Latest News


  • Treetops Hospice Charity Show
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 15 Mar 2024
    Treetops Hospice Charity Show
    Treetops Hospice is the chorus' charity of the year, so we are very pleased to present "An Evening of Music" on Saturday, 27th April, in aid of this worthy cause.

    The show will be the first in our excellent new rehearsal venue, The Chilwell Arts Theatre, on the campus of Chilwell School. The chorus will be performing alongside acts from the local community, including young musicians from the school and Echotones, an a cappella group from Nottingham University. More details can be found on the poster. The show starts at 7.00pm  Don't miss what promises to be a very entertaining evening!

    Tickets £10 adults, £5 students from Ticketsource:  www.ticketsource.co.uk/grand-central-chorus
     
  • Four New members!
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 5 Mar 2024
    Four New members!
    Last Wednesday, Stuart presented membership certificates to four new chorus members. Congratulations to Ian, Paul, Peter and David on their successful auditions. We look forward to them singing with us for many years.
  • We're Moving!
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 16 Feb 2024
    We're Moving!
    Since Covid, we have been rehearsing at Kirk Hallam Social Bar, but from Wednesday 21st February we move to Chilwell School. The school is in Chilwell (as you may have guessed!) about five miles west of Nottingham city centre, but for those travelling from further away, still only about 10 minutes from the M1, Jn25.
     
    This move gives us the advantage of building links with the school community and rehearsing in the school theatre, which will almost certainly become our venue for future shows.
     
    You will find us on Wednesday evenings from 7.00pm, at:
    Chilwell School
    Queens Road West
    Chilwell
    Nottingham
    NG9 5AL
     
  • Ruddington Spring Showcase
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 26 Jan 2024
    Ruddington Spring Showcase
    Grand Central Chorus are delighted to be supporting The Ruddington Pantry with a charity show at St Peter's Church in Ruddington on Saturday, 24th February.

    Come along to enjoy some great singing as Grand Central Chorus captivate you with medal-winning barbershop harmony, and St Peter’s very own Three Ds entertain. Enjoy a mix of classic a cappella, songs from the shows and pop favourites. No tickets, free admission with a collection for The Ruddington Pantry.
    Doors open 6.30pm. Show starts 7.00pm.
    (On street parking, Church Street, NG11 6HA)
  • New Member For Grand Central
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  •  Date Posted: Sat, 6 Jan 2024
    New Member For Grand Central
    Last Wednesday we were pleased to formally welcome Mike Bindon to the chorus. Mike received his BABS certificate from Alan Goldsmith, and joins our lead section for what we hope will be many enjoyable years with Grand Central.
  • "A Christmas Mix" - CANCELLED
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 1 Dec 2023
    "A Christmas Mix" - CANCELLED
    CANCELLED - owing to a significant outbreak of Covid in the chorus. Hopefully to be rearranged in early 2o24.


    Grand Central Chorus are delighted to be supporting The Ruddington Pantry with a charity show at St Peter's Church in Ruddington on Wednesday 6th December.

    Come along for an hour or so of great music as Grand Central Chorus captivate you with medal-winning barbershop harmony, and St Peter’s very own Three Ds entertain. Enjoy a mix of Christmas tunes, songs from the shows and pop classics. Free admission with a collection for The Ruddington Pantry.
    Doors open 7.30pm. Show starts 8.00pm.
    (On street parking, Church Street, NG11 6HA)
  • Christmas Vocal Explosion
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 1 Dec 2023
    Christmas Vocal Explosion
    Grand Central Chorus has been invited to entertain at Lux A Cappella's "Christmas Vocal Explosion" on 16th December at 7.00pm. The venue is Brockington College, Blaby Rd, Leicster, LE19 4AQ. The chorus will be joined by Gem Connection and Knighton Community Choir.  Tickets £10 - see poster above for details.
  • WANTED - Men Who Love To Sing
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  •  Date Posted: Sun, 1 Oct 2023
    WANTED - Men Who Love To Sing
    Are you a secret singer?
    Fancy singing in a Christmas show?
    Never tried singing with other like-minded men?

    Then come along to our open rehearsal on Wednesday, 1st November at Erewash Valley Golf Club. Stay for a few more taster sessions and you'll be invited to sing in a Christmas concert and astonish friends with your new found talent!

    You don't need to read music or have any experience. All you need is to sing in tune. You'll learn quickly using our superb teach tracks, expertly guided by our very friendly, experienced musical director. We sing songs from musicals, pop classics, and traditional barbershop. This is your chance to try a cappella (unaccompanied) singing, or to start again if you've sung before.
     
    We're a friendly bunch so you can just turn up. Or preferably reserve your free place now, without obligation, to help with planning.  Just email:  info@grandcentralchorus.com to register your interest

    or click on the link below for a free ticket on TicketSource 

    Erewash Valley Golf Club, Stanton-by-Dale, Ilkeston, DE7 4QR
    Wednesday 1st November at 7.15pm


     
  • Harmony Lincs 30th Anniversary Show
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 19 Sep 2023
    Harmony Lincs 30th Anniversary Show
    After a very enjoyable and well received show in Harby last Saturday, we now look forward to Saturday 7th October. Grand Central Chorus will be guests at Harmony Lincs 30th Anniversary Show in Lincoln. Tickets for what is definitely going to be a great evening are selling quickly so book online now to make sure you get a seat in the Terry O'Toole Theatre (LN6 9AX). Show starts at 7.30pm. Tickets £10-£12.
    https://betterboxoffice.co.uk/whats-on/grand-harmony/book
  • Evaluation and Inspiration
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 1 Sep 2023
    Evaluation and Inspiration
    What a great time we had at this week's rehearsal with Jill Foskett. First the official evaluation of our performance at convention back in May. Lots of positives and also plenty to work on, all gratefully received. And then, inspiration from Jill with her performance coaching, as we worked on one of next year's convention songs. It was challenging, but very enjoyable!
  • Harmony In The Vale
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  •  Date Posted: Sat, 26 Aug 2023
    Harmony In The Vale
    During a slightly quieter month or more since the excitement of the Bournemouth convention, we've been enjoying rehearsals and working hard for our first performance of the Autumn season.
    We are delighted to be entertaining on Saturday 16th September at Harby Village Hall in the Vale of Belvoir (LE14 4BZ) . Also featuring Midnight Train, the 2022 British Barbershop Senior Quartet Champions and other guest quartets.
    Doors open 7.00pm for 7.30pm. Tickets available from Ticketsource: £5-£7.50.
  • A Great Result At Bournemouth Convention
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  •  Date Posted: Sat, 3 Jun 2023
    A Great Result At Bournemouth Convention
    The chorus had a very successful time at Sing 2023, the annual barbershop convention, held in Bournemouth over the late Spring bank holiday weekend

    We finished 4th with a score of 75.2%. One place up on last year with a higher score. A huge thanks to all members of Grand Central for the commitment needed to achieve this result. And well done to all the choruses that competed.
    YouTube Video URL:
  • Are You A Man Who Loves To Sing?
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 15 May 2023
    Are You A Man Who Loves To Sing?
    Do you enjoy the harmony of men's voices coming together to create great music? If you can sing in tune and would like to try singing with us, or just find out more, then come and meet Grand Central Chorus for a fun evening at The Becket School, West Bridgford. Completely free and without obligation.

    Whether you're looking to improve your singing skills, or just have some fun, there's no better way to do it than by joining a group of like-minded men who share your love of singing.

    You don't need to be able to read music so why not give it a try?
    To help with planning, reserve your place by clicking the link below. 
    Or you are very welcome to just come along on the evening.   It’s FREE!!  

    Wednesday 14 June at 7.30pm

    The Becket School
    West Bridgford
    Nottingham
    NG2 7QY

    Click here to reserve a place.

     
  • Goodbye To Mark
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 31 Mar 2023
    Goodbye To Mark
    Wednesday's chorus rehearsal was bittersweet as we bid farewell to Mark Soave. Mark has made a significant contribution to Grand Central for several years, and we are sad to see him go as his work takes him down south. We showed our appreciation with several gifts, presented by Alan Goldsmith, including a framed photograph signed by our members. Thank you, Mark, and we wish you all the best.
  • All Change Out Front At Grand Central
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 15 Mar 2023
    All Change Out Front At Grand Central

    At the start of the pandemic, Zac Booles our chorus director, was moving on as had been planned for some time but we found new leadership in the combination of Richard Curtis and Mark Soave, both experienced chorus members.

    Following Convention in Harrogate last April, Richard decided to return to his first love, coaching the chorus, leaving Mark as the one and only chorus director. Everything seemed settled and then Mark’s employers decided to relocate to the Oxford area, which resulted in a very regretful decision to leave Grand Central. As many choruses will know, finding a new director can be stressful, time consuming and often frustrating but for us it was an easy process this time.

    In 2020, Glenn Chaney stepped down from directing the very successful Lace City Chorus. This break from directing gave him the opportunity to get back on the risers and sing with a BABS’ chorus and, fortunately for us, he chose Grand Central. So, with Mark necessarily standing down, all it took was to persuade Glenn to take over and thankfully he accepted the invitation.

    Glenn and Mark have very different barbershop biographies - Mark first got into barbershop when a school friend showed him a video of FRED performing their fantastic 'I Got Rhythm' on YouTube in 2006. He formed a quartet with some friends in school and sang with them for a couple of years. A few years later he moved to London for university and, realising he was only 10 minutes away from Capital Chorus, he jumped at the opportunity to sing with them. This also introduced Mark to the wide world of BABS and all the fun and camaraderie that brings with it. On moving to Nottingham, he joined Grand Central as a baritone, and has sung with the chorus for the last 10 years. In 2019, Mark also joined MaleVox where he sings lead.

    Glenn has been involved in barbershop for much longer, his first barbershop experience being with the Birmingham based Anvil Chorus in 1980.  Apart from a couple of years working abroad, he has been active as a chorus or quartet singer, chorus director, workshop leader and coach ever since.  On returning to the UK in 1987, he joined the Nottingham Gateway Chorus, and went on to sing with Hallmark of Harmony and has also sung in various quartets. Following a youth workshop in Quorn in 1990, he formed barbershop choruses for boys and girls at his school in Nottingham.  In 1992 the girls' chorus evolved into the Lace City Chorus with Glenn as founder director and he went on to become the first Master Director in the Region. If that was not enough, he has also had spells as director of the Major Oak Chorus which he formed in 2003 and Harmony Lincs.

    Mark leaves with our very best wishes and our thanks. We wish him every success with MaleVox and we look forward to catching up with him at future BABS events. The transition from him to Glenn has been remarkably smooth and, whilst losing Mark is very disappointing, we could not have wished for a finer or more experienced replacement.

  • Rainbows Charity show in Loughborough
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  •  Date Posted: Thu, 12 Jan 2023
    Rainbows Charity show in Loughborough
    What a brilliant show – and it was all in aid of a wonderful local charity, the Rainbows Children’s Hospice, which is based in Loughborough. Gary Farnfield was our compere for the evening and he gave us a very heart-felt introduction to the great work the charity does for terminally ill children.

    Grand Central Chorus was in top form and we were joined by two mixed quartets, ‘Crown Derby’ and ‘Peridot’ who were both preparing to compete in the LABBS National Convention. Crown Derby came 3rd in the BinH Mixed Quartet competition – so well done to them.

    It was great to have some young local talent on the show and Brightlights Theatre School took us into the land of musicals for half an hour. Great to see so much talent with a life-time of singing in front of them…… and for a complete contrast the Quorn Ukulele Orchestra delighted the audience with the magical sound of a ukulele ensemble.

    We were honoured and delighted that both Jane Hunt, the MP for Loughborough, and the Mayor of Charnwood, Jennifer Tillotson were present, as was Alan Hughes the BABS Chairman, together with his wife Sarah.

    All in all - a great evening packed with a wide range of musical entertainment. There was an audience of over 140 and with all the acts in the hall Emmanuel Church was packed with an atmosphere like nothing we have experienced over recent years. And of course the other objective of the day –  £1,300 donation to the Rainbows Hospice.
     
  • Grand Central Chorus 30th Anniversary - Some highlights and memories from members – as submitted to the HEX magazine
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  •  Date Posted: Thu, 18 Nov 2021
     Grand Central Chorus 30th Anniversary - Some highlights and memories from members – as submitted to the HEX magazine

    2021 is the 30th Anniversary of Grand Central Chorus. We thought it might therefore be of interest to provide a selection of personal highlights and memories from some of our members from their time singing with the chorus.

    The members who memories are highlighted below vary from founder members, with 30 years’ service to our chorus, as well as those who have joined in the past ten years or even more recently.

    Brian Sargent from our lead section recalls “The first rehearsal I went to in June 2005, the members were stood talking in funerial groups. Remarking on this to my contact he informed they had just been competing at the weekend and were ‘not happy’ with the result. The obvious question revealed they came second!
    I gulped and have been gulping ever since! Another memory was when a small GCC Chorus performed at one of our charities’ shows some years ago. After we presented the cheque to the charity involved, some members of a band that had also played in the concert came over and congratulated us on our harmonies asking if we were professional! We confessed we were not. ‘Takes a lot of work to get to that standard’ one offered. I felt so proud to be part of it and it helped confirm my thoughts that I was part of something special”

    Our Chorus Secretary Chris Blatchford, and a key member of our Tenor section recollects “I first sang barbershop in February 2003 and was incredibly fortunate to receive a gold medal with GCC three months later in Harrogate. What an introduction to barbershop!  However, my most exhilarating moment was the following year when we went to Louisville. I was the second person to walk onto the vastness of the BHS International stage and the adrenalin boost was phenomenal. The time for the Chorus to get into position, turn into our ghoulish stance (we sang a parody all dressed up as Dracula) and start singing seemed like an eternity. It was probably only 3 minutes, but it felt like 3 hours and the amazing experience of hearing the Chorus singing through feedback speakers was so reassuring. It was an experience that I can relive today and whenever I get butterflies before a show or competition, I can recall that moment and it gives me the confidence to get out there and do my best”

    Martin York, who is the member of our Chorus Executive team focussing on chorus recruitment and sings in the bass section remembers “During a visit by Grand Central Chorus around eleven of so years ago, I was standing alone outside a church in Sligo, Northern Ireland. We had sung a variety of songs when ...what can only be described as ...a little old Irish lady...walked past we with a cheery...” Good night”. It’s a pity I cannot emulate the Irish accent with the written word but having then descended the few steps, she turned and said ..“I taught you might like to know...you was only brilliant!”

    Bryan Smith, our Chorus Vice Chairman and member of the Baritone section has also provided a personal highlight “It was 2011, and the year I went to see Grand Central Chorus in concert. It was the first time I had heard the barbershop style, and after the concert I decided this was what I wanted to do.  Within weeks of the concert, a ‘Learn to Sing Course’ appeared in the local paper. One phone call later, having booked my place on the course, I was on the journey. Being in the ranks of the full Chorus was exhilarating and a quartet presentation conjured up possibilities for the future. The Chorus was off to something called ‘Convention’ in May 2012. However, it was suggested that I, along with others from the ‘Learn to Sing’ Course, would probably not be ready to participate. The gauntlet had been thrown down, which saw intensive study and practice from the course members, resulting in me being on the risers in Llandudno where the chorus won a gold medal under the directorship of the grand master, John Grant.”

    David Taylor is a newer recruit to the chorus who joined our lead section from Harmony Lincs just a few years ago and who now leads the planning and coordination with the Music and Executive teams of our sing-outs and other external performances. He remembers “A chance visit to the doctor in Caythorpe back in 2009 allowed my eye to be caught by a small postcard ad lying on the magazine table, appealing for any would-be singers to join Harmony Lincs. A few weeks later, I was welcomed into the harmonic warmth of the barbershop world. Soon after I offered to become their Performance Co-ordinator and so was encouraged to meet up with Peter Tatham, who at that time held the equivalent role in GCC. I asked if I could watch Grand Central Chorus in rehearsal and so went along, notebook in hand. But what I heard that night just blew my mind! After an opening warm-up session with Zac Booles, GCC sang through On The Street Where You Live. The sound created went beyond song. I was wrapped in a huge cushion of harmony and the hairs on my neck stood on end. At the end of it, I gave that Grand Central Chorus a standing one-man ovation, with tears in my ears and a deep determination in my soul. One day, I’ll join you lot!! One day” (and he did!)

    Mark Burnip, is one of our eight founder members, and a former MD of the chorus as well as our Tenor section leader, recalls a story during his time as MD which made us all laugh!
    “It was just into my tenancy as MD of GCC and we had just moved to our new house the day before. We had a big show at Leeds Town Hall, and we had just learned our new medley of Phantom of the Opera. Kevin Wilkinson decided to give the medley some “realism and atmosphere” and to use a smoke machine to give the ethereal affect and make it look “spooky”.
    As we began, the medley it was great as the smoke drifted across the stage and looked brilliant but half-way through the smoke got thicker and thicker until I couldn’t see the chorus and they couldn’t see me! How we got to the end I will never know, but the audience loved it and will stay in my memory as one of my funniest moments as Chorus Director!”

    Rob Taylor is a Bass Section Assistant leader and support the chorus and Music team on all matters relating to music rights and approvals etc. He recalls our most recent visit to BHS International Convention in 2013, which took place in Toronto. “We have been rehearsing our two-song set for months (seemed like years!). The choreography for our up-tune - South Rampart Street Parade - had been so well drilled that we could all do it in our sleep. I and three others had a cameo quartet bit in the middle of the song – again very well-rehearsed. After several days of sight-seeing, we started our final rehearsals and were receiving some last-minute coaching from an eminent BHA educator. There was to be a change in the performance aspect of our quartet bit! Not a big one, but I was 59 years old, and change was not something I relished!
    The day of the chorus competition arrived and we took our places on the risers in front of thousands of expectant Barbershoppers. The pitch was blown and the song started. I waited for that part of the song where I silkily step down from the back riser to join the rest of the quartet for our four bars of glory. Hurrah!
    There were no trips and we sang all the right notes and words in the right order, carrying out the performance changes as planned. I then nonchalantly returned to my rightful place on the back riser to seamlessly join in with the rest of the chorus. Looking back with pride, I can honestly say that I have sung ‘in a quartet’ in an International final. Oh yes, and with some relief too!”

    Alan Goldsmith has not only been our chorus Chairman for several years but is also of course a past BABS Chair (and has masterminded BABS Harmony College for many years) Alan highlights “Singing with GCC has created many memories, particularly, to quote Jim Henry, ‘Gold medal moments’. That’s not about winning gold or any other colour medal, but those very special occasions when something memorable occurs. Winning a BABS chorus gold medal, singing on the International stage or at any of the hundreds of contests or performances are all worthy of remembering, but the iconic memory for me was following the Saturday evening performance in Cork at the 2016 IABS Convention when we had an impromptu after-glow.
    Starting with just a handful of members and partners the numbers slowly increased as more and more singers made it up the hill to the Clarion Hotel. Chorus repertoire old and new, polecats, and every song we could collectively sing made for a wonderful experience and evidenced the closeness of the chorus and the deep friendships.
    Sometime after 1am an Irish party came to the bar and obviously we sang for them, and the lady who was celebrating her 90th birthday. Singing to a barbershop audience is one thing, singing to those who hadn’t previously experienced it is something else – heart-warming, satisfying, humbling or life affirming, I’m not sure which. How long we sang for I can’t remember, which songs we sang I’m not sure, but to paraphrase Irving Berlin, “The memory lingers on”.

    Finally, Paul Searson, another member of the GCC Executive team who supports the chorus both as our ‘webmaster’ and in many other technical roles (as well as being an Assistant Bass section leader) provides his personal highlight.

    “I joined Grand Central 5 years ago, as a complete barbershop novice. Since then, I’ve enjoyed many wonderful experiences with the chorus - shows, sing-outs, retreat weekends, medal-winning contest performances, and memorable trips to the Irish & Spanish Conventions.
    But a standout memory for me is my first onstage performance, at the 25th Anniversary Show at the Derby Theatre, in April 2016. I’d passed my chorus audition at the end of January and had only a few weeks to learn the show songs - it would also be the first time I’d ever sung in front of an audience, so I was pretty apprehensive. Waiting on the risers behind the curtains was nerve-wracking and exhilarating in equal measure, as we listened to our MC, Len Matthews, introducing the chorus. The adrenaline was pumping as the applause started, the curtains opened, and the spotlights hit us. An expectant hush descended, the pitch pipe sounded, and we were away! With the rest of the chorus around me, once we were singing, I got swept away with the performance and all too soon the curtains were closing to thunderous applause. I couldn’t wait for our second-half performance, what a buzz!”

    My grateful thanks to Brian, Chris, Martin, Bryan, David, Mark, Rob, Alan, and Paul for sharing their highlights and providing a personal window into the impact that singing four-part harmony with Grand Central Chorus has had on their lives.

    Nelson Blackley - PRO Grand Central Chorus

     
  • Covid Update - We are up and Singing !
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 17 Nov 2021
    Covid Update - We are up and Singing !
    What a wonderful experience to be singing together in a new venue, Kirk Hallam Social Club. 

    For the last 18 months we were singing on-line. We gradually improved our on-line techniques with Jamulus and then Jamulus+Jitsi rehearsals. Well done to Frank, Richard, Paul and John, our Techie Team. We have not stopped learning craft and new songs, our teaching material has taken a giant step upwards and we have learned all our new songs in pitch. Wow - so there have been some benefits from our period of isolation but now we can rehearse together and hear those chords ringing. 

    The risk assessment is attached which shows how we can rehearse again with a low risk of transmitting Covid.  We are up and Singing.

    We have had 6 rehearsals at Kirk Hallam Social Club and there is a buzz. 43 members have now attended at least one rehearsal. Congratulations to Mark, Richard, Barry and the Music Team for keeping the energy of the Chorus alive while we switch back into rehearsing in the same hall.

    Check out the new risers.....
    Attachment:
  • Celebrating 30 years of Grand Central Chorus
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  •  Date Posted: Sat, 3 Jul 2021
    Celebrating 30 years of Grand Central Chorus
    To commemorate our 30th anniversary, Mark Soave and Mike Houghton have created a video compilation featuring clips and photos from various chorus performances across the years.

    This video was premiered in one of the Daytime Showcase sessions during the recent BABS Sing2021 virtual convention.

    (The Grand Central video was the first performance in the showcase session, starting from 42 seconds in and running through to 5 minutes 25s).
    YouTube Video URL:
  • Grand Central Chorus - singing together "live" in online rehearsals
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 1 Mar 2021
    Grand Central Chorus - singing together "live" in online rehearsals
    The past year has been unusual for all singing groups, to say the least! We’ve had to adapt to new challenges of virtual rehearsals and have grown accustomed to performing to our computer screens. At Grand Central, like many other choruses, we had to quickly switch over from our regular ‘real-life’ rehearsals to online sessions on Zoom. We were fortunate to have a fast transition, with plenty of support provided for our members to get used to the new technology. However, it became increasingly apparent that it would be a while before we were able to be singing together in the same room. Whilst Zoom is fantastic in that we can all see each other, it has its issues with sound latency. We’ve probably all tried singing together over Zoom at one point or other and found the results to be both frustrating and hilarious! Furthermore, anyone who has tried to direct over Zoom will know it’s not a full experience as you miss out not hearing the sound from your singers. We continued rehearsing with Zoom, having fun each Wednesday night, but in the background we were looking for other platforms which might enable us to sing together. One important aspect for us was that it should be affordable (ideally free), and we didn’t want our members having to purchase expensive sound cards or technical equipment.

    Richard Curtis had come across the open-source software, Jamulus, in late May. It was marketed as software to enable live rehearsing, with very little latency. This was the key element – the low latency means the sound arriving at both singers is close enough to be in ‘real time’. How this works is the sound from each singer is sent to a central server, which can be public or private, and is then re-transmitted to the singers, meaning all the sound arrives to everyone at the same time. Furthermore, as open-source software, it’s continually being improved upon and updated by the active development community. Richard and Mark Soave had their first trial of Jamulus just before the AIC Show in July, even managing to sing a few polecats with two Barbershop Harmony Society members in the US. From then on, Richard made it his mission to get Jamulus working for Grand Central Chorus. Within a few weeks (and after a lot of adjusting settings!) we were able to have a small group on a public server and this was enough to convince the Executive Committee that Jamulus was an idea worth pursuing. The establishment of a server for the chorus was approved, as well as the purchase of chorus headsets for each member.

    During late summer and autumn we were working hard to iron out the kinks, before finally being able to have our first Jamulus rehearsal in early November. We were thrilled to have nearly 40 of us all able to sing together for the first time since March! Just hearing the chorus hold a four-part chord on an ‘Ah’ was a special moment. Who knew a warm up could be that emotional…! Since then, we haven’t looked back, with almost all of the chorus tuning in on Jamulus each Wednesday singing together. We can go into section rooms and hold sectionals, play teach media alongside our singers, and have a chat after rehearsal. The only thing missing from a true rehearsal experience was the visual element.

    Then, over Christmas, Frank Salter contacted us about a low latency open-source video software he’d come across called Jitsi Meet. He was able to set up a Jitsi server to run alongside our Jamulus server. It works similarly to Zoom in that it is a video conferencing app but, crucially, Jitsi has very low latency. This means we can have Jamulus open for the sound and Jitsi open for the visuals, and they are both in sync with very little latency (~20-30ms), so we can see and hear each other in real time. This has opened up a whole new world for us as directors, being able to live direct a song and hear our singers react to our gestures. As singers we can share our performances and work on visuals whilst all hearing how the performance has affected our sound. Simply put, it’s as close to a ‘normal’ rehearsal as possible. We’re all so excited about this! At the time of writing, we’ve had four full rehearsals with Jamulus and Jitsi, and of course there are teething problems, but each week it gets better and better.

    None of this would have been possible without the support of our Executive Committee, and our very capable ‘technical team’ Paul Searson, John Amstrong, and most of all Frank Salter, who have been crucial in setting up private servers for the chorus, providing an excellent walkthrough for getting started with Jamulus, and helping many of our members get comfortable with the new software. We are also so grateful to the chorus for being willing to jump into the unknown with us and try out this new way of rehearsing with such gusto!

    If any of this sounds interesting to you, please don’t hesitate to visit our “Contact Us” page to get in touch with us for more details, or to arrange to visit one of our online rehearsals.

    Mark Soave and Richard Curtis, Directors of Grand Central Chorus
     
  • Obituary - Mike McWhinney
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  •  Date Posted: Sun, 4 Oct 2020
    Obituary - Mike McWhinney
    Grand Central Chorus members were saddened with the sudden passing, in September 2020, of long-standing stalwart Mike McWhinney.

    A member for 25 years, he joined after a period as Chairman of Kegworth BHC, and he was quickly involved in all aspects of Club activity, including long spells as Treasurer and Lead Section Leader.


    Originally by profession a civil engineer, he eventually became the owner of a business in the textile trade. This resulted in his appointment as our uniform manager, negotiating deals with suppliers, and organising fittings and resolving all the inevitable issues that arose.

    Mike was proud of his Scottish heritage and through his membership of the Nottingham Scottish Golf Society, and those GCC members who performed at their functions were made most welcome and our performances appreciated. He had a unique style in addressing the haggis on Burns Night, totally incomprehensible to we Sassenachs of course.

    Ably supported by his partner Wendy, Mike was an avid fund raiser and in this aspect the work they did was inestimable. In addition to our weekly tote they had an uncanny knack of prising splendid prizes and contributions from outside sources, including their golf club members. This resulted in many legendary raffle tables at our performances, attracting the punters, and thereby greatly assisting our ability to donate to our chosen charities.

    Mike sang with GCC on three Gold Medal winning performances. He was also our designated pitch pipe man for many years. He had a fine mellow lead voice and won the BABS Seniors Gold quartet medal back in 1997/98 with Silver Sound. He was also a member of vocal group ‘Yesteryear’, starring on TV a few years ago with Gareth Malone. Mike was always getting things done in a quiet, unassuming and efficient manner, including the mentoring and guidance of new members.

    On behalf of Grand Central Chorus, our deepest condolences to Wendy and their families.


    Many thanks to Mick Barnacle for putting together this obituary.

     
  • Obituary - Ian Gooding
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 6 Jul 2020
    Obituary - Ian Gooding
    (Image courtesy of Long Eaton Rotary Club) 

    After completing a number of degrees in both science and engineering Ian started out his working life as an engineer but answered the call to full time ministry and so then spent three years at theological college.


    Ian served for thirty-five years with distinction as Rector of Stanton-by-Dale in Derbyshire. He was also Rural Dean of Erewash for fifteen years and an Honorary Canon of Derby Cathedral. After his retiral he was Canon Emeritus and Additional Chaplain at Derby Cathedral.


    An ex-member of General Synod of Church of England, Ian was a Trustee of the Church of England Pensions Board until his death. Since 1988 had also been Chair of the
    UK Christian Broadcasting Council Trustee Board

    He joined Grand Central Chorus in October 2012 and so was one of the newer members who travelled with the Chorus to Toronto in July 2013 when we represented BABS in the BHS International Chorus competition. Apart from singing as a member of the lead section, Ian was soon elected to the post of Chorus Secretary and served in this key role for several years with his usual calm efficiency. He also took responsibility to source and book our weekly rehearsal venues.

    Ian was a real ‘people person’ with great networking skills that he put to full use during his time in GCC. His wide range of contacts would regularly swell our concerts, introducing many local civic dignitaries to barbershop.


    As someone totally relaxed in the art of public speaking, Ian often acted as a ‘scene setter’ during chorus shows. Most memorably, with everyone remaining in character throughout the nine-minute performance, he delivered the innovative but thought-provoking ‘link words’ between our first and second contest songs during our silver medal-winning 2016 BABS ‘Scarecrow’ performance in Harrogate.


    Ian was married to Kathleen, with three married children and eleven grandchildren. Apart from his family, he also had a wide range of outside interests - as well as singing with Grand Central Chorus, he was a long term season ticket holder at Leicester Tigers and was this year’s President of the Rotary Club of Long Eaton.
     


    His untimely death on 23 June after a long illness has resulted in numerous messages and memories from so many chorus members both past and present who had been privileged to know him. May you Rest in Peace Ian.


    Nelson Blackley, Keith Harding and Alan Goldsmith - Grand Central Chorus

    Postscript:
    In normal circumstances, the chorus would attend and sing at the funeral of one of our members to pay our final respects. Sadly, with the current COVID-19 restrictions, that wasn't posssible for Ian's funeral, so chorus members were asked to record their individual parts to Irish Blessing as a personal tribute to Ian, and Richard Curtis mixed these into a virtual chorus recording. The recording was played at Ian's funeral as his coffin was carried into the church. Mike Houghton subsequently created a video presentation to accompany the recording: click here to view the Irish Blessing video.



     
    YouTube Video URL:
  • Rehearsals suspended until further notice
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 17 Mar 2020
    We are saddened to announce that, in the light of advice from HM Government, Grand Central Chorus has cancelled rehearsals until such time as it is adjudged to be safe to meet again. This also applies to planned performances. We send our best wishes to all our fellow barbershop singers and hope that we will get the whole world singing again before too long.
  • Pancreatic Cancer UK - our adopted charity for 2019/20
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 27 Nov 2019
    Pancreatic Cancer UK - our adopted charity for 2019/20


    Grand Central Chorus voted at their recent AGM to support Pancreatic Cancer UK and so will be holding collections at their concerts and shows over the coming year. The chorus are determined to raise much needed funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK - the charity dedicated to funding ground-breaking research into new treatments and faster diagnosis of the disease.

    One of the singers in the chorus, Steve Rose, nominated Pancreatic Cancer UK after Sue, his wife was diagnosed at stage 4 with this condition and chorus members voted to support the charity for the next year.

    Steve said:

    "Sue and I are amazed and humbled by the huge support shown by the chorus members with many committing financial support directly to the charity”. 


    “In the UK, 24 people die from pancreatic cancer every day and you too could help change this shocking statistic by taking on “Challenge 24” by visiting www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk 

    Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival of all the 20 most common cancers in the UK, with just seven percent of people living for five years or more after diagnosis. Pancreatic Cancer UK is taking on this devastating disease by investing in ground-breaking research and supporting patients and their loved ones through its free-phone Support Line staffed by specialist nurses.

    Sue Collins, Director of Fundraising at Pancreatic Cancer UK, said: “We are delighted Grand Central Chorus is supporting us over the next year. The funds raised will help us to take on this extremely tough disease, which around 10,000 people are diagnosed with every year in the UK. The funds raised by Grand Central Chorus will help us offer support to patients and families, invest in vital research to help us see the breakthroughs we urgently need, and be a voice for everyone affected by the disease.”

    If you would like to support Grand Central Chorus in their efforts to raise money for this charity, you can check where and when they are performing at www.grandcentralchorus.com  For more information or to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK, please visit www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/fundraise

    (Chorus image courtesy of David Taylor)
     
  • FREE SINGING COURSE!
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 11 Oct 2019
    Have you ever wanted to sing but not sure your technique is right?
    Do you want to sing to the best of your ability rather than abuse your voice over those high notes?
    Fancy singing in a capella harmony with other guys?

    Then this is the course for you.

    We are offering a free 4-week course on Wednesday evenings starting November 6th till 27th November and finishing on Wednesday 4th December with an open rehearsal and showcase for friends and relatives.

    The course will take place at the Harrington School (on the same site as The Wilsthorpe School, Long Eaton, NG10 4WT).

    Grand Central Chorus Music Directors will support you through the course along with singing members. Formal coaching will be from 7.30pm – 9.00pm with the opportunity to stay on till 10.00pm learning how coaching techniques are applied to a larger group. All teaching material - teach tracks and sheet music - will be provided.

    Singing is proven to enhance wellbeing (British Lung Foundation) and is an excellent way to improve your voice, your confidence, your breathing and your social life! With this in mind you might want to consider joining Grand Central Chorus after the course!

    For more details, and to register for the course, call or email Bryan on 07549 049551 (bckc50@sky.com), or click here to register for the course online.
     
  • Grand Central Chorus is looking for a new Chorus Director
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  •  Date Posted: Thu, 22 Aug 2019

    After seven very successful and happy years, our Chorus Director Zac Booles will moving on after the BABS 2020 Convention, and so Grand Central Chorus is looking for someone to take up his baton and continue the chorus’s growth and development.

    The Grand Central Chorus is an enthusiastic group of sixty men from across the East Midlands who love singing together in four-part close harmony, in Barbershop style. The chorus has won the gold medal on five occasions at the UK National Barbershop Convention and has represented the UK at the BHS International Convention in North America several times. In fact, the chorus has never been out of the top six places in all the years it has been eligible to compete in the UK National Barbershop Convention.

    We therefore want to find another collaborative, dynamic and motivational musical leader, who shares our ambitions and can offer a strategy to further develop our singing and performance skills. Our new chorus director must have choral directing experience, (although not necessarily in the barbershop harmony style) as well as a good knowledge of music theory. Other essential qualities include well-developed organisational and communication skills and the ability to coach the chorus in a positive and encouraging manner.

    The chorus director is responsible for leading the talented coaching team of the chorus and, in association with them, determines repertoire both for contests and other performances, plans rehearsal schedules and sets the required standard for any audition processes. The chorus director will be expected to represent the chorus, and to contribute appropriately, at relevant events organised by the British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS). The chorus director will receive expenses in accordance with an agreed schedule.

    Chorus rehearsals are held on Wednesday evenings, from 7.15 pm, at:

    Harrington Junior School, Derby Road, Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire, NG10 4BJ.
    (5 mins from M1, Jn 25)

    The closing date for expressions of interest, which should be emailed to Alan Goldsmith at  chairman@grandcentralchorus.com is 31st October 2019.

    For further information or an informal discussion, please contact Alan by email or on 07842 125138.

  • Grand Central Chorus at the 2019 BABS Convention
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 29 May 2019
    Grand Central Chorus at the 2019 BABS Convention
    As usual Convention weekend began with the BABS Quartet Semi-Finals on Friday afternoon. This year Grand Central Chorus were represented by Mark Soave, our Bari section lead, who was singing with The Eclectic Quartet. Our MD, Zac Booles was singing baritone in The Locksmiths, who along with Finest Hour (Eddie, Nick and James Williams, and Jonny Pipe) were competing for an International qualifying score for BHS Convention in 2020. Unfortunately The Eclectic Quartet didn’t progress to the Finals (although they finished in an excellent 10th place) but both The Locksmiths and Finest Hour were there.

    On Saturday, as we had an on-stage time of 3.17pm, most of the chorus were able to enjoy a leisurely start to contest day – apart from one of our baritones, John Armstrong, and one of our leads, Hector Jaumandreu, who were also competing earlier in the day with Tuxedo Junction with MK Acapella respectively. Later in the contest, we also had lead Martin Kelly, bass Wilf Pattison and baritone Chris Sherwin singing with Three Spires Harmony from Coventry.


    Our chorus spent two hours from 11.30am doing vocal warmups and rehearsing the key parts of our new contest package, which consisted of ‘Taking a Chance on Love Medley’ followed by a ballad, ‘Please Don’t Say It’s Over’, which is a completely original song, with music by Richard Curtis and lyrics by Zac Booles. We then all travelled down together to the Convention Centre by coach to change into our new stage outfits, before completing a final brief rehearsal and then taking to the contest stage.

    As has happened for the past few years, we were fortunate to be drawn in the second half of the chorus contest (which had attracted a total of 35 choruses from across the UK) and so the auditorium was reasonably full when we took to the stage. As usual, our performance seemed to be over so quickly, but the audience reaction was wonderful, with great support from our wives, partners, families and friends who had travelled to Bournemouth to watch us. Two of our chorus, Nigel Smith and Chris Sherwin, were singing with Grand Central Chorus for the first time at Convention.

    We delivered a controlled and emotionally engaging performance, which reflected the significant development of the chorus over the past year under the guidance of our MD, Zac Booles, our coaches, Richard Curtis, Barry Clinton and Peter Tatham, plus section leaders Pete Walters , Frank Salter, Mark Soave and Mark Burnip - not forgetting the invaluable input this year from our guest coach Gary Plaag, who travelled from the USA on three separate occasions during our pre-Convention preparations to be with us.


    The 2019 BABS Chorus contest results confirmed later that afternoon that we had finished in fifth place with (for us) a disappointing score of 78.7%.  However, it was another great contest and many congratulations to all in Hallmark of Harmony who won gold with their highest ever score of 83.2%, and to Meantime Chorus from Greenwich who, in only their third BABS Chorus contest finished in silver medal position with a score of 80.4%.  Congratulations also to Great Western Chorus who won the bronze medal with 80.4% just one point behind Meantime Chorus. The Royal Harmonics finished one place ahead of us in fourth place with a score of 79.7%.  The continued increase in the overall standard of chorus performances at BABS Conventions was confirmed this year with 20 choruses scoring over 65%.

    As at every Convention, at the end of the Chorus contest, and before the scores were announced, BABS presented long membership awards. This included GCC members Eddie, James and Nick Williams (25 year-awards) plus one of our three Honorary Lifetime members Phil Cuthbert (25 year-award), a 30-year award to Pete Morrell and a 40-year award to Peter Tatham! Congratulations to them all!

    Another Grand Central Chorus Convention tradition is that we gather and sing a few repertoire songs just before the Saturday evening show. We did this again at Bournemouth delighting those who had gathered to hear us perform.

    On Sunday, the Mixed Chorus Contest was held on Sunday afternoon, before the Quartet Finals. As in previous years, there was good Grand Central Chorus representation, both from several GCC members and their wives. Congratulations to Paul and Karen Searson, who together with Hector Jaumandreu, won Silver medals with Endeavour Chorus. 
    EQ Rendezvous were also taking part, co-directed by Dick and Delyth Knight, and included Ralph and Sylvy Keenan, as well as our Assistant MD, Kevan Liebling. Finally, Heart of England Chorus included Dave and Sharon Eason, and Nigel and Cherry Smith. Great to have so many members and friends of our chorus involved.

    The Quartet Finals produced yet another exciting contest of extremely high quality, and congratulations to all the 2019 medallists. Finest Hour and The Locksmiths, as previously mentioned, were looking to gain a qualifying score for the 2020 BHS International Quartet Contest in Los Angeles and, as the highest scoring quartet in the 2019 Quartet Finals, Finest Hour have been given the single automatic place that BABS can award.

    As a further six quartets scored over 76%, (the top three in the BABS Quartet Contest, plus previous BABS Champions, Tagline, Emerald Guard and The Locksmiths) BABS will now ask BHS for invitations for these quartets - although it’s never absolutely certain until after the results of the various BHS District Competitions in Spring 2020. However, we can’t wait to watch continued progress of so many high scoring BABS Quartets on the International stage!

    Finally, BABS inducted the 2008 Quartet Champions, Monkey Magic into the BABS Hall of Fame. This is such a well-deserved honour for these amazing singers and ambassadors for Barbershop. They have done so much over the past decade to raise the profile of UK Barbershop and inspired so many of the younger generation to start singing four-part harmony. The YouTube video of their iconic ‘Evolution of Song’ performance at the 2011 LABBS Convention (as the Great British Barbershop Boys) has been viewed almost 1.6 million times around the world!


    So 2019 gave us another very enjoyable BABS Convention and our thanks to all those volunteers on the BABS Board and especially Alan Bithell and his entire Convention team, who spend so much time working hard to ensuring a successful and safe event. Within our own chorus, and in addition to our coaches mentioned earlier, there are many others whose help before and during the Convention ensured everyone in the chorus enjoyed a successful weekend:

    Our MD, Zac Booles, for his continued inspiration, leadership and belief in the chorus; our in-house arranging team (Zac, Richard Curtis and Mark Burnip) whose skills continue to deliver us such unique arrangements and songs to perform; our Assistant MD Kevan Liebling for his usual detailed briefing document; Steve Rose and Peter Sayer for all their planning and organising our accommodation; Bill Traynor and Martin York for their care and transport of our risers to and from Bournemouth; Mike McWhinney and Paul Searson for their organisation of our new performance clothing and finally our Treasurer, George McKie, for ensuring all relevant payments relating to the Convention were made on time.

    As usual, we are already setting our sights on next year’s 46th BABS Convention in Harrogate and working even harder over the coming 12 months to try and regain our place amongst the
    BABS Chorus medals!



    Nelson Blackley      PRO - Grand Central Chorus
     
  • An Encounter with the Grand Central Chorus
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 7 Dec 2018
    On Saturday 10th November, Grand Central Chorus and Finest Hour Quartet performed in a unique concert at Rothley Parish Church to mark the centenary of the First World War Armistice, and to specifically remember the 33 men from this one Leicestershire village who lost their lives during the Great War.

    The following words have been written by Terry Sheppard, the inspiration and organizer of this event, and describe how the idea for concert was formed and then developed over many months, and finally delivered. This was done with the close involvement of our performance coach Peter Tatham, who has lived in Rothley for over 40 years. He has also worked closely with Finest Hour quartet over several years and so was able to secure their involvement in this special event:-


    It is Saturday 25 November 2017. I’m in a voice workshop organized by the Rothley Heritage Trust, of which I am Chairman. The Trust has Heritage Lottery Funding to tell the story of the Victorian Workhouse that stood in my village of Rothley. The project has researched the lives of a number of pauper inmates and prepared illustrations imagined for each person, as well as voice scripts that tell their story. Today’s workshop is to organize a group of volunteers to try out the scripts. Later each script will be recorded, and short video clips will be made mixing the images and the voices.

    The workshop organisers started with a warm-up exercise where participants would introduce themselves to their neighbour, discover something special about them, and then in the group session introduce this person and their special item. Volunteer Peter Tatham was introduced as having the special interest of singing barbershop style with the Grand Central Chorus. I’m a data-gathering sort of person, and this piece of information about a barbershop chorus of men, with a local contact living on my Village Green, was stored away in my priority ‘file’.

    Wearing another hat, I have a responsibility with a colleague of staging regular public engagement events at Rothley Parish Church, in a building that began life in Norman times. My colleague, using a recent study of Rothley’s war dead, was scheming a Casualty Walk around the homes of the 33 WW1 soldiers who died, for the morning of Saturday 10th November 2018. A fitting way of marking the centenary of the armistice of November 1918. Separately I have always treasured a dream of having a concert in Rothley Church that would feature 33 men standing alongside the church’s painted triptych listing of its 33 WW1 casualties. Was this the moment? Would this Grand Central Chorus in my priority file be the way to realise that dream, staging a concert on the evening of that Saturday, 100 years after the first armistice?

    The first meeting with Peter Tatham to float the dream was very positive. He caught the idea of such a Concert to mark the Centenary, and the need to be sure of getting 33 men to come. As we met again Peter continued to be positive, saying the Chorus was happy to fulfil such an engagement, and that ‘we have got 33 men signed up’. I introduced into the discussion some special items that would fit into the shape of the overall programme. We had a bugle player who would blow the Last Post & Reveille. We also had imagined a part where one of the 33 casualties would be impersonated by a young Rothley man in full Australian Infantry uniform. He would read a postcard that he sent from Gallipoli, and later read the Ode of Remembrance standing among the chorus of men.

    Peter added into the programme discussions the availability of the award-winning Finest Hour Quartet. With such an appropriate name as that, and their two signature songs “What More” and “So Long Mother” it was clear we had an emotional and musical scheme to make a splendid evening.

    Dealing with Peter and the eventual programme scheme we worked up was very special. What was so pleasing was that the scheme allowed some continuity slots where I could get across the significance of the 33 men alongside the 33 named casualties on the triptych. So on the night I was able to ask 33 men to come and take up positions on the risers and to help the audience to feel what it was like to see 33 living breathing men represent the fallen 33. The balance of the Chorus followed on.  At the end of the first Chorus set, as the singers left the stage, I was able to tell the story of the Australian casualty Private Sidney Bull before introducing the Quartet for their first set.

    More from the Chorus, including the wonderful performance pieces from My Fair Lady and the appearance of Alfred Doolittle, and then the interval, where the Chorus were able to go back to their own green room in the nearby Church Rooms. The second part featured a song from the Chorus, then a joyful singalong for all of the Soldiers’ Songs, “Pack up Your Troubles”, “Tipperary” and “Good Byee”.

    Time for the tear-jerking “So Long Mother” and “What More Can a Soldier Give” from Finest Hour before the Last Post, and the Ode of Remembrance from Private Bull. The Chorus ended the concert with their beautifully positive “Silver Lining” / “Tomorrow” Medley.  But the ending was carefully worked out with Peter and the Chorus. I was able to issue the military style command “Chorus Dismiss”. As the original 33 men left the stage, they each took a specially knitted poppy and placed it into two brass vases on a stand at the front of the stage. Private Bull added his own, and stood to salute the poppy display. The vases were fashioned from two shell cases retrieved from Etaples in 1919, one of German origin, the other British. Tellingly, all that was left on the stage was the 33 poppies in those vases. We trusted that between us we had duly honoured the memory of our 33 fallen. The beauty of Harmony had been wafted across the whole evening.


    Photo courtesy of Jonny Pipe



    Nelson Blackley and Peter Tatham – Grand Central Chorus
     
  • We'll be "Blowin' a gale in the Vale", Saturday October 20th
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  •  Date Posted: Sun, 7 Oct 2018
    We'll be "Blowin' a gale in the Vale", Saturday October 20th
    Grand Central Chorus will be performing on Saturday 20th October, alongside the Stormy Weather Boys and other guests, in a fund-raising concert in aid of the Dove Cottage Day Hospice, our chosen charity for 2018-19..

    See show poster above for more details and ticket sales.  
  • A Silver Lining for The Grand Central Chorus at the 2018 BABS Convention!
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 30 May 2018
    A Silver Lining for The Grand Central Chorus at the 2018 BABS Convention!
    The weekend began with the BABS Quartet Semi-Finals on Friday afternoon. As usual, Grand Central Chorus were well represented, with our MD, Zac Booles singing baritone in The Locksmiths and of course the current European Quartet Champions, Finest Hour - Eddie, Nick and James Williams, and new bass Jonny Pipe (who were taking part to try to get the highest score of the contest to secure their automatic entrance into next year’s International Quartet contest). Unsurprisingly, both went through to the Quartet Finals on Sunday.

    On Saturday, as we had an on-stage time of 4.31pm, most of the chorus were able to enjoy a leisurely start to contest day - although one of our leads, Hector Jaumandreu, and one of our baritones, John Armstrong, were also competing earlier in the day with MK Acapella and Tuxedo Junction respectively, and our Chairman, Alan Goldsmith, was also directing Harmony Lincs. After meeting at 12.30pm in our hotel, the chorus then spent two hours doing vocal warmups and rehearsing the key parts of our new contest package, consisting of Once Upon A Time, followed by Look for the Silver Lining/Tomorrow Medley. We then moved onto the Convention Centre to change into our stage suits, before the completing a final brief rehearsal.

    For the third year in succession, we were fortunate to be drawn near the end of the chorus contest (which had attracted a total of 35 choruses from across the UK) and so the auditorium was almost full when we took to the stage. With a total of 66 singers on the risers (including 10 BABS Quartet gold medallists and 7 BABS Senior Quartet gold medallists) this was the largest Grand Central Chorus at Convention for a long time. As usual the performance was over so quickly, but the audience reaction was amazing, with great support from our wives, partners, families and friends who had travelled to Harrogate to watch us.


    On stage during the chorus contest

    We delivered a controlled and emotionally engaging performance, which reflected the significant development of the chorus over the past year under the guidance of our MD, Zac Booles, our coaches, Richard Curtis, Barry Clinton and Peter Tatham, section leaders Eddie Williams, Frank Salter, Mark Soave and Mark Burnip - not forgetting the invaluable input again this year from our guest coach Jo Braham. After coming off stage, we enjoyed the wonderful selection of cakes, made by Annette Blackman, which has become an annual Grand Central Chorus tradition and something we always look forward to!

    The BABS Chorus contest results confirmed that we had finished in the silver medal position, with the highest ever competition score by Grand Central Chorus of 1463 points (81.3%) and extremely close behind the 2018 Chorus Champions, Cottontown Chorus, who scored 1471 points (81.7%).

    Click here to see our contest performance.

    Meantime Chorus from Greenwich, in only their second BABS Chorus contest, and with just 20 singers, finished in bronze medal position with a wonderful 79.9% (a score which would have won the contest in many previous years). To confirm the continued increase in the overall standard of performance at BABS Conventions, there were ten choruses who scored over 70% and a total of nineteen choruses who scored over 65%. In fact, our score in winning gold at Southport just six years ago would not have been good enough to even get a medal this year!

    Another Grand Central Chorus Convention tradition, established by our MD, is that we gather and sing a few repertoire songs after the contest results are announced and before the Saturday evening show. We did this again at Harrogate, delighting all those who had gathered to hear us perform.

    On Sunday, the Mixed Chorus Contest was held just before the Quartet Finals, with Momentum winning gold with 83.3%. EQ Rendezvous (directed by Dick Knight and including four other Grand Central Chorus members - Ralph Keenan, Paul Searson, Kevan Liebling and Hector Jaumandreu) won silver with 75.2%.


    EQ Rendezvous performing in the Mixed Chorus Contest

    Sheffield University Barbershop Singers (directed by Hannah Braham, Jo’s daughter and granddaughter of our tenor Mick Barnacle) finished third in their debut contest appearance, with a score of 72.3%.


    The Quartet Finals produced yet another exciting contest of extremely high quality. After finishing in bronze medal position in 2016 and silver medal position last year, we were all delighted that The Locksmiths (Zac, together with Richard Fisher, Simon Lubkowski and Andrew Walker) deservedly claimed the 2018 Quartet gold medals with a superb score of 80.9%.


    The Locksmiths in the Quartet Finals 

    The 2017 BABS Youth Quartet Champions, Sound Hypothesis, finished in silver medal position, scoring 79.2% and Fifth Element in bronze medal position, scoring 78.4%.


    Finest Hour, as previously mentioned, were looking to secure their automatic qualification for the 2019 BHS International Quartet Contest in Salt Lake City and did so in style with a standing ovation for the highest-ever score by a BABS Quartet of 83.0%!


    Finest Hour in the Quartet Finals

    They provided a wonderful end to the 2018 Convention contests and we can’t wait to watch their continued progress on the International stage.


    To round off the Sunday evening, the chorus were privileged to take part in the Show of Champions, where we performed ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ and ‘Georgia’, followed by our silver medal-winning package.


    Grand Central Chorus at the conclusion of their show performance

    As the new BABS Gold Medal Quartet, The Locksmiths also appeared on the show, with a set that included an intense and heartfelt rendition of ‘Jezebel’.



    The Locksmiths performing in the Show of Champions

    During the Convention, BABS announced two new inductees to the BABS Hall of Fame, recognising their outstanding contribution to Barbershop in Britain. We were all extremely proud that one of these was ex- BABS Chairman (and our current club Chairman) Alan Goldsmith.



    So 2018 gave us another very memorable BABS Convention and our thanks to all those volunteers on the BABS Board and Alan Bithell and his Convention team who spend so much time to ensure a successful and safe event. Within our own chorus, and in addition to our coaches mentioned earlier, there are many other whose help before and during the Convention ensured everyone in the chorus enjoy a successful weekend:-

    Zac, for his continued inspiration, leadership and belief in the chorus; our Assistant MD, Kevan Liebling for his detailed pre-Convention briefing document; Steve Rose (and subsequently our Chairman Alan Goldsmith) for planning and organising our accommodation; our in-house arranging team (Zac, Richard Curtis and Mark Burnip) whose skill helped us gain the highest score in the competition from the Music judges; Bill Traynor and Martin York for their care and transport of our risers; Mike McWhinney for his organisation of our newest members performance clothing; and our Treasurer, George McKie, for ensuring all relevant payments relating to the Convention were made on time.


    As usual, we are already setting our sights on BABS 2019 in Bournemouth and having won bronze in 2017 and silver in 2018, we are really hoping to continue this sequence next year!


    Nelson Blackley -  PRO Grand Central Chorus

     
  • Local charity get "a Grand" from Grand Central Chorus!
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 30 Apr 2018
    On Saturday 28th April we hosted a unique “Together in Harmony” Barbershop Show, when special guests included Lace City Chorus, one of the most successful women’s barbershop choruses in Europe, and Finest Hour, the 2016 British and 2017 European Male Barbershop Quartet Champions. The show also featured Chaos, a quartet from Lace City Chorus, and Crown Derby, a mixed quartet with members from Grand Central Chorus and GEM Connection Ladies Barbershop Chorus.

    The show was only the second time that Grand Central Chorus and Lace City Chorus have performed together (the first time being almost 20 years ago back in 1999) and it was a huge success that delighted a packed audience in The John Player Hall, at Nottingham High School. After the show, one of the audience members tweeted “Wow, what a concert! Never seen or experienced so much joyful singing in one place - put a big smile on my face”.

    Apart from providing those who came with an opportunity to hear and enjoy top quality barbershop singing, the show also helped raise funds for Open Minds - a small, local Nottingham-based charity. The charity provides social activities for vulnerable disabled people living in Nottingham and the East Midlands and encourages a warm, friendly atmosphere in which members can meet new people and enjoy their company.

    Open Minds is the registered charity that Grand Central Chorus members chose to support during 2018 and so we were not only delighted that several of the members of Open Minds were able to attend the event, but that our Chairman, Alan Goldsmith was able to present a cheque for £1000 to Sue from the Open Minds charity at the end of the show:-


    Photograph courtesy of Kathleen Gooding.

    Thanks to everyone who helped make this show so special, in particular our Musical Director Zac Booles, as well as Dick Knight, Martin York, Bill Traynor, Tim Oxbrough, Andrew Motson, Paul Searson, Brian Sargent and Ian Gooding, not forgetting all the wives and partners who worked tirelessly on the night "front of house". A particular thank you to Mike McWhinney and Wendy Rogers who worked so hard to organise the raffle, which raised the magnificent sum of £405!

    As always, Len Matthews, one of the chorus’s Honorary Life members, was a tremendous Master of Ceremonies, and we are also very grateful to Glenn Chaney and Lace City Chorus, who delivered such an outstanding performance, as did the three wonderful quartets who supported the show, Finest Hour, Chaos and Crown Derby.

    Finally, the event also provided an opportunity to perform our 2018 BABS Convention contest set for the first time in front of an audience. With three weeks to go to our pre-Convention “retreat” weekend, this will allow our Music and Performance teams to identify and implement whatever changes and improvements are required, so that we deliver the best possible performance at the UK Men’s Barbershop Competition, in Harrogate at the end of May.

    Nelson Blackley -  PRO Grand Central Chorus

     
  • Grand Central Chorus at the SABS En Armonia Convention
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 10 Apr 2018
    Grand Central Chorus at the SABS En Armonia Convention
    Grand Central Chorus had a very enjoyable and successful visit to the 10th “En Armonia” Spanish Association of Barbershop Singers (SABS) Convention which was held in Benalmadena, near Malaga on 6th – 8th April, with 48 members making the trip to Spain, together with wives, partners and families.

    Grand Central Chorus were well represented in the International Quartet Contest on Friday 6th April with two scratch quartets Platform 4 (Ralph Keenan, Peter White, Rob Parnham and Peter Sayer) acting as mic warmers, and Special Selection (Mark Soave, Mick Barnacle, Eddie Williams and Peter Tatham) as mic coolers.  Both quartets did great jobs and their performances were really appreciated by the enthusiastic audience.

    Fifteen quartets – mens, ladies and mixed – took part in the main contest, with a number of chorus members taking part: Hector Jaumandreu sang with mixed quartet Nuevos Horizontes; Kevan Liebling and Mark Soave were part of the mixed quartet Spanish Whine; Crown Derby (with GCC members Paul Searson and Dick Knight and their wives, Karen and Delyth) finished in 8th place with their highest ever score of 69.7, and Central Locking (Bill Lumley, Bryan Smith, Mike Flint and Nelson Blackley) finished in 11th place with a score of 61.8.

    There were 11 choruses in the International Contest on Saturday 7 April, and we faced tough competition from, amongst others, the amazing Amersham A Cappella (2016 LABBS champions and silver medallists at the 2017 European Barbershop Championships) and Sheffield Harmony, directed by Tim Briggs, who is also MD of Hallmark of Harmony. Also taking part were mixed chorus EQ Rendezvous, including GCC members Richard Curtis, Hector Jaumandreu, Ralph Keenan, Kevan Liebling, Paul Searson and Mark Soave, and directed by our own Dick Knight. 


    Following an exciting and varied contest the gold medal deservedly went to Amersham A Cappella, with a score of 82.3. Grand Central Chorus claimed the silver medal with a score of 77.0, with bronze going to Sheffield Harmony with a score of 75.5. 



    Zac and Alan with our trophy and medals


    We then had the privilege of appearing on the Saturday evening show (which was excellently compered by Hector!) and so another opportunity to perform our two contest songs, plus a first ever performance of one of our BABS Convention songs, to a packed auditorium! As in both the contests, we really appreciated all the support from the very enthusiastic audience. Finally, we ended the day by entertaining those at the “afterglow” with another few songs from our repertoire.

    Click here to visit our "Past Performances" page and see a gallery of photos of the participating quartets and chorus, together with a video of our silver medal-winning performance.


    One of our bass singers, Paul Owen, had to leave immediately after the contest – to catch a flight from Malaga back the Heathrow in time to watch his beloved Lincoln City play their first ever cup final at Wembley the next day! As a lifelong supporter and steward for the “Imps”, understandably Paul just had to be there and even better, Lincoln City beat Shrewsbury Town 1-0 in front of over 40,000 fans to win the Checkatrade trophy! So a weekend he really won’t forget.


    Thanks to all those who worked so hard over the past few months sorting out registration, accommodation, airport transfers and polo shirts etc. all of which helped make this visit so well organised and successful; in particular Peter Tatham, Alan Goldsmith, George McKie and Mike McWhinney, not forgetting our MD, Zac Booles, whose energy and music leadership is so inspiring.


    Huge thanks also to SABS President, Lyn Baines and Vice President, Barbara Burks and the entire SABS organising team for delivering yet another successful and enjoyable Convention. Having first been to the SABS Convention as the guest chorus in 2011, it is just so impressive to see how this “En Armonia” event has grown and developed over these past few years.


    The Chorus are now focussed on our “Together in Harmony” Show with Lace City Chorus at the end of April, in Nottingham, followed by the 2018 BABS Convention in Harrogate at the end of May, where we look forward to performing our new contest set and to meeting friends old and new. If the weather there is anything like that which we enjoyed in Spain we’ll all be very happy!


    Nelson Blackley -  PRO Grand Central Chorus
  • "Together in Harmony" Show - 28th April 2018
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 20 Feb 2018
    "Together in Harmony" Show - 28th April 2018

    Grand Central Chorus will be hosting a unique “Together in Harmony” Barbershop Show in Nottingham on Saturday 28th April, when our special guests include Lace City Chorus. Founded in 1992 by their Musical Director Glenn Chaney, Lace City Chorus have developed into one of the most successful women’s barbershop choruses in Europe, having won the Sweet Adelines Region 31 (England, Scotland, Wales and the Netherlands) Chorus Championships an unprecedented five times - most recently in 2017.


    The show is unique as it’s the very first time that Grand Central Chorus and Lace City Chorus have performed on the same show, and as two of the most successful ever UK Barbershop choruses, it will be an evening to remember!


    The show also features three quartets including Finest Hour, the 2016 British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) Champions who went on to win the European Quartet title last October! They also hold the record for the highest ever contest score by a UK Men’s Barbershop Quartet. Following the retirement last November of Phil Cuthbert, Finest Hour now has a new bass, Jonny Pipe; Jonny and the three Williams brothers are all members of our chorus, and so we are thrilled they have agreed to take part in the show.

    We are also delighted that Chaos, a quartet from Lace City Chorus will also be performing, as well as Crown Derby (a mixed quartet, which comprises Dick Knight and Paul Searson from our chorus, together with their wives Delyth and Karen, who sing with the local LABBS chorus GEM Connection).

    The show takes place on Saturday 28th April at The John Player Hall, Nottingham High School starting at 7pm.

    Please use the visitors entrance on Forest Rd East (postcode NG1 4HH) for parking and entrance to the school.


      
    Click here   to purchase tickets (£10 for Adults, £6 for children under 18).

     
  • Update from BABS quartet prelims
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 15 Nov 2017
    Update from BABS quartet prelims
    Grand Central Chorus were well represented in the recent Barbershop In Harmony (BinH) Mixed Quartet and the BABS quartet prelims competitions, both held at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester over the weekend of 11th and 12th November.

    First up on the Saturday afternoon were the mixed quartets. Chorus members Dick Knight and Paul Searson, together with their wives Delyth and Karen, took to the stage for their first contest performance as “Crown Derby”, and were pleased to be placed 9th (out of 17), with a score of 67.4%.




    Sunday was given over to the quartet prelims competition, with 31 quartets vying to make it into the 16 quartets going through to the semi final competition, which will take place at the BABS Convention in May 2018, in Harrogate. Congratulations to “Locksmiths” (with our Chorus Director Zac Booles singing baritone) who were the top-placed quartet, with a score of 79.1%!




    Taking part in their first ever competition were Grand Central’s “Central Locking” (Bryan Smith, Mike Flint, Bill Lumley and Nelson Blackley), who gave a solid debut performance and were placed 27th, with a score of 59.9%.




    Closing out the days proceedings as 'mike coolers' were “Finest Hour”, who chose this performance for Phil Cuthbert to make his final stage appearance and say his farewells, and to introduce Jonny Pipe as the new “Finest Hour” bass. The first public performance with Jonny was something fitting for Remembrance Sunday; a song written in 1917 during the First World War that tells of a young man’s parting words to his mother as he goes off to fight for freedom. Click here to watch the recording of their mike cooling performance.


    Thanks and congratulations to all those involved in organising and running the event. Photos and video are courtesy of the British Association of Barbershop Singers; videos of all of the contest performances can be found on the British Association of Barbershop Singers Youtube channel here.
  • YesterYear win the Male Voice Choir competition at the North Wales Choral Festival at Llandudno
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 7 Nov 2017
    YesterYear win the Male Voice Choir competition at the North Wales Choral  Festival at Llandudno
    YesterYear, an 11-strong choir comprised of ex and current members of The 
    Grand Central Chorus, beat off much larger choirs from Wales and England to 
    claim victory in the Male Voice Choir competition, despite only meeting up 
    with Sue, their pianist, the night before!

    However, they came down to earth by upsetting the judges in the Barbershop 
    competition the following day by singing two songs which flouted the rules, 
    and were severely penalised, finishing last!

    On the Sunday evening, they sang some of their more entertaining songs on 
    the festival show, alongside their wonderful MC, Len Matthews, leaving the 
    audience in stitches of laughter.
     
  • European Gold Medallists - is this their Finest Hour?
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  •  Date Posted: Thu, 2 Nov 2017
    European Gold Medallists - is this their Finest Hour?
    The weekend of 26th-29th October saw four action-packed days full of high quality barbershop singing as the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers (LABBS) hosted a combined British Ladies National and European Barbershop Convention at the Bournemouth International Centre.

    Proceedings started on Thursday with the National Ladies Quartet semi-finals and finals, followed by the European Mixed Quartet finals. Friday and Saturday saw the National Ladies and European Mens and Ladies Chorus contests spread over two days, with shows on the Friday and Saturday evenings providing top class entertainment. With the three chorus competition threads interwoven and a total of 46 choruses competing across the two days, this was an endurance test for the judges, included in whose ranks was Grand Central Lead and Music Team member, Barry Clinton, one of the Singing Category judges. Finally, on Sunday it was time for the Ladies and Mens European Quartet competitions to close out the convention.

    Taking part in the European Mens Quartet competition and representing BABS were our very own Finest Hour, who lifted the European Gold trophy and medals with one of their typically polished performances! Click here to enjoy their contest package. Sadly, as bass Phil Cuthbert is stepping down from the quartet, this was his last competition performance with Finest Hour - but what a fitting swan song to top off an incredibly successful three years!



    Congratulations too, to Nick Bryant (until recently a Grand Central baritone, having just moved away to start his university course) and the other members of 4 On Demand, who came a creditable 6th in the European Men’s Quartet competition. Click here to see their performance.



    Competing in the Ladies National Chorus competition were our friends, and “sister chorus”, GEM Connection. They presented a really engaging and unique performance - an original in-house arrangement, by Heather Lane, of two linked songs from the musical “Cabaret”. Pure musical theatre, click here to enjoy the performance that got them a 4th place in the national competition.



    Congratulations to all the quartets and choruses who crossed the stage during the convention, and to all those who took home trophies and medals. The whole event ran like clockwork, so congratulations too to everyone at LABBS who was involved in the organisation and running of the event.

    All videos courtesy of LABBS and CPS Ltd.
  • Success for Grand Central members at IABS Convention
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 9 Oct 2017
    Success for Grand Central members at IABS Convention
    The 28th Annual Convention of the Irish Association of Barbershop Singers (IABS) recently took place at the City Hall in Cork, over the weekend of 6-8th October 2017. This year's convention included an Open Mixed Chorus competition, and joining the rest of the EQ Rendezvous mixed chorus to take part were three Grand Central Chorus members - Dick Knight (GCC tenor, and EQ Rendezvous Chorus Director), Kevan Liebling (baritone) and Paul Searson (bass).

    The EQ Rendezvous mixed chorus is made up of singers who have all participated in Extreme Quartet activities at the UK Harmony Brigade, or in the Extreme Quartet stream at BABS Harmony College. The chorus includes members from the UK, Ireland, Germany, Holland and Belgium; opportunities for regular rehearsal are therefore limited, so the chorus practice their parts individually or in small local groups, and then come together for some intense rehearsals immediately before each competition performance.

    When the competition results were announced Dick, Kevan and Paul were delighted to hear that EQ Rendezvous had won the Open Mixed Chorus contest, with a score of 73.9%!



    This also meant that the chorus were given a spot in the Gala Concert - all of this bringing back many happy memories from the 2016 IABS Convention, when Grand Central won gold in the IABS International Chorus competition.

    As with the 2016 Convention, this year's IABS Convention was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, with a warm and friendly welcome from the local barbershoppers for all the visiting choruses and quartets. Congratulations to all the medal winners in the various contest categories, and to everyone who took part. Visit the IABS website here to see all of the contest results, and, in due course, photographs and recordings from the event.
  • Grand Central Chorus at the 43rd BABS Annual Convention Bournemouth 26-29 May 2017
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 30 May 2017
    Grand Central Chorus at the 43rd BABS Annual Convention Bournemouth 26-29 May 2017
    Once again Grand Central Chorus played a prominent part in the 43rd British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) Annual Convention, held this year in Bournemouth, and despite rather variable weather after an extremely hot and sunny Friday, the chorus enjoyed another very successful weekend! It began on Friday with GCC representation in the Quartet Semi-Finals - both “4 On Demand” (with Nick Bryant singing Baritone) and “The Locksmiths” (including our Musical Director Zac Booles singing Baritone) having qualified from last November’s preliminary round. The 2016 BABS Quartet Champions “Finest Hour”, with GCC’s Eddie, Nick and James Williams and Phil Cuthbert, were competing for a score to qualify for the BHS International Contest in Orlando in July 2018. All three quartets progressed to the Quartet Finals held on the Sunday of Convention. Saturday at Convention is of course Chorus Finals day and again it was a long contest, with 37 choruses from across the country taking part. Grand Central Chorus had been fortunate to have a good draw, singing towards the end of the contest when the auditorium always has a larger audience than earlier in the day. The late afternoon performance timing also allowed our chorus members to relax in the morning and then meet at 12.30pm to begin final preparations. Our contest package this year continued the innovative approach first introduced by Zac and our Music team in 2015, with both songs working together and with the involvement of key characters, and so engaging the audience in an overall story in the way that the performance category judges and knowledgeable barbershop audiences now expect.

    Our package this year consisted of arrangements of songs from “My Fair Lady” starting with a medley of “On the Street Where You Live and “I Could Have Danced All Night”....



     ....followed by a medley of “Get Me to the Church on Time” and “With a Little Bit of Luck”.



    As in the past two years, the brilliant arrangements for this unique package came from our “in house” team of Zac, Richard Curtis and Mark Burnip. We are all very fortunate to have the benefit of their skills and as a chorus, the opportunity to perform wonderful new arrangements of well-known songs in contest. Our two main “characters” this year were Mark Soave as “Freddy” in our ballad, who was then joined by Bill Barrie, as “Alfred Doolittle” in the uptune. Over the past few months Mark and Bill have both worked so hard, both physically and mentally, as the contest package has been rehearsed repeatedly, as well as working on developing their characters and costumes. Great job guys! The overall view of Zac and our music and performance coaches was that we delivered the contest package as well as they had hoped, and so, although our third place was lower than our silver medal in 2016, and our score (80.2%) just below last year’s score, it was considered a successful outcome to the competition. It also confirmed just how much of a consistent, high quality chorus Grand Central has now become, having finished 3rd, 2nd and 3rd in the past three BABS contests. On Saturday evening, in what is fast becoming an established Grand Central Chorus BABS Convention tradition, we performed a couple of songs in the foyer area of the Bournemouth International Centre at 8.30pm to a large and appreciative crowd of fellow barbershoppers. This is always a great way to end chorus contest day, irrespective of the result. The tag of our final song “Tomorrow” delivers decibel levels close to the highest recommended limits! On Sunday, the Quartet finals took place in the afternoon and after another high-quality contest, “The Locksmiths” finished in 2nd place with a great score of 76.8% so continuing their journey towards to the top after their 3rd place finish in 2016.



    “Finest Hour” successfully achieved a qualifying score (81.8 - the highest quartet score of the weekend) to secure their place in the BHS International Contest in Orlando in July 2018.



    The current BABS Youth and IABS Quartet champions “4 On Demand” finished in 6th place with 72.1% to consolidate their place at the highest levels of UK Barbershop quartet singing. And at still such a young average age it’s not a question of if, but just when they will win BABS gold medals.



    Finally, on Monday in the Mixed Chorus Competition, which was being held for only the second ever time, EQMC which is directed by one of our tenors Dick Knight, and includes two other GCC members, Paul Searson and Kevan Liebling, won the contest with a score of 72.4%.



    This mixed chorus then made the wonderful gesture of donating their £500 prize money to the fund set up for the victims and injured affected by the terrorist atrocity in Manchester the week before. Success at Convention is always the result of hard work put in by every singer in the chorus over many months, and  the leadership of our inspirational MD Zac Booles and his music and performance team. We must also mention our lead vocal coach Richard Curtis, and lead performance coach Peter Tatham, for their input, and our thanks go to the wonderful Jo Braham, who despite so many other singing and coaching commitments, again found time to be our guest coach and share her expertise as a multi-medal winning chorus director and singer. Behind the scenes, many other members helped ensure it was a successful and enjoyable Convention weekend for everyone in the chorus and so also deserve our thanks.  In particular to Steve Rose, who organised and then managed all the accommodation arrangements for the chorus, George McKie, who coordinated and looked after all of the accommodation payments, and to Bill Traynor and Martin York, who arranged and transported our chorus risers to Bournemouth and back so that we could rehearse before the contest at our hotel. Thanks to all our wives, partners, friends and families, whose support and encouragement is so appreciated, and also to Annette Blackman, the wife of one of our lead section members, who, as she does every year, baked such a delicious selection of cakes for us to enjoy when we came off stage. Finally, thanks to our Chairman, Alan Goldsmith under whose leadership the Executive Committee operate so efficiently and in tandem with the Music team, so helping ensure that the musical plans and ambitions for the chorus are both financed, organised and delivered. We are already planning for the late May Bank Holiday weekend in Harrogate where the 2018 BABS Convention will take place!
  • Open Rehearsal on Wednesday 21st June 2017
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 24 May 2017
    Open Rehearsal on Wednesday 21st June 2017
    Grand Central Chorus held an open rehearsal on the Summer Solstice, Wednesday 21st June, as their contribution to 'Make Music Day UK'. A number of guests and potential new members joined us to take part in our rehearsal, and to see and hear the chorus in action.

    Make Music Day UK is an annual UK wide, free day of music held in public spaces, from squares to libraries, bandstands to school halls and arts centres, held on the summer solstice, 21 June. This is the UK’s contribution to the international summer solstice music celebration which first started in France in 1982 and now takes place in over 120 countries and 750 cities across the world. Make Music Day UK aims to turn the country into a stage, and offer a full spectrum of performers the opportunity to display their musical skills. Make Music Day UK is open to music makers of all ages, skill levels and musical persuasions, and is a way for everybody in the UK to celebrate the summer solstice -  enjoying the longest day of the year, while sampling a range of the fantastic music-making which goes on all year round.
  • Interview with MD Zac Booles in Harmony UK podcast
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  •  Date Posted: Sun, 7 May 2017
    Edition 8 of the Harmony UK podcast series includes an interesting interview with our Musical Director, Zac Booles, in which he talks about the groundbreaking, linked contest packages that Grand Central performed at the 2015 and 2016 BABS Conventions. A fascinating insight into how this concept developed, with the added bonus of audio extracts from both our medal-winning performances! Click here to hear the podcast (the interview with Zac is about 21 minutes into the podcast).  
  • Hot Stuff from Grand Central Chorus and their Guests in Loughborough!
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  •  Date Posted: Sun, 30 Apr 2017
    On the 8th April - the warmest day of 2017 so far - Grand Central Chorus hosted a show at Loughborough College, where a capacity audience enjoyed an extensive and high quality programme of Barbershop and a capella singing.



    The full Grand Central Chorus, led by our Musical Director Zac Booles and Assistant Musical Director Kevan Liebling, performed in both halves of the show, including debuting the two songs we are preparing to compete with at the 2017 BABS Convention in Bournemouth at the end of May. Special congratulations to our two performance “stars” Mark Soave and Bill Barrie, both of whom did such a great job. The chorus closed the show with a selection of their current repertoire, before delivering a powerful version of “Tomorrow” as an encore. The show also included a wonderfully entertaining performance by guests Syncapella, a Grantham-based group of singers directed by Abi Moore, whose unique style incorporates both syncopated rhythms and acapella harmonies. We were also very fortunate to have three of the UK’s top male barbershop quartets as our guests on the show. These were: the current BABS Youth Quartet champions, 4 on Demand (whose baritone Nick Bryant sings with our chorus); the current BABS Bronze medal quartet, The Locksmiths (whose baritone is our MD, Zac Booles); and finally Finest Hour (all members of  Grand Central Chorus), the highest-ever scoring UK male quartet and the current BABS champions, whose focus for 2017 is their debut appearance at the BHS International Convention in Las Vegas in early July. We were thrilled to have them sing with us and the audience clearly felt the same, giving them and all our other guest performers enthusiastic welcomes and applause. The compere for the evening was the wonderful Jo Braham, who is not only one of our guest coaches but whose father, Mick Barnacle, sings in our tenor section. Jo is the Musical Director of the Cheshire Chord Company female chorus, and had already been involved with them in a very busy educational day, but still found the energy and enthusiasm to then drive south to Loughborough in time to support our show. Thanks Jo! As always, the success of this latest Grand Central Chorus Show relied on so much planning and hard work from lots of members of the chorus and their partners – but a special thanks to Mike and Wendy for their usual excellent raffle organisation, to Keith for his Stage management, Karen for videoing the performance, and to Bill and Martin for all their liaison with the venue and as well as the design of the high quality free programme, and to everyone else who contributed to such a wonderful event. The Chorus is now completing our intensive pre-Convention preparations, which includes our annual weekend retreat where we’ll be working for two days with our vocal and performance coaching team to fine tune our BABS contest package before delivering this in the chorus competition a week later, on Saturday 27 May, at the 2017 BABS Convention in Bournemouth.
  • Grand Central Chorus - Christmas Concert 2016
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 14 Oct 2016

    The Grand Central chorus wants to get you into the Christmas spirit with a varied program of great music.

    The Grand Central Chorus will blow you away with their sound. You won't want to miss Finest Hour - the current BABS UK Quartet Champions, and the highest-scoring BABS quartet champions of all time. They will have you on your feet with their superb singing. Pure Steel steel band will have your feet tapping and bring a ready smile to your face. Compere Len Matthews will have you in stitches.   

  • Grand Central Chorus are Irish International Chorus Champions
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 14 Oct 2016
    Grand Central Chorus win the IABS International Chorus Competition 2016! 45 Grand Central members, together with many wives and partners, travelled to Cork over the weekend of 7/9 October for the 27Th Annual Convention of the Irish Association of Barbershop Singers (IABS) On Friday, we took part in an Open Entertainment competition - this included quartets, small groups and choruses. We performed the Wizard of Oz Medley from our 2015 BABS bronze medal-winning package. However, this time we had a guest (John Ward) taking the role of Dorothy originally played by our MD Zac Booles, and we all enjoyed entertaining yet another audience with that song. After a varied selection of performances, Hillfoot Harmony, a Sweet Adelines chorus from Scotland, deservedly won the competition for an extremely entertaining “Robin Hood” parody which the audience really enjoyed. In the main IABS International Chorus Competition the following day, we were drawn to sing first, competing with choruses from Scotland, Spain, Ireland and the UK, including Spirit of Harmony, one of the top BABS Choruses. We performed our 2016 BABS silver medal-winning competition set (If I Only Had A Brain and Over the Rainbow/Goodbye Yellow Brick Road) all of which had been arranged especially for us by our brilliant “in-house” arranging team of Zac Booles, Richard Curtis and Mark Burnip. The standing ovation we received from the audience at a packed Cork Town Hall will be remembered by us all for a long time. When the results were announced we were declared as the 2016 IABS International Chorus Competition winners, with Spirit of Harmony in second place – so a very good day for the BABS representatives. This was reinforced by the excellent silver medal won by the young BABS Quartet “4 on Demand” (including our Baritone Nick Bryant) in the International Quartet Competition, with "The Grand Dads" coming 6th. Click here for full results on IABS Convention website. We then performed on the Saturday evening Winners Concert Gala and without the pressure of competition and a judges’ panel, reprised both our winning songs and closed with our first ever performance in a big show of “Tomorrow” from Annie (yet another wonderful Booles, Curtis and Burnip arrangement). The special Guest Quartet for this IABS Convention were our own Finest Hour – the current BABS Quartet Champions - who did a superb job all weekend, singing so many times and always delivering world-class quality performances. Eddie, James, Nick and Phil once more made us all very proud that they are part of Grand Central Chorus! Overall, an extremely successful and enjoyable trip for Grand Central Chorus and all those who participated. The success is down to everyone, but in particular Kevan Liebling, our Asst. MD who led the chorus so well over the weekend in the absence of Zac Booles; Richard Curtis, our Vocal Coach and Peter Tatham, Performance Coach were also instrumental in ensuring the chorus delivered the best possible sound and performance on stage, not forgetting Barry Clinton, whose Tai Chi warmup exercises were great fun and relaxed everyone! The weekend wouldn’t have happened without all the “behind the scenes” work of our Treasurer, George McKie, who coped so well with the challenges of fluctuating £/euro exchange rates, and finally Peter Tatham, who worked tirelessly to ensure our travel and accommodation, as well as the detailed timings for the three days, were planned in detail, clearly communicated and delivered.



  • Irish International Convention (Cork) - Members Feedback
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 12 Oct 2016

    Wilf Patterson

    Just returned from IABS Cork, followed by a tour of Ring of Kerry, The Dingle and Bantry Bay.  Had a wonderful time at Convention.  I concur with all the accolades to those who help so much to make it a success, the wonderful performances on stage and those special memories.  One I would add is the generosity of “Spirit of Harmony”  to a man (+Sally Mc) applauding us into the warm–up area on Saturday evening to acknowledge our Golden performance in the afternoon competition.  Generosity of Spirit indeed: a credit to the organisation to which we belong and the hobby we love

    Ian Gooding

    Probably echoing others but I simply want to record publicly my personal thank you: to Peter for all the arrangements, directions, instructions etc., everyone got to the right place, at the right time, in the right gear and ready to go, plus the hotel was great. Terrific job; to George for the money counting when the exchange rate was constantly changing; to Kevan for waving his arms so efficiently and effectively and to Richard and Peter for their brilliant input at rehearsals; to Chris the enforcer but having now kissed the Blarney Stone I am finding it difficult to be quiet - I nearly broke my back bending over backwards to get my lips on the stone and I now know why few attempt it; and to Zac for getting us to the place we are now at. I too had several ladies telling me in Irish and Scottish accents that we were fabulous, following our performance, and the standing ovations were indeed nice. Our Afterglow Performance reception was something other and I never saw Kevan again. Singing at the hotel on Saturday night was a great a time but creeping into the room after 2am was not appreciated. I gather some were still at it at 3am and the Irish birthday parties, which so appreciated our singing – did they ever stop?   Paul Owen I second everything that Ian has said. Personally, from Dawn and myself, we had a great time in every respect.The hotel and staff were great, the commaraderie between us all was such fun, and it was also nice to see Alan Goldsmith and Lady Goldsmith with us and to join in with the revelry of the mob! Special thanks to Richard Curtis and Peter Tatham for excellent organisation.Well done also to Kev L. for the waving of upper limbs. But we must never forget WHY we can be successful and attain such a standard. This is thanks to a knowledgeable music team, and the fantastic passion and teaching of our M.D Zac Booles, many thanks Zac

    Bryan Smith

    So many great memories from Cork. Standing in stack between two Barbershop’s champs and a Grand Dad’s champ (next to Eddy) making up my own back row ‘quartet’, well I can dream!!!. Having Phil C hissing 3 inches from my ear like a demented snake during Kevan’s warm ups. Awe and wonder at Alan’s conducting at the hotel, bringing in every part at the right place for EVERY song. Friendly Cork folk who were happy to chat about anything as I just nodded and agreed, whilst only understanding 50% of the conversation. Getting to know John Ward who threw himself into character so the chorus could perform their contest song without changing a thing. All the lads who made the weekend special just by being there and all the partners who made sure some decorum was maintained. Plus, we sung unique arrangements very well. Well done Kevan. Just brilliant!
     

    Martin York

    For me the most memorable experience of many, has to be hearing Finest Hour singing Little Pal ..twice. The sincerity, believability and musical artistry those guys showed, you could almost touch.
     

    Chris Blatchford

    "Little Pal" on Saturday morning -   It was only at the end of the song I realised I had not heard the chords but had been drawn into the story and the pure artistry of the moment. Thank you FH for giving me a magical moment which I will never forget. I was in tears. After that it was difficult to separate the many wonderful experiences during the whole weekend. Finest Hour were splendid (so many times........)  and congratulations to Nick and 4 On Demand and the Grand Dads. It is a pleasure to be part of such a skilled and committed team. On a personal note I would like to thank everyone for being in the right place at the right time with the right clothes (almost......) all of the time.

    George Mckie

    Got back earlier this evening.  What a blast! Friendly people, terrific audience, standing ovations, singing at the hotel, and enjoying  hearing Finest Hour's excellent performances. Whilst I was elated that we won, the whole weekend was such a memorable experience that I am so glad we could all enjoy together. Very proud to be a part of Grand Central.

    Keith Harding

    Memories from Harrogate (2 years ago) flooded in when our name hadn't been said and three and two had been announced (I felt sure we'd won that!) - it surely couldn't happen again? Such a relief! Well done to us all who spent the money and made it worthwhile. Finest Hour - what a great effort they put in - and went down a bomb.
    On a personal note (or should that be notes .... "dm di dm dum dum") the reaction from my effort at the afterglow was amazing with many a vivacious blond (Rob) commenting - the last chorus - sung by the whole room of about 150 people is still ringing in my ears! 
     

    Nelson Blackley

    i)Being in City Hall  (with not too many in the audience) at just after 10am on Saturday and hearing Finest Hour sing "Little Pal" in their mic warming set. Absolutely stunning! ii) The generosity of the Spirit of Harmony guys applauding us all as we arrived for the Show on Saturday evening. It really captured the comradeship that exists amongst Barbershoppers. Think that both choruses represented BABS very well.

    Alan Goldsmith

    Special moments - hearing Finest Hour over and over again (don't know how many songs they sang but everyone was top drawer), hearing us declared chorus champions, the reception that we got in the afterglow, and then the spontaneous sing back at the hotel on Saturday night, just wonderful to sing to a group that had never heard barbershop before.

    Phil Butler

    Awestruck by Finest Hours performances throughout the week-end- you did yourselves and us proud.
    What are you on? I want some.
    Also more than pleasantly surprised that Cork is such a great place to visit  - We will return.
     

    Rob Taylor

    • Most flattering moment was just after GCC had come off stage and a young blond woman said to me “You were fabulous”. I don’t think was talking about me personally, but it was a nice thought
    • Most relaxing moment was after I’d done my ‘Mood Setting’ spoken introduction to ‘Tomorrow’ on the Saturday Night show , without any cock up!
    • Most Enjoyable Stage moment was GCC’s standing ovation at the end of ‘Tomorrow’ on the Saturday Night Show
    • Most worrying moment was on the return flight when one of the cabin staff announced “We will hit the ground in ten minutes”
     
  • UK Convention 2016 (Harrogate) - photos
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 8 Jun 2016

    Finest Hour (2016 BABS Quartet Champions)


    The Locksmiths (3rd place quartet)


    4 On Demand - 5th place quartet


    GCC (2nd place chorus)
  • A Memorable and very successful 2016 BABS Convention for Grand Central Chorus
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 6 Jun 2016
    During the weekend of 27/28/29/30th May, the focus of UK Barbershop Harmony was on Harrogate, where the British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) held their 42nd Annual Convention, including both the semi-finals and finals of the Quartet Competition, the final of the Chorus Competition and for the first time, a Mixed Voice Barbershop Choral Competition. There were over 2,300 delegates from across the UK, from Aberdeen to the Isle of Wight, as well as from overseas associations, so making it the second largest Barbershop Harmony event in the world! The Quartet semi-finals took place on Friday afternoon with 17 UK Quartets having qualified from the Preliminary Competition held back in November 2015. They were joined by 5 quartets (including two from the Irish Association of Barbershop Singers) competing for a qualifying score to be invited to BHS International in Las Vegas in 2017. Grand Central Chorus was again very well represented in the main UK competition, with a total of 15 members (names in brackets) singing across a total of 6 quartets. The standard as always was high, with Finest Hour (Eddie, James and Nick Williams, Phil Cuthbert) and The Locksmiths (Zac Booles) and 4 On Demand (Nick Bryant) qualifying for the finals and in an extremely close scoring contest (only 1.1% between the 9th placed and 16th placed quartets) Amongst the non-final qualifiers GSOH (Peter Sayer, Mark Soave and David Tanner)  finished in 9th place, The Grand Dads (Mick Barnacle, Rob Taylor and Rob Parnham) in 12th place and Frank N Sense and Mirth (Frank Salter, Peter Walters and Chris Blatchford ) in 16th place. The Chorus Contest took place on Saturday with a total of 35 Choruses competing – ranging in size from just 7 singers (Western Approach) to 91 (Hallmark of Harmony) We were fortunate to have had a favourable draw, singing 30th, so avoiding an early start and enabling members to enjoy a late breakfast and relaxed morning before meeting up at 1pm to begin our final warm-up and rehearsal. It also meant that by the time we went on stage (4.30pm) most competitors had already finished and so were in the main auditorium for this final session before the results were then announced. The atmosphere was very exciting and the auditorium absolutely packed! Our contest package was based on the 'Wizard Of Oz' - with Clay Hine's arrangement of "If I Only Had A Brain” followed by an in-house arrangement of a“Somewhere over the Rainbow/Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” medley by our Musical Director Zac Booles, and members Richard Curtis and Mark Burnip). These two songs not only had a linking theme and followed on from our contest package in 2015 “the scarecrow’s journey continues” but also had a spoken link (delivered to perfection by one of our lead section, Ian Gooding) between the first and second songs! Currently, this is extremely rare in UK Barbershop and really helped us ensure that the audience realised we were presenting a complete “story” rather than two disconnected songs. With James Williams producing a fantastic performance as our key “Scarecrow” character and with the other 60 members of our chorus taking their engagement with both the character and emotion of the songs to a new and higher level, the audience absolutely loved it! Grand Central Chorus placed second (and so were awarded the The Bristol Cup), with a wonderful score of 80.8% and also were awarded the LABBS trophy for the most entertaining performance! The 2016 Chorus Champions were Cottontown Chorus, under the direction of Neil Firth, who won a sixth national title with an exceptional score of 82.4%. Third place went to Hallmark of Harmony, directed by Tim Briggs with a score of 80.3% and so, for the first time in its 42 years history, all three BABS medal-winning choruses scored over 80% and all the top 9 choruses scored over 70% - confirming the continued improvement in the quality of the national contest. It is remarkable to reflect that the score our Chorus achieved to win Gold at the BABS Convention just four years ago in 2012 (79.1%) wouldn’t have even won us a medal this year! And if all the excitement of the BABS Chorus Competition on Saturday 28 May wasn’t enough, we then had the GCC history-making events of the BABS Quartet Finals on Sunday 29 May! After what was generally considered to be the best-ever BABS Quartet Final Contest, the 2016 Champion Quartet came from our chorus with “Finest Hour” becoming the first all-GCC Quartet Champions, but doing so with the highest-ever score by a UK Quartet in this competition 82.9%! A truly world-class performance by four of the nicest and most popular people in Barbershop. Their winning margin (3.1%) was also the largest for six years. The runners-up for the third consecutive year were Portobello Road but with an improved and BHS International qualifying score of 79.7%. Grand Central Chorus also celebrated the success of our MD, Zac Booles singing Baritone with his quartet, The Locksmiths, who finished in bronze medal position and also achieved a BHS International Qualifying score of 77.7%. Finally the hugely talented and ridiculously youthful quartet 4 On Demand (whose average age is well below 20) and whose Baritone, Nick Bryant sings with Grand Central Chorus, delivered such a mature and confident performance in both the semi-final and finals they finished in 5th place with a score of 70.8% - winning the Novice Quartet Award! On Monday 30 May, the first ever Mixed Voice Barbershop Choral Competition took place and six choruses entered. It was judged as a Music Competition and the winners were Strictly Barbershop from Hertfordshire and which included Bill Lumley from our chorus. In second place was the EQHC which also included a singer from our chorus (and our Asst. MD) Kevan Liebling. In summary an extremely well organised and enjoyable BABS Convention in a great venue and with warm and dry weather! Huge thanks to BABS and their organising team led by Derek Parmenter and Alan Bithell for delivering such a successful event. For Grand Central Chorus - thanks to Zac Booles, our inspirational MD and to our “in-house” arranging team of Zac, Richard Curtis and Mark Burnip. Thanks also to our Vocal coach Richard Curtis, assisted by David Tanner and our section leaders, as well as our Performance coach Peter Tatham, assisted by Bill Lumley and Andrew Motson. All the hotel accommodation arrangements were organised by Steve Rose and the excellent and comprehensive Convention briefing document produced again by Kevan Liebling. Thanks to all the wives and partners, friends and family members who have supported us this year and in particular all those who came along to Convention. Finally thanks to our guest coaches Doug Harrington and in particular Jo Braham, whose enthusiasm, creative input and support was invaluable! We are already looking forward to the BABS Convention in Bournemouth in May 2017!
  • GCC 25th Anniversary Show - Derby Theatre
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 16 Dec 2015
    25th ANNIVERSARY SHOW DERBY THEATRE 17 APRIL 2016Grand Central Chorus Celebrate 25 Years of Harmony! In April 1990, the question was whether there would be sufficient men interested in forming a new Barbershop Chorus in the Long Eaton area, between Nottingham and Derby. In the event 45 turned up and on 4 March 1991, The Grand Central Chorus was formed. Now, 25 years, 5 gold medal winning BABS Chorus Championships, and 4 appearances at BHS International contests later, Grand Central is firmly established as one of the top UK Men’s Barbershop choruses and currently have over 60 singers. To celebrate our Silver Anniversary, the chorus organised and hosted a major show at Derby Theatre on Sunday 17th April 2016, when we were extremely fortunate to secure the support of some amazing guests. Tagline, the current BABS Quartet champions, who having just completed recording their first CD, are travelling to Nashville in July to represent the UK in the BHS International Youth Quartet contest. Hannah and the Hurricanes, whose lead Hannah Braham is the granddaughter of Mick Barnacle, one of our longest serving singers, are not only the UK Mixed Quartet champions for the past two years, but in February won World Mixed Quartet Silver medals in Munich! And last but not least, YesterYear, the locally-based men’s vocal group whose performances in the recent BBC2 Gareth Malone series were seen by millions of TV viewers. The large and knowledgeable audience in the theatre included families and friends, barbershops enthusiasts from across the Midlands, as well as the Mayor of Erewash Borough Council and Ian James, the Chairman of BABS. The show was expertly compered by the incomparable Len Matthews, a member of the BABS Hall of Fame and one of only two honorary life member of the chorus (the other being our first-ever MD, John Grant) and the entire occasion was enjoyed by all those involved – a wonderful celebration of 25 years of singing and success by Grand Central Chorus. Thanks to all our guests and those members, wives and partners who supported the event and helped with its organisation - to Tim Oxborough (liaison with Derby Theatre) Martin York (show programme) Bill Traynor (risers) Keith Holland  (Stage Manager) Mike McWhinney (raffle) and Jan Dutton (photography) Finally, special thanks to Alan Goldsmith, our Chairman and Zac Booles, our inspirational MD an the all of the superb Music and Performance leadership team we have at GCC. We now look forward to the next quarter of a century and to continued success, friendship, enjoyment and harmony!   Nelson Blackley  -  PRO  Grand Central Chorus
  • Tim's story.... and I thought "why not"
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 25 Nov 2015


    My name is Tim and I first came across Grand Central Chorus two years ago, while visiting the Coalville Food and Drinks fair. I was half way through a rather nice hot dog when I saw a group of guys getting ready to perform. I thought I’d stick around to hear them as I’ve always been keen on hearing a group of people sing together. I absolutely loved the sound produced by Grand Central. My daughter who was just 1 at the time loved the sound too, she was waving her arms in the air! This was enough for me to want to be a part of the chorus, and actually it was very easy from there. I was approached by a couple of members who handed me a card with details of the weekly rehearsal venue and time, and I thought ‘why not!’. I went along to the next rehearsal where I was made to feel very welcome by a very friendly group of guys. Through some very relaxed and informal training I had my audition, which again was very informal and not on my own, I was welcomed into the chorus as a full member just 4 months after first attending a rehearsal. I have never looked back and the experiences we have within the chorus through public performances and also our annual competition have been incredible. I have made many friends and I look forward to every rehearsal! I have been on the executive committee within the chorus now for over a year as Performance Manager, again a fantastic opportunity and experience. If you have an interest in singing, even if you feel you are not a strong singer, I would recommend at least trying the chorus to experience what I have for yourself - there really is nothing like it!
  • Success for all GCC quartetters at the BABS Quartet Preliminary Round in Manchester
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  •  Date Posted: Sat, 17 Oct 2015
    British Association of Barbershop Singers Quartet Preliminary Competition - Manchester 10/11 October  
     
    All 16 GCC singers who took part in the BABS Quarter Preliminary Competition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester over the weekend if 10/11 October in six different quartets have successfully qualified for the  semi-finals (the top 16 quartets) at the BABS Convention in late May at Harrogate!
     
    The BABS Prelims winners - and so qualifying first (by a huge and record margin of over 5%) were our own Finest Hour (Eddie Williams, James Williams, Nick Williams and Phil Cuthbert) who, with a score of 80% achieved the highest ever score by a quartet at BABS Prelims. Congratulations guys!
     
    Locksmiths  - with our Musical Director, Zac Booles singing Baritone, were 4th
    The Grand Dads (and the retiring 2014 BABS Senior Champions) who are Rob Taylor, Rob Parnham, Mick Barnacle and Dave Hughes, finished 9th
     
    4 On Demand - with our newest member, 16 year old Nicky Bryant on Bari, finished 11th
    Frank n Sense n Mirth finished 13th with Frank Salter, Pete Walters, Chris Blatchford and Dave Hughes
     
    Finally GSOH , with three Grand Central members - Mark Soave, Pete Sayers and David Tanner finished 16th.
     
    See complete set of results at -
    Overall, an extremely successful BABS weekend for Grand Central Chorus and we don't think there are any other BABS choruses that have will have 16 members competing in the BABS Quartet Semi- Finals!Finally we have been drawn to sing 38th (out of 43 choruses) in the BABS Chorus Finals in Harrogate on Saturday 28 May 2016. This is a good draw for the chorus as it avoids a really early start - unlike Llandudno in 2015 when we sang in the morning session - but also provides us all with plenty of time to properly warm up and prepare as a chorus and rehearse. It also guarantees we will perform to an absolutely packed auditorium as most of the other competing  choruses will by then be gathered in the hall to hear the final few choruses and then the results announced!
  • The Naked Choir - Six GCC members sing with YesterYear in Gareth Malone's latest musical adventure for the BBC
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 25 Sep 2015
    Several members of The Grand Central Chorus are also members of the 'A cappella' group called YesterYear who are currently appearing on Gareth Malone's BBC TV series 'The Naked Choir'. Out of hundreds of  'A cappella' choirs who auditioned for the series, YesterYear were chosen as one of the eight to appear on Gareth Malone's latest musical adventure called The Naked Choir, which is being broadcast on six consecutive Tuesdays on BBC2 starting on Tuesday 22nd September 2015. Watch them to see how they got on... Check out YesterYear at http://yesteryearlive.com/aboutus.html  
  • 2015 British Association of Barbershop Singers Convention, Llandudno, North Wales 22/23/24 May
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 26 May 2015
      The Annual BABS Convention took place over the weekend of 22/23/24 May in Llandudno, North Wales and is the second largest event of its kind in the world, with over 1200 barbershop singers involved in the Quartet and Chorus Competitions and almost 3000 registered attendees! Grand Central Chorus had three quartets involved in the Semi-Finals which took place on the Friday afternoon – all of who had qualified from the prelims held last November. Finest Hour (Eddie, Phil, James and Nick), Frank n’ Sense n’ Mirth (Frank, Peter, Dave and Chris) and the current BABS Senior Quartet Champions, The Grand Dads (Rob T, Dave, Mick and Rob P) They all performed really well in front of the large and knowledgeable audience in the Convention Centre with Finest Hour qualifying for Sunday’s Final, The Grand Dads finishing in 10th place and Frank n’ Sense n’ Mirth in 13th place. Our MD, Zac Booles was singing Baritone in another quartet, The Locksmiths, who also qualified for the final. Saturday was Chorus Finals day – with 36 Choruses from across the UK competing for not just gold, silver and bronze medals but also divisional titles – introduced for the first time in 2014 and designed to provide an incentive and reward for those smaller and sometimes less experienced choruses taking part. Our day began early with a chorus breakfast in our hotel at 6.30am!! – however this was a great start to the day with everyone able to meet up for the first time since our last rehearsal four days before. We then moved onto our warm up and rehearsal venue, located extremely conveniently a few hundred yards down the Esplanade where at just before 8am, we were all ready to begin our final preparations. We were joined by our two guest coaches, Doug Harrington and Jo Braham, who had each given us so much invaluable help over the past months. After an hour of vocal warm up and rehearsal, we all moved further down the Esplanade to the Convention Centre and where we entered the superbly well organised competitors “pipeline” with changing, photographs and then final run-through. Lifted by the wonderful words from bass section member, Tim Hilton, who had addressed the chorus at the previous weekend’s retreat and did so again on Saturday morning, we finally went on stage at 11.22am and for the next ten minutes presented the packed auditorium with the result of all the days and hours of work over the past year!  Our contest package consisting of a “Wizard of Oz Medley”, arranged for us by Zac Booles and our tenor Mark Burnip, followed by the hugely emotional Clay Hine arrangement of “If I Only Had a Brain” Wizard Medley: https://youtu.be/lmUbwAAJkfk If I Only Had A Brain: http://youtu.be/ylEghGTvm3k   Our performance went as well as we could possibly have wished for, resulting in a fantastic audience reaction, and with so many of our wives, partners, family, friends and supporters in the audience, it provided the real highlight of the weekend, and the year, for the Chorus. The results were finally announced late Saturday afternoon and with our second highest ever score in (79.1%) and in fact the 6th highest score in BABS history, we finished 3rd, behind Great Western Chorus from Bristol and Cottontown Chorus from Bolton, both of whom scored over 80%, the first time two choruses have done so in the same BABS Chorus Competition. As we saw last year in Harrogate, standards are increasing rapidly and this was confirmed by no less than 9 choruses scoring 70% or higher. Incredibly, the winning score the last time the BABS Convention was held in Llandudno, just four years ago, would have placed only 7th this year! However Grand Central Chorus are once again back in the medals and the whole chorus are delighted that we have been rewarded for all our work and effort and that Zac has his first ever BABS medal as a MD. Sunday afternoon at Convention brought the much anticipated Quartet Final, which involved six quartets with the highest scores from the semi-finals plus two previous BABS Champion Quartets (Reckless and Park Street) who were looking to gain a qualifying score for the BHS International Competition in 2016. Finest Hour, once again, made us all very proud that they’re from Grand Central Chorus with a great package that deservedly got a standing ovation. Tagline, a quartet who had won the BABS Youth Contest in 2013, won Gold with the silver medallists from the past two years (Portobello Road) in second place again. Finest Hour finished third, claiming the bronze medals in another outstanding BABS quartet contest, with The Locksmiths in fourth place. As a chorus we are incredibly proud that five of our members sing in the top four quartets in the country – as well as another four members who are the current British Seniors Quartet champions! Another wonderful BABS Convention weekend – thanks to BABS and their incredible Convention team led by Derek Parmeter who do much to ensure everything happens on time and as planned, as well as all those involved in Grand Central Chorus. Thanks to our inspirational MD, Zac Booles, who is leading Grand Central Chorus on such an exciting journey, Asst MD Kevan Liebling, Vocal Coach Richard Curtis, whose work with us on Saturday mornings with those has made such a difference to our overall sound and our Performance coach Peter Tatham. Thanks also to Martin York - who did such a great job in organising and securing excellent accommodation as well as those in both our Music team and Executive, led by our Chairman, Alan Goldsmith, not forgetting our wives, partners, friends and families who have helped and supported us throughout the year. We now can’t wait to begin planning for the 2016 BABS Convention in Harrogate!!
  • The Toronto Northern Lights sing in Derby
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 22 Apr 2015

    Grand Central Chorus hosts 2013 International Chorus Champions, Toronto Northern Lights!

    Grand Central Chorus enjoyed the incredible experience of hosting the UK leg of Toronto Northern Lights (TNL) 2015 European Tour from 18-20 April

    TNL, founded and led by their MD, Steve Armstrong, won BHS International bronze medals five times and gained consecutive silver medals between 2001 and?2005 before finally winning gold in 2013 when the competition was held in their hometown of Toronto - where Grand Central also competed immediately before TNL as the BABS representatives

    Most of the 63-strong TNL party, including 46 chorus singers, arrived in the East Midlands on Saturday 18 April, either flying in directly from Toronto, or in some cases from other UK or European destinations, and so a welcome social evening and buffet had been organised at Risley Hall Hotel, located between Nottingham and Derby, for all our Canadian guests, GCC members and their wives and partners. This historic manor house, with its 16th Century Baronial Hall, provided a perfect venue for an extremely enjoyable start to the weekend, which after a formal welcome to TNL from our Chairman, Alan Goldsmith, then included a first chance for GCC to sing briefly with TNL, as well as hearing more of the amazing TNL sound as they entertained the audience with several songs from their repertoire. The entire evening was excellently organised by our Chorus Secretary and lead section member, Ian Gooding.

    Many of the TNL party were staying with GCC members, at locations across the East Midlands, all of which was managed by our Bass section member, Keith Harding, who did a brilliant job in planning and coordinating accommodation and transport.

    On Sunday morning, most of the TNL group visited Derby Cathedral and the had the chance to climb the tower followed by a traditional English roast lunch in the Ye Olde Dolphin Inne, reputed to be the oldest in Derby. Once again, every detail of the morning’s activities for our guests had been efficiently organised by Ian Gooding.

    However, the major highlight of the weekend was the joint Grand Central Chorus / Toronto Northern Lights Show, held at the Derby Theatre on the Sunday afternoon, and which provided the capacity audience a rare opportunity to see and listen to one of the world’s top barbershop harmony choruses, who had not performed in the UK since 2008.

    Grand Central Chorus filled the first half of the show, and sang both our 2015 BABS Convention contest songs, one of which has been arranged especially for us by our MD Zac Booles and Tenor, Mark Burnip, as well as two of Zac’s previous arrangements for the chorus, Robbie William’s "Angels" and Billy Joel’s "She’s Always A Woman To Me" together with several other songs from across our current repertoire. Thanks to our MD, Zac Booles, for his leadership and direction and to our Asst MD Kevan Liebling.

    Our four quartets, (The Grand Dads, Finest Hour, Frank n’ Sense and Mirth and GSOH) three of which will be involved in the BABS quartet semi-finals at SING 2015, also performed to an extremely high standard to the appreciative and knowledgeable audience.

    The second half of the Show featured our star guests, Toronto Northern Lights, with a superb package of both chorus and quartet songs, including the legendary "Brother Can you Spare a Dime" from their acclaimed 2004 BHS International performance.

    The two-hour show closed with both choruses together on the risers, singing "Irish Blessing" at the end of which the entire audience were on their feet, calling for more!

    The audience were not just generous with their applause but also contributed over £220 in a collection for Relate, East Midlands the chorus’s chosen charity for 2015.

    The Vice Chairman of BABS, Peter Cookson, who was at the show commented "I thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful display of Barbershop. All credit to GCC organising the event – bringing top choruses to the UK not only benefits the hosting chorus, but is of great value to all the BABS membership"

    As on many previous important Grand Central occasions, the show was superbly compered by one of our two Honorary Life members, Len Matthews, with his trademark relaxed style and understated sense of humour. It was good to see that our other Honorary Life member, the chorus founder and former MD, John Grant, was in the audience.

    The afterglow was equally memorable, as both choruses as well as many of the audience met up, enjoyed a drink or two and of course sang!

    TNL once again demonstrated, even in the small space at one end of the bar area, and with poor acoustics, just why they are a world class chorus, delivering an incredibly emotionally engaged performance of yet more of their repertoire, ending with Steve Armstrong’s absolutely stunning arrangement of "The Prayer" with Asst. MD, Jordan Travis, singing solo lead.

    It proved a fitting end to an afternoon and evening Barbershop which Grand Central Chorus, and many others who were also there, will remember for a long time. All the liaison and arrangements with the Derby Theatre, including ticket sales were led for GCC by our SIngout Secretary and baritone, Tim Oxbrough. The Show was further enhanced by a high quality full colour programme, sponsored by West Transport, and coordinated and designed by our Recruitment Manager and bass, Martin York.

    The weekend ended early on Monday morning when our new friends from TNL boarded two coaches, travelling south to Luton Airport and onto the second leg of their tour in Germany. TNL will then be the guest chorus at the Society of Nordic Barbershoppers (SNOBS) annual convention in Sweden.

    Our Chairman, Alan Goldsmith summed up the weekend ‘the fact that we hosted an International Champion Chorus, had a great social evening and shared the stage with them is a great credit to everyone in Grand Central Chorus’

    The Treasurer of TNL Dave Smith was also full of praise ‘Thank you so much for your hospitality! We all had a wonderful time with you guys and I sure hope we can do it again sometime not too far away! Seems to me that this kind of affair is the best of all things barbershop and I know I can speak for TNL when I say we loved it! You guys are ace and we love you all!’

     

    The whole experience, and its overwhelming success, has been hugely satisfying for everyone involved with Grand Central Chorus and the entertainment, education and friendships gained by hosting the TNL visit will be invaluable as we now focus on SING 2015 in Llandudno at the end of May. Follow our final preparations on our website www.grandcentralchorus.com on Twitter @GrandCentralMen and our Facebook page www.facebook.com/GrandCentralChorus

     

    Nelson Blackley PRO - Grand Central Chorus

  • Close shave for Barbershoppers
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 1 Dec 2014
    The photo shows most of the Grand Central Team who took part in this year’s 'Movember.' charity event.
    Movember 2014                     

    David Tanner, team captain (seated front row with towel on lap ready to be shaved by a rusty cut throat razor!), said "I was inspired to do this as we are a men’s chorus and 'Movember' is about men’s health. I know there are people in the chorus who have been, and are, affected by this important issue, and am really proud at how so many of the guys of Grand Central Chorus took part. To date we’ve raised around £1400, and I know there will be more being paid in over the next couple of weeks, well done, team!"
  • BABS British Quartet Competition - Preliminary Round
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 18 Nov 2014
    Reflecting the increased interest in quartet singing across many BABS choruses in the past few years, 16 of our singers, which represent over one quarter of our total membership, competed in 7 different quartets at the BABS Quartet Preliminaries in Birmingham on 16th November – and with great success! Three of our quartets, Frank’nSense’nMirth (Frank Salter, Dave Hughes, Peter Walters and Chris Blatchford) The Grand Dads (Rob Parnham, Rob Taylor, Mick Barnacle and Dave Hughes - again!) and Finest Hour (James, Eddie, Nick Williams and Phil Cuthbert) qualified for May’s BABS Quartet Semi-finals in Llandudno and GSOH, (including Mark Soave, Peter Sayer and David Tanner) just missed out but will be one of the mic warmers in May. David Tanner also qualified for the semi-finals with his other quartet New Tricks, as did our MD, Zac Booles singing baritone with The Locksmiths. The Finest Hour qualified with the highest score and The Grand Dads also won the BABS Senior Quartet Competition! Our other chorus representative in the Prelims, Jonny Pipe, who flew back from his university studies in Spain to compete, won a bronze medal in the BABS Youth Quartet Competition with his quartet, The Unisons. So overall, a great day for The Grand Central Chorus!   As mentioned above, The Grand Dads Barbershop quartet, all members of The Grand Central Chorus became the 2014 BABS British Seniors Quartet Champions at the Birmingham Conservatoire on Sunday 16th November 2014. As you can imagine, they are absolutely delighted (they were stunned at the time!)! They were also placed 9th in the full national contest, with a score of 67.6% (their highest-ever BABS contest score). 48 quartets competed for a top 16 place in the semi-finals, to be held in Llandudno in May. This win follows two seconds and a third placing in the preceding three years. Mick Barnacle, our most senior quartet member, and tenor in the quartet, emailed the quartet with:- "Trust you slept well wearing your medals.  You guys have made a massive contribution to my, I believe, unspoken ambition, whilst celebrating my 40th year of BABS membership, of winning the Seniors title, and even better, finishing in the top ten  -  single figures !!  WOW !!"
  • Dave's Story
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 8 Jul 2014
    My name is Dave.  I am a bass in the Grand Central Chorus, and this is my story... I have loved to sing since I was a child and sang ‘I Believe’ as a soloist at the age of about 10.  I’d got the performing bug, but like all boys, my treble voice was going to change, and so in my teens, although I enjoyed listening to other singers, I put my own singing on hold for a while. There is always the issue of growing up, finding a job, a wife, a house and of course, bringing up children, so any ideas of a full-time singing career faded.  However, my love of music and singing was still important to me, and my then wife encouraged me to sing in karaoke bars.  I was on holiday in Majorca when a stranger came over to me as I sat down after singing an Elvis number and said “You’ve got a great voice, why don’t you sing professionally?”



    That set me thinking about more than karaoke bars.
    My late wife encouraged me to develop an Elvis tribute act.  She even made me a suit, which still fits, nearly, and helped me to find regular bookings in and around the City of Leicester.  Although the agents all seemed to think that my legs were not quite right for the short skirts they wanted their singers to wear, we managed to develop our own regular appearances, and included a disco so that we could provide a full evening’s entertainment without need of a second act. When my late wife died, I decided that I would not take any more bookings for the full disco and tribute act.  I met and married my present wife, and moved into Ashby de la Zouch.  Several of the pubs ran regular karaoke nights, and I was soon singing again, and occasionally Elvis was seen walking the streets of Ashby, although his hair did seem to have faded a bit. On the way home from the pub one evening in November 2012, I saw a notice in Just Gents Barbers Shop, advertising an open evening for any men interested in singing with a male voice, ‘a capella’ chorus.  The present Mrs Eason suggested I should go along and see.  I had never sung in a choir so really had no idea what to expect.  There was only a small problem as I was not able to get to the Open Evening, so I called the number on the poster and spoke to a really friendly guy called Martin who told me to come along the week after – so I did.



    I really did not expect to see around forty guys of all ages lined up and ready to sing.  I was invited to climb up onto the risers and warm up with them which I really enjoyed.  During the evening, Zac, the Musical Director, introduced himself to me and asked me to go with him to a quiet area where we sang together.  Then he said to me “You’re a bass.”  That came as a shock as I had never realised I could sing the low notes.  He then went on to explain the audition process to me.  I listened to the rest of the rehearsal evening, and when I heard the sound they made, I just knew I wanted to be a part of it. When I got home, I gave a well-folded piece of paper to my wife who does all the technical stuff and said that she had to download the teach tracks and the music for me to learn.  Well, she had no problem finding the website, but did not entirely understand that I only needed the bass track and the full four voices, and of course the sheet music for the words. The wife copied the tracks onto my iPod, which I am informed was a bit of a challenge, and that I would have to buy an MP3 player if I was going to join this group and she had to download tracks regularly.  Bless her, she did type out the words for me so the print was large enough for me to see, and I could start to learn my audition piece.  I had a choice of four numbers, and chose “I’ll Be Seeing You”.  I don’t actually read music, and didn’t really understand how to use the teach tracks.  So, the next Wednesday I asked a few of the chaps and got loads of help and advice – including putting on the earphones and playing the track whilst taking a brisk walk.  It seemed mad at the time, but it worked and helped with breathing. There was absolutely no pressure on me to learn at a specific rate, or to take the audition by a certain date.  Everything was so friendly and helpful - there was no time to get nervous about the audition.  You have three attempts, and after each attempt there is help to correct any problems you are facing.  You are not even on your own during the audition.  Four other guys sing with you so you get the full quartet version of the song and you sing with one other bass.  I can’t remember who sang the bass line with me, but I’d like to thank the whole bass section again for the advice and help they gave me in those first few weeks. During the time I was learning my audition piece, I also had to learn a number of other songs so that I would be able to take part in performances and competitions.  There was a singout in Long Eaton during this period and I went along, with my wife.  The chorus finished the evening with “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”.  My wife said she had never heard the song performed like that before.  There was something about the chords that made her quite emotional.  I became even more determined to pass the audition, become part of the chorus and sing that song. With the audition passed at the second attempt early in January, I officially joined the ranks of the Grand Central Chorus and received my chorus gear. There was a stage suit, navy blue shirt and shiny waistcoat to wear on stage and ‘Walk Out Gear’ consisting of a bright blue bomber jacket, and a mulberry shirt (although the wife still insists it is pink!).  I was so proud when I tried on the stage gear, and just could not stop grinning. Someone asked me if I wanted to go to Toronto now that I was a full member.  I was so amazed and just said “Yes please”, without really thinking about the consequences (nothing unusual there.) There was a lot of registering to be done, firstly with BABS, then for the International Convention in Toronto which was only a few months away. Before the trip to Toronto, the Chorus attended the UK Convention in Bournemouth, in May 2013.  I found out then just how famous a chorus I had joined.  We were staying on a caravan site and either side of us were members of other choruses from the Midlands.  My wife innocently told them that I sing with Grand Central and was met with a sharp intake of breath - such was the reputation of Grand Central as one of the top choruses in the country.  What had I got myself into?
     

    I still can’t describe the feeling I had as I walked towards the convention centre in Bournemouth in my walkout gear and saw so many different coloured uniforms heading in the same direction.  As the 2012 British Men's Chorus Champions, Grand Central were not actually competing in Bournemouth, but had so much to do including setting the standard as the ‘mic warmers’ for the competition, taking part in various shows throughout the weekend and being coached by some top American educators.  I was exhausted at the end of the weekend, but I had made new friends within the Barbershop community and found out just how special Grand Central Chorus is. After the convention, practice became more intense as we prepared for the International Convention in Toronto.  Our plane touched down on the 30th June 2013.  I had never been to Canada before and spent the evening just wandering through that part of town between the hotel and the waterfront.  What a beautiful city!  We had one more free day, Canada Day on 1 July, and a trip to Niagara falls with most of the Chorus, before the work began again in earnest.
     
    We sang at a number of events in the hotel prior to the big competition in the Air Canada Centre.  When you walk out on stage to an audience in excess of 8,000 there are not enough words to describe the pride, apprehension and exhilaration that run through you. Then you just sing, the very best you can, holding your part within the sound that is the Grand Central Chorus.  We came twentieth, with the highest score the chorus had ever achieved.  That is unbelievable when you consider that about 800 choruses take part in competitions across the globe with only the best 30 actually making it to the convention.  The winners, Toronto Northern Lights were just amazing.  Although it was an important competition, I could not believe how friendly everyone was – it did not matter who they were, everyone, even the officials, shook hands with you and, chatted in the lifts (sorry elevators) in the hotels.  Since the highlight of my life that was Toronto, we have come back to earth.  There have been several singouts across the East Midlands, including one in my own home town of Ashby de la Zouch where we sang in March 2014 at the Holy Trinity Church.
     

    We have been learning more new songs, for both performances and for competitions in the UK.  My wife now downloads the teach tracks to my mobile phone so I always have them with me to listen to at any quiet moment.  She still prints the music and types out my words for me which has saved me from learning to read music! I still get that rush of pride when I put on my stage gear, and sing as a bass with Grand Central, and intend to go on singing for as long as I am up to the standard of one of the best Barbershop Choruses in the UK. ###############################################################
  • The 40th Annual British Association of Barbershop Singers Convention 2014
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 28 May 2014


    Over the weekend of 23-25th May, The Grand Central , along with 45 other choruses, participated in the 40th British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) Annual Convention, held this year at the Harrogate International Convention Centre. With over 3000 Barbershop singers and delegates this is the second largest event of its kind in the world!
    The weekend included several Barbershop shows and many social gatherings but as usual the key events were the UK National Barbershop Championships for both choruses and quartets. As five time winners, The Grand Central Chorus were amongst the small group of top choruses expected to contest the medals, but the standard at this year’s event was unprecedented and despite a high score of 78.3% (which would have won gold in four out of the past seven years!) we finished only 5th - although less than 1% behind the runners-up. Hallmark of Harmony from Sheffield were crowned UK Chorus Champions , with Great Western Chorus of Bristol winning the silver medals and Mantunian Way from the University of Manchester Barbershop Society in bronze medal position in what was their first ever appearance at the Convention!  Hallmark of Harmony now qualify to represent the UK at the 2015 International Convention in Pittsburgh, USA. In the quartet competition, two quartets from The Grand Central Chorus qualified for the semi-finals. These were HomeSpun, the 2013 bronze medallists and The Grand Dads (Runners-up in the 2012 and 2013 UK Seniors competition, and third in 2014). Despite delivering what was generally considered to be their best ever performance on stage at Convention, The Grand Dads finished 12th and so missed out on a place in the final. However, HomeSpun qualified 3rd and in the final also finished in bronze medal position behind the winners, Park Street. from Bristol and 2nd placed Portobello Road. Congratulations to Nigel, James, Eddie and Nick!                            
  • Grand Central Chorus concert at Holy Trinity Church, Ashby de la Zouch
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 11 Apr 2014


    Grand Central Chorus
    organised and hosted a very successful show on Saturday 22 March at Holy Trinity Church, Ashby de la Zouch, where a large audience enjoyed a variety of music in a packed programme which included the Moira Male Voice Choir, Castle Rock School Choir from Coalville, renowned trumpeter John Barker, HomeSpun and The Grand Dads Barbershop Quartets and the full Grand Central Chorus. As well as raising funds for the chorus, the generosity of the audience meant over £200 was raised for Headway, the Nottingham-based national brain injury charity which Grand Central are supporting throughout 2014
  • Steve Armstrong Coaches Grand Central Chorus
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 9 Apr 2014





    A wonderful weekend’s coaching from Steve Armstrong, one of the world’s best!  Grand Central Chorus experienced both an educational and enjoyable weekend on 8 and 9 March when we welcomed Steve Armstrong, the Musical Director and co-founder of Toronto Northern Lights, the men’s barbershop chorus who won gold in last year’s BHS International Competition. Recognised as one of the world’s top music educators, Steve spent much of the two days focused on every aspect of the two songs Grand Central will sing at the British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) Chorus Championships in Harrogate on 24 May. Everyone who was there, from chorus members with years of experience of singing in the barbershop style to those recently introduced to the hobby, left the weekend inspired to take their own singing, and that of the chorus, to an even higher level. Photos:  1) Steve Armstrong;  2)  the chorus and MD, Zac Booles, under the watchful eyes and ears of Steve
  • Steve Armstrong, one of the world’s leading Musical Directors to coach Grand Central!
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 25 Feb 2014
    Grand Central Chorus is delighted to be welcoming Steve Armstrong for a weekend of coaching on 8 and 9 March. We can’t wait for this opportunity to listen and learn from one of the barbershop world’s leading educators.

       

    Steve is the Musical Director and co-founder of Toronto Northern Lights, the men’s barbershop chorus who won gold in last year’s BHS International Competition, (effectively the world championships) having previously won five consecutive silver medals between 2001 and 2005. He has a degree in Music Education, has served as an international music judge and has coached and taught throughout Canada, the USA Sweden and the UK.
  • See Grand Central Chorus in Ashby on Saturday 22nd March
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 13 Jan 2014
     
  • See Grand Central Chorus THIS SATURDAY (23rd November) in Coalville
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 19 Nov 2013
    Grand Central Chorus are singing as part of the first annual Coalville Food, Drink and Music Festival on Saturday 23 November. We will be performing several times between 1pm and 3.30pm both in Needham Way, alongside the ice rink, and also in the town's precinct where local food and drink producers will have stalls. The invitation to participate came after Paul Tallett,  the Chairman of Coalville's Town Team, came along to one of our weekly chorus rehearsals. " I was blown away - we wanted to bring something very different to Coalville and these guys just have to be heard"
  • Homespun and The Grand Dads qualify for the semi-finals of the British Barbershop Quartet Championships
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 18 Nov 2013
    Homespun and The Grand Dads have qualified for the semi-finals of the British Barbershop Quartet Championships. The qualification round (known in the business as the Quartet Prelims) took place at the Birmingham Conservatoire on Sunday 17th November 2013, where over 40 quartets competed, and the top 16 quartets went through to the semi-finals at the British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS)  annual convention in Harrogate in May 2014. Rob Taylor, bass singer in The Grand Dads said "There were many very good quartets competing, and I am both relieved and delighted to go through to the semis"  
  • GCC's Christmas Show - Saturday 14th December
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 25 Oct 2013
  • See Grand Central Chorus at the Food, Drink and Music event in Coalville on Saturday 23rd November
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 30 Sep 2013
    You can see the chorus for free in the town centre of Coalville, Leicestershire, on Saturday 23rd November, 2013 It is singing as part of an all day food, drink and music event there. The chorus will be singing between1pm and 3pm. Sounds interesting!  Watch this space for more details! If you are seeking an entertainment contact Peter on 01530243822 or e-mail publicity.gcc@gmail.com. A recent appearance at a wedding service in Sawley was highly appreciated. Any number of singers can be provided from four to fifty. Fees are negotiable. Quality is guaranteed.
  • Grand Central Chorus 'Christmas Concert' - Saturday the 14th December, 2013, in the May Hall, Trent College, Derby Road, Long Eaton NG10 4AD, at 7.30.pm. Tickets £8 Children £5.
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 30 Sep 2013
    The Chorus returned to their first rehearsal, after the Barbershop World Championships in Toronto, Canada, looking to gently flex their vocal chords and ease their way back in. The Director had other ideas - a twenty minute warm up  and ‘It Was Just One Of Those Things’ which saw them ‘Beginning To See The Light’ - two new songs that were brought out for them to wrap their chords around.  And now the Xmas ones rear their beautiful head,  polish them and learn a new one or two. The  Christmas Concert this year is to be held on Saturdaythe 14th December, 2013, in the May Hall, Trent College, Derby Road, Long Eaton NG10 4AD, at 7.30.pm. Tickets £8 Children £5. Obtainable from Brian on 01773749737 , Nelson on 07967091202  or the  e-mail below. The concert will feature Gem Ladies Chorus from Long Eaton as well as Grand Central and their  quartets. Start the move into Xmas with a song in your head and your heart. The Chorus is available to sing anywhere, anytime.  If you are seeking an entertainment contact Peter on 01530243822 or e-mail publicity.gcc@gmail.com. Any number of singers can be provided from four to fifty. Fees are negotiable. Quality is guaranteed.  Sponsorship will be welcomed.
  • The Toronto Experience
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 26 Jul 2013










    On Friday the 5th of July 2013
    , 45 members of Grand Central Chorus walked out onto the dark stage of the Air Canada Centre, Toronto, a stage that has felt the feet of the famous, from the Rolling Stones to Madonna.  An explosion of light and sound revealed a massive arena with 6000 applauding Barbershop followers and the contingent of fans cheering hysterically.  Zac, our Musical Director, waved his arms and the chorus burst into song. Six minutes later it was all over and we were walking off to rapturous applause. ‘Wow that was phenomenal, it made all the work and the waiting worthwhile,’ said chorus member Dave Eason who was experiencing his first competition.  ‘I never imagined anything like that when I came along to that Open Night last year’.The results revealed that the Chorus had achieved their highest score ever at International, 78.8%, and achieved 20th place, that’s 20th out of around 800 choruses in the world. The winning score, by the Toronto Northern Lights Chorus was an amazing 94%!! All the above pics were taken by Photo by Miller Photography, Louisville KY.   The day before, Grand Central Chorus had performed in the famous Fairmont Royal York Concert Hall in the World Harmony Jamboree Show which featured top Barbershop performers from North America, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden. Its set, which included the Lennon/McCartney number Ob-la- Di, Ob-la -Da  (British song writers seemed to be neglected)  was generously received.      

  • Grand Central Chorus compete in the World Championships in Canada
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 21 Jun 2013
    Local Chorus compete with best in the world. The East Midlands based Grand Central Chorus fly off to Canada on the 1st July, 2013, having sung their way into the International competition at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s Convention being held in Toronto from the 30th June to the 7th July, 2013. The competition is to be held at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on the 5th July and will feature Choruses from across the U.S.A. and Canada.  The Chorus will be representing the United Kingdom as a result of winning the British Barbershop Association championship in May 2012. 'The standard in North America is very high with the top choruses scoring over 95%, a standard which has never been reached by any UK chorus.’ says Zac Booles Chorus Director. ‘We are competing against the best in the world and hope to make everyone back home proud.'
  • Erewash Community Radio Station - Erewash Sound
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 3 Jun 2013
    People of all ages can listen to Erewash Sound and hear a track they will like and/or can relate to within minutes of hearing one that they might not!   This means that everyone in any given location can listen to and therefore take advantage of the other services offered by the radio station, both musically and through information provided.  No-one should be made to feel left out and unable to listen to the station, irrespective of age. Erewash Community Radio promote local music on a Saturday evening.
  • Homespun win Bronze in the British Barbershop Quartet Championships
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 13 May 2013
    GCC's top quartet came third in the British Barbershop Quartet Championships held at Bournemouth on 3rd, 4th and 5th May 2013. I think they were pleased with their bronze medals....



    GCC's other quartet in the competition, The Grand Dads came a creditable 11th.
  • The British Association of Barbershop Singers Convention 2013 at Bournemouth.
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 10 May 2013
    The Chorus, as non-competing, retiring champions, had a hard day at the office on Saturday 3rd May.  It began with ‘Mike warming’ at 10am, at the opening of this year's competition and ended at 11.30.pm singing with the Cheshire Chord Ladies Chorus in an informal presentation after the Saturday evening show.  In between, the Chorus had two separate hour-long ‘Master Class’ coaching by the guest American quartet ‘Lunch Break’, ‘Mike Cooled’ at 6pm at the end of the competition and closed the evening show at 11.15.pm. Four of the Chorus members, who comprise the quartet ‘Homespun’ had more to come on the Sunday, competing in the finals of the quartet competition. It was worth it, as they won the bronze medal - the third best quartet in Britain! Grand Central Chorus also had a hand in the winning quartet’s success, as our Musical Director, Zac Booles, arranged their ‘up tempo’ song - a medley from the musical, Oklahoma.
  • GCC show on 8th June with Erewash Musical Society Youth Group
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 24 Apr 2013
    It’s show-time again with EMUS Youth. No we have not had the bird we are featuring Erewash Musical Society Youth Group at the Chorus show on Saturday the 8th June, which is happening at the Long Eaton Silver Prize Band Hall, Salisbury Street, NG10 1BA at 7.30.pm. In addition to the Chorus there will be two quartets, the ‘Grand Dads’ for the older members of the audience and ‘Homespun’ featuring a Dad and his three lads for the younger set.   Doors open 7pm. Tickets £5 from Bryan on 01159463803, e-mail bckc50@sky.com . There is a licensed bar. Come on down and try a different night out that will not break the bank, high quality at budget prices. This is the last performance before the Chorus head for Toronto at the end of June to represent the U.K. at the International Barbershop Convention. See www.barbershop.org/toronto and you can follow us on twitter. Thanks, by the way, to all who came to our Loughborough show on the 20th April, and made it such a success. Every seat occupied and enthusiastic applause – what more could you ask for. STOP PRESS Tagline’ the quartet that were hot on the heels of our own ‘Homespun, (they came fourth) will be also be singing.
  • You can now follow us on Twitter
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 23 Apr 2013
    You can now follow GCC on Twitter: @GrandCentralMen Please note - You don't need to be a Twitter user to find GCC on Twitter. Just type the account name @GrandCentralMen into Google or any other search engine and it should bring it up.
  • See Grand Central in Loughborough on the 20th April, 2013
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 12 Feb 2013
    Our next concert is at 7.30pm on the 20th April, 2013 at the Emmanuel Church, Forest Road, Loughborough, LE11 3NW. On the bill is the Chorus, their two quartets ‘Grand Dads’, the Chorus seniors and ‘Homespun’ featuring a Dad and his three lads,  the very talented Act One Youth Musical Theatre Group from Shepshed and the new ‘New Orleans Hotshots’ playing their special brand of traditional jazz. M.C. will be Mr. Des Bates the well known local presenter and raconteur. Tickets £8 from Peter on 01530 243912 or e-mail  publicity.gcc@gmail.com

  • Latest News
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 12 Feb 2013
    A  Champion year ahead. After the December experience of singing on the streets at Nottingham and in the magnificent surroundings of Newstead Abbey the Chorus started the new year in a more business like setting. The Novotel, Long Eaton was the venue for the National Barbershop Directors’ Academy and the chorus is there to be used by the American educator to display the skills and techniques required of a successful chorus Director. It was an exacting start to the year but proved to be an inspirational day for all concerned, emphasizing the professional standards aimed for in what is a hobby. Fundraising is at the forefront of the Chorus activities this year to support them in competing, as British Champions, at the International Barbershop Convention in Toronto, Canada. An auction is being held on the 6th April, 2013, at the Long Eaton Silver Prize Band Hall, Salisbury Street, NG10 4BA. Viewing 12nn to 1pm when the auction commences. Come along and pick up a bargain, household goods and collectibles are coming under the hammer. The next concert is at 7.30pm on the 20th April, 2013 at the Emmanuel Church, Forest Road, Loughborough, LE11 3NW. On the bill is the Chorus, their two quartets ‘Grand Dads’, the Chorus seniors and ‘Homespun’ featuring a Dad and his three lads plus the very talented ‘Act One’ Youth Musical Theatre Group from Shepshed and the ‘New Orleans Hotshots’ with their special brand of traditional jazz. MC for the night is Des Bates.   Tickets £8 on the door, from Peter on 01530243912 or e-mail. Draw tickets, with a first prize of £400, are being sold. If you would like some they will be available at the above events or contact us at the e-mail address below. Sponsorship is being sought from East Midland businesses. Nelson on 07967091202 is the man to call if interested. See the website www.grandcentralchorus.com for up to date information. If you are seeking an entertainment contact Peter on 01530 243822 or e-mail as below. Any number of singers can be provided from four to forty. Fees are negotiable. Quality is guaranteed. E-mail publicity.gcc@gmail.com with enquiries regarding any of the above.
  • Sing a song for shoppers on Sunday 2nd December
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 28 Nov 2012
    Gold singers for designer shoppers. The Long Eaton based  Grand Central Chorus will be entertaining shoppers with their gold medal winning close harmony singing in the ancient area of Hockley adjacent to the Lace Market, Nottingham, on Sunday 2nd December, 2012.



    The Chorus will perform three twenty minute spots at 1pm, 1.45.pm. and 2.30.pm. The probable location will be the wide pavement at the top of Carlton Street near to the Mercure Hotel.  ‘It will be good to get out on the streets singing to the shoppers, I just hope the rain holds off. No! We havn’t got THAT song in the repertoire’ said member Rob Parnham. The aim is to raise the profile of the Nottingham Business Improvement District by presenting quality street entertainment. This is an opportunity to listen to the top Barbershop Chorus in the Country who will be competing in the International competition in Toronto, Canada, next year. The Chorus  will be directed by their new young Director  Zac Booles, who took over the baton at the end of October from his mentor John Grant, who was recently featured in the Nottingham Evening Post. ‘It is just great to take over a Chorus of this calibre,’ says Zac ‘particularly as this is where I started over 10 years ago.’ http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&q=Hockley,+Nottingham&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x4879c3d6718ad8c5:0xc5740e0fb0b51af5,Hockley,+Nottingham&gl=uk&sa=X&ei=4KivUKu1KYjJhAe4wYHYBA&ved=0CIsBELYD
  • All Change at Grand Central
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 5 Nov 2012
    The Chorus is sad to announce the departure of their Director, John Grant, who has retired after taking the Chorus to two medals in two years. He made the announcement public on the 27th October, on the stage at The Ladies Association of British Barbershop convention where the Chorus performed in the Saturday evening show.  At the same time he handed over the Directorship of the Chorus to Zac Booles who had co-directed the Chorus since June, 2012.



    ‘On being invited out of retirement by Grand Central Chorus  in 2010, my limited mobility and advancing years made me give myself two years to satisfy my ego and achieve further success’  says John Grant, ‘during that time I achieved my goals of Improving the singing, increasing the membership and mentoring a young successor. I am content that Zac Booles, as the new Director, will serve the Chorus well.  I thank Grand Central for giving me the opportunity to direct again and wish them well for the future.’ The Chorus thanked him for his efforts and the chairman Derek Dodman presented him with a framed photograph of the Chorus together with a crystal wine decanter suitably inscribed.



    John is well known and respected in barbershop circles. He’s been involved in the genre since 1975 and has been British Association of Barbershop Singers most successful chorus director.  His record in this role is second to none, having achieved seven firsts, three seconds and four third places at the National Barbershop Championships. He has also reached the final stages of the Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year competition on three occasions. He was a founder member and Chorus Director of Grand Central from 1991 to 1996 winning the UK Championship at their first attempt in 1993. He gave up directing in 1997 due to work and ill health but, having given up work, was pleased to return to Grand Central in 2010. The rest is history - he took them to a bronze medal six months later and the gold twelve months later in May 2012.
  • An exciting year ahead!
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 25 Jul 2012
    In May this year, the members of the Grand Central Chorus sang out of their skins and won the National Barbershop Singing Championship.  The chorus has now been invited by their organisation, ‘The British Association of Barbershop Singers’ to travel to Toronto, Canada, to represent Britain at the International Competition there in July, 2013. ‘It is a real honour to represent our organisation at this, the biggest Barbershop event in the world, it’s our equivalent of the World Cup ’ said Derek Dodman, Chairman of the Chorus, ‘but it means a lot of hard work, not only on the singing but in the planning and the raising of funds to help finance the trip’. New Chorus Director, Zac Booles, said ‘It is just wonderful to have been given the opportunity to lead the Chorus during this landmark year. The aim now is to get the vocal quality to an even higher plain ‘. Fund raising is important and the chorus does that best by singing.  It is available to sing anywhere, anytime.  If you are seeking an entertainment you should contact Peter on 01530243822 or e-mail publicity.gcc@gmail.com. Any number of singers can be provided from four to forty. Fees are negotiable. Quality is guaranteed. Sponsorship is being sought. Anyone interested in sponsoring should contact Nelson on  07967091202  
  • Grand Central Chorus hold an Open Night for singers
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 24 Jul 2012
    Open Night Poster The members of The Grand Central Chorus invite male singers to join them at  their weekly rehearsal on Wednesday, 19th September, 2012,  at 7.15pm in their regular venue Harrington School, Derby Road, Long Eaton, NG10 4BJ.  You will experience close harmony at its best. Learn the mechanisms of the voice, how to blend with others, the importance of breath control and the secrets of harmony. Oh! you will have some fun as well.  Whether you are an experienced singer or somebody who would like to improve your singing skills this evening is for you. Bring a friend, observers are welcome.  Ring Martin on 07855270803, e-mail publicity.gcc@gmail.com  to register your interest or just turn up on the night.
  • Air Ambulance Service Charity Concert - 10th June 2012
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 20 Jun 2012


    The Chorus was performing at the Cedric Ford Pavilion at Newark on the 10th June.  The Lincolnshire/Notts.  branch of the Air Ambulance Service, a registered charity, was holding its annual gathering for its supporters and Grand Central  were there as part of the entertainment. ‘The Air Ambulance are our chosen charity’ said Brian Sargent of the Chorus,  who presented a cheque for two hundred and fifty pounds to the organiser Mr. Peter Aldrick .’ The money was half the proceeds from our 21st Birthday show held in March, the other half is going to the Leicester/Derby Section.’  The Chorus performed for half an hour receiving enthusiastic applause. ‘We were hoping to get a picture of the Chorus in and around  the helicopter, but it had been called away by the time we finished’, said  Brian, ’We had to make do with a ‘Noddy’ car that a local car recovery man displays for the charity. That was fun.’ The Chorus travels throughout the East Midlands singing at functions, charitable or otherwise. ‘We just love singing,’ said Mick White from Long Eaton, ‘and the harmonies in Barbershop are great, have a look on the website if you want to contact us for anything.’ If you are looking for an entertainment we can supply four to forty singers as required.
  • Grand Central Win British Barbershop Title
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  •  Date Posted: Fri, 8 Jun 2012
    The East Midlands wins gold.   Singers show athletes the way to gold.


    The Grand Central Chorus ran away with the winner’s medal at The Barbershop Singers National Championships in Southport last week-end the 26th/27th May, 2012. ‘It was fabulous’ said Bryan Smith ‘I only joined seven months ago and here I am with a gold medal – terrific.’ The Long Eaton based chorus took the gold medal for the fifth time in their 21 year career.  ‘I felt we were in with a chance’ said John Grant the Chorus Director, ‘We came third last year and I knew we’d improved but, so might the other Choruses.’  Martin York a long standing member of the Bass section said, ‘ It was nerve wracking,  third place was announced, not us, then second, not us, then  the brief wait for first place is a killer,  gold or nothing,  happily it was gold. The chorus were ecstatic.’  2003 was the last time the Chorus had won Gold and many  of the present  membership took part in that event. The British Association of Barbershop Singers holds a National Convention annually. There is a Chorus and quartet competition, with most Choruses within the U.K. being represented.  There were forty choruses competing this year, varying in size from seventeen men to sixty.  Each Chorus is marked on their choice of music, presentation and, of course, quality of the singing.  Grand Central chose to sing ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ and ‘South Rampart Street Parade’ achieving an overall score of 79.1%.
  • What is Barbershop?
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  •  Date Posted: Tue, 14 Feb 2012
    “Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era (1940s – present), is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture. Each of the four parts has its own role: generally, the lead sings the melody, the tenor harmonizes above the melody, the bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes, and the baritone completes the chord, usually below the lead. The melody is not usually sung by the tenor or bass, except for an infrequent note or two to avoid awkward voice leading, in tags or codas, or when some appropriate embellishment can be created. Occasional traveling may be sung by fewer than four voice parts. According to the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS), "Barbershop music features songs with understandable lyrics and easily singable melodies, whose tones clearly define a tonal center and imply major and minor chords and barbershop (dominant and secondary dominant) seventh chords that resolve primarily around the circle of fifths, while making frequent use of other resolutions."[1] Slower barbershop songs, especially ballads, often eschew a continuous beat, and notes are often held (or sped up) ad libitum.The voice parts in barbershop singing do not correspond closely to the correspondingly named voice parts in classical music. Barbershop singing is performed both by men's and women's groups; the elements of the barbershop style and the names of the voice parts are the same for both”.
  • Breaking News
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  •  Date Posted: Wed, 11 Jan 2012
    Thank You! The 21st Birthday Show on the 10th March was a great success. Thank you to all that came and made it so.  The Derby Theatre was full of enthusiastic show goers. ‘We’ve never had such a big house for a show like this’ said one of the box office clerks. ‘A brilliant show, ten out of ten for entertainment,’ said an audience member.  We were delighted that all the effort had been worthwhile.  Ten new men have joined the Chorus recently and seven of them were singing in the show. ‘It was a wonderful experience’ said new member George Mackie ‘ I’ve sung and played guitar for years but performing with the Chorus has added a new dimension to my singing pleasure.’ By the time you read this they will have performed at St. Johns Church in Long Eaton and, at the moment, if you were to visit Harrington School, Long Eaton on the Wednesday evening rehearsal you would detect a frisson of excitement in the room.  After the hard work and pleasures of the show they are getting down to more hard work, (and hopefully subsequent pleasures) preparing for the annual Barbershop convention.  Once a year up to 40 of the Barbershop Choruses in the Country gather over one week-end to sing their hearts out.  They compete for the Best Chorus gold medal. The Chorus managed a third place bronze medal last year so are working feverishly in the hope they may improve upon that. This year it is to be held in Southport on the week-end of the 25th – 27th May.  If you are interested in quality Choral singing, in four part harmony, that is the place to be. We rehearse every Wednesday at 7.15pm in Harrington School, Derby Road, Long Eaton NG10 4BJ. Any men interested in singing contact Martin on 07855270803 or e-mail publicity.gcc@gmail.com
    Contact Brian Sargent, 11 Jessop Street, Waingroves, Ripley DE5 9TL.  Tel. 01773749737.
  • 21st Birthday Show
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  •  Date Posted: Mon, 9 Jan 2012


    This show is a celebration of Grand Central Chorus who has been performing top quality a cappella close harmony singing for twenty one years. Winning the U.K. National Barbershop Championship on four occasions, they have never been out of the top six! The venue is the Derby Theatre. Please follow the signs for Westfield Car Park. The basement car park is the best to use when visitng the Derby Theatre. www.derbylive.co.uk/findus.aspx Competition has taken them across the U.K. Europe and America, the latter to represent Britain in the Barbershop World Championships. Dale Diva, a ladies a cappella close harmony chorus, formed in 2007 has made a big impact on choral singing in their short life. The most public highlight was on TV winning the Channel 5  ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ talent show in 2010. In 2009 they gained 6th place and in 2011 5th place, in the ladies' national competition and in 2009 won two silver medals in Dublin, one for their singing, the other for their entertainment. Yesteryear are a group of a dozen men who mainly sing a capella but have been known to get out a ukulele now and then. They have been entertaining throughout the East Midlands for a number of years and are in much demand. Their 13th member is our compere for the evening, Mr. Len Matthews, a man well known throughout barbershop circles for his easy presentation manner and dry wit. The Great British Barbershop Boys got together in 2008 whilst in the National Barbershop Youth Chorus and eight months later became the British Champion Quartet. After signing a record contract with Sony they appeared live on a number of television shows in 2010, appeared in a charity fundraiser at the Royal Albert Hall and appeared at the London Palladium. A national tour followed which got much critical acclaim.
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