Athlone A Cappella attend Spring Sing event in Our Lady's Bower
Athlone A Cappella (AAC) recently attended a series of workshops in Our Lady's Bower to mark Spring Sing weekend.
Organised by the Irish Association of Barber Shop singers (IABS), the weekend workshop was attended by many other choruses from around Ireland and by singing coaches from as far afield as Sweden, the USA and the UK who attended the event providing valuable coaching for the singers.
The Spring Sing is an annual event which is held in various locations around Ireland. This year Athlone A Cappella was delighted to have the opportunity to host the event in Athlone and to welcome the other choruses to the Midlands region.
It was a great opportunity for AAC to meet up with other barber shop choruses and to sing together and reconnect with old friends. Many choruses from around Ireland attended the event, travelling from places such as Dublin, Cork, Sligo and Wicklow.
The weekend also included a Youth Barbershop event which took place in Tuar Ard Moate and was organised by a collaboration between IABS and Music Generation Westmeath, involving several local primary and secondary schools. The students involved concentrated on two songs, 'A Million Dreams' and 'Mr Blue Sky', which was performed in four part harmony.
AAC thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and appreciated the opportunity to receive coaching from voice coaches from Sweden, Los Angeles and Sheffield. The coaches themselves are indeed part of very successful choruses and quartets in their own countries. The coaching concentrated on improving the singing by interpreting the lyrics, movements to enhance the meaning, timing and expression. All participants found the coaching to be hugely beneficial.
AAC will shortly be attending the International European Barbershop Convention 2025 in Helsingborg Sweden in May. This will be a fantastic opportunity for the singers of AAC to move into the larger European Arena and to meet with like-minded International choirs and to improve on their all-round performance and sound. It is a very exciting opportunity for all the singers under the direction of Hilary Roche, their Musical Director.
AAC is hoping that the coaching at The Spring Sing and the trip to Helsingborg will help build confidence and performance for the next IABS Annual Convention in October 2025 to take place in Killarney.
Last year AAC was delighted to achieve silver in their highly competitive section, the National Chorus contest, the intention this year being to reach even greater heights.
AAC would be interested in recruiting new members with an interest and aptitude for singing, so if you are interested in joining this dynamic chorus, please contact athloneacappella@outlook.com or send a message directly on the Athlone A Cappella Facebook page.