Rising Stars for 2010: Emma Dockeray
SoundWave's Programme Leader introduces us to super talented Emma
Emma’s been coming to Whitehaven Music Zone (part of SoundWave, the Cumbria Youth Music Action Zone’s activity) since July 2009. She really enjoys the group. She enjoys making new friends and gaining performance opportunities through the group. Her confidence has increased tenfold and she really enjoys the ‘cool atmosphere' as she puts it:
“I’d been going to theatre groups but this is much more my style..."
Emma is a lovely combination of talent and humility. She helps others willingly and never needs to be the centre of attention. She’s a breath of fresh air at Music Zone.
“When I was in year 6 I sang in the choir. One of the teachers entered me into a competition called ‘Top Idol’ run by my school aimed at local secondary schools and final year junior school pupils. One representative from each school was chosen they were aged between 10 and 16. I was 10, I’d never performed in public before but I won! This was the moment I realised singing was what I wanted to pursue."
She then moved on to entering music festivals in Workington and Whitehaven which further boosted her confidence and in Summer 2009 she won the junior rose bowl.
Emma got a guitar for Christmas in 2008; she started teaching herself mainly using the internet. When she arrived at Music Zone she was already fairly competent and able to accompany herself. The first time Emma played and sang for me I knew she had something special, her voice and individual style really excited me.
Very soon after joining Music Zone Emma established a female performance group with a wonderful dynamic. They work on songs as a group but take turns to perform solo material, backing each other up. They are a very supportive group and it’s great to see them learning from each other and growing together.
In September 2009 Emma decided to enter ‘Cumbria’s Got Talent’. A county-wide search for Cumbria’s most promising talent. After getting through the preliminary stages she was voted in as a finalist by the public and given the chance to perform at the Sands Centre, Carlisle where the audience then voted for their winner who just so happened to be Emma!
Later that year Cumbria experienced terrible flooding and Soundwave decided to respond to our region's devastation by helping local song writer Scott McKenzie record a song he wrote about the floods, entitled What Can Be Done (check out our earlier blog post for more info). Emma was asked to sing lead vocal on this and immediately said yes. She was very giving of her time and talent to the project. She performed at several high profile community events and continues to support the project. She is working on a documentary about the experience with ITV Fixers and the single is now available on digital release.
Emma is really appreciative of all the opportunities and support SoundWave continue to send her way. She’s keen to pursue song writing and develop her guitar and vocal skills. She hopes to study music or performing arts to degree level, somewhere like LIPA or the Brighton Institute for popular music. SoundWave plan to support her development and look forward to seeing her achieve her dreams!
Words: Emma Foxall (SoundWave Programme Leader West)
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