Melrose born and bred Toby Moulton is still going “great guns” on the televisions show Australian Idol. He was chosen in the top 12 from hundreds of entrants and has survived the first elimination night.
The quietly charming Year 6/7 teacher at Star of the Sea, Henley Beach, is still quite surprised to actually have got so far in the competition.
Toby comes from a musical family background, and grew up enjoying singing with his family, at church and school. He had never sung publicly, except at family or close friends’ weddings, and is a gifted pianist and also plays the guitar.
He is the fourth child of Jan and Bob Moulton, of Melrose, and has one brother, Ben, and three sisters, Kate, Lucy and Eliza.
Ben is a songwriter and Eliza has sung with bands in her younger days.
Toby went to the Adelaide auditions for Australian Idol for a new experience, and didn’t have any great expectations, and is still coming to terms with being a celebrity.
He is thoroughly enjoying the experience, learning from voice coaches and attending workshops with people like American rock and roll singer Suzi Quatro for the rock genre of the competition.
His parents travelled to Sydney to see Toby’s first televised recording in his group, and also to his first finals appearance.
Mrs Moulton said it was a great opportunity to meet parents of the other singers in the group as well as share the experience with their son. Toby has made lots of friends, and with his caring
personality has become something of a
mentor, especially to
the younger
singers.
He thought the “teacher in him”, and being a bit older enabled him to help them deal with the tensions of waiting around for long periods, and help settle pre-performance nerves.
Toby has had tremendous support from staff and students of Star of the Sea school, who are all right behind him, and he is in constant touch with them all the time he has been away.
He is also amazed, and very grateful, for
the overwhelming
local support he has been getting, not
only from Melrose, but all over the northern and other country regions.
His mother said they are even getting recognised by strangers as “Toby’s Mum and Dad”, after she was
interviewed on the show.
It is certainly quite a huge undertaking, as Toby has been in Sydney since August 12, and the final night of Australian Idol is not until November.
Toby said he thinks the relief teacher of his Year 6/7 class is cheering for him as it means more work for her!
Mrs Moulton said the 12 finalists were driven in a stretch Hummer to a house near Sydney Harbor Bridge to all stay together until they are eliminated or make the final.
Although being part of all this is a once in a lifetime experience, it is also very intense, as the competitors are assessed on the whole package, not just their singing voices.
This includes poise, presentation, ability to cope with all manner of things, such as judges’ comments, different musical genre, being out of their comfort zones, away from home, and so on.
Toby said it has been a fantastic experience, although a bit weird being on television as a celebrity with his photo on posters, and even being called a sex
symbol - quite a
sea-change for a shy, self-effacing school teacher with a country upbringing!
He is really enjoying the chance to sing on stage, learn a lot about performing, make friends with lots of interesting people, and hopes his success so far will encourage other young people to “have a go and follow their dream.”
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter