In 2015, the Carolinas District introduced the Coaching Corps, making coaches available to all chapters in the district who wanted to have a qualified coach come to their weekly rehearsal.
All choruses in the District have the opportunity to schedule a coaching session for their chorus. The coaching can take place during your regular rehearsal night or a special chorus retreat event that you would hold on a Saturday. You decide what to focus on, whether it be basic singing skills, interpreting a song, generic presentation ideas, or more focused vocal or visual work on your contest songs.
Coaching will be provided by approved members of the Carolinas District Coaching Corps. These coaches are some of the top performers, chorus directors, quartet singers, and highly qualified musicians the District has to offer, including several BHS judges (see list of coaches). These men have agreed to waive any fee they might typically charge – your chorus just helps pay for travel costs.
Your chorus responsibilities for this opportunity are as follows:
- Musically prepare your chorus and encourage all of your active singers to be present for the coaching session;
- Work with Mark Stock, VP of Music & Performance, well in advance to schedule the coaching session for your chorus;
- Share the costs involved for the coaching event with the District as follows:
- If the coach scheduled for your chorus needs to stay overnight before making his return trip, your chorus will provide lodging for him at a home of one of the members;
OR
- If the coach scheduled for your chorus does NOT need to stay overnight before making his return trip, your chorus will pay mileage at the rate of $0.30 per mile, not to exceed $75.00, to the District to help cover the travel costs.
Yes, you read that those last two paragraphs correctly!!
Your chorus can schedule a coaching opportunity on your regular rehearsal night (or a special Saturday session) for the cost of providing a place for the coach to stay overnight (if needed) OR for travel costs not to exceed $75.00 paid to the Carolinas District.
The District will pick up all remaining expenses for the coaching session!!!!!
Click here for list of coaches in the Carolina District Coaching Corps
The District is providing support for this opportunity for ALL choruses in the District. It is designed to help your chorus improve their singing and performance.
Coaching sessions are often seen as a prelude to competition. And indeed, a session with a coach as a lead up to a competition is a good practice for any quartet and/or chorus.
However, the focus of this opportunity for all choruses in the District is designed to help your chorus improve their singing and performance for any and all audiences in your chorus performance calendar of local performances, sing outs and shows. It is simply designed to help our chorus improve!!
As the mission of the District states……”in ways that enhance their enjoyment of the craft, help them to become better singers and performers, and introduce the joy of Barbershop harmony singing to more men and more communities throughout the Carolinas.”
Interested????
Contact Mark Stock, VP of Music and Performance, to arrange a coaching visit. You can contact him at vp-music@carolinasdistrict.org or by calling him at home (910-420-2086).