VDC Rising Star workshop
The news that the 2019 Rising Star competition was coming to the UK immediately lit a spark of excitement within Vocal Dimension Chorus (VDC).
We are so fortunate to be led by Valerie Taylor, who is incredibly enthusiastic about education, learning and sharing, so it really is no surprise that her passion has rubbed off on many of us! The idea of reaching out to our local young singers was mooted and soon began to take shape in the form of a young singers’ workshop.
Behind the scenes we worked on putting together an enjoyable, informative programme for the day, as well as making sure we had the appropriate safeguarding policies in place. Having advertised locally and spread the word amongst friends and family, we opened our doors to a group of young, enthusiastic singers on a sunny Saturday morning in February. After spending time warming up our voice and bodies, then teaching the foundations of how to sing in four part harmony, we began to work on the popular Greatest Showman song This Is Me. Our young participants and chorus members had been given the learning tracks before the event to help get to grips with the song. The level of commitment and animation from our young contributors was infectious. The practice of singing a cappella was a new experience for a lot of our guests, as too was the concept of choreography, but boy, did they grab the opportunity with both hands and truly sparkle like rising stars!
At the end of a long, but exhilarating day, we opened our doors to a crowd of supportive friends and family, to eat cake and watch a mini show. They unveiled their achievements with a performance of This Is Me which was received with heartfelt applause and even a few teary eyes! During the show, VDC sang a couple of songs and we also welcomed an adorable, young, mixed quartet called The Minims (average age 9¾), who wowed everyone with their first ever public performance.
The day was most certainly a success. Not only did we give the young singers a taster of our wonderful hobby, we were also all personally rewarded by being in the company of such enthusiastic and effervescent talent.
Will you get the chance to see any of our young singers in Manchester? Watch this space!
