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| Margaret Jackson-Roberts |
If you've got it, then use it |
| How I started singing |
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Like several others here I started singing as a small tot, in a very good church choir, St Saviour's Eastbourne, from whence I defected to Rome - in large part because of a marked preference for Latin polyphony. I learned to read music (on 3 staves) at an early age by turning the pages for church organists. I also sang in my grammar school choir and madrigal group and then on through 7 years at university. The rest, as they say, is history. As I have a 4 octave range and prefer to sing tenor rather than alto, including frequent solo slots, many doors have subsequently opened, including becoming the bass soloist (yes, really deep bass, down to E below the stave and D on occasion) with an all-female group specialising in the work of Vivaldi and his contemporaries for the foundlings of the Ospedale della Pieta in Venice. Several pieces have been written for my unusual (I would like to say unique) vocal type. I have sung in operas and shows plus many concerts but my real love is for early music.
I have throughout my singing life been delighted both to surprise and to confound prejudice and stereotyping without frightening the horses. There are no hairs on my chest, so to speak. |
| Why I love it |
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The matching of my skills and sense of musical meaning to the demands posed by others, including on occasion the composer! And I thoroughly enjoy the dedication and prowess of my fellow singers, as well as their mischievous asides about conductors.
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