Wendy visits Opera North in Bridlington

Having accepted her challenge to view our Quality Principles within a practical setting, Wendy visits her first singing session by the seaside.

I was rather excited when Ed Milner emailed me the details for my first assignment: Opera North in Bridlington! With the calming tones of my Sat Nav to guide me, I arrived on the East Yorkshire coast amid thick fog – but didn’t let that cloud my mood. Em Whitfield-Brooks was delivering three sessions to different KS2 classes. I was to look at the Principles within her delivery and put some weighting on their importance.

I don’t always use what might be identified as a standard logic, but on this occasion I decided to start at the beginning, and look at the first Principle:

Positive – The leader affirms and values everyone’s participation in singing, praises effort, celebrates achievement and shares enthusiasm and joy.

The session certainly embraced this Principle! Everyone was engaged and focused from the outset: Em’s appropriate eye contact and smile melted away any tension or anxiety. She was very realistic, praising what was worthy without devaluing the session. The children were also encouraged to share their thoughts and opinions, incorporating suitable suggestions into their performance, bringing creativity and musical thought to the fore.

This got me wondering, how do other singing leaders encourage positivity in their delivery and how pivotal is it? I believe that anyone participating in singing needs to have the push and drive within. For many people it is never an issue, but for those who have no inclination towards it (whether that be because of an earlier bad experience, lack of confidence, poor self image of voice – the list is endless) we don’t start our work from zero, but from a point far below it. How does the principle work in this type of situation?

In trying to put an importance on each of the Principles, I also wondered whether each one varies within the context? The positivity achieved by Em and the children was the culmination of numerous visits, but what about a one-off session or a situation which is extremely challenging?  Here there is a totally different approach to the Positive principle.  Yes, the leader still needs to incorporate the principle, but how is this going to vary?  Is it still based on facial expression, tone of voice, body language?  If so, how does positivity manifest itself in a different setting?

And where next for me? I’m going to Kettering in Northamptonshire – I’d best get my Sat Nav out… Come back next week to read about it!

How do you create this Positive Principle in practice? I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions – After all, theory is there to be challenged! You might find that you just have one small seed to offer, but if we all do the same our little sapling, with care and careful nurture, might become a mighty oak!