17th October 2023
By Sueperb
With just ten days left before the start of LABBS Convention 2023, the Abbey Belles Chorus were feeling confident and were ready to show off their latest Convention package. We were joined by our friends Main Street Sound and Yorkshire Blend.
We did some physical and vocal warm up exercises together and then made our way across to St James’ church where our friends and families were waiting for us to perform for them.
It’s been a very long time since we last attended a Convention, and for some it will be their first time, so each chorus and quartet were introduced as though we were on stage in the actual auditorium, including improvised sound effects of the stewards closing the doors, and everyone’s favourite, the house lights being dimmed!
We all enjoyed our singing, we’ve certainly practised hard over the past few months, and Catrina seemed genuinely pleased with our performance.
Jabberwocky wowed us all with their two sets of beautiful, confident songs, and we thoroughly enjoyed hearing Main Street Sound and Yorkshire Blend’s packages too. To conclude the dress rehearsal, all the singers piled onto the altar steps to sing “Make Your Own Kind of Music”. It’s fabulous to sing in such a huge group, it gives me goosebumps remembering that feeling.
Back to our rehearsal space for tea and cake (we’re really good at cake!) and we enjoyed receiving lots of wonderful comments and a surprising emotional reaction to our singing. In true afterglow tradition, the hum of easy conversation was interspersed with groups in circles enjoying singing together.
It’s fair to say that the road to Convention 2023 has been a long one for us, but l think we’ve never been more ready!