My weekend kicked off to a great start as I actually managed to navigate myself to the hotel successfully and on time with minimal error (thanks to good old route planner).
I even found a parking space, getting in it took some manoeuvring, but even so it was another tick on my first impressions list.
On entering the hotel I soon realised this tick list would quickly lengthen as I was greeted by a very friendly receptionist in what was a rather quaint reception area. Booking in was hassle free and, despite my key card for my room being not quite ready, I was escorted up and let in to drop off my things and freshen up. The room was very clean and tidy and to my surprise I had three beds at my disposal; quite ironic I though as I had a funny feeling sleep was not going to be something too high on the agenda, not when you have a hotel full of barbershopper's with a healthy desire to get rid of some cash in exchange for light refreshments any way!

We had dinner over at the college before heading over for the welcome talk and 'key notes' speech. The welcome talk gave a clear outline of what to expect from the weekend. We were talked through the certification process with a slide show presentation, this showed how each individual would be assessed and qualified and was explained very clearly and all relevant questions were answered. The importance of leadership and management within chorus directing was highlighted in the 'key notes' speech that followed. After this we went back to the hotel and straight down to the bar. The hotel could have done with some more bar staff to cope better with the numbers as we were queuing some time for our drinks. It just meant buying a pint and joining the back of the queue again; by the time you had reached the front you were ready for another. Tags took a little while to kick off but when they did, they did in true fashion. I don't remember what time I went up to my room but I seem to remember not giving myself much time before I had to be up again.

A much needed breakfast was served in the hotel the next morning, full English with a glass of orange juice and a cup of tea, what more do you need to kick start the morning after the night before?! In our first talk of the day we were explained how our timetable was to be followed for the weekend. I was really impressed with the organisation of the whole weekend as it ran very smoothly and this was undoubtedly down to the hard work and effort of a handful of individuals, so many thanks to all those who put in a lot of time and effort to make it possible.

Our first leadership and management session started off with a stand up and sing along tune, making sure that all those who weren't yet fully awake, were now. The presentation was very useful and I took away good ideas of how to apply many relevant management skills. After this talk we moved into smaller group rooms and had group discussions about a case study. This was used to emphasise the importance of applying good management skills and although was slightly long winded it got the point across.

Later on in the day we started our practical sessions. The teachers were all very knowledgeable and supportive. One of the main points I took away from these sessions was the importance of clear gestures and signals when conducting and how the slightest adjustments to your directing technique can have dramatic affects on the sound produced by whom ever you are conducting. Even down to standing tall with good posture.

Probably the most useful learning tool from the weekend was the video session on Sunday. We each had slot where we conducted a quartet whilst being recorded. Then we viewed the session back whilst being coached on a one to one basis. This was good because you could see exactly what you looked like when conducting. I was really surprised as to how different my actions looked compared to what they felt like when I was doing them. As I said this for me was probably the most useful session in the weekend and yet was one I almost missed. My session was time-tabled first thing in the morning and unfortunately my alarm clock failed to go off so I rolled out of bed around the same time I was supposed to be getting ready to start my session. Luckily I was able to swap for another slot.
Singing the college song 'bright was the night' as a chorus was also great fun, especially the amusing warm up and on the whole I had a very memorable weekend from which I took away valuable information that I have already been putting into practice and hopefully will be able to built on at next years college.

Charlie Hacker
Coventry Barbershop Harmony Club