Sing boy, sing

IN a world dominated by female singers, it is not easy being a male soprano, especially if you are 12 years old and a student at an all-boys’ school. The name-calling is far from appealing, but Nicholas Chin’s tenacity to “sing on” is sustained by the loving support of his family and his vocal trainer Pat Bishop. Pat is his role model. “That’s the only exception to my rule of sticking to my own path.” The triple winner at the just ended 26th Biennial Music Festival maintained his calm and saw the competition to its finish despite the taunts of “the singer boy.” “My friends support me and sometimes they come to see me perform, but others... say ‘you’re not supposed to be singing, that’s for girls...’ The thing about it is that I make money, and they don’t. I don’t feel offended at all. I think they’re jealous. They don’t know what you have to go through. It’s a whole new world, a whole new experience, a whole new place. Whenever you try something new, it’s a different experience.”

And, Nicholas loves singing. It is first on his list ahead of swimming, fishing out at sea with his father, Michael, creating board games with his friends and making up “corny” jokes with his sisters R?jan, ten, and Samantha, 19. As a matter of fact, five or perhaps ten years from now, Nicholas envisions himself as somewhat “taller, bigger and doing the same thing (singing).” Four months of intense singing practice with the Lydians chorale with his friend Juan Pablo Alba-Dennis for the duets category, and by himself, won him three titles. He is a recipient of The Lindy-Ann Bodden Ritch championship Trophy in the Boys Vocal Solo (8-10 years), The Carmen Baptiste Trophy Class 8-Boys Treble Duet which he shares with Juan Pablo and the Ashdown Cup in religious music with the Lydians Male Choir.

His performance on stage is evidence of the hard work he puts in. I heard the loud cheering and whistles after his rendition of the test piece “Ghosts in the Belfry” at the 26th Biennial Music Festival held at Queen’s Hall. He was competing against eight finalists, winners in their categories. Just then, I was sure the trophy was his. His accompanying expressions as he sang the operatic piece were so emphatic that it was so easy to visualise the scene he painted.  I heard someone say “What a performer!” But, Nicholas is deserving of more commendation. Might I add, “what an enchanting young man!” He is a Form Two student at St Mary’s College, an “A” student, and a very articulate speaker. I discovered that during our interview as Nicholas sat poised, gave some thought before he answered the questions put to him and then, there were the gestures. “I felt relieved that it’s all done. It was a lot of work to get the cup. I’m very happy and very excited about winning,” he said.

Throw stagefright out of the window. In his mind, the audience is a television he walks in front of. “I can’t understand why people get stagefright. I sometimes envision singing in front of my family. The people in the audience are strangers and what would it matter if someone didn’t like your performance. And that might be one stranger while everyone else is clapping.” Nicholas explained: “The world these days looks at negatives. I look at the positives.” He has brains, too, according to R?jan, who also participated at the Music Festival, attaining second place in Class 8, Girls Solo.
 “He’s kind, I think; he’s like a playmate,” R?jan said. The two sit up hours on end at nights “ole talking and making up jokes.”

“He has brains because he’s naturally natural, because I can see them,” she joked. “No really, he’s very smart.” When Nicholas was born, his parents were told that “he wasn’t going to be around for long... We even bought a casket and everything because the same thing happened to his brother.” He was born with a blood disorder, the same sickness that caused the death of his parents’ first male child. “All we have to say is thanks to Dr Petronella Manning that Nicholas is here today,” said his mother Jessica Chin, singer and manager of the St Patrick’s Children’s Choir and “Jessica and Friends.” It was Nicholas’ desire, at an early age, to pursue singing. “When I was smaller I wondered how people sang. I thought it was a special ability and my parents and eventually my music teacher taught me about vocal chords, throat, stomach, how to breathe properly using your diaphragm; your shoulders must not rise and if it does that means breath goes in your throat and not produce the right sound,” Nicholas related.

Currently, he is preparing to sit the Royal Academy of Music exams in two weeks. Nicholas also plays the piano. He calls himself a shy guy who hates the spotlight. “I don’t like to be noticed. I like to talk to people. But if I see you sitting across from me, I wanna know who you are and I’d say ‘hi, how are you’.”  For his very first interview on Tuesday, he was prepared, even for hard questions. “Looking at everyday life, you get hard questions all the time and even if you don’t know the answer, they’re answerable.” Ok, so I threw a semi-hard question out to him: “What about role models, Nicholas, do you consider your parents role models?” Nicholas answered astutely: “I don’t refer to parents as role models. I prefer to call them makers. They are my needs, my all. They are all-rounders, they have no category of their own.

They encourage me a lot and I love them very much.” Nicholas is fond of the alternative rock group Linkin Park, “and I love, not like, love Evanescence’s songs. I like the contrast with high and low notes.” The Grade 3 theory music student and tenor singer with the “men” in the Lydian Singers wants to be a computer programmer. “I think creating games and building mazes helps to expand my mind.” Some of the games he has created include “Bumper to Bumper,” “Locks and Mazes,” “Worms Advance,” “Card Warriors” — a 50-piece card game he and his friends invented before the release of Yu-Gi-Oh!” “We are in the process of producing Samurai Meteor,” he revealed, and plans are set for patenting one of them.