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Gladys the Music Maker

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This is a very special story because Natasha not only tells it, but sings too !

If you heard the first part of our Girl Band story, Gladys and the chix, you’ll know that Gladys has three sisters who have formed a band and want to be famous. Gladys isn’t in the band because they say that she’s too young and too Geeky. But she thinks that her sisters need her, because she’s the brainiest.

Duration 12 Minutes. Read and sung by Natasha.

One Saturday morning, Mandy and Laura were sitting around the kitchen table drinking coffee and having an argument. Mandy thought that she ought to be the leader of the chiX, because she was the oldest, and more importantly, she was best at getting things organised. Laura thought that she should be the leader because she had friends in the music business.

“Kevin isn’t in the music business,’ said Mandy. “He’s just a loser who sweeps up in a recording studio.”

“That’s just like you,” said Laura, “You won’t give anybody any credit unless it’s yourself. Kevin’s a studio producer and a musical whiz-kid.”

“Well just because you met the guy at a bus-stop doesn’t mean that you’re a musical genius too,” said Mandy

“Yeah, but I’ve got contacts. Besides, Kev said I’ve got a great voice,”

“Yeah, but Kev says that to all the girls. Besides, what this band needs is somebody to call the right shots and make the right decisions.”

“Exactly, that’s why I should be leader, ” said Laura, “Because I know more about the music business than you do.”

Mandy pointed out that she was the one who had set up their web page on MySpace, and that Laura had been promising to ask her friend Kev for a recording session at his studio for two weeks now, and she still hadn’t fixed it.

Laura said that was because Kev was super-busy recording lots of big starts, and he was fitting them in for free as a special favour for her. Still, she decided to give him a prompt. She took out her mobile phone and sent him a text message:

“Hey whiz-kid. Got time yet to give three gals a helping hand?”

And Kev texted back

“Sure, next week’s looking good. Come over Tues.”

So the chiX had their first recording session set up for three day’s time. When Gladdy heard. she pointed out that they didn’t have a tune for their song, let alone any backing music.

“That’s kev’s job,” said Laura. “He just presses some buttons on his recording desk and pulls some levers. He’s a genius at that sort of thing. He even made the diamond-girls sound half decent.”

Gladys tried to imagine the chiX turning up at the recording studio and asking Kevin to do everything for them. She thought it sounded a bit unlikely that he would just say, “sure girls, here’s a number one hit single that I just wrote yesterday especially for you.”

“If it was that easy,” she said, “Everyone would be stars,”

“Yeah, but not everyone is mates with Kevin,” said Laura. “Besides, not everyone’s got star quality like the chiX. ‘

After school on Tuesday evening, the girls took the train up to London. Gladys came too, because although she wasn’t in the band, somebody had to look after her as she was still too young to be on her own at home. In fact, Gladys knew that she could look after herself better than the sisters, but that was how things were. When they got to London, they took the underground train to the station called Goodge Street which Laura said was in the swanky part of town. In fact, when they got out it looked pretty grotty to Gladys. Keven’s studio was on the fifth floor of a tall office building. It was about the size of the their bathroom at home. Gladys watched how he kissed all three of her older sisters on both cheeks. He didn’t seem to notice her at all.

‘Well what have you got girls?” asked Kevin. And Laura showed him the words that Glady had written.

“Nice,” he said when he had read them. “And what’ the music?”

“A right, ” said Laura, “We were kind of hoping that you’d help us out with that bit. See as you’re such a whiz-kid.”

Kevin blinked. Gladys could see that he was trying not to look too surprised. After a pause he said.

“Right girls. Go behind the sound-proof glass and put some headphones on. I’ll play you some loops, and we’ll see if we can build up a sound just for you.”

Gladys knew that loops were some drum beats and other bits of music that were already recorded on the computer. They were called loops because they went round and round, and when you got to the end of say 30 seconds, they music started at the beginning again.

She had been experimenting with some loops at home , and she had also been recording some music of her own using an electronic keyboard. After she had put the notes onto the computer, she could make them sound like almost any instrument.

Kevin pressed a drum beat.

(music plays)

‘Too grungy,” said Laura through the microphone. “The chiX are kind of a bit funkier than that.”

So Kevin let them here something a bit more polished”

(music plays)

“Not Really” said Mandy. “The chiX are kind of a mix of different musical styles and influences, if you see what I mean.”

“Yeah find us something that’s just right.” said Sam.

And so Kevin looked at the computer and scrolled through a few more tracks till he found one thing thought they might like.

“How about this one girls” he asked?

(music plays)

“Yikes ! Are you sure your mate knows what he’s doing?” asked Mandy to Laura. She didn’t realise that the microphone was switched on and Kevin could hear her. Gladys thought she could see hot steam coming out of his ears.

She said:

“Ah-hum. Kevin. The girls were just shy about saying they’ve got some music. I brought it here on this disk.” And she handed him a CD with the music she had made at home. Of course, the other sisters hadn’t heard it.

Kevin put the CD on the player

(music plays)

The sisters heard the music through their headphones and started to groove around.

“Yeah, that’s more like, it Kev,|” said Laura. “We could do something with that.”

And Gladys smiled to herself. She decided it would be better not to tell them yet that it was her music that they liked.

She started to help Kevin mix in some more music into the track.

“Hey Gladdy, leave Kevin alone and let him get on with his job,” said Mandy. But Kevin replied that he was alright about showing Gladys how his mixing desk worked.

Much later that evening, after quite a few tries, the chiX made the first song of their career. And though they didn’t know it yet, the music was written by Gladys with only a little help from Kevin.

And that’s the story of Gladys the Music Maker.

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Introducing Mandy, Laura and Sam – the three members of the latest chart topping girl band – the chiX. This is the story of how it all began, before they were famous.

Oh, but we should not forget the other sister, Gladys. You might not have heard of her before. She’s not in the band because she’s too young and she’s too geeky. But she is the brainiest. And although they others don’t always admit it, they couldn’t have got anywhere without her.

Read by Natasha. Duration 14 min.

Gladys and the chiX

Hello this is Natasha and this is a story about some sisters who had an ambition to be famous.

Have you ever wanted to be lead singer in a band? I mean, have you ever picked up an old cardboard toilet roll, held it to your mouth, and pretended that it was a microphone ?

Or have you ever found yourself tapping out a beat on the kitchen table with a couple of felt tip pens? Or come up with a great new dance in front of the mirror?

I bet you have because almost everyone has. Everyone except Gladys. She had never done anything like that. She was much too clever to mistake a toilet roll for a microphone. But her three older sisters had all done it. Their names were Mandy, Laura and Sam. And all three of them loved dancing. And while they were dancing, they secretly imagined that they were on TV and everyone was watching them. They also dreamed what it would be like to be really, really famous. When they went to school, the kids on the bus would say “Hey girls, you were great on TV last night.” Only they probably wouldn’t go on the bus to school any more. The record company would give them a black stretch limo as long as the street and with dark windows. That’s how they would go around once they were famous.

One Saturday night, all four sisters were squashed together on the couch watching the Eurovision Song contest. If you don’t know what the Eurovision Song Contest is, that’ s probably because you live in Mexico or somewhere twenty time zones away from Europe. In fact Gladys remarked:

“I wish we lived somewhere like Mexico or Alaska, and then we wouldn’t be able to watch this trash.”

But Laura said, “I expect all the Mexicans watch it on the Internet.” And Gladys had to admit that she hadn’t thought of that, because although she was the brainiest, she couldn’t always think of everything.

Just in case you are lucky enough never to have seen the Eurovision Song Contest, I had better tell you about it. It’s when all the worst bands in Europe get together and see who can come up with the corniest, cheesiest, naffest, most annoying tune, and who can dress up in the most ridiculous costume and look the silliest dancing and prancing around on stage. Only the bands taking part don’t always understand it that way. They probably think that they are really it ! And do you know what? 100s of millions of people watch it every year. I’m not kidding. It’s that popular.

It’s true that quite a cool band called Abba once won it. But that was like, 7 zillion years ago. In fact, it was so long ago that Dad was still at school. And nobody cool has ever won it since.

Well Mandy,Laura and Sam liked watching it – There was a Danish Man dressed up as woman, a Norwegian Flamenco dancer. and a rugged Moldovian with blond hair extensions. They were just funny. The only band really worth seeing was from Ukraine. The singers were three beautiful but mean looking girls with straight black hair falling over their white faces..

“You know what?” said Mandy. “I bet we could do that. We could be just as good as them, and be on the Eurovision Song contest. In fact, I bet we could win it.”

“Only the UK never gets any points,” said Gladys.

“So ! We say we’re from Montengro. But what I’m point out, is that they are on telly, and like billions of people are watching them, and we are just as good-looking as they are and can dance just as well as they can.”

“But we can’t sing,” said Gladys.

“Well neither can they,” said Mandy. “Besides, Laura has a great voice. Everyone says so.”

Gladys still thought it was a silly idea so she said:

“But Laura wears a tracksuit and gold bangles, even when she’s going out with her boyfriend. You can’t dress like that if you’re on TV.”

“Well, said Mandy, “When we’re famous, all the top designers will send us free gear, so Laura won’t have to wear a tracksuit unless she feels like it, like when she wants to go shopping and not get noticed by all the fans. Beside, you aren’t in this band, because you’re too young.”

“And too Geeky..” added Laura.

Gladys hadn’t really thought about being in the band, but when they said that she wasn’t in it, she felt well, a bit left out. It wasn’t fair. She could play the piano. If anyone was going to form a band, it ought to be her.

“Well at least I know how to read music, which is more than any of you lot,” she said. “So you’ll have to have me in your band because you won’t know what tune to sing.”

Laura scoffed:

“Ah come off it who’s ever heard of a band that knows how to read music ? We’re not the church choir ! Now go and play computer games like a good little geek while we get ready to be famous.”

“Yeah go on G-laddy,” said Sam, “Stop annoying your older and better sisters. You aren’t in the band anyway, and it’s time to tuck your dollies up in bed.”

It was particularly annoying when Sam spoke like that, because she was born only a year and a half before Gladys, but she looked a lot older, especially when she put on make-up, so somehow people took her more seriously.

“I haven’t got any dollies,” said Gladys as she left the room – “Unlike you darling Samantha – you’ve still got six ! Besides, your band hasn’t even to a name – so it’s not a band at all. Good night.”

On Sunday afternoon, Gladys spent a lot of time on her homework, because she was working on a big project about Ancient Egypt and she had to research the pyramids on the Internet. But her three older sisters watched the music channel on TV and tried to copy some of the dance routines.”

Later that evening, they were still talking about what to call their girl band – because it wasn’t easy to come up with cool name.

“How about The Smith Sisters?” said Mandy. You see, their name was Smith.

“Boring ! ” said Laura.

‘Or The Teddy Girls?” suggested Sam. Because they lived in a place called Teddington.

“Too babyish” said Mandy.

Dad was there for a while. He had go wind of this idea about forming a band – though nobody had actually told him about it. He said : “How about the Rich Girls?” because he was hoping that they would pay for his retirement. But the girls took no notice of him – they never did – so he went out to the front drive to fix his motor bike, which was how he usually spent Sunday Evenings.

While they were talking, Gladys had been trying to imagine a name that both sounded good, and looked good when it was written down – like on a poster or an album cover. When the others went quiet, she said:

“I think “chiX spelt with a small c and a big X because it’s a Chick Band and X looks like a kiss.”

“Yeah, or like “Leave me alone” which is cool,” said Laura, “But I bet there’s already a girl band called the chiX because it’s too good.”

Mandy searched iTunes and YouTube and she couldn’t find any other band with that name. They couldn’t think of anything else, so their name just sort of became “chiX. But somehow they didn’t quite remember that it was Gladys who had come up with it. It was just like they had always been the chiX ever since they were born.

Now all they needed was a song – but of course they didn’t have one. A week went by and the chiX almost got forgotten. Then next Saturday, when Dad came home from the football match, he said :

“Hey girls, how’s your band going. Have you got a gig fixed up yet?”

“Of course they haven’t go a gig,” said Gladys. “They haven’t even got a song.”

Dad was disappointed. You could could see from his face that in his mind, his darling daughters were already rich and famous and had bought their beloved daddy a new bike, a cottage by the sea, and a subscription to the sports channel.

Mandy said: “I’m working on it.”

“Oh go on Mandy, do sing it to me, pretty please, I”m sure it’s such a lovely song,” said Gladys.
And Mandy looked annoyed.

“Well don’t cry. I’ll write you some words.”

“How could you write the lyrics for a song?” asked Laura. “You don’t know anything about relationships. You’re too young.”

“Not all songs are about relationships,” replied Gladys. “Some people think about other things apart from boys.”

And Mandy said: “Besides, before we start on any songs, we need to decide what sort of musical genre we’re going to do. I mean, are we going to be more like the Spice Girls or the SugarBabes?”

“Can anyone really tell the difference?” asked Gladys. But that gave her an idea to work on. So she went up to her room, sat down at her desk and scribbled down a few ideas. Later she came to the living room and switched off the television. Her sisters started to say “Ah come on Glad, what was that for?’ But she took no notice. She stood in front of TV and read out her words:

You’ve had your sugar
You’ve had your spice
Now you’re looking
For something nice.
Not too sweet
and not too sharp
The chiX are here
to take your heart.

“Not bad, ” said Laura,” but “sharp doesn’t rhyme with heart.”

“Well what do you want it to rhyme with – Harp? Besides it’s an internal rhyme. And i’ve got a chorus.

But don’t you think
We’re an easy catch
don’t count your chix
Before they hatch !

Well at least that rhymes – said Mandy. Here, that’s not too bad. Did you really write those words yourself Gladdy?

“Of course”, she said, and before she handed over her words she signed her name on the bottom and wrote Copyright Gladys Smith so that they others wouldn’t forget that she composed them.

Now the chiX had some words, all the needed was some music. And I’ll tell you about how they made that another time soon.

And don’t forget – there are loads more stories on Storynory.com. So drop by soon, and listen to a few. For now, from me, Natasha, Bye Bye !