Got that Noted?

 

Imagine our absolute indignation! There we were, standing on stage with the IVY League at Gold Rush III in March, waiting for the curtains to open, when compère Sally Mclean announces to the audience that ‘Noted’, a quartet from the youth chorus had won the 2008 Dorothy Bosley award. We looked at each other, all thinking the same thing, “What a cheek! I can’t believe someone stole our quartet name!”. Then it actually sunk in! It actually was us…we had won the award…wow!

 

Since then it seems that we’ve been launched via a catapult into the world of LABBS ‘quarteting’! We all met when the IVY league was formed and have linked up as a quartet since then. We are all University students from across the UK and, not surprisingly we heard of the IVY League and Barbershop singing originally from family members.

 

Angharad (Hari) Birtles, our Tenor, is from Amersham in Buckinghamshire where her mum sings with Amersham A Cappella and she is currently studying at Cardiff University.

Catrina Lakin, our Lead, and her sister Jamie, our Bari, are from York, they sing alongside their mum with the Abbey Belles. Catrina is just about to complete her degree from Oxford Brookes Uni.

Tash Willis, our Bass, is from Bristol studying at Glamorgan Uni she also hails from a ‘Barbershop family’ - Tash previously sang with the Avonbelles and her Dad sings with Great Western Chorus.

Even though we are so far apart we have managed a two day rehearsal in Oxford and are planning the same in Amersham over the summer.

 

 So already heavily under the influence of the fabulous close harmony sound and ringing chords of Barbershop style singing, it has been a wonderful experience to be in at the start of something as exciting as The IVY League and now NOTED.

 

We should, like in all good award ceremonies to do our list of thanks and with great sincerity we thank Mel Lane for her work with The IVY league and for allowing us to meet in the first place and the LABBS E&J team for this award. We were so delighted to receive it and are now planning what to do with the grant. We’ve decided to put it towards coaching and to improve as a quartet and build up our repertoire.

 

Since winning the award we have received overwhelming support from so many people within the LABBS organisation who have welcomed us like new family members. We have been offered encouragement, support and coaching and must thank Samantha Roberts, the Quartet Registrar, who has been a great help and Amersham A cappella for their encouragement and for offering us coaching with Bronze Medallists NotEorious…what an offer!

 

But most recently, the best offer of a singout we’ve had is Mic warming the Quartet Semi-Finals Competition at Labbs Convention this year in Harrogate!!! We are all really excited and also incredibly nervous about it, but most importantly, what are we going to wear?! Until then we shall be rehearsing as much as we can, and hope to see as many of you at convention as possible!