Waving the banner for family talent (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Waving the banner for family talent

9:01am Tuesday 20th December 2011 in Emma Clayton By Emma Clayton

I have often poured scorn on those pushy families you see on X Factor, whooping with pride and waving home-made banners as their little darlings take to the stage.

They wear matching T-shirts and badges, letting the world know they’re ‘Tallulah’s nan’ or ‘Benjy’s mam’ – and woe betide any judge who utters the words “it’s a no from me”.

“You know nowt, Cowell! My Kylie has the voice of an angel,” a particularly ferocious, and seriously deluded, mother once boomed as she steamed up to the judges’ panel for a showdown.

Nothing makes me wince as much as pushy showbiz parents, parading their precocious offspring like prize bulls.

A few years ago I covered auditions for a big professional show, where hundreds of starstruck children waited for hours – some had queued in the rain through the night – for a five-minute slot with producers who rather brutally stuck them into ‘yes’ and ‘no’ groups.

I watched as exhausted children either squealed with joy or dissolved into floods of tears, while their fiercely competitive mothers circled each other with the steely-eyed focus of an assassin. It’s a world I was thankful not to be part of.

But I have to confess that on Sunday afternoon, blinking back tears as a little boy took his seat at a piano on stage, I would have happily worn a badge saying ‘Jack’s Auntie’.

“That’s my nephew,” I heard myself say to the woman next to me as we applauded eight-year-old Jack’s recital of Good King Wenceslas.

Even my dad, who shouts at the TV in a rage when audiences whoop and whistle, gave a little cheer as Jack took his bow. Actually, he forgot to bow and just shuffled off behind the curtain instead, working the old ‘leave-‘em-wanting-more’ tactic.

Jack was performing in Yamaha Music School’s Christmas concert; a delightful showcase of talent from young musicians. There were youngsters playing electric guitars, keyboards and piano, and singers taking to the microphone with the poise and confidence of chart-topping professionals.

Jack loves his piano lessons and seems to have a real ear for music. When he’s not tickling the ivories he’s bashing away on a drumkit or strumming on his guitar – and after seeing footage of George Formby on telly recently, he declared he’d like to learn the ukelele!

The main thing is that, although he practises piano every day, he does it because he enjoys it.

And if he ends up auditioning for a TV talent show, I’ll be there with my ‘Jack’s Auntie’ badge and banner, ready to take on the judges who “know nowt”.