Visiting Coach's

 

A big part of Sweet Adelines is education so we have regular coaching sessions at WHC and here is a collage of some of our visiting coach's.
The first coach I remember as a new member of the chorus was Jim Arns.
He was a vital little guy from the US and certainly kept us on our toes for this session at Ribbonwood Centre in Dapto. I remember him describing how the members of his Chorus were so keen that they walked part of the way to Convention to get fit. He was also the first person I heard described the shape of vowels. The 'O' vowel being tall and not a sideways 'Oooo' like you do for 'road kill' I certainly wondered what I was letting myself in for!
Eddy Martinez was good fun and a great teacher too - I made him a bow tie which he wore with his t-shirt!
Cathy Rainey who was Director of the fabulous Perth Chorus for 20 years or so also comes over to give us some tips and hone our skills. We all enjoy our sessions with Cathy.
A very enthusiastic and skilled Sweet Adelaine from Sweden is Ase Hagerman. Ase taught us some great moves in warm ups and was very thorough in working with each individual chorus member. From these sessions, she gave us all at least one area to work on to become better singers. I have to concentrate on where I take my breathe - through to my back - she is demonstrating that to me in the photo!
I have left Virginia Humphrey-Taylor until last. Virg is our regular coach who comes to us from Christchurch in NZ where she directs the Christchurch Chorus. She is an inspiration to us all and a great teacher. As well as coaching the Chorus as a whole and our quartets, she also coaches the Musical Director. Our current Director Jan McCarthy is hoping that we will make her a master Director by scoring over 600 points in Hobart. We'll be trying Jan!