Thursday 10 May 2012

Royalty at the Jubilee

Three weeks to go till my jubilee performance,  ROYALTY AT THE JUBILEE, on Sunday July 3rd.

I'll be cracking out those old patriotic favourites - Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem and of course our beloved national anthem, God Save the Queen - alongside some more unusual choices, and lesser known songs (when I perform, new writing is never far away...)

It is a great honour to be invited back to perform after the success of FROM WORKSOP TO THE WEST END, and will be a great opportunity to plug my next one-woman show:

FIBS AND FAIRYTALES? 

Stay tuned for more info!

Saturday 5 May 2012

Today was the first of a series of open days we will be running at LEDDA (Leanne Elms Drama and Dance Academy) and it was a rip-roaring success!

This was my first real milestone in my role as Head of Singing - obviously I have been Musically Directing LEDDA's upcoming show MUSICAL MADNESS, and nurturing my gorgeous students week by week.

BUT: within the context of the open day I had less that 30 minutes with each age group to inspire a completely new group of students, whose confidence, experience, background and skillset were a completely unknown quantity!

I am pleased to say the day itself was fantastic, and it filled me with pride to see my LEDDA kids rising to the challenge, setting a good example for the visitors and taking them under their wing.

Singing-wise I did a few versions of my own glee-style mash-up (or medley, for us old-fashioned types); increasing the complexity with the age group.

The mash-up was to a piano-ballad arrangement of Firework by Katy Perry, mixed with I Gotta Feeling by the Black-Eyed Peas, mixed with Paparazzi by Lady Gaga

Amazingly everybody, picked it up so quickly, and it was hugely rewarding to see how much they enjoyed putting a new slant on tunes they know and love. Best of all was hearing them singing it as they left to go home. All in all, a highly creative and rewarding day.