Directors Day 2022

Saturday 5th March

Venue:

Blue Coat CofE School & Music College, Terry Road, Coventry CV1 2BA (fully accessible with ramps and lifts)

General timings:

Arrival and registration*: 9:30-10am
Welcome and first session: 10am
Finish: 4:30pm

Refreshments and lunch are provided.

* Please bring your LABBS lanyard or other suitable alternative, with wallet/pass holder

About the day

See below for further information about the structure and content of the day.

Sorry - Registration has now closed.

 

Registration Fee

The cost per person is £30 for LABBS members, £50 for non-members.

  You will be sent an invoice with details how to pay. Please ensure this is paid promptly, to confirm your booking.

A number of VinH grants were available for this event. Applications are now closed, you will be informed if you were successful and a refund of the registration fee will be issued as appropriate.
 



What you can expect


Theme


Our Directors Education event this year is themed around meeting the challenges we face rebuilding our choruses’, and our own, skills in the wake of Covid. It will be led by an all-star faculty of some of LABBS’s most successful and knowledgeable directors, including Sally McLean, Helen Lappert, Debi Cox, Monica Funnell and Craig Kehoe, coordinated by LABBS Chorus Director Development Specialist, Dr Liz Garnett.

The team are delighted to be able to welcome our peers back to in-person activities, with the opportunity to connect back into the heart of what makes directing a chorus a vital and exciting experience.
 

Structure of the day


A plenary session in the morning will explore the conductor-choir bond, and introduce the training model we will be using for our practical work, which will focus on that intimate connection between ear and gesture that was taken away from us during the Zoom era.

Every delegate will have an hour of practical session, in small groups led by faculty members, giving hands-on application of methods they can take back to use with their own choruses.

In parallel with the practical sessions there will be a choice of three elective sessions, of which every delegate will take two, themed around specific needs we will face as we emerge from the pandemic. See below for more details.

The day will offer many opportunities to exchange ideas and experiences. We are all going through unprecedented circumstances with our choruses, and nobody has all the answers. But many of us have parts of the answers and we are each other’s best resources in navigating these unusual times.
 

Electives:


All three electives sessions are focused on various aspects of coping with the post-pandemic recovery process. All delegates will attend 2 out of the 3 (the third session being spent in small-group practical work).

Please indicate your order of preference on the registration form (choice 1 and choice 2). Given the need to manage numbers for practical work, we can’t promise that everyone will get their preferred choices, but we will make sure we spread any disappointment around as fairly as possible!
 
1. Recovering Skills:

What are the quickest and stickiest ways to get vocal and performance skills back to where they were pre-covid? How do we recallibrate singers’ ears to help them perceive the changes needed?
 
2. Managing Different Needs:

How do we bridge the gaps between chorus members with wildly different needs/circumstances? Between those who are raring to go versus those who have not regained their momentum yet?; between new members who don’t yet have barbershop experience and established members who may not be currently setting the best example?; between those attending in-person rehearsals and those still attending remotely?

3. Rebuilding Chorus Identity:

How do we win the hearts and minds of our choruses? How do we engage a possibly fearful chorus? How do we change our own expectations to fit with a differing rehearsal experience? What are our biggest fears, and what do we do about them?
 

Queries about registration or logistics of the day should be addressed to the LABBS Event Champion on eventschampion@labbs.org.uk

Queries about the educational content of the day should be addressed to LABBS Chorus Director Development Specialist, Dr Liz Garnett, on email: directorseducation@labbs.org.uk