What have I been missing?

I was first introduced to Barbershop Harmony in 1983 when living in Marlow. I joined Thames Valley Chorus for a short while but my job soon moved to Portsmouth and so I became a member of Solent City. However, working for IBM meant that we didn't stay long and in September 1985 moved to Winchester. I continued singing with Solent City for a while but found the distance too far and joined with Mike Cox to set up a chorus in Winchester. However with great competition for singers in Winchester, unfortunately we were not too successful even though the chorus is still alive today. Interestingly, I still have my 1986 BABS Membership card!

In April 2005 I spotted an advert for a new Barbershop Chorus in Southampton looking for singers so I went along. I was immediately made very welcome and pleased to find that I could still sing some of the "old" songs after 18 years absence. I returned the following Wednesday and I am now proud to be a member of Ocean Harmony, Southampton's Barbershop Harmony Chorus. Later in the year the Chorus Chairman and Director, Laurence Prestage asked if I would take on the role of Assistant Chorus Director, a great privilege that I readily accepted.

For the first time, in August I attended Harmony College and was delighted to meet again with Mike Taylor and John Conway with whom I had sung many years previous at Solent City. Harmony College was an absolute delight and eye-opener; I joined the Basic Directing Stream and had the pleasure of meeting and being coached by Paula Williams, Cherry Hartshorn and Barry Clinton. The weekend was a revelation and I suddenly realised what a lot I had missed in those non-barbershop years. The sessions with Bill Rashleigh were outstanding and hearing the Youth Chorus at the Saturday show was sheer delight. However that was not the end, Bill came to Ocean Harmony the following Saturday afternoon and I had the guys on the risers when Laurence and Bill came into the room and they promptly sang "You're as Welcome" much to Bill's delight.

So to Directors College VI in Coventry, I was privileged and fortunate to be awarded a BABS Scholarship to attend and arrived on Friday evening in time to register and enjoy dinner. We then had a Welcome presentation, details about the Certification program and the Key Note speech by Steve Armstrong, Director of the Toronto Northern Lights Chorus. Steve also showed a DVD of a performance by the chorus where the first 3 or so minutes were completely silent in mime, a fascinating performance that must have taken thousands of hours to perfect. Then back to the hotel and the bar to join with others in conversation and singing.

Saturday started early with breakfast and then a brilliant presentation by Chris Davidson on Leadership and Management. This was followed by a presentation by Neil Watkins. After lunch, being part of the "novice" group I joined others to meet our instructors, Paula Williams, Jon Conway and Barry Clinton. We were coached in the basics of chorus directing which was for me a re-cap of the session at Harmony College and very well received though I would have liked to have moved forward a little further. At 5.0pm we all assembled in the auditorium to sing the College Song, "Bright was the night". After an incredible 20-minute warm-up session by Mike Taylor we sang the song with faculty member Barry Clinton being "coached" and the final 20 minutes with Alison Thompson under the instruction of Steve Armstrong. This was a great hour, being able to sing and watch 2 capable directors receiving additional coaching.

However my main memory is of around 60 people who had never sung in a chorus together, singing what is not an easy song and getting it about 90% right first time! I just wish our chorus would learn their songs before coming to rehearsal. Then off to dinner and another session in the bar, but this time, even greater fun, singing with mixed groups of guys and gals from all over the country and being guided by Jon Conway who has so much talent and enthusiasm. If I was to tell folk back at the office about 60 plus people singing in groups in the hotel bar until the early hours and having fun, they would probably find it difficult to believe! But oh, What they miss!!

Sunday began with breakfast and this was the day it all got serious. The novices got to direct a quartet that should have been Acappella Fellas but because of sickness, only two were well enough to attend and two other guys made up the number. Well they did a superb job of following the novice directors trying to put into practice everything from the previous day's tuition. "Stand like a singer, if you lean forward, the chorus will lean forward too and that'll spoil the sound. Don't sing with them; don't even mime the words, but breathe when you want the singers to breathe. Smile, keep in time, remember the beat, change of tempo, keep it smooth and don't forget the ending! And by the way, you're being video taped too!" But what a brilliant learning experience and thanks to Paula, Jon and Barry for all the guidance and patience.

Whilst this was going on, the non-novices were being coached in front of either The Anvil Chorus or the Belles of Three Spires and amidst all this very careful timing there were additional mini sessions on Leadership and Problem Solving with Chris Davidson and Steve Armstrong and another excellent session with Neil Watkins on critique and listening.

There was also a presentation by the visiting guest conductor Dr Andrew Padmore who showed his expertise and enthusiasm for music. Interestingly, he dropped into one of our novice sessions to chat to us and that was very interesting, explaining his background and work. He paid a great complement to the BABS faculty when he said that he had never seen Leadership and Management discussed at similar (non-barbershop) events and said what a good idea he thought it was.

The weekend closed with presentations and thanks to those who had worked so hard to make this such a superb weekend. Specifically, I would like to thank Mike Lofthouse, the Faculty members and technicians who must have put in months of work to make this such a comprehensive and enjoyable training weekend. Thank you.

I hope to attend next year by which time I will have been able to put all of this and more into practice - that does seem a long way off! Overall it was a fun-packed and instructive weekend that I would recommend to others. Thank you BABS for the opportunity.

Doug Powell
Assistant Chorus Director - Ocean Harmony
Southampton BHC
24 January 2006