About me I live in Canberra Australia with my partner Richard and too many cats. I have four adult children, Kaite, Allie, Claire and Tristan and a couple of adorable grandkids. I work part time in IT at a federal government department, with some lovely people who make my working day fun and interesting. I don’t have time for other hobbies, because…well…barbershop is my life! Musical Director – Master Director I helped start Brindabella Chorus in January 1991, and became the permanent Musical Director in September 1992. Since that time, the chorus has grown from a fledgling group of singers who hoped to make it to the end of a song to become one of Australia’s leading women’s barbershop choruses. At the Sweet Adeline convention in Wollongong in 2016, Brindabella Chorus scored 605 points, earning me the coveted title of Master Director. Our international ranking qualified us to attend the Harmony Classic contest at International Convention in Las Vegas Nevada in October 2017, where the top five small and mid-sized choruses in the world competed for top honours. We were thrilled and excited to be announced as the 2018 International Champion Mid-size Chorus! We were equally excited in May 2019 to qualify to return to the Harmony Classic in October 2020 in Louisville Kentucky, but of course COVID put a stop to that. We’re still hopeful we’ll return to International at some point. Coaching – Regional Education Faculty and International Education Faculty I was invited to join Australia’s Regional Education Faculty (REF) in 1999, and over the subsequent years have provided coaching, support and laughter to nearly every Sweet Adeline chorus in Australia. I love coaching choruses, quartets and individuals. I also present classes on a range of topics, including barbershop geekiness like Tuning, and fun activities like Group Singlish. I’m absolutely thrilled to have been appointed to Sweet Adeline’s International Education Faculty for three years starting on 1 May 2020. This is the pinnacle of education in Sweet Adelines and has been a long time dream of mine. Learn more on my Coaching and Education page. Arranging and Songwriting I’ve always been enthusiastic about arranging – creating the music that I want to sing, and music for other people as well. In recent years, my arrangements have improved in quality, and so other people’s enthusiasm for singing them has grown to match. I’ve arranged music for champion quartet Frenzy!, for choruses competing in the Harmony Classic, for my region and of course for my own chorus and quartet. I really like making contemporary music work for barbershop. In 2015 I was fortunate to win a scholarship as a Candidate Arranger for the International Music Arrangers Program. Candidates are allocated a Mentor to help them develop their skills, and I spent three happy years working with the amazing Joey Minshall to improve my craft. I’m continuing to hone my skills! More recently I’ve taken a foray into songwriting, and was very pleased to place second in the Sweet Adelines Bursting with Song competition in 2018. I’ve written more original music for entertainment packages since then, so if there’s a gap in your package, get in touch. Learn more on my Arranging page. Quartetting Over the last 25 years, I’ve sung with a number of different quartets. These have been opportunities for personal and musical development, and I’ve made lifelong friends. Debacle is an all female quartet, and I sing bass, with George, Caitlin and Tanya. We placed second in Australia at the Sweet Adeline convention in Perth in May 2017, then first in Hobart in 2018. We were very excited to be representing Australia in St Louis in October 2018, where we improved our score by 105 points and placed 21st! We came second again in 2019 in Hobart, with a record score for us of 635 points! This sent us off to New Orleans to compete again at international, and were very pleased with our placing of 28th. Onwards and upward!