“I THINK you could use your nasals more. Like little pigs,” is the verdict of Stuart Smith, adjudicator of the Nancy Calthorpe Cup for French singing at this year’s Feis Ceoil in the RDS. He snorts loudly for effect and the competitors, who are receiving their feedback, start giggling like mad.
Five of the 16 listed competitors, who have already sung two songs, have been called back to sing two additional songs. Before they find out which of them has won, they’re getting a very public feedback on their performances.
“This is my fourth time adjudicating the French singing,” Smith announces, “and when I first came, I thought the standard was pretty rotten, to be honest.”
One of the songs Kelley Lonergan has sung is called Les Papillons. "Too big," Smith exclaims. "You're singing about butterflies, not eagles."
“You could get more heart into this song – the French ‘wounded woman’ kind of thing,” he tells Laura Murphy, the runner up.
To winner Eoin Hynes, who gets 91 marks, Smith says approvingly of his performance, “It was very languid. It was very sexy.” The French singing competition is one of the 152 that will take place over the period of the 115th ESB Electric Ireland Feis Ceoil. By the end of next week, more than 4,000 people from across the island will have performed in music competitions ranging from operatic duo to classical guitar, from piano to recorder.
One of them is Clare-born David Howes, who yesterday morning won the Paul Deegan Cup for senior solo singing, with Sea Feverand Now Phoebus Sinketh in the West. "I was up at seven this morning getting ready," he admits. Deegan himself, a former singing teacher, and donor of the cup, is in the process of congratulating him.
This particular singing competition has been running since 2000. Is it usual that the person after whom the competition is named attends on the day? “We invite people if they’re around, available – and still alive,” Laura Gilsenan, the Feis’s chief executive explains briskly. Deegan winces a little.
Given the quality of the performances in the competitions, it’s surprising that they are so poorly attended by the public. Sisters Deirdre and Eileen O’Donoghue, who are “in our 70s”, are among the very few non-family members at the RDS.
“We’ve been coming for years and years and years,” Deirdre says. “You hear songs that you just don’t hear elsewhere,” says Eileen. They too are surprised at the poor public attendance at Feis competitions. “I think people think the Feis is only traditional Irish music and it puts them off,” suggests Deirdre. “But it’s about so much more than that.”
In a practice room off the Lansdowne Room, Áine Ní Raghallaigh (9) is warming up for the under-11 Junior Violoncello. It’s her first time to compete. “I’m so nervous,” she whispers, in a barely audible voice.
Her mother, Movanna Sweeney, says her daughter has been learning the violoncello for two years. How much time does she spend practising every day? “Half an hour every morning if I’m honest, but her teacher thinks it’s much more,” Sweeney says.
There are 13 children in this competition. As usual, the only people in the audience appear to be family members. Even so, it’s too much for one little girl, who sits down to play and then starts crying.
The adjudicator, Ivan Andrews, praises all the performers at the end. The winner is Astrid Munro (10), whose astonishingly assured playing gains her 93 marks and the Newpark Music Centre Cup.
“I’m bursting with pride,” says her grandmother, Catherine Munro, admiring the cup. “I was going to tapdance when her name was called, but I thought I’d better not.” Astrid has been playing for four years. How does she feel about winning? “Really, really giddy and really, really happy,” she beams.
