Convention and Harmony College - Conclusion

Harmony College finished on Tuesday at lunch time. We gave a standing ovation to the Stage Coaches - Gina, Karen and Jane - for their inspirational classes. It was excellent education- as good as the Rumours workshop in Hobart two years ago but with a different focus. I'm looking forward to seeing the competition in Newcastle, and I hope that all the competing choruses and quartets will put what we learned from this Harmony College into practice.

It was fun to be at Convention and not be competing, but I'm glad I signed up for the STAR chorus and had a chance to perform.

Apart from the size of the theatre, which prevented some family and friends attending because there were no seats, it was a stunning venue: a very intimate theatre, with great technical support; a beautiful setting on the water; and lots of restaurants and cafes and accommodation within walking distance. Everything ran very smoothly (thanks to the Convention organisers).

There were just a small band of CKC here but we had a lot of fun together, cheering for Verve and Accolade, going to classes, partying in each others' rooms (with luxurious apartments and superb views over the ocean) and eating out together. I think we all got to know each other better and I loved sharing alll these experiences with Inese and Julia. We also caught up with our ex-CKC friends: Di, Sharon, Rosemary, Leanne, Laonie, Anita, and others.

This is the end of this blog - I'm starting a new one for my holiday in the South West with Pete and Sue.

Tuesday - Harmony College - Uh Oh Scenario

How to make your performance package a one act play.

Jane asks us to choose a ballad and an up tune and find a character in a movie that will tie the two together in one story.

Up tune: Beautiful Doll (Julia is singing to Richard)
Ballad: If I Give My Heart to You (when she kisses him)
Movie: Pretty Woman

Up tune: Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend (dress shop)
Ballad: If I Give My Heart to You (balcony when she says no)
Movie: Pretty Woman
Jane says we need to look at all the words in the lyrics to make sure they fit with the character we've chosen.

Up tune: How Many Hearts Have you Broken (lift scene)
Ballad: Do you love me really love me (breakfast)
Movie: Pretty Woman

Up tune: Oh You Beautiful Doll (Barbie singing to Buzz)
Ballad: What'll I do (toys are sad)
Movie: Toy Story

Up tune: Oh You Beautiful Doll (in bed)
Ballad: If I give my heart to you (street scene declaring love)
Movie: Bridget Jones Diary parts 1 and 2

Up tune: How Many Hearts
Ballad: If I Give My Heart to You
Movie: Bridget Jones Diary

Uptune: I Feel Good (winning world cup)
Ballad: Forgiven not Forgotten (Mandela forgiving football committee)
Movie: Invictus

Uptune: Red Red Robin (family try to cheer her up)
Ballad: If I Give My Heart (jumps off boat and swims)
Movie; Must Love Dogs

Uptune: Blue Guys Smiling At Me
Ballad: Oh How I Miss You
Movie: Avatar

(Note to self: must watch more movies!!!)

Tuesday - Harmony College - Showmanship and Expression

SHOWMANSHIP (Gina)

Gina gives us a handout which is the Showmanship judging scoresheet. Notice that the judging criteria are listed under the headings of Performance and Preparation, and some appear under both headings.

Performance (what actually happened on stage):

• entrance/break/exit - choruses entrance is when the lights go up so they are not judged on walking on, but quartets are
• vocal skills - must support everything else
• unit - unit look of chorus - anything you can do that helps this (eg if just one person's hair is down and everyone else's is up, and it draws the judge's attention)
• audience rapport is assessed by the judge based on what she feels, not what the audience does - so if the judge is bored and loses interest, you lose points for audience rapport

Preparation (what was planned):

• costume is only one of five criteria under preparation so don't get your knickers in a twist over costume. Costume is assessed objectively on fit, style, suitability, fabric, colour under stage lights, allowing focus to be on face: it's not assessed on judge's personal preferences
  
• check makeup and grooming in advance to identify wardrobe malfunctions, eg pantyline showing
• scoresheets say 'glimpses of creativity' - take more risks - your scores only last until the next contest
• makeup - it's not makeup but the application that is the usual problem - read the Judging Categories Book - if possible, check under stage lights in advance
  
• Director can wear anything as long as it complements the chorus
• Judges don't want to see anything they shouldn't be seeing from Director or front row so check beforehand
• The front row and people on the ends of rows should have uniform shoes, but the judge won't notice shoes on people in middle and back rows.

EXPRESSION with Karen:

Karen loves the Expression category, which includes everything. Expression is about how we add humanity to our music. She looks at the emotional content of songs, suitability, degree to which we produce sound, how story connects with audience

• Sound category is about vocal production
• Music category is about what we do with the music
• Showmanship is everything visual
• Expression is about the words

Exercise:
See Spot
See Spot run
Run, Spot, run.

Gina asks volunteers to read this:

• as a beginner reader - focus is on consonants and vowels - C minus chorus
• as a second grader - focus is word by word, on pronunciation, enunciation and dipthongs - C plus chorus
• as a fifth grader - focus is on inflection and phrases - B chorus
• as a librarian reading to children - focus is on story, visualisation, inflection, texture, dynamics, energy, drama, tempo and rhythm - A chorus

On top of this, as ensemble singers, we need to synchronise what we do

Speaking the lyrics together is a great way to see where the phrasing and synch issues are.

Music is what drives us, lyrics are secondary to music.

Comments on synch are related to lack of synch within parts or across the chorus. Usually the problem is with word elements not being unified, but there are lots of reasons why this might be happening.

Karen says it makes her day when singers do something that expresses the feeling of the music.

To improve Expression points:

• work on unity
• sing lyrics on the same chord all the way through
• listen to recording without looking to hear synch issues.

Gina says it's hard to get chorus members to listen to their own recordings. Her chorus does a lot of things live, and treat it as coaching rather than pass/fail. It's done during rehearsal because people may not do it at home. They have a three step readiness program:

• every member sings her part in a quartet with the music team, who give praise and constructive feedback. Members feel they are being coached raher than judged, and welcome the opportunity. Music team keeps track of who has done it. Notes, words and breathing are assessed. Some people need to be reassessed.
• The Director and Lead Section Leaders sing the contest pieces the way the Director wants them interpreted, for the chorus to practise against at home.
• Visual assessment.

They are trying to cut out extra Section rehearsals except when a new song is first introduced. If members haven't learned it, they are asked to go out of rehearsal and practice in a separate room during rehearsal time.

We want all chorus members to improve (;increase the percentages') and then the chorus will get better.

Each chorus and Director have their own culture and way of doing things. Whatever works for you!

• 
  

Tuesday - Harmony College - Vocal Motion

We did lots of physical warmups in this session with Gina.

We do vocal warmups to practise our vocal skills and we should do physical warmups to practise our physical skills. Physical warmups do several things:

• stress buster
• practise visual aspects of character (goes into, anchor, recovery) for a more energised look (exercise: being a backup singer)
• sharpens concentration to learn new moves quickly - rincluding some repetition is good to build confidence (exercise: split moves) - it's okay to have fun, don't worry about getting the moves right
• shortens learning time because they're doing more (Gina has people on her visual team who run the physical warmups, and also 'personal trainers' who encourage people to participate
• builds a repertoire of moves that can be used for choreo
• try out moves and find out what works for your chorus, also an opportunity for people who want to be on the visual team to practise and show what they can do

Gina says in her chorus all physical warmups are done on the risers because that's where choreo moves will be done in performance. She tells chorus 'adapt it to your space' if they complain they don't have enough room.

Gina doesn't have names for standard moves because the move will be differently expressed depending on the character - need to teach move plus intention.

(Exercise: robot dance) (Exercise: different moves for different sections of the class). Aussies rock! And we need more fun and controlled abandon in performance, we are too careful on stage, we need more freedom (but don't give up on good vocal production)

We can also do physical warmups to barbershop uptunes which gives the chorus the opportunity to hear good barbershop. (Execise: Orange Coloured Sky).

Monday - Harmony College - What's So Funny

Jane says choruses like doing comedy but it is the hardest form of theatre to perform and direct. Approach comedy the same as drama - all Swthe same rules apply. The serious intention of the character is at the heart of comedy.

Sweet Adelines comedy is lousy. Comedy isn't just something anyone can do, it needs good technique.

Comedy is the reverse of tragedy. In both the protagonist is up against something (man, nature or society). In comedy the protagonist has friends, in tragedy she/he is alone. Tragedy ends tragically but comedy ends in marriage, nobody dies and the conflict is resolved.

Jane gives us three examples:

• A husband is kicked out (Odd Couple)
• Two friends witness a murder (Some Like It Hot)
• A woman's marriage almost fails because of her relationship with her mother (Barefoot in the Park)

There is a serious story at the heart of comedy but (a) the protagonist has friends and is not alone, and (b) there are unpredictable and incongrous events

We don't understand how comedy works.

• Soapdish - is about getting older and being pushed out
• Trading Places - is about how heredity vs environment shapes a person
• His Girl Friday - is about a woman doing a man's job
• Harry and Sally - is about men, women and dating

Sweet Adelines packages include a ballad. To make a comedy package work, you need to start with the ballad and make that the underpinning of the scene. Always tell the truth.

Acting is just like real life only louder.

Comedy needs to move faster, not slower - don't wait for the audience to get the joke.

Comedy is very individual - it's hard.

Marx Brothers - are brilliant and funny but different, not character driven, don't fit into standard forms of comedy.

The most successful comedy is when the people have no idea they are funy to us. They are believable, fully formed human beings who take themselves seriously.

Comedy that tries to get you to laugh fails. All you can do is create an environment where people might laugh.

Monday - Harmony College - Whose Song Is It Anyway?

Jane gives us an exercise to do in small groups: choose a song, and then find a character and a movie for the song.

Song: Never Say Never
Movie: Hello Dolly (Dolly makes a living through matchmaking . She is currently seeking a wife for grumpy Horace Vandergelder (Matthau), the well-known "half-a-millionaire," but it becomes clear that Dolly intends to marry Horace herself.) Scene where Dolly is saying goodbye to her friends at the railway station.

Song: Once Upon A Time
Movie: The Notebook (In a modern-day nursing home, an elderly man named Duke begins to read a love story to his elderly woman companion from a book he carries.)
Jane comments that it's difficult to perform a song through the role of a male character, and also that the part of the story they've chosen is sad and they might need to choose a happier section of the movie. In ballads, try to get away from singing sad stories and look for something empowering.

Song: Make 'Em Laugh
Movie: Patch Adams (the story of Hunter "Patch" Adams , a medical doctor who became famous for his unconventional approach to medicine - particularly the court scene where Patch is rejected by his colleagues but his patients support him).
Jane says we might have trouble identifying with Patch as a character. What about female comedians: Fanny Brice, Lucille Ball, Carole Burnett, Judy Garland (The Pirate)

Song: Anything Goes
Movie: Chicago (character of Valda)

Song: If I Give My Heart to You
Movie: Notting Hill
Jane asks if we can see Julia Roberts' character singing this song ... does it work for you?

Song: At Last
Movie: Cadillac Records (about Chess Records and a love story in which love is realised but not acted on)

Song: Anything Goes
Movie: Great Gatsby
Character is Daisy (played by Mia Farrow). Jane asks who is singing this song, and to whom.

Song: Sweet Georgia Brown
Movie: Chicago (character of Mama Morton) and an imagined audition scene
Jane says why not use Chorus Line

Song: Once Upon a Time
Movie: It's Complicated
Married couple who are divorced then have an affair

Song: ?
Movie: In and Out (about a teacher who announces at his wedding that he is gay)
Jane says that good comedy has something serious underneath

Song: If I Give My Heart To You
Movie: Sleepless in Seattle
Jane also suggests An Affair to Remember, the original movie

Song: Yesterday
Movie: Out of Africa
Jane says this song fits literally but not really because the era of the song doesn't match the era of the movie

Jane says the song has to match the personality of the character and the character also has to match the personality of the chorus

Song: If You Really Love Me
Movie: Mamma Mia

Monday - Harmony College - Choreo Rap

Damn, I thought I'd already written this session up but I seem to have mislaid it.

Gina talks about various techniques for teaching choreo. She says she teaches the whole visual plan for a song in one night. She has a visual team to support her, with lots of different people. She changes to team regularly so no one feels they 'own' their place on the team. Use people's strengths on the team (but not everyone can teach).

Gina no longer lives close to her chorus, so she only visits each six weeks. While she teaches the visual plan herself the first time, after than the team takes over.



PRESENTING THE INITIAL PLAN
1. Know the choreo plan
2. Focus on the big picture, not the details - gross motor movements, not 'which way do I hold my hand?'. Don't fuss with details. If the chorus is struggling with a move you have to be able to let go of it, no matter how much you like it - or change it, or change the timing. Read the judging book and know what judges are looking for.
3. Land moves on the vowel, not the consonant (Dixie Dahlke) so they're not hitting the consonant so hard. Go with the chorus's strengths, not what you personally like
4. Teach mirror image so you can watch the chorus as you teach. Learn to do this by standing in front of a mirror.
5. Identify the 'goes into' and the 'anchor'for the chorus as this creates unit and energy (eg 'I never' is the goes into, 'knew' is the anchor); and also identify when the recovery happens so that that is purposeful and intentional too.
6. Keep the teaching moving, don't get bogged down because at the initial stage you are just trying it out and they won't remember the detail anyway
7. Compliment individuals by name, then everyone will want their name called. Try to catch them doing something right and recognise it even if it's just a small improvement for some people (eg 'there you go, that's coming along'). Also use video recording for feedback.
8. Concentrate on the character, not the mechanics of the move.

BIG PICTURE
1. Look for unity not precision. You will get helpful people telling you other chorus members are doing it wrong, but it may not be a problem for unity from where you stand out the front. Just make sure your eye is not drawn to someone because they're not part of the unit.
2. Judges see the performance only once, for the first time, and they are evaluating and writing at the same time. Don't worry about the fine detail, it's only a problem if your eye is drawn to it. [But sometimes for particular moves precision and detail does matter.] Chorus members should do the plan as taught, but must not look guilty if they do it wrong.
3. Video your chorus and turn the sound off and watch it.
4. Video the choreo (mirror image) and put it on the website so the chorus can practise; also write choreo instruction sheets for people who learn better this way

WORKING THE CHOREO
1. Gently correct (they're not trying to do it wrong). Run pre-rehearsal choreo sessions initially but stop at some point so they are not leaning on you instead of working on their own
2. Teach by coaching: praise success and then suggest how to do it even better. Gina's chorus has visual evaluations which are done by videoing the chorus and then the visual team grades individuals using a grading sheet - what they did well, what they have to improve ('now work on this ...')
What about people who try to correct others on the risers? Gina says to them 'I will let you know if I see a problem - don't worry')
3. Make 'adjustments' not 'changes' to choreo. Pack the moves in initially, and then the chorus is thrilled when you take some moves out. The choreo instruction sheet is updated and reissued when the choreo changes.
4. Refine premoves (goes into) and anchors
5. Show the wrong way as well as the right way and make the chorus try both so they know the difference. Don't say things like 'more energy' or 'do more' because they interpret that in different ways
6. Do choreo at warp speed to clapping, on fast forward, to find out how well they know it (this is a technique taken from acting). When they do it at normal speed the tempo will be better. It will also break them out of bad habits and get them to think fast.
7. Overdramatise - like cartoon characters- they will almost never go too far
Does Gina get questions from the risers? Almost never. If they start talking among themselves she will say 'Don't worry about it, I will let you know if there's a problem.'

How long is spent teaching choreo? 30 - 45 minutes on the first night with Gina trying it on (not counting the front row, who work separately with their own front row visual team leader), then pre-rehearsal choreo sessions of 30 minutes with the visual team, then less and less. When Gina is teaching the first session, the visual team are on the risers learning. At any one point there is just one teacher out the front.

Pointing moves do require precision.

Pre-rehearsal choreo sessions are not compulsory because people can practise at home with the video if they prefer.

If you teach the 'goes into' and 'anchor' and 'recovery' they will rarely be late with moves.

How do you do a forlorn line without losing energy? Don't call it sad because the face and palate will drop. Find other words that have more energy.

How do you teach new members the choreo? They learn from the video recording.

Monday - Harmony College - The Challenge of the Whiny Ballad

Jane says Sweet Adelines ballads are often sad songs about lost love. It's a trap to treat the story as a single event, and instead we should explore the many varied responses we have in real life (eg sad, angry, relieved, vengeful, nostalgic)

On stage the audience wants to see conflict, angst, and the evolution of the story and the characters.

Northern Beaches Chorus sings I Never Meant to Fall In Love. Jane asks them to imagine the character of Rose, in Titanic. It's a juicy movie to work with because it's social commentary as well as a love story. Rose says that Jack saves her in every possible way.

The scene in the car with Jack (steaming up the windows). A lot of emotion - differentiate 'hope' from 'despair' - 'rapture' is a sexy word - 'turn my world around' is almost teasing - 'shattered' is another strong word - 'to lose the fight and toss the glove could be all wrong' is an important realisation

Karen says that we need to pay attention to the introduction of a ballad. It is an expository preface to the underlying emotions - start the story at the first note and don't stop until the last note.

Make the ballad a dialogue - Rose is singing this to Jack.

Jane gets the chorus to sit on the risers and she sits on the floor with them. The chorus sings the song very softly and she takes the role of Jack, responding as if Rose was talking to him. We watch the expressions on their faces and hear the different inflections on the words.

Jane says doing it this way, quietly on the floor, gets them out of 'performance mode'. This is a useful rehearsal technique when developing the song.

The song has lots of feelings - affection, surprise, wonder, heartbreak, conflict, anger, defiance, irony, teasing, regret, making a decision.

What's underneath the words is what pushes the song along. This exercise will also unify physical expression. Having a story with a beginning, middle and end helps forward motion. The chorus loves getting emotional unity. Karen says 'we joined because we love to feel the music in what the words say@.

Someone asks about choreo moves. Gina says the test is 'would you do that if you were talking to me?'

Jane shows us a video that she's compiled which has scenes from Jerry JMaguire and Something's Got to Give and 'If I Give My Heart to You'

All this stuff that goes on is more interesting when it's complicated. A key phrase in If I Give My Heart to You is 'think it over and be sure'.

You can replay scenes or lines or make up your own dialogue for the movie, to feed visualisation and emotional content.

People have different level so ability but you never stop working on it, whatever level you're at.

Monday -- Harmony College - Physical Expression

Gina takes this class. She says 'I take wrong answers'. She is a certified dog trainer. She says if you're not getting the chorus to do what you want them to do, it's up to you to fix it (it's not the dog's fault!)

Physical Expression is an aspect of Showmanship. Gina asks what we mean by physical expression:
- how you use your face and body to express the song
- face, eyes, body, posture, direction
- movement, gesture, body talking, attitude
- telling a story, communicating emotion
- connecting physical and emotional self

We brainstorm body parts that we can use for physical expression (everything, really)

Gina gets some volunteers on stage. With their backs to us they express an emotion and we guess what it is. What did they do that was the same or different? Even without seeing their faces we can guess the emotion quite easily.

On the risers the audience/judges can only see you from the torso up. Keep your hands below your waist if you're on the back row, otherwise it's distracting. Use your shoulders and torso instead.

Every time you take a breath, restate it physically - follow and feel the musical story and move wth it. In a well written song the music and lyrics go together.

Question about not much space on risers, so how to do large hand movements. Gina says if you stick out of the unit it's a problem. Ballads especially often need physical expression to be enhanced.

Question about moving on and off stage. Gina says it's not judged, for choruses, so it's a waste of time to practice.

Question about members with physical limitations, eg blind. If she's doing everything she can with her capacity and doing it on time it's no problem - it's not the disability, it's how you handle it.

Gina does an exercise with a chorus of volunteers and assorted directors. When she says move, they move; when she says stop, they stop moving. The chorus try this and say it's hard to sing when they're standing still, hard to feel the song, the sound closed down, the pitch dropped, and they lost connection with people around them. It's hard to grow the sound, and they feel they're muscling it. There's no connection with the director.

When they move the singing becomes more joyous, freer. They have more air available,

Directors felt confused and frustrated - everything disappeared, it was hard work, it felt horrible, they sounded like a choir. Vicki says it feels familiar - she's doing too much, and when the chorus did more she could do less.

Getting your chorus to do this (not move, and then move) helps them to move better and understand that it's okay to move. With practice, movement becomes more natural and unified.

Gina says three of the judges are not looking at you, and you might think if you don't move your sound will be better and you'll be rewarded; but movement improves all four of the judging categories. Go with more rather than less movement.

Monday - Harmony College - The small but mighty

Gina talks about how characterisation can make you big. This session is particularly aimed at small choruses (but it's relevant to everyone)

Small choruses have particular challenges, which we brainstorm:

• enough people in each part, and balance between parts
• individual voices sticking out
• confidence and morale
• lack of unity
• more jobs than people
• hard to recruit and absorb new members
• interpersonal conflict
• less money
• more chiefs than indians
• sickness has bigger impact
• availability for performance
• pressure to participate
• skill levels

Gina says a small chorus can be as creative and visually excitng as a bigger chorus.

1. Focus on the task, not yourself, to make it easier for yourself
2. Be well rehearsed - the better rehearsed, the more confident on stage
3. Choreo must support vocal production (this is a challenge, not a problem)


TIPS:

• unison moves are generally stronger than section or wave moves in a small chorus (but some small choruses can do them well)
• moves should be connected - something is always going on, you never stand still
• no large trunk moves
• props can sometimes be helpful but they must be connected to character

Open your minds to different ways of doing things - ask what if? and say let's try

Gina shows videos of small choruses competing

Chorus 1: a small chorus doing wave moves. Notice that bodies are always upright and erect; the wave across is done individually not in wedges and is very clear; their wave up is not as good as the wave across because it's not so welll synchronised; they used their costume to make a side move effective; they have no front row moves

(Question: is it a problem to repeat moves? No, but for more points repeat them with some difference)

Chorus 2: 26 members. They're wearing what looks like a voluminous flowered dressing gown which doesn't seem to relate to their ballad. But their uptune is a parody (Second Hand Clothes) and they're all wearing different costumes from other choruses in their Region. They didn't need a lot of moves, and they had a lot of animation and fun and energy.

Gina notes that their hemlines were uneven which is usually a bad sign (if a judge is so bored she notices hemlines) but she didn't notice that they were all wearing different shoes! Judges only have 6 minutes to evaluate everything so they do miss things like shoes.

Chorus 3 has 20 members. They wear a red sequinned jacket which works for them but could be overwhelming in a larger chorus. they sing Hard Hearted Hannah. Their character work is good, their plan is specific to the song and tells the story. Their moves support good vocal production and their moves are connected. The character of Hannah has lots of facets, she's not just one dimensional.

Someone asks about whether judges deduct points for things. Gina says they give points for what you have, they don't take off points for what's not there. Visual distraction means you don't get points. It's always good to get a unit look on details so the judge isn't distracted.

Chorus 4 is Karen's chorus, some years ago. Their moves were designed to support vocal production (they don't move the trunk of their body). They are all holding large white phone handpieces and their choreo moves are beautifully synchronised. Props require more precision.

They do something similar in another song with baby dolls and bombed. It's a bad idea to put happy words to sad music, but we learn by taking chances. You can't go against the musical story.

Someone asked about comedy. Gina says they always worked to sing well, but wanted to prove you could also do comedy well at the same time.

In summary:

• don't do generic choreo, go for characters and look for all facets of a character
• make sure you have a strong unit visually and make sure the chorus knows where moves start and end
  

Monday - Harmony College - Don't be a Riser Potato

The Stage Coaches are Karen Sweeters, Jane Tamarkin and Gina Kaiser. Karen directs Harmony on the Sound chorus and was our Expression Judge. Jane is a professional actress who sings with Harmony on the Sound. Gina is the choreographer for Harmony on the Sound and was our Showmanship Judge.

DON'T BE A RISER POTATO
Character
Character is one stop shopping: when the character works, everything else works better. Jane defines character as "the development of a real person living truthfully in imaginery circumstances". For us, the imaginery circumstances is the song we're singing. Without a character to pin the song to, we don't have an emotional context for the music. If we all choose our own characters we will interpret the music differently leading to lack of unity. Jane says we all act in everyday situations (she demonstrates greeting someone whose name she's forgotten, and commenting on someone's necklace).

So we need to agree on the character and her motivation, and this will totally change the interpretation of the song (eg dynamics, forward motion). The process is that the Director chooses a ballad; then the team looks at the prose of the song as a story. Often they use films to find a character for whom the song fits. Gina comments that we pick a movie because it helps make it real for us - it's so much easier to be someone else than to be ourself (especially when our costumes don't match the song and we don't have scenery). Jane says as women we're good at using imagination and empathy to put ourselves in someone else's shoes. (Jane says: 'I've been acting all my life - I haven't said anything sincere since 1969').

Why movies? We can't pluck an emotion out of the air; emotion comes from action (story, events, people's reactions) so if I show you the action you get the emotion. Concepts like 'wishful' are hard to play, and active verbs are easier (flirting, teasing, lusting).

Jane says in a musical the song advances the plot and is part of the dialogue.

Demonstration: A Cappella West sing It's a Great Day for the Irish.

Gina says the character you pick will affect how you sing the song, and asks ACW to sing as Marilyn Monroe. Jane points out that doing this changes almost everything in the judging categories. ACW sing as Tina Turner. The audience sees fun, abandonment, energy. Jane says maybe we have to go to this crazy point in rehearsal to get the energy we want. ACS sings as Opera Singer, and as Kath and Kim.

The character is the key to how you sing the song. 'Active imaging and spontaneity are important in performance and memorisation and repetition are the enemies'.

Gina says I'm not the character, I don't have it in me, but I can take on the persona - it's easier. Jane says when we sing we are doing soliloquies (singing to ourselves_) and by using a character we are creating a dynamic exchange, because now we know who we are singing to, what their reaction is and what we want from them - it becomes a dialogue. In response to a question, Gina says yes, everyone in the chorus needs the same character. Of course this is layered on top of good singing.

Dynamic texture goes beyond loud and soft dynamics. It's how you inflect, how you say words. Having a character colours the little things - this is how you transcend technique. Jane says this has to happen right from the beginning with a new song, it can't be added at the end.

Karen says in a quartet, it's the lead who needs to feel the emotion of the song.

Gina talks about generic versus meaningful choreo moves. She shows how you can put the same choreo moves to different songs, but they don't mean much. There is more interest and flavour if the choreo moves are specific to the song.

Now ACW are asked to sing as if they were auditioning for a musical where Jane is the director holding the audition. The audience notices that they are thinking and working hard, not having fun, are focused on their individual performance and not the group.

Someone asks who makes the decisions for Harmony in the Sound's song selection. Karen chooses the song, then consults Jane. Jane looks at what we do as musical theatre, and our songs are scenes from a larger story.

Now ACW sing again - this time they've been told the Irish team has won the World Cup and they're marching down the street celebrating. They show joy, pride.

Gina says you could watch this and see which individual moves work, then make them into unit moves. You want contrast and shading so explore all the facets of the cagegory - it shouldn't be one dimensional.

There's a question about performance adrenalin. Gina says we need 'controlled abandon'. If you are all embedded in the character this will hold you in the scene. Gina says when she was new to quartetting it helped her to imagine she was someone who was the lead of another quartet who had lots of confidence.

Karen says Harmony in the Sound does a lot of comedy. What helped with pre contest nerves was to sing for another chorus so that the first performance of the day was not on the contest stage.

Someone asks about characterisation for a quartet. The lead has to sell the melody so she has the deciding vote on character, but everyone else has to be able to live with it. Karen's experience is that the best decisions are always compromises but 'every quartet has its own politics'.

Gina says if you're not of one mind it's going to affect all categories. It's always possible to find a compromise you can all live with.

Jane summarises - if you have the right character, then everything is easy. Brainstorming to find the right character is important.

Sunday night - Rip the Shower Curtain Open with Lynne Smith

Our last session on Sunday night was with Lynne Smith. This was a more practical session, so I don't have as many notes.

Lynne talked about 'rip the shower curtain open' - when we're on our own in the shower, singing like nobody's watching, we look and sound amazing. We can do this in performance - just take a chance. It's doesn't require new skills, you know how to do it - it's just a choice we make every time we perform. All we need is more energy and more stamina. Lynne notes that we still need to have good sound first.

1. If you're part is oooohing or dum dumming you still need the same expression as if you were singing the words, so you need to know what the words are
2. Using body language to express different feelings, eg sad/sexy (Lynne writes a word on the board and in pairs one person acts it out and the other person guesses it)
3. Demo using volunteers to form chorus singing Sound Celebration. Expression vs animation (facial expression is fixed, facial animation keeps changing). Some people like showing off, others have to work at it - feeling part of a neighbourhood of friends and being aware of their energy level - go over the top and be a completely different character
4. Sustained notes - have to have energy and movement on sustained notes - use thigh-draulics, facial animation, moving body, restating body

Let Directors have fun too.

After class we planned to go to a cafe for a late supper but they were all shut by 9 pm. Luckily the local corner shop was just shutting up and sold us soup and a chicken, so we had a scratch supper at Steph and Pippas with contributions from all our fridges.

Sunday night - Tuning with Kim Hulbert

TUNING
In the first half of this session Kim Hulbert talked abot all the factors that influence our ability to stay in tune.

Words and Notes
Getting the words and notes right is not as easy as you think. We don't get enough repetition in rehearsal so need to work on them individually, and not everybody does this. As you get older it takes longer to learn. Use whatever techniques work for you. Some arrangements are challenging. Try working on particular measures rather than the whole song. If you can't start anywhere in a song you don't know it well enough.

Breath Deficient

Tonal Centre
It's difficult to keeppa cappella music in key. Kim demonstrates by asking us to sing Tomorrow's Another Day with the baris singing a wrong note. Six score sheets this weekend had 'wrong notes' written on them. Another exercise: all parts except lead sing doh; all parts except bass sing doh. We should all be albe to sing our own part against doh. Kim calls this 'toning'. It helps cement doh. If you can sing in pitch, don't give in to everyone else in rehearsal, stay on the key.

Note: Directors need to explain why the pitch is not doh, if it's not

Intonation vs Out of Tune
If intonation is on your score sheet, it means it didn't tune because of vocal production issues. Out of tune on your score sheet means wrong notes.

Mixed Voice
Take the upper voice down instead of the lower voices up. We tend to take our lower voice up and this affects the pitch. Gravity is not your friend, it's a constant battle. If even one or two parts use a mixed voice that is not appropriate, it will affect the pitch, for example Bari and Lead with Bari singing in head voice; Tenor singing with vibrato

Vibrato
Someone asked about vibrato and Kim says most voices have some and the difference is speed: the slower the speed the more we notice. Speed it up by bringing your voice closer to your bony surfaces. You don't want a vibrato that adds a fifth note to the chord! There are several causes of vibrato: lack of breath support, shaking jaw, too tight.

Kim pays tribute to Lara Browning-Henderson, her voice teacher.

Energised held notes
Think about your abdomen, not your throat, as your instrument - take a better breath to fix problems - energy is mindset as well as muscle - no energy vs too much energy - energising the last syllable of 'tomorrow' - go all the way through to the next word; and all through the dipthong of 'day'. Choruses are a mixture and people need to be dealt with individually. Instead of holding think of lifting. When a singer sings in a MRI scan everything keeps moving and undulating. The voice changes all the time, there is no perfect voice.

Breath Deficit
Your voice gets tighter when you lose air - fix it by allowing it to move [I'm not sure what I meant when I wrote this down!]

Key changes
Make the key change if you have one. Several groups had problems with this. If you can't handle it, don't do it, or a sing a song that doesnt have one. Add head voice (10% for a half step, 20% for a whole step) to the key change and stay the same in the new key; also identify who has the leading note that drives the key change (ie the 7th of the preceding chord - eg from A flat to A, G sharp is the driving note)

Vowels
If the voices have different resonances then they won't be in tune - you have to choose the same vowel and the same resonances.

Intervals
'Up is a bigger step, down is a smaller step' works most of the time but you have to be accurate instantly. Exercise singing 'book' up and down scale -when the mouth is small for a word like this you need to get to the right note instantly (Jean Barford taught this exercise)

Synchronisation
Chords must align, otherwise they are out of tune.

Sunday, 16th May - continued

Now, where was I?

BLACKJAQ singing Sweet Adeline
KH: Great leads have to open their voices enough to let other voices in - takes more air
LS: [the lead starts this song solo , and after a few bars the tenor joins her] lead should acknowledge the tenor when she joins in
KH: on 'picture' you have to include each other in your sound
KH: typically of basses when you have to come in on a low note you tend to bear down on it
KH: instead of just working on our own stuff vocally, we need to include each other
LS: to move to the next level, you need to know about each others parts so you can help them
KH: this quartet is in synch about 50-60% of the time - the solution is for everyone to sing the lead line in unison. The lead decides how she wants it. Once you're in synch, then you can sing your own part
LS: Use your body
KH: When you sing a harmony part you don't know what the lead is doing so you have to sing their part to understand
[Quartet member : is this better? Kym: It's not just better, it's right]
KH: A good lead doesn't exactly know what she's doing, but the other parts have to do what she does. Talking about it analytically will make her stop, which is not good,, so singing the lead part together is good. Synch errors can be fixed by repetition in unison.
KH: Unison is the best self teaching tool I have ever used - it's tedious but well worth the effort. As well as fixing synch you also take some of the lead's quality to your part so the blend is better, and also the vowels are better matched, and your movements are more in synch. Do a bit of the song at a time, record it and listen to it individually and mark the areas where synch is a problem and work on them. Do it with your music in hand so you don't get lost.
KH: Synch is judged in all four categories (and so are energy, vocal skills, words and notes)
Question: how does this apply to choruses?
KH: In choruses it's the Director who's in charge, not the Lead

BlackJaQ sing "Like a Song"
KH: keep your eyes open - if you close your eyes for too long you exclude the audience from your emotion
KH: we tend to sing songs the way they're written on the page or the way we've heard other people do them, but think about the message of each phrase before you sing it.

After the Master Class on Sunday morning we all went separate ways. I went to the Finance Coordinators lunch in the Senior Citizens Centre and had interesting discussions about abstruse topics such as Escrow, paying international dues, credit cards, high interest bearing bank accounts, and cash vs accrual accounting. I won't test your patience by reporting the detail!

There were supposed to be markets on the foreshore, and a music festival with performances by some of the choruses and quartets, but there didn't seem to be much going on so I went back to our room to catch up on the blog.

Later Pippa came by and invited us to her and Steph's room for drinks. Vicki came too and read us the judge's comments on our video evaluation. I'm going to let her tell you about it when she gets back, but I can tell you that the judges liked our new ballad and the comments were positive and encouraging.

We had so much fun we decided to skip dinner and keep partying until it was time for the evening class with Lynne Smith and Kim Hulbert.

More about that next time - now we're off to our 9 am class - Vicki is leading Music in the Morning so we can't be late!


KH: The lead cannot be out of synch - but she can be inconsistent

Sunday, 16th May - Master Class

I was lying in bed reading when I heard Inese say 'dolphins'. I found her standing at the window watching a pod of dolphins fishing just off the beach below our window - along with four pelicans and assorted other sea birds. Then Julia joined us - her first sighting of dolphins in Australia. We watched, entranced, and took lots of photos. It was magical to be eating porridge and watching dolphins.

At 9:30 we were back in the Convention centre for the mass sing. As usual, I had meant to learn the songs I didn't know and not got around to it, but luckily Inese had sheet music for some of them so we were able to cheat. At 10 am most people left and a hardy few stayed on for the Regional AGM. Inese and Di and I represented CKC. Sandy O'Neill introduced Kim Kraut as a visiting Sweet Adelines luminary. Kim described the Regional Management Team as the people who do the grunt work so the rest of us can play. She presented a gift to Linda Wareham who is retiring after 11 years as Education Coordinator (Lea
Baker is replacing her). Sandy thanked Linda beautifully for her 'sound commonsense, fairness and openness, practical business knowledge, basic friendliness and love of people, bubbly sense of humour and sense of fun'.

Then the AGM proper started. Sandy introduced the RMT and summarised the highlights of their reports (a very good way of doing it, I think). Interesting bits from her summary:

• Region 34 is the third largest region in SAI
• we have 54 members with more than 20 years in the organisation
• there were 137 first timers at this convention
• we have three choruses and one quartet who have scored over 600 points
• the Young Singers tour with Musical Island Boys was a great success with over 1400 students participating
• Region 34 has done well with the Real Women Real Fun Real Harmony campaign and Anita has been invited to talk at the RMT meeting in Seattle about what we've done
• The Regional subsidy to choruses competing at International is now $10,000 and the quartet subsidy is $4,000.

There was time for some questions. It appears some people were unhappy about Mandurah as a venue because the size of the theatre limited numbers - someone pointed out that it was because it was a great venue that more people came than expected, and that RMT were the victims of their own success. Rae Knight pointed out that capital city venues are prohibitively expensive (Mandurah's theatre was 20% of the cost of Burswood Casino and came with the fantastic theatre technician included). However, RMT will explore other possible venues in Perth for 2013. Someone else asked why we had Convention in the flu season - answer is that SAI sets the schedule, but we will raise this with them.

The AGM closed, and we saw Kim Hulbert and Lynne Smith conduct a Master Class with several quartets and choruses. This was great, and has been videotaped for the Regional library. With every group they coached (for only 20 minutes each) we could hear and see the difference.

HARMONY IN PARADISE singing "Put your arms around me ..."
KH: Third note in any bell chord is often late
KH: Does the chorus know what the tempo is? Kim asked the chorus to clap the tempo without the director, and they disagreed.
KH: Drop 'and' and take a breath instead
KH: 'Put' needs vowel to be open and lifted
KH: Listen for the pulse in 'huddle up and cuddle up' - the judging panel noticed the use of beat rather than pulse by several competitors
LS: Using your thighs will help you with sound and pulse
LS: Lyrics have to tell a story
KH: Common problem is for the sound to get sucked up when the dynamic is softer but it needs to be intenser
KH: Kim always hears wrong notes when judging
KH: The 'fa' of 'fascinating' can't be breathy or it loses pitch
LS: Look fascinated and that will help with sound. Use your legs and sit on it
KH: If you do 'woo' as an effect rather than singing it, you have to have everybody doing it or it just sounds out of tune
KH: Kim frequently said during the Master Class, 'be brave'.
KH: Good singing must underpin any special effect, you can't use special effects to cover up problems
LS: Current move on 'palpitate' with closed hands is closing down the sound - change it to open hands
KH: Kim had the chorus sing with closed eyes to feel the pulse of the music. The Director's job is to get you ready to perform without her - you do know how it's supposed to go, so don't lean on her (note to CKC; does this sound familiar?)
KH: Sliding from note to note is unclean singing

KISMET singing "where e'er you go you'll always know I love you 'til I die"
KH: Lead takes pitch on a good sound, and then the first sound she sings should be in the same place. Every time we try to protect our voice we suck it inside and we change the sound - then the other parts react. Be brave. Same for Bass: keep the same sound, be consistent over your whole range.
LS: Singing the pitch is also setting up the feeling and emotion of the song, so show it 100% of the time
KH: You get more points if you don't do dynamics at a breath: there's more artistry in changing dynamics during a phrase or a word
LS: And the dynamic plan should be based on the emotion of the song, not just on impressing the judges
KH: When another part (eg bass) has the melody the others should take notice
KH: the mechanical quartet arm has a life of its own
LS: you can do more with your lower body rather than your arms. You don't have to have the mechanical arm.
(Kim demonstrates singing with no arm movement )
LS: See how Kim uses facial animation (not just facial expression, because her face is changing) and head and torso and lower body movement
KH: when working out the interp of a song, don't start with breathing - put the breathing in last instead of first
KH: Region 34 has come a long way quickly and sometimes we can lose things on the way. Finesse and artistry don't have to wait until you get to B level you can become emotionally attached to your song at any level. Start this earlier
KH: Spend time listening to recordings and listen and learn from what others do

ADELAIDE CITY SOUND singng "Breezing along with a breeze@
KH: The bass melody should be heard
KH: The chorus is working hard and not getting much back - it feels careful
LS: You need more fun from the beginninig
KH: Move the intro along a bit (Kim demonstrates) - lots of intros are like tags, telling the audience what you're going to do
KH: Take the intro out of tempo from the first chord (shows Director)
KH: It's not as perfect but it's a lot more interesting
LS: We need to see fun on the pitch note too
KH: Just because it's soft, don't suck the sound inside - push it out
KH: In barbershop low notes are more important than high ones so bring out the low notes, ease up o the high notes
LS: See the power of fun to make a difference to how they sing
KH: Directors want to make sure it is right, but fun has to be built in from the beginning. And without fun, people won't stay.
KH: Re front row choreo - what if you didn't turn around and walk back to your positions? In a small chorus, you don't want to risk losing the sound, so instead, work your way back gradually
LS: The name of the category is showmanship, not choreography
LS: Move on breeze is jerky - feel the pulse and trust yourself
KH: If you don't know who gets the backbeat watch them walk as they're singing a backbeat song. You don't actually need the same front row all the time - for a back beat song put people who get the back beat in the front row.
KH: The job of the chorus director is not to appease all chorus members, it's to do what's best for the chorus (so don 't whine if you get moved).
(Lynne imitates a front row person refusing to give up her front row spot)
Kim and Lynne then do a parody of two chorus members doing emcee.
KH: Try rotating the chorus rows so everyone gets to learn how it feels in a different position. and give everyone a chance to shine in front row (audience hisses)

ANDIAMO singing Dixie Band
KH: Lead - the voice you think is ugly is right for this song
KH: Bass - on repeated notes you need to move forward
KH: Resonance is a great thing unless there's no focus, and then it's just woofy. When you first learn about resonance, you lift the back palate and it's woofy but you also need to learn to lift at the front
KH: Leads are predominant in a quartet because of the quality of their voice, not because of their volume. The bass is loudest. The lead needs to bring the sound forward and then she doesn't need the volume
LS: visualise a Dixie band and how exciting it is, we don't want to see what your plan is, we want to see the excitement
KH: Try mixing quartet positions to speed up learning
LS: It's well planned but there's not enough personality and unique style
LS: Such a smart Region, so willing and quick to learn

Andiamo sings Tree in the Meadow
KH: Bass keep it forward; Lead lighten up on the higher notes
LS: Paint a picture
KH: Do more duetting

LS: A lot of arm movements in the choruses- but if it doesn't speak to the story line, it's just choreo. Be sure any movements are based on the message and the character.
KH: CDs are available for sale at the end of the class
LS: Smartest way to learn is to listen

PERTH HARMONY singing "you know it's a shame"
KH: How do you get to A minus level?
KH: Don't scoop on first note - breathe in the space of the oooh
KH: Not everyone is coming in together
KH: Make the vowel on 'shame' higher and more open and do it instantly, not gradually
KH: If you hold a note you have to build it, high and wide
KH: On 'all know' keep the resonance on the slide
KH: Dynamic change - don't suck the sound out of it and don't change the sound, keep the color consistent and change the dynamic with support
KH: In A minus level every chord counts - every vowel, every chord, every time, the first time
KH: Slide on 'blame' can't go straight down, it lifts and then moves down (down the front stairs, Vicki would say)
LS: choreo moves are starting too high: let your legs take you as high as you can and then lift the hands
KH: 'all know' slide is like 'blame' slide
KH: it has to sound easy every time
LS: when you hit 'bailey' you're not cutting off in synch, so don't extend your arms so far wait until the Director cuts you off
KH: 'shame' - stay on target vowel
KH: at A minus level you don't need to bring the sound back in order to bring it forward
KH: maintain the integrity of the target vowel
KH: I don't like the sound when you point, so use an open hand instead
LS: we have to see the character appear immediately
LS: your posture has to be talll and wide all the time
KH: it sounds like a great contest song but it needs to be more than that
KH: don'tget breathy when yo get soft
LS: understand why the dynamic makes sense in the story (not just because you Director said to sing soft)
KH: attention to detail - every chord and every word for all four categories. You need tenacity, and you should expect to get frustrated before you get it right
LS: take risks, get out of your comfort zone, live in the"dome of discovery"

PS Kim Hulbert is getting married in November and Jessica from BlackJaQ is also engaged.

Still to come: BlackJaQ being coached (but we are off to have drinks on the balcony with Steph and Pippa)

Mandurah photos 1

I'm not very good at inserting photos in the text so I'm putting them in this separate post. Photos are:

Inese and Julia at Moca eating baci

Deborah Steph and Pippa with champagne on balcony

CKC's red hot mamas with Laonie

Verve at the Showcase (this is not their competition outfit, though they look great)

Accolade wearing their 3rd place medals.

Saturday 15th May - the rest

We had a leisurely breakfast on the balcony this morning and watched Julia admiringly as she went for a morning swim in the (heated) pool. I read a bit more of my e-book and Inese painted her nails red. Julia caught us up on what we'd missed by going home early. There's a story about Vicki D and a chili that we hear Glenda has evidence of on her i-phone.

We ambled over to the Performing Arts Centre for our 10 am STAR chorus rehearsal with Lea, to do riser placements and add in some choreo. She's very good and even gave us an early mark. It was just as well, because by the time we'd come back to our room, made a sandwich for lunch and then dressed in our sexy red and black and put on makeup it was 12:25 pm. We got back to the Convention just too late to see the first chorus contestant and had to watch them on the screens outside.

Voices of the Vasse, from Busselton WA, were the next contestant. They had 20 singers on stage wearing pants and top in a very colourful patterned fabric that was mostly aqua, with sequins on one side. Their Director, Tracie Whiteside, immediately got our attention with her flamboyant physical presence. It turns out Karen Magno knows her and Tracie is a gymnast who knew nothing about barbershop when she started as their Director. They looked like they were having fun. They sang a song about Ireland, and then This Is My Lucky Day.

Out of the Blue Singers, from Wollongong, had 29 singers. They wore a lime voile tunic with gold down the front seam over gold satin pants. I thought they had a great sound, considering their size. They sang Beautiful
Doll and Once Upon a Time.

Bathurst Panorama had 40 on stage. We really liked their costume, which was a rich blue velvet wrap top with a silver feature on the neck line, over black velvet pants. They sang After You're Gone and My Buddy. They are smaller than CKC, but serious competition.

Coastal a Cappella from Gosford had 30 on stage. Their costume was also a wrapped top, but pink and with two layers of fabric (sorry, I don't have the right vocabulary to describe this stuff). I thought it was an unflattering style that drew the wrong sort of attention to their breasts. Still, they had great faces. They sang If you loved me, really loved me and our Changes medley.

Adelaide Sound Connection had 36 singers and wore long pink skirts with a handkerchief hem and a black top with a pink sequinned overlay - also wrapped. (Wrap tops were popular this year - do I sound like a fashion writer yet?) Their songs were I'm breezing with the breeze and Back in the old routine. I thought their balance lacked bass.

After interval the risers were changed to the standard configuration, to accommodate the larger choruses.

A Cappella West is a new chorus in Perth directed by Lindsey Dyer and Jo Oosterhoff. I thought their costume worked really well: black top with an interesting neckline, black pants, and a teal sequinned drape of fabric over one shoulder and across the body. They did an Irish package: Too Ra Loo Ra Lay and It's a Great Day for the Irish, complete with Irish dancing by the front row.

Harmony in Paradise is Rose McGee's chorus from the Gold Coast. They have 40 singers. They sang I Never Knew Anybody Like Johnny and Where Are My Old Friends Gone. Unfortunaely one of their tenors had a scratchy voice that stuck out.

Geelong Harmony had 35 singers on stage. They wore purple pants and a pale blue sequinned wrap top and sang Give My Regards to Broadway and that ballad we used to sing ... How Can A Kiss Become Bitter Sweet (I can't remember the proper name). The director wore aqua pants which looked a bit odd, I thought, with the chorus in purple.

Then we got to the big girls.

Perth Harmony had 90 singers on stage and were just awesome - sound, showmanship, the lot. They wore black tops and pants with a gold mesh long sleeveless tunic open at the front. They sang Young and Foolish and Bill Bailey.

Melbourne were next, with 65 singers. They also did an Irish package,complete with Irish dancing costumes (short dresses with green side panels and a shiny patterned centre panel) and the front row wore black stockings rather than pants and had Irish dancing shoes). Their package lost some of its impact because A Cappella West had already done something similar. They sang Once Upon A time and Great Day for the Irish. More impressive choreo, which included in the ballad vignettes of girls sitting on the ground under the tree and looking up at the stars.

Northern Beaches were last, had 60 singers and sang Oh You Beautiful
Doll and I Never Meant To Fall In Love. They wore black pants and black tops with stripes of shiny stuff.

I'd picked to Perth to win, then Melbourne, A Cappella West, Bathurst Panorama and Northern Beaches, so I wasn't too far off the mark except that Bathurst Panorama came second.

As soon as Northern Beaches finished the STAR chorus gathered outside to line up and perform Too Darn Hot while the results were being collated. That was fun, and all went according to plan. There were some astonishing variations on sexy red and black, of which Laonie's was the most astonishing. We have pictures to prove it.

As the Directors and TCs came on stage our Vicki D presented each of them with their certificates. She gave them all a kiss and a big smile. Well, you already know the results. Bathurst Panorama were probably the most excited when they realised they'd come second, ahead of Melbourne.

Perth sang for us again and finished with It Is Well With My Soul, which had me in tears, and then we all sang How We Sang Today.

There was a big break between contest and Showcase, so Inese and I invited Steph and Pippa back to our room for pre-dinner drinks on the balcony. We sipped pink champagne and watched the sun setting in the west over the Indian Ocean. Later we had dinner at a nearby restaurant with a decadent dessert called Baci: layers of hazelnut meringue and chocolate.

Back to the Performing Arts Centre for the Showcase. Our STAR chorus was on fourth so we missed the first few performances but were able to see Accolade on the big screen in the theatre where we were assembled. Glenda announced that this was her last public performance with Accolade and encouraged interested basses near Sydney to audition - she said she'd learned a lot from singing with them.

Inese and I decided to skip the Afterglow (700 women in the foyer makes a lot of joyful but not harmonious noise) and come home to bed (and to blog).

What else did I want to tell you? We were sitting five rows from the front, in the centre, so had a good view of the back of the judges. The expression judge, Karen Sweeters had two small pictures in frames on her desk. I swear one of them looked like a cartoon of a fat lady dressed only in bra and g string and high heels and I desperately wanted to get close enough to see it properly - but I didn't get a chance.

We said goodbye to Lorraine, who is flying back early Sunday morning, but the rest of us are staying on for Harmony College.

Ten past midnight - time to go to bed

Chorus competition results

I'll tell you the rest later, but for now, here are the chorus results:

1st place Perth Harmony (616)
2nd place Bathurst Panorama (595)
3rd place Melbourne (571)
4th place A Capella West (553)
5th place Northern Beaches (537)
Most improved Northern Beaches (29 points)

A small chorus (15 to 30 members)
1st Coaastal A Cappella
2nd Out of the Blue

Aa mid sized chorus (31 - 60 members)
1st place Bathurst Panorama
2nd place Melbourne Chorus
3rd Place Geelong Harmony

Friday 14th May -Q uartet Competition

We've been saying to each other how glad we are that CKC is not competing this year, but gosh it's still hard work being an audience. We watched all 27 quartets compete today.

Ah, but first I have to tell you about our STAR chorus rehearsal this morning with Lea Baker. It was a pleasure to sing with 110 women who all seem to have learned the music before they turned up to the first rehearsal ... there was maybe only one point where Lea had to remind us of notes and words. CKC, we can do this too! Lea was great to work with - very clear on what she wanted us to do, and then she praised us when we did it. Mostly we duetted this morning, in Sections, and then tomorrow we add dynamics and choreo. The sound was awesome to be part of.

Okay, quartet comp. We started with a YWIH chorus from MLC (Methodist Ladies College) singing Tuxedo Junction and A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square. Were we ever that young and gorgeous? Then there were presentations to seveal people who had achieved 20 years membership, and then the Quiet Achiever awards. This year there was no Regional winner, just recognition of all the individual chorus winners.

The first quartet came on stage at 12:41 pm. I won't give you a song by song description, just the highlights (although I dutifully recorded all the costumes and all the songs in my UBdeJudge booklet).

The second quartet was Petit Fours, who were four of the MLC girls. They had lots of energy and passion and confidence (and the highest heels I've ever seen on a quartet). They sang Baby Face and Smile, Darn you, Smile and won the Novice Quartet Award. There was also a second MLC quartet called Young and Foolish with some cute choreo.

Costumes were interesting and ranged from serious sequins to fairly casual outfits complete with crumpled fabric. I think Verve had the best costume - colourful, sophisticated and flattering without being over the top.

Andiamo is the quartet that Lea Baker and Jill Harris sing in. They were placed fourth with 579 points. They sang (I don't know the right names for these songs) I love you 'til I'll die and One Step From Dixie Land.

Verve were on 11th and I think it was the best performance of their package I've seen them do. They put all Karen Breidert's coaching into practice and Betty was just gorgeous - she has such an expressive face and puts so much emotion into what she's singing. Verve came in 8th with 488 points and were very pleased to be in the top 10.

Harmony Capers (from Melbourne Chorus) scored 554 and came fifth - they also won Most Improved with a whopping great improvement of 129 points. They sang There Goes My Heart and Swanee. Their voices blended beautifully and they had lots of dynamic contrast.

BlackJaQ (from Perth Harmony Chorus) sang It's a Sin To Tell a Lie and Sweet Adeline and we knew they were going to be hard to beat. They placed first and scored 600 points.

Accolade scored 585 points and were placed third. They were great, as always, but I don't think it was their best performance.

iCapella, which included Lindsey Dyer singing Bass,did a beautiful interpretation of Somewhere Ove the Rainbow and were placed second with 589 points - just 4 points ahead of Accolade, too close to call.

The standard of the quartets this year was higher than ever, so CKC can be very proud to have both our quartets in the top ten.

The quartet competition finished at 5:30 pm and then the quartet chorus sang while the results were being collated. While BlackJaq were singing I was texting James with the scores.

We hung about in the Foyer for Afterglow drinks, waiting for the score sheets to be given to the quartets, and then Inese and I went off to dinner at a nearby Asian restaurant. We had an invitation to party with Verve but decided we wanted a quiet night.

Jdo you remember Julia, our German barbershopper who visited CKC several times? Since she left us Julia has been working her way around Australia and is here for Convention. This morning she showed us some of her photos of her travels - she's covered a lot of territory and done lots of different jobs. Chris Kemp is here, too, on a last minute impulse.

We shopped at Harmony Bazaar this morning. Steph and I each bought a copy of Endeavour's Music Theory course, in case Doris finds it useful. The most interesting thing I found (but didn't buy) was plastic vases that fold flat. There was some local craft work and the usual Sweet Adelines stalls.

I think it's time to go to bed ... our bodies are still on Sydney time and it's 11:30 pm back home.

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Friday 14th May - Morning of Quartet Competition

I woke up to the sound of the waves and lay in bed practising Too Darn Hot, which is the Cole Porter song the STAR chorus is singing tomorrow after the chorus competition and again on Sunday afternoon at a public perf'Sormance. The STAR chorus is all the people at Convention who aren't competing with a chorus or quartet. Most of us (Inese, Deborah, Steph, Sonya, Pippa) are in it but Lorraine missed out because they set a limit of 110 people - I guess that's all they could fit. Our first rehearsal is at 10 am, but before that I have to drop off the DVD of CKC performing for video evaluation and of course Harmony Bazaar opens at 9 am so we want to beat the rush to see what's on offer this year.

We brought with us the Good Luck cards that the chorus signed for Accolade and Verve. I had a message from Betty Clipman saying "tell Accolade I'm rooting for them all the way from Montgomery TX" so I wrote that on their card too (but I won't tell Betty about the other connotations). I got up early to put the card under Accolade's door, as they're just two doors down from us, but had to get Reception to deliver to Verve as they're in a different part of the resort complex.

It was a beautiful sunrise and it's going to be a gorgeous day - bright and sunny (and the waves are still doing their thing on the beach).

Thursday afternoon

Inese arrived safely and admired our room, and the view. She brought food with her (a true Hospitality Chair, a great person to room with). After a cup of tea we went shopping for more supplies. We ran into Accolade on the way and gave them all hugs from Di Huber, and us as well. At the Performing Arts Centre we saw Lorraine and Laonie, who took the Convention registrations back to their room so we could keep going unencumbered.


The main shopping precinct is a short walk away along the shores of Mandjah Bay. Although Mandurah is completely flat, its position on the Estuary and the landscaping and boardwalks around the shore make it very attractive. In the playground Inese pointed out a swing made for kids in wheelchairs, which I'd never seen before.


Back in our room, and with the groceries put away, I collected the retexted the others to let them know we had their registrations, but my mobile phone refused to send messages. Grrrrh. We headed out for dinner and on the bridge we met Verve coming back from quartet chorus rehearsals so we were able to give them hugs from Di as well, and hand over their registrations. Then Steph and Pippa turned up on the bridge as well - more hugs!


We met up with Accolade who'd just finished quartet walkthroughs and also Jill Wardrop and (aargh, my brain's gone blank) someone else we know well and Tony Skyes from Sydney Harmony and had dinner at the Dome which is one of many restaurants on the boardwalk. Two glasses of red wine on top of 3 hours sleep put my brain into sleep mode, I couldn't remember the bass part of You Give Your Hand To Me which was a bit sad as I was the only bass.


There were other Sweet Adelines doing the same thing - on the way back we saw Di Godwin with Aurora Australis We were back at the hotel by 9 pm and I went straight to sleep with the sound of the waves on the beach in the background.

Thursday, 13th May 2010

THURSDAY 11 AM WA TIME

Well here we are on the Convention bus leaving Perth Airport. We had a little communication problem: the bus was parked at one end of the airport car park (currently under reconstruction) and we were at the other end, so it took a few phone calls to find each other. We had plenty of time to get to know our fellow travellers. As I've been awake since 2:45 am (to catch a 3:30 am train and a 6 am plane) and the others in our group were up equally early, we were a little irritable. In addition, Perth is cold and drizzly and expected to stay like this for several days.

Sonya Ahearn and I were on the same Virgin Blue flight so arranged to sit together. We expected to sleep but ended up talking most of the way. Sonya's had a most interesting life, living in exotic places overseas with her husband Bob who was an airline pilot for 44 years. The man sitting next to us was also interesting as he's an automotive engineer for a multi millionaire who does car rallies and speed boat races as a hobby. He travels all round the world doing this and is off tomorrow on a 5 star 4WD trip through the Pilbara to Broome with his boss and friends.

Sandy O'Neill and Kris Dodd are also on our bus. We agreed Karen Breidert was a wonderful coach, and were interested to hear about Endeavour Harmony Chorus's preparations for competing in Seattle in October. I'm looking forward to a preview of their show package when we go to their 'Family and Friends' preview on Sunday, 25th July at Kirrawee High School (which you are all encouraged to attend).

THURSDAY 2:10 PM

The bus ended up at the Mandurah Visitor Centre, when we'd expected to be dropped at our hotels (but what can you expect for $15?) My hotel was not far away so I got out and the others persuaded their bus driver to drop them off on the way. While waiting for our room to be free, I explored the Marina precinct and had lunch at a fish cafe on the wharf. There are lots of cafes and fashion shops – I imagine in summer this place would be very busy.

Our room at Seashells Resort was well worth the wait. We're on the third floor looking North West over the hotel swimming pool and the beach to the Indian Ocean. I imagine the sunset will be spectacular. I've unpacked, set up the netbook, and am having a cup of tea while I wait for Inese to join me.