The Italian term cantabile, means ‘in a singing style’ and it was with this idea in mind that the Cantabile School of Singing was born – to give people a chance to learn to sing.
It all began back in 2004 with just five students making their way in to the wonderful world of singing, and now the school has grown to an impressive 100 students. Mind you, the group consists of students between the ages of five and 50!
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| The trio behind the scenes |
The names behind the school are the husband and wife duo of Mahen and Prashalini Peiris. Mahen is a lawyer by profession and is also a member of the renowned all-male choral group – The Revelations, while Prashalini is a Licentiate of the Trinity College of Music, London.
When I met up with them at the Waters Edge, Rajagiriya, I was able to get some insight into what was in store at their debut concert. “It’s the first time the two of us are doing something together,” Prashalini said adding that they will be performing a number of songs from popular musicals. “We have made special arrangements which will be performed for the first time in Sri Lanka,” Prashalini and Mahen said, adding that the songs will consist of original backing tracks which have been brought down to Sri Lanka, from abroad.
The concert will also have a number of solos, “We want to encourage more students to take part on stage,” they said adding, “We want to give them a chance to sing at least a small line.”
“I handle the choreography for almost all the items that the kids as well as the adults are in,” says Ashanthi Colombage who is handling the choreography for Beat It – In A Singing Style She adds that “Even though most of the kids have not done a lot of dancing they have really got in to it well.”
Ashanthi says that it’s been a bit of a challenge to handle the big number of children and co-ordinate among them, “But Prashalini and I are handling things well and the production is looking good.”
Prashalini and Mahen look into the following aspects, at their school, and they are done with the help of audio and visual aids. These aspects are: Mixed voice choral singing, vocal exercises and warm ups, exposure to choral style variations, acapella singing, sight reading and aural exercises Upon having weekly practices it was decided that they should have the concert.
Those part of the Cantabile Singing School come from various backgrounds – while the children are from various schools, the adults range from lawyers to fitness trainers to university students. “It is a challenge for them to balance their work life and their singing but they enjoy it,” Mahen says. He and Prashalini went on to say that in spite of the initial reluctance they have a lot of fun and have gathered quite a lot of experience in singing and they also have a number of good singers, they said.
Beat It – In A Singing Style will go on boards at the Lionel Wendt Theatre at 7pm on Thursday May 6 (by popular demand) and May 7, as scheduled. For tickets contact the Cantabilé School of Singing on, 251 4733 or 077 371 152.
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