Hi there,

So, you wanna know about the Young Singers in Harmony contest in Dunedin?
Great event! Here's my personal views. I was there as director of the
Aotea College choruses, and coach of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Young Men in Harmony quartets

1st - Blue Tak (Takapuna Grammar School, Auckland)
2nd - Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Aotea College, Porirua)
3rd - Sound Waves (Tawa College, Wellington)
[4th - The Bluebirds (St Patrick's College, Wellington)]

Blue Tak were terrific, and clear winners. They reminded me a lot of Vocal
Spectrum, this year's Intercollegiate champions in Louisville, partly
because of their song selection (South Rampart St. Blues), but also because
of their appearance and basic sound. More potential than MIB? I wouldn't
like to get into that game, as I believe it comes down to motivation and
good coaching. Certainly they've come a long, long way in a year (when they
they placed 3rd), and look to have the right attributes. For now, though,
Musical Island Boys is ahead.

The three Wellington quartets (2nd-4th) are all oozing with possibilities,
though each clearly has work to do. Goldilocks and the Three Bears are
great entertainers, but have a way to go before their ballad really hits
home (sez me, their coach). Sound Waves are a young quartet with four good
singers, including a phenomenal bass. In years to come they'll be
formidable champions, once their baritone develops greater strength, as was
hinted by their performance on the evening show. The Bluebirds were
hampered by a tenor with vocal problems on the day caused by a "hard out"
haka the night before, but they're sounding very much like Pacific Blue in
their first year.

Young Women in Harmony quartets

1st - Downtown Girls, Hamilton Girls' High School
2nd - A Tone Apart, Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt
3rd - Stranz, Rangi Ruru Girls' School, Christchurch

Downtown Girls were wonderful, and clear winners - the one quartet that gave
us the complete package. In terms of this year's Rising Star contest, I'd
say the performance level was comparable to the "leading pack" behind the
top two contestants. In Dunedin, I suspect this was a tough contest to
judge other than for first place, as each quartet had its unique combination
of great strengths and glaring weaknesses. A Tone Apart had a good lead
(Teresa Bergman, the gold medal lead from three years ago), Stranz sang
expressively, and quartets from Dargaville and Riccarton High Schools rang a
lot of chords, to name some of the strengths.

Young Men in Harmony choruses
1st - Acafellas, Tawa College
2nd - The Saints, St. Patrick's College, Wellington
3rd - Waiwharariki, Takapuna Grammar School
[4th - Aotea Boys' Chorus, Aotea College, Porirua]

I didn't see much of this live, but going by the evening show and a video of
the contest, I'd say this was the least clear-cut category. 1st/2nd was a
contest between Acafellas' strong barbershop style and The Saints' resonant
sound. 3rd and 4th had occasional tuning lapses, with Waiwharariki's
expressive ballad singing balanced against the huge audience appeal of
Aotea's uptune. The standard in this contest has certainly been rising.

Young Women in Harmony choruses
1st - Maiden Tawa, Tawa College
2nd - Uptown Girls, Hamilton Girls' High School
3rd - Aotea College Girls' Chorus, Aotea College
[4th - Truly Notable, Tauranga Girls' College, Tauranga]

A repeat of last year's result for the top four choruses! Yet I think the
standard improved on last year, and this was generally an impressive
contest.

So all in all, a great day! It was one of the rare occasions Wellington
didn't win everything (we've won 10/13 YMIH quartet contests, 6/9 YWIH
quartet contests, 3/5 YMIH chorus contests, and 3/5 YWIH chorus contests),
but hey! this was our "rebuilding" year!!

Cheers,
David Brooks
director Wellington City Chorus, SAI

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