After getting in contact with the Great Western Chorus, UK Barbershop Chorus champions of 2009, it was decided that we should get both TUBBS and GWC together for a workshop on barbershop singing in the second term of the year. 21st February was selected as the date, and everyone duly arrived at St. Paul's ready to sing at 11am.

After a long warm-up session (which all of the TUBBS MDs were cribbing ideas from) we split into gents and ladies to learn some of the songs for the concert in the evening. Many TUBBS members had their first taste of tag singing, and also of learning songs at a very quick pace and aiming for no use of music by that evening!

Everybody involved seemed to be learning something new, whether it was how to give a percussive sound to the endless “doo doo doo” lines for the basses, or translating terminology between barbershop (tenor, lead, bari, bass) and choral (soprano, alto, tenor, bass, each in parts 1 & 2) styles.

Since this workshop went so well, and everyone had a great time, it looks like it will become a yearly fixture in the TUBBS and GWC calendars!

– Iain Hallam, 2009-02-23