Sat, 15th Nov - Honolulu and Luau

On Friday night we sailed back to Honolulu, and when we woke up on Saturday morning we were back where we started. The ship had a very structured process for getting people disembarked, which involved labelling our suitcases with a purple tag and putting them outside our bedroom door before we went to bed, to be collected during the night.

After a buffet breakfast on Deck 11 we retired to our cabin until it was time to depart. Gwen and her friend from Buffalo Gateway came to say goodbye, and Gwen added a message to this blog. Jo and Deborah spent our last hour aboard in the library reading. Then our colour group was called and we joined the queue to disembark.

On shore our luggage was waiting for us, neatly organised into colour groups. We headed for the taxi rank and found a free shuttle bus that takes people from the port to the Maui Dive Shop. If you're willing to do a tour of the shop, they will then put you on another shuttle box and take you to Ala Moana or Waikiki.

The tour was quite interesting, although it was Saturday and there wasn't much work being done. First we saw a video about how they harvest black and gold and pink coral, and gold from an undersea vent. Then they showed us the various processes in designing and casting and polishing the gold settings, and cutting the coral. Last we saw the jewellry show room. There were some stunningly beautiful pieces, but all way out of our price range.

When we got back downstairs where our luggage was being looked after, Jo realised her backpack was still on the shuttle bus. The staff were very helpful about locating it, and it turned up about ten minutes later when the shuttle bus brought the next load of passengers from the port.

We got dropped off at Ala Moana Hotel and were able to check into our room straight away - on Level 32, with a great view of the marina and the beach. We made a quick trip to Walmart for Deborah to buy a lei and some souveniers (and hoping she could find space in her luggage) and then had lunch one last time at the Food Court.

Back at the hotel, we changed into party clothes and got directions on how to get to the Marriott at Waikiki (where our bus to the luau was leaving from). We caught a Number 8 bus and got out a couple of blocks away from the Marriott. We were looking for a Hilo Hatties, "the store of Hawaii", which sells Hawaiian clothing and gifts and food, but didn't find one. We walked through the International Market, which reminded Deborah of Vietnam: a lot of stalls selling cheap jewellry and clothing and bags, and vendors more persistent than any we'd met so far in Hawaii.

At the Marriott we had time for a cup of tea, and the luau crowded slowly gathered. There were 8 buses going to the luau, and two were allocated to our group. We had a lovely tour guide, Tai, who entertained us all the way there. He talked to everyone on the bus, and remembered their names by associating them with film stars. Deborah was Deborah Kerr, and Jo was Joanne Woodward.

The luau was about 40 minutes away, past the airport, and on the beach. There were long tables set out around a central stage, two bars, and a long buffet table. When the pig was cooked we all gathered around to see the ceremonial removal of the pig from the roasting pit (Imu Ceremony), and then each table in turn visited the buffet. The lady sitting next to us with her friend had white hair and looked very frail. She had been a member of her chorus for 36 years.

The pork was very tender, and there was also fish and chicken as well as salads. Deborah tried a taste of poi (mashed taro root), which tasted like wallpaper paste; Tai says they only make it to feed to tourists.

We think that the entertainers at Germaine's Luau were the same ones who performed at the Showcase on Tuesday night of the Convention. They did dances from all over Polynesia, in various colourful costumes. The bare-chested guys were worth watching, and the girls were gorgeous whether they were shimmying their hips slow or fast. There was a backing band, and a singer who performed traditional Hawaiian songs. They pulled audience members up to dance with them, and awarded prizes. It was fun.

Back on the bus to the Marriott, and we caught a taxi back to our hotel and fell into bed. We set the alarm for 5 am so we could catch the 6 am shuttle bus to the airport. Consequently we were at the airport at 6:30 am, and the Qantas counter didn't open until 7:30 am, which was a bit annoying for the people joining us in the queue. Anyway, we got through all that and through security, and had a look around the airport. We found a food court that served breakfast, and a bookshop where Deborah bought a few more paperbacks to fill in the plane trip, and then explored the shops. There were some lovely dresses and jewellry, but all too expensive for girls used to shopping to Ross's and Walmart. The food court overlooked a garden and a pond with the biggest koi that we've ever seen.

Our flight left at 10:15 am on Sunday morning, and took 10 hours to fly to Sydney. We had lunch and dinner on the plane, and there were four movies. Even so, it was a long flight with a lot of ocean to fly over - 8,000 kilometres of it.

We arrived at Sydney around 5:30 pm on Monday night. Sandy, who is a Customs Officer and Deborah and Pete's friend, was there to greet us. There was no queue at the Immigration desk, and hardly any queue at Quarantine either, so we got through very quickly. Jo went off to find her shuttle to Cherrybrook, and Pete was waiting for Deborah to drive her home (which was lovely, because lugging two very full suitcases on the train at peak hour would not have been much fun at all).

And then we were home.

Friday, 14th Nov - Dinner and the Tag Contest

After the afternoon Q & A session we changed into something a bit dressier and headed down to the Liberty Restaurant for a group dinner. There were 400 of us, counting family and friends as well, and we took over the whole restaurant. Our booking was from 5:30 to 7:00 pm, and service was very quick because the restaurant had other patrons who were coming in later, and we had our tag contest.

There were some brief speeches before dinner from Cindy and from Witte Travel, and Zing and Vocal Spectrum performed. Vocal Spectrum sang Cruella De Vil and Mam'selle, by request.

For the tag contest we went back to the auditorium. Zing and Vocal Spectrum were the judges, and there were about 13 contestants including some very late entries. Prizes (left over group shirts, pitch pipes, CDs) were awarded to all contestants.

Best family group was one of the Zing girls with her husband and son and daughter.
Quietest was two Aussie girls who stood with their backs to the audience. Then one tucked in the dress label of the other and said "that's the end of the tag".
Northern Beaches had a quartet of 8 or so and got the prize for largest quartet.

We didn't take notes and can't remember the other awards, but there was a lot of laughter and itwould be fun to do a tag contest at our next weekend retreat.

Friday, 14th Nov - River boat and show

This might be abbreviated because it's now Saturday morning and we're waiting to disembark (our group is scheduled at 9:30 and it's now 8:15 am) and Sarah's mum, Gwen, is going to drop in to say hello. We'll fill in the details later (and sorry about the lack of photos, James, we have them (and the camera) but just haven't had time.

Since our last blog, we've had the show on Thursday night; and been on a bus and a boat on Friday morning to see the fern grotto; and done some more classes (with Zing, Vocal Spectrum, and Kim and Jan and Rich); and had our farewell dinner and a tag contest.

Note from Gwen:
Just a note to say Aloha! to all you girls in Circular Keys - it has been great to meet some of you in Hawaii and I hope to meet all of you in the not too distant future... I hope you all look after Sarah for me as I am missing her right now - she is a good addition to your Chorus and it has been fantastic to share the risers with her both as her Mum but also as a Chorus member. Did she tell you that GEM Connection got 'Silver' at our onvention? We also get to go to Holland in March to compete! Mahalo for allowing me to share your time.....see you soon...Gwen

Harmony in Hawaii Show:
There were about 240 of us signed up for the Harmony in Hawaii Cruise that Cindy Hansen organised on the Pride of America. On Thursday night we put on a show for everyone else on the cruise - or as many of them as could fit into the Hollywood Theatre on level 6 of the ship. It was impossible to fit all the women on the stage and still be able to see Kim and Jean directing, so we stood at the front of the stage and had a couple of rows on the floor in front. Kim and Jean sat in the middle of the theatre and stood up to direct.

We wore white pants and t shirt under a red, green, yellow or blue shirt, and the guys wore Hawaiian shirts in toning colours. "Street walker" makeup was all that was required, so we didn't bother with false eyelashes.

Glenda from Brindabella Chorus was one of the team doing the pre-show warmup, doing live interviews with people in the audience while the chorus got on stage and the audience filed in. We heard there were queues halfway down the ship, and it was a packed house.

Pride of Pele, the women's chorus, started with That'll Be The Day and Lazy Day. We think we got the notes and words right, and it sounded pretty good, but we certainly didn't remember all the choreo.

Then the women on stage parted in the middle for the men to come on centre stage. They started Lida Rose while we looked on adoringly; and then we took over with Will I Ever Tell You, and then we all sang together with Rich and Kym co-directing. We left the stage, and the guys did one more song on their own. All the Aussies disappeared backstage to change for the Aussie segment while the quartets performed. Glenda's quartet, Synchronicity, did a song but we were backstage and couldn't hear very well.

We changed into red and blue shirts, attached koalas and flags, and came on stage. Four of the girls did a skit on translating Aussie slag which was pretty funny, then we did Waltzing Matilda with appropriate choreo. Jo and Deborah had pretty much learned their parts by then and were able to participate without too many mistakes. With a quick change of pace, one of the girls recited My Country while the rest of us oooohed in the background, and then we went into I Am Australian. Afterwards someone said to us they thought this was the most moving part of the show because we put so much feeling into it.

The show finished with Zing and Vocal Spectrum, and they were great. The tenor of Vocal Spectrum did some extraordinarily high notes in a couple of their songs.

Jo and Deborah went looking for a party and ended up having a cocktail in the John Adams Coffee Bar, then toddled off to bed.

It was a wonderful experience singing with such a large chorus, and over too quickly. We hoped that we might be asked to do a second show on Friday night for everyone that missed out on the first one, but it didn't happen.

Friday - Fern Grotto
On Friday morning we were back on shore to catch a bus and a boat to the Fern Grotto. On the way our driver showed us the old port, which was used for exporting sugar pineapples but was too small and had to be abandoned. We arrived at the river where Smith's Boats have been giving tours upstream to the Fern Grotto since the 1940's. We boarded a big barge with seats running the length of the boat, powered by an engine in a separate smaller barge attached at the back like a trailer. Going upstream we got the commentary and the other barge got the entertainment, and then returning downstream we swopped. We saw a local standing on a surfboard with his dog standing at the front, using a single oar to paddle along the river.

The Fern Grotto is a popular site for weddings. There used to be a large cave where people could get married, but it caved in and now they have weddings on a deck with the waterfall as a background. It's pretty, and the path to the grotto is through a tropical garden with lots of ginger plants. The entertainers sang a song and our hula dancer danced, and then we went back down the river to the souvenier shop, and then home to the boat again.

Q & A Sessions
On Friday afternoon we had the opportunity to ask Zing, Vocal Spectrum and Kim and Rich and Jean questions.

ZING!
- were competing at International but not getting into the top 15, so they agreed to make a serious commitment and invested in a lot of coaching, and then they came 5th, 7th and 7th in the past three comps.
- they've all had some musical training and voice lessons at college, and sung in choirs before joining Sweet Adelines. Susan and Melynnie both recommended taking every opportunity to work with coaches, and watch coaching sessions, and ask questions.
- if you're looking for a vocal teacher, ask your Director to recommend someone; or ask the local music store; or ask a high school music teacher. It doesn't need to be a teacher who knows barbershop, because good vocal technique is the same everywhere.
- Zing do weekend rehearsals once a month (they are about 3 hours apart), and they always have a plan of what they need to prepare and what they're going to work on. They all record their rehearsal sessions so they can review them later.
- when they have coaching, they all take their own notes and then exchange them later to compare perceptions.
- sometimes a quartet outgrows its coach; you need to find the coach that matches your goals (Zing are coached by Darlene and Cindy).
- re music selection, the lead has to like it. Consider the strengths and abilities of the singers, eg Zing all have good ranges so that's not usually a limiting factor.
- the personality of the quartet is confident, well prepared, liking each other.
- when they auditioned for a new member, they knew what they were looking for: they wanted to improve their sound scores.
- the ranking in this year's quartet comp was very similar to last year's comp: all the quartets have worked hard to maintain their position.
- each quartet member has a different admin role
- performance opportunities are the best thing a quartet can do to build confidence, especially on new music (once it's at an acceptable standard for public performance)
- Zing has coached choruses and enjoyed it. They think it's useful to work with Sections separately and then bring them back together. Karen and Susan are both Directors and can coach Directors of choruses.
- quartet members need to be flexible enough to get along, and personality is as important as musical ability.
- listen out for people you might want to sing with one day, and approach them when the time is right
- get out of quartets by being careful how you get in: set up exit rules at the beginning, and agree on goals and rules for how the quartet will operate.

VOCAL SPECTRUM Q & A:
- Tim records all the parts on the learning tracks he produces himself. He has over 600 learning tracks on his website and you can listen to samples. He can change the pitch on request.
- Vocal Spectrum started out at college sharing the same house, which made it easy to rehearse together. Their Director was Jim Henry, who taught and coached them. Their goal was to perform and travel, so they worked really hard and won a college contest, which they hoped would get them more gigs. Winning gave them confidence to enter the International comp but they didn't expect to win the International comp so quickly.
- they sing Cruella De Vil, which they asked David Wright to arrange for them.
- re attracting a younger membership, you need to make it a cool product. It's a slow process. You need to get into schools and host youth festivals. You need to understand the motivation - are they looking for something social or competitive? If you can get a few young people they will bring their friends along.
- it might be better to target middle aged recruits rather than youth initially, to bridge the gap
- invite the local high school choir on your show (but high school students are hard to keep); run an event and bring in younger guest coaches; sponsor a youth quartet to visit schools
- you need to be flexible about attendance to accommodate homework
- it's good to get support from music teachers; if you can get barbershop started in schools, then even if you don't get members now, you'll be able to recruit them several years down the track
- each member of Vocal Spectrum takes on specific admin roles; the lead gets more votes when it comes to music selection
- Brindabella has recruited some new members through their Christmas Chorus
- Vocal Spectrum attribute their success to having good voices and being good friends; having a good time together (it has to be fun); being the best musicians they can be; all being on the same page, eg sharing a work ethic about always getting better; good communication eg giving constructive feedback not harsh criticism, and always reviewing perfomances afterwards
- they expect commitment will be harder as their family responsibilities grow, eg doing 16 weekends in a row; they are as busy as they want to be; they try to do one big trip each year which includes their families
- they live close to each other and rehearse Tuesday nights, 6:30 to 9:30. The first half hour is talking business; then they warm up on an easy song; then pick a couple of songs in the repertoire and refine them; then work on something new. When they can't improve on a song any further, they get coaching.
- their goal after winning is to keep getting better, and ideally 'achieve legend status'; their priority is to entertain the audience; they plan to put out new CDs
- they have about 50 songs in their repertoire, and have a standard set to which they add depending on the occasion. They add some and phase others out over time.
- to deal with vocal fatigue, the emergency (and not recommended) treatment is ibuprofen; a better solution is not to talk or sing. They take two days off from singing each week. For each hour you speak, take 10 minutes of vocal rest.
- websites vocalspectrum.com and timtracks.com.

KIM AND RICH AND JEAN Q&A
- Rich was one of the Gas House Gang who placed first in 1993 in Calgary
- Kim says the hardest part of changing from lead to bass is mentally not being the lead, and she did it for the challenge. She thinks of it as singing lead down low, not as singing bass - "going to the dark side". When you have a big range, decide where you feel most comfortable.
- Kim says San Diego Chorus have separate Section rehearsals, and they do duet rehearsals (two parts together) on a round robin basis on different nights, with Kim and the Assistant Director taking the rehearsals.
- after winning Inernational San Diego lost members who had been putting stuff off until after contest.
- Jean says numbers don't make a difference, it's the quality, eg the Richtones were not the biggest chorus on stage when they won (119 vs 180)
- Kim says there's no advantage in choosing more difficult songs for comp, it's how you sing it that matters. You should pick music that the group can perform well.
- Rich says David Wright arrangements are not easy
- Jean says look at the lead line in an arrangement - is it horizontal or vertical? vertical is harder to lock
- the quartet or chorus has to be willing to work hard on making it sound good
- choruses can sing A level, if they don't know that they can't
- Kim directs male and female choruses, and says they are different. Women are not there to play, where the guys are more fraternal
- there are differences in vocal production: women's voices get louder as they go up and men's voices get louder as they go down, so the men have it easier when creating overtones
- Rich says that Masters of Harmony are preparing for International and their strategy is to 'move the calendar forward': their uptune is already ready to roll, they are stricter on new music from the beginning (vowels, dipthongs)
- Kim says it's important to know the interpretation early on, so that you can teach it the way you want it sung
- Rich says his chorus is doing another David Wright arrangement. David has it mapped out in his head before he puts it on paper. David writes interpretation into the music, eg embellishments.
- Section Leaders are not there to help people learn their notes; people are responsible for learning, and Section Leaders help with nuances and good vocal production
- 3 out of 4 Vocal Spectrum members are Section Leaders for Ambassadors of Harmony, their chorus.
(Deborah's note to clarify relationships: Gas House Gang was Jim Henry, Rob Henry, Kipp Buckner and Rich Knight. Jim Henry now directs Ambassadors of Harmony, and Rich is Lead Section Leader. David Wright is Associate Director).
- Kim says her chorus members have to submit a tape to qualify for performance; they have 8 tape checkers and a weekly roster. The tape checkers for that week collect and check all the tapes handed in that week (regardless of part) so that the load is shared across sections.
- Rich says in his chorus the Section Leaders know who needs to be asked to tape; it's not a blanket policy.
- Tim can create learning tapes with your preferred interpretation - tell him what you want and he'll do it
- Kim moves her chorus around on the risers all the time so they don't get possessive about their spot, and they have learned to adapt (even choreo!)
- learning tracks are sometimes out of date as changes are made to interpretation; they get the original learning track and are asked to tape the song at chorus rehearsal for the most recent version.
- when older chorus members were complaining about choreo that required walking up the risers, a 12 year old member said "what's the big deal, they're just steps" - young ones are fearless and full of energy, and we want that for all members
- Kim says to get new members, sing well and sing out often.
- to handle people who just can't sing, Kim says "it's a singing organisation, you have to have an audition process and use it". You won't attract good singers with bad singers in the chorus. Rich says the women's organisation is much better than the men's organisation at setting standards.
- hire a vocal teacher to work with individuals in the chorus, if necessary

Thurs, 13th Nov - Tubing the Ditch

We set the alarm for 7 am as we have to be on the dock at 7:50 am for today's excursion, which is called Tubing the Ditch.

On the dock we meet our driver, David Sweet, called Sweet for short. It's only a short drive to the warehouse,, and on the way there Sweet gets us all to sign the usual waivers. He points out the mountain, which is normally covered with vog (that's volcanic fog) and says we're lucky as it rains nearly every day here and it's rare to see the mountain not covered with cloud.

At the warehouse we make one last visit to the restroom, and then we are issued with shoes, helmet with light, and gloves. We meet Brooklyn and Eli, our guides, and pile back in the bus for a 20 minute drive through an old sugar plantation. Brooklyn has us introduce ourselves and what superpower we would choose if we could. She tells us about tubing. It turns out that most of our journey will be through tunnels dug through the volcanic rock so that that water can be channelled to the sugar plantation. That's why we need the lights on our helmets. She says the f- and c- words are not permitted (that's 'freezing' and 'cold') as they are bad for PR - we should say 'exhilarating' etc instead.

At the launch site we strip off everything except our bathing suits, and put on our safety gear. Eli demonstrates how to sit in the tube and gives us some safety tips. Then we go down to the ditch and one by one get helped onto our tubes.

The water is clear and very 'exhilarating'. We have no control at all over our tubes and they spin around, bumping into each other and into the clay walls of the ditch. The surrounding scenery is lush and green, with lots of ferns - it's beautiful. Eli takes the lead and Brooklyn follows up behind, and we float down the ditch. There are five tunnels to go through, and they each have their own character. The water is moving quite fast and there are a couple of small drops along the way which add excitement. In total we travel about 2.5 miles, through open stretches and then back into the tunnels.

At the end we dry off, change into dry clothes (which have come with Sweet on the bus), and have crisps and cookies and water. We all agree it was a lot of fun and we'd like to do it again. Then it's back in the bus to the warehouse to drop off the tubes, another opportunity to shop, and then back to the ship.

Jo and Deborah can't decide what's been more fun: the helicopter ride, snorkelling, or tubing. We're very glad we signed up for these excursions. Tomorrow should be more sedate, as we're doing the Wailua River and Fern Grotto.

For now, Jo is having a nap and Deborah's borrowed another book from the ship library to read on the balcony. Tonight at 5:15 we have to be dressed and made up ready for the show, as we're having a technical rehearsal first.

More about the show later!

Wed, 12th November - rehearsal

Last night our ship sailed from Kona to Nawiliwili on Kauai. We were at rehearsal when we left Kona. We started with warm ups, led by Eric from Vocal Spectrum. Then the men's and women's choruses split to rehearse separately. Cindy says the name of the women's chorus is Pele's Pride (Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of fire, and responsible for creating the islands of Hawaii during a battle with her sister the goddess of the ocean.)

We work on our songs some more. Jean Barford is going to direct That'll Be The Day. She says don't oversing, just keep the resonance big and fat. Don't overenunciate the words, as it slows you down: you don't need a lot of jaw movement, make it all internal. She tells the leads that their job is not to lead the chorus (that's the Director's job); their job, like the baris and tenors, is to reinforce the basses' overtones. in bar 23 ('that some day well') she tells us all to 'goose' the rhythm, which we think means push it along a bit.

Cindy gives us choreo. For That'll Be The Day we start 'free style', individually expressing what the words mean to us. When we get to the chorus, we snap fingers on our outside hand. Verse 1 the Leads have the words, while the rest of us are do dooing, so we direct our attention to the Leads and let them star as they improvise rock and roll moves. Back to snapping fingers for the chorus, and then it's the Basses' turn to star for Verse 2. Back to snapping fingers for the chorus, and at the end of that we bend knees and go lower. On the last bar everyone raises both hands.

Choreo for Lazy Day starts with everybody swaying, starting right. We go freestyle for the verses, and back to swaying for the Lazy Day choruses. On bar 83 everyone claps the rest. At the end, everyone's right hand sweeps to the left across the body in a pre-move, then back right and up and out for the finish. We watch the director to know when to bring our hands down.

Then the guys rejoin us and we run through the package: two songs by the women, men and women together singing Lida Rose (the first time we've done it together and the guy from Vocal Spectrum whose name we've forgotten co-directs with Kim). It sounds good.

The guys do one song on their own. Before they go, Cindy has them introduce themselves and identify who they're married to (they are nearly all husbands and fathers of Sweet Adelines). They go off for some more rehearsal, and we work in sections on the areas our section leaders are still concerned about.

After everyone else goes, Glenda gathers the Aussies together for a run through of our package. We're doing Waltzing Matilda, then a bit of explanation of Aussie slang, then someone is reciting My Country while we ooooh and then we go straight into I Am Australian. Glenda describes the choreo she wants for each verse of Waltzing Matilda and we discuss costumes and props. It should be good.

Jo and Deborah dash off to the Aloha Cafe for a quick bite, as we haven't had dinner yet - they're just starting to close up. Then to bed.

Wed, 12th November - More snorkelliing

We set the alarm clock for 6 am, and it's a good thing Jo brought it with her because we were both sound asleep when it went off. Today our excursion was snorkelling with Captain Zodiac.

The ship can't dock at Kona, so we were transferred to shore in lifeboats (good to know they float). They're called tenders, and each one can take 150 lifeboat passenges or 105 passengers as a shuttle. There was a steady flow of passengers disembarking, and we took our turn in the queue.

Captain Zodiac has two zodiac boats - they have big inflatable tubes around the edge, on which we sit, and a rigid base, and two outboard motors. They go very fast and are very manoeverable (however you spell that) as our captain, Darren, took delight in demonstrating. There were about 16 of us on each boat. We headed out from shore past our ship, and Darren looked for whales and dolphins, but we didn't find any.

Then we went along the coast to the bay where Captain Cook died. Darren told us the story of Cook's death when he went on shore looking for a longboat that had gone missing. There's a memorial, but we weren't allowed to go on shore because it's a protected area. We put on flippers and snorkels and went over the side to swim. When some of us were already in the water, Darren spotted the spout of a hump backed whale in the bay, but we couldn't abandon our swimmers so that was as close as we got to seeing a whale.

We thought snorkelling at Molokini crater was pretty good, but this was better. The water was shallower, and there were amazing colourful fish in all shapes and sizes, and eels and coral and sea urchins. We spent an hour in the water and the time passed very quickly. Both of us want to do more snorkelling when we get home. Great Barrier Reef, here we come!

On the way out of the bay Deborah spotted some dolphins close in to shore - and that's close as we go to dolphins.

Darren took us back along the coastline, pointing out lava tube openings in the cliffs where rock had fallen away and left the tube exposed. He gave us some history about the local Hawaiian people and showed us crabs and shellfish on the rocks. It was an exciting ride back as he liked to head for the cliffs at top speed and then veer off at the last minute, to give us a thrill.

Back to Kona, back to the ship on the tender, a very welcome shower and change, and then lunch. This afternoon Jo is having a nap while Deborah updates the blog. Tonight at 6 pm we have our final rehearsal for the show. We still haven't learned Waltzing Matilda.

Tuesday, 11th November - the Helicopter and the Volcano

Today we had the shore excursion that Jo has been looking forward to the most, because she loves volcanos. We took a 45 minute helicopter flight ove Kilauea, "the earth's most active volcano". It was just a short 8 minute bus ride from the ship to the airport, and there were four helicopters lined up with space for five passengers in each one. Deborah sat in the front seat between the pilot, James, and Gilbert, who is a charter pilot on holiday from Florida, and Jo sat in a window seat in the back, so we all had great views. The pilot records each flight and his commentary so Jo has bought the DVD. At first we flew over the town, and then across farmland where they grow macadamias, zucchini, and orchids (and other crops we can't remember) for export. Then we flew over forest - America's only indigenous tropical forest. They have a huge rainfall this side of the island - about 10 feet a year - so it's all very green. All the hotels and resorts are on the other side of the island where the rainfall is much lower.

And then through the clouds we saw Kilauea, the volcano. First we saw the solidifed lava, in great swirling sheets which have inundated the forest. Then we came closer to the crater, with clouds of white vapour (a mix of steam and carbon monoxide) obscuring the crater itself. There are lava tubes, where the molten magma flows underground through tunnels like pipes, and in places we could see steam emerging from the tubes. In one place we saw a hole with molten lava glowing red inside. The pilot was very good at doing figure of eights so that people on both sides of the helicopter could see and take photos. We followed the lava flow down towards the ocean and saw a whole town subdivision that had been wiped away by the lava a few years ago. There is just one occupied house remaining, a bed and breakfast that can only be reached by helicopter called (I think) "Lava Jack's".

We followed the lava down to the coast line where there was a cloud of white steam rising from the shore. The lava is flowing down the lava tube and hitting the ocean. Our pilot says Hawaii is the size of Connecticut and increasing in size because the lava is adding to the shoreline.

We headed back to the airport and disembarked. Jo bought the DVD of our flight so we can watch it when we get home: the views should be spectacular as there were several cameras mounted on the outside of the helicopter.

The bus took us back to the port, and we went back on board. We had lunch on the deck at the Cadillac Cafe, which was very pleasant. We went to a "Makeover and Skin care" class at the Beauty Spa after lunch, but it was disappointing: really just a plug for their (very expensive) facials. At 3:30 we met Gwen Morrow (Sarah's mum) who is on the cruise with some friends from Buffalo Gateway Chorus (BGC's director Di coached Gwen's chorus, Gem Connections, a while back.) Gwen's chorus has just won 2nd place in the UK Ladies Association of Barbershop Singers so she was wearing her medal very proudly. She looks just like Sarah, but with dark hair. We had a lovely chat. Gwen is very proud of Sarah and the chorus misses her (note to CKC: Sarah has front row experience, choreographer experience and was on the makeup and costume teams).

At 4:30 we went to a lecture on volcanoes by a semi retired geologist from Georgia. He did a great job of explaining Hawaiian volcanoes, but Deborah had trouble staying awake.

Deborah went to her "How to be a Great Bass" class with Melynnie after dinner. She used Dale Syverson's handout from the Rumours workshop as a starting point, so I won't repeat all of that here. Key points:
- if you can be in a quartet, do it: it makes you a better singe (even if you never compete)
- listen to CDs of the great quartets, and sing along with the bass: you will learn how they do it by singing with them
- sing every day and do vocal exercises every day
- extend your range by singing high as well as low
- never think that you know it all
- make sure you understand the rhythm of each song
- set up overtones from the first note: be confident when you take the pitch
- mark up your music, eg octaves, thirds and sevenths
- when learning music, don't just listen to the learning tape: start by looking at the sheet music
- think of the bass part as a melody line
- sing pretty

Melynnie had us do three exercises that Mary McGovern uses; they're also exercises that are on Darlene's CD of vocal exercises:
- slow slide from 1 to 5, then 1 to 8, on each of the vowels, and then repeat a semitone up (and the goal is eventually to slide two octaves, ie 1 to 5, 1 to 8, 1 to 5', 1 to 8')
- oooh on 8, then ah on 1, 1.5, 2, 1.5, 1, 3. 5 8, 5, 3, 1
- gug (gahg for Aussies) 1 3 5 8 8 8 8 5 3 1. We were singing this too far back, and Darlene Rogers (who was sitting in the back of the class) said just brush by the g, and put it in the same place as the vowel - it's a soft g.

Darlene gave some advice for basses as well:
- the volume of basses should be one click more on lower register, and 1 click less in our upper range, than other parts singing the same notes (because of the way we sing)
- re discussion of how to get basses to sing soft, Darlene says think of it not as taking away something, but "giving more soft". She suggested giving the bass section a scale from 1 to 5 for loudness, and then getting them to sing the same phrase at each level of loudness; and then varying loudness within the phrase, eg 2 bars at 5, 2 bars at 4, 2 bars at 3 ... and so on(Deborah says she's done this with Vicki in singing lessons and it's harder than you might think).
- always keep the breath energ and resonance and "put your soft on the back wall". Darlene suggests giving basses visual and kinaesthetic images that might help them.

After the Bass Class the Aussies got together to rehearse their segment of the show. We ended up deciding to do just We Are Australian, and Waltzing Matilda, as there were too many different versions of I Am Australia. We are going to drone the first verse of WAA while someone sings solo. Deborah has recorded the bass of WM and hopes to learn it before the show, otherwise we will just fake it. We also have someone reciting My Country, and someone else explaining Aussie slang, and we're going to wave flags and hand out koalas. It should be fun!

Chorus rehearsal was from 9 to 10:30, but we broke for 30 minutes because the ship sailed past the spot where the lava flows into the ocean and we didn't want to miss the show.

The bari from Vocal Spectrum did warmups with gentle ooohing and eeeeing on scales up and down, 1 to 5. Then we zzzzzed while casting a fishing line, across a pond and then a lake and then the ocean. To loosen up our tongues he had us singing aluminum lending liniment aluminum lending liniment aluminum, getting faster each time, on 1 2 3 4 3 2 1.

We all went out on deck as the ship sailed towards the lava. It was an orange glow on the show, with a plume of steam - same as we'd seen from the helicopter, but more spectacular because of the glow. We didn't get close enough to take good pictures.

Then back to rehearsal. Kim directed the women's chorus and we worked on our three songs some more. Jean Barford was there and coached the chorus (how good is this? KimHulbert directing, Jean Barford coaching, Cindy Hansen choreographing).

Jean told the other parts not to wait for the bass pickups in Lazy Day so that they don't drag the tempo. She asked the basses to be aware when they're coning above the leads. She said the vowel must be on the beat, not the consonant. On the unison note in bar 41 and bar 81 Jean says when the basses and baris have a unison note, the baris are in charge (the basses need to back off). In the coda, from bar 93, Jean says there is an upside down cone and the basses need to lighten up; then the impact when we go back to traditional barbershop is more effective.

From 10:30 to 11:30 we both went to Cindy's class on choreography. Her agenda was basic moves, teaching techniques, and any issues we wanted to ask about. Cindy says choreo should be easy to learn because it is simple, makes sense, and matches what we are singing. If a chorus can't pick up the choreo (Cindy says if they can't learn it in half an hour) then it's too much, or the wrong move, or the wrong person teaching it - unless it's a contest song, of course, where there is more laying required.

Cindy says songs are driven by either:
- tempo eg Lazy Day, We are Family, Joint is Jumpin
- lyrics, eg Red Hot Momma
- musical arrangement eg Bandstand.

Tempo moves:
Which moves you use depends on the song and the tempo eg:
- heel sway (Sweet Adelines step) - big toe is nailed to the floor and the heels move; has a secondary beat (1 and 2)
- sway - feet solid, body sways (beat is 1, 2)
- step touch, step touch
Can then do variations on any of these; Cindy asked us to do a heel sway as if we were wearing a tuxedo and notice how it differed from country hoe down or jazz club - same step, different execution
Can also add variation by, for example, having alternate rows do heel sway in opposite directions

Similarly, can do different tempo moves with hands: snaps, claps, slaps, pops, pushes

Then can add layers - feet plus hands plus body - but don't put too many layers in.

Lyric-driven songs:
Cindy used the example of "good bye" in Tootsie Goodbye; different ways of saying goodbye. We can get chorus members each to do their own variation on goodbye, so that it's a shared concept rather than everyone doing the identical planned move. Another example: a sexy move for Red Hot Momma.

Tempo moves and lyric moves both need a character. Cindy gave us a few names to see how we moved differently for each one: Marilyn Monroe, Bette Midler, Mae West, Betty Boop. It's easier to give the chorus a character to interpret rather than specific detailed moves, and the character will give unity.

Teaching choreography:
- use words that convince the chorus you know what you're doing (Cindy recommends "Words that Sell, by Bryant)
- be definite, not wishy-washy, when giving instructions
- be well-prepared; you have to know what you're doing
- know the song you're choreographing and analyse it - what sort of song? what tempo? what character?
- never let anybody ask questions; move so fast they don't have time to think of questions
- have 2 or 3 ways of teaching the same thing

Issues:
How much is too much choreo? Cindy says if they can't learn it in half an hour, it's too much (unless it's a contest song); it's either the wrong move or the wrong teacher. It should be natural to do the choreo, so that you don't have to think about it.

Where to get ideas? Randy Jackson Dance Crew Show on TV; Dances with the Stars; Cheerleading competitions; Drum corps

People who don't use their faces? Cover them up with costume (coral reef, clown, scarecrow, tree). Do one on one face work, eg in double circles observing each other; rotate rows so everyone has the opportunity to be the front row during rehearsal; use mirrors; tell them to overdo it.

AND THEN TO BED AT MIDNIGHT, AND WE SET THE ALARM FOR 6AM!