Toffee! It’s that time of year when thoughts once more turn to xmas shows, theatre trips and carol services. Granted, we are not yet back to the pre-Covid numbers of events or levels of participation but at least there are concerts in our schools and carol services in our churches that people can attend in person and not simply virtually via ‘zoom’. The Girl, my fifteen year old daughter who has Down Syndrome (DS), has joined the Cardiff High School (CHS) senior choir and is looking forward to the carol service at St Martin’s on Albany Road. Perhaps full disclosure is in order here. It has been our experience that kids with DS are operatically challenged. I do not mean that they dislike Wagner or struggle to understand the plot of The Magic Flute. No, I’m referring to a phenomenon that my wife - The Boss - and I have come across often enough that I shall posit this as a general rule; that people with DS can’t sing for toffee. Or, if your experience teaches you that everyone can sing given the right environment, let me phrase it thus: kids with DS struggle more than most to sing in tune, to tempo, and at the correct volume. Maybe you know of an exception disproving my rule? Fair enough! But I submit (based on fifteen years of attendance at Special Needs karaoke contests) that by and large the rule holds true. The Girl first joined the CHS junior choir in Year 8. She
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byWyn Evans
was welcomed and treated like every other member. What she lacked in subtlety of phrasing or modulation of tone she made up for with sheer enthusiasm, albeit that she would occasionally be half a tempo behind the conductor. As is the way with our Girl, she stuck to it and now sings more or less in time, more or less in tune, and more or less at the required volume. I admire how hard she has worked to get to her current level, taking private singing lessons and throwing herself into rehearsal, here at home, with complete joie de vivre. Part of her happiness is that she is a performer at heart and loves being on stage. Quite a few young people with DS have made names for themselves on stage or screen, amongst them ‘Call the Midwife’s Sarah Gordy and ‘Line of Duty’ star, Tommy Jessop. The best thing about a Carol concert for me is the fact that the audience, the ‘congregation’ if you prefer, get to join in. I know that during the lockdown this was frowned upon but am hoping against hope that this year, all jabbed-up as we are, we’ll get to sing along, blasting out the bass and tenor parts alongside the choir’s alto and soprano melody. Failing that, I shall be listening to the festival of nine lessons and carols from King’s College Cambridge, at three o’clock on Christmas Eve, which is when xmas officially starts in our house.
