Next stop Nottingham!

After the wonderful weekend spent with BBC Radio Leicester and Takeover Radio 103.2, it was time for the Junior Star Singer Radio Tour to make its way to Nottingham.

Before hitting Nottingham, Amanda made a stop on the way to mentor Year Five and Senior students at Leicester High School for Girls on song writing.

The workshop covered a range of themes, including a look at the way that well established vocalists and lyricists work in the music industry; learning the structures of songs; and what it takes to be a dedicated songwriter and vocalist.  The students all demonstrated their songs to their group and then sang together for a final session before they broke for lunch.

Amanda headed straight over to Sutton in Ashfield, but not before stopping for a delicious fish and chips at the Ocean Blue Fish and Chip bar.

 

The size of their portions are enormous!  Thanks to the girls in the shop for being so accommodating. I definitely recommend a visit if you ever find yourself in Sutton in Ashfield. It can get very hungry whilst on the road touring!!!

Next it was over to the radio station to prepare for the show later in the day. Amanda headed to Take Over Radio 106.9 at Sutton Academy where she met Rachael and head of the station Graham.  Time for some quick pics before the contestants arrive!

Amanda presented with co-host Rachael Summers who was also promoting her new song ‘One Step at a time’ featured on her EP.   Both Amanda and Rachael listened to the eight contestants sing their hearts out and interviewed them afterwards hearing about their fantastic song writing skills, ambitions and dreams.   Well done contestants!!!

Rachael also gave information on Youth Music which the tour is in aid of.  Youth Music supports young people to help them develop musically who are not able to help themselves because of economic problems, tough circumstances or behavioural issues.  Please text donate on 'TOUR11 £5' to 70070 in support of this worthy cause.

After the show, Amanda went on to mentor again at Electric Bear Recording and Rehearsal Studios in Mansfield. In all, it was a long but brilliant day, with lots of fantastic music, vocal ability and lyrics.

Look out for the next show on www.juniorstarsinger.co.uk

Our contestants take over at Takeover Radio 106.9

As you'll know if you've been following our web site, Twitter or blogs, Junior Star Singer is all about the performance!

Our show on Takeover Radio 106.9 featured eight contestants, each eager to take their turn and have their voices heard.Our contestants were Petra Nordal, Gracie Bosworth, Jodie Yates, Sarina Bland, Morgan Townsend, Shivani Kumar, Oishee Ghosh and Maryam Panchbhaya.

At the early part of the show each contestant was asked to wait in the 'Take Over Radio' waiting area as they were brought into the radio station to have their own pictures taken against the Take Over Radio famous mural painting.  

 

The performances featured a combination of covers and original tracks that some of the girls had written themselves during songwriting sessions at school or for their own personal projects.  They totally wowed the listeners with their creative style bringing in topics such as 'bullying' and even an imaginative 'robbery'.  Their genre tastes varied from pop rock to musical theatre and Amanda congratulated them all on their blend of different styles. 

You can listen to the complete show here, including performances from each of the girls.

After singing their track each contestant spoke about how music had become an important part of their life and Amanda posed an important question 'What would it mean for you if you won Junior Star Singer Songwriter?'   The contestants spoke about their dreams and aspirations of how recording a song would build their confidence and help to further their future careers in music.  A wonderful path for all of them.....