Mix`ed Up
Transcription
Mix`ed Up
Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers www.labbs.co.uk Mix’ed Up C onvention 2013 brought us the amazing opportunity of competing in a brand new competition for previous the ideas for the performance got bigger and bigger. We had two Muppet songs arranged into a medley by the amazing LABBS gold medal winning quartets. The rules of the competition were different from the usual two song set, so we got to put together a contrasting package of material of up to 12 minutes in length. This got the creative juices flowing. It was great to be competing against NoteOrious & Finesse in such a prestigious competition. Congratulations to Finesse for taking the QC title and in fact to both our fellow competitors for providing such great competition and camaraderie. Just over a year ago, we floated the idea of a Muppet Quartet and from there British arranger, Liz Garnett; Mr. Bassman and Mahna Mahnah. It was brilliant to work with Liz as she knew the personality of The MIX and arranged it with us in mind – even going as far as to check the vocal range of our Tenor, Andrea, to ensure that she could get the really low notes towards the end for the punchline of the song. We are lucky to have our very own, exceptionally talented dress maker, Lynn Day Andrea’s mum. No sooner had we suggested the idea of four huge puppets to appear on stage with us, she started Spring 2014 work giving “birth” to Kermit, Mr. Bassman and two monstrous pink cows, shortly followed by Statler and Waldorf. As the year and the ideas developed we gathered inspiration from Avenue Q, spoke to professional puppeteers, watched online puppet workshops and worked with our fabulous and creative coach Dale Kynaston. There was a lot of laughter, a lot of re-writes and a lot of practice but eventually it came together. From the comments we received and the hits on our You Tube video we figured you all enjoyed it too. Thanks for your wonderful comments, we had a blast performing it and hearing your reception. Back in November, we jetted off to Holland to host an education weekend along side aBSOLUT quartet for 16 Holland harmony and DABS quartets – what a privilege! We were invited by the brand new head of education for Holland harmony, Nelleke Dorrestijn who had organised a cracking weekend of singing, education, performance and most of all fun for everyone involved. After a sticky start involving four quartet singers and only three passports, the weekend kicked off with group warm ups and sessions on “How to be a great..<insert your part here>”. The coaching of the quartets started in earnest, with each member of aBSOLUT and The MIX taking two quartets for 90 minutes of intensive coaching. Nearly all the quartets worked up close with all of us on an individual basis throughout the weekend.Key themes that we explored with all the quartets we saw were: Forward placement Breath control Singing to ends of phrases Looking and feeling comfortable on stage Saturday night was show time, with each of the 16 quartets performing to the rest of the group – some of which had never performed to such a large crowd before. It was a 1 really great opportunity to get out and perform in such a welcoming environment and a great way of gaining more performance experience. Of course there were the usual afterglow activities after the show until the early hours. On the Sunday we hosted a session about presentation, lead by our bass, Sandra who is a LABBS Presentation Judge. We looked at the detail that we work on when it comes to just walking on and off the stage, pitchpipe technique, the spread for the acceptance and overall just how to make an audience comfortable with your performance. We topped the year off by singing on the White Rosettes show in Leeds along- side The Emerald Guard & Spirit of Harmony. They hosted a wonderful matineê & evening show followed by a traditional afterglow. Thank you ladies & gents for making us feel so welcome, oh and the Muppets enjoyed it too! So all in all a pretty busy end to 2013 for The MIX. We’re looking forward to seeing you all at the next event wherever and whenever that may be. Keep in touch on facebook or via our website www.themixquartet.co.uk. Jo, Sandra, Andrea & Nancy, The MIX Notes from the Chairman W elcome to the latest edition of Voice box where you may notice small changes to the presentation and layout of information. The Board has been working hard to consider our branding and presentation of materials to be consistent across our website, communications and advertisements and throughout this issue you will see that we have introduced this where appropriate. We will continue to look and develop this to fit our Association so if you have any suggestions on how we can improve this or would like to offer help and expertise to do this then please let us know. Offers of help for all in all aspects of LABBS activities are something we are always grateful to receive. Our Association runs entirely on the time and energy volunteered by our members and as we continue to grow and develop we are looking for more people to help us by taking on vacant or recently created rôles. If you have the skills and time to give to LABBS in any of the rôles advertised in this issue then please get in contact to find out more. You will know from your club Council representatives that we have recently 2 trialled a new format at our Council meetings that has been designed to provide more time to share information and expertise amongst ourselves. At our January Council meeting it was unanimously agreed to continue this new approach and we hope that you will see the benefits of this as we learn from each other. One of the topics we discussed in January was the many ideas that you have offered to celebrate our 40th anniversary in 2016 and over the coming months the Board and teams will start to consider how to take some of these forward for our celebration. Finally, at our Council meeting we also announced that in October 2017 LABBS will be hosting the next European Barbershop Convention in parallel to our own national convention. This is being held in partnership with our other UK Barbershop in Harmony partners and we are working with BABS and SAI 31 Quartet of Nations in the planning of this event. This is a fantastic opportunity for the UK and LABBS to welcome our European barbershop partners and share our passion and talent with them over the course of an extended weekend. We will keep you updated as plans progress. I wish you and your clubs and quartets every success for the year ahead and look forward to what I’m sure will be another exciting year. Alison Harbord LABBS Chairman New City Council B ristol appears to have a New City Council complete with the coat of remember. I must tell you what added to the evening of great joy and fun was the very fact of the Ladies of Bristol Fashion having to change and prepare in the actual Council Chambers, you could say that those chambers have seen arms and with Craig Kehoe presiding. quite a few changes in their history, but Well…Thank goodness, harmony at NONE quite like that, on that evening, I last in the Bristol City Council Chambers. will leave that to your imagination. The main topic on the agenda was to pass a resolution to have an evening of musical entertainment in aid of Bristol Children’s Hospital, supporting ”The Grand Wallace and Gromit Appeal” , for Saturday November 30th at City Hall. There was a resounding “YES” from all around the chamber and the motion was carried The arrangement was made for the Lord Mayor Faruk Choudhury to grace us with his presence. The evening commenced with Bristol Fashion Ladies giving us nothing but beautifully controlled singing, soft and tender moments holding the audience’s every breath in great delight. The mood There were great supporting acts: changed taking us off into the magical “H-Club”, an all male close harmony group up tempo songs showing their artistic born out of The Great Western Chorus of skills and just why they are in LABBS Bristol. The audience was thrilled to have top ten choruse. With all expectations been put in the forthcoming Christmas filled the same can be said of the second festivity spirit with their Christmas songs half performance, truly a night to celebrating our Saviour’s birth. Graig (MD) would like to give a special thank you to “Jiggle” LABBS 2012 Silver medallists who made a long journey to support this great evening. Their presence made the entertainment so worthwhile, their harmonies were superb and a delight. The audience had a surprise with The NHS Choir “The above and Beyond Choir” they were from all walks of professions in Bristol’s NHS, their delightful and encouraging MD enthusiastically directing them through a very diverse repertoire, dare I say injecting an inspiring performance, a really lovely sound. There was also a lot more fun being provided by the MC Mr John Shipley of LABBS fame who had the audience laughing. Even the Lord Mayor passed comment in his farewell speech of thanks. The Lord Mayor went on to draw a very special raffle of a “Gromitina” a Gromit figurine black and dressed with fine round jewels, quite a prize that managed to raise funds of £573.75p. A thrilling result for the organizers. Craig (MD) expressed his sincere wish to give a huge thanks to all involved in the organisation of the event and to all who had taken part in the programme and gave such wonderful performances, waiving their fees and giving their time for free, making it such a successful evening. The event raised, after expenses, £1050 for The Bristol Children’s Hospital, a great result and truly a great evening of musical entertainment. Sadly their time in Council was short lived perhaps not such a bad thing but hopefully they left behind the lasting Harmony. Laurence Levett PRO., Bristol Fashion 3 The Grandest National O n a blustery day at Aintree race course in September, a colourful array of pantomime ‘horses’ including a zebra, a reindeer, an elephant, a cow a unicorn and some more conventional equine species, lined up for ‘the Grandest Charity National’ organised by LCVS/ United Way. Liverpool-based chorus, Mersey Harmony took part though, in a spirit of fairness. Their mount, ‘Lesley’s Folly’ (named after their Marvellous MD, Lesley Crawford) sportingly took up the rear position on the field and cantered, trotted, neigh, strolled to the finishing line to the cheers and applause of an enthusiastic though slightly damp crowd. Pictured, we see the flat fleet-footed filly in all her finery: WAG bag, mobile phone and, of course, rollers. The whole ensemble being the creation of faux fur-coated owner/tailor extraordinaire (she made the folly!), Maureen Huskisson, seen here explaining the subtler points of the race plan to an enthralled journalist. Trainer, Julie Devine, gamely reins in the awesome power of the eager thoroughbred with a tight grip and the occasional sugar lump. Mersey Harmony’s participation was the brainchild of Treasurer, Heather Lovelady and the brave (though cosily warm) souls inside the costume were Cate Gall and her daughter Lauren: who’d have thought just over a year ago when they joined the chorus, that mastering the art of barbershop singing would involve this type of initiation test. Asked how they felt after their gruelling 100 metre dash, they reported that they were ‘OK but a little hoarse!’ An adjudicator from the Guinness Book of Records was in attendance and confirmed that the participants had set a new world record for the most pantomime horses competing in a race, so congratulations to all who helped, cajoled, raised funds and braved the weather, it blew a gale and was very, very wet! Later and thankfully indoors, Mersey Harmony was in fine voice and provided a lovely harmonious sound as they entertained the rest of the participants, guests, fundraisers and dignitaries, including a Mare Mayor. Although they didn’t gain a winner’s rosette, they were first past the post with the quality of their singing. Racing Times Correspondent, aka Cate Gall, PRO Mersey Harmony News from The Harton Harmonisers H appy New Year to everyone in LABBS. There will be big changes for us this year because our talented M.D., Jean Sutton, is returning to her home town of Crewe. She has been with us for nine years and we will all miss her vibrant personality and Barbershop expertise. We are now looking for a new M.D. with a Barbershop background which may be difficult with only two choruses here in the North East. It was with great sadness that we said farewell to Bernice Guthrie in November last year, aged 73 years.Bernice was our Membership Secretary for many, many years and, although she had lived in South Shields for 45 years, had never lost her Milton Keynes accent. She was a talented Bass and will be greatly missed. 4 Our Christmas sing outs started in November with our concert at Marsden Baptist church, a bit early to sing carols and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” but we did! In December we sang at Morrisons, Matalan and Asda (not all on the same day!) and at Sunderland Monkwearmouth Hospital diabetic club. Again we have raised a lot of money for our charity, Grace House Children’s Hospice in Sunderland. Our Christmas dinner was held at the Sea Hotel in South Shields and our local rep, Bunny Bainbridge, came with Jean. There was a karaoke! We sang A Winter’s Tale (without the backing tape!) but the winner sang “My Old Man Said Follow The Van” with a great cockney accent; I tried to recruit her with no luck! We have, at last, made our first CD. I got in touch with a local man, Chay, who has a small recording studio – he came to our practice hall and we recorded eight songs – he said we sounded great! (Our CD will be on sale soon!) Beryl Cooke. P.R.O. Patchwork!! H ello! We’re Patchwork, Helen (tenor), Ali (lead), James (bari) and Sean (bass), a mixed quartet from Bristol. All four of us met through The University of Bristol Barbershop Singers (www. tubbs.org.uk). We come from various different courses and backgrounds – music, maths and science! After a TUBBS rehearsal over a year ago now, the four of us hid in a stairwell at the Students’ Union and sang through an arrangement of Mlk by U2 (as made famous by Vocal Spectrum) and were surprised and pleased by the sound our voices made together. Patchwork was formed! We have plenty of singing experience between us. Ali, as well as singing at solo gigs in and around London, is the lead of silver medal BABS quartet, Park Street. The multitalented James joined Ali and Park Street as a stand-in tenor at the BABS prelims in November 2013 and they were placed first overall! James has also just joined the Great Western Chorus of Bristol, as a lead (!) Helen is a classically trained musician who is working towards two recitals to complete her final year studying Music at The University of Bristol. Sean has been a barbershop enthusiast for a few years and wanted to be in a competing quartet – and here we were, ready and waiting for our perfect bass! Helen stumbled across the LABBS mixed quartet contest online by accident one day last Spring and we entered. Little did we know how much success we would have! In fact, when the results were announced we were in shock. We were surrounded by our amazing friends from TUBBS who screamed and shouted with joy on our behalf, since we were utterly speechless. Having their support, cheering from the front row in the Sunday show, was indispensable. Despite our busy schedules and now being based in three different cities we’re trying our hardest to rehearse as often as possible for the BinG! Convention in Dortmund in March, so we can do as well as possible and show how proud we are to be able represent LABBS and BABS. We can’t thank LABBS enough for the opportunity they offer mixed quartets to compete and the support they have given and are giving us in our journey onwards as the champion mixed quartet 2013! LABBS and BABS have been very supportive financially but it is still an expensive trip for four poor lowly students/recentgraduates. Therefore, we are going to put on a fundraising concert. We are honoured to be joined by some special guest quartets too: Park Street (current BABS silver medallists), BOMB Squad (current LABBS 8th and Novice trophy winners) and QuarteTones (current BABS 5th) Please come along and help us raise some funds for our trip! Saturday 1st March in Alma Road Bristol. Tickets can be bought on the door at £5 each. Festival of Rememberance M ain Street Sound was very honoured to be invited to appear in the York Festival of Remembrance in York’s Barbican Centre. We were very proud to open the first half and perform during the Festival singing alongside York Military Wives Choir, York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir, local schools and The Heavy Cavalry and Cambrai Military Band. We found it very moving to in the Remembrance service and commujoin with the other artists and audience nity singing. We were approached last year by the producer of the Festival who worked for Radio York. She came to a rehearsal and really enjoyed our style of singing and chose us to take part. It was another opportunity to wear our “Convention dresses”. As you will se from the photo, they were really appropriate for the occasion. Pam Lydiate,PRO Main Street Sound 5 40 Years of Barbershop Harmony H ere we are in 2014 and it’s amazing to think that Tyneside Ladies Barbershop Harmony Chorus has been in existence since 1973. A great number of LABBS members were not even a twinkle in anyone’s eye! Evelyn, Margaret and Bunny cutting the cake to celebrate 40 years of Tyneside Ladies Barbershop Harmony Chorus Maybe not but here in Tyneside two other ladies and I were very excited all those years ago about this new style of music Photographs by R.Bowe namely ‘4 part Barbershop Harmony’. So on October the 12th 2013 the chorus now named Tyneside A Cappella celebrated 40 years of Barbershop Harmony with a fabulous dinner and entertainment at the Newcastle Novotel. Evelyn Asher, Lead, Margaret Grant ,Bass and myself sing Tenor are the only founder members still singing with the chorus. We were certainly thrilled and honoured to be presented with beautiful flowers and engraved glass commemorative awards to remind us of our dedicated years with the chorus. Diane is stepping down as Chairman at this year’s Tyneside A Cappella AGM. All of us at Tyneside would like to thank her for all the hard work she done for the chorus. Tyneside A Cappella pictured singing in summer at The National Trust Gibside Chapel, Rowlands Gill Gateshead. Gibside is a favourite venue of Director Peter and his wife Susan who were married at the chapel. What a perfect setting for a wedding. Bunny Bainbridge, PRO Tyneside A Cappella Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers LABBS ANNUAL CONVENTION 2014 Join us in Harrogate, UK, from Friday 31st October – Sunday 2nd November for an inspiring weekend of Barbershop: ü Exciting competitions for ladies quartets, mixed quartets, quartet champions and ladies choruses ü Dynamic shows with guests including British male Barbershop champions from BABS ü Education master classes ü Fun, friendship and afterglows ü Entertainment from Vocal 6, our specially invited guests www.labbs.org.uk/convention @SingLABBS 6 #LABBS14 … leading the way in harmony Secret Singout U sually when the chorus is booked for a show there is a frenzy of activity as the event is advertised, tickets are prepared and people invited. However, in December our first singout for the festive season was somewhat different. This engagement was to a big surprise. Alys, the Lady Captain of Heyrose Golf Club in Cheshire wanted an extra special treat to mark the end of her year as Captain and had approached us 12 months previously to plan the surprise show. The ladies section was celebrating the end of the year with their annual dinner. The plan was we’d meet at a local pub to do a little warming up and then quietly go across to the golf club as the ladies were finishing their dinner. The plan worked perfectly. Very quietly we sneaked into an upper room so as not to be seen to change into our sparkly blue costumes. As the meal came to an end we went into an adjoining room where our risers had been set up and Hey Presto! as the doors were pulled back we opened in song. The amazement on the ladies’ faces, not to mention the squeals of delight, were a joy to behold. We had taken them completely by surprise. After our first song Jo explained how Alys had organised the show as a special treat for the ladies. What a great audience they were, they cheered and clapped each song, took part in some audience participation and a few even shed a tear during our emotional renditions of The Way We Were and One Day Like This. As the show came to an end Alys joined us for a photo and a few ladies even expressed interest in coming along to our Learn To Sing course in January. It was a lovely evening and definitely one which we were pleased we had helped to keep a secret. Alison Linfield : PRO, Cheshire Chord Company Learn to Sing! C heshire Chord Company got the New Year off to a resounding start with our 4 week Learn to Sing course. We leafleted, promoted, advertised and generally oozed our Barbershop enthusiasm all over the Northwest and our Music Team, Learn to Sing Team and Committee all planned to make it amazing and they didn’t disappoint. 53 ladies registered and arrived to hear what it was all about and together with over 40 existing chorus members, we filled the risers with warm up exercises and craft work not to mention the odd “Tag” and sent them off with a song to learn (well not all of it all at once) but they returned the following week having learnt more than we’d asked. Keen or what?! At the time of writing, we’re preparing for the fifth week where their family and friends will be invited to see what it was all about. We hope that our some of our Learn to Sing ladies will return once the course has finished and will have become “hooked” on Barbershop as we all have been. Who knows you may meet The Music Team had chosen a brand some of them at Convention. We truly hope so. new song, so the chorus learnt it along We’re looking forward to representing with the delegates too and took part in LABBS at the BinG! Convention in March, the craft sessions being delivered by our make sure you keep up to date with our music team. news by following us on Twitter, Facebook Three further weeks of learning new or via our website. warm up exercises, craft work, section rehearsals and putting the song together. www.cheshirechord.co.uk What an amazing sight and sound, over 90 Debby Hirst PRO ladies singing a brand new song together, Cheshire Chord Company so exciting!! 7 Fascinating Dellies! I t’s been such a rewarding few months since our last missive to Voice Box when we were getting ready for the festive season. It’s lovely to do Christmas gigs. The appreciation goes both ways; we’re always so grateful when, despite usually foul weather, the audience turns up! Indeed they did for our fully booked Winter Show. Mind you, by the end of the evening, it was getting mighty snug in the theatre, particularly for those standing on the top riser, right under the lights and through the dark we could see many a programme being used as fans. We fielded ‘in house’ quartet Out of Range and octet RhythmMix, plus Junior FR who did their usual stealing of the show. We also have a small group, FromaFaR, who sang a 10 part (!) arrangement of Mr Blue Skies. By way of complete change, one of our Baritones, Mads Harwood, an exceptionally accomplished folk singer, did an amazing job of ‘The Snow It Melts In Winter’, accompanied by some very, Whoo Hoo Choreography very quiet backing chords (tested our breath control!) she’d written for the Chorus. A proper hair standing on end job. We had a super MC, too - Bass singer Julie Morgan’s son Harry; a tall, handsome 6 footer and in his 3rd year at Portsmouth Uni studying drama, he carried the evening along with immense charm and humour. Hope his Mum doesn’t let him read this, or he might charge us next time. The next event was our third annual Harmony Singing Workshop and was absolutely the best yet. Over 80 delegates rocked up to join in the fun 8 MD JO Dean and Assistant MD Karen Metcalfe giving it some wellie on the risers at our winter show and we mean rocked, because the song we chose was ‘We Go Together’ from Grease (oh, the words! We do like to challenge our Dellies). The first hour, taken by MD Jo Dean, was a thorough briefing on singing craft and breathing. FR then demonstrated the song to a mostly horrified audience who were all thinking “No way am I going to be able to learn the words to that song in a day!” Two break-out and three full sessions later, including choreography, we were ready for ‘Showtime’ – when invited friends and family came along to watch what had been achieved. They weren’t disappointed. Fascinating Rhythm was, once again, absolutely blown away by what the delegates accomplished – Page to Stage in just one day. We ended up Baritone delegates spreading the love ... with over 120 on and around the risers, all of us grinning from ear to ear, having had the most excellent day. Never doubt that giving people the opportunity to come together to sing in a supportive, encouraging environment makes a difference. The feedback we’ve had has been genuinely moving – which more than makes up for how knackered we were on Sunday and we’re really looking forward to doing it again next year. Our January AGM behind us – much planning and so much to look forward to, including cutting our very first CD, preparations for our 20th Anniversary in 2015, exceptional people booked to coach us, new music to learn. Doesn’t get much better, does it? The Phantom Honorary Membership for Liz and Helen H onorary Membership for Liz and Helen! They’re simply the best and they started with Chorus Iceni! Two of Barbershop’s most illustrious names, Liz Garnett and Helen Owen, started their barbershop careers some 20 or so years ago when they joined a small East Anglian chorus - then known as Colne Harmony. Since then the chorus has doubled in size and changed its name to Chorus Iceni. Things have moved on for Liz and Helen too. After several years learning their craft on the risers they each moved on to pastures new and to barbershop accolades galore! For Liz the journey led her in the direction of judging, coaching and music arranging and from 2006 to 2013, Liz was LABBS Music Category Director. Helen’s path took her to gold medalwinning quartet performances with LABBS as part of the fabulous ‘Finesse’ and more recently to 4th place at the 2013 SAI. The chorus has retained close links with Helen and Liz and watched their rise to barbershop stardom with pride. Clearly the roots put down went deep! To honour these beginnings and recognise the special friendship between us, in 2013 the chorus approached Liz and Helen with the offer of Honorary Membership and were delighted when Mona Botherel O n Monday 9th December 2013 Mona Botherel, a truly inspirational barbershop singer and one of LABBS longest serving members, sadly passed away. Mona was a passionate barbershopper and committed much of her remarkable energy and organisational skill to the cause of establishing and growing the barbershop art form in Britain. She was LABBS member number 89 and has been very influential in the development of the association. She served on the Executive Committee as LABBS Chairman from 1995-97 and as treasurer on many occasions. In recent years she worked on the original charity working party bringing her clear and analytical approach to ensure the best interests of LABBS and its membership were served. She was also the buyer for the LABBS shop until very recently. As you would expect she was a force in her own chorus the Barberettes She tackled the challenging bari part with ease, and at the age of 80, was still performing on stage with the Barberettes at the 2012 Convention in Telford. She served on the committee of the Barberettes as a very successful PRO and also treasurer for many years before becoming Chairman from 2010-2012. Although she retired from singing with us in March 2013 after 34 years of membership, we continued to consider her as one of our number both responded with a resounding, “Yes!” Getting two such busy people and the chorus together wasn’t easy but we finally managed it at Llandudno as the chorus started its final rehearsal before hitting the convention stage. Helen Owen and Liz Garnett are seen here being welcomed into the Chorus Iceni family by MDs Nickie Williams and Ian James and Chairman, Sally Stephenson. As I write, the chorus has just welcomed 23 enthusiastic prospective members to our latest ‘Come & Sing’ course. The second picture shows them working on the Shirley Bassey number, ‘Diamonds are Forever’. Maybe our new ladies won’t all reach the same dizzying heights as our Honorary Members but we hope each will discover the same friendship and joy in ringing those chords as Liz and Helen experienced all those years ago! Sally Stephenson PRO Chorus Iceni and she was in regular contact with the club she loved, keeping up to date with all our activities and encouraging us all the way. At Mona’s funeral there were 6 past LABBS Chairmen, representatives from the LABBS Board of Trustees in attendance plus many past and present Barberettes. We know her family was grateful that so many barbershoppers came from all parts of the country. Dear Mona, you were the wittiest and most intelligent of women.Your energy and organisational ability was awesome but we will remember you most of all for the way you supported, encouraged and inspired others. Ann-Marie Melville (Chairman) Reading Ladies Barbershop Singers -The Barberettes. 9 Plenty of Pzazz! F irstly we would like to wish our barbershop family a very happy new year. We hope 2014 brings you health, happiness and an abundance of barbershop memories! Pzazz formed in the Summer of 2011 and has been having fun ever since. With the many trials and tribulations that life throws at us, our motto has always been to enjoy our friendship, sing great songs and drink sparkling rosé. We’ve no doubt Gill would also include sourcing sparkly outfits in this list. We were thrilled in October of last year to place 4th at our first LABBS Convention. The standard was exceptionally high and we offer our congratulations to Echo, Tone-acity and Northern Vibe. We were also delighted to see our friend and regular coach Sally McLean, achieve her 14th gold medal with the inspirational White Rosettes. Riverside Harmony, directed by our fellow Crystal Anne-Marie Borneuf, invited us to sing on their Christmas Cracker show in December to raise money for Willowbrook Hospice in St Helens. It’s always a pleasure to sing for such an appreciative audience and over £500 was raised for a very worthy cause. We had a fantastic evening and look forward to performing alongside the lovely ladies of Riverside in the future. Early February saw Pzazz head to Birmingham for a coaching weekend with The Buzz. What an amazing weekend. We enjoyed singing at its very best from four very talented ladies, who were more than willing to share their time, advice and wealth of experience with all who attended. Thank you to LABBS for organising this event. It’s always such fun to have a quartet weekend away and get to know other quartets, whilst of course making great music and improving our craft. Pzazz is looking forward to competing in the SABS International contest in April alongside our chorus Crystal Chords. We would also like to send good luck wishes to our sister quartet Barberlicious as they make their contest debut. No sooner will we have returned from SABS and rehearsals for LABBS Prelims begin and fingers crossed, LABBS Convention in Harrogate which is without doubt our favourite convention venue. Our “bass clef” will be enjoying the delights of Harrogate at the BABS 40th Convention in May, please feel free to join us at the bar for a quick Lazy Day or simply a chat and a drink. To discover more about Pzazz you can find us on Facebook or our chorus website crystalchords.org.uk. Sarah, Gill, Julie & Monica Certificates for The Belles Whilst rehearsing for convention, the Belles quickly recognised that their vocal training, rehearsals, performances and competition successes provided exactly the right evidence to achieve a brand new qualification currently being piloted by North Warwickshire and Hinckley College. The NCFE Level 3 Award in Achieving Excellence in a Vocational Skill is he Belles of Three Spires enjoy more designed to recognise learnsuccess piloting a performance excellence qualification for North Warwickshire ers who have demonstrated excellent performance. It & Hinckley College Proud members of the Belles have been provides an action planning rewarded Performance Excellence Qualifica- framework within which the tions certificates at the Skills Show at the naturally occurring evidence fits. NEC on 15th November. Certificates were Thirteen members of the Belles regpresented by Marion Plant OBE, Principal and Chief Executive of North Warwickshire istered for the award and achieved 100% success, showing that the qualification & Hinckley College and South Leicestershire College and a Director of the Skills is as relevant to the craft of barbershop Show. harmony singing as it is to a myriad of other skills such as beauty therapy, ballet and bricklaying. T 10 Members of the Belles are now registering to undertake the Level 4 qualifications helping to work towards Convention 2014! Emer Scott-Baird PRO The Belles of Three Spires LABBS Convention 2014 VOCAL VOCAL 6 6 “S eeing is believing! Imagine four tenors, a baritone and a bass singer firing off some good and well-known songs. Very skilful, very captivating and very energetic” Vocal Six was founded in 1988; its members are: Niclas Kåse, Staffan Paulson, Stefan Högström, Robert Green, Per Kockum and Peder Tennek. Their Show repertoire includes pop, rock and jazz together with humorous dialogue and, as they say: “It makes you want to join in and sing along! Whether it’s a small event or a large concert, the goal is to create a unique moment with the audience. Vocal Six Norway, Switzerland, Taiwan and USA. In 2009, they performed at the International Male Voice Choir Festival in the UK. In March 2014, they are visiting Germany, Mallorca, Spain and Taiwan. Reviews of one of their albums included: …I would urge you to have a listen. …it might even be a little old fashioned but it’s a tremendously enjoyable really knows how to custom-make a listen nonetheless. I can only hope we won’t have to wait another five years show with a twist.” for their next one. Their tours have included their Vocal Six sings big and loud and home country of Sweden and visits to Austria, Estonia, Finland, Holland, Italy, without holding back. WE NEED YOU Stewards Stewards are always required. If you are interested (and the Convention Team would really appreciate your assistance), please contact: June Donovan: [email protected] 01446 735 088; 07712 784 540. First Aiders There are two Certified First Aiders on the Convention Team but it would be useful if there was another person on-call throughout the weekend. If you are not competing and are interested, please contact: Joan Harrison: [email protected] 01159 323 053 After several years, Laurence Levett will be stepping down as LABBS Show Manager after Convention 2014; the Convention Team would like to thank him for all his work supporting LABBS and our Conventions. HARROGATE T his year, sees us back at what has proved over the years to be one of our favourite venues. There will be the usual Competitions and Shows and, after its success last year, the LABBS Fringe. The Convention Team would welcome any comments or suggestions that you may have for items to be included in the Fringe; please address them to: [email protected] onvention Express will not be printed each day as much of the information included previously is now covered by signage around the Centres. In 2014, you will receive only one edition in your Registration Pack which will update any information that has changed and, of course, any good wishes that you wish to include. onvention registration forms will be available online in April C C @SingLABBS #LABBS14 www.labbs.org.uk/convention 11 On the cobbled street where we sang! O n the cobbled street where we sang! If you live in the East End of London, in the Yorkshire Dales, or where the beautiful and young people live in the suburb of Chester, then you might not know about our little town in Greater Manchester called Weatherfield! However if you do, then you know the name of the most famous street in that town! Yes I am talking about Coronation Street! When Crystal Chords were asked to entertain the cast and crew of the famous soap during their Christmas lunch, the excitement in the ranks of the Chorus was tingling. I may be French but I have lived in the UK and especially in the North West for long enough to know that Coronation Street is an institution. Unsurprisingly I am a mas sive fan of the show! It transpires that I am not the only one and lots of the Crystals were really looking forward to the gig! Not all the cast was present but the ones that were, were really nice and appreciative. We even had the odd photo opportunity with Alison King (AKA Carla Connor), and Jennie McAlpine and Alan Halsall (AKA Fiz and Tyrone) who were really lovely. The most exciting part of the day was that we were allowed to go on the set. It was quite surreal to walk the cobbles with all those landmarks that we have come to love over the years such as The Kabin, Webster Autos, Underworld, Audrey’s Hair Salon, Street Cars, Roy’s Rolls and the most famous of all The Rover’s Return. The street was buzzing with activity as a crowd of purple-clad ladies mingled and took photographs everywhere. We would not have been true to our Barbershop roots if we did not sing. So what better song to sing than “On The Street Where You Live”, the competition song that earned us the Bronze medal in 2011. Fitting don’t you think? Celine Macdonald-Matti PR Officer, Crystal Chords First Prize for Crystal Chords! I t was with anticipation that the Crystal Chords walked on stage at the North Wales Music Festival in Llandudno on Sunday 10th November 2013. It would be the first time they would perform their new repertoire song. Would they like it? Would we dare to dream! Competition was tough and when the scores were announced, we held our breath. Would it be good enough? Yes it was! The Crystal Chords won first prize in 12 the Barbershop Chorus class. We felt very proud to see Monica Funnell our Music Director walk on stage to collect the trophy and prize money of £500. It was such a boost to our morale... but no resting on our laurels, Monica is hard at work pushing us so we can polish it and deliver an even better performance at the SABS “En Armonía” convention in April 2014. Watch this space! Celine Macdonald-Matti PR Officer, Crystal Chords Revised Contest Rules and Trophy Changes Rule Changes ost of the edits to the Contest Rules are to clarify meaning and remove ambiguity. The following nuggets are areas of which you should be particularly aware. However we recommend that you check the Contest Rules appropriate to the contest you are entering, even if you are not intending to read the entire Contest & Judging Handbook! M Coaching by Panel Judges t is now clarified that the moratorium of 30 days applied to panel judges coaching competing groups does also apply to mike- I warmers, if there is any possibility that they could end up in the main contest. For example, last year due to a couple of quartets dropping out of the Semi-Finals, the two quartets originally scheduled to mike-warm that contest due to their prelims placement were promoted to the contest proper. If due to the status of the mike-warming group or the rules of contest this progression is not possible, they may receive coaching. Statistical Variances in Scores he E&J has always adopted a pragmatic approach whereby any judge handing T Changes to Trophies Blue Chords Novice Quartet Trophy his trophy will now be awarded to the Novice Quartet gaining the highest placing over the entire contest cycle. In other words, any Novice Quartet progressing from Prelims to the Semi-Finals and Finals rounds is still competing for the trophy and it goes to the quartet that ended up placed highest. If no Novice Quartet progresses beyond the Prelims round to the Semi-Finals, then the highest placed Novice Quartet at Prelims will be presented the trophy at Convention. in a score that is significantly different from the other scores from their category is notified and given the opportunity to reconsider their score. This practice has been in place in order to serve the competitors better and ensure they receive the marks they deserve. Following developments in this area by the BHS this process is gaining a more structured approach, utilising a formula to indicate when variances need to be addressed. More details are available in the Contest & Judging Handbook, including a Position Paper in the BHS Extract document, found in the judging section on the LABBS website. to indicate novices on their members list which they submit prior to contest, which E&J reserves the right to check for veracity. Formula: % new members on stage + (Tot competitors – rank + 1) = Score This formula is devised to place emphasis on new members, therefore if there is a brand new LABBS club with members predominantly new-to-barbershop, it is most likely that they would win the A New Life for the Harmony InSpires trophy (unless an established club had Novice Chorus Trophy ue to the fact that there is not always experienced phenomenal growth together with high placing). If there is no new a new LABBS chorus to award the club, then recruitment together with trophy to, the E&J Committee responded achievement is celebrated. to a request to look at how to repurpose Chorus Divisions by Score are replaced Note: the formula used for the ranking this trophy so that it could be awarded by Divisions by Size score is not a simple subtraction otherwise ollowing feedback of confusion every year. The intention was to retain surrounding divisions and some instances the celebration of new choruses and new last place would come out as zero and first where the award of a trophy did not bring members bringing growth to LABBS. place would score 1 less than the actual the joy it was intended to invoke, the E&J From 2014 the trophy will be inverse placing. The “+1” element of the Committee looked at options to repurpose awarded to formula preserves the inverse numbers of the trophies involved. After studying the chorus the ranking order correctly. geographical and membership data and with highest Example 1: A brand new LABBS Chorus options, it was decided to move to a model percentage has 2 experienced founder members, of grouping choruses of different sizes to of new including the MD, and 18 novice members, compete for each trophy as follows: LABBS and placed 25th out of 30 competitors. members who % new members on stage: (18 ÷ 20) x 100 The Phoenix Trophy Small Chorus Award are competing = 90% for the first Ranking score: 30 – 25 + 1 = 6 warded to the highest placed “small” time in any 90+6 = 96 score chorus with up to 25 members on Example 2: Established chorus of 45 convention run stage (including MD(s)). by a barbershop existing members ran a learn to sing course and gained 15 new members on stage, and organisation. The Red Rosettes Award placed 4th out of 30 competitors. It is calculated by adding the simple (was Division 3 trophy) % new members on stage: (15 ÷ 60)x 100 percentage of new members on stage warded to the highest placed “mid= 25% size” chorus with 26 to 40 members on (e.g. a chorus of 30 which includes 6 new Ranking score: 30 – 4 + 1 = 27 members has 20% new members) to the stage (including MD(s)). 25+27 = 52 score inverse number of the rank achieved. The Debi Cox, highest score wins and in the event of a The Peter Caller Award tie, the trophy is awarded to the chorus LABBS E&J Chairman, (was Division 2 trophy) with the highest percentage of new Education Director warded to the highest placed “large” members. Each chorus will be required chorus with 41 or more members on T stage (including MD(s)). The numbers defining each group size will be reviewed as required from time to time, as the organisation grows and distribution of chorus numbers demands. Currently (2014) there are roughly equal numbers of LABBS choruses in each size group. D F A A A 13 Category Updates from E&J MUSIC CATEGORY was delighted as Music Category Director to have the opportunity to attend the Barbershop Harmony Society Category School and thank you so much, LABBS, for making it possible.We covered such a lot of ground but in terms of rule changes in the Music Category, there is little to say. Rather there is a growing change of emphasis. I The BHS is encouraging Music Judges to celebrate and of course reward, the musicality of contest performances in the broadest sense. Through your music, let all your audiences appreciate the barbershop style of a cappella singing by creating emotion in their hearts. If you want to know more about this, come along to the Music Category’s education day on 19th July! More info later. Delyth Knight, LABBS Music Category Director on exactly what the Presentation judges are looking for in a performance and to give competitors greater artistic freedom and creative license. BHS want to stimulate innovation and enable performers to think out of the box. LABBS Presentation Category share this vision and wholeheartedly welcome this approach, which effectively places a renewed emphasis on the authenticity or believability of the performance as appropriate to the song. As before, both the vocal and visual elements of the presentation, in the context of the song, will be evaluated for their contribution to the overall entertainment effect of the performance and now there is new language to describe and qualify what the judges are going to reward. This is reflected in the Category Description and on the Judging Form (you will find these in the Contest & Judging Handbook). Practically what does this mean for the PRESENTATION CATEGORY here are changes happening within the contestant? What can we expect to see LABBS Presentation Category which rewarded as we move forward? Well, think are being applied to this year’s contest about those performances that have recycle and may affect your Presentation ally affected you emotionally – were they scores. Want to know more? Read on… perfect? Probably not but were they sung To ensure we are in line with the latfrom the heart so much that you were est developments in barbershop, LABBS completely wrapped up in the song’s meshasadopted the new Presentation Category sage? That’s what we’re looking for - less description produced by the Barbershop of the slick and more authenticity. Out are Harmony Society (BHS), last year. LABBS old fashioned barbershop gestures and in sent Nickie Williams, Presentation Cateis whatever it takes to bring the song to gory Director, to the BHS Category School life and touch the audience emotionally. in America, in order to receive up-to-date To be honest, it’s nothing new. However, training on the shift in perspective and to judges are being asked to score fearlessly disseminate this to our own judges. The and this may have consequences for you BHS judges spent a substantial length of as a competitor. time evaluating the performances of proWe are excited to be part of an ever fessional actors and singers to ascertain evolving genre of singing where the art of what makes an artistic performance and performance is an integral part of the barhow this could be applied to barbershop bershop style. LABBS choruses have been performances. Effectively the consensus making great improvements as reflected was that barbershop needs to reflect real in the increase of many choruses’ scores world entertainment that would be valued in recent competitions. We hope you by a wider audience. will take time to read through the new The Category Description rewrite has Presentation Category description and look been streamlined, condensing it to a mere forward to enjoying your performance at seven pages in order to provide clarity Convention. Make it real! T 14 Nickie Williams, LABBS Presentation Category Director SINGING CATEGORY had the pleasure of attending the BHS Category School on behalf of the LABBS Singing Category in order to receive firsthand training in current developments in the category. I The Singing Category is undergoing a change to the category language, namely, the element of the category called ‘artistry’ is going to become ‘vocal expression’. In reality this change does not make a difference to how we judge this element, it is more a codification and clarification of the language used. As you will be aware the singing category currently judges (principally) 5 elements – intonation – vocal quality – unity – expansion - artistry. Artistry now becomes “vocal expression” Focus is now on language within the judging handbook and scoresheet which reflects techniques for expressive singing including: Enunciation; Word usage sound; Inflections; Tone colour; Emotional Impact “In order for all these techniques to be artistic, they must effectively communicate the emotional content of the song.” This will overlap with Presentation they talk about vocal expressiveness and believability and also with Music, in their elements of theme and delivery. In truth, as mentioned above this is not a ‘big shift’ but really just a way of trying to express the element better. Singing has always judged the expression and emotion of a performance but we hope the language used in evaluations will now be more transparent and helpful to the competitors. For more detail please read the Singing Category Description contained in the BHS Extract document published on the LABBS website. Nancy Kelsall, Immediate past LABBS Singing Category Director LABBS TEAM POSITIONS Would you like to get more involved in LABBS? Do you have the time and skills to help our teams provide education and events for our Association? We are looking for people to fill the following rôles in our teams. If you would like to know more about any of them, please email [email protected] to state an interest and find out more. EVENTS DIRECTOR As a member of the LABBS Board and a trustee of the charity, this Director coordinates the events team and works with the Convention and Education teams to provide events management support. ASSISTANT TREASURER Working with the LABBS Treasurer in the management of E&J, Convention and Main Accounts and budgeting for the Association. EVENTS SUPPORT Working with the Events Director in the coordination of venue and room bookings and event administration. LABBS SHOW MANAGER A member of the LABBS Convention team responsible for scheduling, planning and production of shows and liaison with special guests at each Convention. E&J SECRETARY Documenting E&J meeting minutes and providing administrative support to the E&J team and Education Director, this is a rôle of a confidential nature . 15 Wessex W essex Harmony had a great time in December getting into the Christmas spirit. We enjoyed entertaining the Christmas shoppers in Poole whilst at the same time raising money for the Royal National Institute Minster sharing the programme with both an adult and children’s choir. The acoustics in the Minster are wonderful and the audience was treated to a programme of music ranging from classical pieces to our genre of close, four part harmony which we all love. We were also lucky enough to have the wonderful Nicky Salt come and coach us over a couple of days in January. It’s a real privilege to have such talent helping us with our singing and, as you can see, some of her techniques are a little unconventional! We would like to take this opportunity of wishing our LABBS Barbershop friends and Choruses a very happy and successful 2014. We shall look forward to meeting up with you all later this year in Harrogate.’ Sue Banton, PRO Wessex Harmony for the Blind. This was followed by one of our favourite seasonal sing-outs at Ringwood Brewery. This is an event where the audience is always very happy to participate by singing along to the Carols, beer in one hand and song sheet in the other! Strangely enough it’s also amazing just how many of our husbands and partners are more than happy to be part of the evening. A great time was had by all! In complete contrast, we again sang this December in Wimborne The Spirit of Smile H ow can we, Spirit of the South, look back on 2013 and not smile? We had such a good year. Not only have we had great sing-outs some familiar and some new but we now have a day-time chorus consisting mostly of ladies of a certain age. We call this the Silver Spirit chorus and they do a lot of sing-outs in retirement homes and for charities during day time, which often involves tea and cake. The ladies look forward to the extra sing-outs as they get to sing the good old war time sing along songs as well as the repertoire songs for Spirit of the South. The highlight of the year was obviously the convention at 16 Llandudno, it gives the chorus purpose and a goal to aim for. We enjoyed our stage time and it is fantastic to be able to kick back and chill out at the afterglow and the evening shows. Can’t wait for Harrogate October 2014!! See you all there Sandra Strawn Spirit of the South The Science of Sound Singing in Perfect Harmony ne of the most important things about singing barbershop, is being able tune ‘perfect’ chords. In the ‘Definition of the Barbershop Style’ which forms part of the LABBS contest and judging handbook, these ‘perfect’ chords even get a mention; “Barbershop singers adjust pitches to achieve perfectly tuned chords in just intonation whilst remaining true to the established tonal centre.” What does this actually mean and why is this perfection so essential to the Barbershop style? Let me explain with a bit of maths, history and even a touch of physics. Sound is a wave of air at different pressures which is called a “waveform”. When these waveforms of different notes are played together they interact with each other. O Sounds with a high pitch (like a tenor) have a high frequency wave and sounds with a lower pitch (like a bass) have a lower frequency wave. If two or more pitches are played at the same time and their waveforms physically “fit” into each other then they sound really pleasant. Here are three different pitches that are being sung at the same time, each one being represented by a waveform of a different colour; the lowest in blue, the get the pulsing sound in your ears and highest in purple and one in between in not quite perfectly tuned chords. The red. See how they all fit together? margins that we are talking about here are so small that most of the time you can’t hear them but in Barbershop, it’s this difference that hooks us and keeps us coming back for more! When we sing unaccompanied we aren’t limited to the equally spaced fixed notes in an equal temperament scale; our voices are a very flexible instrument so we can use just tuning to make the notes in a chord fit together For these waveforms to fit, they and sound perfect. need to be simple ratios of each other. You can think of the notes that you The red line goes up and down twice for can sing looking like this on a piano every time the blue line does, giving it keyboard. a ratio of 2:1 meaning it is double the frequency. When the waveforms don’t quite fit with each other you can hear a pulsing sound in the note that is being sung which in scientific circles is called a beat’. You can physically feel this ‘beat’ as In Barbershop, when we achieve this a pulsing in your ear when perfect fit in a chord across all four parts two notes are playing just a it is referred to as “lock”. fraction apart in pitch. When this lock is achieved in Before music was written Barbershop singing it creates new notes down and before there above and below the ones that you were orchestras that used are singing, all through the power of lots of different types of maths and physics. These new notes instruments at the same that are created are called overtones time, tuning was done by ear and the and undertones. When they are created notes and the differences between them they are referred to in Barbershop as were ‘pure’ using these simple ratios. The “expanded singing” or sometimes as waveforms always fitted into each other “ringing a chord” or “the 5th voice”. and sounded perfect, exact and “just”. Most importantly, here is what this Then, composers wanted to to get science all means to your barbershop all clever and use orchestras with lots of singing: the notes written on the sheet different instruments in different pitches. music might not be the exact ones that They also wanted to write things down you need to sing to make the chord ring, and transpose music into different keys. you might have to sing slightly sharper This perfect, “just” tuning system (higher) or flatter (lower) to tune the wouldn’t work, as the gaps between each note and get that “lock and ring”. note in a scale weren’t exactly mathematif you have two notes on the music ically the same and equal. It meant that one after the other that are written the when music was transposed into differsame on the music, then its likely that ent keys, it didn’t sound right. So, they you will need to adjust your tuning to fudged it; the musicians created “equal sing the right part of the note to get the temperament” - the posh way of saying chord to lock, particularly if the other that the gap between all the notes in a parts are moving around you. scale is exactly the same. If you learn from computer generated Before equal temperament, all the teach tracks, they will almost certainly notes “fitted” together in a chord use equal tempered tuning, so won’t have perfectly and sounded marvellous. Now, any lock and ring - be aware that when when equal temperament is used the you sing it yourself the notes might notes don’t quite fit by the tiniest of sound different! Getting margins - and when that happens you a teach track 17 sung by a human may be more expensive but they are more accurate because they will use just tuning. If you are struggling with a note SILVER BELLES when you are learning something sat in front of a piano, when you sing it in person with the rest of the chord around you, you are likely to just get the note without any issues as your ear will find it. It’s likely to have been a note that is in between the ones that you can play on the piano. The lead and the bass will most often be on the notes of the chord that need the least tuning while the bari and the tenor are normally on the notes that need the most tuning - often leading to the commonly seen “bari shoulder”, and the “tenor tiptoe”. Andrea Day New MD The fun bunch that is Coast to Coast are looking for a new Musical Director. Meeting once a month and singing for the Convention Sunday show, Coast to Coast also has Retreats and occasional foreign travel. Starting June 2014. If interested, please contact Anne on 01255 870453 18 DIRECTORS’ DAY O n Sunday January 26th, around ninety directors, assistant directors and section leaders came together at the Q3 Academy for a day of fascinating workshops aimed at helping us all become more effective in our roles on the music team. The event was led by Dr Liz Garnett who started us off with a whole-group session on “Working with Human Beings”. Ably assisted by a panel of willing individuals and Floddy the Hippo of Belonging, Liz talked us through how our singers might struggle to concentrate on ringing chords when they were fixed on their other more primal needs: physical, safety, belonging, esteem, cognitive and aesthetic. In addition to the mass sessions there were breakout sessions allowing delegates to explore subjects like conducting gesture; managing the voice; rehearsal planning and diagnostic listening and in a change from 2014, the day included streamed sessions aimed at directors who considered themselves novice, aspiring, assistant, experienced or expert. There was plenty of singing to be had too. Monica Funnell, Helen Lappert, Craig Kehoe, Nickie Williams and Hannah Washington made sure we were properly warmed up and ready to go with a variety of rounds, harmony exercises, rain storms and motorbikes! We sang our way through Pennine Chimes P ennine Chimes have had a very busy time over the Christmas period, raising funds for the chorus. On 1st and 15th December we were invited by Haworth Chamber of Trade to join their annual street festivities. Haworth, in West Yorkshire, with its cobbled streets and quaint shops is, of course, famous for its connection with the Bronte family. Visitors are attracted every Christmas by the steam train, which becomes the Santa Express. Entertainment in the streets is provided by a jazz band, Morris dancers and choirs. Our thanks go to the owner of & Chocolate across the road from where we sang; not only did he give us free samples of his delicious chocolate, he also tweeted this photograph of us! We had 2 very enjoyable days when the weather was very kind to several polecats as five brave souls took to the floor to be coached on their directing by Liz. Undoubtedly the highlight of the day was a short session where Sally McLean of the White Rosettes directed the massed chorus of directors, while Liz talked us through some of the features that made her directing so powerful. I’m sure we all went home thinking about wide backs, didactic fingers and singing with our bathroom tiles rather than our curtains! Boo Lewis TUBBS Musical Director BOMB Squad Baritone us; Haworth can be very bleak in winter! We had been practising very hard for our annual Christmas Concert which proved to be a great success. We were rewarded with a ticket sell out and a very appreciative audience. On the Saturday before Christmas saw chorus members singing in the local Sainsbury’s entrance. Many shoppers stopped to join in with the singing, taking time out from their busy schedule. We all agreed that singing is such a tonic; better than a tot of whisky any day!! Tracey Gill, Pennine Chimes Club Secretary 19 NEW MUSICAL DIRECTOR REQUIRED MOUNTAIN HARMONY CHORUS Mountain Harmony Ladies Chorus is based in North Wales, near Mold and has over 40 members. Following the recent departure of our MD, we are now seeking a new MD to continue to develop the Chorus, its singing skills and repertoire. We perform a wide variety of songs a cappella, mainly in the barbershop style. We are members of LABBS and have regularly competed in the annual Convention along with over 30 other choruses from all over the UK, as well as performing in more local events (including Llangollen International Eisteddfod). If you have the skills and enthusiasm to lead, coach and motivate our Chorus and would like the challenge of improving and building on the excellent foundations laid since the Chorus was set up 25 years ago, then we would love to hear from you. Contact Heather Allsopp (Chairman) on: 01352 753312 or e-mail to [email protected] or [email protected] (Secretary) for further information. Apologies!!! M any apologies to Tone-acity and Northern Vibe. Their photos were swapped in the last issue although the placements were right. It should have been as follows: Tone-acity SILVER Deadline for Next Issue Friday April 25th 2014 Please supply photographs in the highest resolution possible, in colour, as separate Jpeg files not in a Word document. Expect the file to be bigger than 300Kb, probably more than 1Mb. If it’s not then it’s probably low resolution and won’t print well. Northern Vibe BRONZE Diary Dates Feb 22-23 LABBS/BABS Joint Judges Seminar Mar 7-9 BinG! Convention inc World Mixed Quartets Comp., Dortmund Mar 15 LABBS Board meeting Mar 29 LABBS AGM and Council meeting Apr 3-6 SABS Convention, Spain Apr TBS Regional Education Days May 8-11 Sweet Adelines Reg 31 Convention, Nottingham May 23-26 BABS 40th Convention, Harrogate Jun 7 LABBS Board meeting For more dates and information see our website www.labbs.org.uk