LABBS Choruses take all the prizes at Torquay

The Magazine of the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers
www.labbs.org.uk
Summer 2013
LABBS Choruses take all the prizes at Torquay
F
our LABBS Choruses took part in the
Majestic Open Choirs Festival in Torquay
in February. This is a compilation of
experiences from Cheshire Chord Company,
Crystal Chords, Capital Connection and
Avon Harmony.
“There’s nothing like a weekend at
the seaside with the girls to blow
the winter cobwebs away and those
cobwebs didn’t stand a chance in the
biting Devon wind.”
“A flurry of Manchester snow failed
to dampen the Crystal Chords’ high
spirits as we set off on a 5 hour coach
journey to Torquay and the Majestic
Open Choir Festival. We didn’t know
what to expect from the weekend but
we did recognise quite a few of the
names of the other choirs including
several LABBS members – maybe it
would be like a mini Convention? It was a
long journey but the tedium of travelling
was relieved by a very professional en-route
quiz and a bit of singing”
“The weekend in Torquay to
compete as part of the Majestic
Open Choir Festival began with
Cheshire Chords first coach trip
of 2013. The journey south was
punctuated with some gentle
singing to save our voices for
Saturday’s competition. However,
we did make a pit stop at a garden
centre off the M5. Here we did an
impromptu Flash Mob, a “bucket
list” item for several chorus
members. The manager of the centre
liked what we sang and wanted
to know who we were and if we’d
sing another song. What a question to ask
barbershoppers; of course we were happy to
sing again! “
It wasn’t like Convention. You know the
kind of thing, 12.02: make-up, 12.32: warm
up room, 12.43 and a half: line up to go on
stage. We kept bombarding our MD Debi Cox
with questions – what time? Where? When?
Who?
We needn’t have worried, the organisation
was efficient and smooth, meals and
transport provided exactly on time.
Saturday’s timetable was really full. Only
time for a quick run through of our package,
fully made up, before we watched the
morning half of the competition in the
Riviera Centre. We were seated sociably
at long tables so everyone could see and
relax with a coffee if they wished. The MC
Steve Laister was slick and funny and put
everyone at their ease. Each choir had 20
minutes of singing time to give a varied
package of choral entertainment – quite a
change from the 2 formal songs at a LABBS
contest! Entertainment it was - there were
moves, props, mini-dramas, funny anecdotes
but above all fantastic singing.
Our rehearsal on competition day provided
passers-by with a smile, as 30+ ladies
trooped across the zebra crossing between
the hotel and conference centre clad in
sparkly outfits and assorted shoes We liked
the fact that all competing choruses
had the opportunity of singing a varied
and extended package as everyone had
20-30 minutes on stage.
The day itself was incredible! Eight
competing choruses - all female apart
from Shannon Express. Avon Harmony
was second on after Renaissance. We
could hear Cheshire Chord Company
warming up as we were going on
stage which was a little distracting.
Their version of Elbow’s “One Day Like
This” was just sublime but to hear it
as we were walking on stage was a bit
unnerving. We sang our set and it was
great to be back on stage again
The results were part of the evening’s
entertainment, which was a relaxed affair,
and excruciatingly funny at times. First
we had the MC’s gameshow “It’s BlackJack
Baby” (similar to the “Gambit” TV
gameshow in the 1980s) - with
the MD of each choir up on stage
playing the game. Cheating was
almost compulsory and the game was
generally judged to be a riot. Debi
Cox got off to a good start but then
she gave a couple of wrong answers
… things were looking bad … it was
nail-biting stuff. Then she got hold
of her competitive streak again and
stormed through to victory. The MC
seemed genuinely overawed by the
good humour and total participation
not only of the MDs but also the
audience. It wasn’t like this last week, he
kept telling us. Then the pièce de résistance
– every choir sang one song on stage
without a break. The whole room was on
the move and somehow it all worked!
The Eurovision style voting kept
everyone on the edge of their seats until
all the results were counted. It was
organised so that each
Chorus had ->
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two non-singing reps who ranked all the
Choruses from 1st – 7th (leaving out
their own Chorus) These results were
then read out on stage and added up.
This provided 50% of the total mark. The
head judge then gave his verdict which
counted for the other 50%.
The Cheshire Chord Company were
declared the winners of the beautiful
crystal trophy and received a cheque for
£3000. Crystal Chords were really thrilled
to be runners-up and get a cheque for
£2000! Capital Connection took the
third prize of £1000. It was remarkable
that not only all the top places were
taken by LABBS members but they
shared the same ‘C.C.’ initials!
Avon Harmony came fifth, with only
14 members on stage, after Shannon
Express who took fourth place.
The long day was rounded off in the
hotel bar with many from the different
choruses enjoying one huge
afterglow. It was a wonderful
way to end a wonderful day with
friendship, fun and harmony.
Shannon Express started the
singing. Then Cheshire and
Crystal got up and did
their thing and then
Avon Harmony were
asked to sing There were
only 14 of us compared
to the 60/70 something
in the other choruses.
We said we would if
others came up to help. Well
our MD, Alex, got more than
he bargained for! There must
have been a good 120-150
barbershoppers standing in
front of him.
This was just pure fun, relaxing and
singing. We particularly liked when all
the choruses sang together. Standing
alongside people who we didn’t know
but coming together through a shared
song is a very special experience.
“We can’t fault Majestic Tours who
organised the competition weekend.”
“All in all we had a brilliant weekend
and would highly recommend to any
chorus thinking of going to the Majestic
Choir Festival next year, not to hesitate
but go for it.”
Many thanks to Barbara King (Crystal
Chords) Alison Linfield (Cheshire Chord
Company) ) Michelle Parsons (Avon
Harmony) and Sheila Rogers (Capital
Connection) for their contributions to
this article.Compiled by Jackie Boffin
(Avon Harmony)
Notes from the Chairman
A
big hello to you all. I’m delighted
to be talking to you as your new
Chairman and would like to start this by
giving my thanks to our Immediate Past
Chairman, Teresa Phillips who I have had
the pleasure of working with and learning from for the past two years.
My first task as Chairman was incredibly exciting as I announced at our
AGM that LABBS has now officially been
registered as a Charity in England and
Wales. This is the result of several years’
effort from a lot of people and it is
undoubtedly a cause for celebration as
a milestone in our Associations history. The Board of Directors (the newly
named Executive Team) has already sent
out some initial information on what
this means to us all and if you have any
questions or feedback on it we’d love to
hear them as we go about finalising the
process so we can communicate more in
coming months.
As an Association we have opportunities to take and challenges to face
but we also have the vision, drive and
ambition to build our membership and
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strengthen our profile. Our main objec-
tive on the Board is to help clubs and
individual members achieve their goals
and to put central plans in place that
will grow, support and develop all clubs
and quartets across the country. Key to
being able to do this is your feedback
and from September we will be trialling
a new format to LABBS Council meetings to build this two way engagement.
If you would like to be involved in this
then please speak to your Council representatives.
So, I’ll finish with a little more about
me; I ‘found’ barbershop seven years ago
when I joined the bass section of Crystal
Chords in Greater Manchester. I’d moved
back to my roots in the North of England
and thought I would find a hobby that I
wouldn’t need to commit too much time
too. Looking back I realise how naïve
that was as barbershop had me hooked
within weeks. Since then it has also introduced me to many of my close friends
and grown to become something I feel
incredibly enthusiastic and passionate
about.
I hope to talk to as many LABBS members as possible over the next two years.
If you see me somewhere please do come
and introduce yourself and have a chat.
Yours in Harmony,
Alison Harbord
LABBS Chairman
35 Years of Barbershop
T
he Harton Harmonisers would like
to wish every LABBS member a
happy and healthy new year.
We invited the ladies, A Touch of
TLC and the men, Compass Acappella, to a social evening in early
December 2012. The theme was the
sixties and we all turned on, tuned
in and dropped out!!! and had a
wonderful evening with a quiz,
splendid buffet and fancy dress
competition. Peter Jones won the
men’s section dressed as Sergeant
Pepper, resplendent in a blue satin
suit with epaulettes and sporting
a beard and moustache. There were
many hippie type women, some in
flowing skirts and some in hot pants
and the ladies winning entrant was
Helen Burrell with her flower power
costume. Everyone, I’m sure, remembering the fabulous sixties and its fantastic
music.
The evening was a huge success and also
an ideal opportunity for Bunny Bainbridge
to present 35 year awards to Catherine
Grimes and Ella Winfield. After entertaining each other with a couple of songs
the three choruses sang “Keep The
Whole World Singing” together – it
was a lovely evening.
Last year we were raising money
for Grace House Children’s Hospice
and our Christmas sing out at the
Bridges Shopping Centre in Sunderland boosted our funds considerably.
We also sang at Action Stations
and at our last meeting we said a
sad farewell to Ursula, who returned
to Germany because of her husband’s work. She has been with us
for over three years, a great lead
and a valuable member. Eileen Dent
made her a beautiful card with many
photographs of the chorus, which
we all signed, and we presented her
with gifts of a Treble Clef Brooch
and musical notation mug.
Beryl Cooke, PRO
Photo:
Jean Sutton, Ella Winfield, Catherine
Grimes and Bunny Bainbridge 2012
Fascinating Rhythm
F
inalists in the Barnardo’s Inaugural
Adult Choir Competition!
On 23rd March, Fascinating Rhythm took
part in the ‘Barnardo’s Inaugural Adult
Choir Competition 2013, which took place
in Birmingham Town Hall. Barnardo’s has
organised the highly successful National
Choir Competition for six years and this
year took the decision to open a new
competition for competing adult choirs.
Choirs throughout the UK were invited
to take part and Barnardo’s had excellent
support from choirs throughout the country. Each sent a CD with two contrasting
songs for their judges to consider. They
then had a hard task to decide on the
finalists. Barnardo’s is one of the leading children’s charities helping the most
disadvantaged children and young people
in the UK and it was a privelege to be selected to take part and help to raise
funds towards their cause.
It was an early start for us and uncertain of the severity of the weather
conditions we might be faced with,
we headed for Birmingham and the
snow!
Throughout the day the choirs
performed their chosen 3 songs to
the judges.
Fascinating Rhythm sang ‘ And So It
Goes’, ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’ and ‘South Rampart Street Parade’.
Then we had the opportuntiy to perform
‘South Rampart Street Parade’ again in the
concert which took place in the evening.
The concert was compèred by Ore Oduba,
now one of CBBC’s best know faces.
At the end of the concert the winning
choirs were announced. As well as receiving a trophy, the winning choirs have
been invited to sing at the Barnardo’s
Christmas Concert in Westminster Cathedral on December 5th and at the Royal
Albert Hall in November, events that raise
money for the work of the leading UK
children’s charity. 15 choirs performed in
the final and the standard of singing was
high. Our congratulations go to Phoenix
and Jubilate, who were awarded joint top
prize in the ladies category and The Great
Western Chorus who won the male voice
category.
Junior Fascinating Rhythm compete for
the first time!
Junior FR took part in their first competition on 7th March 2013. They competed
at St. Mary’s Church in Thornbury in the
under 11 choir category at the Thornbury
Eisteddfod. They sang “Thank You For The
Music” by Abba which was accompanied
by a pianist. Their second song was a real
challenge. They sang a nursery rhyme
medley in 4 part harmony, a cappella
style and added some choreography. They were very well received and
although not placed this year, were
awarded 86 marks and gained a lot from
the experience. Well done Girls! Thank you
to the ladies from Fascinating Rhythm
who came to support them.
Rehearsals are now underway for
their next performance with Fascinating Rhythm on 13th July, at The
Proms in the Meadow, Iron Acton,
South Gloucestershire.
Chloe Roberts PR Team for Fascinating Rythmn
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The Spy who came in from the Cold
A
short story, inspired by my son
Edward, who said yesterday that he
thought I was a secret agent, not a barbershopper and that I go out each Thursday
night to carry out top secret and dangerous missions…….
“See you later sweetheart, have a peaceful evening, I’m off to chorus now. Don’t
know what time I’ll be home so don’t wait
up. Bye…. Love you!”
The door clicked
closed and
her footsteps
resounded as she
made her way up
the garden path
to the waiting vehicle, its
engine purring
gently and ready
to drive off as
soon as its passenger was safely
inside. She made
a cursory check
to makes sure
her black case
was closed as
she strode up
to her waiting
accomplice who
signalled and
waved to her as
she approached.
It wouldn’t do for the contents to spill
out across the road – what would the
residents of the neat little cul-de-sac
think if they could see what she was carrying? Mmmmmm, your neighbours are
not always what you think they are! ……
thought agent 007th as she smiled to
herself …… LITTLE did they know!!
The car wound its way through the dark
country lanes, with but a single destination in mind. The two occupants of the
vehicle looked at each other and smiled.
They were on their way and nothing
would stop them now!
It was safe now to check the contents
of the case and 007th reached back and
brought the black holdall to the front of
the car and carefully undid the zip. She
withdrew a large green file and turned
the pages. First the code had to be
deciphered. Lines and lines and lines of
dots swam before her eyes and as she
accustomed her eyesight to the dim light
afforded by the occasional orange street
lamps but her keen eyes scanned the
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code and sought its meaning … slowly
the dots made sense …not really dots at
all but letters – clever! C F F F D D D G
G G C D E……. But what IS it? Then a
conspiratorial smile crossed her lips and
she turned to the driver and said – “right
– it’s ok - I’ve got it! – drive on – quickly
or we’ll be too late!”
As the minutes ticked by, the anticipation mounted and 007th was drawn
to the precious little red box that was
nestling happily in a side pocket of the
case. Temptation overcame her and she
took it out and found the little catch at
the front which would release the lid.
There it was! Sleek, silver and black with
the coded letters engraved in a perfect
circle. It was a finely crafted instrument
of precision - without this, there could be
nothing later. The whole operation depended on this crucial little gadget – and
here it was, in her hands! She shivered
as she felt the rush of power down her
spine. She took one more look at it and
resisted the overwhelming temptation to
activate the device right there and then
and reluctantly but gently placed it back
in its safe red case and clicked it shut.
Patience Penfold, patience! It would have
its moment very soon now……
The country roads began to light up as
street lights became more prevalent and
the city began to emerge from the distant
orange haze that had hovered low in the
sky beyond the car. They were nearly
there now. Soon, operation “high’n’low”
would be underway.
An urgent thought entered her mind and
007th remembered the latest gadget that
she’d been given – small, discreet and
totally digital, MP3DVR! It was top of
the range and would analyze the operation down to smallest degree and provide
the all important backup that would be
required in the de brief later. Yes, there
it was – primed
and ready for use
at the press of a
button. 007th
relaxed and sat
back in her seat
– knowing that
she had everything she would
need to execute
the exercise
that was due to
begin in under 5
minutes. 4 minutes. 3 minutes.
2 minutes. 1
minute. The car
turned down the
drive and headed
towards HQ.
Lights were shining and there was
an air of expectancy and the low
hum drum of other agents discussing the
business of the day.
30 seconds. The car stopped and the
doors opened. The driver and 007th
stepped onto the cold wet car park,
picked up their cases and headed towards
the large double doors.
15 seconds.... 10..... The warmth of the
room rose up to meet them and there was
a quiet hush as they walked into the main
hall.
5.4.3.2.1! They had made it! Just in
time!
The director of operations (CKMD to his
agents) turned to them and said – “at
last Penfold! You’re here! – OK everyone,
it’s time…. Music folders out please and
turn to page 4 of the music for “Why Do
Fools Fall In Love”. Ready? Pitch please
Debbie, oh, and everyone – please record
yourselves and submit to your section
leaders ASAP!!”
“Oh………….. Dum dum bah dum dum
bah dum dum bah dum bah dum ……..”
30 years of barbershop!
C
ascade was delighted to
welcome Regional Rep
Jacqui Edwards to our regular rehearsal evening on 13th
February to present Polly
Witty with her award for 30
years membership of LABBS. Polly has been a member
of various choruses since
joining the world of Barbershop in 1982: Lakeside,
Pitchpipers and then Harbour
Lights, which became Cascade Southdowns Ladies Harmony Chorus following the
amalgamation with Shades of
Harmony in 2002.
During her time with LABBS and Cas-
cade, Polly has been a dedicated and
enthusiastic barbershopper, participat-
ing actively under various
guises: committee member,
Council Rep, Chairman and
now our Chorus Manager.
She was also on the Convention Team for several years,
and her late husband Mick
was also a willing supporter,
himself being a Convention
Courier.
Polly was delighted to receive her award from Jacqui
Edwards, surrounded by all
of her friends at Cascade,
and needless to say we had
a wonderful evening full of
song and laughter.
Caroline Clack PRO - Cascade
Silver Lining News
A
great start to 2013 for Silver
Lining!
There’s a buzz in the air on Wednesday evenings at Silver Lining Chorus
rehearsal – a new song or two and
we are enjoying the challenge our
MD Sara Jackson has given us! More
moves than usual for us, what a laugh
and “such fun” as Miranda’s Mum
would say..
Our annual dinner was a splendid
affair held at Ashorne Hill. We pushed
the boat out with ‘posh frocks’ and we
stayed over to make the most of the
event. Our chairman was cruelly maligned for over indulging but I (from
personal knowledge) don’t think she
was the only one who had a bit of a
headache the next day.
We had a really good year on the
fundraising front thanks to Heather
Copperwheat and to Renata Homer
our new fundraising guru who took
over when our lovely Heather left
us to move to Cheshire with her
husband’s job. We were so glad she
managed to join us for the dinner and our loss is Cheshire Chord
Companys gain as she was on stage
with them at the Majestic Choir
Competition in Torquay, how great
is that – 1st appearance, first prize!
We were able to share our good
fortune with two charities this year
and cheques were presented to the
Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
at Birmingham Childrens Hospital who
applied for help through one of our
members. Coventry Myton Hospice
is a charity we have continued to
support with singouts and donations through the years and we were
pleased to be able to help them again
this year.
One of our events for Myton last year
was a great Concert jointly presented
by Silver Lining, The Belles of Three
Spires, ‘Bowled Over’ and the men’s
chorus the Sound of Three Spires and
‘Bianco’. A great raffle was organised
and an afterglow with mince pies
gave Myton over £800 which was a
great result.
As our coaching dates get nearer
and the new song gets more embedded the chorus are hoping for another successful year when it comes
time to pack our bags for Llandudno. It’s so nice to have something
exciting to look forward to and
what could be better than getting
together with friends old and new
at our LABBS annual convention!
Keep up to date with us on facebook, ‘like’ our page..
Judith Medlock
(Chairman & PRO)
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Its all happening at Bristol Fashion
W
e may only be in March but already
2013 has been a busy year for Bristol Fashion. We held our AGM in January
which saw a new Chairman elected. Helen
has chosen the Bristol Children’s Hospital
as her charity and we are
looking forward to raising funds for them this
year. The new committee
is now in place and has
held its first meeting of
the year. We are thrilled
to welcome Laurence
Levett onto the committee who takes up the role
of Marketing Manager.
I’m sure many of you will
recognise Laurence as
he is the LABBS shows
manager too, or maybe
you know him better as
Leonard?!
During the AGM thanks
were given to long serving Membership Manager
Joyce Smith who stood down after 18
years service and also to Jan Hill who
retired as Lead Section Leader after some
15 years.
It has also been a busy year on the risers
too. On February 16th the chorus took
part in a workshop with The University of
Bristol Barbershop Society (TUBBS) and
The Great Western Chorus (GWC). The day
started at 10am with a warm up taken
by GWC Deputy MD Steve Derrick and our
own MD Craig. During the workshop
Craig and the BF contingent taught the
ladies of TUBBS two repertoire songs
plus two 8 part songs whilst Linda
Corcoran and the GWC team taught the
boys their songs. It was a fabulous
(if not tiring) day but the effort and
dedication put in by all involved made
it worthwhile. The workshop finished
at 4pm which gave us just about
enough time for a quick Pizza Express
before the rehearsals started for the
evening show! The concert, held in
the beautiful setting of Christchurch,
Clifton, was well attended and gave
all three groups the opportunity to
perform. BF was honoured to get the
chance to sing with the TUBBS ladies
on the show and our two song set with
them went down well with the audience.
The finale saw the massed ranks (approximately 100 singers) of GWC, TUBBS and BF
sing the two 8 part songs learnt earlier.
The concert finished at around 10pm and
then it was off to the pub for yet more
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singing! 14 hours of barbershop in one
day. Fabulous!
As part of the LABBS mentoring scheme
Bristol Fashion was asked to mentor River
City from Exeter. On the 28th February we
were joined by the lovely River City ladies
for a joint rehearsal. The two choruses
had given each other a song to learn and
after a physical warm up from BF’s Artistic
Director Jan Brady, we spent a couple of
hours working through the songs. Both
choruses did a fine job of learning and
there is potential there to make a very
nice sound once we are more familiar with
each other. There was time for a bite to
eat and some socialising before the River
City ladies had to get back on the bus
and head home to Exeter. Everyone had
a brilliant night and both choruses are
looking forward to the 28th April when BF
will be heading to Exeter for a whole day
rehearsal.
As if all that wasn’t enough our MD Craig
is also currently taking on the role of
temporary MD of Cardiff Style. When Craig
found out their MD Angela Palmer was
standing down after their AGM in January
he offered to lend a hand
to steady the ship until
a new director can be
found. The result of this
is that we are holding
a joint concert on May
11th in Bristol where
each chorus will sing for
one another and then
join together for a finale.
Craig’s arms may be a bit
tired come the end of
the show after directing
both choruses but we’re
sure he’ll have enough
strength left for a Guinness or two afterwards....
We would suggest that
if there are any choruses
out there who are going
through something similar to Cardiff that
you get in touch with your local neighbouring chorus as they may well be able
to help out. Don’t ask us as there are not
enough days left in the week to let Craig
out anymore!
By the time this goes to press we will
have competed at the Mid-Somerset festival
in Bath. We’re entering four classes on the
day so will let you know how we get on...
The chorus is looking forward to its
Spring Show on 20th April in Portishead near Bristol where we will once
again be sharing the stage with the
gorgeous foursome that is Fortuity. It’s
hard to believe that these girls made
their first public performance at our
Spring Show 2 years ago. Oh how the
time flies. We are looking forward to
another special night which will also
feature three of our in-house quartets
and performances from exciting brass
ensemble – Brassmatazz.
We would like to send our congratulations to our friends at Cheshire Chord
Company, Crystal Chords and Capital
Connection for their excellent performances and result at the Majestic
Festival in February. Nice to see LABBS
choruses taking up the top 3 spots
eh?! A special well done to our sisters
(and brother) in harmony at Avon Harmony on a fantastic 5th place. I think some
of us were as excited as you were when we
heard the results!!
Craig Kehoe, MD Bristol Fashion
Theresa’s Journey
I
t’s a brilliant thing when a career and
a passion come together. I was thrilled
to have made the journey across the pond
to spend three weeks teaching, coaching,
making new friends, seeing old ones,
sightseeing and many bus, train, car and
taxi rides, what an experience. One I will
not forget for a very long time. I have so
many I want to thank, especially those
who hosted me. There are two people I
want to publicly acknowledge and that’s
Paula and Mike Taylor. Together they put
together my schedule; made sure I had
rides everywhere, lined up all the coaching
and worked with my hosts to find me a
place to stay and it went so smoothly. I
am most grateful for all their help.
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My time was well booked and that
was a good thing. It meant that folks
were keen on learning and I was happy
to have shared my talents, expertise
and experience with everyone who
participated in my visit. I enjoyed
watching the unleashing of new divas,
positive performance power from many
and when the light bulb went on for
others!
I been quite busy since arriving home,
travelling all over North America working
with quartets and choruses, getting them
ready for BHS’ International competition
in Toronto this July. If you can’t make
it over I sure hope you’ll watch the
webcast, it’s going to be a great show. I
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will be watching my Facebook for updates
on ya’ll and would love to hear from you,
drop me a line anytime.
Your country is so blessed to have the
talent it has and I certainly was blessed
to have been able to bring that talent
to another level. I do hope that I will be
back some day to do it all over again. In
the meantime, I wish you success in the
passion we all share together, the love of
barbershop music.
Theresa Weatherbee
LABBS CAL Member
Presentation Judge
Professional Performance Coach
www.preZentnow.com
[email protected]
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1. Arun Sounds – LABBS
2. Pitchpipers – LABBS
3. Solent Sounds – SAI
4. Red Rose Chorus – BABS
5. TECHnique Quartet – LABBS
6. Red Rosettes – LABBS
7. Tudor Roses – LABBS
8. Sounds of Three Spires – BABS
9. Belles of Three Spires – LABBS
10. JaZZmine Quartet – LABBS
11. Wessex Harmony – LABBS
12. Southern Union – BABS
13. Sussex Harmonisers – BABS
14. Chatterbox Quartet – SAI
15. IQ Quartet – BABS
16. Viva Acappella – SAI
17. Majestik Quartet – SAI
8
9
8
9
16
11
12
10
7
13
12
15
3
2
13
10
1
14 17
11
7
Barbershop Takes The Costa Del Sol By Storm!
S
ome 300 barbershop aficionados
took Benalmádena, Málaga by storm
when they arrived for their fifth annual
convention last weekend. This is the
second time that the Spanish Association
of Barbershop Singers (SABS) has based its
event on the Costa del Sol. “Our delegates
come from all over Europe and we are
keen to establish convention venues
with excellent travel connections and
accommodation.” said SABS Vice President,
Lyn Baines. “This is the
second time that we have
hosted this international
event in Benalmádena;
it’s a great venue and
we always receive such
a warm
welcome”.
Delegates were
based in
the Sunset Beach Club
Hotel,
with shows and contests
taking place in the Moonlight Lounge at
the Sunset Beach Club, where SABS also
held its second international quartet
contest.
Spangles, from Los Alcázares, Murcia,
became gold medal champions of Spain and
Portugal for the second time, also sweeping
the board by winning all three trophies
for top scores in music, presentation and
singing. “We’re over the moon with our
win,” said Gail Grainger, Spangles’ Musical
Director “and to get the top scores is
8
testimony to the hard work that the chorus
has put in over the past twelve months.”
Madrid ladies’ chorus, The Barbees, won
the silver medal and Southern Sound, from
Fuengirola, Málaga, took the bronze medal.
In the quartet
contest, Fourmidables from Torrevieja,
Alicante were crowned Gold Medal
Champions for the first time, having won
silver in the last two contests. The silver
medal went to Hanfris from Barcelona and
the bronze medal was won by Cleftomania
from the Algarve in Portugal. Hullabaloo
from Torrevieja won the Senior Quartet
Award and Fénix Quartet from Los Alcázares
won the Highest Scoring Ladies’ Quartet
Award.
The international quartet contest saw
Tone-acity walk away with the gold medal
and Simply 4 win the silver medal. Both
quartets are from the UK.
SABS delegates were entertained
throughout the weekend by BABS 2012
champions IQ, Tone-acity Quartet and
Affinity Show Choir who wowed the packed
audiences. IQ also ran a well-attended
Masterclass and Andy Funnell organised a
very successful Scratch Quartet Contest,
which was great fun. “We’re so grateful
to our LABBS and BABS friends for their
support” said SABS Vice President, Lyn
Baines. “We’d also like to thank Alison
Thompson, Heather Lane and Derek Davies
for being such great judges in the chorus
and quartet contests and evaluations”.
Thank you so much for the great
support of BABS and LABBS - our fifth
convention was a huge success as a
result. IQ, Tone-acity, Affinity Show
Choir and all the judges bear testimony
to the friendship and harmony of the
barbershop community and they did a
fantastic job over the weekend.
Thanks also to the judges: Alison
Thompson, Heather Lane and Derek
Davies, who were great ambassadors,
encouraging and giving positive feedback
to our contestants.
I have attached our press release and
some photos (apologies now for the size of
the download!) which I hope that you can
find some space for.
We’re already working hard on 2014
convention in Alicante and have had
several enquiries from around Europe. The
next SABS annual convention is scheduled
for Calpe, Alicante from 3-6 April 2014 at
the Gran Hotel Sol y Mar,
right by the sea, with the
national and international
contests being held in the
Casa de Cultura in Calpe.
Numbers are limited, so
early booking
is highly
recommended.
If
you are interested
in
attending this event or
would
like to know more about SABS, you can
find information on the
SABS website: www.sabs.es or contact by
email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Thanks also for your advertisements
for the SABS programme, which all the
delegates have seen. Hopefully, someone
will bring back a copy for you. I wish you
great success for your conventions in May
and October and hope to see you again
soon.
Lyn Baines Vice President
A Cappella Springfest 2013
O
n a bitterly cold March day over a
hundred people gathered at the Cornerstone Arts Centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire,
for a day of a cappella singing, a ‘Choral
Harmony Workshop’
jointly organised
by Oxford Harmony
(BABS) and Harmony
InSpires (LABBS)
This was the third
time that this event
had been staged and
although numbers
were down somewhat
(unfortunately it
was Mothers’ Day!)
the organisation was
as ever smooth and
effective. This event
had been publicised
country wide and
indeed a group from
the LABBS chorus,
Abbey Belles, came
all the way from
Selby in North Yorkshire!
The day was split into a number of sessions. Each participant had the choice
of one of five choral options and two
class sessions. The choral options were
Spiritual, Modern A Cappella, Classical A
Cappella, Men’s Barbershop and Ladies’
Barbershop. The classes addressed the
various elements of singing,
such as breath management
and vocal production, as
well as giving the chance to
sing songs from Southern
Africa and have fun with
rounds and canons.
After booking a place and
making the choices (done
mostly online this year –
most efficient) participants
were sent music and teach
tracks both for their chosen
choral sessions and for the
‘Fest’ song, and asked to
learn them to the best of
their ability.
We were blessed with a vibrant team of
tutors:
The ‘Spiritual’option was taken by Ken
Burton, musical director, composer and
educator and principal conductor of
London Adventist Chorale and the Croydon
Gospel Choir. I didn’t personally experience his sessions but at the start of
proceedings he conducted a mean warmup session!
The Classical A Cappella option was
led by David Crown, described to me by
one participant as a ‘top notch musical
evangelist’. He is not only a soloist in his
ers. I attended his class ‘Songs from the
Rainbow Nation’, a fascinating experience
of those haunting African harmonies.
Dale Kynaston, who led the ‘Men’s
Barbershop’ option as
well as vocal classes,
will be a familiar
name amongst barbershoppers. Singer,
educator, performer
and compère, he is
well known for his
teaching and coaching skills. He directs
the ‘Telfordaires’ barbershop chorus and is
a member of the 2010
award-winning quartet, ‘Steel’. Some of
his tips on breathing
took particular root
with a friend – that is
to imagine breathing
in ‘through a hole in
your back’! Another of
own right but also he is Director of Music his suggestions was to imagine a ‘belt of
at Somerville College, here in Oxford, and noses’! Work that one out!
directs the Reading Phoenix choir, the
Helen Lappert, who led the Ladies’
Oxford Singers and the Wychwood Chorale. Barbershop, will be known to all in
I chose this option, where we sang Rach- LABBS! Director of the highly successful
maninov’s ‘Bogoroditse Devo’. How quickly Amersham Acappella, she took the Ladies’
he moulded us into shape, improving the
barbershop choral option. She is a very
initial resonance tenfold by exhorting us,
effective and inspirational teacher, lively
and enthusiastic and always
full of fun.
Following a successful ‘final
sing’ in 2012, when the Fest
Song was performed on the
steps outside the Cornerstone for all shoppers and
passers-by to hear, it was
planned to do a ‘Fest Flash’
out in the shopping centre,
where a few people would
start singing the Fest song,
to be gradually joined by
others to the delight and
amazement of all passers-by!
Unfortunately it was so bitterly cold that there were no
(in an exaggerated Russian accent) to
people about and even bundled in coats it
‘sing more like a Russian’! A friend who
was not ideal to stay outside for long, so
attended his class sessions described him a quick sing in the forecourt, watched by
as ‘strikingly effective’.
just four hardy teenagers, had to suffice!
The ‘Modern A Cappella’ was taken by
Never mind, maybe next time….
Ben Parry, composer, conductor and singer. Altogether it was a most enjoyable and
He is the new director of the National
inspiring day.
Youth Choirs of Great Britain and the Jun- Jan Deakin (Harmony InSpires)
ior Royal Academy of Music and was singer
and music director of the Swingle Sing9
LABBS Convention: 25-27 Octobe
Coaching and Education Opportunities
There will be wonderful opportunities for you to enjoy Coaching and General Education
so make sure that you take advantage of:
Friday 1400-1700: Non-Competing (in 2013) LABBS Quartets (new or established) and Choruses can apply for coaching by The Buzz
To reserve your slot, please contact Joan Harrison: [email protected]; 01159 323 053
Saturday: Master Classes (for everyone); details in next edition of Voice Box and on LABBS website
It is planned to have four one-hour Sessions - two in the morning and two in the afternoon
These Events will take place in the Theatre whilst Competitions are running in the Arena
Still looking for Accommodation in Llandudno?
If so, the following websites may be useful:
www.visitllandudno.com/accommodation
www.llandudnohostel.co.uk
www.booking.com/Llandudno
In addition, Reservations Highway are holding rooms, contact:
01423 525 577; [email protected]
www.reservation-highway.co.uk (password: labbs13
NB: the Convention Team has NOT checked out the hotels on offer
on these sites
Stewards
As usual, Stewards will play an important rôle at Convention;
anyone interested in helping should contact:
[email protected]:
01446 735 088: 07712 784 540
The more volunteers, the shorter the working time!!
Convention Express
It is never too early to start thinking about contributions.
As is said each year, it is your publication; I can only make
it the best yet with your help, so please, please write to me!
[email protected]
Registration 2013
Early Bird rates are available until 31st July 2013 No postal registrations accepted after 30 September 2013
You can register as a non-contestant at the Venue Contestants must hold a full “All Events” registration
Prices for individual events for non-Competitors on the Registration Form (available on LABBS website)
Cancellation fees apply; see notes on page 2 of Registration Form
The last application date for new LABBS members to be able to compete on stage is Friday 11 October
but please allow time for postal delays
Please note that, at Venue Cymru, it is not practicable to have reserved seats in the Arena for Competitions or in the Theatre
for Shows. The seating in the Theatre is designed for good visibility as many high-profile events are held there and our Technical Team will do their utmost to ensure satisfactory viewing for Competitions.
10
er 2013 Venue Cymru, Llandudno
The Convention Team was delighted when The Buzz agreed to come to Llandudno. Nancy, Debbie, Jeannie, Karen will be entertaining us each day and will also be coaching and running Master Classes. Their endless list of musical talents includes the fact
that they had all been Queens of Harmony before they formed The Buzz and won the Sweet Adelines International Quartet Gold
in 2005.
Nancy (Tenor): a sought after Coach and Vocalist, she sang with the 1992 Champion Quartet, City Lights and was an active
member and section leader of the Ramapo Valley Chorus, In 2002 she visited China singing and teaching vocal skills.
Debbie (Lead): a popular coach, vocalist and soloist; she is a High School Choral Director and frequent clinician for Youth
Harmony events. She sang with the 1994 Champion Quartet, Showtime, and is a member of the Faculty of SAI
Jeannie (Bass): a successful Chorus and Quartet Coach, she sang with the 1992 Champions, City Lights and won Chorus Gold
with Ramapo Valley Chorus.
Karen (Baritone): a popular coach and teacher within SAI, she is one of only four to have achieved the level of “Master
Faculty” and “Master Director.” She has directed three Choruses that have been in the finals six times and has won nine International Quartet Medals - including the Championship with Jubilation (1985).
Charity 2013: The Aberconwy Domestic Abuse Service
When the women arrive at the Refuge, they have absolutely nothing, so all gifts are welcome. Obviously individual items would
be wonderful but Choruses (or Quartets) may prefer to fill Decorated Shoe Boxes (or similar size) with items for one person: Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Deodorant, Talc, Flannel, Soap, Shower Gel, Brush, Comb etc; then, of course, Nightwear, Underwear, Towels,
Flannels, etc, are always needed.
As Convention is at the end of October, Christmas will be approaching so luxury items - Chocolates, Selection Boxes, Christmas
Cakes, Food Parcels, Perfume Sets, Jewellery – would be appreciated.
Then, of course, there are the Children…..
So Ladies, over to you for your usual generosity for such a worthy cause.
Convention Theme
As Convention is being held at a Welsh Seaside Resort, what else could we have as a Theme but Wales and the Seaside!?
So start working out what your Fancy Dress will be for Saturday night!
Quartet Prelims and Coaching Weekend
22 and 23 June 2013
The Streetly Academy, Queslett Road East, Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands B74 2EX
Competition Timetables can be viewed online at: labbs.org.uk. Everyone is welcome to support the Contestants on Saturday
(the 22nd), so please come along
Please note: there are no Chorus Prelims this year
Convention
Chorus and Quartet Timetables are available online
Remember that details can change so please check regularly 11
European Convention
A
mersham A Cappella, was delighted
to be invited this year to compete
alongside the crème de la crème of European Barbershop singers, at the Koningshof Centre in Veldhoven.
ing BABS and LABBS entrants: Jiggle,
Double Trouble, NoteOrious, IQ, The MIX,
Rhythmix, K4, The Royal Harmonics,
The White Rosettes and Crystal Chords.
Many congratulations to all for brilliant
performances and representing so well what
British Barbershop
talent is all about!
We finally got on
stage as the last
competing chorus on
Saturday night and it
was a memorable experience for all of us to
stand behind the curtain, next to the giant
white tulips, absorbing
We arrived at our hotel in Eindhoven
the buzz of the packed auditorium to
after singing for most of our 8-hour
the resounding cheers of “H-A-Mershcoach journey (felt like 2 hours to us
AM” and stamping feet of the audience,
but possibly longer for Matt, our dear,
eagerly awaiting our performance.
but long-suffering coach driver, who
After our performance package, we
we even composed a special song for!).
headed back through the crowds to
We made the most of the underwater
watch Vocal Six close the competiEuroTunnel acoustics, with a few cheeky tion and await the competition results.
renditions in our red noses for Comic Re- Singing alongside such highly acclaimed
lief – with one of the attendants coming choruses, we were delighted to achieve
down with a walkie-talkie to share our
our best ever competition mark.
harmonies with the rest of his office!
With the serious business over, the
As the last chorus to compete on
Amersham crew could then look forward
Saturday, we spent Thursday night,
to an evening of fun: singing and dancFriday and Saturday supporting all the
ing with new and old friends from the
European quartets and choruses we had
UK and all over Europe – starting off
made friends with over the years and in in the dinner hall, with an impromptu
particular cheering on the other compet- sing-off with our new chums of the
Dacke Drängar Barbershop chorus….and
ending in the early hours of the morning
after many, many tags and songs with so
many other choruses – and even forming
a few impromptu mixed quartets of our
own!
On Sunday, we returned one last time
to the convention centre, sang “One Moment In Time” by request in the reception area of the Centre, said goodbye to
our friends (in our inimitable style!) and
headed home after a fantastic weekend.
Thank you to all the organisers of the
European Barbershop Convention 2013
for a wonderful weekend of fun, harmony
and friendship and also to LABBS, for
giving us the opportunity to represent
British Ladies’ Barbershop in Europe!
Myfanwy Neville
PRO Amersham A Cappella
Musical Director Required
Do you have a passion for singing, a musical background,
preferably with a knowledge of Barbershop and would like
to direct a chorus?
We are a 30 strong women’s Barbershop Chorus in Exeter
seeking a new Musical Director to lead us to further success in performance and competition. If you would like to come along to meet us, see what
we do and think about whether this is something you
would like to consider,
Please contact: [email protected] or
telephone Lydia on 01392 833678 (evenings) 12
Mixing With The Locals
O
n the 2nd March the
Reading Barberettes entered
a local singing contest. It was
the Woodley Music Festival
and held at a local school.
There were a number of choirs
competing and we entered our
chorus in the Show Song Class
and Ladies Choir categories. Our
chosen songs for the show songs
were Gimme Gimme from Mamma
Mia and Can You Feel The Love
Tonight from the Lion King. We
were thrilled to come first in
this category and in the Ladies
Choir section, we sang Something
and It’s Raining Men and gained
second place.
Our chorus director Emma, has
also put together an octet called
Altern8 and this was their first
airing. So, in spite of nerves,
they came second in the Vocal
Group Class. So hopefully they
will continue to entertain. It was
a fun day and good to join other
local choirs in a singout. We
hope this will become a regular
event.
Jenny - Lead
News from Green Street Blues
W
e started 2013 by engaging Mark
Grindall as our interim Musical Director. We have worked successfully with Mark
before and were soon reaping the rewards
of his well renowned directing skills.
We were really pleased to represent
LABBS at the London A Cappella Festival
in January. We sang in the foyer with
Hannah Grindall directing us and we were
delighted with the reception we received.
For those of you who have not been to the
London A Cappella festival make sure you
book a ticket next year, it is an absolute
feast of harmony!
Our next goal was the inaugural Barnardos Adult Choir Competition, held in
Birmingham on 23 March. Much of the
country awoke to more snow but undeterred we made our way by coach to
Birmingham Town Hall. The competition,
which was fierce, took place in the afternoon. We were pleased to see that LABBS
was well represented with Signature,
Fascinating Rhythm and Affinity Show
Choir all competing too. A brief interlude
was taken after the competition, giving
the opportunity for
some to go out and
grab a bite. We all
took to the stage
again in the evening
for a concert and
then of course the all
important announcement of the results. I
cannot even begin to
put into words how
made up we all were
to be placed second!
We were all ecstatic
as was Mark! As you
can imagine there was lots of singing on
the way home. An exhausting but exhila-
rating day was had by all.
Fresh from our success we had some
FAB news. Mark applied to become our
permanent MD. We are looking forward to
a bright future with him at the helm, lots
of hard work and fun along the way.
The next milestone in our year is taking
part in the “Voices Now” event at the
Roundhouse in London on the weekend
of 22 and 23 June. We applied to take
part in this through Making Music and are
presently awaiting the arrival of a specially commissioned piece for us to sing
at the event on 23 June. The music is being composed by the renowned composer
Eriks Esenvalds with words by the poet
Emma Jones. They came to visit us in
January together with the event organizer Claire Edwards. We are really looking
forward to being part of this event, with
several different musical genres taking
part.
All in all a very busy and exciting start
to 2013 for GSB!
Amanda Mulroy
PRO Green Street Blues
13
A New Quartet Champions Contest for 2013
T
he E&J in consultation with the QCs
have designed a new “Past Champs”
contest which is very exciting and should
be full of thrills!
The format will be different from the
main annual quartet contest, allowing
gold medallist quartets to showcase their
talents, challenging further progression
and freeing them up to be thoroughly
entertaining. The contestants will be
competing for the QCs Trophy as well as a
cash prize of £1000!
Here is a summary of how the contest
will work:
The QC contest will take place at the end
of the Quartet Semi-finals round.
Each QC quartet will perform a 12 minute
show spot, which must include one nominated “contestable” barbershop song.
The rest of the 12 minutes can be filled
with their own choice of song material,
whatever shows the quartet at their best
and provides great entertainment.
There is no limit on the number, length
or nature/style of songs used, only the 12
minutes time limit and of course the basic
requisite of good taste!
Spoken introductions and other material as appropriate to a show-style spot is
encouraged but must fit within the total
12 minutes time limit.
Scoring will be done as follows:
“Song 1” – scored as usual for the
nominated contest song (in case of more
than one song being stylistically suitable,
the quartet must nominate which song to
score).
“Song 2” – an amalgamated score for the
rest of the performance package, scored as
normal/appropriate across the three categories except with all usual barbershop
style rules suspended.
All QC quartets are eligible, including
the immediate past gold medallists and
can re-enter every year, winners are not
excluded from repeat participation. A
quartet which has at least 3 original members from their championship year and is
still singing under the same quartet name
qualifies as a QC quartet for contest entry
purposes.
Competing quartets of course need to be
full LABBS members and registered with
the quartet registrar as active gold medallist LABBS quartets.
The E&J has committed to running a QC
contest for at least the next three years
(and onwards, should it prove successful)
which will take place as long as there is at
least one entrant!
Make sure you are there supporting your
past champs after the quartet semi-finals
- you do not want to miss this amazing
contest!
Debi Cox
LABBS E&J Chairman
Flin’s flying and fleeting thoughts!
and leads fought over me a bit and the
leads won but it’s probably more likely I
would find it easier to learn the lead line
first…
Anyway, I eagerly took up my place in
the chorus, learning songs as quickly as
possible and working towards the next
auditions!
After my first sing out in August 2011 I
was ready to take on the barbershop world
and the best part of my week was skipping along to GEM on a Thursday evening.
Convention and other competitions were
bonuses and trips out but other than
striving for perfection, what kept me
coming back was the people. The whole
went along to my first GEM rehearsal in enough for them and I almost left at the
atmosphere at chorus, to me, felt like famJanuary 2011 and from the first moment break.
I heard them sing, I was gobsmacked into
Everyone was so friendly and supportive ily. Sure, we have our ups and downs, the
good, bad and the ugly raise their head
silence. I laughed with them through Lazy and when I mentioned how amazing they
sometimes but we all get through it and
Day, fell for the ballad ‘If You Love Me’
were and the sound was, everyone was
come out stronger afterwards.
and met so many friendly faces I knew I
so modest saying things like ‘Oh, I can’t
In the summer of 2012 I was asked to
wanted to be a part of this unique tribe of sing, I just blend in.’ and ‘It’s not me, it’s
switch to the basses to see if I could
women. Then, the minute I left, I thought everyone else.’ When I finally confessed
hopefully improve the blend and it seems
what the hell, I can’t do this-they’re too
I wasn’t good enough to everyone, I was
good, no way could I join! Disheartened,
presented with encouragement and praise everyone was happy for me to be in the
bosom of the basses.
I headed home and tried to forget my
and I decided to try the first audition –
I wish I could stay and be a part of the
sorrows and failures as a human being and luckily I knew the words to the audition
wonder that is GEM Connection but I will
singer.
piece – ‘Happy Birthday To You’…
Some deliberation followed and I really
have to be satisfied with hearing all the
One week passed and I thought I might
fabulous news and meeting you all at
as well go back, if only for a good show!
thought I would be booted out but the
The next practise brought me to tears
section leaders came back all smiling faces Convention!
and very excited. I like to think the basses Flin GEM Connection PRO
because I knew I couldn’t ever be good
I
14
Costumes for Sale
Green & black stage costumes for sale. Sizes range from
size 6 to 24 and include some odd number sizes.
55 skirts and 52 tops
Total price £300 + postage & packing
For more information contact Cath Gregory,
Cheshire Chord Company
email: [email protected]
A Fond Farewell
I
t’s always sad when a chorus member
leaves, especially when that person has
been an active member for many years.
Jean Topps joined Cheshire Chord Company
a few months after we formed in 1993 and
over the years Jean’s held a number of
roles, most recently as our trusty treasurer.
Jean decided that after 19 years it was
time to retire and spend some extended
time with her husband visiting family
abroad. Our weekend in Torquay competing as part of the Majestic Open Choir
Festival was Jean’s last occasion with us.
Barbershop in Harmony was established
in June 2007 and is a joint venture
between BABS, LABBS and SAI Region 31.
With a collective voice of over 6000 singers the three Associations are working
together to promote barbershop singing
in the UK.
It couldn’t have ended better as we were
voted as overall winners by our fellow
competitors. “A lovely way to retire” said
Jean
Some of Jean’s highlights and special
memories include; singing at the Palladium, winning both European Gold and
Silver medals in Holland, five LABBS Gold
Medals and travelling to USA.
We couldn’t let Jean leave without marking the occasion in some way and our
own resident cartoonist Pippa came to
the rescue with a specially commissioned
drawing showing Jean at the centre of our
bass section; “Our Jean, the Note Queen”.
Jean plays the organ in her local church
and could always be relied upon to get
the right notes.
When we returned to Warrington following our weekend in Torquay it was a true
“hug fest” in the car park as we all said
our goodbyes and wished Jean well. She
will be sadly missed but our thanks and
very best wishes are extended to Jean
as she begins a new chapter in her life.
We know she’ll keep in touch and she is
already planning on coming to our 20th
SINGATHON
1ST DECEMBER 2012
I would like to thank the clubs
who supported this venture.
£974.07 was raised for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and a massive £3,736.00 for Movember (prostate
cancer). The clubs who took part were:
BABS: The Cottontown Chorus, Knights
of Harmony, Great Western Chorus and
Oxford Harmony.
LABBS: Albacappella (our newest club,
near Aberdeen), Cheshire Chord Com-
pany, Crystal Chords, Humber Belles and
The Red Rosettes.
SAI: Spinnaker.
Perhaps you would like to consider
supporting either of these wonderful
Organisations for your 2014 charity.
If so, please contact: Breakthrough
Breast Cancer: 08080 100200, [email protected] or look on their
website: www.breakthrough.org.uk
Movember:: please contact John Carter
(BABS) at [email protected]
Jacqui Edwards
Birthday show at Parr Hall, Warrington on
22nd June.
Alison Linfield
PRO: Cheshire Chord Company
15
Local Champions and Angels
G
uildford Harmony came in top of
their class at the 2013 Godalming
Music Festival – with an impressive score
of 90, with honours – once again earn-
ing the Festival Shield in the Barbershop
category.
Godalming Music Festival has a long and
distinguished history, held annually for
more than 60 years. The chorus has won
the Barbershop category Shield on several
occasions, including two years ago in
2011.
Included in their performance was an
arrangement of I Find Your Love created especially for Guildford Harmony by
well-known arranger, Liz Garnett. This
performance in particular clearly moved
the judges.
Festival Adjudicator Ann Lampard had
this to say: “Beautiful, full-bodied tone
quality... such an easy flow... with so
much passion. You made me want to listen and not write!” It was also lovely to
hear what she, as an experienced classical
singing judge, said about the barbershop
category in general, that she was fascinated by how all of the entrants seem to
harmonize in such a beautiful, natural
and seemingly effortless way!
Two days after their Festival success,
Guildford Harmony handed over a cheque
for £1,184 to their 2012 charity, Home
Start Woking, a voluntary organization
that provides friendship and support to
families with young children.
Musical Director, Andrew Edgley, said,
Tyneside News
A
s Tyneside is not competing at
Convention 2013 I would like to
keep LABBS members up to date with our
chorus information. You could also look
at our website www.tynesideacappella.
org.uk
-- “Strange” I can hear you say, -“must be a new chorus on Tyneside”.
However, you would be wrong --- we are
still ‘Tyneside Ladies Barbershop Harmony
Chorus’, the difference is that we are no
longer ‘A Touch of TLC’, which was always
meant to read A Touch of Tyneside Ladies
Chorus but was regularly misinterpreted
Raffle
H
ello everyone,
We are hoping that you have all
received your pack of tickets for the
Grand Draw at Convention in Llandudno.
At the time of writing, there are still 30
choruses who have not yet acknowledged
receipt of their packs and therefore
we have no idea who is responsible
for the books and money. It may not
seem much to ask but keeping track
16
“I’m so proud of Guildford Harmony. It
was a competitive field, and the chorus
delivered a mesmerizing performance!”
Chorus chairman, Vanessa King, added,
“For our club, the joy we feel in harmonizing with each other is magnified by
the joy of helping others in our wider
community.”
The chorus is recruiting new members
and is holding a one-day Harmony Workshop at the end of April at Guildford’s
new performance space, G-Live
Cly Wallace Aramian
PRO, Guildford Harmony
as Tender Loving Care. So, after many
suggestions were put forward for a new
name, a democratic vote was taken and
we would now like you accept us as ‘Tyneside A Cappella’.
Besides our regularly updated news on
our new website, you can also find us
on our own Facebook and that of Peter
Jones, our M.D.
Information possibly not on the website
yet is the fact that in September 2013
our chorus will be celebrating 40 years of
singing in harmony together. Margaret
Grant and myself have the honour of be-
ing founder members and are still singing
with the chorus. Shortly after the formation of the chorus and during a recruitment sing-out, Evelyn Asher joined, and
has also remained singing with us.
Where have all those years gone? Evelyn, Margaret and I cannot express the
amount of pleasure we have gained from
this magnificent hobby of ours.
From Tyneside A Cappella – keep enjoying your Barbershop singing and we wish
Good Luck to all those competing at
Llandudno Convention this year.
Bunny Bainbridge, PRO for T.L.B.H.C.
of 49 clubs isn’t the easiest job in the
world and it certainly makes life so much
easier if we have a complete list of contacts to work with.
We know times are hard but, as I said
at AGM, if every member could commit to purchasing at least one book of
tickets, that would make a very commendable total for LABBS to work with
- especially for all of you who do such a
fantastic job organising ‘Learn to Sing’
Courses.
We wish you all a fabulous Summer (!)
in the wild hope that it will be better
than last year.
Look forward to seeing you at Convention
Many thanks to you all,
David and Anne Withnall
LABBS Raffle Organisers
Portsmouth Music Festival
T
he Arun Sounds had a very
successful outcome from their
attendance at Portsmouth Music Festival on 3 March this year
when they came away with two
cups and the Pitchpiper Trophy for
the best chorus in the Barbershop
class.
The first class was the Barbershop
category and the second was Own
Choice for which we were awarded
distinction for both. As you can
imagine we were all thrilled
and proud with the results
of our performance. We were
congratulated on ‘animated
facial expression and good use
of gestures’ in the Barbershop
class and ‘excellent tempo
changes’ in the Abba medley,
amongst other compliments.
Marilyn Collins
PRO The Arun Sounds
Local Charity Benefits from the Crystal Touch
G
reater Manchester based Crystal
Chords were delighted to present
a cheque for £1514 to the Stockport
Branch of Age UK last month. Raised
during 2012, the total was a combination of concerts, sponsored events and
bucket collections. Lucie Newman, a
representative for Age UK, was over
the moon on receiving such a large
donation.
“Age UK Stockport is a local independent charity so we rely on support
from the local community and are
extremely grateful when support is
given to us. Currently, staff at Age
UK Stockport are still working to
support the more vulnerable people
through the harsh weather conditions
by providing emergency heating, food
packs as well as providing a range of
information and advice. The money
raised by Crystal Chords will go directly towards supporting this vital
work and Age UK Stockport would like
to thank Crystal Chords for their generosity and determination in raising
such a fantastic amount.”
Anna - Crystal Chords PRO
Open Evening
W
essex Harmony - Recruitment Drive
Having recently moved and settled into a new rehearsal venue in the
Canford Heath area of Poole, it was felt
an opportune time to hold a New Mem-
bers‘ Evening. Existing members readily
volunteered to hand-deliver invitations to
hundreds of houses in the area.
It was the first time one particular area
had been targeted for a mail drop and we
all hoped that Tuesday 23rd April would
see new faces who lived locally to the
rehearsal hall. It proved really worthwhile, when we were able to welcome
over 25 additional voices to our rehearsal
evening. They joined us for both physical and vocal warm-up and by the end
of the evening had also sung ‘rounds’,
listened to us, learned a simple a cappella
arrangement, drunk tea and most importantly eaten cake!!
Some had sung harmony parts in choirs
previously but we are hoping to see the
return of them all, when we meet again
next Tuesday.
Although the hardest part in organising was to break the area down into road
sized chunks, once the printed invitations
had been divided between the roads the
rest was simple and not at a huge cost.
If Wessex Harmony has succeeded in
raising chorus numbers through this leaflet drop, it will have been a most worthwhile project and one we can roll out in
other parts of our locality.’
Sue Banton, PRO Wessex
Harmony
17
2013 European Champions
W
OW! What an incredible weekend we had at the European
Championships in Holland and how
thrilled and proud we are to be
crowned Female European Champions
with a score of 79.9%!
A huge thank you to LABBS for
supporting The MIX to compete in
Europe, to our barbershop friends &
fellow competitors who were there
that weekend and to all those who
sent messages of congratulations
since then. With the power of social
media, we really felt as thought
the whole association was there with us
which we are sure helped us with our
preparations.
It was rather a hectic weekend starting
with us all arriving from various locations late night Wednesday but a good
time Thursday onwards supporting fellow
competitors where time allowed, getting
a feel for the auditorium and even found
time for a dip in the hotel pool to relax
before we competed Thursday evening.
Results were very late but we appreciated
all those who stayed up waiting for our
excited call!
Our other activities over the weekend included Nancy, Sandra & Andrea competing
with Heartbeat, who won the Bronze Med-
al in the European chorus competition and Jo competed with Ireland
Unlimited whom she had coached
in the lead up to the contest. We
also appeared on the Saturday night
show, which Jo MC’d, so a couple
of quick costume changes there but
she’s used to that!
By the time you read this, we’ll
have represented LABBS at the BABS
Convention and will also be looking
forward to mike warming at quartet
prelims in the Midlands then back up
the M6 for a show appearance that
same night with Cheshire Chord Company
on 22nd June in Warrington. We hope
to see some of you there! Our engagements for the rest of the year are coming
in steadily and we’re already booked for a
return trip to Holland in November to be
one of the faculty quartets for their quartet weekend and also appearing on the
White Rosettes show 7th December with
Spirit of Harmony, so a busy time ahead!
Hoping to see some of you on our travels, keep singing & smiling!
Jo, Sandra, Andrea, Nancy The MIX
European Champion Chorus
T
he White Rosettes are thrilled and
proud to be your 2013 European
Ladies Barbershop Champions, having competed in Holland in March and
brought home the shiny gold medal for
an unprecedented second time running.
We had an absolute blast representing
LABBS in this prestigious competition,
and it was a very special moment when
Teresa Phillips presented our MD Sally
with the Champions trophy.
Thank you for the many well wishes
in the run up to the competition,
which spurred us on when snow blizzards and contagious chest infections
threatened to wreck our critical last
few weeks of rehearsal. We jetted off
to Amsterdam and gave it our Yorkshire
all on Convention stage with a package
of “Once Upon A Time” and “The Night
Has A Thousand Eyes”. A busy weekend
followed as we performed on both the
Friday night and Saturday night shows,
with a bit of disco dancing and lots of
tag-singing in the after glows.
There was so much talent competing
18
and performing over the weekend, with
fantastic performances from Amersham
a Cappella, Crystal Chords, NoteOrious and Jiggle. Huge congratulations
of course to The MIX for their welldeserved Quartet Gold, whilst a breath-
taking performance from Zero8 under
the direction of Doug Harrington earned
them gold in the European Male Chorus
category.
We all agreed however that one of
the best parts of the weekend was just
having the opportunity to kick back and
enjoy each other’s company – something
the White Rosettes rarely get the chance
to do as we tend to have a very busy
plan through the year - and to spend
time with both old and new barbershop
friends from the UK and further afield.
You can see the official photos from European Convention on our Facebook page.
We look forward to meeting up with
those of you booked to the LABBS education event “From Page to Stage” in Leeds
in July.
Please also check out the yearbook we
have put together to celebrate our 35th
anniversary:
http://www.whiterosettes.org.uk/images/WHITE_ROSETTES_YEARBOOK.pdf
In the next edition of Voicebox, we’ll be
updating you on our latest correspondence with Her Majesty the Queen (who
is following the White Rosettes’ achievements with interest!) and providing details about our December show “Putting
on the Ritz” with Spirit of Harmony and
The MIX.
Rachel Flower, White Rosettes
South East Education Day
S
outh East Education Day – wish you’d
all been there!
‘Wonderful day’ ‘fantastic’ ‘really enjoyed
it’
“The day was very different and very interesting. “The other girls in Green Street
Blues, who had never been to a
LABBS educational event before,
were very taken with it all and
we all had a great time.” Jacqui
Edwards (former LABBS Chairman
and Regional Rep.)
This seems to sum up the
feedback for the recent South
East Education Day. There was a
wonderfully keen but relaxed atmosphere to the whole day, which was led
by Amersham’s dynamic director, Helen
Lappert, who manages to make everything
great fun while working everyone hard at
the same time. The Music Team came up
with some excellent warm-ups, for both
voice and brain, and tags and polecat
songs were sung with great enthusiasm
by all.
The main part of the morning session
was a master class, where Helen addressed
some issues common to all choruses, such
as balance of voice parts, sensitivity to
other parts, especially when one part is
missing some members, or when tenors or
basses are singing at the top or bottom
of their ranges, or are taking the melody.
We also looked at developing resonance,
creating overtones
and differing
styles of voice
how we are!” Well nobody’s perfect!
After lunch the group tackled “Let Me Be
There” with great gusto, first of all standing in parts with section leaders standing
out front to make sure notes were secure
and that people had a chance to build
up confidence. There was a discussion on
musical themes, whether the dominant
theme of a song is the lyrics, the melody,
production, also
how to improve
stamina. The
Presentation Team
described how
they set about putting in place the
presentation plan, a demonstration
was given on the use of a motivation coach and Helen rounded it all
off by holding a question time which
triggered a discussion about who gets
to stand on the front row, the overall
shape of the chorus and the possible
effect of choreography on the quality
of singing. A member of the audience
did ask one of our members during
the lunch break if we sang our ballad wrong first time on purpose – to
which the answer was “no, that’s just
the harmony, or the
rhythm, with some
expert input from
Debi Cox. Then some
simple but very effective moves were
demonstrated and
practised. After tea
break we then put it
all together, with a
typical, fun, Amersham approach to
the interpretation
of the song, giving
our all to the song
and performing those
moves with great style! I am sure we will
get a chance to amaze you all at Convention! The afternoon ended with some
polecats requested by visitors and then
people started to wend their way home,
with lots of smiles, thanks and hugs all
round.
“The day was fun, entertaining, educational and ran so smoothly. There was a
really nice relaxed feel to the day, which
allowed everyone to open up to new ideas
and participate to the full. If the chorus
got as much out of the experience of running it as each delegate did from attending, then we’re all winners!” Debi Cox,
Education Director , LABBS
Marion Morley, Marketing & Communications Director,
LABBS
19
WENGER Can You Help?
RISERS
FOR SALE
For some time now I have been trying to sort out LABBS’ Archives and I am almost
there!. However, I still have some gaps and if anyone can help I would be very grateful. Here’s what’s missing:
Convention Programmes:
2009, 2008, 2005, 1997, 1995, 1992, 1987, 1986, 1983 and anything earlier.
7 – 3 Step
Wenger
Tourmaster
Risers with
Back Rails
These are the 1.2m grey
risers with the ‘kick latch’.
They are in good condition
and are used weekly.
Bought new they would
cost nearly £8,000
OIRO £3,000
Call Toni on 01202 580821
[email protected]
Deadline for
Next Issue
Friday
July 26th 2013
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 400Kb, probably
more than 1Mb. If it’s not then it’s
probably low resolution and won’t
print well. Send articles to:
[email protected]
Directories:
1989, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1983.
Voice Box:
September 2010, January and June 2009, All of 2008, December 2007
Sing Out:
June and December 2002, September and December 2001, January 2000.
LABBS News:
Prior to August 1982.
Council Meeting Minutes:
January, March, June and September 1983, January, March, June and September 1982
and June 1979.
Annual General Meeting Minutes:
1995 (19th); 1994 (18th); (1993 (17th); 1992 (16th); 1985 (9th); 1984 (8th); 1983
(7th) and 1982 (6th).
PLEASE look through your old files and if you can help with any of the above please
contact me on: [email protected] or on 01737 355306.
May I take this opportunity to thank Bunny Bainbridge (Tyneside), Marilyn Penketh
(Havant) and Polly Witty (Southdowns) for the invaluable help they have already
given me.
Jacqui Edwards
Diary Dates
June 8th
LABBS Board of Directors Meeting, LSE
June 9th
LABBS Chorus Directors Day
June 15
SW Educational Day, Fascinating Rhythm, Bristol
Jun 15
BinH Event TBC
Jun 22
LABBS Regional Reps Meeting
June 22
Cheshire Chord Co, Anniversary Show with Metropolis, Warrington
June 22-23
LABBS Quartet Prelims and Coaching Weekend
June 30 - Jul 7 BHS International Convention, Toronto
Jul 13
N Educational Day, “From Page to Stage”, White Rosettes, Leeds
Aug 10
LABBS E&J Meeting, Midlands
Aug 23-25
BABS Harmony College, Nottingham
Aug 23-25
BABS Extreme Quartets, Ladies Welcome, Nottingham
For more dates and information see our website www.labbs.org.uk