As I become more involved in Barbershop singing, I find I want to expand my knowledge as much as possible and in turn, learn the best ways to communicate this information to others. It was this, along with the encouragement from the rest of my quartet who'd commented on the value of being able to interact with other singers, which inspired me to go to Directors College VII in January '07.

I am the tenor section leader for the National Barbershop Youth Chorus, and I'm increasingly being asked to take warm-ups and other aspects of coaching at my local chorus: The Cottontown Chorus in Bolton. I therefore wanted to advance my knowledge of directing in order to fulfil my role to a higher standard in both of these situations, be it taking the tenor section through a tricky part of a song, or directing a warm up in front of the whole chorus.

Before Directors College, not only did I not possess the right skills to direct a chorus, I was also timid and had little confidence in my own knowledge as a long-term Barbershopper. Although I was on the novice stream, I felt my understanding of directing growing by the minute and in turn my confidence as a director. The structure of the weekend meant that not only did I learn the basic techniques of directing, such as the patterns, posture, eye contact etc, but I also learnt some of the more complicated aspects of being a director, more to do with management and the sociological elements of running a chorus. Although this was not really necessary to me individually, it was interesting and a great insight which may prove beneficial to me in the future.

The educational aspect of the weekend was second-to-none. Some of the finest British Barbershoppers were on hand to share their expertise, along with some of the best music educators from outside of the BABS organisation, such as Mike Brewer and Manvinder Rattan who both bought interesting viewpoints to the table from more of a choral than barbershop perspective. Of course, the social side was great, as you would expect from a Barbershop event of this nature!

All in all, Directors College is a great weekend, and I would recommend it to anybody who wants to improve their directing and leadership skills, or as in my case, create solid foundations to build their skills upon.

I would of course like to thank the Harmony Foundation for awarding me with the scholarship to be able to attend. Without this financial assistance it would have been impossible for me to go due to my current status as a full-time student. I am extremely grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to have such an enjoyable and educational weekend.

Alan Hughes (Bolton and NBYC)