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'The most interesting, fulfilling, extremely well organised Barbershop
Educational weekend I have ever attended'.
I have been involved in this fabulous hobby of ours since the tender
age of twelve, that's 26 years and I can honestly say I have never
been so inspired. There were several times over the weekend when
I wondered ' what am I doing here' but that was purely down to stepping
out of my comfort zone.
So what was I doing at Directors College 2008?
As a member of Fascinating Rhythm I have the unenviable task of
taking the girls through their paces with stage presence, so I find
myself in front of the chorus on a regular basis and that in its
self takes a lot of courage and skill and from that point alone
I knew that this weekend was going to be invaluable.
A few weeks before ladies convention last year we found ourselves
with no musical director for the evening so I was asked if I could
take the evening and to concentrate on stage presence for our convention
package. I quickly discovered that evening that I was going to have
to conduct if we were going to make any progress and so I did, and
it was a great experience. I have never up to that point directed,
only to help someone get to the local bus stop!!!
The opportunity to go to Directors College could not have come
at a more opportune time and I would like to extend my thanks to
the Trustees of the Harmony Foundation for the grant that allowed
this to happen and to Fascinating Rhythm for their support.
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As a complete novice it was almost information overload but as
the weekend progressed I had a sense of gradually building techniques
in the hopes that it would all come together by 10:55am on Sunday
when I was due to have my 9 minute video slot with the octet.
I really feel that I have learnt all the basics of directing and
I now know that the fact that I do not read music is certainly not
a barrier to becoming a director and in some cases it may be a blessing!
Before this weekend I would not have been able to take a group
of 20 Baritones from a ' Learn to Sing Course' on their first night
and teach them the first page to a new song, but that is exactly
what I did last Thursday and with great success.
I am now to become one of the assistant Musical Directors for our
chorus, so if anyone is thinking about dabbling in this side of
our hobby I would 100% recommend this opportunity. You will gain
the skills you need to progress, the support you need to encourage
you and new friends who will inspire you to continue.
Jo Dean
Baritone
Havoc/Fascinating Rhythm
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