- WELCOME TO OUR NEW MD, CLARE OLIVER
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Date Posted: Fri, 3 Mar 2023
Hampshire Harmony welcome Clare Oliver as their new MD as she takes up the baton from Monday March 6th. Clare has a wealth of musical knowledge and experience. As well as working with choirs, individuals and delivering workshops, she is also a singer in her own right having sung on radio, television and in operas and recitals.
We are looking forward to singing under her leadership, as we continue our pursuit of excellence in singing.
- FAREWELL TO OUR MD, ROBERT T ELLIOTT
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Date Posted: Sat, 31 Dec 2022
Rob became our music director in September 2017. Regrettably he has had to leave us for personal reasons.
During his time with us as MD, Rob was very well liked by the choir and his true professionalism was much respected. He inspired us and challenged us to reach a higher standard, improve the quality of our sound and sing with feeling and enthusiasm. We worked hard but we also had a lot of fun!
Our repertoire was expanded with many more modern pieces of music, whilst still continuing with sacred and traditional pieces too. Our concerts have been very successful and well received.
We are very sorry to see Rob go and we wish him all the very best for the future.
We now have the challenging task of recruiting a new Music Director to take the choir further forward.
- CHRISTMAS WITH HAMPSHIRE HARMONY
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Date Posted: Fri, 23 Dec 2022
Whether the day dawned bright, cold and frosty, or dreary and wet Hampshire Harmony took to a variety of venues in Basingstoke to spread a little festive cheer over the two weekends before Christmas.
Suitably attired in festive sparkles Hampshire Harmony entertained shoppers and visitors from TESCO Chineham to Milestones Museum, and Waitrose to Festival Place with a selection of traditional Christmas carols and songs interspersed with pieces from our repertoire.
It was smiles all round as shoppers stopped to listen and enjoy the music. Audience participation was the order of the day as children of all ages joined in, and many a jingle bell rang out as everyone was gripped by the Christmas spirit and encores were requested.
A fantastic and very enjoyable start to the Christmas holiday for both the choir and, from the smiling crowds, our audiences too.
- CELEBRATING 40 YEARS AS ACCOMPANIST
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Date Posted: Mon, 19 Dec 2022
In 1982 Jonathan Hedgecock became the accompanist for the choir, known then as Basingstoke Ladies Choir. In November this year we celebrated 40 years of Jonathan accompanying the choir. Not only does he play for the choir but he has also arranged many songs for us, created learning tracks and when needed he has led our rehearsals. We are so lucky to have someone so talented and dedicated. We all appreciate his contribution to the choir, adding to our enjoyment and helping us move forward.
Joe French, the choir’s President, presented Jonathan with a card and gifts from the choir
and one of our honorary members made a magnificent cake.
We look forward to many more years of Jonathan on the keyboard.
A big thank you from all the choir.
- Hampshire Harmony at Odiham Church Fete (Hampshire Harmony Choir 1, Hampshire Harmony Choir 2)
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Date Posted: Sat, 10 Sep 2022
In the lovely grounds of Hatchwood House, the venue for Odiham Church Fete, Hampshire Harmony set up their information stand in their new colours to promote the choir. Recordings were played of the choir singing drawing the public to the stand.
We also let visitors know about the RAFA Concert where we will be singing to raise money for RAFA KIDZ. This is on Saturday September 24th, 7.30 at All Saints Church in Odiham. A chance to listen to us live!
Many ladies showed an interest in the choir as
members mingled with the crowds and chatted to people about Hampshire Harmony. Leaflets were given out inviting ladies to come to one of our Open Evenings or to come along on any other Monday evening.
We hope that some of the people we met will take up our invitation and join us at our next Open Evening which is Monday 3rd October. We rehearse at Everest Community Academy, Oxford Way, Basingstoke, RG24 9UP from 7.30 to 9.30 and we welcome any ladies that would like to come and find out more about singing with Hampshire Harmony. Our Open Evening will involve a meet and greet session, a taste of the Choir singing, fun learning techniques and starting to learn a couple of new songs. We are a very friendly group who really enjoy singing so do come along and have some fun singing with us!
- EXCITING NEWS FOR BASINGSTOKE LADIES' CHOIR
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Date Posted: Wed, 29 Jun 2022
We are really excited to announce our new name – HAMPSHIRE HARMONY.
Over the years we have seen many changes, not only with our name, which started off as the Oakridge Singers but also with different musical directors, repertoires and singing styles and with our reputation always growing.
We aim to be the ‘choir of choice’ both now and in the future, making sure we remain relevant musically and encouraging new members to join us. All our members took part in selecting our new name for the choir, Hampshire Harmony; Hampshire encompassing a wider local area and Harmony reflecting our musical ambition.
We are looking forward to singing as HAMPSHIRE HARMONY from September 2022 with our first concert under our new name at Odiham Church on Sept 24th .
- A Successful Open Evening
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Date Posted: Mon, 23 May 2022
The Choir was delighted to welcome 7 prospective members to our Open Evening on 16th May, following a very successful publicity event at the Chineham shopping centre on 7th May.
All seven ladies (5 Mezzos and 2 Altos) commented on how much they had enjoyed the rehearsal and how very welcome they were made to feel. They particularly appreciated the "buddy" system whereby a current Choir member from the same singing section volunteers to look after the prospective member for the first few weeks until they find their feet.
They were certainly put through their paces as the Choir sped through almost our whole repertoire for our upcoming concert on 18th June. Pleasingly, our prospective members commented on the high standard of our singing, which is good to hear with the concert being only 4 weeks away!
We look forward to welcoming back our prospective members at future rehearsals and hope that they all go on to become full Choir members.
Of course, we continue to welcome new members at any rehearsal with our open door policy. There is no need to wait for an Open Evening to join us.
- A BRILLIANT DAY FOR BLC
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Date Posted: Tue, 1 Mar 2022
The cold and wet of winter were quickly forgotten, when on Saturday, 12th February an excited BLC membership gathered at Old Basing Hall for their first training day in two years.
From physical and singing warm up exercises to playing games designed to get us thinking of how different groupings can affect the sound we make, to jumping in and out of an imaginary river to test our skills in making an entry on time, we did it all to a great deal of laughter throughout.
In addition to learning new music and revising some of our existing repertoire we spent time on games and exercises related to technique. We now know what is meant by big steps up and baby steps down and much more! Our MD, Rob Elliott was certainly very creative in giving us ways to improve our sound, presentation and performance, challenging both our mental and physical skills.
It was not all hard work as we did find the time to enjoy breaks with pastries and a delicious lunch provided by Nicola. The lemon cheesecake was to die for.
We were well supported throughout the day by our wonderful volunteers: Gail, Jacquie, Libby, Chris, Philip, Roger, and Brian who gave their time to help in setting up the room and tables for lunch and storing everything at the end of the day. Brian in his marigolds up to his elbows in soapsuds will be an abiding memory of a truly brilliant day.
For some members this was their first experience of full-on training in every aspect of singing in a choir but all of us went home at the end of the day, exhilarated, fulfilled, ….. and somewhat exhausted!
