Chorus Convention :: Day Three

Well, I arrived home at 10:30 tonight after three of the most wonderful days at the Sweet Adelines Convention in Sydney with my wonderful chorus, Vocal Vibes! 

This morning, we had the opportunity to sleep-in a little after such an exciting day yesterday.  Then, after breakfast we headed back to the auditorium for some workshops presented by the judging team.  These were really worthwhile, with the top three choruses and quartets on stage being used as display choruses, to show us how to improve our sound and technique.

Then, after lunch we had the final Sweet Adelines Showcase, which was a wonderful presentation of the best that Sweet Adelines Australia has to present, including performances from the top three choruses and quartets.  Then, more awards and medal presentations, and a final celebration mass sing from everyone in the audience, where huge balloons were bounced around.  Then, we gathered our suitcases from the storage area, hopped onto the airport buses and made our way home.

What a wonderful, memorable experience!!  I loved the time I spent with my friends at Vocal Vibes, as well as making some new friends from other choruses around Australia.

Chorus Convention :: Day Two

We woke fairly early and got ready to go and see the opening of the Chorus competition.  Twenty-three choruses will be competing this year, so it will be interesting to see where we are placed.  Two years ago in Canberra we came twelfth, even though Vocal Vibes was only three years old at the time (compared to 25 years for some of the other choruses) and it was our first ever competition.

Director Lorraine, Tamara, Sam & Bridget

Di & Cathy - having fun!

After viewing the first few choruses, we headed back to the apartment to start getting ourselves ready for our performance.  We were the 20th chorus out of 23, so we were not going to be on stage until about 4:20pm.

Hair & make-up time!

Awfully overdone, but required for stage.

Then, we gathered in the hotel foyer at 3:30 for the bus to take us to the auditorium.


Last minute adjustments

Kerrie, Debbie, Alison & Margot who together make up our Platinum Quartet

Vicki, Faye, Lara & Claire

Then we were on the bus and arriving at the auditorium, off the bus and backstage having our final rehearsal before all of a sudden it was our time to line up to go on stage.  Then, two years of work culminated in a six minute performance - firstly "At Last" and then a medley of "Steppin' Out" and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love", which resulted in a resounding applause from the audience.  Then we posed for our professional stage photo ...

Finally, we made our way off stage and back into the audience to watch the last three choruses, after which there was a few speeches, general awards presented and some other performances from prospective choruses (new ones which are not registered yet with Sweet Adelines International).

 

Then we returned to the hotel and gathered in the Director's apartment to hear the results.  We came 10th!!  This is a fantastic result, especially when we know that most of the nine choruses ahead of us are very VERY good!!  Also, so are a few that came after us.  We were all very excited and overjoyed by the result, especially Lorraine our Director, who will be retiring after this Convention.

 

After lots of hugs and kisses, phone calls home, champagne and celebrations, we returned to our own apartments to change and head off to the auditorium again for the big party.  Such a great time, with hundreds of women gathered to celebrate, sing and generally have fun until all hours of the morning.

 

  

At about 2am we wondered back to our hotel (about 15 minutes walk) and fell into bed.  What a wonderfully exciting day!

Chorus Convention :: Day One

I flew to Sydney last night with two other Vocal Vibes members, Lara and Vicki and then hopped in a taxi to the hotel, arriving at 10:30pm.  Pretty tired, but very excited about what was to come.

Firstly, we had our scheduled chorus rehearsal for an hour or so and then the 2014 Sweet Adelines Convention began with the opening, where we all gathered in the "Harmony Bazaar" and then were led into the convention hall by a fun little four-piece marching band, which just set the mood for the rest of the weekend.

Then there was the Opening Ceremony, where the banners for each chorus from across Australia were paraded onto the stage and at the end we all stood and sang "We are Australian" ...

 

 After that, we were given free time for the rest of the day until the evening when we all went out to dinner and had a fun time, returning to the apartment early-ish so we could do our nails and get to bed early, ready for the big day tomorrow.  The girls in my apartment - Bharati, Elizabeth & Stephanie - weren't confident to do their own nails, so I ended up painting everone's.

 

 

 

 



Chorus Convention - Day (Minus) Two

I'm getting pretty excited now ... on Thursday evening I will be flying to Sydney for three days of fun with the girls from my chorus!

These women in the Vocal Vibes Chorus have been (apart from my beloved family) the source of such great happiness in my life!  To sing (for me) is to express joy - and to be able to do it with this group of lovely ladies just multiplies the experience!

Only 48 hours and six minutes until I get on that plane!

Vocal Vibes Christmas Concert

The Vocal Vibes Chorus had another wonderful Family & Friends Christmas Concert this evening.  It was such a lovely time of celebration and song with all of us in the Chorus dressed up in our best Chrismassy clothes

There was quite a large audience gathered and we sang a number of songs from our repertoire, including Ain't Misbehavin', One Fine Day, The Moment I Saw Your Eyes and Candle on the Water.

It was lovely to have so many of my family and friends there!


Torie, Richie and Nebbie (Adam's mum)

Lizzy & Nick

Richie & Nebbie again, this time with Adam

All the kids together ... so happy!

Ayden, Lea, Les and ....

... Bailea!

I cannot put into words how much enjoyment I get from singing with this lovely bunch of women, but perhaps this photo gives some indication ....

Then Santa arrived and gave gifts to all the children.






Wendy handed out musical instruments (tamborines & bells) to the children ...






... and we all sang Christmas carols, lead by Maddie ...




There were such a lot of children there, even a young boy dressed up as an elf!





This little one's gift was bigger than he was!





Faye received the inaugural Brenda Smith Achievement Award (and well deserved, too!).

Then we "sang-in" our newest member, Sophia (our form of induction) with the Sweet Adelines anthem How We Sang Tonight.


Then, after a couple more songs, including An Irish Blessing, it was time for a lovely Christmas supper before we all went home.  Such a wonderful way to end the year with my lovely Vocal Vibes!!

Vocal Vibes Christmas Concert

Vocal Vibes (the Sweet Adelines choir that I am a member of) had our family Christmas concert, this evening.  It was a lovely evening and we really enjoyed singing a great set of songs including "Too Darn Hot", "I'm Australia", "Candle on the Water", "One Fine Day", "The Bandstand" and "The Moment I Saw Your Eyes" (these last two are our competition songs), as well as "Carol of the Bells" and "Santa Baby".

I just love the energy that is generated amongst us while we sing!

I was so blessed to have my whole family there, including hubby Wayne, Torie and her boyfriend Nick, Richie and Lizzy, my Mum and Dad all the way from Phillip Island, our great friends Lea & Les and another new friend I have met through Lizzy, who is also called Sally.

Our Musical Director, Lorraine really motivates us!

A visit from Santa delighted the children, especially with Kerrie leading a sing-a-long of carols

I'm always thrilled to be part of this fantastic choir!  The women are so friendly and the songs are just brilliant!  Here are two of the eight songs that we sang:

"Candle on the Water"

"One Fine Day"

Vocal Vibes Workshop & Dinner

Vocal Vibes, the Sweet Adelines choir that I belong to, had an all-day workshop with a visiting vocal coach from Sydney - Lee Baker. What better way to spend a day than singing with my friends?

Then, in the evening some of the choir members went out to dinner with our husbands and our guest Lee Baker to the Kellybrook Winery & Restaurant in Wonga Park. It was a lovely way to finish a great day and to top it all off, towards the end of the night the Vocal Vibes members sang four songs together!

Here's a picture of some of the women in the choir with Lee Baker (on the right).

Vocal Vibes Birthday

The choir I belong to had their first birthday this week. It is one year since Vocal Vibes was registered with Sweet Adelines International and we had a party on Monday night to celebrate. I just love the songs we sing and the beautiful harmonies we make together. But more importantly, I love the way I have been so warmly welcomed into this lovely bunch of talented women!