My daughter(13) sings in her senior school choir. The good news is that there will be an opportunity to go on tour to Rome next year . The bad news is you have to audition, as only a selected few will go. She hasn't sung solo before, so I suggested she could do something from the hymn book or a traditional folk song. These got a very negative response. She's thinking more of something from the Musicals although a few members of her choir do Lamda and Musical theatre exams, so I was thinking to avoid comparison doing similar stuff. Unfortunately she can't come up with any ideas herself, but obviously it's got to be something she likes. In fact it's got to be something "cool" Has anyone got any ideas??? In her favour she is by far the most advanced instrumentalist amongst them and she has a powerful voice.

So any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Sara

Given her age:
Castle on Cloud - Les Miserables
Far away from the Home I love - Fiddler on the roof
Somewhere over the Rainbow - Wizard of Oz
TAllulahs song - Bugsy Malone

Try to encourge her do do something "young".

If she wan't something classical try "Where the Bee Sucks - Thomas Arne. Or as a compromise "The Lord is my Shepherd" - Howard Goodall (Better known as the theme music to the Vicar of Dibley.)

Unfortunately too many girls that age are wannabee pop-stars so try to steer her clear of inappropriate material.

Thanks Jo, I've got the music for Rainbow and Thomas Arne so I'll suggest them this evening when she gets in. Fingers crossed

Sara

Maybe, "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" from the Wizard Of Oz. That was sung on American Idol I believe.

Edit: I see that has already been posted - my bad.

"Somewhere In Time" (Harder, but maybe lower the key)

Jolly Jake

Well at the moment she's trying Close Every Door from Joseph, which she actually LIKES. We're trying out different keys and F minor seems to be winning. I really wish she would at least try Where the Bee Sucks. Sometimes I catch her singing her flute pieces and I think that style would really suit her, but she won't give it a go

Others seem to have these Audition Pieces for Kids books with CD to sing along with. Does anyone think these are a good idea?

Sara

The Eva Cassidy version of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" is always popular with that age group as it's a bit "cooler" than the original!

I love Eva Cassidy she has such heartbreak in her voice. I even have her songbook, but as for my daughter preforming it... well she doesn't really enjoy singing on her own at all. She's more worried about what her friends in the choir will think of her choice of repertoire and that's why she wanted to do show songs to fit in with them. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Sara

Nothing wrong with that as a choice. Since the banning of castration as a method of maintaining a high voice in a man, there has been quite a long tradition of the "trouser role"

F minor is the original key and works well.

Don't force her to sing something she doesn't like - it will backfire in the end.

Fair enough. Hopefully she can learn it over half term. I'll let you know how it all goes.

Sara

I really think that people view 13-year-old as younger than they actually are.
"Castle on a Cloud?" is way too young.

I would suggest something completely different, like a modern some from a modern musical that can actually show off skill and voice.
Does your daughter want to do soprano notes or belting?



Christina

I would recommend that she avoids belt songs for a choir audition. It won't be the sort of singing that they are looking for, and 13 is too young to be belting safely. A simple song sung well is better than trying to learn a harder one in a short period of time. Good luck - let us know how she gets on.

Thanks for all the advice. We've been away for the weekend and haven't had a chance to start the "Joseph" yet. Other than that she has a very straight sounding voice, no colouring the voice at all. The songs she seems to like best are the choral religious ones and she's really fed up with the endless Disney songs the choir do...

Sara

Hear Hear!

Ultra Soprano that is why I suggested the repertoire that I did.

You can do serious damage trying to belt before your physique can handle it. It is much better at this age to concentrate on an even natural tone throughout the range. I am currently trying to sort out the voice of someone who has tried to belt too young.

The result I'm sending her to her dentist and recommending she contact an osteopath as she has damaged her TMJ and strained her Sterno-cleido mastoid muscles. Her posture is lousy with an over pronounced lordotic curve. Her core-stability muscles do not do the job the were meant to and thus her breathing technique need lots of careful handling.

The song we're working on - Tommorrow from Annie. I'm gently coaxing out a head register and will gradually pursuade her to sing in that area of her voice from her head voice. No belting until she has the physique and stamina of an adult.

Jod






If she really likes that stuff, try Rutter "All things Bright and Beautiful"

I'm afraid Close Every Door has been abandoned. She's too self concious to do any sort of acting role, so that must rule out virtually all the music from the shows. I'm not prepared for her to sing something all on one dynamic down to her shoes. Not that it particularly even got that far.

The Rutter sounds like a very good idea, but I don't have the music or an audio copy. Maybe someone's done an amateur recording on the internet or I'll try to find clips off Amazon, so she can sample it first.

No trip to Rome at this rate

Sara

Hi Sara

Ah, the joys of parenting

I agree with Jod in not forcing your daughter to sing something she doesn't like. But she's going to have to sing something and if you rule out what she doesn't like, what her friends don't like, what she thinks her friends won't like, what's in the wrong key, what has the wrong dynamics, what you don't have the music for, what requires some dramatic presentation, and what doesn't suit her shoes you may be making a rod for your own back, now and for the future.

It may be churlish of me but can I say that if your daughter wants to sing in a choir she'd better start getting used to singing what's given to her. I don't mean to be unkind. I simply suspect that pandering to all her whims is not the greatest preparation for ensemble work. If the critical factor in all this is that of which her friends approve, maybe the friends should pick the piece (though I'm not sure that's the best way to get into the choir). (Actually, it might be worth finding out if said friends will actually attend the audition. If not, their preferences don't matter.)

There's a good chance that much of what gets sung in the choir will be deeply uncool. Then what? If this is just about a trip to Rome, check out EasyJet. If your daughter really wants to sing in the touring choir she might be better off accepting your advice on what to sing in the audition, and getting on with it.

Best wishes

b

(ps ... when my son auditioned for the choir of the Chapel Royal he sang The Gypsy Rover because, for reasons I won't bore you with now, it was the only music we had in the car. And he was being filmed by Channel 4 as part of a Hampton Court Palace fly-on-the-wall documentary.)

One of the loveliest things I've ever heard someone sing who has a 'light' voice is Dear Lord and Father Of Mankind (hymn). You'd find that in most hymn books I'd imagine. There are quite a lot of nice things like that that you could use as an audition piece- I am imagining that they will be looking for an ability to stay in tune, a decent range and good diction too.

If it's a choir audition piece, I would hope that they would be looking for people who can sing well and blend well together, rather than lots of 'soloists'. There's no point in having a choir full of Mariah Carey wannabes, because they will be trying to be the one who is 'heard' rather than listening to each other and blending in well.

I agree with what you've put, Barry. I know I have made a proverbial rod and not just over this but many other things. Maybe I just want the trip for her more than she wants it for herself, but I know she wants to go really...

Sara


This is a lovely hymn with quite a large range, in fact there are so many great hymns to choose. I think I'll give her my bumper hymn book (about 880 titles) and say now pick one I thought hymns would be best for her voice all along, it's just the other girls might give her a hard time. You're right about blendingvoices. She harmonises uncannily well with her brother, him on high harmony

Sara

I remember being 13, and wanting everyone to like my choices- but tell her she will kick herself forever more if she does a song she can't do well, or doesn't audition at all out of shyness or fear of what people will think- and doesn't go. And if she can sing a simple song really well and it's an open audition, her friends just might see her in a different light, and be really impressed- that's what happened to me when I was at school and I had never been more surprised!

Good luck to her!

Cxx

Trust me its really beautiful.

Its published by OUP catalogue no 019 342062 7. When I checked online at their website it was available for £2.00 + p+p.

If your daughter is semi-serious about singing it's a good one to have on the shelf anyway.

Well she's picked out "whistle while you work" all by herself. It's well within her ability and so we can get on with it at last. Yes she can whistle You know how to whistle don't you...you just put your lips together and blow
Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone. Let's hope something simple and well done will do the trick.
Sara

Thats great. She should be able to show her voice off with that. Make sure she keeps the placing high and sings with a nice bright natural tone.

Well months later the audition finally came to pass!! I don't know the result yet but after so much contention over the choice of piece, I can hardly believe what she sang in the end! She went off in the morning saying she would just sing warm-ups for the whole audition, no actual song. But they held the auditions in the school chapel where, just on her way in, she found a copy of one of the Head of Music's own hymn compositions which the choir had learnt before. Personally I think it was divine intervention when it was just lying there waiting on the floor and she had nothing else to sing. Yes that's what she sang! And she said it went well, so here's hoping. I'm sure he would have been impressed by her choice though!

Sara

Good news! She got in the Chamber Choir trip to Rome She'll be singing 2nd Sop which is probably more for her note reading ability than anything else. I'm really thrilled for her. Now we've just got to try to afford it!!!

Sara

Congratulations ! I hope she is well pleased with herself. Full marks for initiative too.
Nice one - just lying on the floor ... you might say no such thing as coincidence