Latest News

Blue Sky Harmony Welcomes Singers to Try A Cappella

We are opening our rehearsal on Wednesday 20 October from 7–9pm to connect with people who love to sing!  Whether you're an experienced singer who is looking for something fresh and new, or someone with minimal group singing experience, we welcome you to this event.

Our guests will be involved in warm-ups and then learn part of a song with us, before being entertained by a short showcase performance from Blue Sky Harmony.  This will give you a taste of our style of a cappella music, and we know that one you hear it - and try singing it yourself - you'll be hooked!  

We're not a regular choir - we sing contemporary music in four-part harmony, incorporate physical expression into our songs (no stiff singers here), and we strive for continuous improvement. We bring in experts in the field to coach us several times a year, and love to perform and share our music with the community. Our arrangments suit all vocal ranges, so if you have a voice that is too high for a standard choral alto part, our bass lines will make you feel right at home! If you love those high notes, we also have a part that's perfect for you - plus melody and harmony parts in the mid-ranges. There really is something for every singer! 

After this open night, we know you'll love our style of a cappella, so information about how to join our group will be available. We are an auditioned ensemble suitable for experienced singers, but we also welcome people who don't have singing experience - if you can hold your part, you can learn the rest. You don't need to read sheet music, as learning tracks are also available for the songs that we sing.

If you haven't sung in a group since school, now is the time to come back to singing!  Or if you're singing with another choir but looking for the next step, we could be the perfect vocal ensemble for you! Blue Sky Harmony is open-minded and inclusive of people from all walks of life. Register for this free event today - we can't wait to meet you!

Blue Sky Harmony Joins Sweet Adelines International and Wins Award

We are thrilled to have become a chartered chorus of Sweet Adelines International on the 24th of May! In March 2020, we had sufficient members to charter after less than a year as a chorus, and were deciding whether or not to put our paperwork in before the planned Sweet Adelines Australia Regional Convention in Hobart in May 2020. Soon after, the decision was made for us, as the pandemic threw the world into a state of limbo. Although we were held up for a year in achieving our goal of chartering, we knew our chorus would persevere and thrive. This is our passion! Many of us are long-time barbershoppers, while others have recently discovered their love of this art form and have absolutely embraced it. It's wonderful to finally be official Sweet Adelines. 

       

Why are we so excited to be part of this organisation? Because it is one of the world's largest singing organisations for women and people of diverse genders, with the vision of elevating singers worldwide through education, performance, and competition in barbershop harmony and a cappella music. Through the amazing resources and network provided by Sweet Adelines International and Sweet Adelines Australia, we are always learning, having new experiences and meeting new like-minded people. 

Performing at the Barbershop Harmony Australia Sunshine Region Convention recently was a fabulous introduction into the wider barbershop community, and we can't wait to attend our first Sweet Adelines convention in Adelaide next year. Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far - we truly appreciate it!  We are so proud of the culture we have created and look forward to continuing to learn, grow, perform and make connections through music.

To add to an already exciting week, we were honoured to be announced as the inaugural winner of the Lindsey Dyer Acheivement Award. This award was established in memory of the late Lindsey Dyer, who was a passionate leader within Sweet Adelines Australia. Lindsey contributed to the organisation in many ways: as an eight-time winning bass in three champion quartets, Master Co-Director of a champion chorus, a founding Director of two choruses, a member of the Regional Education Faculty, Education Coordinator, Directors' Coordinator, a mentor, coach, and friend to many. 

 

The award is open to choruses and quartets which, over the last year, have worked to improve their performance and skills while upholding the values of Sweet Adelines International in Australia. This may be demonstrated by consistent attendance at regional education events, working with Regional Education Faculty and/or coaches, engagement with the community, positive group culture and, most of all, a love of barbershop with demonstrable initiative and commitment to the values of Sweet Adelines International.

We felt that we have shown all of the above attributes over the past year, and submitted a nomination in March. We are extremely honoured to have been announced as the winners at the Sweet Adelines Australia Regional Awards Ceremony on Sunday. Thank you to Annette Connolly-Dyer, Lindsey's wife, for donating this beautiful trophy - we will cherish it over the next year and look forward to seeing who the next recipient will be! 

Blue Sky Harmony's Convention Debut

We had an amazing time at the Barbershop Harmony Australia Sunshine Region Convention on the 22nd of May, at Venue 114 in Bokarina, Sunshine Coast.  This convention is run by the local branch of the Australian men's barbershop association, and Sweet Adelines International choruses (like ours) are invited along.  As we haven't been able to attend a barbershop convention since 2019, all attendees were extremely excited to get together again to do what we love - perform and listen to amazing music! 

Our chorus was so warmly welcomed by the local barbershop community, and we sang up a storm - both on-stage and at the afterglow (after-party, filled with spontaneous singing)!  We were thrilled to not only place second in the invitational division (congratulations to first-placed Redland Rhapsody Chorus), but also achieve the third-highest score of the event, with only 12 singers on stage. We loved watching all the other choruses compete, and also enjoyed the quartet competition. Two Blue Skyers were lucky enough to cross the stage a second time, as part of Luminous Quartet. They lit up the stage and gave us goosebumps! We can't wait to see what they do next.

   

One of the great parts of any convention is the opportunity to spend time with chorus members outside of rehearsal. We enjoyed meals together, walks on the beach, and lots of chats over a few beverages. We are lucky to have close friendships within the chorus, and trips like these strengthen those ties. 

   

This was the first convention experience for five of our members, and for the rest it was a much-awaited return to our happy place! We are thankful to Barbershop Harmony Australia for giving us the opportunity to join in the fun. Although our Musical Director, Julie, has performed in many conventions in the past, this was her first in the role of Musical Director.  She certainly impressed!  Thanks to Julie's calm, thoughtful and positive leadership, Blue Sky Harmony had a truly joyful first convention experience.

Fun in May

We had a fantastic few days last week with coach Linda Wareham - Musical Director of Northern Beaches Chorus and Coastal a Cappella Chorus in NSW, and member of the Sweet Adelines Australia Regional Education Faculty.  Linda's visit was partially to assess us muscially as part of chartering as a Sweet Adelines chorus, and partly to help us prepare our contest package for the upcoming Barbershop Harmony Australia Sunshine Region Convention. 


                    Performing at Toombul Shire Hall for Linda Wareham as part of the chartering process

On Thursday night, we put on a performance for our muscal assessment, then worked on our ballad,  At Last, which probably best known for the amazing version by Etta James. There were trio coaching sessions on Saturday, and then on Sunday we had all-day coaching as a full chorus (minus our travellers and those away due to ill health). We worked a little more on At Last, and also polished our uptune, Bobby Darin's As Long As I'm Singing.

  
 Linda with the chorus after rehearsal on Thursday          Linda with Team Coordinator Nat and Director Julie

One of the highlights of the Sunday session was that we had risers! It was a first for Blue Sky Harmony, and wow - what a difference it made! After a fantastic day of singing, we had a lovely dinner and some drinks as a chorus. We can't thank Linda enough for a wonderful weekend of singing. She was a pleasure to work with and brought our contest songs along in leaps and bounds. 

As well as our recent coaching, we have some exciting membership news. We are proud to introduce our newest member, Kym, pictured here with Membership Coordinator Michelle. Michelle is presenting Kym with her Blue Sky Harmony phonation straw. Yes, we all have one... Kym is a fantastic baritone, and we're thrilled that she has joined us!

          
      Membership Coordinator Michelle with new member Kym      Michelle with her (purposely poorly made) certificate

Another recent highlight for our chorus was the announcement of member Michelle (the other one) as the Sweet Adeline of the Year of 'Chapter-At-Large'. This is the group that we're members of until we charter as an official chorus. Michelle was nominated for her work serving Sweet Adelines Australia as the Team Coordinator of the Regional Management Team, and for strengthening ties in the local barbershop community with the quartet networking event Sequins and Songs. Congratulations Michelle! 
 

Welcoming New Members 

At Blue Sky Harmony, we’re always looking for singers to join our ranks. Our membership process changes from time-to-time, but involves attending rehearsals for a number of weeks and learning an audition song with the chorus. There is no requirement to be able to read sheet music – we learn from a combination of sheet music and learning tracks. We seek singers who can learn their part independently and sing with good pitch accuracy, rhythm and vocal production. We are also looking for people who can perform the song with audience engagement and appropriate natural body movement.

As well as musical requirements, we get to know potential new members during their time with us, to see if they are willing to attend regular rehearsals and participate in all aspects of rehearsal, demonstrate a love of learning (including openness to receiving feedback and implementing strategies to improve), and are able to work as part of a team. For our chorus, it is critical that members are supportive and encouraging of each other, as we are proud of our positive and inclusive culture.

We are thrilled to announce that we are welcoming THREE new members to Blue Sky Harmony – Mandy, Jess and Gracie. Not only do these singers have beautiful voices, but we have seen that they embody the values of Blue Sky Harmony. Mandy joins our bass section, while Gracie and Jess are singing lead. Much like the rest of our chorus, these three members came to Blue Sky Harmony with different levels of musical training and experience, and have completely embraced our unique style of a cappella music. We know they will be valuable members of our choir, and we can't wait to get know know them even better.

We look forward to welcoming more new members over the coming months!

A Great Start to 2021

Although we’ve had a couple of bumps in the road this year due to COVID-19, Blue Sky Harmony has had a fantastic 2021 so far! 

In mid-January, our leadership teams attended the Sweet Adelines Australia Directors’ School. This educational event is run each year to support Musical Directors from around Australia, and this year the event was held online. It had a general leadership focus, as well as including a musical education stream, so our Management Team and Music Team members were able to be involved in the various classes. The theme of the weekend was 'Revive and Thrive', with a wide range of interesting content presented.

Shortly after, we announced the appointment of Karen Magno to the position of Assistant Director, joining our directing team of Julie Edwards and Jessica Harriden. Karen has been a member of Sweet Adelines International for 21 years, and we are thrilled that she has taken on the role of Assistant Director at Blue Sky Harmony. You can read Karen’s full biography on our Directors’ page.

Over the past few months, we have continued to work on a competition package, with the goal of competing at the Barbershop Harmony Australia Sunshine Region Convention in May. Since travel has been a bit unpredictable, it has been challenging to organise in-person coaching to assist us with contest preparations. However, on the 11th of March, we were joined via Zoom by Vicki Dwyer – Regional Education Faculty member and Master Director of Circular Keys Chorus in Sydney. 

Vicki’s visit was even more successful than we had envisioned, with no tech disasters, and now we have some fantastic interpretation ideas from Vicki for one of our contest songs. We finished the night with a drink at our local with some lovely prospective members of our choir. It would have been even better if Vicki could have been there for that part - hopefully sometime in future! We are looking forward to another visit from Vicki in the near future.

Another highlight of the year so far has been Sequins and Songs. This event made its return after taking a year off due to the pandemic. It was a social and singing opportunity, which brought together members of eight choruses, from the Sunshine Coast to Ballina, and it was a joy to catch up with so many barbershop-lovers.

Reflections on an Unusual Year

A few months ago, we weren’t sure what we’d be doing during the festive season – would we be singing in the community, like in a normal year, or would we be hiding out in our homes? Thank goodness COVID-19 stayed under control in Brisbane, allowing us to polish our seasonal repertoire and prepare for a number of performances. 

We were thrilled to be part of Christmas on Queen – a series of pop-up performances in Queen Street Mall.  Over five dates in December, we sang for twenty 30-minute sets in different parts of the mall! Not only did this allow us to bring Christmassy vibes to shoppers and passers-by, but it also brought us together with other local artists. We loved seeing the other choirs and dancing groups performing over the course of the month – there is so much talent in this city!

Performing outdoors in summer is always a challenge, and this year we had the additional risk management requirements due to COVID-19. But we didn't let the heat, rain, occasional illnesses, or self-isolation of members dampen our holiday mood! We are proud of our members for being enthusiastic, independent singers who always rise to the occasion.

    
             Christmas on Queen 2020 - thanks to Ibis Music Photography for sharing their beautiful photos with us!

Straight after Christmas, we were invited to send four singers to the ABC Brisbane studio to talk about our choir’s recent International Barbershop Tag Competition win. A quartet featuring our two longest-serving Sweet Adelines and our two newest Sweet Adelines performed live on air – what a way to round out the year!

Although 2020 presented some challenges, including rehearsing via Zoom for 3 months, we were extremely fortunate overall. We attended a wonderful coaching retreat, performed face-to-face on several occasions, made videos, held social events, gained new members, won a competition, celebrated our first birthday, and - best of all - were able to sing together for most of the year.

Nobody knows what the coming year will bring, but we look forward to making new memories with our chorus friends and supporters. Happy New Year, everyone!

    
Karen, Nat, Hayley and Michelle in the ABC studio, and outside the studio after a successful interview and performance

Memorable Moments for Blue Sky Harmony

Earlier this month, our choir members returned to Maleny in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, where we had our retreat in March, for another memorable weekend.  

On the Friday night, we celebrated the 50th birthday of our jazzy lead and team coordinator, Nat. Being a talented cook, Nat treated us all to a beautiful dinner, while we enjoyed the spectacular views from The Ridge at Maleny. Then we sang and danced the night away!

  
                           Nat's 50th birthday party at The Ridge, Maleny                                         A celebratory afternoon

The following day, we travelled to Secrets on the Lake at Montville for yet another big occasion – the wedding of our gorgeous baritone, finance manager and pitch piper extraordinaire, Ainslie. We were honoured to sing ‘At Last’ while Ainslie walked down the aisle towards her love, Tere, surrounded by family and friends. The couple’s vows were as beautiful as the scenery, and there was not a dry eye in the audience! We couldn't be happier for these two amazing people, who were clearly made for each other. More feasting and dancing followed – of course!

To top off this jam-packed weekend, on Sunday we braved the heat and kicked off the festive season with a performance in Queen Street Mall. It's always a thrill to see the smiles appear on shoppers' faces as they hear our harmonies. The memories of this wonderful weekend will surely last a lifetime.

  
       Performing 'At Last' during Ainslie and Tere's wedding                Drinks and canapes after the wedding ceremony

Chorus Champions

In early November, Blue Sky Harmony decided to take part in the BarbershopTags.com International Tag Competition - a video entry competition sponsored by HarmonySite (which provides our website platform).

For those of you who aren't familiar with barbershop music, the tag is the final section of a song, and it contains the most exciting chords. Barbershoppers often teach and learn tags at social events and workshops - it is an easy way to collaborate with other singers, and also gain skills in learning a piece of music quickly, by ear. Since tags are generally very interesting in terms of their musical structure, performing them is also a way for groups to show their skill and vocal range.

Our Musical Director chose a fabulous tag for us, called Touch The Sky - from the Disney movie Brave - and we planned to record on the 5th of November. Unfortunately, two of our members caught colds and we didn't have enough singers to meet the minimum requirement of 14 voices. We didn't think we would have another opportunity before entries closed. 

Fortunately, we noticed that we had a full contingent of Blue Skyers on the 19th, and sent around a last-minute email asking members to bring their costumes so we could give it one final shot. We thought we would have to cancel again when a member became ill, but thankfully a lovely past member stepped in to sing in her place. 

We learnt the tag, recorded a few takes, and then continued with our rehearsal - happy that we had at least given it a red hot go. A couple of weeks later, we were excited to learn that we had made the shortlist in the chorus division. Having the opportunity for our performance to be reviewed by the judging panel was a goal of ours. The competition was tight, with many other fantastic entries - some multi-track recordings, and others filmed live. 

On Saturday the 5th of December, the winners were announced. Blue Sky Harmony was spending the weekend in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, in Maleny, when our Musical Director read the news - we had won our division! What an absolute thrill for our small choir! We felt so lucky to be together to celebrate this amazing achievement, and are proud that the judges enjoyed what we had put together. We feel that our entry expresses who we are as a chorus.

To top it all off, the first prize is $1000 USD, which will allow us to pay for expert coaching and new music in 2021. This money will have a significant impact on our chorus's life in the coming year, and we are thankful to HarmonySite and BarbershopTags.com for running the competition. 

To see the videos of the finalists and winners in each division, visit BarbershopTags.com. If you'd like to check out our video via YouTube, you can find it here. 

Congratulations to Luminous Quartet, whose lead and tenor are in Blue Sky Harmony. This up-and-coming quartet came sixth in the 'one take recording, one voice per part' category, with their rendition of After Today. They also submitted the tag from Somewhere. 

We also send a special shout-out to our two Michelles, who submitted two multi-track tags - Beyond the Sea and Jolene. Although neither was short-listed, the Michelles enjoyed collaborating on these songs and learnt a lot from the experience. 

Luminous Quartet performing After Today


Blue Sky Michelles performing Beyond the Sea

 

Add a Little Magic to Your Event!

It may not feel like it, but the festive season is right around the corner! Where has 2020 gone? Luckily, this is one of our favourite times of the year, when we get the opportunity to perform for a wide range of audiences and share the harmonies that we are addicted to creating! 

Blue Sky Harmony has recently been working on our holiday repertoire, including classic carols and new favourites. Our varied song list will be polished and ready for community carols, corporate functions, Christmas markets, private parties, and any other performance requests that we are able to accomodate. 

Our a cappella group loves to sing for an audience, and our harmonies will add some sparkle to any festive event! Please note that our calendar fills up quickly, so if you would like our choir to perform at your function, please contact us soon. We are able to tailor a package to suit your event, so let's start the conversation today! 

For more information and contact details for our Events Coordinator, visit our Book Us! page. 

Re-connecting and Celebrating 

In September and October, we've continued in-person rehearsals, but not without a few challenges. Due to a small outbreak of COVID-19 on the other side of Brisbane, we had to bring in a restriction on numbers attending rehearsals for a few weeks - a maximum of 10 singers were allowed in our venue. We took it in turns to have a night off, so nobody missed out on multiple rehearsals. Our members continue to be vigilant by not attending when sick, maintaining an appropriate distance from each other, using hand sanitiser, and we always keep a register of attendance. 

Despite the ongoing threat of COVID-19, we've had a wonderful couple of months and were lucky enough to welcome an amazing new member, Mary, in September. Mary is a beautiful baritone who recently moved to Queensland after years of singing with Endeavour Harmony Chorus. We're thrilled that she has found a new home with us.  
 

Mary receives her Blue Sky Harmony name badge from Julie (from a safe distance!)

During this period, we have taken the opportunity to re-connect socially with our chorus friends, with a group dinner at our local pub. There is never enough time to chat to everyone, so we'll be having another get-together soon!

We've also had cause to celebrate some milestones, presenting longevity pins to three talented choir members. Katrina has been a member of Sweet Adelines International for 10 years, Natalie for 15 years, and Karen has spent a whopping 20 years in choruses all over the country! Congratulations to these three fine singers on many years of creating beautiful barbershop harmonies! On the same night, we also wished our dedicated Musical Director, Julie, a very happy birthday.  
 

Milestones! Clockwise from top left: Katrina (10 years), Natalie (15 years), Karen (20 years), and Julie (birthday)

As the festive season is drawing near, we have started working on our Christmas repertoire! There are lots of new songs to keep us busy, and we've been polishing a few old favourites. We hope to have the opportunity to sing for the community, if Queensland stays on track with COVID control. If all goes well, you'll see some carolling photos here in the coming months! 

Featured image:  Blue Sky Harmony members catching up at The Royal, Nundah

August A Cappella - via Zoom!

In normal years, members of Sweet Adelines Australia are given the opportunity to attend a number of educational events throughout the year. Due to the pandemic, this year’s ‘August A Cappella’ workshop was moved online, and a number of Blue Sky Harmony members were excited to be involved – as an attendee, panel member or organiser.

Sessions included: how to run online personal vocal instruction sessions, the interpretation of barbershop arrangements, myths and misconceptions of the mixed voice, and mental training for singers. Blue Sky Harmony member Liliana, who is a member of the Sweet Adelines Australia Regional Education Faculty, was part of a Q&A session on ‘All Things Visual’, and other Q&A sessions were run on arranging, quartetting, and being an Assistant Director.

 
The All Things Visual Q&A Session featured Blue Sky Harmony member Liliana Macarone, along with other visual experts Debra Griffiths and Melanie Mapleson

An absolute highlight of the all-day event was receiving education from International Faculty members Peggy Gram (USA) and Britt-Heléne Bonnedahl (Sweden). Having such top-notch international educators be part of this event – in addition to our Australian Regional Education Faculty – was very special. And all this for only $20! Being part of Sweet Adelines International really provides excellent value for money. Blue Sky Harmony members had a great day of learning and networking with other singers, and can't wait for the next online education event.


Sweet Adelines Australia members enjoying the expertise of Britt-Heléne Bonnedahl, legendary director of Rönninge Show Chorus, as she presented her 'Mental Training for Singers' class.

Around the country, many choirs are still unable to sing together due to high community spread of COVID-19. We’re lucky that Queensland currently has minimal community spread. At Blue Sky Harmony, we’re rehearsing using COVIDsafe practices, with limited numbers, wide spacing, the use of hand sanitiser, and strict limitations on attendance if a member is unwell. As we are a small chorus that does not stand on risers, we are able to minimise our risk in a number of ways. However, taking part in any group activity at this time does carry a risk.

We are still welcoming new potential members, but we have revised our visitor policy in light of the current COVID-19 restrictions. So if you’re interested in visiting us, please make sure you get in touch with our Membership Coordinator, Courtney, to find out when you can visit and what the restrictions currently are. Please don’t turn up to a rehearsal without making prior arrangements, as we will likely not be able to let you join in, which would be disappointing for all of us! Thank you for your understanding.


Featured image:  Sweet Adelines International Faculty member Peggy Gram, delivering her class on how to conduct an online 'personal vocal instruction' session. 

Blue Sky Harmony Returns to Rehearsals

With no recent community transmission of COVID-19 in Brisbane, we decided to go back to in-person rehearsals in our regular venue on the 2nd of July. As we are a small chorus based in a very large hall, we can take appropriate precautions to minimise the risk of transferring the virus, such as sanitising hands on entry and exit, maintaining appropriate physical distance throughout the rehearsal, and keeping all doors and windows open. We are lucky that Brisbane generally has mild winters, as we would otherwise freeze!

The downside of this new setup is that we can hear the trains loud and clear as they rattle past, but it is a small price to pay for being able to join our voices together again to create beautiful harmonies. We've spent our first rehearsals back learning a new song for a very special occasion later this year, and we're making the most of our precious time together in case we need to go back into isolation again.  

At this stage, we're opening our doors to visitors, including potential new members, from the 6th of August onwards.  We would love to have some new singers join us as we continue our musical journey. For more information about singing with us, visit our Becoming a Member page.

We know that not all singing groups are as fortunate as us, and are maintaining online rehearsals for the foreseeable future.  We send our love to all those groups, and wish them strength until they can safely sing together again. 

Chorus Life During the Pandemic

Similarly to other singing groups around the world, life in Blue Sky Harmony has been significantly different throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Although we haven’t been able to sing together in the same room, we have continued to stay connected through online methods, and engage in additional learning opportunities. Some of our members have even taken the opportunity to participate in new musical endeavours! 

As our rehearsals moved to the Zoom meeting platform, we have utilised some fabulous video resources during our weekly sessions, and we’ve included guest presenters in our schedule. Voice teacher and fellow barbershopper Nicky McGrath shared her expertise on how to sing with no filter. Our goal is to express ourselves through our singing, so that we can form genuine connections with our audiences. Nicky’s presentation prompted some great thoughts and discussion on this topic.

Additional workshops have been run by our Chorus Health Coordinator, Kate, who is a mental health occupational therapist and brings an amazing skill set to our chorus. Kate has facilitated discussions and given presentations on topics such as how to turn your inner critic into an inner coach.

  

Another fun rehearsal activity was our ‘Blue Sky Harmony Talent Challenge’, in which members shared some of their diverse talents. One played a haunting original instrumental piece, another showed us her rendition of the Napoleon Dynamite dance, and another presented a flashback to a hilarious character from a past chorus retreat skit. We were also treated to a couple of hilarious isolation-themed parody songs!

Outside of rehearsals, several members have been taking part in virtual choirs that include members from all over the world!  Here are the finished products so far:

-  Close To You by The Carpenters

-  Waltzing Matilda, performed with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for Anzac Day

-  Heroes by David Bowie

-  All My Trials by Norman Luboff

-  Love’s in Need of Love Today by Stevie Wonder

-  And So It Goes by Billy Joel, featuring the King’s Singers

-  O Radiant Dawn by James MacMillan, featuring The Sixteen (video to be released)

-  You’re All I Need to Get By, by Marvin Gaye, featuring The Swingles (video to be released)

-  Adiemus by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins (video to be released)

  

Our Musical Director, Julie, has been using this time to undertake professional development activities through a term of voice lessons with Nicky McGrath. Julie was awarded these lessons through the Miss Hebden Scholarship, which was created in memory of the late Barbara Hebden OAM – a well-loved musician, teacher and arts reviewer. The term of lessons with Nicky has allowed Julie to not only explore her own voice, but also discuss vocal pedagogy concepts that she will be able to bring to future chorus rehearsals.

As COVID-19 cases continue to decrease in Brisbane, we are feeling more positive about the future and we look forward to returning to in-person rehearsals soon. 

  
Nicky McGrath and Julie Edwards                        Chorus social get-together via Zoom

Reflections on Blue Sky Harmony’s First Year

Just one year ago, a small group of singers got together for a cup of tea and a chat about an exciting idea – starting a new chorus! We shared our individual stories of the amazing things that barbershop singing had brought to our lives so far, what our goals were for the future, and what we believed we could each contribute to this project.

Although we were nameless that day, the concept of blue skies was touched on. Blue skies. Joy. Opportunity. Sunny Queensland. So many positive themes. The name ‘Blue Sky Harmony’ was soon chosen by our chorus, and approved by Sweet Adelines International - the global singing organisation that we are part of.

Since our first meeting, it has been full steam ahead for our motivated members. During our first nine months as a chorus, we welcomed several talented new members, ran a successful community a cappella singing workshop, had our first public performance, completed an exciting carolling season (including our inaugural Blue Sky Harmony Christmas Concert), and had a productive retreat in Maleny.

Unfortunately the pandemic then struck and derailed some of our plans, such as performing at our first Sweet Adelines Australia regional convention in Hobart, and running our quartet event – Sequins and Songs. Our choir has rolled with the punches, taking our rehearsals online and setting our sights on Sweet Adelines Australia convention in Adelaide in 2021. We couldn't celebrate our first birthday with a party, so our Musical Director, Julie, baked us all cupcakes instead – delivered with the help of bass Katrina. What a wonderful surprise!

Over the past year, we’ve received wonderful coaching from many experts:  Glenda Lloyd, Rose McGee, Lea Baker, Jill Harris (who later joined our chorus), Bec Hewitt and Nicky McGrath. In addition, our members have taken advantage of many in-person and online workshops to further our skills.

Although we’ve had to take a few months off from in-person rehearsals, we’re in this for the long haul and we know we have a great deal more to achieve together. The sky is the limit!

Sweet Adelines Australia Hosts Online Convention

Blue Sky Harmony is a prospective chorus of Sweet Adelines International – a wordwide singing organisation with more than 20 000 members. Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, our chorus was working towards performing at the Australian national convention in Hobart in mid-May. As events around the world were cancelled, we sadly had to cancel our quartet event, ‘Sequins and Songs’ (planned for 21st March) and shortly after, we realised that the convention could not proceed. It was quite a blow, after coming off the high of our amazing retreat in Maleny. We were loving our songs and excited to share our performance with the Australian barbershop community. Of course, it was not safe for mass gathering such as this, and we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would have to wait another year.

Then in April, we heard news that Sweet Adelines Australia was planning an online convention – dubbed the ‘UnConvention’ for Saturday 16th May. This event would have many of the elements of a normal convention – an opening ceremony, quartet and chorus performances, an evening concert of the best ensembles, an afterparty, and education classes. Every chorus and quartet (past or present) was welcome to submit a video of two songs. We knew we had to put in an entry! Being less than a year old, we didn’t have a lot of footage to choose from, but we found two videos of past performances and put together a compilation.

On the day of the UnConvention, many of us tuned into the webcast, hosted by members of Hobart Harmony Chorus, who were introducing performances from a live studio in Hobart (of course, the hosts were appropriately physically distanced from each other). Some of us took the opportunity to ‘bling up’, putting on a nice outfit or some glamorous earrings – a true novelty after spending the better part of the last two months at home. One of the wonderful features of the day was the UnConvention Facebook group, with more than 700 members from all over the country, sharing photos, stories of past conventions, and sending shout-outs to friends.

Chorus member Michelle was on the UnConvention Planning Committee, due to her role as Team Coordinator of Sweet Adelines Australia. She presented a welcome video, introduced a slideshow of the highlights from the past year (the 30^th anniversary of Sweet Adelines Australia), and announced the first two inductees into the Hall of Fame. We were proud to have a member of Blue Sky Harmony so involved in this event. We were also extremely proud of two of our members, who were recognised for achieving significant longevity milestones during the opening ceremony. Jill has been a member of Sweet Adelines International for 25 years, and Karen has been a member for 20 years. 

Next up we thoroughly enjoyed the quartet and chorus performances – some real highlights from past conventions, and also some original pieces created during isolation via some fancy video editing. Very impressive! Then it was time for our performance – and wow, we didn’t expect the reaction we received! So many people sent us lovely comments on the Facebook group, and commented that they were excited to see what was next for our chorus. We felt extremely welcomed into this community of singers.

After the performance sets were over, we tuned into the evening’s ‘Parade of Champions’, to watch videos of past quartet and chorus champions. Performances to aspire to. Some of us finished off the day at the Zoom afterparty. A party for nearly 100 people sounds like an odd thing to run on Zoom, but with a rotation of sing-alongs (on mute, of course), dancing, and small break-out groups to catch up with other singers, it worked really well!

UnConvention is something that we’ll remember for years to come. We truly hope that COVID-19 can be beaten with a vaccine soon, so that UnConvention doesn’t need to become a regular replacement for a real-life convention. But if we have to wait a little longer to sing on stage in front of hundreds of other barbershoppers, UnConvention will go a long way to filling some of the hole in our chorus lives and lifting our spirits.

Honing our Craft in the Mountains

We felt very lucky last weekend to spend the weekend at The Ridge at Maleny, working on our competition songs and also taking some time to connect as a chorus. Coach Glenda Lloyed travelled up from Canberra to join us in the stunning surrounds of Booroobin, and we are so appreciative of the support she continues to provide to our choir. 

Not only did Glenda help us in unifying our vocal production (by ditching any unnecessary vocal manipulation), she also arranged a stunning new ending for our contest ballad, and switched up some of the chords in other sections of the song. We can't wait to sing it for our family, friends, and fellow barbershoppers!

  

Aside from some glorious singing, we were thankful for the opportunity to relax with a few drinks and some delicious food while we took in the sweeping mountain views. There was quartetting, guitar sing-alongs, and a bit of group 'tagging' (where one person teaches the end of a song - the tag - in four parts).  We have a very talented group!

   

The Sunday of our retreat fell on International Women's Day, so we decided to mark the occasion with a flash-mob! We headed to the markets in Maleny, sang Glenda's fabulous arrangement of the iconic Helen Reddy anthem 'I Am Woman', and then we disappeared as quickly as we'd arrived! We then held a celebratory lunch at Hotel Maleny.

   

We are so appreciative of being part of this chorus, and being able to take part in lovely experiences such as retreat.  Huge thanks go to Glenda, our Musical Director, Julie, and our Team Coordinator, Natalie, for helping to create such a memorable weekend!

Getting Jazzy

On Thursday 27th of February, Blue Sky Harmony had a fantastic evening performing at The Lounge, upstairs at The Royal Hotel in Nundah - one of our regular haunts!  This cool live music venue features leather booths, Chesterfield couches, wood-panelled walls, and a pool table nook surrounded by beautiful framed black and white photos.

We were invited to take to the stage by Art Deco Dance Orchestra, whom we had previously met while they were performing at the regular 'Jazz Thursdays' event at The Lounge.  On this occasion they performed two sets with guest vocalist Peter Vance, and during their break we sang some of our favourite jazzy a cappella tunes - including the debut of our new contest uptune! 

The audience was wonderfully engaged.  It is rare to make a strong connection with audience members in any venue serving drinks, so we were thrilled to have such an appreciative crowd to interact with. Our choir always loves getting out and about in the Nundah community, and The Lounge was no exception. 

We received wonderful feedback from band leader Joe Howman, who said "We were blown away with your harmonies and heartfelt performance. The arrangements were interesting, novel and beautifully executed. We had excellent feedback from the audience and the venue's management. The Blue Sky Harmony performance contributed to making the night a big hit. In fact my sax player said to me, ‘How can we follow that?’."

Our sincere thanks go to Art Deco Dance Orchestra and everyone in the audience who made this such a memorable performance!

Blue Sky Harmony Music Team Attends Director Training Weekend

Last weekend was the Sweet Adelines Australia Directors' School in Sydney, which was attended by more than 100 musical directors, assistant directors and visual team leaders from all over Australia - and even some from New Zealand! The special guest faculty was Cy Wood, who has worked a an actor, producer, special events coordinator, and creative director, as well as coaching barbershop. Cy has significant experience in the area of showmanship, helping tie together the music, lyrics, singing and expression to create honest and moving performances. 

In addition to Cy's coaching, members of the Sweet Adelines Australia Regional Education Faculty presented classes such as: How to Teach, Inspire and Lead; The Truth About Resonance; and Conducting Skills. There were targeted networking sessions in which registrants were grouped according to their roles in their choruses - very valuable for sharing stories, techniques and strategies. 

Blue Sky Harmony's Musical Director, Julie, and Assistant Director, Jess, had a wonderful time learning new skills and networking with musical leaders from other choirs. Jess was invited to lead physical warm-ups one morning, and she had the whole room getting Uptown Funky! What a great way to share some Blue Sky Harmony joy with other Sweet Adelines. 

At our first rehearsal following Directors' School, we heard about some of Cy's teachings and we look forward to incorporating them into our songs. Thank you to Sweet Adelines Australia for putting on this amazing educational event every year, so our directors can continue to grow and learn, and bring back new ideas to our chorus. 

  
    Jess getting some valuable conducting feedback                   A small chorus of attendees being directed by Jess

  
    Physical warm-ups - Blue Sky Harmony style           Our directors traveled to Sydney with musical leaders from
                                                                                     Redland Rhapsody Chorus, which is based in Alexandra Hills 


Featured image: Julie, Cy and Jess at Directors' School

Thursday Nights Well Spent!

We've had a lovely break from rehearsals since the 12th of December, but we couldn't resist the opportunity for a couple of get-togethers during our 'time off'. First, we headed to the Hamilton Hotel for their regular Thursday night karaoke night - this time with a Christmas theme! We thoroughly enjoyed watching some talented and entertaining singers hit the stage, and we even chatted to a few people about our awesome little a cappella group.  

We performed songs by a range of artists, from Sam Smith to Belinda Carlisle, The Pointer Sisters, Duffy, and ABBA. The audience of fellow singers was extremely supportive, and loved the choreo that baritones Suzi and Kate threw into their rendition of 'Waterloo'. We hope to return for another round of karaoke in future!
 

  
Karaoke time! Blue Sky Harmony members at the Hamilton Hotel's Christmas karaoke night

Another activity that we don't have a chance to do often is head out for late-night shopping.  We didn't quite do that, but we had a lovely dinner at Chermside to start off the year. Next week, we're back at rehearsals!
 

A sneaky drink and a chat after a lovely dinner to start the new year

There is so much to look forward to this year for Blue Sky Harmony. We can't wait to have our first retreat, our first trip to the Sweet Adelines Australia convention and competition, and also charter as a chorus within Sweet Adelines International - a worldwide organisation of barbershop singers. 

It's wonderful to be part of a choir like ours, in which a shared love of singing can lead to long-lasting friendships. We hope to make many more friends in 2020 - come visit us at a rehearsal any time! 

Blue Sky Harmony's first carolling season

Our chorus has thoroughly enjoyed the last few weeks - our first season of Christmas carolling!  Our Festive Season Singing Workshop was a wonderful start to the holiday season, and we were proud to introduce 15 women to our style of a cappella singing during three rehearsals in November.  

Performance-wise, were excited to sing for an enthusiastic audience - full of excited children - at the Hawthorne Garage Christmas Carols on 1st December.  Hawthorne Garage is a gorgeous grocer/deli/produce market, and they have run their carols event for the last couple of years to raise money for local community members in need. Although the festivities had to be moved under cover this year due to rain, it didn't dampen the spirits of the event organisers and guests. 

Not long after the Hawthorne Garage carols, we hosted our inaugural Blue Sky Harmony Christmas Concert at Toombul Shire Hall, on 5th December. This was attended by an audience of more than 40 friends and family members, who heard a mix of traditional and contemporary carols sung by our choir, a quartet and a trio of singers. For the finale of the show, our Festive Season Singing Workshop participants joined us on stage to sing the three songs that they'd learnt with us. We also had a surprise for our audience - a carol medley featuring... kazoos!  It was a light-hearted way to end the performances, and a perfect segue into supper. 
 

  Sparkling Blends performs 'Santa Baby'                                    Time for an audience sing-along!

Our final performance of the season was by the beach at Scarborough Christmas Carols on 8th December. As well as fabulous music, this event had twilight markets, food trucks, rides, and loads of Christmas activities. Scarborough Christmas Carols provided us with a unique performance situation - individual microphones. Although we usually sing with microphones that pick up the choir's combined sound, we took advantage of the opportunity to use individual mics and unleashed our inner divas! The audience was huge - plenty of families with picnic blankets and camping chairs - and it was a wonderful event to be part of. 
 

   Hanging out in the deli air con at Hawthorne Garage       In amongst the crowd after our Scarborough performance        

Something else that we were happy to be part of this festive season was the 'It's In The Bag' campaign run by Share The Dignity. This charity's main focus is to help women and girls experiencing homelessness, by helping them access sanitary products and other personal care essentials. Each Christmas, they call for donations of handbags/backpacks filled with santiary items, toiletries, and other items; these are then distributed to women and girls in need. With generous support from family members, friends, workshop participants and colleagues, we were able to put together 17 bags for the It's In The Bag campaign. We hope to support this extremely worthy charity again in future years.
 

    
  We met Santa Claus backstage!        Some of the donations we put together for 'It's In The Bag'     Dropping off our bags at Bunnings

We're now on a break from rehearsals until 16th January, but we're going to have a couple of social catch-ups in the meantime!  We're very proud of what we've achieved as a chorus over the last few months, and we thank everyone who has shown an interest and supported us during this time. We hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and wish you all the best for the coming year.  


Featured image:  Blue Sky Harmony on stage at our inaugural Christmas Concert.

Sharing the joy of singing

Throughout November, Blue Sky Harmony was excited to welcome 15 women to a series of introductory workshops on a cappella singing. Participants came to the workshops with a range of levels of singing experience, from long-time choristers to complete newbies, and the lessons had something for everyone. Each week, we focused on a different skill area and worked on learning three festive songs.

The workshop's finale was our Christmas concert on 5th December, which had an audience of more than 40 supportive family members and friends. Many of our workshop participants took the opportunity to showcase the results of their efforts, joining us on stage for three songs. The final song - a Christmas carol medley - had a surprise twist... kazoos!  It was a fun finish to a wonderful few weeks of learning. 

Members of Blue Sky Harmony thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the workshop participants, and we hope that some have been inspired to do more singing in future. There is a choir out there for everyone! We believe that a creative outlet is so important to have - it allows for self expression, facilitates learning, and builds confidence. Our chorus looks forward to running further a cappella workshops in 2020, so we can encourage more women to get back into singing. 
 

Some of the Festive Season Singing Workshop participants, with Blue Sky Harmony members

Featured image:  The finale of our Christmas concert - a carol medley with kazoos!

Blue Sky Harmony in Canberra

Five members of Blue Sky Harmony travelled to Canberra to attend a special workshop by educator Steve Scott, from 22-24 November. Steve works for the Barbershop Harmony Society - the US men's barbershop organisation - as a Music Education Specialist. In this role, he oversees the development and implementation of new interactive and online learning for Harmony University, and assists in the operation of music-based curriculum at Barbershop Harmony Society education events.

Steve's specialisation is in vocal pedagogy, which is the study of the art and science of voice instruction. Vocal pedagogy is used to teach singing, including how to achieve proper singing technique.  The classes that Steve presented over the weekend described how the voice works, what doesn't improve singing technique (i.e. mythbusting), how the correct body alignment can positively affect sound, and how to better use breath and vowels when singing.  

Barbershoppers from all over Australia took part in the workshop, so this was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends from other choruses.  The event was hosted by Brindabella chorus, who are heading to the Sweet Adelines International convention next year to compete in the Harmony Classic - a competition of the ten best small-to-midsized barbershop choruses in the world. Workshop participants were treated to a sneak peak of Brindabella's competition package, so we feel pretty special!  

We are now looking forward to putting many of Steve's teachings into practice as we work towards performing at the Sweet Adelines Australia Convention and Competition in 2020 in Hobart. 
 

Vocal pedagogy expert Steve Scott coaches Brindabella Chorus. 

Featured image:  Blue Sky Harmony members Ainslie, Michelle, Suzi, Natalie and Courtney on their way home after an educational, fun-filled weekend in Canberra.

The River City Clippers' Annual Concert

Blue Sky Harmony was honoured to be a guest act at the annual concert of Brisbane-based men's barbershop chorus, The RIver City Clippers (pictured above) on 27th October. This year, the Clippers took a creative idea and turned it into a wonderful themed show - Close Encounters of the Musical Kind.

The concept of the show was based around an alien called Notone, who was travelling through outer space when she discovered something amazing... the golden record that was launched into the solar system on NASA's Voyager spacecraft in 1977! History buffs may know that this record was inscribed with directions to earth and instructions on how to create a record player. By following these instructions, other intelligent life-forms would be able to play the record, which carried greetings from the people of planet Earth, and samples of music including classical, blues and rock 'n' roll. 

In the Clippers' show, the intrepid alien had found the record, decoded it, and then travelled to earth to find out more about the music she had heard. Luckily for Notone, she landed right next to the Clippers' rehearsal venue - a perfect place to find the information she was seeking! The story of how Notone made her way to Earth was covered in a clever show-opening video, which you can still watch here.
 

    
Blue Sky Harmony backstage at the Clippers' concert           After the show. L-R: Nick, Julie, Steve and Jess       

Over the course of the afternoon, the Clippers took the audience on a journey through many types of music, and Blue Sky Harmony was happy perform a set of four songs during the show.  This performance was our choir's official public debut, and we thoroughly enjoyed singing to a room full of barbershop and a cappella music fans.  The show was a great success, and we look forward to collaborating with the Clippers again in future. 

You can catch us performing next at our Christmas Concert on Thursday 5th December - find out more here.

Feel the festive spirit with Blue Sky Harmony

Blue Sky Harmony is proud to present our inaugural Christmas Concert on Thursday 5th December from 8pm at Toombul Shire Hall, Nundah, on Brisbane's northside.

Join us for an evening of music to kick-start the festive season! You will enjoy traditional and contemporary carols performed by our choir, quartets, and participants in our November singing workshop. Audience members will even have a chance to join in the singing!

Tickets are $10 each, or free for children under 15, which includes entertainment and light refreshments. Grab your tickets today!

This event is supported by the Lord Mayor's Community Fund and the Councillor for Northgate Ward.

Blue Sky Harmony is out and about!

Over the past month, we’ve had a packed schedule of amazing concerts and workshops!  We attended the Vocalescence and Sound Connection combined show in August, which included an exciting Wizard of Oz-themed package.  This was followed soon after by a concert hosted by the Blenders Chorus, featuring award-winning men’s barbershop quartets The Newfangled Four and Blindside.

From late August to early September, talented Blue Sky Harmony member Liliana was performing in the title role of Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble’s production of ‘Henry IV Part I’. Many of us rugged up to enjoy this play at the Amphitheatre, Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane.

Most recently, we were thrilled to attend a masterclass with ‘the father of contemporary a cappella’, Deke Sharon.  Deke is a singer, arranger, composer, director, producer and teacher, and he is widely known for his role as the musical director and arranger for the ‘Pitch Perfect’ films. Our choir’s members enjoyed learning some vocal percussion skills and hearing Deke’s thoughts on performing.

We love to attend shows and workshops as a chorus.  Not only do these outings give us ideas for our own performances, but they’re also an opportunity to build closer connections with other arts groups – and have a lot of fun in the process! 
 

  Liliana as Henry IV                      Some of Blue Sky Harmony's members with The Newfangled Four quartet             

 Photo: Craig McDiarmid

Featured image:  Blue Sky Harmony with Deke Sharon

Festive season singing workshop

Do you love to sing? Are you interested in learning more about harmony singing and vocal production? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a star of the stage? If the answer to any of these questions is 'YES!', then we invite you to join us for a fabulous festive season singing workshop!

Workshop participants will join the members of Blue Sky Harmony for three rehearsals, from 7:00-9:00pm on the 14th, 21st and 28th of November. During this time, they will learn a fun holiday song in four-part a cappella harmony with our choir, and work on improving their vocal production and performance skills.

The excitement won't end there though! On Thursday 5th December, participants will have the opportunity to join Blue Sky Harmony on stage to perform for family and friends at our inaugural Christmas concert, starting at 8pm. All rehearsals and the Christmas concert will be at Toombul Shire Hall, in Nundah Village, Brisbane.

Register now for the Blue Sky Harmony festive season singing workshop, or contact us anytime for more information. We hope to see you there!

This workshop is supported by the Lord Mayor's Community Fund and the Councillor for Northgate Ward. 

Blue Sky Harmony Embraces Learning Opportunities

August has been an action-packed month so far for Blue Sky Harmony, and we're less than two weeks in!  Last Thursday night we were thrilled to spend a night being coached by Glenda Lloyd in our new rehearsal venue - Toombul Shire Hall.  Glenda is Master Director of Brindabella Chorus, a Sweet Adelines Australia Regional Education Faculty member, and also an arranger, songwriter, and medallist quartet singer (bass in Debacle Quartet).  Although we are a small choir, we sounded five times the size by the end of rehearsal, and were singing with joy and freedom.  We celebrated with a drink after rehearsal, and enjoyed a chat with one of our favourite coaches.

We followed on from this special night with a whole weekend of learning at Sweet Adelines Australia's 'August A Cappella' event. This was just one of a series of workshops that will be held all over Australia in August, and around 60 people attended in Brisbane (pictured above),.

Glenda Lloyd and Jo Oosterhoff were our coaches for the weekend - Jo sings tenor in the Australian champion quartet, Enchant, and is also a Master Director of A Cappella West Chorus, which she co-directs with Lindsey Dyer. With this wealth of experience, the weekend was sure to be a success, and Blue Sky Harmony's members had a wonderful time honing our vocal production and performance skills.  

Another highlight of August A Cappella was catching up with other singers from all over the east coast - from Bundaburg to Melbourne. It is always a delight to spend time with other women who share our passion for a cappella harmony singing. We can't wait to see what the rest of August brings!

            Blue Sky Harmony at August A Cappella                    Coaching with Glenda Lloyd (Glenda pictured centre)            

Welcome To Our New Website!

Thanks for stopping by to learn more about Blue Sky Harmony. Although we are one of Brisbane's newest performance ensembles, our members have been singing together for many years. In our midst we have seasoned a cappella singers, educators, facilitators, and musicians. 

Our choir has a varied repertoire of contemporary four-part a cappella harmony music, and our performances incorporate storytelling and movement. We are now accepting bookings to perform at events and functions - if you are planning an event during the festive season, please contact us ASAP as our availability is limited. 

Blue Sky Harmony is based in Nundah, on the northside of Brisbane, and we welcome membership enquiries from women who love to sing, embrace new challenges, and strive for excellence. For all the details of how to sing with us, visit our 'Become a Member' page. 

We invite you to follow us on our journey via Facebook, Instagram, or by signing up to our mailing list (via the 'join our mailing list' box on the top right of this page).