Friday 12 November 2010

Musical Dreams

When Sasha announced last year, that she wouldn’t be applying to university, I was admittedly upset but she seemed adamant that she wanted to take a year out and I fought hard from telling her what I wanted her to do and allowed her to make her own decision.

I was worried that she would while away her days sleeping in and then going out with her friends but I have to say that although she enjoyed the long summer break she hasn’t wasted her time since September. She has found herself a part time job at a shop three days a week but more impressive is that she has been helping out at a soup kitchen on her days off and for a while now she has been working at a youth centre in her spare time too. And whatsmore, she seems to get a lot of pleasure doing that. So much so that she announced a while back that she was going to write a musical for the youngsters ! I told her I thought it was a lovely idea but assumed it might be something that never saw the light of day.

But then, a few weeks ago, she played me some of the music she has already written. She has done the opening and closing numbers and two other songs and when I heard it all I was completely blown away. It is amazing. The storyline centres around first love and the music definitely has hints of Grease, High School Musical, Glee and a bit of Hairspray thrown in for good measure. The kids will love it but I’m still getting over the fact that my daughter has put this together. My little girl !

She has been musical since she was tiny (she used to hum while lying in her cot) and is always singing and playing the piano and guitar. Her GCSE and A-level music compositions were pretty spectacular so I really shouldn’t be surprised but I just can’t get over how she has put this together in such a short space of time and how she has got it so right.

I was at an event with Lord Lloyd-Webber a few weeks back and although I enjoyed my brief conversation with him (about how he went out with Liza Minelli for a while!!) I had to keep stopping myself from butting in and saying “By the way, my daughter is 18 and has just written her first musical and IT’S BLOODY BRILLIANT - can you give her a job??!!! “ But I didn’t…..

Anyway, last night she asked me to help with some musical workshops for the kids so that she could work out who the strongest singers were and that was a fantastic experience. These kids, aged 11-16, were brilliant. So enthusiastic and they clearly love her. And, they made a great sound.

I think my rather beautiful, talented daughter is going to have a success on her hands and I am unashamedly bursting with pride !

15 comments:

  1. that mama's pride is efl evident in your words...smiles.

    ReplyDelete
  2. and very good luck to her...I hope she becomes as successful as Lloyd-Webber

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post! It's scary to let kids make their own decisions. Sounds like your daughter made a good one to take a year, and figure what she wants to do with her life.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What wonderful news - you are justly proud. I look forward to seeing this musical on the West End...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Proud? I would be accosting strangers to tell them if my daughter wrote a musical. How exciting! Maybe one day it'll "move over Lord Lloyd-Webber!"

    ReplyDelete
  6. You must be so terribly proud. I know I would be and would be shouting her praises from the rooftop. What a great kid. Whatever your secret is to child-rearing you should bottle it and patent it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ah, this is very fortunate. Not everyone discovers their calling like this. Whether she ever becomes rich and famous or not, there is a living and satisfaction in this.

    I am glad you understand this and are supportive of her. Some of us were not so fortunate and were pressed into doing something 'practical'.

    G

    ReplyDelete
  8. What an absolutely lovely post. Sounds as if she had found the right path and she made the right decision about university. Not easy to get it right at that age. Hope it's the start of wonderful things for her. Sounds like it will be.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You are rightly very proud of her. Maybe she can send a tape to ALW? Hope it goes well.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh! I don't blame you one bit for being proud! It sounds like she's really knocked your socks off with her talent and it sounds like she'll absolutely be a huge success!

    I'm proud of her too and I don't even know her!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow! I am so impressed. Good for her and how exciting for those kids!

    ReplyDelete
  12. How cool is that!! You must let us know how it all turns out.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Proud! And well you should be! God has blessed you with a wonderful talented daughter :-)

    ~Ron

    ReplyDelete