I was fortunate enough to be awarded a BABS Scholarship to attend the 2005 Directors College V in Coventry. I found the course absorbing and intensive with sessions on the musical considerations of harmony, aspects of leadership and management, and theory and practice of how to direct a chorus. The actual weekend went something like this:

Arriving just in time on the Friday evening to check in at the hotel and then across to the Bablake School refectory for dinner, the atmosphere for the weekend was set - lots of content and excitement, but little time to catch one's breath - literally! After dinner the official welcome was followed by our key speaker, Colin Touchin, presenting his choir's recording of "The Long Day Closes" and discussion on how unaccompanied choral singing might be directed. The evening closed back at the hotel bar, with surprisingly little singing for a barbershop ensemble - there was much to discuss and prepare for the coming day and a half.

Saturday began with breakfast in the hotel, then across to the school for the day. Chris Davidson presented an excellent Leadership and Management session. The main thread was how to prepare your audience first for decisions and changes to come, to seek support and agreement and finally secure those changes - in contrast, the stony ground is to assume your own ideas, however inspired, will naturally be accepted and carried through by those around you. We were left with an ongoing task which Chris will revisit with each of us in the coming months. Then we (the delegates) demonstrated our own abilities to perform the song "Old St Louis", with a final run under the directorship of Colin Touchin on the Sunday afternoon.

Sunday was chorus-directing day, all on video and reviewed one-to-one with faculty coaches. Thanks go to the two 'guinea-pig' choruses, Grand Central and Three Spires, who we hope had as much fun being variously directed as we delegates did being out front! That, together with Riannon's assessment of my own previously supplied video directing Solent City Chorus, was the technical highlight of the weekend for me. Thanks must go to all concerned on the faculty, especially as there had been a break-in on Saturday night and vital equipment stolen.

Administratively, I had entered at Level 2 with experience but as yet no certification as this part of the scheme is still evolving. There is obviously much to learn about directing a chorus, and the success of just a few minutes on stage only comes from many hours (years even!) of progressive study and practice across a range of disciplines. I hope to attend again next year, not just for a higher level but to benefit from new ideas that will undoubtedly come along by then.

Overall it was a fun-packed and instructive weekend I'd recommend to any serious club member/section leader, not just the 'regulars' out front.

Peter

Assistant Chorus Director - Solent City Chorus - Portsmouth & District BHC