PERFORMING SQUAD MEMBER JAMIE

Jamie is a Senior Singer in the Australian Boys Choir Performing Squad. He is thrilled to be performing in the first instalment of the ABCI’s 85th anniversary concert season in 2024. ‘Sweet & Low’ will be performed on March 16 & 17 in both Ballarat and Melbourne. Please see www.australianboyschoir.com.au/whats-on/concerts for more information.

Jamie, when did you join the ABCI?
I joined the Australian Boys Choir at the start of 2020, a short while before a ‘particular thing’ forced us to start training via Zoom. I qualified and was invited to join the Performing Squad in June 2023.

What do you enjoy most about coming to Choir?
I enjoy learning and revising all the great songs we sing and doing it with my friends. I also highly enjoy all the of the fun camps, workshops and tours we have with the Choir.

How is choir different from school?
We are given more responsibility at Choir, and the opportunity to demonstrate self-discipline in practice and revision. Everything we do in Choir also feels like a real accomplishment, whether it is the small win of passing a skill in tutorials to the amazing opportunities to perform at large events and special venues such as Melbourne Fashion Week at the Regent Theatre, and the Christmas Concert at the immense Melbourne Recital Centre. At school camps are mostly fun things, just activities and enjoyment. At Choir, the Summer School and Weekend Workshop camps are endless amounts of fun, but also staggered lessons where we practice and learn for hours without it feeling like it! Lastly, at school we do not get opportunities like regional tours (and hopefully this year, an International tour!) where we get to do activities and concerts outside of Melbourne.

What are you most looking forward to about this year's first concert of the year?
The songs that we are singing, with their funky melodies and interesting rhythms. I also look forward to going to Ballarat on the day before the Melbourne concert similar to when we went to Bendigo last year.

What's rewarding about singing in a choir?
The rewarding part is sharing development of skills and knowledge with others and making new friends. We are all part of this Choir and share the effort and reward of giving a great performance that we’re happy with.

Who are your favourite singers and why?
I don’t follow individual singers, but I do have favourite songs and bands that I like singing along to, even though they are not trained professional singers like Mr D...Kurt Cobain (main vocals for the 20th century band, Nirvana) for example showed a great range of styles across varied songs and performances over only a short time.

What about your hobbies and activities outside singing?
I am learning piano and have just started french horn and the advanced choir at school. ABCI has given me a fantastic grounding in music theory, too. I also love maths and riding my bike on the trails through the nearby reserve, and chasing 100% Achievements on my PlayStation games.

What do you hope to do with your singing after you move on from the Performing Squad?
When my voice changes I plan to continue with the institute by completing my skills as a Cambiata or moving straight on to Kelly Gang (an opportunity my Dad never had when he finished his time at the ABCI as a Chorister in 1996). While going through voice change at the moment I find I enjoy singing very low, so I am looking forward to singing tenor or bass.

What is the most important thing you’ve learnt in the ABCI about being a singer?
I’ve learnt that just because you have a nice voice or good at music theory doesn’t mean you are automatically a good singer. You have to take training seriously, and practise.

Lastly, what advice do you have for boys hoping to make it to the rank of Senior Singer?
My advice is practice your skills and music, stick a printout of music terms & signs on the toilet door, do your homework, and finally: make sure you’re having fun! Work without enjoyment is called a chore, but in hindsight all the work to become a Squad member felt easy because I was enjoying it.

Click below to watch members of the Australian Boys Choir in an excerpt from Australian composer Dulcie Holland's Sailing Time from the first concert of the ABCI's 2023 Concert Season.