A Golden Weekend

Published by Liz Garnett at Helping You Harmonise on Friday 6th November 2026
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LABBS50logoLast weekend saw the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers celebrating their 50th anniversary at their annual Convention. The association had done an excellent job getting everyone to look forward to it, not just with their communications throughout the year, but also with anniversary pins sent to every member, anniversary merch, and a new arrangement of Spandau Ballet’s ‘Gold’ to mark the occasion. Many of these, including crucially the new song, had been introduced for the Harmony College back in April, so we could arrive musically prepared and emotionally ready.

It was without doubt the biggest LABBS Convention I have been to – and I’ve attended every one since 1997. (Indeed, one of the things I’ve found quite boggling is what a high proportion of the life of the organisation my 30-year membership represents.) The groups who are always there were there, plus lots of the groups who only come sometimes quite sensibly chose this year as one to make the effort.

Arranging Flexibly for Workshops

Published by Liz Garnett at Helping You Harmonise on Monday 26th October 2026
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ACWsavethedateHaving set a date to run a standalone a cappella workshop in the Spring, I have been turning my attention to arranging music for it. There are specific challenges and opportunities in arranging for these kinds of occasions, and it really keeps you honest. Anything that the singers can’t do will not only be your fault, but also your responsibility to sort out, so developing teaching strategies goes hand-in-hand with the actual arranging. It’s a great discipline.

I started doing this in the early days of Magenta, when we had been asked to present a concert as part of a local festival, but were as yet too new to have enough repertoire to support a whole performance event. So we ran a workshop instead, at which we did perform the few songs we had by then, but spent the rest of the time learning a new arrangement with our guests.

When is an Arrangement Finished?

Published by Liz Garnett at Helping You Harmonise on Wednesday 14th October 2026
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I have written before about how the last stage of arranging a song is a matter of cleaning up all kinds of apparently minor details to make the lines more naturally singable. I refer to this process to myself as ‘combing’ the chart: the metaphor feels apt as it’s about untangling things and making it all smooth and shiny.

Every time, by definition, there comes a moment when the arrangement doesn’t need me to do this any more. I always know when I’ve got there, and often wonder exactly how it is that I know.

On Mashups and Medleys

Published by Liz Garnett at Helping You Harmonise on Wednesday 7th October 2026
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I’ve had a fair bit of song-combining to do in my recent arranging tasks, so have been thinking about the terms ‘mashup’ and ‘medley’ quite a lot. The two words are sometimes used interchangeably, making less a distinction between how you combine the songs than signally how hip you are (mashups are newer and more happening than medleys).

But the labels also can carry musical meaning, which is rather akin to how they’re used in catering. If you were offered a vegetable medley, you would expect a selection of vegetables served together, possibly prepared and presented in a way so as to create a visual/spatial relationship between them as well relationships of flavour and texture. But you’d still be clear which vegetable was which and be able to enjoy them individually as well as in combination.

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