Sheila's Guests and Reviews

There's music in movie soundtracks, of course. But there's music too in words, easy to hear if the words are poetry, and still there in sentences and stories; in the flow, internal rhyme, the lilting rhythm and cadences of speech; and old-fashioned storytelling around the fire. Those first storytellers, memorizing their lines, must surely have heard them to music in their minds--that's why they turned so many tales into song. But what about the written word? I wonder sometimes if those first storytellers didn't argue that pen and ink might spoil their craft. When printing came, surely all the uniqueness of sound would be lost to identical shapes on identical page. And then the internet... But there's music in words, and the best of stories still sing their songs to us, subliminally or deliberately sliding sound into our minds as the words reach our eyes. It's not a music that depends on a sound recording--it's the storyteller's song. I love to read a...

It really doesn't seem so long since I wrote a blogpost about " The Best Singer you might never hear ," Liam was a finalist in Britain's Got Talent, and his soprano voice was just incredible. Then he became an alto with an amazing range, and still his voice changed. Record producers didn't want to know - they just told him to come back when his voice had broken. But Liam breaks records. His voice never broke and he's always been able to sing. Now, aged 19, he's an amazing tenor, studying at a prestigious college, coming top of his year, and looking forward to the sort of career where yes, you will hear him. Meanwhile I got to hear Liam sing Ave Maria. I've never before been in the presence of a voice like this. I've known there are singers and good singers and more, just as there are writers, authors, good authors and more. But I'd never imagined how wonderful a seriously good singer would sound to my untrained ear. Now I know - there is noth...