Singing Teaching in Paradise: Back in the vocal saddle !

A new term and all new repertoire for those singers who enjoyed Song School and a big push towards the next set of singing exams on June 25th.......the cycle of the exam times comes round so quickly and with a relentless sense of time passing. Those tiny folk who were taking their Grade 1 only 18 months ago are now taller, stronger and have rapidly growing voices, are working on the tricky elements of Grade 3 - time flies when one is enjoying oneself ! ( Well I hope they enjoy it !)

I gave the dark and hypnotic Lullaby from Britten's Rape of Lucretia today, a challenge for J but something to get ones teeth into ! M will work on the music for the Fairy Queen for a little while, although she seems already sure of much of it, and will make a glorious Fairy Queen in this year's show. E was so very pleased to have Break in Grief from Bach's Matthew Passion, another big challenge, but what a wonderful aria to sing if one chooses the challenge !

Young J's voice is changing by the week and I find myself wondering what new resonance will appear this lesson, and invariably a change happens ! I love teaching 12's to 15's, this is when the most amazing changes happen and a child's voice turns into an embryonic grown up sound in such an exciting way. These vocal moves are happening so fast with J I can barely keep up !

We had our first major Iolanthe rehearsal last night, and I worked them so hard I am surprised they had any breath left by the end of the evening ! I spent some time today recording a mish mash of mezzo harmony for my 'lady men' - they were struggling to bridge the intervals between a tenor and bass part which is impossible to negotiate without some editing ! I recorded a much more accessible melody line which will, hopefully, allow the mezzo/alto ladies the opportunity to sing a proper harmony part.

A great start to the week......which if I think about it is almost over.....ok, I will just say ' a great week'.