I can teach anyone to sıng
Could Katherine Jenkins successfully coach six hopeless singers to perform solos with one of the world’s top opera companies for an inspiring new reality show? You bet, she says...
‘The show ties in with everything we’ve all lived through and had taken away during the pandemic,’ says Katherine. ‘We all realise now how much we took for granted before, and it’s great to see people enjoying live entertainment again and throwing themselves into it. After a period when we couldn’t sing together, this is such a positive, feel-good programme.
‘All our wonderful contestants found that singing helped their confidence. Learning to sing is about making a lovely sound, but it’s also about posture, how you stand and how you exude confidence, even if you’re not feeling it. All these things can help you in your everyday life too.’
The six participants — whittled down from ten in the first episode — all had particular reasons for wanting to learn to sing. Luke, 30, the owner of a marketing agency, found the physical tics from his Tourette’s syndrome disappear when he sings. The Reverend Ellen, 59, was determined to join a hymn service but has been afraid to sing after being told she had a ‘weedy and tentative’ voice. There was also 40-year-old electrician Rico, who wanted to try something new and give himself a challenge; Chris, 47, a transport manager who plays guitar but didn’t have the confidence to sing along; civil servant Khadijah, 26, a former actress who wanted to go back to doing something creative; and Shirley, 66, a concierge whose confidence had been shattered by illness.
Three professional opera singers and teachers — Nicky Spence, Sarah Pring and Michael Harper — spent 12 weeks getting the six ready for the performance of their lives, with Katherine helping them prepare. Their first challenge was to perform in front of an audience of family and friends, and then they had to sing in front of a crowd of 60,000 attending an American Football match at Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium.
‘I’ve performed at a lot of different sporting events, and American Football matches are especially high-octane,’ says Katherine. ‘You have players warming up, cheerleaders, mascots and pyrotechnics. You feel like an ant in this enormous gladiatorial arena. For me, it was about helping the singers feel confident that they were great human beings. I told them, “When you sing, they’re all going to love you!” And they smashed it.’
For the final episode, the six took on the most daunting experience of all, singing with professionals at the London Coliseum in an English National Opera performance of HMS Pinafore in front of 2,500 people. Nicky Spence says it’s an experience even a pro would fear. ‘The plan was to have them singing solos and together,’ he says. ‘It was a huge challenge to get them ready. Normally you’d work up to something like that over a few years — we had 12 weeks. It was terrifying for everyone, particularly as these were people who’d spent their lives being told, “Please don’t sing!”’
So how did they do it? ‘It’s about matching the pitch correctly, feeling where it is in the body,’ Nicky explains. ‘The voice box is an organ about the size of your thumbnail, it just needs to be trained. So we’d start with a note, listen to what came out and then try to hone it, taking it closer and closer to where it’s meant to be. Then we moved on to the next note.’ He says that improving the voice was only part of the job. ‘The three of us teachers saw ourselves as the “vocal avengers”, because singing differently isn’t just about your voice, it can change you. For many of the participants, there was a psychological gremlin I had to help them fight to reintroduce them to the joy of singing — it felt a bit like being a therapist. Singing is one of the most visceral experiences, and opera is the biggest challenge of all. We told them, “If you can do this, you can do anything”, and I found their bravery really moving. What I didn’t expect was that by helping them with their voices, we would give them a voice for every part of their lives. We may not have uncovered the next Maria Callas or Pavarotti, but they found a voice for themselves which was incredible.’
Katherine says viewers will be happily surprised by the results. ‘They all did brilliantly,’ she says. ‘I think they’ll all go on to find a way for music to be in their lives.’
‘Singing at a stadium you feel like an ant in a gladiatorial arena’
Anyone Can Sing starts on 30 March on Sky Arts and NOW.