Help me decide about my second grader and American Idol tryouts at her school

[Microcell]

DD almost 8 was so excited about trying out for her school talent show and now the day before, she knows all the words to the song she is singing and sounds great with the exception of a part that is very frustrating for her, she falls in with the background singers during one part and sings along with them. She realizes that it is a couple of octaves too high and she collapses to the ground in tears. I cannot seem to break her of it, and I cannot decide if the lesson here should be to try and fail, but be better for trying, or that especially because she thinks she will be making a fool of herself, not have her try at all.

Do I pull her from the tryouts, keep her in and have her do whatever she can? Or, and more importantly, do any of you have an idea to break her of it? She is doing Cry by Mandy Moore. We are going to copy it to CD for her, from Rhapsody (paid for) and the only instrumental we can find online is a karaoke version with those darned background singers!

Any ideas?

 

[Hannathy]

What does she want to do? That is all that is important let her decide.You could tell her what my DD told her friend about trying out. Well if you don't try out you absolutely won't make it, but if you try you MAY, and if you don't make it there's no difference than you were in the beginning.

Could you cut out the part with the background singers? Make the song shorter? Believe me after years of going to these talent shows SHORTER is better!

 

[golfgal]

Teach her that part in a lower octive.

 

[poohandwendy]

Allow her to make the decision.

And good luck to her!

 

[Microcell]

She is going to do it tonight. We decided that it would not be the end of the world if she fell in with the background singers for the two lines she does it. It would be too early in the song to stop her there, and with DH the computer savvy one out of town, we have to go with it.

She does know how to go lower, and when she covers her ears or sings along with Mandy, she is fine. It is just so comfortable for her to go along with the background.

I am proud of her for trying at all, and I hope that she makes it for her sake. She could always use the self esteem boost.

 

[Tinijocaro]

While she practices, can you keep the accompaniment volume fairly low, and if that doesn't do it, have her plug one (or both) of her ears so she can really hear herself during the part she's having trouble with. Lots of singers do this to stay focused on their part. She may be able wean herself from plugging once she's had a few successes.

Another suggestion is to find a flute or violin player to join her at or near that part, then she can sing with them.

Can she sing the song well without the accompaniment?

Jackie

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

I used to run into this with pageants. I had a company that would change the keys, time, etc., on the recordings and send you a CD with just the music on the background.

For the life of me, I cannot think of what the company was. My mom always ordered the stuff for me.... Argh... I will try to get back to you on this!

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

FOUND IT! Took a pageant director to hunt it down!

It's Musical Creations and the website is here. I hope you find what you're looking for!