THE CHOIR 9PM BBC2(not as naff as it sounds, think kids/xfactor)

[7swansaswimmingup]

Choirmaster Gareth Malone is a man on a mission. He believes Britain's schools are bursting with untapped singing talent and he's determined to prove it by starting a competitive choir from scratch in a school that's never had one before. But there's a twist. He wants to get them good enough to compete in the World Choir Games in China by the end of the school year.

Gareth's choice of school is Northolt High an everyday comp and the auditions are an exhausting affair. From wannabe R&B divas to timid 11-year-olds singing nursery rhymes, Gareth sees 160 kids from which he needs 30. There are some real gems, including 15-year-old Chelsea Campbell. But it soon becomes apparent behind the slick voice is a dubious school record. She's being transferred to another school because of 'behaviour issues'.

For the lucky few there are ecstatic scenes when they are given the news they've made it through auditions. But then the real work begins. The group have just four weeks to produce singing good enough to qualify for the World Choir Games. Gareth battles poor attendance, lack of commitment and some terrible singing by the boys in his bid to realise his dream. Has he bitten off more then he can chew? [AD,S]

I thought he was lovely too. sigh.

was deeply irritated by girl who said singing the Gloria was against her religion. I say: ditch her, she can handle it (which is more than can be said for the milkybar kid lookalike with the fat tears..)

Me too bundle- I could accept the Gloria bit but when she refused to sing about cupid too it seemed to be getting a bit ridiculous. I can't se how he's going to manage havign two of them sitting out some songs and not others, either, given that the choir has to contain 25 singers.

She was JW wasn't she? What was the prob with Gloria then??? And Cupid? Ditch her!

I think so, but Gareth was really treading on eggshells because he's so nice.

I think Gareth came across rather badly in last night's show. The whole reaudition thing was handled very badly and he kept being so surprised at the lack of interest in the school but really what did he expect?

next week's looks good

I was also bemused by last night's programme. It was obvious in the first programme that he lacked enough male voices. Why didn't he accept a more balanced choir in the first place, rather than wasting time with too many sopranoes and not enough basses and then auditioning them all again later. I missed what must have been the critical moment last night when he decided to audition some new people. Why didn't he do that earlier?

I loved the Jingle Bells audition too, and felt so sorry for the little kid who cried when he was rejected - but again, why on earth did he have so many weaker 12 year old voices when it was obvious he would do better with older teenagers? And as for the girl and her brother who are not allowed to sing religious songs or even songs which mention ancient mythologies, why on earth did he keep them in?

I really enjoyed this last night - haven't seen it before. I can kind of see why he would have more in to start with - you can't tell from the outset how much progress someone is going to make, and some not so obvious people could really flower with a few weeks training, so that a second audition would yield a different selecion of singers to a first audition. I wonder if it would have been better not to audition at the outset, but had an open choir for the first rehearsals, then had an audition for the 25 places. But I didn't see the first week, so may be missing something here.

yes, if he had a lot of interest and auditioned, then it might have been difficult to see just how he might be able to find strong male voices.
it's a universal problem across the board tbh, finding decent men's voices. I think he did magnificently to persuade the sixth formers to sing

You love Gareth harpsi

I agree it was sad when he reauditioned, but I thought he handled it pretty well really. Presumably he auditioned everyone who volunteered initially, and only then realised that he was going to have to trawl through the 6th form begging them.

me and Gareth sitting in a tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
yes yes it's true.
I am looking forward to next week, because I think he is going to get rather swoonmakingly cross
I think that the rewind button is going to get rather overrused

Spooky, I was just thinking of that rhyme

Cross, you say?

I agree that Gareth is just an absolute dish (in the words of slightly older great aunts).

The voice, the confidence, the way he can motivate them.

He's a bit girly but PHWOARGH!

Just had to get that off my chest!

You lot are sick, SICK, SICK!

Im just amazed at how little faith the school had in their pupils. in last weeks episode the head said one girl wouldnt be able to commit and last night the music teacher said he would have 'minimal' success in finding make singers - no wonder the kids confidence is low!!!

I'm seriously thinking of sending this to a contact at the LSO to give them all a good laugh

Let's face it MrsJC Graham is hardly likely to be the subject of an adoring MN thread...

Bugger it! Watched it last week and loved it and then forgot this week! Been googling to see if I can find any clips and stumbled across this
from the Cantamus website (who I'd incidently never heard of before!). Not sure if it's a joke or not...

is it just me or can anyone else not open that link?

it does open

Did Tikkabilla really have a presenter called Beverly Hills ?

3flights, why would the cantamus thing be a joke? Don't get it.

They have various clips on Youtube and on their site - seem really good to me. I like the way they don't seem snobbish about what is "pop" and what is "classical" or "proper good music" as my mother calls it. (We both enjoyed The Choir but she was saying how awful it is that "kids in school today don't get to hear proper good music", by which she means "classical" - I know that's a misnomer but i can't think of a better word. God, that makes me grind my teeth! Bartok and Stravinsky did collaborations with jazz musicans, after all.)

here's an idiot who obviously thinks Mansfield, Notts is in the Home Counties and that Cantamus are "posh" because they.... um.... wear nice dresses??

and this what Megan from Northolt School said on the Cantamus site:

Thanks.

Well the choir....erm nothing happened after china.

Many of the older students have left and most of the choir was made up of sixth form and year eleven.

Gareth is yet to come back and see anyone but I think he may be slaughtered if he did.

But I don't think that the students involved liked the musical ability and skills they got but the friendship and the experience is what has really left a mark on them. Many of them, who wouldn't of spoken without the choir, are now great friends and that is what they are truely grateful.

And that show is completely twisted and many of the things they say simply aren't true. Take today's episode for example the footage of everyone celebrating getting through to china, wasn't celebrating that at all it was celebrating the individuals getting in to the choir way back at the beginning (i myself was in that bit and was quite shocked.) And also their performance wasn't the first. They had performed at the School annual Christmas concert in front of parents and students.

The BBC have taken what they were given and twisted the truth to make Gareth seem like this amazing man and like northolt had NO musical anything at all when in actual fact we did and still do. They made the whole thing more dramatic by exegeratting the truth so that there is an amazing transformantion.

Just thought you'd like to know what the BBC have done.

Megan

oooooh! Can't picture the celebration bit, was that when he read out the letter? These things are always heavily edited. One bit that pissed me off was last week when the mother of Enoch was rushing home from work and the kids were at home with a letter they thought might be from immigration. Even I could see it was a bank statement, so surely the crew would see that as well. Find it hard to believe that they still called the mum at work and didn't say anything to the kids. All a bit of a set up, but then most reality tv must be like that. Like, 'Gareth, can we shoot that bit again, and look slightly more angry and pissed off please'.

The "ooh, here comes Gareth's postman" bit was so painfully staged as well! Do they think we are idiots?

yea it was when he openend the letter infront of them all, im not going to read anymore as it ruins it really. and i dont want my fantasy of gareth ruined