http://www.barbershopstep.com Expression, Presentation, Showmanship - Coaching Tips for Singing and Performing Barbershop Harmony Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:24:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Every song has a story to be told.  What makes a good story teller?  It is someone who understands the story and puts the correct inflection in their voice and the correct emotion on their face.  This seems like a simple enough statement until you consider the process of trying ... http://www.barbershopstep.com/2008/10/07/all-the-world%e2%80%99s-a-stage-%e2%80%93-bringing-unified-emotions-to-your-barbershop-performance/ I had someone ask me for some tips/tricks for calming performance nerves when performing with their barbershop chorus or barbershop quartet. So, I thought I would address the topic here.  I’m sure that you have heard all of the silly things like picturing your audience in their underwear and such.  Frankly, ... http://www.barbershopstep.com/2008/05/04/calming-those-barbershop-performance-nerves/ 1) Stick to your guns when teaching a new plan to the chorus. Don’t give up because it doesn’t happen 100% right after you teach it. 2) Be willing to CHALLENGE your chorus to grow visually. What wowed on the barbershop stage even 5 years ago doesn’t necessarily wow them now. 3) ... http://www.barbershopstep.com/2008/03/02/choreographers-top-10-list/ I have been doing quite a bit of chorus coaching lately and have found myself repeating a couple of concepts over and over so I thought that I would just share them here. Basically, as an audience member, I am GREEDY. When you are performing a song, if you don’t go ... http://www.barbershopstep.com/2008/02/21/deliver-1/ OK - so to recap, we now know that the word ENERGY appears in some form in all four categories of the Sweet Adeline judging system.  What are some other ways that we can view across all four categories and make some connections? One that I found is the word CHARACTERIZATION.  Now, ... http://www.barbershopstep.com/2007/11/23/more-sweet-adeline-category-crossovers/ OK, so now the secret is out.  The word ENERGY appears in all FOUR categories of the Sweet Adelines judging system.  What does this mean to you?  It means that when someone tells you that only one judge is looking at you in an effort to minimize the showmanship category down ... http://www.barbershopstep.com/2007/11/13/sweet-adelines-international-showmanship-reaching-all-four-categories-part-2/ I am teaching a class this weekend for the Sweet Adelines International - Region 7 Quartet Music School where I will talk about ways that the Sweet Adelines International Showmanship category can reach across and touch all FOUR categories - I am going to post a series here where I give ... http://www.barbershopstep.com/2007/11/04/all-four-categories-part-1/ I have always been a very emotional person.  It is sort of a joke amongst my friends that it takes very little to bring me to tears in either a happy or a sad moment in time.  I’m a firm believer in wearing your heart on your sleeve, so I ... http://www.barbershopstep.com/2007/05/01/the-barbershop-harmony-ballad-cry-pretty/ Sometimes chorus members do not seem to understand why a choreographer or presentation team may decide to choreograph a certain song or why they choose to choreograph it differently than another.  I thought I would just write a short list of reasons to choreograph a song as well as give ... http://www.barbershopstep.com/2006/12/01/why-choreograph/ **THIS IS A RE-POST OF AN ARTICLE LAST WRITTEN LAST APRIL - HOWEVER, IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON COMPETING IN SPRING REGIONALS OR PRELIMS, THESE ARE THINGS YOU NEED TO BE IN THE PROCESS OF WORKING SO I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE GOOD TO RE-POST THESE TIPS - BEST OF LUCK!**    The months ... http://www.barbershopstep.com/2006/10/24/its-competition-time-in-the-sweet-adeline-community/