Wow! That was my impression of the Weekend after coming down earth; from the high I had been experiencing for the three wonderful days that were Harmony College 2006.

There were number of friends in the Chorus, who last year remarked 'You'll never know what you've been missing, until you've been,' and as a relative novice to Barbershop I can honestly say that they couldn't have been more true to their word. I am only now wishing I had gone last year as well, and I think I can say now that you will be seeing me back again next year.

I have been singing on and off for a number of years now, in fact I've been singing most of my life. I started off singing in a Chapel Choir from about the age of 8, and from there on sang in a number of different Choirs. I have sung everything from Evensong in a Chapel Choir to the Mama's and the Papa's in a University Choir, but I don't think I have ever had as much Fun in doing anything else but singing Barbershop. They say that Barbershop is about having Fun, and in three days I spent at Harmony College, I can't say that there was one minute that passed where I wasn't having Fun.

Each day started off with a really good half hour warm up by Rick Spencer, and his unique approach to doing the Warm up was really refreshing. I never realised, how much a difference 'bubbling' (rasping for the Non-American speaking readers) makes to the sound that you produce. I can definitely recommend including more 'bubbling' in your Warm up, the results are quite surprising. If there is one thing I found that I appreciate more now than before, it is the importance of a good warm up before singing, and this was never more evident than in the Chorus sessions that followed.

For those of you like me, who are new to Barbershop, I can thoroughly recommend the Chorus Stream. The Stream provides an excellent introduction to Barbershop, Singing Techniques, and one of the best opportunities you will have sing in a Chorus of over 100 singers. Make no mistake that even in a Chorus of over 100 singers, there is nowhere to hide, and you will work hard. You will be rewarded however, by a) the wonderful sound you will hear around you, and b) what can only be described as that tingling sensation you feel, when the hairs at the back of your neck are standing on end, as mine most definitely were.

The Pick n Mix sessions provided some extra variety to the weekend; I was lucky enough to have the opportunity of Singing with Pitch Invasion, the current BABS Gold Medallist Quartet, which really put the icing on the cake, thanks Guys! If I ever needed more inspiration to form a quartet then this was it, with any luck by this time next year I hope to be in my first quartet. The session with Pitch Invasion was really helpful in starting to understand some of the things I need to think about when forming a quartet.

On the Sunday, we split up into four smaller choruses, and had a lot of fun in being creative with college songs. I have always want to have a bit of fun in Jazzing up one of the Barbershop standards, so we had some real fun with a somewhat different version of Let Me Call You Sweetheart. The best part of the morning had to be Singing for the last time through the four college songs, which we had sung in performance on the Saturday Night show. This time however, we sang them Shotgun, and with a chorus of over 100 this was really quite some experience. In fact it was so good that I don't think there was a person in room, who actually wanted to leave at this point, and I am sure we could have gone on singing for some time.

I should like to take this opportunity to thank BABS Harmony Foundation, for helping me to make this year's Harmony College a reality, as without your help none of this would have been possible. It's wonderful that we have the Harmony Foundation facility, which helps people of all backgrounds and abilities to Learn, Grow, and Develop in all aspects of Barbershop.

Finally, my thanks to all of the Team at Harmony College, for their hard work in making what was for me, one of the best weekends of having Fun, Learning and Singing that I have ever had. So to all of you reading this, I have no hesitation in recommending to you Harmony College.

Yours In Harmony,

Colin Guizzetti Sussex Barbershop Singers