The Convention Centre is only 5 minutes walk from our hotel, so we (Di and Betty and Ros and Jo and I) were there before the Ticket Office opened at 9 am. There was a queue, but only a short one, and it quickly resolved into people registering their choruses for Nashville and people collecting their Hawaii Convention tickets. Di and I had no problems at all registering CKC, so we're now official.
Picking up Convention tickets was equally easy, and then we collected our Convention program. As we were going down the escalator we saw a quartet wearing crowns going up - our first Queens! Later there were more quartets around, able to be spotted because they dress identically.
As Harmony Bazaar didn't open until 11 am we took the girls down to Ross's and Walmart to shop. Deborah didn't buy anything, but the others did.
We had lunch and then attacked Harmony Bazaar. First thing we saw was the Four Betty's (international quartet champions) singing. Jo had her photo taken with them - lovely, friendly ladies (but not wearing their crowns). Apparently Harmony Bazaar this year is much smaller because of the cost of freight from the mainland, but it was big enough for us. There is lots of shiny stuff - earrings, pendants, bracelets, watches, Christmas ornaments. Deborah and Jo bought sparkly name badges. Also shoes with detachable uppers (so you can carry one pair of shoes and match them to your outfits when travelling); amazing purses into which you can fit a whole lot; a pumice-based depilatory gadget (three of us bought it, but we won't tell you which three); sparkly costumes; inner soles filled with a silicon gel; and CDs (and more).At 1 pm we went to one of Perth Harmony's rehearsals with their coach, Mo Field (a Canadian based in Sweden). They sounded great to start with, and even better after two hours with Mo. She mostly coached them on communicating a pure message to their audience. Here's what Deborah wrote down:
- wring power and meaning out of each single word
- don't blink and breathe at the same time; breathe through your eyes, make them shine
- the only difference between nervous and excited is your attitude; it's only adrenalin - embrace it!
- use the big muscles; the big muscles win (sound familiar?)
- people hear what they see - let them see your joy (re Red Red Robin) - invite the audience to come and play with you.
After coaching on a song, Mo asked the chorus to close their eyes, pinch the bridge of their nose, and review the choices they will make when performing the song.At one point she asked them to say "Me", "I", "We" and then "Me", "Us", "The Song" - each one expanding.
For the final performance of their competition set she had the chorus run around the risers twice, and then perform. Afterwards we saw some Perth girls with ear plugs: they use them to simulate what the contest stage will sound like.
At half time in Perth's rehearsal Linda Wareham handed out purple supporter ribbons for all the Aussie supporters to wear, and Accolade performed their two comp songs.
After Perth's rehearsal we did another round of the bazaar, then back to the hotel, dinner at the Ala Moana Food Court, and then met at 7:30 pm to walk down to the Showcase.
The Showcase - and the competition - is in one of the exhibition halls of the Hawaii Convention Centre, so it's basically a big concrete box. Most of the chairs are on flat concrete, not raked seating, but there are five large projection screens so people at the back can see. The Hall wasn't full for Showcase so we all had good seats; but for the competition I think we're going to be sitting way up the back.
Showcase started with the Young Women in Harmony chorus. They had a workshop which culminated with performing on Showcase. It was a small group of about 15, and they performed three songs including One Voice (with Rising Star champions, Whole Lotta Harmony) and Straighten Up and Fly Right, complete with choreo.
They were followed by the Japanese chorus, made up of members of the five Japanese choruses (one chartered and four prospective). They looked great and did brilliantly - as the MC said, imagine if we had to sing Japanese songs in Japan to a Japanese audience. One of their songs was We are Family.
Then we had Salt, who were great fun. I heard the woman next to me say 'it's not barbershop'; but they were very entertaining. At one point two of them were playing ping pong because the bass insisted on singing a solo. They did a Stevie Wonder number (Isn't she beautiful) about their babies and they did the set where they sing barbershop songs in different styles - plainsong; country and western, heavy metal.
Harborlites are the 2008 champion chorus and there are a lot of them; it took a while to get them on stage. They were wearing lime green outfits, each slightly different in style, decorated with bright coloured abstract designs. They sounded amazing and finished with their Phantom of the Opera set from last year's comp.
After interval we came back for a Polynesian spectacular featuring dances and music from Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, New Zealand and Hawaii. The girls were slender and gorgeous with long black hair, and the boys were muscular and gorgeous - Jo took photos and says she didn't just photograph the men. The show ended with a fire dance, twirling burning batons.
Now we're back in the hotel and it's 11:30 pm. It will be a big day tomorrow, with quartet semi-finals from 10:45 am to 9:45 pm. Pity the poor judges who have to concentrate through 52 quartets. Accolade are number 42. We'll all be there cheering loudly.
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