Episode 4 Hit the Stage

Hi, I'm Katy B and this is Hit The Stage

and I'm going to be taking a group of budding musicians and

giving them the chance to perform on the biggest stages we can find.

Budding DJ's go from playing their

mum and dad's parties to rocking the decks at major festivals.

Singers from singing hymns in church to performing to sell-out crowds.

And song writers from sharing their songs with no-one to playing

to an audience of thousands.

Are you ready to Hit The Stage! We are!

CHEERING

MUSIC: "Lights On" by Katy B

# I keep on moving with the lights on... #

I've been lucky enough to make a life out of doing something

that I love, singing and performing.

# So you won't scare me with the lights on. #

You may even know some of my hit singles.

And now I'm in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Why am I here? Well, it's simple. This year the city is the UK's

first ever City Of Culture which means there's loads of massive

music events happening all year round.

And I'm going to help some local kids to Hit The Stage.

I won't be doing it alone, I've got two local musicians to help me

out when I'm not around.

Glenn, who loves hitting the stage himself

when he's rocking out with his band.

The spark of creativity that they have really reignites

the spark that you have so I'm really forward to the 8 months,

and seeing where this is going to go.

And Jenny who likes to take things a bit more slowly

when she's teaching students how to play the harp or sing.

It's really inspiring to think that these kids really have

so much potential so I'm really,

really excited to see what they're going to come up with.

Last time we saw two of our group Hit The Stage in style.

Eibhin singing in front of thousands at a City of Culture concert,

and Hannah going on tour to Leeds

and playing her brand new song in front of a great crowd.

Starting her Hit The Stage adventure today

is 12-year-old Chloe.

Chloe loves to sing but up until this year

she has struggled to turn her passion for music into reality.

City Of Culture is all about giving musical opportunity to anyone

who wants it and Chloe has grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

She's part of the City Youth Choir that has been performing

at major City Of Culture events all year. And she's loving it.

It was amazing I would do it any day. I loved it.

# Valerie

# Valerie. #

But Chloe has a very special reason for wanting to get up and sing.

My mother played the violin, she sang. She was very musical like.

But she passed away in June.

MUSIC: "If You Could See Me Now" by The Script

And she inspires me

on an off day to turn out like her in terms of education and stuff.

I can see why singing is so important for her

and I love the fact she's getting involved in the City of Culture

choir and I think the time is right for this girl to find her own voice.

MUSIC: "You Bring Me Joy" by Amelia Lily

# I've been thinking bout all the things...

And as a first step on the road to singing solo I've

organised for her to meet one of her musical heroes, Amelia Lily.

I'm trying to figure out what to wear.

I don't want to look too dressy and I don't

want to look too causal so... Never thought in a million years I'd

ever meet Amelia Lily, ever, even when I was watching X Factor. Nope.

# Oh, you bring me joy

# Yeah, you bring me sadness

# So you bring the love

# So forget all the madness

# I'm done with all the pain

# I'm done with all the happenings

# So you bring me joy... #

Hello, Chloe. How are you?

Nice to meet you. I'm Amelia. I've heard you're a big fan of me.

-Yeah.

-I like your jumper.

-Thank you.

-I like your jeans as well, you've got style.

-Thank you.

Sit down and talk to me, yeah. So I've come to see you today to give

you a boost. This is, like, one tip I'll tell you

and never ever give up on whatever you want to do. Whether you

want to be a singer, whether you want to play the violin whether

you want to be a doctor, whatever you want to do in life, don't

let anybody tell you tell what to do and if you want to do it you stick

at it, cos one day, you know, you could be sat where I am. So give

me a cuddle and I'll hope that this little chat's helped you, yeah?

Yeah.

With that advice to set her on her way I'll have a

think about how Chloe can fulfil her dreams of singing solo.

Last time I told 14-year-old fiddle player Conal that he's going

to be centre stage at the world's largest Irish Music Festival,

the All-Ireland Fleadh.

Up till now, he's only ever played small events around the city,

or at home to his dog.

That dog's dancing.

But in just three weeks he'll be playing on the main

stage of the festival with the headline act, singer Cara Dillon

and her band. It's a big step up for him and if he's going to be ready

in time there's plenty of practice to be done. But what's this?

It looks like Conal is going somewhere.

I'm packing, going to the caravan.

Going to do a bit of fishing, bit of surfing and stuff.

A holiday to grandad's caravan before your big gig?

But what about all your practise?

Well that's a relief. Looks like he's packing his fiddle too.

The tune Conal has to learn is much faster than anything he's

ever done before.

You worry about this new tune Conal?

Well, it's just doing the standard and the speed of it.

The speed of it. The best way to learn a tune is to

whistle it. And whistle it at the speed that it's played.

So that will

give your wee brain a notion that here I have to play this

at a certain speed. Would you rather be playing tunes or washing dishes?

-Playing tunes.

-Would you?

That's good advice from grandad Tommy, whistle it.

But Conal knows best

and he's decided to listen to it on his tablet instead.

It looks like

a great day to get into the water but if you want to succeed in music

sometimes you have to sacrifice the things you'd rather be doing.

So I'm delighted Conal is choosing to focus on his practise instead.

I have to learn it on me own,

I have to learn it without the sheet music and stuff like that.

I have to learn it by ear so I'll have another listen to it now.

Like a lot of Irish traditional tunes there's no music

written down so Conal will have to rely on his ear.

It's going to be a tough couple of weeks for him

but I know he can do it!

But right now it's 14-year-old Darrell's turn to start his

Hit The Stage journey.

Darrell loves playing piano and has dreams of making it big.

I'd love to become a famous composer, go around the world.

He spends at least two hours a day practising on the old family piano

under the stairs, and loves nothing more than composing his own tunes.

Music's so important to me cos it's in me blood.

But, it's not a love shared by his 10 year old brother Tyrese.

Hey, missed me...

And it can be tough to fit practise in

when all your younger brother wants to do is wrestle.

Go to your room now.

Mum Sharon encourages his piano practise as much as she can but she

thinks that he could be putting just as much effort into his homework.

But I keep telling me you need to study as well

and that's something he's not doing.

I prefer to play piano instead of school work and homework

and go for music.

Darrell I would think is very obsessed with the piano you know

because when it comes to his school work even

when I go to interviews with the teachers they're actually saying

he's day dreaming in class,

and you don't realise it's me trying to...

But you're saying, "Oh, you know you don't revise," and all this..

-But you don't...

-But I'm starting to, you can't see that?

You've this weird idea that you can go into your exam

and pass it without studying.

I don't have it.

-So what are you going to do about it?

-Work harder.

Hmm. I dunno, he doesn't sound that interested to me. I think

I'd better go round and have a chat.

-So would you play me something?

-Yeah.

Do you ever, do you ever write them?

Um, I've wrote a couple of songs now, but they're

not too good, they're just a couple of melodies like all this.

Darrell told me that this

old piano has been in the family for generations. He loves

playing it even if it is getting harder to tune in its old age.

-It's kind of...

-It's lovely.

-I got this...

What you talking about "They're not too good," that's amazing.

Darrel's own compositions sound great. It's obvious he puts

the work in but mum Sharon wants to talk about the work he's not doing.

See my homework, say in form class,

if I don't have it done I just do it in form class.

-That's the first I've heard of that.

-Oh, really?

-Uh-huh.

-Well that's true.

-Keeping more track now on homework.

But you see with your music

and stuff you would have needed to study as well? Yes?

I failed maths. I had to go back to college when I was in 6th form,

to go and do every evening to go and do my math classes.

Right. OK.

Do you hear that, Darrell?

Because Darrell has this love for music

and that he wants to go professional and everything

but that's what I'm trying to get through to him. You need to

-study as well. If he doesn't get his maths I'm going with him.

-Ahh.

And we're going to night class together which I think...

Well, that's what my mum did.

Is that right did she go with you?

She used to give me a lift. Yeah.

So we'll do your maths together.

If doing maths classes

with your mum isn't enough to get you studying,

I don't know what is. I'll be keeping an eye on Darrel.

Chloe has had a tough year

and I know she dreams of making her mum proud by singing live on

stage so I've sent Jenny to let her know that she's going to be stepping

out from her choir and singing solo at a festival with a local band.

-Oh, my God.

-5,000 people at the festival, so the band

that are going to be playing with you they're a really, they're a

-massive band, there's loads of them on stage.

-That's amazing isn't it?

Oh, my God.

I'm giving Chloe the opportunity to sing any song

she wants at a City of Culture festival with one of Derry's

best live bands, Paddy Nash and The Happy Enchiladas.

I know just how hard it can be to step on stage and sing in front

of a crowd, especially if you've never done it before.

It's all about confidence

so I've got something a bit different in store for Chloe.

A workshop with Nicky Harley from Derry's circus school, that

should give her a great boost so she can Hit The Stage with confidence!

I'm relying on you to give me confidence.

OK. Well if you can do some of the things

we do today you'll be able to do anything.

Chloe is learning to be a clown.

Clowning is all about focus, like any performance.

All right go!

THEY LAUGH

SHE SCREAMS

Being a clown is not as easy as you might think!

A clown never gives up.

That's great advice. Never give up, Chloe!

# "Um, ah", went the little green frog one day

# "Um, ah", went the little green frog. #

Street theatre looks like a lot of fun and it's great to

see Chloe just letting herself go but it's not called street theatre

for nothing. It's time to take her new skills and hit the street.

This is super scary. If Chloe can do this

I reckon singing at a festival will be a breeze.

You've got an audience here.

Go for it, Chloe!

# "Um, ah", went the little green frog one day

# "Um, ah", went the little green frog

# "Um, ah", went the little green frog one day

# And the frog went, "Um, um, ahhh." #

That took some bottle

but I hope Chloe won't have to sing Little Green Frog at the festival.

I think I've more confidence now cos it doesn't matter what people think,

it's just, you're doing it, and at least you have the guts to do it.

Along with their own musical journeys our Hit The Stage

gang are also playing together as a City of Culture supergroup.

They're recording their very own cover version of Snow Patrol's

hit song Chasing Cars and making a music video to go with it.

Conal!

We've only got one more set of practice to go

through before we go into the studio because the last thing

we can do is go into the studio and start wasting time.

All right?

Let's take it from that chorus so it's after two...

# If I lay... # Right?

# If I just lay here

# Would you lie with me and just forget... #

Hmm, I dunno it's all sounding a bit flat.

So does anyone have any questions, or any ideas?

Anything that they want to bring forward, cos now's a good time.

Can we make the song a little bit faster a little tiny bit faster?

-Aye, because that's...

-That's too slow.

-Yeah.

-Like this.

That's a great suggestion from Hit The Stage drummer Jason.

..three, four.

# I don't quite know

# How to say... #

Yeah, that's starting to sound much better.

That tempo change and that stop, perfect ideas.

There still is a lot of individual practise they all need to do,

it's still a bit ropey.

Every time we do it it changes it slightly

and that's not good enough, you know, most of them

haven't been in a recording studio before so that will throw

them a bit. So there is a lot of work

that needs to be done before then.

One, two, three, four.

# Through it all... #

'I love the intro like the harp and the violin how it just'

comes in so softly and then it builds up and you got that

amazing beat coming in, it's really like, gets you really pumped.

Two, three, four.

I've seen so much progression, like, just today, like, it's

really starting to come together now, so it is.

That's pretty good.

If you've ever thought of forming a band with your mates, here's

some top tips.

I think when you're forming a band you know, it's important that

you have a mixture of you know different characters.

It's good that you've got good chemistry.

You've got to be friends. You know, everyone's got to get on well.

I think that's very important that you get on as friends.

Obviously you need to be good at your individual instrument, as well.

Hopefully you bring, sort of, different

skills to the table. You know, whether maybe someone's more

technically sort of gifted and

maybe someone else is

better at the business side of it,

there's so much you need

these days as a musician or

a producer, to be successful.

It really helps working in a team.

I had been in different bands with different friends.

And Alex had been in different bands

with different friends and we just

kind of all three of us play guitar,

we like the same music and we just kind of said, "Do you want to get in

"a garage and just play?"

I think we started off just doing covers and then

we just decided to write our own music

and it kind of just went from there.

Start your band with your friends, the people you know best.

Try to get a great balance of skills and abilities in your band.

Start with covers to practise then develop your own music.

And have loads of fun.

It's just two weeks before Chloe Hits The Stage

and she's in the studio with the band to rehearse her song.

I'll sing beside you because you need

to get those two wee lines right.

The song she's chosen to perform is the smash hit

"Beneath You're Beautiful" by Emeli Sande and Labrinth.

It's not an easy one to sing.

# Let me see beneath you're perfect

# Take it up now, boy, take it up. #

We'll try the chorus. There's just something not sound right

and let me take it off.

# But I'm going to try

# Let me... # Oh!

I'm going to crack up. Can't get it right.

I think Chloe's trying to sing this song in a key too high.

She can't reach the high notes so the band change the way

they play the song to see if it helps her voice.

# You tell all the boys no

# Makes you feel good, yeah. #

Finding the right key for your voice is the most important

thing for any new singer

and I think that new version suits Chloe's voice much better.

She now has two weeks to get it just right for the festival stage.

Now, I like to play the piano but Darrel is obsessed with it

and I think he needs to find out

if his dream of making a life out of music has any chance of succeeding.

Jenny is taking him to meet Neil Cowley, Neil is

City of Culture's musician in residence. He's a super

talented pianist and has played piano on some of the biggest

hits of this century working with people like Emeli Sande and Adele.

I've heard about you. I've heard all about you. The word is out in the

city at the minute, yeah. So it true to say you're classically trained?

-Yeah.

-Right and you're trying to make that transition...

There is no-one better for Darrel to work with to see

if he's got what it takes to make it as a full-time musician.

-I used to play Rolling In The Deep.

-Right.

-You played that one?

-I did play on that one.

I was watching on YouTube for...

Oh, did you watch that clip of me filming it in the studio?

-Go and do it.

-Huh?

-Go and do it.

-You want me to do it?

Yeah.

So, do you play that one?

No, I used to.

What do you mean you used to? Why don't

we re-learn Rolling in the Deep?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, is that a good idea?

-Yeah.

Cos I think that's what I played on it. Something like that.

Yeah, that is it.

I'm glad you're here to tell me.

I'm already liking your hand position. That's very good.

So you play that part, I'll play this part. Two, three and...

A flat major. If you can do that with the fourth finger

that would be perfect. Three and...

That's it. Perfect.

Well done. Yeah, you got it straight away

but what's amazing about you is your technique. You know you've

got that and you've got that over, 95% of people. You've got a classical

technique, you're very fluid, you jump from one end of the piano to

the other. No bother at all. You've got everything

within your grasp technically for you to do exactly what you want

for the rest of your life. I'm telling you, you really have,

you know, because it's just, it's all there it's all natural.

You know, it's been drilled into him or whatever it has,

but it's working beautifully so it's possible that the only area

that you need to think about developing is your ear.

If Neil is telling him that he's good,

then he really must have something special.

Neil is a great teacher, and I know that Darrell wants to

compose his own tunes so hopefully they can continue to work together.

Chloe's chance to sing solo has finally arrived.

She's at a family festival just outside Derry.

After three weeks of hard work she's finally got to grips with her

own unique version of the smash hit song "Beneath You're Beautiful" and

just before she Hits The Stage she's thinking of a very special person.

I think it's special that I'm at the festival

and it's my first festival. Unfortunately,

my mum can't be here with us but it's everything

I do musically is for her and I'm sure she's looking down and I can't

wait to just go on and make her proud so I'm very excited.

The gig is in full swing and Chloe's moment has come to

step into the spotlight. She has never sung on her

own in front of an audience before so best of luck, Chloe.

Hello, everybody!

# You let all the girls go

# Makes you feel good, don't it?

# Behind your Broadway show

# I heard a voice say, "Please, don't hurt me"

# You carried on so long

# You couldn't stop if you tried it

# Ohhhh hoo

# You've built your wall so high

# That no-one could climb it

# But I'm gonna try

# Would you let me see beneath you're beautiful?

# Would you let me see beneath you're perfect?

# Bring it up now, girl

# Bring it up now, girl

# I wanna see inside

# Would you let me see beneath you're beautiful tonight? #

Fantastic, Chloe. Well done!

That was absolutely amazing. That was just... It was unreal,

really didn't expected that big of a crowd. Oh, it was absolutely amazing.

I actually give all the credit to my mum, I think, cos she's just

kind of like my lucky charm. She's just always there. Hope she's

proud of me like so. I'm really proud of myself, as well.

MUSIC: "Glad You Came" by The Wanted

The biggest Irish music festival in the world has arrived in Derry

and tonight Conal will play on stage with the headline act,

Cara Dillon and her band.

Grandad Tommy is being supportive, as always.

Is that a Cara Dillon hair cut you've got, hey?

What kind of hair cut is that?

But Conal can give as good as he gets.

You don't even have hair to cut.

This is the first time Conal will ever have played on a big stage

and Tommy is keen to stress just how much it means.

-This is the biggest event in the...

-The Fleadh.

Fleadh Cheoil calendar do you know what I mean?

This is the headline event.

You have been fortunate enough to be part of it. It must blow you away.

It does, it just, I don't believe it.

As the venue starts to fill up for tonight's sold out concert,

Conal heads backstage to prepare for his performance which will

include playing with the band and a small solo.

As Cara Dillon and her band get under way Conal is trying to

overcome a problem.

If there's a bit of an issue too warm so your hands get sweaty

and your fingers start slipping when you're playing, so hope that

just doesn't happen.

Oh, no the heat from all the lights

and the huge audience is making things uncomfortably warm but

like a true professional, Conal will just have to get on with the show.

This is it. We're ready to go.

We've got a very special guest here tonight. Um, he's a young lad

and he's a only 14. Do you want to come on out here, Conal, come on!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

This is it.

Wow! He's brought the house down. What a performance

and not a slip in sight.

Oh, it was brilliant, class.

My God. Never done something like that before, amazing.

-Excellent.

-Thanks.

-Did really well.

I think he was fantastic. It was really brilliant

and for a young local lad to come out and do that is just

so brilliant, I couldn't have done that when I was 14.

Congratulations.

Good job, big dog.

I could get used to this.

Give us a hug, give us a hug. Brilliant, brilliant.

and I love that I love that when you got up there

and you went diddly, diddly, diddly.

In the final episode of Hit The Stage I meet Brianna,

who's taking on the harp.

Darrell struggles with nerves before his gig.

I'm really nervous.

The group finally record their cover of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars"

and it's time to say goodbye.

-This is the end now.

-Is that it?

-Aw!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd