As the daughter of a barbershopper I've been aware of the barbershop style for over ten years. I've even dabbled in singing it myself and now had finally succumbed to its power and joined Birmingham ladies, Second City Sound. I've been singing since quite a young age and always thought that singing was mainly about singing the right notes. Taking part in Harmony college opened my eyes to barbershop philosophy and technique and helped me realise singing is about a whole lot more than just knowing the notes.

I am a primary school teacher in inner city Birmingham and as a singer have found teaching music to 3-11 year olds enjoyable. Within schools music and singing are often given a low priority, as many teachers consider themselves not skilled or confident enough to teach it. When I was invited to take up the BABS teachers' scholarship, supported by The Anvil Chorus, I jumped at the chance, hoping to gain skills in teaching singing that I could use and pass on to other teachers.

Anvil Chorus (being the friendly lot that they are) made me feel more than welcome when I arrived in Worcester. I soon came to realise it's not only barbershoppers from Birmingham that are friendly. The warmth with which all barbershoppers greeted each other overwhelmed me and I was soon made to feel part of "the family"! I had chosen to take part in two mini streams Singing 2 and Basic Directing, both of which I hoped would aid me in my teaching and coaching of singing within school.

Firstly 'Singing 2' totally dispelled my belief that singing was all about the notes. Learning the three fundamentals of Barbershop singing I realised the dedication Barbershoppers have to achieving the best sound they can. I also began to learn how it could be achieved, as well as how to help people achieve it. Many might wonder how learning how to coach those singing in the Barbershop style might be of use to a primary school teacher, well, with the help of Mark Grindall I gained many transferable skills and began to feel equipped for improving children's singing.

The second mini-stream- 'Basic Directing' developed my skills for getting the most out of singers. I hadn't quite appreciated how the movement of my hands could have such an impact on the singers watching them. I now feel more confident when standing in front of 30 or 300 children that I can truly direct the way in which I want them to sing. Many thanks to Glenn Chaney, for sharing his experiences of working with young singers, as well as his directing skills.

I suppose I couldn't write an article about Harmony College without mentioning the evening visits to the bar, where I was yet again reminded that the notes aren't all that it's about! This is where I feel barbershop singing truly comes into it's own. I really appreciated the patience of various people who taught me tag after more complicated tag as the evening went on. What a laugh! I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and friendship I experienced singing with many different people, something I don't think you'd quite experience with any other art form.

I was impressed by the high standard of teaching, training and singing at Harmony College. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and felt I acquired many skills, which will be of great use in school. A huge thank you to Anvil Chorus and BABS for the opportunity to take part in a great weekend and for those who helped to equip me with more singing, coaching and directing skills than I thought possible. I look forward to putting those skills into practice in the new school term and developing contacts between my school and the chorus.

It wasn't until I began working with Hallmark of Harmony in Sheffield as a singing coach that I had any idea of the amazing community which revolves around barbershop singing. I had a classical singing training and hold a music degree and a recent masters in Music for which I gave a recital and did specialist research on a subject in 20th century opera.

When I was contacted by Hallmark earlier in the year, I was completely ignorant of the whole barbershop 'scene' and had heard only a limited amount of barbershop music myself. However, I was sure that the fundamentals of singing in my training could apply to such chorus work and was willint to 'have a go'. Since then I have found all my time spent with the chorus extremely rewarding and enjoyable and can understand the enthusiasm around the art form. When it was suggested that I go to Harmony College sponsored by BABS and Hallmark, I felt affirmed in my work with the chorus and keen to increase my understanding of the style so that I could blend my own knowledge with a better understanding of the ideals of barbershop. The result would be that I could give back more to the chorus. This has already been the case and will continue to be as I use the knowledge and added enthusiasm acquired at Harmony College.

I opted for the basic directing and TAP streams. I chose the directing because of my total lack of experience of being on that side of music-making coupled with a need to be able to wave my hands about in a meaningful way during coaching sessions! I thoroughly enjoyed the friendly but professional approaches of Cherry and Liz and had great fun during these sessions. Inhibitions and nervousness had to be slung through the window. I appreciated learning from my fellow classmates too as they played the parts of 'chorus' or 'director'. I was predictably thrown in at the deep end on return to rehearsals as I was asked to direct the closing number! Say no more...

The TAP team was also very rewarding for me. Neil Watkins's totally unintimidating approach to teaching and obvious deep love and understanding of the style helped me to start to get to grips with aspects unique to barbershop and elements vital to good performance. Although the music 'theory' side I already knew, nevertheless I began to learn the vocabulary particular to music of this kind and how to identify stylistic elements such as those peculiar to 'swing' and what is a 'Chinese seventh'. Not least of all the learning this course offered was that you couldn't come away from it without having some idea of how to appreciate what a really good musical performance is and be generally more discerning.

Bill Rashleigh was a real bonus to the weekend, being so enjoyable to listen to and learn from. He is an entertainer and educator in one, with a unique way of communicating knowledge through links to his own relationship with music over the years. I shall never forget his sessions.

I also learned a great deal from the gang singing and 'tag' singing in and around the bar during social hours as nothing can beat doing the 'real thing'. It was great to meet so many people and hear their personal barbershop stories - "so what brings you here?" Thank you so much for this opportunity.

Emma Bryant