The Ringmasters

Ellyse and Sam get up close and personal ...

Jans comments.......
Twenty five of our chorus members attended the wonderful concert at the Sydney
 Conservatorium last Wednesday night. All of us were very impressed by the
Ringmasters Quartet. Those four young men are fantastic singers and
entertainers and I'm sure everyone in the audience would have stayed there
all night if they had been willing to sing for that long!

I wish all of you could have been there

Halloween Theme Night

Wear fancy dress or just something in black or orange.
Bring a small plate of 
Halloween-themed goodies for supper.

Didn't we have a spookily good time last week? Thank you everyone for getting in the 'spirit'!! My thanks to: Jill and Alison S for their help setting up the room; Jan for her spooky vocal warm-ups; Karen for her ghostly physicals; Rosey for supplying a table, and to everyone for their scrumptious supper!

Helen Curry – Membership Secretary

Albion Park Spring Fair

The first day of Spring, Saturday 1st September dawned bright and sunny.
We wont talk about the wind that snatched away our sound and gave such great 'feed back' on the mics.

Here we are on stage at the rear of the Community Centre at Albion Park under the direction of our Assistant Director Karen.
We reluctantly got rid of our coats and climbed onto the stage to perform our medly of songs from Shelter to Kickin' it Up a Notch.
Our performance was appreciated by the small crowd of onlookers.
Thanks to the camera man, a friend of Evelyn and Elise for taking these shots.
 

Congratulations to Vicki on her first singout with WHC

Here is Karen and Vicki at the singout last weekend at the Albion Park Spring Fair.

Membership Matters

Welcome the newest member of our bass section.
Alison Strickland is pictured here with membership Co-Ordinator Helen Curry.
WELCOME to the 'fun' section!

Retreat 2012

Last weekend, a goodly number of chorus members made their way up to the Conference Centre at Stanwell Tops for a weekend of learning, fellowship and fun.

Our resident coach from NZ, Virginia Humphrey-Taylor joined us to help 'hone' our Barbershop skills. Here she is organising riser placement for the upcoming concert in October. 
Riser placement is very important to maximise our sound and ensure the correct balance of blended voice parts.

This visit, she was joined by Hiromi who sings in the Christchurch Chorus.
Hiromi is a great 'mover and shaker' literally as she takes as through some 'Zumba' routines as part of our warmups.

As usual, Saturday night is time to party. The theme this year was 'Colours' so member got into the swing in their 'Rainbow' garb.
 

Here is a clip of part of our entertainment.
The Spotty Sisters perform 'My Boy Lollipop'

We had lots of singing, skits and fun.

Also, we had an introduction to our newest up and coming quartet.
'Steel Magnolias'
Tenor Alison, Lead Louise, Bari Lorraine and Bass sung by Michele
GO GIRLS!

A visit from Viveka...

In July we had a coaching session with Viveka from Stockholm.
Jan says ... Stockholm City Voices has quite a different approach to the way their chorus works and it has proved to be very successful, so it was very interesting to hear about what they do.
The “dancing” part of the session on Saturday was a lot of fun! I realise it also put some of you a little out of your comfort zone, however, I was so proud of the way everyone participated at an amazing level, considering the physical limitations some of you have, and I loved watching your faces as you celebrated with each other. Well done!
Karen writes....... 
This has been a weekend to treasure as a renewal of everything I love about BBS singing.

Why is Viveka so inspiring?
 She awakens in us the spirit of possibility and sets us free from the Committee of A’s who dull our enthusiasm and sap our ability to dream big dreams for ourselves and our chorus. We played – at dancing and Sylvester and feeling our way into the music and played with a serious but marvellous intention! Simply, sing the best you can ever sing, feel the strength of everyone around you also striving towards that very best as well and deliver performances that enchant and move the audience. Buying into the value of what the whole can achieve when the individuals all play their part delivers such joy in the performance that whatever effort it took on our parts to achieve it, is repaid thousandfold.

We don’t need to lose that sense of wonder and curiosity she challenged us to experience. When we hear that pitch and breathe into the space of the very first note, we can soar every time and bring everyone around us along in a great whoosh! of shared love in the singing. There are no tricks, it is in all of us, just by putting our hearts as well as our minds into the music.
I never want to forget how good it felt to discover each other in the business of making joyful music. There are times when I think that should happen just by mastering the techniques, but Viveka has reminded me that there needs to be that underlying purpose, or I can lose my motivation very easily and not give my contribution to the group effort the respect it deserves.
I can’t wait to explore our songs again in a new spirit. I won’t mind blowing raspberries at myself in the mirror or trying new ways to walk with purpose. I can do that now I understand more about what that might bring to the whole chorus and the possibility of us being the amazing ensemble that we dream of being.

Membership Matters as we welcome three new members ...

We were pleased to welcome Kerry Davison to the Lead Section in June

And, Sue Branch - Baritone and Wendy Waide another lovely Lead in July.
We hope you all enjoy your time with us as you get to know us and learn more about our Barbershop craft.

Happy faces at rehearsal ...

      
The chorus retreat is fast approaching so the 'Chicken Lady' rides again!
Our Sandra takes on the task each year of organising the Friday night chicken dinner.
Here she is advertising her wares! A bargain at $8.

The photographer from the Mercury was coming and everyone was hyped up so I couldn't resist a few happy snaps as well.
Are we having fun yet????

We perform at the Wollongong Eisteddfod

It was a chilly night on 23rd of June as we rehearsed out in the courtyard outside the IPAC.
We were to perform two songs, As long as I'm Singing and Shelter.             
It was Michelle's first official singout with us - here she is flanked by Neryl and Jan - don't they all look great?
Congratulations Michelle

We WON our section.
Congratulations to US!
Here's the article from the Illawarra Mercury.

Congratulations to our 'Bi' members

That is members of two choruses!
Here is Sue in her Endeavour T.

And Sue and Colleen with their winning medals.
Congratulations to them both - they had to put in the extra yards to practice, pass riser recordings and compete with another chorus.
Congratulations to Endeavour Chorus - the winners this year.
They'll be off to Honolulu to complete at International next year I wonder?

20 years in Sweet Adelines....

Our longevity members celebrating 20yrs are Marianne (in the middle) and Pamela, Isla and Jill.
Also celebrating this milestone are Ilona and Anne Dunn who weren't at convention this year.
Congratulations from all of us!

Our Quiet Achiever 2012

It's Lorraine Graham

Is that a pleased expression?
I don't think she wants to be recognised!

Our Quartets ...

Here are some of us watching the competion - no stress at all as we are not competing!
Of course we are there to support our great quartets Jan and Tonic - with a twist of Kiwi and Bazinga.

 

Waiting for J and T to come up the stairs after their performance ...


And here they are!

And here are BAZINGA

Here she is ... another great performance ....

And they won the Most Improved Trophy



Do they look pleased?
 
And Jan and Tonic came fifth overall ..... lots of happy smiles
CONGRATULATIONS ladies!