ds' singing lessons in secondary school

[MaryAnnSingleton]

Ds has started singing lessons at his new school (in yr 7) -his school is a music specialist college and has massive music dept and is very well regarded.
They are in class time and he has to excuse himself to attend them once a week - all the children learning an instrument do this - his lesson is taken with a singing teacher and a yr 10 girl. He said the other day that he hadn't told anyone that he was having singing lessons specifically as none of the other boys seem to do them and I think he is a little embarrassed ! Does anyone else's secondary boy do singing and do they feel similarly I wonder ?
Incidentally,last night watching the X Factor we saw the 15 yr old boy singing and I think that perked him up !

[SmugColditz]

Show him Billy Elliot

Actually don't, it's perhaps a bit adult for him.

[roisin]

ds1 goes to a perf arts college with massive music/drama/dance depts. He wants to join boys' singers, but has not yet had the courage to go along at lunchtime because his mates don't want to go. (They all want to do rugby!)

[Beetroot]

Do they have a choir?

Are there boys in the choir?

[asdmumandteacher]

Hi! myself and hubby are both music teachers
I have taught singing peripatetically to 15 year old boys in quite a rough London comp a few years back - we sang quite a lot of Lionel Richie songs and for a bit of fun would sing Oasis. Its not common but it is great to get them singing and shows such as X Factor (as much as i hate them) do help to get boys singing. Did he watch Last Choir Standing? A friend of mine was MD of Revelation and their male singers are an inspiration - try and watch some of their performances on youtube. Let your boy know (as he gets older) that all the girls will love him for doing it!!

[MaryAnnSingleton]

thanks ! We watched Boys Don't Sing and he has sung with a local junior choir (where he was among a few other boys but was the oldest of them all)
There is a school choir but it is mostly girls - am trying to encourage him as it will give him confidence and is a lovely thing to do anyway - he is very interested in music,which is good. It occurs to me that I would have been very shy about singing in front of anyone and he might be feeling that about singing on his own in front of the teacher (and yr 10 girl !) but he hasn't expressed any anxieties about that. He is not one to follow a crowd either so hope that will propell him. He does have a sweet voice so am not flogging a hopeless cause where he'll feel bad. I hope !

[MaryAnnSingleton]

have just found A Whole New World on you tube - a young man singing both parts which is pretty amazing - this is the song ds is learning !

[Beetroot]

My boys sing.

age 11 and 14

but at a specialist music school where the Barbers are the creme dela creme.

Perhaps they need tp start uo a cook choir

[asdmumandteacher]

Yes my pupils told me about this

[Beetroot]

you had better start one then asdmum

[MaryAnnSingleton]

Celia - hope so !

[MaryAnnSingleton]

and well done to your boys getting into the choir

[asdmumandteacher]

I teach all girls now and my whole school choir has over 250 girls in it (we have 3 choirs in school)We have done West End theatre stuff so its all good at mo and we hook up with local boys grammar to do SATB stuff

[Beetroot]

It is sad isn't.

My ds's both were/are cathedral choristers and they were never made to feel bad. They were special if anything.

[MaryAnnSingleton]

I love hearing boys singing, that's why I hope ds will continue and will enjoy it

[Beetroot]

MAS is there a cathedral choir near you?

[MaryAnnSingleton]

Winchester I supppose, but that'd be supplied by the Pilgrim's School there - there are local-ish youth choirs but he'd need to audition and really first of all I'd like him to see what he can do,try out his voice properly and see if it's something he really enjoys

[rubyloopy]

Message withdrawn

[MaryAnnSingleton]

don't think ds has been teased - it was more his thinking he was the only one in his year group doing singing lessons - everyone else might well think it's a cool thing to do too ! As it is a music specialist school then there is a big emphasis on music and lots of children have instrum,ent lessons that they leave classes to take - think it;'s more the excusing himself from the normal lessons that he might find difficult.

[roisin]

Oh fab! ds1 went to "Boys singers" today and he loved it. He said it was the highlight of his day and he was really enthusiastic. There were about 60 boys in the group with a fairly even spread across yrs 7-11, which is pretty fantastic for a state school I reckon.

[MaryAnnSingleton]

oh wow roisin -that's fab !

[roisin]

Yup, tis a mixed school. Why?

Despite my thoughts on the book I did want to see the film. But living in such a culturally enlightened place as I do there is no sign of the film coming to either of the nearest cinemas. Aarrggghh!