We are thrilled that, on April 3, we will be having a coaching session with Wendy McCoole.  Of course, we always try to bring in a variety of coaches to offer us new perspectives and opportunities to enhance our skills. Wendy is a Certified Judge in the Singing category with a lot of teaching and coaching experience — and practical experience, as well. She has won three International Quartet Championships, singing with Exhilaration (2005 — with our own Dianne!), Limited Edition (1995), and Heart’s Delight (1989 — with her sister Debbie). She has also been a chorus director for many years of one of our sister organizations that always keeps us on our toes!  But she is more to us than that.

We would not exist today if Wendy and her sister Debbie had not identified the need for a Harmony, Inc. chorus in the Nashua area. Their efforts and energies resulted in gathering together a “startup committee,” leading to the first rehearsal of New England Voices in Harmony on February 1, 2000 — attended by over 30 women ranging from the age of 10 on up! We are proud to still have some of those original participants as members and friends. Since that time, we have experienced change and growth…not everyone who stands on our risers today will have personal memories of Wendy. But you soon will!

What a wonderful thing to be part of an open-hearted organization that encourages directors and members of other choruses to bring the best out of those they will later face on the contest stage. As Wendy stands before us during our coaching session, I imagine it will be both a familiar and a strange place to her. We look forward to welcoming her as family, and showing her the way the seeds she and Debbie planted many years ago continue to grow!