- Louisville 2023
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Date Posted: Sun, 21 Jul 2024
We are very proud to have two chorus members who are on the Regional Management Team for Sweet Adelines Australia - Cathy Sterling is the Events Coordinator, and Karen Phillips is the Marketing Coordinator. In October 2023 Cathy and Karen travelled to Louisville Kentucky to represent the RMT and to support our champion chorus and quartet. Brindabella Chorus and Skykark Quartet.
Here is an article written by Karen which was publised in our regional newsletter, OzChords.
It was a privilege for Cathy Sterling (Events Coordinator), Annie Freeman (Finance Coordinator) and me to support our competitors and represent Region 34 at educational events in Louisville. Our first task was to connect Brindabella Chorus and Skylark Quartet to Australia via the live-streamed RahRah on Sunday night, wishing them luck for the contest ahead and passing on well wishes from home. We attended their shared rehearsal with Pennsylvanian chorus Vocal Harmonix, and it was great to get a preview of their competition package.
As first-time international attendees, we were excited to go to the full day of RMT training on Monday. This was a great opportunity to meet coordinators from other regions and discuss our experiences in regional management. We were proud to share some of our Region 34 initiatives and took away some interesting new ideas. We also met members of the International Board of Directors, who ran sessions throughout the day, including our very own Sharon Cartwright, and International President Thérèse Antonini talked to us about the importance of leadership and the value of the regional management teams. That evening we attended “From Sweden With Love”, where Rönninge Show Chorus, Malmö Limelight Chorus and Keep Cruisin’ Quartet performed their competition packages.
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion workshop on Tuesday was another valuable opportunity to discuss important issues with fellow Sweet Adelines. The focus this year was on fostering a culture of belonging. The topics discussed at the workshop encouraged us to think about ways to be more inclusive at the international, regional, chorus and personal level. And that night was the Harmony Classic competition, featuring the top small and mid-sized choruses from around the world. We were so excited to support Brindabella Chorus, brandishing our banners and Aussie flags, and were over the moon when they won!
Wednesday was the Quartet Semifinals, where we cheered on Skylark Quartet – it was a very full day and evening of barbershop! Thursday was the Chorus Semifinals, Friday the Quartet Finals, and Saturday the Chorus Finals. Sharon Cartwright and Glenda Lloyd did a great job as webcast hosts. We were blown away by the performances, they were just so good! We also attended the Coronet Club Show and the Quartet Music Education Class with Renée Porzel, and met lots of friendly fellow singers. It was a very full week, and an absolute joy to represent our region in the SAI community.
- Dazzling Harmonies
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Date Posted: Sun, 21 Jul 2024
Our "Dazzling Harmonies" event was a wonderful afternoon of performances by our sister choruses Blue Sky Harmony, Hot Ginger Chorus, and Brisbane City Sounds Chorus, as well as Bella A'Cappella and Red Velvet Ensemble. Not only did each chorus perform their own songs, but we joined together to perform our grand finale, Fight Song. OZCHORDS | ISSUE 87 | PAGE 40 REDLANDRHAPSODYCHORUS Our guest presenter was Dee Handyside from The Silk Rags Project, who shared her journey with us and helped us understand how to open up discussions with people who have received a cancer diagnosis. All funds raised from the day were donated to Women's Cancer Support GC.
The event, Dazzling Harmonies, was an afternoon gathering hosted by Redland Rhapsody Chorus in October, coinciding with Cancer Awareness Month, to support those affected by women's cancers.
It was a collaborative effort involving invited Queensland Sweet Adeline Choruses: Blue Sky Harmony Chorus, Brisbane City Sounds Chorus, Hot Ginger Chorus, and Redland Rhapsody Chorus, along with Tamborine Mountain's community chorus, Bella A'Cappella.
The event aimed to empower individuals from all backgrounds and lifestyles to come together and support this important cause. Each chorus, along with quartets and ensembles, delivered beautiful performances, with a poignant moment when all choruses (100 women) combined to sing "Fight Song," touching many with its significance to women on their cancer journey.
Guest speaker Dee Handyside, a cancer survivor, shared her unique perspective on supporting loved ones facing a cancer diagnosis.
The event concluded with a high tea provided by Redland Rhapsody and a raffle featuring generous prizes.
We raised $2390 which was donated to Women's Cancer Support Gold Coast, providing grass roots support and equipment loans to affected women in our region.
Carol Baker
- REDLANDRHAPSODY– A DREAM COME TRUE
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Date Posted: Sun, 21 Jul 2024
We are so excited to be the Australian chorus champions! Here is an article written by Cathy Sterling for our regional newsletter, OzChords.
We have been asked how we did it… Redland Rhapsody Chorus came to the stage in Fremantle with 54 very focused members. Several were foundation members of our chorus - 28 year members!, There was a group of first timers too, and everything in between. We also welcomed fellow Queenslanders as out-of-town members. Some of them will stay with us! We are all thrilled, shocked, excited and beyond proud to be the 2024 champions. We are singers with a multitude of skill sets, but we all bring something to the stage. So what brought us to this point?
One of our foundation members spoke to a local business network group and told them how fabulous it felt to have our dreams realised after 28 years! Others are shouting from the rooftops with huge excitement and are planning a trip to Columbus Ohio, after their first time on the competition stage.
It takes a village and I believe it’s our culture that got us here. Not in a peace, love and mung beans way, just a genuine love of what we do with our chorus family. And of course there’s hard work! But we play a lot too and that’s important. It has to be fun!
All of these factors combine to give our performances “heart”, and feedback we have received supports that view. For us, we now concentrate on keeping that heart and developing our technical skills even more.
Lastly, but very importantly, we have a fabulous director in Weasy, Louise Brannon, who “feels” the music, believes in us and has a huge heart. It was beautiful to see her fairytale realised. A huge dream that became a reality! She is still asking us to pinch her. Thank you all for the fantastic support we received in Freo! We are over the moon to be representing Australia in 2025.
- LOVENOTES MAGIC!
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Date Posted: Sun, 21 Jul 2024
One of our Assistant Directors, Glen Windle, was awarded a Region 34 education grant in 2023 to travel to Sydney for the LoveNotes Quartet workshop. Here is an article Glen wrote which was published in our regional newsletter OzChords.
A fabulous weekend with LoveNotes who were so generous with their time, talent, and themselves. As with any workshop, it is difficult to select just a few moments or ideas that had a big impact. I found that although (like all of us) I have heard a lot of this information many times over the years, it was presented in such a way that I had many “AHA!” moments. It is easy to think that we are doing everything correctly with our singing, but we can always add another “onion skin” layer to our sound and skills. When LoveNotes introduced the concept of a 3D breath and we tried it, the difference in my sound was remarkable. I had believed I was using my full resonant singing space whilst singing ,but realised that I had become a bit complacent. I was aware of it ,but had not really been doing it!
To elaborate for those of you who missed out, when inhaling be aware of the air hitting the vertical space (the roof of the mouth and the top of the tongue), the horizontal space (the inside of the cheeks), and the lateral space (the back of the throat). This sets up the space in the mouth for singing and enabled me to produce a lovely rich and full sound. This concept really resonated with me and was presented in such a simple way that it has also been very easy to share with others and duplicate the result. Just this takeaway alone was well worth the effort of attending the workshop as it has had such an impact and made a difference in the sound of my choruses and quartets also. Another idea that really impacted was the “working stance” and “performance stance”. When the group are in performance stance (ie. quartet position), they are in full performance mode 100% of the time. If for some reason they need to stop and work on something they will go into working stance (face one another in a circle) and work through the issue while not having to perform so they can focus on the issue. As soon as they go back to performance stance, it is 100% performance mode again. This can make such a big difference as it is so easy to switch off performance while we are thinking about what we are doing. Having to concentrate on performance whilst in performance stance means that we get used to singing that way all the time! I loved this idea.
Thank you so much to Sweet Adelines Australia and LoveNotes for this amazing workshop.
- Wakerley Christmas Carols
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Date Posted: Thu, 12 Dec 2019
So pleased to be able to sing once again at the Wakerley Carols Christmas Concert held recently. Lots of great performers on stage and a great audience.
- Redland Rhapsody supports local farmers
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Date Posted: Sat, 7 Dec 2019
A few of our girls got to support our Queensland Farmers in the Eat Queensland campaign. What a hoot!! For more information, see: https://www.facebook.com/markfurnermp/videos/2775522312468279/?t=5
- Hazel becomes our first PLATINUM Member
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Date Posted: Wed, 13 Nov 2019
Farewell to our lovely Hazel, who is retiring from full-time singing, after 20 years, but staying on as a Platinum member, to look after us when she is in town. We love you Hazel and will miss having you around. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to our chorus, and also to the region. You’re amazing!! ????????
- Coaching with Linda Wareham
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Date Posted: Thu, 24 Oct 2019
We were fortunate to have a SAA Regional Education Faculty coaching visit recently by Linda Wareham. Linda is the Director of Northern Beaches Chorus and Coastal A Cappella. WOW... Linda was great. We worked on a brand new ballad and the timing of her visit was perfect. We learnt heaps and had fun at the same time. This is the first time we have been coached by Linda, and it certainly won't be the last. We will ask her to come back and coach us again.
- Sing it Sista! Performance (Redland Rhapsody Chorus)
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Date Posted: Mon, 19 Aug 2019
The last night of our July/August Sing it Sista! Workshop is a performance by our chorus and our Workshop Sistas!! Family and friends are invited to come along and help our Workshop Sistas celebrate as they perform the songs they have learnt during the workshop. The performance is at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 20 August at our rehearsal venue for an hour, with refreshments afterwards. Please let our membership coordinator know that you are coming. membership@redlandrhapsody.org.au
- Sing It Sista!
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Date Posted: Sun, 3 Mar 2019
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For more information, see: www.redlandrhapsody.org.au/singitsista
