My second visit to Directors College was even more welcome than my first experience the previous year, if that is at all possible. Last year, everything was so new and exhilarating, whereas this time I was more able to focus on gaining practical tools and techniques to bring back to my chorus. Having gained more experience and seeing familiar faces at the college this enabled me to work on the craft of directing in greater depth.

The amenities provided by the College were as impressive as I remembered, from the high standard of lodging to the organisation of sessions and the quality of educational support. As always I think the College is incredibly good value for everything it offers. Time was organised a bit differently this time round; there were fewer sessions but greater focus on particular topics. Last year's pick'n mix sessions were fantastic, but I found it quite a lot to take in, probably because I was so new! I felt this time round I came home having discussed and tackled fewer but more specific issues, all tools I can put into practice (fingers crossed).

We spent a lot of time with Royce Ferguson, our guest tutor, in the main hall on Saturday, where he conducted all 80 of us singing and shared a couple of his trade secrets. We reconvened in smaller groups on Sunday when he took some of our questions and we consolidated some of the techniques we had previously discussed. This was fabulous; we couldn't get enough of his charisma and ability to inspire us! The sincere and responsive relationship he has with the singers he directs has such an impact on the quality of sound and the experience one feels while singing.

There was also a session in the main hall on Leadership and Management for all the delegates on Saturday, where we went through various administrative templates for chorus management. The rest of the day was spent with our group and our coach, in my case Mike Taylor, to decide what we wanted to work on over the weekend and to approach some specific issues of Directing Technique.

I have to admit to a bit of anxiety whilst getting ready to direct the Belles of Three Spires on the Sunday morning. I've never conducted a ladies chorus before and didn't really know what to expect, but actually it went very smoothly and felt very good. My time with Mike Taylor was extremely constructive throughout the weekend and I expect to use the recording of my directing session and the notes I took with Mike a lot this year! There were three other parallel sessions during the day, one on Presentation with Derek Davies, one on Leadership and Management with Neil Watkins, and the aforementioned session with Royce Ferguson.

The College closed with a moving farewell, particularly so as it was the last time with Mike Lofthouse taking such good care of us all. His work both within and outside of the College has been so valuable and helpful to me as to many others I am sure. Once again, thank you so very much!

Marie-Claude Perreault
Kings of Herts Chorus, Harpenden
February 2008