Harmony Federation was one of the many Irish choruses attending the Annual Bootcamp of the Irish Association of Barbershop Singers (IABS) in Athlone on 25/26th February.    The 250 attendees were treated to a feast of tuition on choral techniques from Linda Corcoran (who is also the Harmony Federation Director), and Cherry Hartshorn.    A particular emphasis of the bootcamp was on ‘performance’, which is, how effectively a performer brings a song to life by expressing emotion or movement.  Theresa Weatherbee, an eminent performance expert and judge from Canada was the guest coach on this topic and provided some excellent guidance, with emphasis on simplicity and appropriateness.   Harmony Federation prepared three pieces for the weekend, two of which were presented jointly with the other men’s and women’s choruses.  The assembled 250 voices sang ‘Almost like being in Love’ and ‘Rather be’ and the men sang an arrangement of ‘Halleluiah’ by Linda Corcoran.   Harmony Federation also used the opportunity to seek new recruits from the men’s choruses attending, and also through contacts of the women’s choruses.   Mathew Roche, our new Communications Manager, emphasized that rehearsals are only monthly and all HFed members are also members of other choruses.