A Devonshire Tri-Chorus Jamboree
"If you go down to Chudleigh today, you'd better be ready to sing
If you go down to Chudleigh today, be prepared for lock and ring
For choruses, who all dressed in blue
All gathered to, sing a song or two
For today's the day of the Tri-Chorus Jamboree"
My terrible parody lyrics aside, I wanted to tell you all about a wonderful experience I had last week at the Tri-Chorus Jamboree down in Chudleigh (a small town just outside of Newton Abbott in Devon, for those whose South Coast geography isn't completely up to scratch).
The idea was the brainchild of Nick Graves, the Assistant MD of The Rivertones (and a proud wearer of a 40-year BABS Long Service Pin) who told me it was during Directors' Academy this year that he was able to meet up with the MDs of the Kingsmen and Ocean City Sound. After a few too many pints imbued, and a few too many tags sung, a firm friendship had been forged and a plan was set in motion.
The event itself featured three choruses from the area: The Kingsmen, hailing from Kingsbridge; The Rivertones, coming from Taunton; and Ocean City Sound, coming all the way from Plymouth, and they all came together to share their love of barbershop singing, and possibly make some new friends and connections in the meantime. They'd chosen the song Danny Boy to sing together, and each chorus had spent 4 weeks prior getting to grips with it, before singing it in one big group.
In order for everyone to get the most of the experience, an external coach was brought in, and in this instance it was the esteemed Musical Director of The Great Western Chorus and Bristol Fashion, Mr Craig Kehoe. Craig's experience not only as a 25-year barbershopper, but also a Singing Judge for LABBS, really shone through and the improvements that the choruses were able to make in the course of one afternoon were great to behold.
Of course, it wouldn't have been a barbershop event without an afterglow, and I'm always very pleased to hear the Polecats being sung on such an occasion.
I had two main takeways from this event, the first being how important it is for BABS to keep creating opportunities for people to meet with each other (such as at Directors' Academy) so that events like this this can come to fruition. My second takeaway was that, from speaking to a lot of the attendees, barbershop can bring people together, and can create memories that last a lifetime.
Have a look at our chorus locator to see if there are other choruses in your area who you could perhaps do a similar initiative with - it all starts with one email!
