Results Are In

It’s quite difficult to put aside thoughts of leaving and focus on the here and the now, but I must. I have less than a month left. The first 50 days were pretty remarkable. Looking back, I can recall multiple days and moments that felt as if they were among the greatest in my life. I keep thinking that it can’t get any better, but then it does. Yesterday, the bar was raised to an even higher level.

We auditioned 27 kids. After an exciting, extended holiday club (because it’s winter, they’re between school terms), they all met in a room and filled out audition forms to give their name, age, instrument of choice and contact information. I told them to only do this if they were serious. It would be a school above all else. There will be discipline. There will be strict rules but they’ll get a wonderful education that can give them an opportunity to use music for the rest of their lives. The auditionee walked into the next room and got his/her picture taken by Ricardo, then came into the final room where I was sitting with a notebook and pen. Ricardo started the video camera. I took their audition form and we began.

One by one, all 27 children, ranging in age from 8 to 15, sat there and completed a series of basic music “repeat-after-me’s” and then performed a song for me. Half of them sang, half played a snare drum. To be honest, some were quite awful. A few were too nervous to finish. But about 10 of the kids went above any of my expectations. Extremely talented. We had to adjust our grading sheet when we realized it needed to be even easier (and shorter). Out of 135 points, ten scored 90 and above. Five scored over 100. The highest was 123. He was also the only one who got a perfect score on his song performance.

Ricardo and I tallied up the scores and narrowed down our list. We took 4 of the 5 who scored over 100. The 5th was the first to audition and most likely would have gotten over 100 if she had the same trial as the others (remember, I had to simplify it as the process went on). The ones we selected are among my favorite kids in the whole 60+ club. One I don’t know too well, but they all have been verified by Clinton (Living Hope staff member and Capricorn club leader) as committed and well-behaved kids. I suspected 3 of them would make it long before today. The other two are perfect matches.

World, or just a few close friends, let me introduce you to our first five learners of the music academy:

Bronwill van Wyk, Age 10, Drums

Pitch Matching – 10 out of 10
Rhythm Lines – 33 out of 35
Music Phrases – 30 out of 40
Overall Talent – 45 out of 50

Micheala Coetzee, Age 12, Voice

Pitch Matching – 8 out of 10
Rhythm Lines – 26 out of 35
Music Phrases – 19 out of 40
Overall Talent – 42 out of 50

Winston Gertze, Age 10, Drums

Pitch Matching – 10 out of 10
Rhythm Lines – 32 out of 35
Music Phrases – 21 out of 40
Overall Talent – 40 out of 50

Vivilene Petersen, Age 14, Voice

Pitch Matching – 10 out of 10
Rhythm Lines – 32 out of 35
Music Phrases – 26 out of 40
Overall Talent – 35 out of 50

Basil Booysen, Age 13, Voice

Pitch Matching – 10 out of 10
Rhythm Lines – 27 out of 35
Music Phrases – 36 out of 40
Overall Talent – 50 out of 50

Shhh. This is still confidential. They won’t know if they made it until tomorrow. Today, I was asked by 3 different people when they would find out about the “music thing.” They were all from this group of 5. They’re all incredible kids.