Monday 24 March 2014

Highs And Lows

Eleanor took part in the local competitive music festival on Saturday. It was a bit of a mixed bag with a first, a third and an unplaced.


The first class she entered was the Girls Solo, 16 years and under. It was a set song, You Spotted Snakes by Armstrong Gibbs. She did really well and came first. The second class she competed in was Arie Antiche, an open class where she had to sing an Italian aria. She sang Vittoria mio core by Carissimi. Unfortunately, she made a silly mistake right at the start which knocked her confidence a little and she came third out of three. There was only one mark between each of them, and the adjudicator said that she'd chosen the hardest song of the three and that her Italian pronunciation was spot on, so I think if it wasn't for the silly mistake, she'd have probably come first. This is the first time she's competed against adults, and the first time she's entered a class in a foreign language so she'd got herself worked up a bit, which was a shame and quite unlike her as she usually just takes it all in her stride, but it's all good experience. The third class she entered was the Junior Show class. She sang I Don't Know How To Love Him from Jesus Christ Superstar and didn't get a place. She won the Girls Solo last year so the cup has come home with us again for another year.


Eleanor's recently taken her Grade 6 singing exam. She had to sing four songs, her choices were Don't Cry For Me Argentina by Lloyd Webber, The Willow Song by Sullivan, Vittoria mio core by Carissimi, and she sang it without making a mistake this time, and How Could I Ever Know? by Simon. There are other parts to the exam, such as sight reading, a vaccai vocal exercise and an aural test. She came out with a merit, so we're really proud of her.

It's the end of an era as far as her singing's concerned as her singing teacher has just retired. She's been with her since she started taking singing lessons so it will be strange not popping round for a lesson every week. We're now on the lookout for a new singing teacher for her, it would be a shame not to carry on with her grades now that she's got so far.

32 comments:

  1. congratulations to Eleanor you must be very proud x

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    1. We're extremely proud of her, it takes some courage to stand up and sing in front of an audience, I know I couldn't do it.

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  2. Congratulations to Eleanor for doing so well!!! Sounds (!) as though she is doing really well with her singing, I hope that she finds a new teacher very soon so that she can continue. xx

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    1. She absolutely loves to sing and really enjoys performing. I'm sure we'll find another teacher soon.

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  3. Congratulations to your daughter, it takes a lot of nerve to sing in front of people, to do it in a foreign language is incredible.

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    1. I'm really impressed that she's managed to learn songs in Italian, never mind perform them in front of an audience, I know I couldn't do it.

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  4. Well done Eleanor. That's a shame about her music teacher, I hope that she gets a new one soon. Flighty xx

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    1. It's a real shame about the music teacher as Eleanor has learnt really well with her and is very comfortable around her. I just hope that we can find someone equally as good, she's only got another two grades to go so it would be a shame for her to give up now.

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  5. Way to go, Eleanor! It sounds like she did wonderfully, overall. You have every reason to be proud of her. Both of your children seem like very bright and talented young people.

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    1. I think she was a little disappointed about making such a silly mistake, but like you say, she did well overall. What a lovely thing for you to say, thank you. I think we all try our best with our children, we can nurture, teach, advise and care for them, but in the end, we can only hope that they do their best in life and become good people. I'm very lucky that both Daniel and Eleanor are on the right track.

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  6. Wow you must be so proud, congratulations to Eleanor. I hope she finds a new tutor to carry on with.

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    1. We're very proud of her. It's full steam ahead now trying to find a new singing teacher, she'll be lost if she doesn't have any lessons to go to.

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  7. many congratulations to Eleanor. You must be very proud of her.
    Gill

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    1. We are, she did really well in both the music festival and her exam.

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  8. Congrats to Eleanor. I think she did very well by the sound of it and we do have to take the good and the bad, as it makes us try harder and also make us better people. Hope you find a new teacher for her soon. Take care.

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    1. You're totally right. She'd worked herself up a bit about competing against adults, as well as singing in Italian, so after the mistake, we told her to just put it behind her and learn from it. If you get worked up you won't do as well as you do when you stay calm. It was a life lesson for her if nothing else.

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  9. Well done Eleanor. To sing something in a foreign language is a huge achievement. Congratulations to her on the competition and her merit.
    Lisa x

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    1. It was such a shame that she made the mistake because the rest of it was perfect. She did really well though otherwise.

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  10. Well done Eleanor. But how sad for her that her teacher is retiring. My younger daughter, Sally, played the violin right up to Grade 8 and was in various youth orchestras and it wasn't easy when her teacher retired. Luckily we found another excellent teacher who we hadn't known of - he was only semi-retired - who lived literally around the corner in our village. I hope you fare as well :)

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    1. It's such a shame that her teacher has now retired, she lived close by so it was really handy for lessons, but she was an excellent teacher too. Sally was lucky to find another teacher that was as good as her first one, I hope Eleanor's as lucky as it would be a shame to give up with only two grades to go.

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  11. Huge congratulations to Eleanor. :o)

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    1. Thank you. She did really well overall.

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  12. Well done, Eleanor! She did so well and has a great, varied repertoire. That aria is not an easy piece to sing, but lovely and I can just imagine her singing it. I love to hear young voices singing. I hope Eleanor continues and finds another singing teacher and she can enjoy the relationship after a long time with her teacher who is retiring. You must be very proud of her.

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    1. Eleanor's learnt a varied array of songs just recently, both for her exam and for the music festival. She copes with different styles really well, which is good. The aria is a beautiful piece and the examiner for her Grade 6 gave her some lovely comments about her singing of it. I'm really impressed that she's managed the Italian so well as she dropped languages at school as she didn't enjoy the lessons at all, it obviously makes a difference when she's singing the words.

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  13. Congratulations Eleanor, you should be very proud of yourself. I hope you find a new teacher soon. X

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    1. Thank you. We've had a couple of recommendations so we're going to look them up. We want to find a new teacher sooner rather than later.

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  14. Many congrats to Eleanor. The fact she has the confidence to get up on a stage and sing deserves praise in itself. Hope you manage to find another teacher.

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    1. I agree, I'd never be able to do that. I'm hopeful that we'll find a new teacher soon.

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  15. Well done Eleanor x Eden has lessons at school but has only done Grade 1 so far, she's hoping to do Grade 2 in a couple of months x

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    1. Eleannor had the chance to take her lessons at school, but the lessons there are shared and they don't get as long so we decided to let her have the lessons privately. Good luck to Eden for her Grade 2, I'm sure she'll do really well.

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  16. Really well done to Eleanor - that's not an easy thing to do! I hope she is able to continue in some way though! Have just been enjoying your trip round York - haven't been there for ages. Have you been to the Quilt Museum in York - I haven't yet, but really must. They have some great exhibitions on. xCathy

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    1. It would be a shame for Eleanor to have to stop her lessons now so we'll do our best to find her another good teacher. I've never been to the Quilt Museum in York but it's somewhere I've got on my list. The problem is that my list keeps getting longer and longer, so many places I want to go.

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