Kelli Allison's blog

Wishing you a million dreams and lots of candy canes...

Submitted by Kelli Allison on

We are super lucky in the Waikato Rivertones Chorus to have a strong music team, including the very talented arranger Rowena Harper. Since joining the chorus 6 years ago, Rowena has enthusiastically thrown herself into all aspects of the chorus, including choreography, assistant musical directorship and arranging four or eight part harmony for multiple pop songs including this Waikato Rivertones Chorus virtual Christmas song. 

Another one bites the dust...

Submitted by Kelli Allison on

Competitions, that is! At the start of #nzmusicmonth the Waikato Rivertones headed to Christchurch to perform in Harmony Aotearoa. This Sweet Adelines NZ national chorus event was even more highly anticipated than usual because it was cancelled in 2020 (thanks Covid!). It was great after all of our rehearsals to finally perform for real. For our seasoned performers it was slightly different this year, with our international judges watching us via live stream video and results shared a week later.

"We don't need no education..."

Submitted by Kelli Allison on

Well, yes we do actually! Getting regular doses of musical education is a huge bonus of being a WRT Rivertones member. As well as weekly tips at rehearsals, we usually have a couple of weekend 'retreats' each year with international or national coaches to help us polish our performances. At a recent retreat with vocal coach Virginia Humphrey-Taylor I learnt all about the benefits of coning, keeping my chin down and improving my breathing by widening my nostrils (I had no idea that nostril tape was a thing!). We have choreography to learn too (I'll talk about my dancing skills another time though lol). 

Retreat weekends are also a chance to have some fun, get to know each other better and have 'me' time.

2021...Waikato Rivertones have big plans for you!

Submitted by Kelli Allison on

It's 2021...yay! I think most of us heaved a big sigh of relief when 2020 was over. At our first Waikato Rivertones (WRT) chorus rehearsal this year we did a bit of a retrospective and discussed the highs and lows of being a chorus during Covid-19. Whilst we got great at doing rehearsals via Zoom, we decided nothing is as good as singing together in person. Then we agreed some things we really want to do in 2021...

A key theme is to really focus on the joy of singing through more performances and informal team events.

Musical education continues to be high on our list, which was 'music to the ears' (pun intended ha ha) of our fabulous WRT musical director Kate Sinclair.

The show must go on!

Submitted by Kelli Allison on

It's a month of performances for the Waikato Rivertones...which we love! Lots of rehearsals and extra practices so we're ready to perform soon at Harmony Breakout and at the Cambridge Christmas Festival. See our Events page for more details - we'd love you to come along.

Celebrating female barbershop

Submitted by Kelli Allison on

This week the Waikato Rivertones were meant to be on stage in Louisville, Kentucky performing in the international Sweet Adelines competition (thanks Covid)! Instead we commiserated/celebrated with dinner together, and sang some of our favourite songs (check out this Facebook post). Not quite the same, but we still had fun! We're grateful that unlike many countries, we can actually sing together rather than via Zoom.

Thinking of joining the Waikato Rivertones chorus?

Submitted by Kelli Allison on

I remember feeling apprehensive when I went to my first Waikato Rivertones (WRT) chorus rehearsal last year. I'd recently moved back to Hamilton and decided to finally get round to singing again. I did some googling on Hamilton choirs and saw that WRT were having an open night. After a quick stalk of their website, I decided to take the plunge and head along. Turned out it wasn't that scary as there were a bunch of other apprehensive newbies like me, and we were warmly welcomed by various chorus members who came up to say hi and put us at ease. For those of you thinking of joining, you'll be taken under the wing of our wonderful WRT Membership Coordinator Robyn Baron.

What is the Waikato Rivertones chorus all about?

Submitted by Kelli Allison on

It's a good question. My partner is quite puzzled as to what the allure is for me to sing each week with a bunch of other ladies. A Waikato Rivertones (WRT) alumni once said she 'came for the music, but stayed for the friendships.’ That sums it up well for me!

I've heard the chorus described variously as 'lots of fun,’ 'intense,’ 'educational,’ 'a great group of women,’ and an 'amazing sound.’ We all have different reasons for joining... a common theme from other members is that it is great ‘me time.’