The Gendarme Duet ........

Now I really feel as if my term is over ! Young J, who only comes once every two or three weeks came to day for his final lesson of the term. This young boy alto is making huge and impressive leaps in his singing. He is 12 and his voice seems to be sliding into tenor like a spoon of vocal syrup. Of course, unbroken voices are organic beasts and tomorrow it may plummet south of Bryan Terfel in a minute, but in my experience a sliding voice moves quite gently and gradually with a final leap over the cliff into tenor. Generally a baritone or bass voice breaks much more aggressively with no grey sliding areas, the tenor voices I have taught through man and boy, have not had nearly so obvious a change.

J has a very wide range at the moment - he can sing an F below middle C and a top B ......almost top C even. It is a waiting game to see how the slide manoeuvres itself in the years ahead, but today he was a very happy boy ! I gave he and adult S 'The Gendarme Duet' by Offenbach and both of them having had the score for over a week, I knew that they would get together today and it would show early sparkle ! I was quite right, and they had put in the practise so, although a little rough at the edges, the skeleton of an hilarious performance shone through !

I suspect that young J is very keen to sing with a grown up. He is a very motivated and intelligent young man, so working with grown ups poses no problems, indeed he relates to older folk extremely well, so there was a super sense of team work and mutual respect between the two chaps.

It will 'be a riot' at the next concert, and a refreshing new partnership in the long line of Gendarmers of the past 35 years teaching ! They looked as if they were having a ball, and I know I was ! It is significant of his and his parents commitment that they drive a 200 mile round trip for his lesson. Reminiscent of the long treks the Junior Academy students made each week to London. 

That's it - I'm done ! 

Little and large.......watch this space !