Gary Valenciano imparts wisdom to "Pinoy Dream Academy 2" scholars

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Mr. Pure Energy Gary Valenciano, who is celebrating his 25th year in the music industry, visited the eleven remaining Scholars of the reality show "Pinoy Dream Academy". He gave them words of wisdom and gamely jammed with them in singing some of his hits.

The Scholars were pleasantly surprised by the unannounced visit of Gary V. who sat them down for an inspirational talk filled with advice. Gary V. asked each of them to tell him about how their love for music started. After hearing every single Scholar out, he went on to share insights on the music industry.

He also advised them to never give up on music, to sing not to impress but to express, to give 100% in everything that they do, and to make sure that they touch hearts whenever they perform. He also reminded the Scholars that there is a big difference between excellence and perfection.

As his talk with the Scholars came to a close, he asked Bugoy to demonstrate expressive singing to stress its difference from impressive singing. While Bugoy was in the middle of his performance, "Uberture" host Billy Crawford entered the Academy and talked Gary V. into jamming with them.

Gary V. gamely gave in to Billy's request and sang "Shake It Off" and the remix of "Shout For Joy" while Billy and the Scholars danced along with him.

The scholars evaluate their performances

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Gala Night is only a few days away and the scholars are yet again to perform on stage. To better execute their presentations, it was crucial for them to see what areas need developments and what should be highlighted. Teacher Kitchy then showed the scholars their Dream Night performances and subjected it to evaluation.

The Voice Coach once again emphasized muscle relaxation. She saw this in Apple and Christian presentation among others. Though Apple shed tears during the Dream Night, she still went ahead and gave a remarkable performance. Her voice was still relaxed enabling the muscles to function properly. Christian song and dance number was quite unique from the rest. Teacher Kitchy pointed out that the bobbing of his head actually helped relax his neck muscles and had him deliver a good presentation.

Liezel on the other hand was acknowledged for her musicality. However, the stress in her voice was also evident. The scholar herself noticed how her forehead scrunched up when she sang and decided to avoid this habit.

Bunny felt a little discomfort as she sang her number again. The scholar mom had a powerful song which required deep breathing and much more air supply. Teacher Kitchy then suggested her to practice deep breathing and then belting it out.

The singing bunch was divided into their organizations to practice their performances. Teacher Anna coached the Pupilars while Teacher Kitchy tutored One Voice. Bugoy, who belonged to Team Pupilars, commented that he was nervous with singing on stage. Teacher Anna advised him to get used to it. Besides, the Farmers Son had a nice voice though he was a bit tense.

With two excellent coaches challenging the scholars relentlessly, who would apply these teachings and give an outstanding performance? Catch the latest developments of the 16 dreamers on Uberture with Billy Crawford!

PDA's Teacher Monet admits frustration with scholar Laarni

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Teacher Monet, the Voice Mentor who was given the responsibility of being the in-house teacher for this season, decided to step up and help out in ironing out the kinks in the relationship between PDA scholar Laarni.

To help smooth things out, Teacher Monet had a talk with all the cholars, except for Laarni, Tuesday night. They discussed ways to improve their relationship with Laarni. Laarni was in the Counseling Room while Teacher Monet talked to the others.

Teacher Monet gave time for all the Scholars to voice out their issues with Laarni. He then advised them to be more patient with her. Although he admitted that he, too, gets frustrated with Laarni at times, he said that resorts to positive reinforcements to avoid further conflict. He asked the scholars to do the same and refrain from talking to her in a way that creates friction. In short, he advised them to accept her for who she is.

Issues between Laarni and her fellow scholars began cropping up during their first week inside the Academy. Her former teammates in One Voice (the PDA scholars are divided into two teams, One Voice and Pupilars) could not get along with her and found fault in many of the things she did.

Some of the scholars earlier felt bad for Laarni,  especially those from the Pupilars team--they felt her One Voice teammates were just ganging up on her. This perception, however, changed when Laarni transferred to Pupilars and the same problems occured.