Almost 200 members came to marvel and learn from the amazing Britt-Heléne Bonnedahl, Master Director of the Rönninge Show Chorus, Stockholm and Certified International Faculty.

As well as Britt-Heléne, we introduced for the first time some classes taken by our own Regional Faculty and these were a great hit with you all. On top of all that education, there was also a chance for attendees to perform in a Workshop Chorus under the direction of 3 of the Region’s top directors, Jenny Lawson, Suzi Marshall-Hasdell and Glenn Chaney. A change in format meant that we were able to include a barbershop-style pub quiz on the Saturday night (with the winning team, comprising mainly of Vocal Zone members, walking off with the first prize of....Vocal Zone’s first CD!!).

Sunday morning was Show Time - with all 3 workshop choruses performing, together with performances from 2 of our top quartets and special appearances by our 2 prospective choruses “Spinnaker” and “Hillfoot Harmony”, plus a cameo performance from Surrey Harmony. Ably emceeing the show was Anne Cargill together with talented members of her MC class who did a brilliant job! Thanks to everyone who took the trouble to fill in evaluation forms. We value your comments enormously and really do try to take these on board when we plan our future education events. You loved Britt-Heléne and were inspired by her presentation on “The Art of Possibility”. We are hoping to buy this video and book as a regional resource so that choruses may borrow it in the future. Her vocal production classes were simply fantastic and you loved her classes on resonance and breathing. The talents of our Regional Faculty pleasantly surprised you and you were all very complimentary about having home-grown members delivering classes - which they did so effectively.

The Pick and Mix format was a hit, although some of you commented that there wasn’t much of a choice if you weren’t a director or quartet member. You liked performing in a chorus and for many of you it was the big chorus experience (each chorus had over 60 members) which you appreciated so much. Our directors Jenny, Suzi and Glenn were paid many compliments for their patient and inspiring directing. The new format was well liked although some of you thought the quiz went on too long and would have preferred more time to sing together. You thought the event represented good value for money and the catering was generally well received. We will certainly take note of the suggestions made about a bigger venue (honestly, we didn’t think we would have so many attendees!) and future faculty.

Some of you wanted more of Britt-Heléne but we used her as much as we could and it would have been wrong to timetable her for every class! We will also enable our next Pick and Mix event to be more inclusive for the general chorus member, which will mean more choices for each slot. Thanks also to all of you who took the trouble to congratulate the Regional Management Team for arranging the workshop. It represented a new venture for our Region but you all seemed to enjoy it! Thanks again to Britt-Heléne and also to our own workshop Faculty : Anne Cargill, Alyson Allan (Chaney), Glenn Chaney, Elaine Hamilton, Dorothy Main, Mike Taylor, Michelle Walker and Helen Willis. And finally, another big thank you to our workshop chorus directors Jenny, Glenn and Suzi.

This article appears in the Winter 2005 edition of the Harmony Rag