Episode 9 The Big Performance

Ten kids terrified of singing in public...

Hey, don't cry...

-What's up?

-I don't want to do it.

-Two soloists - Chris and Oli.

-No!

..must undergo their toughest performance challenges...

You must be extra nervous!

Aargh! I'm still shaky and I don't know why!

..to face their ultimate fear -

singing to a crowd of 40,000 people at Proms In The Park.

There's enough people there to eat you alive.

Today they attempt a style of music they don't like...

I really, really, really, really, really, really hate classical.

..and sing to an unfriendly football crowd.

I've heard that the fans can be quite hostile.

Could you do it?

This is The Big Performance.

# Ah...

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Yeah

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ah... #

These ten shy singers are testing their vocal abilities

to the limits...

Good.

..all with the help of persuasive choir master Gareth Malone.

-Rock!

-# Love... #

They've come a long way in ten weeks...

HE SINGS OUT OF TUNE

< Ooh, OK...

# Ah... #

..but with only two more to go until they must perform at the Proms,

is it far enough?

They have got to have the whole package. We're not there yet.

Does he not realise I have a lobster on my head?

Last time, the group attempted pop.

Side...

And, with the help of choreographer Cisco Gomez,

starred in their very own music video.

Today, their diction is put under the spotlight.

What is all this "dem" and...?

-Do you not...? Can you say "th"?

-He can. He absolutely can.

And their nerves reach breaking point

as they perform in front of 15,000 people

at a championship football stadium.

Even Gareth is feeling the strain.

What I'm really scared about is that moment when we go out

and there's 15,000 people.

Today, The Big Performance tour bus is heading south to London.

Nothing compares to this city when it comes to music.

It's home to some of the best venues,

festivals and talent in the world.

Over the last few weeks the group have learned so much about music,

so much about performance,

but this week the style of music is very challenging

and they'll have to bring all of that together

and pull off something really special.

So far Annabel, Katie, Chloe, Chris,

Oli, Howard, Emily, Miriyah and Isthaque

have each tried out for that all-important solo spot.

This style of music that he's going to have to sing

is a real challenge.

I think when I tell the group what the music is this week,

I think they'll be horrified.

And with Emily still injured, the group is one person down.

Hi, everyone. ALL: Hi!

Another day, another stop on The Big Performance bus

and guess whose solo it is this time?

It's you, Jordan.

# Yeah, solo, I'm ridin' solo

# I'm ridin' solo I'm ridin' solo... #

My favourite type of music is R&B

and right now I like Jason Derulo's Ridin' Solo.

My biggest passion is football.

I like singing but rapping's more my thing.

# Ridin' solo, solo. #

-How are you feeling, Jordan? Not too nervous?

-A little bit.

-Let's go.

Gareth has brought them to the prestigious Royal Academy of Music,

a classical music college, producing stars Sir Elton John,

Katherine Jenkins, Myleene Klass,

and our very own Gareth Malone.

This is the Royal Academy of Music, it's where I studied

and it's where they teach the kind of music we'll do this week -

classical music.

MUSIC: Opening of Beethoven's 5th Symphony

It's a kind of music that I am really, really passionate about

and I hope after today, you're going to be as well.

Let's go.

Classical music is the bedrock for all other musical styles.

Without it there would be no pop, rock or hip hop.

All styles that are in the charts now

have all come from classical music.

A lot of great hip hop tracks

and R&B tracks are samples from classical music,

so it can be used in a cool way.

Jay-Z, Kanye, everyone's using big massive strings and violins

in their tracks. They're cool.

I'm cool, I'm using strings in my music, so...

Because of that, classical music is cool.

Gareth has a hard task ahead -

changing the perceptions of this group.

I like hip hop and R&B,

but I don't listen to classical music.

I don't think classical music could be cool,

or for young people at all.

Their faces fell and they looked horrified.

I'm looking forward to showing them

that this kind of music is really exciting.

Welcome, everyone, to the Duke's Hall in the Royal Academy of Music.

The song that you're going to learn today

is called Danny Boy.

# Oh, Danny Boy

# The pipes, the pipes Are calling... #

Danny Boy is a folk song written 100 years ago,

and is widely considered to be an Irish anthem.

It's been covered by many artists,

including classical boy band G4.

# And all the roses falling... #

Everything we've done up to this point has been easier for them

because it's been rock or pop - even country was easier than classical.

I think for them it's a big leap.

I really, really, really, really, really, really hate classical.

Who still feels that classical music might be for... I don't know,

old, posh people?

A couple of you.

Well, I've got someone for you to meet

who I think disproves that.

Gareth wants to prove that classical singing

can be appreciated by a younger audience

and hopes this teenage star will do the trick.

I've got for you today Faryl.

APPLAUSE Hello, how are you, all right?

-Good, thank you.

-Good to see you. This is everybody, so Faryl...

-Hello!

# Somewhere far away

# There's a soldier boy Who dreams a dream of home... #

Faryl Smith shot to fame

when she appeared on Britain's Got Talent

singing Ave Maria at only 12 years old.

# To the ones who sleep alone... #

# Ave

# Maria... #

Three years on, and 15-year-old Faryl has already made two albums,

with her debut being the fastest-selling solo classical album

in British chart history.

When she sang, she sounds like Susan Boyle or someone else like that.

It's amazing.

-# In hora... #

-Faryl is just like them,

she's a couple of years older than them,

she's learning, she's trying, she's enjoying classical singing,

and I think that proves to them that it is OK to sing this kind of music.

# Amen. #

How old are you again?

15, just turned 15.

Having sung Danny Boy in the past,

Gareth hopes that Faryl can give his young singers some useful advice

on how it should be performed.

# Oh, Danny Boy

# The pipes, the pipes Are calling... #

Usually classical singers, when they go on they're quite posh,

everyone expects them to be well spoken and things like that,

and when I go on stage, a 15-year-old girl,

I do like to kind of have fun when I'm on stage.

# Oh, Danny Boy

# Oh, Danny Boy I love you so. #

If you just think that you're just picking it up off the floor

as if it's easy like... # 'Tis I'll be here... #

..as if you're just throwing the note away...

Imagine that it's coming out the top of your head, really go for it.

It's really interesting, when you did that, it just...really went.

Because she was relaxed, you let the sound go.

Another top tip is if we do a bend.

So you go... # 'Tis I'll be here... #

Yeah? Really big. Ready, and go.

# 'Tis I'll be here... #

# Oh, Danny Boy... #

Tips over, Faryl heads to the back of the hall

to make sure they are projecting their voices far enough.

# From glen to glen And down the mountain side... #

I think despite their initial feeling of, "What is this kind of music?"

I think I'm turning them around, changing their minds, and if I can,

it will give me great personal pride.

# Oh, Danny Boy, oh, Danny Boy I love you so. #

Like I said earlier, just make sure that it all flows really well

but, to be honest, it sounds really nice,

when I was standing up there, it sounds really good.

Great! Well, thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-I think we should give her a massive round of applause...

Today, Gareth faces his hardest task so far -

teaching Jordan to sing a classical solo.

To ease his nerves, Gareth's decided not to tell him that this afternoon

he'll be performing a style of music he hates

in front of a potentially hostile crowd.

-Hi, Jordan.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-All right.

-Yeah?

-Are you nervous, or...?

-A little bit.

12-year-old Jordan comes from North London

and lives with his mum and three sisters.

Football is the love of his life,

and when he's not following his favourite team, Arsenal,

he's winning medals for his local club, Croham Manor.

Jordan loves music, but it's all about rapping in his neighbourhood,

which means he has zero confidence when it comes to singing.

# Oh, Danny Boy

# The pipes, the pipes are calling

# From glen to glen And down the mountain side... #

Because of your Stoke Newington accent,

we get... # Oh, Danny Boy... #

"dih" pipes, you sing sort of "dih",

-and you need to hear "the", yeah?

-The...

-The.

Gareth has touched on one of the toughest obstacles

in teaching a cool rapper to sing classical - diction.

When you're singing a song, it's about being very clear,

so that every single person can hear every single word.

It's like you're telling a story, you're not just singing a song.

-Just read those words out.

-"Oh, Danny Boy,

"the pipes, the pipes are calling."

That sounded like a shopping list. THEY LAUGH

When Gareth first met Jordan,

it was clear that this dude was more used to listening to hip hop

than singing classical.

# All I do is hurt you again... #

-What do your mates think about your singing?

-Where I'm from,

we don't sing, we just, like, listen to rap music and that.

Since The Big Performance tour began,

Gareth has been trying to teach Jordan

to stop rapping and start singing.

-# It was just a fling before... #

-Jordan...

-Yeah?

..you are speaking.

# Oh, Danny Boy The pipes, the pipes... #

Jordan's performance is seriously lacking energy,

so Gareth thinks that football might be the answer.

..Because I think that singing is very like playing football, yeah?

Yes? Because there's the ball.

So you're going to look at the goal,

-and then what are you going to do with your energy?

-Kick the ball?

You're going to put the energy into the ball,

-and where's the energy going to go?

-In the goal?

Pow, straight out, yeah?

That's why it's like football -

you're taking your breath, your energy,

and you're sending it out to the crowd.

# Oh, Danny Boy, the pipes, The pipes are calling... #

When Gareth said singing was a bit like football,

I was thinking, "That's weird."

But when he showed me that you put energy into the football,

do it to singing, I kind of got it,

cos it made me sing loud, and so everyone can hear it.

# 'Tis you must go and I must bide. #

And he scores! Brilliant!

Classical music is a refined style

that requires its performers to have good posture,

pronunciation and, most importantly, manners,

something that Gareth feels the group have not yet mastered.

So far they've perfected the art of ignoring their audience,

looking bored,

admiring the floor,

forgetting to smile,

and mumbling their words.

So Gareth has brought in someone to help with this week's style.

Liz Brewer, who is a professional elocution and etiquette teacher,

she's going to help you to get the skills you need

for the performance later on.

For any classical performer, first impressions are key,

which is something Liz wants this nervous group to understand.

I wonder if you could possibly do me the honour

of standing up one by one,

and just telling me exactly who you are.

Hi, I'm Katie and I love animals.

-That's what I read here.

-I've nothing else to say!

You've ALL got something else to say.

What do you love about life?

-I don't know, um...

-There must be something.

-I'm Jordan and I like...

-Let's try it again. Sit down.

ALL LAUGH

I'm Oli and I'm very scared of standing up in front of

very upper-class ladies.

Do you know why you feel nervous?

-Um...

-Because you're thinking about it.

They're so consumed with being cool and what the other kids think.

What they've got to do is learn

to put all those thoughts aside and to be able to talk

and feel proud of who they are.

The way you speak is all part and parcel

to do with how you perform as a classical singer.

So Liz gets them to chose a topic to talk about

and asks Gareth to record it.

Then I went to this other school, my primary school,

and everybody said I speak posh.

The group needs to understand how they sound

when they don't speak properly and don't use clear diction.

-Good. Shall we play it back to her?

-Absolutely.

"I went to this other school, my primary school,

"and everybody said I speak posh."

All the time there's repetition,

and you speak too fast.

Four years ago...

Let's see if this week's soloist can do any better.

Shall we have a look?

"In my school I have four buildings,

"and one of dem, like, was there since,

"like, maybe 40, 40 years ago."

What is all this "dem" and do you not...? Can you say "th"?

He can, he absolutely can.

What is it about "th" that you don't like?

-Cos, like...

-"Cos, like, cos, like..."

-Cos...

-Because.

-CHILDREN LAUGH

Because... It's not funny.

-CHILDREN LAUGH

-'I don't normally speak like that,'

I normally, like, miss out maybe the T,

and it's, like, really weird,

cos I've never done anything like speaking like that before.

I'm not saying that they need to start to speak like Liz.

What I am saying is that when you're in a performance situation

you have to act confidently,

pretend you're the most confident person in the world.

It's about giving them a life skill.

But the lesson isn't over yet.

What Liz was saying was making sense to me,

but I think that everybody else

was sort of feeling a bit freaked out by her.

I talk fast but not like too fast because I can understand myself.

She's all posh and she talks like this...

Gareth has brought them to one of London's finest hotels,

a perfect place to put into practice their newly learned behaviour.

This afternoon we are going to take tea in a very exclusive hotel,

and I'm hoping that our behaviour is going to be so refined

that even the Queen herself would be impressed. Follow me.

Afternoon tea is a very British tradition,

usually taken between three and five o'clock in the afternoon,

consisting of sandwiches, cakes and, of course, tea.

I am enjoying afternoon tea and thank you all for joining us.

It also requires manners and best behaviour.

Isthaque, how are you finding your cake?

-It's quite nice but I keep on dropping it on my fork.

-Oh, OK.

-So excuse me for that.

-You are excused.

The cake that I had, it had pink icing on the top,

and it had like little flowery sprinkles on it,

and it was delicious.

Having a delightful time is all well and good,

but there's a more important lesson to learn.

I would rather like to have one conversation

involving everybody while we're having tea,

as that's what one does when one has tea - one has conversation.

I personally think that our behaviour on stage is disgraceful.

-Do you?!

-We look down at the floor,

we don't stand up or present ourselves neatly,

we all look ratty, dirty,

like someone's just picked us off the street.

-I think we should try a lot harder, and it's a disgrace.

-Yes!

I completely agree with you. I think "ratty" is maybe a little unfair,

but it really does make a big difference

if you think about yourself with respect,

and especially when you're doing a classical music performance,

it's as simple as imagining that you would be excellent company

for the Queen of England, and having that kind of authority

will really help your performance.

They did behave beautifully,

and that's the first time that I've seen them draw themselves upright

and speak with confidence and take time and listen to each other.

If they get on stage and they don't sing with clarity

and with confidence and real poise,

the performance just simply doesn't work.

Good. That, I'm afraid, is the end of afternoon tea.

Thank you very much. Shall we? Off we go.

With Gareth suitably impressed

that the group have a handle on classical etiquette,

there's only one thing left for them to do -

find out exactly where they'll be performing later.

They still have no idea where we're performing, and I hope

they'll be really excited when they see the football arena,

and not fall to pieces.

OK, everybody, come with me.

This is the Madejski Stadium,

home to football team Reading.

This afternoon there will be 15,000 people in here

and you are going to perform in front of them.

The stadium looks very big, and a bit scary.

2,000 was a struggle for me,

so I don't know how I'm going to cope in front of 15,000.

We need to show them that we really, really mean business,

and we need to sing better than we've ever sung in our entire lives.

Football crowds more than likely aren't into classical music,

so I don't think they'll be too happy about us singing.

I've heard that the fans can be quite hostile at times,

because they're here to see their match, not to see us sing,

and they might boo us.

The group might feel intimidated,

but all eyes will be on this week's soloist.

-Jordan...

-Yeah?

-..you're the soloist.

ECHOING: IT'S JUST YOUR VOICE...

in this massive stadium.

But before he can let the reality of the challenge ahead sink in,

Gareth has one more thing for Jordan to do.

Jordan, everyone who does a solo has to do what?

-A solo challenge.

-That's right, and your solo challenge is in there.

-Who do you think's in there?

-My family?

It is, it's your entire family.

How will they react to you singing classical music?

I think they're going to be shocked, cos I don't sing classical music.

Jordan never sings in the house at all,

unless it's one of those pop,

hip hop, rap musics, and then that's it.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It's just friends over there,

my mum, my granddad, my nan,

and my sisters and my auntie.

It's going to be embarrassing.

Jordan, stand tall, be a gentleman, make your family proud.

For Jordan this is huge.

Not only has he never sung in front of his family before,

but this style of music is completely out of his comfort zone.

# Oh, Danny Boy The pipes, the pipes are calling

# From glen to glen And down the mountain side

# The summer's gone And all the roses falling

# 'Tis you, 'tis you must go And I must bide

# But come ye back When summer's in the meadow

# Or when the valley's hushed And white with snow

# 'Tis I'll be here

# In sunshine or in shadow

# Oh, Danny Boy, oh, Danny Boy

# I love you so. #

I had never, ever dreamed of Jordan singing classical music at all.

All Jordan's concerned about is football, football,

football and more football.

My little sister started crying!

It was, like, nice that she appreciates me.

He's come such a long way,

the boy who raps now singing classical music.

I'm really proud of him and so is his family,

which is wonderful.

SHE CRIES

With only one hour till kick-off,

Gareth has some last-minute advice for the group.

This is a really big and important performance for you.

I think you need to remember your classical etiquette.

Remember to stand tall, be really confident,

be polite to your audience by smiling at them

and putting on a really good show.

But most importantly,

when we do a classical performance we need to look the part.

So I'm going to go and get into my tails,

and I've got a little surprise for you, Jordan,

cos I've got an outfit for you as well.

CHILDREN LAUGH

Pick up your bags, I'll see you later. Off you go.

As the group heads off to get changed, the fans start to arrive.

I'm thinking of what my family

said earlier cos they gave me a lot of support

and they told me to do it and go for it,

so I'm going to go for it.

What I'm really scared about

is that moment when we go out and there's 15,000 people there.

That's the moment when your stomach drops away,

you feel sick in your heart.

If they can pull this off, it will be something...just wonderful.

What on earth will this potentially hostile crowd

make of the group's classical performance?

Will they dish out the kind of abuse usually reserved for referees?

Can Jordan embrace this unlikely choice of music

and impress the fans?

# Oh, Danny boy

# The pipes, the pipes are calling

# From glen to glen and down the mountainside

# The summer's gone and all the roses fallen

# 'Tis you, 'tis you Must go and I must bide.

# But come ye back when summer's in the meadows

# Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow

# 'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow

# Oh, Danny boy, oh, Danny boy

# I love you so. #

APPLAUSE

And the north London rapper hits the back of the net.

Well done!

Having overcome his initial embarrassment,

he belted out a classical solo

in front of a stadium full of football fans.

We did it! High-fives all round. Really, really, really brilliant.

Normally when I go to a football stadium,

I'm either playing or watching a game.

But to sing at a football stadium was really weird

and it was also exciting.

-How are you feeling?

-All right.

-That was really good.

The group seem to be taking everything in their stride,

but remarkably it's Gareth who's really feeling the pressure.

The tension before that was just unbelievable, in the corridor,

just thinking, "How is this going to go?

"What's the reaction going to be like?"

And the relief afterwards, I am exhausted! But really happy.

After you, Jordan.

All of the group have now had their chance to impress Gareth

and sing their way into the solo spot at Proms In The Park,

so how does he rate Jordan's chances?

That, for Jordan, was a mega challenge. Absolutely enormous,

it was the last solo, but he had the furthest to go.

I now have to choose someone to do that solo at Proms In The Park.

I think Jordan's got a high chance.

Getting the right person for that kind of environment,

and that song, is absolutely crucial.

The group is put to the test with an 80-piece orchestra...

I was like, "OK! This seems much more than I expected!"

They perform live to 8 million people on national radio...

-Good morning, children!

-Morning!

You must be extra nervous?

And Gareth has a very big announcement to make.

The person who is going to be singing solo at Proms In The Park is...

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