Last October, I auditioned for the National Youth Choir, and just before Christmas, I found out I had been placed into Soprano 1, which made me very happy!

During the Easter break, I attended a 5-day residential course with the National Youth Choir at Tonbridge School in Kent. During the 5 days, we had Dancercise classes in the morning, singing rehearsals in sectionals as well as the full choir, crafting, and then more singing. We also had conducting classes where I volunteered to conduct the younger choir, which was great fun.

At the end of the 5 days, we held two concerts at the beautiful Tonbridge School chapel. We performed lots of different songs, three of which had been composed especially for the National Youth Choir and were premiered at the concert: 'Just Being ME' by Ben Parry, 'Willow' and 'Snowdrop' by Kristina Arakelyan, as well as more traditional music like 'Sanctus and Benedictus' by Josef Rheinberger. There were a lot of people in the audience for both concerts, including Gareth Malone (OBE), whom I have watched on TV working with choirs!

I had such a wonderful time and made some new friends. Some of them are attending the summer residential course in August, so it will be great to see them again.

Felicity, Year 5