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As a very new assistant director I had very little idea of what
to expect from the weekend as I drove down the M6 in the rain, apart
from hoping the afterglows would be enjoyable.
I have been a member of Crystal Chords from Manchester for about
9 years, and before that a Rainy City Chorus fan, supporting my
husband who collected his 25 year pin last convention. Over the
years I progressed to Bass section leader and have sung in two quartets,
but have never felt confident enough to stand out in front of chorus
and take charge. In fact, after going to the LABBS fellowship of
Directors weekend last February, with the fabulous Ase from Sweden
as educator, I really felt directing was not for me.
However my MD kept encouraging and persuading me and eventually
I gave in and said I'd have a go. After all, I've watched my husband
Ted direct for many years and surely anything he can do...
I signed up to Directors College as a novice, (well I was in November,
having only directed about 3 songs ever) with the support of my
chorus and MD. They then decided I could do a singout, and chucked
me in the deep end in charge for three spots in December, singing
all the Christmas and most of the normal repertoire, This gave me
such a buzz that I started looking forward to the weekend, rather
than feeling nervous and dreading the video session and feedback.
The Faculty team were all friendly, approachable and very encouraging,
particularly the Novice team who quickly put us at ease with fun
games and activities, before getting down to the more serious business
of learning . As a teacher myself I appreciated the many excellent
teaching strategies employed. We learned the basic techniques -
starting a song, stopping a song, directing patterns, posture and
eye contact. We spent most of the time allocated actually directing
each other, which was much more useful than listening or writing
about how to do it. By the end of the novice sessions I was confident,
excited and really anticipating my session with the octet and my
own coach. Luckily my session was scheduled for Sunday afternoon,
giving me plenty of time to recover from the night before!
Sessions on Leadership and Management, Critical Listening and Creative
Interpretation were all informative and professionally presented.
It was interesting to hear how people deal with the organisational
problems in different ways, and to share advice from experienced
leaders.
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The guest educator for the weekend was the totally fantastic Royce
Ferguson. I admit that I had not heard of him or the Westminster
chorus before, and was blown away firstly by the DVD of their gold
medal performance and then by this very charming, modest and inspiring
guy. All the sessions lead by Royce were totally absorbing, educational
and very enjoyable. Where did the time go?
Personal highlights were:
- Royce working with the novice group, jumping to advanced free-style
directing and directing the College song rather than the easier
songs allocated to us
- The college chorus session directed by Rhiannon, coached by
Royce, leaving some of us in tears with the emotion
- My video session with the wonderful octet and Paula my coach.
They were so helpful and enthusiastic even at the end of a very
long day, and made me feel great about my achievement.
- The afterglows were very good too!
Thanks to the Faculty for the organisation which must have been
a logistic nightmare, for the friendship from everyone without exception,
and for the whole experience. Can't wait for next year!
Thanks also to BABS for the financial assistance which enabled
me to attend. I would recommend this educational weekend to any
current and aspiring directors, as well as to those like myself
with practically no directing knowledge.
Sue Ward
Crystal Chords Greater Manchester
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