We currently have about 1200 young people preparing for our next Royal Albert Hall show in September. They spend about half the time singing in a big choir. Although they have been rehearsing for weeks now I’ll take a guess that not all of the performers know their 13 songs yet.
Most of us went to school and understand the concept of homework. The feeling of relief when it’s done and the dread inside when you haven’t especially if you know that “the dog ate my homework” won’t be accepted. It’s comes as a severe shock to some young people that songs don’t learn themselves. Some think that if you just turn up then by some kind of magic you’ll be just fine. Sadly not so.
We do all we can to help. We make special harmony tracks with any other parts played faintly in the background. We supply lyrics. We even supply a video for each number showing props and moves to copy. We hope this is helpful but as we know you can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
I know all this because my own daughter is in the show and she seems to be mostly of the opinion that we can start it tomorrow! It’s the holidays Dad!
I understand that but the holidays are possibly the best time to work on them. It goes you something to do. You get more confident every day. I know she enjoys singing the songs and even likes the songs she said she hated at the beginning. The problem seems to be getting started. If you do just one it leads to another and another. It’s easy just to let it go.
They are learning about sticking at things and about their character. Will they own it or will they let it slide? Parental encouragement and support are vital to overcome that tendency not to bother.
In our case I’ve promised a hedgehog toy if she gets a certain number of ticks for all the songs. How do you persuade them?
I also know that if she doesn’t do this work and home she’ll turn up on the day of the show and feel completely lost when everyone else is belting it out while she’s not quite sure what she’s doing. Doing a proper job is a good thing to learn when you are young.
