Wow, what a weekend, starting with the opening speech from Mike Brewer which helped set the standard for the rest of our time together.

I went into the novice director stream with 3 great tutors, we spent time going through the basics of directing skills from posture through to patterns and down beats to dramatics. To break up the weeknd there were a choice of great Pick and mix sessions, I choose Left hand/Right hand function and Freestyle. Both these sessions were valuable to new directors, as I can stand in front of the chorus and think what I do with my left hand, now all has changed at the club, freestyle has a place in directing as you don't need to direct the pattern in every song.

I brought with me a DVD of myself directing the chorus 2 different songs, and a big thank you to Rob Barber who assessed it in his break time with me and gave me pointers for the second day where we were going to be videoed in front of the octet that came, and a great team they were, they were made up of Cadence (from the youth chorus) and Retro.

On Sunday there were parallel sessions running on Warm up and rehearsal techniques, the chorus director as coach, and Plagiarism and creativity. Listening to these great minds, Mike Brewer, Rhiannon and Neil Watkins was an inspiration and plenty of notes written to discuss with the chorus when I get back.

It came to the afternoon when I was the last person in our section to have the dreaded video, BUT what a coach I had, a genius you might say, Rob Barber coached solid for 11 minutes, what a change I saw in myself. A big thanks goes to Rob for the time and encouragement he gave me.

I now have started to step out the front and receive coaching from Dick and Delyth Knight. On Sunday 10th February I am directing the chorus at the Saltash Music Festival, how scary is that.
I would like to thank the Keep Harmony Alive Foundation for there support in funding my place at Directors college and I can't wait until next year.

Thank you again for a full action packed weekend.

Richard Drew (Western Approach)