Our Sound of Music on New Year’s Day!

I couldn’t resist. When I saw that The Sound of Music was going to be on tonight, I knew that no matter how hard I might try to resist, I was going to watch it. Not just because it was on, and I had nowhere else to be, but because I wanted to watch it. That I had to go through the whole Sound of Music experience all over again. Immerse myself fully.

Miss outside the Brent Street Studios where the auditions were held.

Besides, Sound of Music brings back some very special memories of of my own. When my daughter was about nine, she came home from a dance class with a torn out strip of paper in her hand. On it were written the details to audition for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of the Sound of Music in Sydney. A scrap of paper wasn’t an auspicious beginning, and I must admit I was rather unenthused. My grandmother had been a child prodigy concert pianist, and I’d had expectations thrust on me at an early age. However, the desire was coming from her, not from me. Moreover, she’s very hard to say no to. Before I knew it, I was filling out the application form and sending off a photo. It was only then that I bought a copy of the movie, and saw how much our daughter looked like the original Marta, and wasn’t surprised when she scored an audition. The first thing she had to do was pass the height test. Then came the singing audition, and then onto dance.

These days, Miss doesn’t do a lot of singing. However, back then she’d performed in quite a few large choral performances at school, including School Spectacular. However, she’d also been diagnosed with vocal nodules and was struggling to speak let alone sing, and had been seeing a speech therapist. However, why let a small thing like that get in the way of your dream? Moreover, if you know us even just a little bit, you know we don’t give up that easily.

Persevering with the keyboard while on the nebuliser. I only need it a few times a day so not a big deal.

Just to complicate matters further, I ended up with a major chest infection, asthma and needing to go on the nebuliser in the week leading up to her audition. I wasn’t about to let that stand in my way either. Anything short of a near death experience, and I was getting her to that audition myself. Call us daft in hindsight, but once the juggernaut is in motion, it takes a hell of a lot to make it stop.

Miss playing the keyboard.

So, there we were a fine pair in the week before the audition. Miss with vocal nodules and me on the nebuliser. Yet, we prepared and practiced the songs. It had been years since I’d touched a keyboard, but I pulled out this gizmo I’d bought out at a market for the kids…a rollout electronic keyboard which could go on the kitchen table and it didn’t matter if we wrote the notes on it. It was hardly my mother’s precious Steinway grand. I also wrote the songs out with the corresponding letters because she coulddn’t read music. However, while learning the songs on the keyboard was sparing her voice, she couldn’t see the point of it all, and when the horse resisted, I pulled back. In hindsight, it was all probably a bit too much, but I meant well.

Converting the musical score into “Miss-Speak”. I really worked hard to help.

By the way, there was a rather comical twist to her audition. The night beforehand, we were able to stay with a friend in the city to make things easier. As it turns out, my friend was a Major in the Army Reserve and just happened to be in uniform when he dropped us off at Brent Studios. So, as you can see, she had a proper military escort to her audition.

Miss with the Major

We were kind of grateful when she didn’t make it through to the callbacks. I don’t know how parents magically “make it happen”, but we’d have been bending over backwards and inside out to pull it off. Yet, we would’ve done it.

Miss is now 15 going on 16. So tonight as I rewatched the Sound of Music, she was now almost the same as Liesl, the eldest of the Von Trapp children, but fifteen going on sixteen instead. Of course, this isn’t all smooth sailing, and she was the only one of us who was out and about last night.

If you would like to find out more about the original Von Trapp family, this is a good quick read: https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps-html

In the meantime, with covid at large and management in NSW in complete disarray, it might be an opportune time to catch up with a few other movie classics. The Blues Brothers was on NYE along with Can’t Stop The Music with the Village People. I’ve watched that after midnight for probably the last five years but it was on before midnight this year and I missed it. I’m also trying to start reading Amanda Lowrey’s book: The Labyrinth (along with getting through a massive book pile). Gee, along with wanting to enjoy the outdoors and sort out the house, top of my wish list for 2022 is nine lives.

Best wishes,

Rowena

My daughter and I a few months ago after getting our post lockdown haircuts.

The Rugged Road to School Spectacular…

Nothing makes my stomach churn more than yet another parent gushing about their progeny’s achievements. Indeed, this chunderous gushing of  superlatives has almost had me hospitalised in the past. Just call me Mr Creosote from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life. A bucket simply isn’t big enough! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aczPDGC3f8U

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Moviestore Collection/Rex / Rex USA (935963a) Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life, Terry Jones, John Cleese Film and Television

However, just because someone is young and just happens to be my daughter, does that mean I should repress my pride and hide her under a proverbial bushel? Especially, when my pride has nothing to do with her singing ability but is more about her incredible tenacity and persistence in the face of formidable adversity?

Of course not!

Miss Spectacular

After spending a few months under the medical microscope, Miss performed at School Spectacular last weekend, singing 30 songs as part of the 1,500 voice Combined Choir. It’s a privilege for anyone to appear at School Spec but after being diagnosed with severe vocal nodules on top of a rare digestive disorder, Miss was definitely overcoming the odds. Indeed, after undergoing months of voice therapy, it’s been a rather rugged road to School Spectacular!

Around April this year, Miss was diagnosed with having severe vocal nodules, which are basically blisters on your vocal chords. Her voice was very squeaky and she was missing letters in words and it difficult for her to talk, let alone sing. These nodules were caused by vocal abuse (ie screaming at her brother and less often mother) and stomach acid. The treatment involved intensive speech therapy and regular exercises and it probably won’t surprise you that routine isn’t our thing. We wanted that magic pill…the instant fix but without any alternative, we had to rise to the challenge.

Miss in Hospital

At the same time we found out about the vocal nodules, Miss was also diagnosed with Delayed Gastric Emptying, a rare disease where her digestion is very slow and she doesn’t feel hungry. Consequently, she doesn’t eat. She also gets stomach aches, reflux and all sorts of symptoms from not eating. She has been seriously underweight and had real trouble staying alert. She was looking pretty sick for awhile there before we found some food replacement drinks, which had made quite a difference to her weight and equilibrium.  She’s also been prescribed an appetite stimulant. You can just imagine what her moods have been like when she’s not eating at all! It’s been a serious concern.

While these problems weren’t imminently life-threatening, she went through a battery of tests and even a hospital admission in a very short period of time. While she didn’t say it felt like the end of the world, you could see those thoughts written across her sullen face. What with having a chronically ill mother and knowing what I go through, she was no stranger to what living with a chronic illness entails. She knew that when it came to life’s game of Snakes and Ladders, she’d definitely landed on the snake and wasn’t happy!

Snakes & Ladders…life’s ups and downs.

Fortunately, sometimes those ladders can equally be just around the next corner…

Of course, when I heard how bad her voice was, I was absolutely devastated. It was the vocal equivalent of being told your child is on the verge of spending their life in a wheelchair. Although it wasn’t going to kill her, for a kid who loves singing, drama and is thinking of becoming a teacher, this was serious stuff.

Of course, I knew it could be a  lot worse but pointing that out when she was devastated, doesn’t help. She needed hugs,  time and if she just stuck with her exercises, everything would be absolutely fine! Denial can be a wonderful thing!

Knowing how hard it is for anyone to stick with such exercises, her speech therapist dangled the School Spectacular carrot in front of my wide-eyed daughter. She even spoke to the teachers at school to develop an integrated, team approach. This was really inspired thinking because our Little Miss is extremely strong willed and that will doesn’t always comply with requirements.

Her voice was so bad that she was told that she needed to rest her voice. She wasn’t allowed to sing for at least 3 months and had to mouth the words at choir. Of course, this was like shutting a wild bird in a cage but she complied. I love singing myself so I know what that meant.

Miss on Stage Performing Marta with her Musical Theatre Class.

That was until it came to auditioning for the role of Marta, the second-youngest Von Trapp child in the Sydney production of The Sound of Music. Miss does musical theatre and she came home from class with a web address to apply for auditions. 

As far as I was concerned, getting the role was the equivalent to flying to the moon. Of course, you superficially encourage their dreams but you don’t even need to look deep in your heart to know that this is a dream and not part of the real world. It’s your job as parent to encourage such dreams while gently bringing your child back down to earth safely without smashing into a thousand pieces. After all, we all know what happened to Humpty Dumpty!

Knowing how much the vocal nodules were affecting her voice, I knew she didn’t stand a chance and subtly tried to encourage her to audition for something next year. Next year when, of course, everything would be better and “just fine”.

Of course, she wouldn’t hear of it and burst into tears: “But Mummy! I’m the right height now and I’ll never be the right height ever again!”

As a parent, you come to appreciate when you’re beat. I filled out the application and attached a photo and pressed send. Meanwhile I developed a nasty bronchitis and was on standby to go to hospital when the email arrived. She had an audition.

Practicing for her audition.

 

 

She didn’t receive a callback but she was stoked about the audition and a seed was definitely planted.

Swings and roundabouts, missing out on Sound of Music meant she could still do School Spec. Yes! Miss and her entourage were starting our way up the ladder again.

You can read about School Spectacular here: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/introducing-school-spectacular/

Among the 30 songs our daughter sang with the Combined Choir, one had a particular resonance:

 “Climb every mountain,

Ford every stream,

Follow every rainbow,

‘Till you find your dream.”

Rodgers and Hammerstein, The Sound of Music.

Sound of Music Tram near School Spectacular.

It almost brought tears to my eyes knowing just how far she’d come and what it meant to her not only to be able to sing in the shower again but to perform in School Spectacular. As she said:

“Last year, being in School Spec was my dream and it came true!”

Of course, achieving such dreams doesn’t happen single-handed and our choir had an impressive support crew headed by the choir teacher, exhausted parents and I’m also going to mention big brother who has been supporting his sister’s creative dreams without getting jealous and has simply encouraged her. Thanks to her friend’s family, Miss also enjoyed fabulous accommodation across the road and was spared a lot of travel. Geoff and I were also incredibly thankful for that. It was great to give the “taxi” a break.

I hope our daughter’s story might encourage you to overcome your hurdles and reach for the stars. That the seemingly impossible can become a reality and even exceed your expectations.

So, even though I’m risking joining the chunderous brgging parents collective, in so many ways our daughter’s journey to School Spectacular has made her a  hero:

Hero

There’s a hero
If you look inside your heart
You don’t have to be afraid
Of what you are
There’s an answer
If you reach into your soul
And the sorrow that you know
Will melt away…

And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you’ll finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you
That a hero lies in you
That a hero lies in you

Mariah Carey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IA3ZvCkRkQ

If you have written any encouraging posts about overcoming similar difficulties, please leave a link in the comments below.

xx Rowena

 

Dancing Away the Rain.

The last week has been pretty intense for our daughter.

Last week, I finally managed to get her to see a vocal speech therapist about the vocal nodules which were picked up a few months ago when her gastro-intestinal issues were diagnosed. These nodules are like calloused blisters on your vocal chords and by the time we finally reached the specialist all that yelling at brother and mother not to mention stomach acid, had created quite a hurdle. Sure, we knew her voice could be quiet but there was also the shouting and we’d I guess just become accustomed to her squeaky little girl voice which my friends considered “cute”. My daughter loves singing and so having trouble with her voice, indeed, being diagnosed with severe vocal nodules and talking about how her voice is already struggling to produce full words was alarming, catastrophic. In essence, I was told that her voice was badly broken and needed the vocal equivalent of a wheelchair. At the moment, that is temporary and there are exercises and quite a lot of restrictions. Failure to cooperate will have serious consequences and I don’t think she’s just talking about “down the track” or “in the long run”. We’re talking NOW!

Of course, after all of that bad news and feeling like I’d been zapped with a stun gun, we succumbed to retail therapy. I can’t even remember what I bought her but I bought myself an adult colouring-in book with motivational quotes inside as I felt myself being sucked down a very long drain pipe.

As a kid, I could never understand why my mother became so distraught when something happened to me but now I finally get it.

Our little dancing star!

When something happens to your kids, you actually feel 1000 times worse because you wish it had happened to you and you KNOW that you are somehow part of the problem and there’s that incredible, crippling stomach-churning guilt. Either you should have stopped it. Acted sooner. Jumped in your private ambulance and pushed the accelerator flat to the floor and driven like a bat out of hell.

That’s what my grandmother did after my uncle sustained third degree burns to his hand while she was changing his brother’s nappy and I think her pressure cooker also exploded that morning leaving beans glued to the ceiling.

Miss as Gretel from the Sound of Music.

Anyway, Miss isn’t supposed to sing at all at the moment and I can’t quite remember the speech therapist’s exact words. However, essentially her voice needs to pack its bags for a bit and sit on a beach and read through that stack of books which is falling down beside my bed. Being a kid, there will be so cocktails but I’ll allow her a lemonade with a slice of lemon and one of those cool and groovy little umbrellas on the side.

However, let’s get back to the real world.

My little girl is growing up but for a precious moment, time stood still!

Last Sunday, Miss had her mid-year dance concert and she also does Musical Theatre. Not even a week after being told not to sing at all, there she was, crime of crimes, up on stage singing…singing a solo even. It was only one line but just like you pinch the last chocolate and hope you don’t get sprung, I knew this was a stolen moment. That one line was no doubt doing damage but when I saw her up on that stage in the baby-pink satin dress being Gretal from The Sound of Music, even if it was only an excerpt and they were only in the school hall, I was so incredibly proud!! It also made me tear up a bit as they sang: “So long, Farewell”. With my bad health over the years, these dance concerts are emotionally confronting but this time when I saw her dressed up as a little girl and knowing she is growing up so fast, I couldn’t help but feel I was waving goodbye to her. After all, next year she turns 10!

My gorgeous girl!

We returned to the speech therapist this week and had good news. She had noticed an improvement just in that first week. She has been given more exercises and appointments are shifting from weekly to fortnightly. I know I can be a master of denial but I was very relieved. After seeing my grandmother lose her voice after a series of debilitating mini-strokes and what that meant to her, knowing that my daughter had already lost much of her voice was devastating. Therefore, ever the faintest glimmer of hope and improvement is such a relief! We are actually turning the tide.

Just to elaborate on this “we” business a little, my voice is also struggling at the moment and I am doing my daughter’s exercises as well not just to support her but to also let my own voice out of jail. It’s very hoarse as well.

So what with dance concerts, musical theatre and good or at least, improved news from the speech therapist, those dark, heavy rain clouds lifted and a rainbow appeared!

How do you feel when your children experience similar setbacks?

xx Rowena