I was delighted to be asked to be part of the first episode of this years special edition of Operation Transformation – Keeping well apart! The producers were interested in knowing about our music school and how life has changed for us since Covid 19. That question was very hard to answer – our whole world has completely changed. So much of our work revolves around people – rehearsals, concerts, events, hugging – all the things that are banned right now! So I jumped at the opportunity to work on a show that might bring a sense of community and understanding. I found the producers great to work with, everyone is really coming together to try and portray an accurate and realistic account of events as they are happening around the country.
The idea of bringing in a music task was to help with mood and to check my bold claim that I can teach anyone how to sing! I still haven’t been proven wrong in all this time. It was an ambitious task but I loved it! I worked with the four households – Ann who lives alone, The Gavins in Mayo, The Ryan Mongeys in Dublin and the Ryans in Limerick. Between them all only a few people claimed to be able to hold a note and they were shocked that in a week they would be singing on national tv! We all clicked straight away and they quickly realised that not only were the lessons fun, they were easier than they thought and they really helped with stress levels. This is a really common side affect of singing that people don’t realise – it’s a natural mood enhancer and its completely free and has no side effects!
As the week progressed the households were amazed at their progress and grew more confident each day. When we got the good luck message from Kodaline we were all delighted with ourselves and it really gave us a push! When the performance came around everyone felt confident and connected – to themselves, to each other and to the song. They actually enjoyed their performance and all of them report feeling that they really achieved something and are considering continuing with lessons or joining a choir. Success!
