Junior Semi-Final Songs of Praise

Over the next three Sundays, 12 of the best school choirs

in the country will showcase their talent

here in Birmingham.

This week, the Junior Choirs, with children as young as seven years old,

aim for the title of 2014 Songs Of Praise School Choir Of The Year.

APPLAUSE

Welcome to Birmingham's International Convention Centre

for the first semifinal of the 2014 competition.

It was right here in this building that the first school choir

competition took place back in 2003.

Since then, only the very best choirs in Britain have laid

hands on one of these.

The precious trophy.

It's these six junior schools from across England and Wales who

must sing like angels if they are to make the final in two weeks' time.

Only three choirs can go through.

Will it be...? From Chester, Queen's Lower School.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

From Cowbridge, Ysgol Iolo Morganwg.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

From London, Blackheath Preparatory School.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

From Huddersfield, Lindley Junior School.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

From Yorkshire, St Martin's Ampleforth.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And from Llanelli, Llangennech Junior School.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

As you can tell, quite a few of our audience are excited already.

Now, I'm very excited to introduce someone brand-new

to our school choir stage.

She is well-known to BBC viewers in Northern Ireland

and she's a great fan of school choirs and singing.

Please give a warm welcome

to Claire McCollum.

APPLAUSE

Tell us what you are going to be doing today.

I'll be backstage, gauging reaction with all

the children as they come off the stage.

Hopefully it will all be positive and good.

And also finding out what they thought of the judges' comments.

Do you think there's going to be elation or tears?

I think we're going to have a bit of everything backstage.

I think it's just wonderful to see all these children

and how much work they've put into the whole competition. Absolutely wonderful.

-Claire, we're going to be seeing a lot of you. Thank you.

-Pleasure.

Claire McCollum.

Now it's time to introduce three experts in their field

who have the unenviable task of judging our choirs today.

Firstly, an internationally renowned choral director, conductor

and choir founder, who has worked at the highest level with children

and adult choirs all over the world -

Suzi Digby.

APPLAUSE

Next, a Brit-nominated, double MOBO Award-winning singer-songwriter,

born and raised right here in Birmingham.

She's sung in gospel choirs

and in front of tens of thousands at Glastonbury and beyond -

it's Laura Mvula.

APPLAUSE

It's no exaggeration to say that our third judge has reinvented

popular interest in choral singing. With his unerring ability to

draw the very best from children and adults - it's Gareth Malone.

APPLAUSE

Right, let's get singing.

Each of our six choirs will sing their choice of hymn.

Based on that one performance, the judges will select three choirs

to go into the final in two weeks' time.

It's tough at the top.

Our first school to sing have been at this stage of the competition once before.

It's St Martin's Ampleforth.

'St Martins Ampleforth is a Roman Catholic school.

'We sing a lot of religious music. We sing in Chapel. We sing at assembly.'

Singing the faith is really important to us.

I went for a hymn called, I, The Lord Of Sea And Sky.

It was really the children who reminded me that it

was the headmaster's favourite hymn.

I'm absolutely thrilled that we've chosen the hymn, because it's

inspiring and it's very moving to listen to the children singing that.

# I like ice cream. #

The one thing that we know that Mr Conyngham loves is chocolate.

He's, like, going for more all the time.

Yes, I have to confess it, I am addicted to chocolate. I can't get through a day without it.

Everybody is, like, guarding their bowl.

'Because he is going to steal it.'

'I think the children have to listen to one another.

'They're singing a harmony, they're singing in unison, but I think'

they will give of their best, because they're children like that. They want to do their very best.

# I, the Lord of sea and sky

# I have heard my people cry

# All who dwell in dark and sin

# My hand will save

# I, who made the stars of night

# I will make their darkness bright

# Who will bear my light to them?

# Whom shall I send?

# Here I am, Lord Is it I, Lord?

# I have heard you calling

# In the night

# I will go, Lord If you lead me

# I will hold your people

# In my heart

# I, the Lord of wind and flame

# I will tend the poor and lame

# I will set a feast for them

# My hand will save

# Finest bread I will provide

# Till their hearts be satisfied

# I will give my life to them

# Whom shall I send?

# Whom shall I send?

# Here I am, Lord

# Is it I, Lord?

# I have heard you calling in the night

# In the night

# I will go, Lord

# If you lead me

# I will hold your people

# In my heart

# In my heart

# I will hold your people

# In my

# Heart. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

St Martin's Ampleforth.

So, the first choir, they have to set the benchmark.

Suzi, did they set it high enough?

It's very difficult to go first.

I've always said that singing should be like the contents of a lava lamp.

Lots of shape and movement and colour and multidimensional.

And from the very first sound, I could hear that.

I could hear the shape and the fullness.

Unfortunately, the tuning went right at the end.

Because until that point, I was so impressed that you were able

to get a good dynamic range and keep the tuning so impressively good.

Gareth, this is the first choir you've ever heard as a judge

on School Choir Of The Year. Were you impressed?

I was. Well done, Ampleforth, for going first.

You established your performance very well from the beginning.

You clearly loved it, which is very important.

I could see in your eyes there was a connection there.

Just as Suzi said, towards the end the tuning just went.

It started to push a little bit.

And that's something that does come with experience,

but I thought that was a very assured performance. Well done.

Laura, as a singer yourself, what did you make of the sound that these young voices created?

Can I just say thank you so much for that lovely performance?

It's so hard when you've got to come out and open and be the first sound.

When you sang in unison and you opened, it was like one voice. It was so beautiful.

And when you smiled, those of you that smiled,

it really lifted the sound.

So thank you. I felt like it was a really wonderful performance.

Thank you, St Martin's Ampleforth.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-St Martin's Ampleforth, how do you think it went?

-We had so much fun.

It was just so happy.

And Mr Conyngham, do you think he'll be sharing his chocolate with you after today?

Maybe. Probably, if we do win.

And what was the atmosphere like out there?

It was scary and tense, but it was amazing.

They've worked very, very hard. They've done the school great honour.

I couldn't be more pleased with them, really. We did our very best.

Time now for the first of two choirs from Wales. It's Ysgol Iolo Morganwg from Cowbridge.

BOTH: Helo, pawb. That means, "Hello, everybody", in Welsh.

Here in Cowbridge it's really fun.

It's just really one of the highlights of Wales, I think.

'So, it's important that the words

'in Welsh come over to the English audience.'

It's harder, because they don't know what we're saying,

so we need to say it in our faces.

I'm very strict with the choir.

Diction and the words of songs are very important.

'It can be hard, but it's what you've got to do in a choir.'

-We are brilliant. We are probably the best in the world.

-Stop showing off!

-Sorry!

THEY SING IN WELSH

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Ysgol Iolo Morganwg, everybody.

So, Gareth, a familiar hymn sung in Welsh. What did you make of it?

The word that I wrote down was "joy" as you started.

An absolutely wonderful sound at the beginning and such lovely faces.

You have a fantastic connection with your conductor

and you clearly love singing for her, which just really shone.

I would really like to pick out the people in the second verse.

That was lovely. Real passion there.

The danger is sometimes that the passion just bubbles over

and you want to keep that lovely blended sound that you

had at the beginning, all the way through.

That's maybe something to watch for, that you don't let the pot boil over.

Laura, picking up on the joy theme, did you feel that joy as well?

I just loved that, just listening to that amazing sound.

When you sing together in unison, it sounds so pure

and the way you sing the words, you sing so sincerely,

like I believe it.

Suzi, you often say that Welsh choirs sound better when they sing in Welsh.

Definitely. There's something about singing in the Welsh language which

sprinkles magic dust over the sound.

And your best sound is in the middle range

and you could start to build a bit more fatness in the higher register.

Thank you, Ysgol Iolo Morganwg.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You look relieved to have that over. How do you think they performed?

They performed beautifully, beautifully.

I couldn't have asked for a better performance from them.

Some of them are so young.

SHE SNIFFS

Sorry, I'm getting a bit emotional here.

It was a very nice thing out on the stage.

It was my first time to do it.

It was scary, but then we got good comments.

I thought they were going to tell us we were flat and all that stuff.

But they actually said nice things.

Our next choir are from the Royal London Borough of Greenwich.

It's Blackheath Preparatory School.

# Gonna lay down my burden Down by the riverside... #

We've been entering, I think, for three years

'and I did hope that we would be in with a chance this year'

because I felt their singing was sweet.

I bet anything that there's not going to be a single moment of silence on the bus.

Everyone's going to be literally screaming, singing, chatting the whole time.

But the most important thing is to enjoy our singing.

We work really well as a team and Mrs Graham is really inspiring.

It's not just Miss Graham pushing us,

it's ourselves pushing ourselves.

It's when we go home, we practise all the time.

We will be singing Down By The Riverside.

It was about people in the slave trade

singing about their world that they had been promised.

It always cheers everyone up, because it cheers them up,

so it cheers us up.

This is one of Mrs Graham's most famous funny warm-ups

and it goes like this.

ALL: # Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh... #

'We need to give it 150% while they're up there singing'

and just go for it, really, and enjoy it.

# Gonna lay down my burden Down by the riverside

# Down by the riverside Down by the riverside

# Gonna lay down my burden Down by the riverside

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Doo-doo-doo-doo

# Doo-doo-doo-ba

# Doo-doo-doo-doo

# Doo-doo-doo-ba

# Gonna lay down my burden

# Down by the riverside Down by the riverside

# Down by the riverside

# Gonna lay down my burden Down by the riverside

-# Ain't gonna study war no more

-Ain't gonna study war

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Doo-doo-doo-doo Doo-doo-doo-ba

# Doo-doo-doo-doo Doo-doo-doo-ba

-# Gonna lay

-Gonna lay

-# Gonna lay

-Gonna lay

# Down by the riverside

# Down by the riverside

# Down by the riverside

-# Gonna lay

-Gonna lay

-# Gonna lay

-Gonna lay

# Down by the riverside

# Ain't gonna study war no more

# Ain't gonna study war

# Ain't gonna study war

# Study war

# Study war no

# Study war

# Study war Study war

# Study war no more

-# Gonna lay

-Gonna lay down

-# Gonna lay

-Gonna lay down

-# Gonna lay

-Gonna lay down

# Down by the riverside. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Blackheath Preparatory School.

Laura, a spiritual as opposed to a pure hymn,

but was it a good choice?

Yes, I definitely really enjoyed that.

It kind of made me want to dance a little bit.

I loved the arrangement. I think it's always a bit difficult

sometimes when we have those rhythmic things.

You gave it so much energy and that really came across.

You can really feel that you enjoy singing,

and are enjoying those parts, but it's always... I wonder what would happen

if in rehearsal you spent a little bit more time just really thinking

about getting those together so that you are really working well together.

Suzi, what did you think of that performance?

I love hearing unbridled singing in young voices,

but be very careful that it doesn't get too chesty.

So maybe start developing ways in which they can get that energy

and volume without using the chest voice too much.

Gareth, you know what it's like trying to get the best out of a choir.

How did Blackheath do?

I thought lots of this performance was excellent.

Very disciplined, very engaged with your singing.

But I think if you find that slightly lighter dynamic that the groove will start to come.

It's the hardest thing in the world, is to get that feeling funky, but still light.

So, lots to commend in that, but just a couple of points for you to work on.

Thank you, Blackheath Preparatory School.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

That must have gone well, did it?

They worked really hard and they had that energy.

That was the main thing.

What was it like being out there on stage?

A bit scary, but it was really fun in the end.

What would it mean to you to get into the final?

Everything.

THEY CHEER

Our next choir are ready to go.

This consistently high-quality choir were winners

of the competition in 2008 and they made the semifinals in 2012.

It's Lindley Junior School from Huddersfield.

'Singing is incredibly important at school here.

'Half the children in the school sing'

in one of the school's four choirs.

The Lindley choir is very energetic

because Mrs North, our choir teacher, is very motivating.

'A lot of it comes from my own passion, and hopefully I can then share that'

enjoyment and love of the singing and the words and everything with them.

# Praise, my soul, the king of heaven... #

Praise, My Soul, The King Of Heaven, we chose it at our wedding a few years ago, me and my husband.

It's got lots of different dynamics in it and it's got a very, very large range of notes.

'When it's saying, "Fathers being in distress", you would be

'kind of feeling sad, but when it gets to the choruses,'

you've got a feeling of joy and happiness.

# Praise, my soul, the king of heaven

# To his feet thy tribute bring

# Ransomed, healed Restored, forgiven

# Who like me his praise should sing?

# Praise him Praise him

# Praise him Praise him

# Praise the everlasting king

# Praise him for his grace and favour

# To our fathers in distress

# Praise him still the same forever

# Slow to chide and swift to bless

# Praise him Praise him

# Praise him Praise him

# Glorious in his faithfulness

# Father-like he tends and spares us

# Well our feeble frame he knows

# In his hands he gently bears us

# Rescues us from all our foes

# Praise him Praise him

# Praise him Praise him

# Widely as his mercy flows

# Angels help us to adore him

# Ye behold him face to face

# Sun and moon bow down before him

# Dwellers all in time and space

# Praise him Praise him

# Praise him Praise him

# Praise with us the god of grace. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Lindley Junior School.

Suzi, a very familiar hymn and a well drilled choir. What did you make of it?

That unison first verse is one of the nicest and best sung hymns I've heard.

The subtlety of the way you expressed the language just

sort of brought each word to life.

And when you repeated text, you got a new energy to it. That's something

really difficult to achieve without going overboard.

When you split into two parts, it just needed a bit more fullness,

a bit more richness.

And similarly, in the last verse, the melody needed to be a bit more robust.

Gareth, the choirs get one song, one chance to shine. Did they?

They certainly did, although I'm terrified to say anything negative,

because I'm aware that they're all...

LAUGHTER There are very noisy.

Your families probably could make a very good choir as well, I suspect.

As Suzi said, that first verse was absolutely astonishing

and we all nodded as you then went into the second verse

and there was a change of colour.

It's a bit of a cliche now in choir circles, but, "two ears, one mouth".

Must listen really, really carefully.

And it's very tempting when you're singing in parts to get louder

to try and bolster everyone's confidence.

What you need to do, actually, if anything, is just soften off

and make sure you are absolutely together.

It just came apart ever so slightly at the end, tuning wise,

but other than that, I thought it was particularly assured.

Laura?

Wow. I feel like you guys have said everything.

Your tone, together with the way you sing -

that opening first verse was just so beautifully and effortlessly sung.

I was captivated from beginning to end

and that's quite a big thing, so thank you.

Thank you, Lindley Junior School.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

How do you think you performed out there?

Yes, I think we performed really well.

We gave it our all, so if we get through, we get through,

and we'll perform as well as we can in the final.

But if we don't, we've got here, which is really good in the first place.

It's my first time being here and I really loved it.

We hope we've done enough to get to the final. If we haven't, we'll try again.

We've just had a choir from Yorkshire.

Next, we're going to hear one from the Northwest.

From the ancient city of Chester, it's the Queen's Lower School.

When I was told we got through to the semifinals, I didn't believe it.

I said, "You must be lying. You're just playing a joke."

# Make me a channel of your peace... #

Make Me A Channel Of Your Piece is a prayer, so when... you've got to understand

when you're singing it what you're singing about.

I think it's popular with young choirs, or at least they

can convey the sense of the words

because of the simplicity of the tune.

'I think of, like, smooth, it could be a lullaby, and everything is'

really nice and I really want to be kind and everything.

-Whoo! Brrr!

-CHOIR: Whoo! Brrr!

And again. That's brilliant. Breathe in.

Mrs Corlett's weird, wacky and wonderful.

'She's never, like, angry. She's always happy and bouncy.'

Kind of crazy. Just a bit.

Two, three.

THEY START SINGING

Where were you going?

'Music, I always feel, has to be fun.'

What do we have to remember about the first line? Tell me.

'In early teaching I think it's very important to tell stories'

through music and for children to be able to express themselves

in rhyme and song and chant...

ALL: Ch-ch, ka-ka-ka.

..and just love it.

# Make me a channel of your peace

# Where there is hatred Let me bring your love

# Where there is injury

# Your pardon, Lord

# And where there's doubt True faith in you

# Oh, master Grant that I may never seek

# So much to be consoled as to console

# To be understood as to understand

# To be loved as to love with all my soul

# Make me a channel of your peace

# Where there's despair in life Let me bring hope

# Where there is darkness Only light

# And where there's sadness Ever joy

# Oh, master Grant that I may never seek

# So much to be consoled as to console

# To be understood as to understand

# To be loved as to love with all my soul

# Make me a channel of your peace

# It is in pardoning that we are pardoned

# In giving to all men that we receive

# And in dying that we're born to eternal life

# And in dying that we're born

# To eternal life. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

From Chester, Queen's Lower School.

Gareth.

Lots of attention in rehearsal, I'm sure, to the diction

and to the words, and that really came over.

We are all about metaphors this afternoon.

It should be like a balloon going down, the air coming out

very, very smoothly, so that the sound carries out into the audience.

And because of your attention on the detail, just be careful that it

doesn't become too crotchet-by-crotchet.

And just finally, lovely to see you get a very beautiful, quiet sound.

Really, that's very important, to be able to sing quietly.

Laura, did Queen's deliver under the spotlight?

Absolutely. I do know how hard it is, especially

when you feel really nervous and jittery.

And just the small point of tuning when you are singing in harmony,

and just balancing there, but overall it was

a really moving performance and one of my favourite hymns.

Suzi, what did you think of Queen's performance?

One of the most important things about singing is to decide how

you are going to capture the essence of a song.

"Make me a channel of your peace", that is the central theme.

And I was just made to feel incredibly peaceful.

It was almost tangible by that lovely silvery sweet sound

that your choir makes. That's a real gift.

And it was quite a restrained, contained performance throughout.

Thank you, judges. Thank you, Queens Lower School.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I think they performed as well as they possibly could

and my two little soloists at the end did brilliantly.

I think it went quite well, because we all did a nice harmony and everything.

How proud do you think the whole school is going to be

whenever you get back to class?

Epically proud.

Our final choir are the second choir from Wales.

They've never entered the competition before

so are thrilled to be here in the semifinals.

It's Llangennech Junior School from Llanelli.

# Papa has a head like a Ping-Pong ball

# Papa has a head like a Ping-Pong ball... #

I like being in the choir, because we can sing five different languages.

African, Latin, Welsh, English and sometimes gibberish.

We think we've got a secret weapon in this competition.

'It's Mr Richards.'

Some of you are cheating...

He gives a lot of effort and time to teach us.

'This is the very first time that we have entered the competition'

and heard just before Christmas

that we'd made it through to the semifinals

and was absolutely over the moon, overwhelmed, really.

I couldn't believe that we'd made it through on our first attempt.

'The hymn is Ave Verum, written by Mozart. It's in Latin.

'It's emotional, because at the start you are happy,'

because it's saying that Jesus is being born.

You've got to sing quite quiet in the piece.

'Sotto voce is a term that some of the children are getting used to now.'

I've asked them to practise singing sotto voce, which is very, very quietly.

'They're a fantastic bunch and they really enjoy performing.'

I really couldn't ask for anything more.

THEY SING IN LATIN

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Llangennech Junior School.

So, Laura, a brand-new choir to the competition.

-It's their first time and they come out singing Mozart.

-Wow!

-A bit brave, isn't it?

-Amazing.

And your dynamic range I felt was just wonderful.

There were moments of real quiet and then real passion. It really grew.

And I'm sorry, I'm a bit overwhelmed by that. So, thank you.

Suzi.

I take my hat off to you.

I don't think that anyone who is not a trained musician can

appreciate how difficult that is.

The vocal production, really, really good.

As always with this piece, the big challenge is the tuning,

the tuning of the chording, and you did a pretty good job.

Gareth, have Llangennech closed the Junior School semifinals on a high note?

Very stylishly, I thought.

A very brave choice to do a piece like that for your first time

in the competition, so I commend you...

I commend you for that.

Well done to the altos who, when things were starting to drift sharp,

held on, powering through there.

I thought it was a little bit sharp and a little bit too controlled

and one of the wonderful things about young people singing is

getting that sense of joy

and that's very difficult under such controlled circumstances.

So, I'd love to come and see you let your hair down one day.

Thank you, Llangennech.

THEY CHEER

What was it like performing out there in front of everybody?

Nervous, very nervous.

I think we did go a bit sharp on some notes,

but I think it went pretty good.

I know they said it was a big challenge and it could have

been a risk and they wanted to see the children let their hair down.

Well, if we get to the final, they're going to definitely see that as well, so fingers crossed.

Our judges have left the hall to make their minds up

as our choirs nervously await their decisions backstage.

Here's a look back at all our Junior Choir performances.

# Here I am, Lord... #

I just thought they set such a fantastic standard.

The way that the director shaped this performance, there was

a real sense of where it was going to and there was a clear climax.

-It did start to... They pushed a little bit.

-Yes.

-It was hard to criticise.

-Yes.

THEY SING IN WELSH

A lot seemed to come from the children themselves.

It seemed to be a natural expression of them and their singing

that was shaped by a conductor, rather than a sort of imposition.

-Yes.

-But then it was very, very strong at the beginning

and I thought, "This is it."

-And then a couple of moments let it down.

-Yes, so it wasn't perfect.

# Gonna lay down my burden Down by the riverside... #

Loads of energy. I kind of felt a little disappointed that it was

kind of rushing at parts with all that syncopation.

But then it was still... They committed to it. I'm not sure.

-I'm kind of torn.

-It did rush, but it rushed together.

-Yes.

They all stayed stuck with it. They committed to it.

She has brought some really good qualities to the choir,

-but it's still work in progress.

-I'd agree.

# Praise, my soul, the king of heaven... #

-GARETH:

-'That moment at the beginning when they sung was just spectacular.'

And I felt like it grew as well, so I wasn't sort of lost or bored.

When they sang "faithful-NESS", this is a bugbear of mine,

they stressed the unimportant syllable.

-"FAITHFUL-ness".

-OK.

# Oh, master Grant that I may never seek... #

Performance is supposed to capture the text if it's...

And it did that for me. I felt at peace

and there was a sense of calm and stillness.

SUZI: 'But they were quite tentative and nervous'

-and, as you say, there was quite a lot of tension there.

-Mm-hm.

THEY SING IN LATIN

It was absurdly ambitious and I was really surprised by how well they coped.

-GARETH:

-'Those sustained lines.'

Yes, those long... I mean, goodness me.

You have to know how to breathe, and to do it together and to do it well.

They seem to work really well and to trust their director.

Right, the moment of reckoning.

Our choirs are back on stage, are judges are back in their seats.

The nerves are jangling, I can tell you.

Each of our judges will be asked to announce the name of a choir

who has made it into the final.

Suzi.

The first choir going through to the final of the

Songs Of Praise Junior Choir Of The Year competition is...

..Llangennech.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Laura.

The second choir going through to the final

of Songs Of Praise Junior Choir Of The Year is...

..Lindley Junior School.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Finally, Gareth.

The last choir going through to the final

of the Songs Of Praise School Choir Of The Year competition is...

..Ysgol Iolo Morganwg.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

So, there we are. Llangennech, Lindley and Ysgol Iolo Morganwg

will be back in the final in two weeks' time,

when just one of them will be crowned the Songs Of Praise Junior School Choir Of The Year 2014.

Next Sunday, it's the turn of the Senior School choirs.

Six of the best in Britain will sing to win a place in the final.

With only three going through, it's bound to be nail-biting,

so don't miss out. Tune in next week. Bye for now.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE