Mireille

EXCEPT-2

Mireille

My name is Mireille, and I am the female leadsinger in the band EXCEPT-2.

From my earliest days on, music has come quite natural to me, since my father used to sing me to sleep quite regularly.
He would then play his guitar and sing songs of Peter Paul & Mary, Lonnie Donegan and other artists.

I have special memories to those days.
I was very lucky to have my dad introduce music to me in that way.
I'm very great full to him.

Although I didn't understand a word, I quickly managed to sing along with the English lyrics.
After that I began to sing along with (pop)-songs on the radio, records, tapes, etc.

Music is my great passion.
Also during my work, when I was a teacher at a special primary school, I couldn't resist making the music lessons last a little bit longer than they actually should, according to the time-table
(Hush, please don't tell the inspection....!).
Apart from music, riding my motorbike is another passion.

After my years as a teacher I have worked as a principal of a primary school for several years. I now work as a part-time counselor for children with behavioral problems and/or learning disabilities.
I assist schools that request support concerning this matter and try to achieve that children with learning disabilities begin to enjoy learning once again and that teachers acquire a better understanding in how to deal with certain kinds of behavioral or certain kinds of learning problems.

Even though I'm no longer working for one specific primary school, my heart still lies with working with special children.
For that reason I am still involved with the annual musical performance of the children who are about to graduate.

I also play the guitar a little bit, which came in handy when I wanted to accompany the group at school.
Within the band I played bass-guitar a little as well.
However, the band was not waiting for another (bass)guitar-player.
Apparently they wanted me to play an instrument anyway and they put me up with a Cajun-triangle (petit fer) and a tambourine.
A little while ago I started to play the harmonica and the stand up bass, well I promise you that's something else to see.
I think it is important that you try new things once and a while, it keeps you on the move sort of speak!

The thing I like about the repertoire of EXCEPT-2, is the variety in styles.
In that way there's always something to everybody's liking, both for those within the band as well as for people outside the band.
I sing duets together with Ruud de Bruin, the male lead singer in the band.
We both do our best to align our voices as much as we can and put as much "feeling" in the songs as possible.

The three-pitch harmonies are formed together with Rob Nijman or Jaap.
You are most welcome to experience the result of all this for yourself one day!

I hope I will be part of this group for a long time to come and that we can enjoy making fantastic music for a great many years !
Who knows, perhaps we'll meet some day at one of our performances !

?? curious ?? any questions ?? order a CD ??

Sending an E-mail to Jaap Spijk via the address except2@xs4all.nl is the easiest way for a first contact !