IN TUNE Finola Higgins-Cosgrove loves to see the joy music and song can bring her pupils.
The show must go on
Interview
Ciara Galvin
As far back as she can remember Finola Higgins-Cosgrove has had a love affair with music, favouring the piano as her suitor.
The Kiltimagh woman was always certain which path her career would take. She ‘never doubted’ that music was the right choice.
An NUI Maynooth graduate, Finola attributes her lifelong interest in music to her parents, Helen and the late Tom Higgins, who used to perform in musicals in Kiltimagh. She fondly remembers going to rehearsals as a child, along with her brother and sister, and watching her parents practice their roles.
“My parents were both hugely into music. They were both in the church choir and sang in the Kiltimagh musicals through the years. We used to sit in on rehearsals … we’d know every song in every musical before it was even staged,” said the piano teacher, adding that the St Louis nuns in the local the secondary school also had a huge influence on her music.
Finola has run the Mayo School of Music with her husband, Declan Cosgrove, since 2009. She is the embodiment of hard work and determination, encased in a friendly and encouraging demeanour.
Her average working day, she casually explains, winds up around 9.30pm when she finishes teaching. The self-professed perfectionist also works with the local Cill Aodain Choral Society. Her Wednesday evenings are currently spent whipping the members of Ballinrobe Musical Society into shape for their production of ‘Evita’ (her second-favourite musical, she reveals). On Saturday mornings, she heads up the Mayo School of Music youth choir, which is made up of 50 girls ranging from 10 to 18 years of age.
Although Finola is now firmly in front of the stage, directing, the 38-year-old mother starred in many musicals in her school days. “After college I was the lead in ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ in Kiltimagh – that was the last show I was in,” explained Finola.
So what made her move from treading the boards to teaching harmonies and coordinating sopranos and tenors, all after a day’s work? It’s all down to her love of choirs and harmonies she says – that and the fact that she has an ear akin to that of a Marvel Comics character.
So attuned is her hearing that her husband sometimes gets annoyed on a night out, as she finds it hard not to earwig on other conversations in restaurants. However, the gift means that the ‘Les Miserables’ fanatic gets enormous pleasure from listening to and constructing harmonised music in particular.
With such a sensitive ear, one would think it might be hard to deal with pupils who may not have a talent for music. Not for Finola.
“It’s very rare that you can’t get music out of people. I don’t think we’ve ever given up on somebody because there absolutely is music in everybody,” she says emphatically, adding that in most cases it’s down to the teacher a person has.
Championing the idea that you’re never too old, Finola says she has had retired people come to her at the school saying they were told ‘they didn’t have a note in their heads’ as children. “By the end of the term we have them singing in tune. It mightn’t be fabulous, but it’s in tune, and it brings such joy to them,” she says with a warm smile.
What does Finola do in her spare time? You guessed it: She likes nothing better than to attend musicals. However, being a person ‘in the know’ sometimes has its disadvantages.
“If I go to a show I find myself looking at the orchestra, or at the conductors, rather than the singer. I spot the things most people wouldn’t.”
That said, some mishaps are more noticeable than others. Finola remembers a choir performance where the members held candles, and one participant set fire to another’s hair. “It literally went up in flames, she had so much hairspray in it. It was mayhem in the middle of the show, but they got it out,” said Finola.
It comes as no surprise that for Finola, the most important thing for a performer is focus. “I’d often say to people that if anything goes wrong, if somebody falls, just ignore it and go on. I’d often say ‘if I drop in front of ye, keep singing’.”
For this committed teacher, the show must go on, no matter what happens. So just to be on the safe side, if you’re in Finola’s choir, it’s probably best to leave the candles at home. And don’t bother with the hairspray. You never know where a spark could come from after all…
