EVALUATION (ARE) Each year, Sweet Adelines International chapters are asked to provide information about their chorus and evaluate the activities and programs offered by their region. This is your chance to recognise strengths and identify areas for improvement The Regional Management Team (RMT) uses this feedback to assess how regional education and programming meets the needs and concerns of the membership.

As in previous years, each chapter is requested to complete the ARE. Only one response is required per chapter. To do this, the chapter’s President or Team Coordinator consults with the rest of the committee and other leaders within the chapter. She then compiles all the answers into a single response.

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RMT UPDATES

The link to the survey has been sent to the chapter President/Team Coordinator

by International HQ last 11th June 2015.

The deadline for completing the survey is 31st July 2015. Please make every effort to complete the survey by that date as the Regional Leadership Committee will be reviewing the responses at their August meeting.

CONVENTION 2015 FEEDBACK

It’s not too late to send in your feedback on Nottingham 2015, this year’s Quartet of Nations Region 31 Convention. Simply go to: https://quartetofnations. typeform.com/to/hzqqpV and complete the survey form. The survey will be open until Sunday, 12th July 2015. If you choose to provide your contact details, you will be automatically entered in the draw for a chance to win 1 of 2 half-price All Events Ticket (AET) for Gateshead 2016.

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COACHING DIRECTORY

ELLIE BLACKEBY Lace City mills_ellie@hotmail.com

SANDRA LEA-RILEY Heartbeat UK sandraleariley@virginmedia.com

ANNE CARGILL Aberdeen annecargill2012@btinternet.com

DOROTHY MAIN Aberdeen themains@talktalk.net

ALYSON CHANEY RMT Workshop Coordinator, Lace City alysonchaney@yahoo.co.uk

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 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

NANCY KELSALL Heartbeat UK nancykelsall@hotmail.com

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

17-19 July 2015

Quartet of Nations RMT July Meeting

Birmingham

19 September 2015

Ignite 2015 Scotland

Dundee

19 September 2015

Ignite 2015 South West

Devon

19 September 2015

Ignite 2015 Central

Nottingham

26 September 2015

Ignite 2015 North West

Manchester

26 September 2015

Ignite 2015 South East

Redhill

05-10 October 2015

69th Annual International Convention

Las Vegas

30 October - 01 November 2015

LABBS 2015 Convention

Bournemouth

07 November 2015

Ignite 2015 Netherlands

Nieuw-Vennep

29-31 January 2016

LoveNotes in the UK

Birmingham

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 Dimension

2015 Division A winner

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Hot Note

2015 Region 31 Quartet Champion

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