First up was the small matter of the BABS chorus finals on the Saturday, where a large proportion of competing choruses had either a current or one-time member of the NBYC – Mum nearly shouted herself hoarse cheering her boys on all day! Special mention should go to those NBYCers who helped their choruses into the medals – there was a NBYC presence in all of the top 3 choruses.

After many a tag in an extended Saturday night after glow, NBYC were asked to meet bright and early at 9am on Sunday to start rehearsing, and to say there were a few bleary eyes would be a bit of an understatement. To this end, an extended warm-up was called for, and it was done with the usual inventiveness and good humour which is quickly becoming NBYC’s trademark: My personal favourite was a twist on an old favourite when we took a visit to ‘Llandudno Zoo’ to visit the penguin and shark enclosures…

Then the real work began – all three of the performance songs had been learned in a relatively short space of time, so a good thorough working over was required to make sure we were all singing off the same hymn sheet, as it were.

We were afforded a break in rehearsal to watch the BABS quartet finals, and it was well worth a watch! Special mention needs to go to gold medallists Crossfire and Duncan (one of the founding members of NBYC) and bronze medallists VOX with Rich Fisher (long serving NBYCer).

Eventually we thought it was our time on the big stage… but not yet: there was even more waiting! We were held in the corridor behind the stage for about 10 minutes, in which time Tim received a strange request: however, when none other than Fred Farrell, Tenor from international gold medal-winning quartet Crossroads, asks to borrow your shoes, you consider going onto stage in your barefeet I tell you! There was a definite feeling of being starstruck, but many people feel like that when they meet NBYC…

Tim got us off to a flyer with his Usain Bolt pose, which set up the tongue-in-cheek arrogance of our first number, Star Medley. A particularly fun song to sing as we get to talk about how great we are!

Next up was Full Time Job which again displayed us at our cheekiest best, making a great sound with a relatively small chorus.

We then had the opportunity to thank those members who have made the NBYC what it is today, but given the definition of the youth chorus have since become too old and decrepit to sing with us anymore. So, we sent off to the ‘Shiny Badge Factory’ (Antoine, what were you thinking?!?!) to get them a souvenir ‘Alumni’ badge to remember us by – hopefully you will have seen some floating around on Sunday evening, proudly displayed on some puffed out chests.

We then had a chance to end our spot in style with ‘Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair’: an old classic which is absolutely beautiful, especially given that it was dedicated to someone special.

We all had such a great time, and want to extend a huge thank you to BABS for inviting us onto the performance stage for another year, and to everyone who saw us throughout the weekend – your support was appreciated as ever. And as for whether we enjoyed ourselves? All I can say is well, what a weekend!

(Taken from the summer edition of ‘Harmony Express’)

Note: BABS are the British Association of Barbershop Singers, and are the national body that represents men’s barbershop in the UK. For more info on them, visit their website.

The chorus are singing next at the Annual Barbershop Convention in Llandudno 27th May weekend-onstage Sunday afternoon and rehearsal in the morning. Songs: Jeannie, Full-time job and Star (featuring David, the owner of the fastest feet in the chorus). Registration for the Sunday is free if you are performing onstage. Many singers choose to get b& b accommodation so that they can sing in the evening at the afterglows.

Later we have a Youth Chorus day at harmony college held at Nottingham Uni – food included!-Saturday 27th August.

Moe details?  Contact our PRO AshleyB@lbm.co.uk

Message from your director Joe White:

Howdy folks,
The next rehearsal date has been set as the 9th January in Sheffield. (10-4)
It will be held in the rehearsal venue of Hallmark of Harmony - Holt House School, Bannerdale Rd, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S7 2EW
On the 8th there is a directors symposium in Birmingham. Anyone wanting a lift up to Sheffield could probably meet Andy Allen or Myself there and kip the night in our Bachelor pads, same goes for anyone wishing to be there on time and get a train the night before.
Be there or be so very square

I have just uploaded teach tracks and sheet music to the members website: www.members.nb-yc.co.uk for the new song, STAR MEDLEY.
The files can be downloaded from the “Learning Materials” section of the above website. I am currently working on tidying up the file section. The best way to find the file you want is to use the limits above the file window i.e. limit to “baritone” mix (do not attempt to limit by song), submit and the correct track should appear and be simple to download.
We shall be working on this song next weekend and I apologise for the late notice (due to people being on holiday and out of office in america) although I will be allowing note bashing sessions and music on risers but this is not an excuse to not learn the song and expect to be able to learn the notes on the risers.
Antoine Kaiserman produced the teach tracks in a 24hour time frame, quite an achievement I think you will agree! Give him a pat on the back on sunday.
Happy learning! Any problems, do not hesitate to contact me.

Joe White

Holt House School Bannerdale Road Sheffield S7 2EW  1
You can be collected from the station if you ring mum or any committee member.

Lunch for £1-50.

Apologies received from Joe Knight, Dan Course, Richard Fisher, Dave Moffatt.

Chairman’s report: The chairman was pleased to have Derek Parmenter in attendance and spoke of the closer alliance that had been forged with BABS in recent months. We had a high point at the funded retreat in Lincoln at the start of the year and there was some hope of another such event being run again next year in June or July. BABS Convention show had been a great success, although the start of a new era with Rob leaving and Joe taking over as MD.  Joe was now shaping up to be an excellent director. There had been some problems with entering for chorus competitions as people were reluctant to commit to attending. Andy thanked the committee for all their support during the year. He reported that it had been a great year and thanked everyone who had been part of the team.

Treasurer’s report: Most of the work this past year had been concerned with expenses claims. If we accept funded singouts we must commit to putting the whole chorus out.

Musical Director’s report: We sang at LABBS last October on the Sunday show and must commit to a more professional approach if we are on stage the day after ‘party night’. Some singers had indelible make-up visible from the night before! Thanks to Tony Chapman for organising retreat in Lincoln. Peterborough had been Joe’s first outing as MD and he felt he had learned on the job. The BABS Convention performance had been one of the best we’d done.  The chorus was moving forward with a new vision and many new singers to meet the needs of. Next year Joe intends to concentrate purely on the music and to avoid any committee decisions. He asked for ideas for a new ballad. He proposed a vote of thanks to Rob and suggested that we should get something to show our appreciation.

BABS Vice Chairman: Derek confirmed the plan for NBYC to be on next year’s Convention show on Sunday afternoon. (The same one as Crossroads!) He was pleased to see so many newer guys on the risers. BABS want to support the NBYC and will offer what we feel the need for. They could help with organisational issues-rehearsal venues etc. They don’t want to interfere but to offer their time and experience. NBYC is a representative of the BABS organisation and we need to put out the best chorus that we can. Alan Goldsmith (Ali G) will be our first point of contact in future in his new role of Musical Services Director. Discussions were underway with Zac about Harmony College having a Youth Stream.
Before electing the new committee retiring chairman thanked Shirley (chorus mum) for what she had done during the year.
A.O.B. :

• Duncan Appleby resigned as section leader due to coursework commitments.
• Alessandro McCarthy  asked about keeping links with Rob Barber and asking him to come to rehearsals as a coach. After discussion it was agreed to do so in the future after a break.
• Tom Knight suggested working with a team of coaches at rehearsals but after debate this was ruled to be organisationally difficult. He also asked for clarification on age limits as the chorus was also a group of good friends who wished to meet and sing. After discussion it was agreed that older guys could sing when it was appropriate but noted that some competitions were age-limited. It was also felt important not to lose the expertise that had been built up – older members were good mentors and also took positions of responsibility. It was also important that younger members didn’t feel overwhelmed.
• David Taylor/John(dad): Suggested a more regular schedule of rehearsals to be announced in advance. Suggestions- ask your own chorus if they would host us for a rehearsal and build up a bank of places. Next planned sing: Jan 9/16th Sheffield, courtesy of Andy Allen’s chorus.

Elections were held:

The day was an unusual one to start, most members arrived early from their 3 hour trips… So we kicked straight off into one of our very own NBYC tags, written by Monkey magic and the USA’s Gotham chorus, our voices were gently rung into warm. Then through-out the day, after the bass section finally arrived from his 5 hour trip, we continued working hard on our ballad from the King and I, really working on our vocal quality and expression. Then in the afternoon we practiced the Liar Medley, paying attention to clear vocal wording and adding more expression through the medium of silly shaking faces.

After being worked hard by our coach, Martin Ford, we then sang a few songs with our gracious cake bearing hosts, Shannon Express and wound down the day down to a myriad of quartets and mini sing-alongs.

Big thanks to Martin Ford who coached. He took us through the day with the same expert skills he’s been giving to the Great Western Chorus, Capital, Cheshire, Fascinating Rhythm and… Dubai harmony. He’s the man when it comes to working on vocal quality, clear techniques and expression.

This was also the first official rehearsal for Joe White to take up the leash from Rob Barber, our spectacular Director of 5 years. Joe is from the Spirit of Harmony and when you see him around, give him a Yorkshire pat on the back and say, “Well done lad”.

Finally big thanks Shannon and everyone who helped host the chorus, we hope to see you again soon. And mainly, thanks for complying with our request to supply us with ample cake as sustenance.

NBYC out

written by Dan Course and Roz Johnston

The National Barbershop Youth Chorus have had a busy few months, singing first at the LABBS convention in Cheltenham, then at the Manchester Choral Competition where  some new  singers  from the University joined us and swelled our numbers.

Bass section coaching

Many of these lads were back with us at the latest rehearsal, a weekend retreat held in Lincoln and smoothly organised by Harmony Lincs., using a Lottery grant. The weekend offered approx. 40 lads (and Rob) an absolutely focused and fun weekend with coaching from Martin Ford in conjunction with Pete Kennedy, Ian James and Duncan Whinyates. Monkey Magic quartet arrived a little later as they had to see Simon Cowell earlier in the day! Also present and having their own coaching from Nicky Salt was the girls’ youth chorus, the Ivy League.

In complete contrast to the previous years’ retreat everyone was put up in a hotel and plenty of food was laid on. (Certain helpers were heard to remark that it made a pleasant change from frying 30 eggs in 2 frying pans on Saturday morning!)  Many of the lads came great distances to be part of the fun and the weekend saw much tagging and teaching of polecats to newer members plus a very successful bowling evening.

Chorus doing moves

Sunday saw the presentation of chorus awards (Rolls of Honour) including ‘Most Improved Afro’ (Alec),’Most Improved Singer’(Jake aged 8), ‘Quote of the Seek’ (David aged 9), ‘Most Improved Coach’, (Martin!) and ‘Most Improved Presentation’(……….). The weekend finished with a mini-show featuring “Saltwater”, “I have Dreamed” and the popular, ”Don’t stop me now”, featuring some radical new choreography!

We have noticed that we are running out of official NBYC t-shirts and feel that this is an extremely healthy sign!

The Weekend of the 22nd of March played host to the first ever show organised by the NBYC, and what a show it was! Held in Long Eaton, the Show was organised to raise money for the NBYC’s trip to the European convention in Eindhoven this March where they have been invited to appear alongside The White Rosettes, Cottontown Chorus and our very own Monkey Magic. What an honour!

NBYC on the show

Featured on the show were Breakthrough and Blush!, 2008 Sweet Ad’s 3rd and 6th place quartets respectively. Also featured in their first ever ‘gig’ were up-and-coming Ladies Quartet form Heartbeat chorus – Miss-Demeanour; definitely a quartet to watch in forthcoming competitions! And from within the chorus came Monkey Magic, who despite having appeared on a 2 and a 1/2 hour show in Mold the previous night gave a stunning performance as always.
The NBYC sang a plethora of songs including some of their ‘oldies’ such as ‘Good Luck Charm’ and ‘Once Upon a Time’ as well as some new numbers – ‘Without a Song’ and Liz Garnet’s arrangement of the Queen hit ‘Don’t Stop me Now’, featuring the NBYC’s youngest singer Ben “Mercury” Kennedy – a mere 43. I think all present would now agree, if you have not seen the Youth Chorus’ interpretation of this song, then you must!
Ticket Sales along with the aid of a Raffle and a very kind donation from LABBS chairwoman Jacqui Edwards will be a great help to the 20 guys going over to Holland in March.
For those of you who now feel you missed out on this brilliant afternoon, plans are already afoot to organise more shows up and down the country so keep an eye on this site for more information.

Joe W

NBYC dutch courage programme

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