So cool! Did DC find it more exciting, affirming, challenging, scary...?

Definitely affirming! She's worked hard, consistently, for a long time at the rehearsals, so finally 'getting there' feels great for her. She's very proud of herself. Plus, she's excited that her friends can come see what she's been working on for the better part of a year.

Wishing her great success and fun (& bigger role offers if that is something that she would want)!

Thanks Eagle Mum!

DS later learned that he had to restrict his Encore audition submissions to the pieces he performed in his HSC practical exam 😕, which he has done, but it held him back from going full speed ahead now that he has finished school.

Now that that’s done, his first recent upload, in response to one of his subscriber’s requests, is his own arrangement of ‘All too well’, the original song by Taylor Swift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqFN4xP_Ehg

This is awesome, Eagle Mum! What fun to watch, and enjoy seeing him being enveloped in his music. Thanks for sharing.

Lovely! It's particularly fun to see how much his music has grown just since the first upload to his channel.

Thank you again for your kind comments. I am so pleased that he is free to explore whatever he wants for the next three months. I’ve always carried burdens of other people’s expectations and I’m so happy that the kids have opportunities to explore the things that interest them. My eldest enjoyed a gap year and she benefitted in so many ways from having that time. We’re fortunate that we are able to also offer one to DS and he’s contemplating our offer.

Thank you very much for your kind feedback.
He started relatively late with music at around age 10, so his journey so far has only been seven years (hence channel name will change next year). He performed his first ever original composition ‘Scenes on a dirt bike ride’ in an eisteddfod at age 13 and the judge gave him a score of 93 (he was the only entrant in his division), but he is determined to transition from ‘cute amateur’ to ‘serious & mature’ in his composition, so we repeatedly offer him professional lessons but he is firmly independent. He is having a great time which is heartwarming to see.