#16 Stephen Taberner
The "Spookmeister" of the acclaimed Spooky Men's Chorale
Stephen Taberner is the "Spookmeister" of the acclaimed Spooky Men's Chorale. He's a songwriter, arranger, workshop leader, performer, double-bassist and many things besides. The Spooky Men's Chorale has "accidentally" become his most important musical achievement.
Expect to learn:
How to create a strong choir identity
Why Stephen loves vocal arrangements with no melody
What was the worst thing that ever happened during one of Stephen's gigs
Why the Spooky Men's Chorale is like MONA in Hobart
Why it's important to be Magnificent, Foolish and Tender
And much more...
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Update on my other projects
The Canberra Chordsmen has a lot of great momentum going. A number of solid singers have successfully auditioned for the group, and at the recent BHA Eastern Region contest, we scored our best-ever score and brought home the Men’s Chorus trophy (contest performance in the video above). This is a huge step change for the group and I am very proud of the guys.
We are excited to be hosting the Barbershop Harmony Australia festival in September this year. We’ve got some pretty special guests coming to Canberra for this: The Idea Of North (which we expect will pull a lot of non-barbershoppers into the festival) and Second Take (barbershop quartet from the USA, a real top-tier outfit of barbershoppers).
At the same BHA barbershop contest, my mixed quartet Elegant Solution won the Mixed Quartet category. It’s a privilege singing with this lovely bunch of people!
Strange Weather Choir recently performed at Blundell’s Cottage in Canberra (nice view of us in front of Lake Burley Griffin above!). You may notice my absence in the photo… due to a clash, I was unable to conduct this gig, but our outstanding Assistant Director Lucus Allerton was able to vigorously lead the group onward.
We’ve been learning some cool new songs - The Brown Snake (by Thelma Plum), Soon I Will Be Done (great gospel tune), Circle Of Life (from The Lion King).
Mixtape Chorus is doing business as usual: singing fun indie pop songs and eating lots of cake. Above: a typical night at Mixtape singing “Peaches” by The President Of The United States Of America.
Arrangements - to showcase my arrangements, I’ve been making scrolling-score videos with full audio demos (voices generated using Synthesizer V). Here’s my TTBB/barbershop arrangement of What A Wonderful World (made famous by Louis Armstong). Check out my other arrangements and learning tracks if your group is looking for new material!
See you next time SubStackers!