Of being Good and being Good Enough
When it comes to competitions,its about being good.Its about how you are different from the rest,how you present yourself and how you sing the song or play your part.Well,when it comes to singing competitions,its not about being good,its about being good enough.There are too many "good" singers out there nowadays,and its difficult to look for someone really outstanding.Well,today was my audition day for my Talentime thing.I was not nervous at all,despite the fact that only 12 groups out of 40+ groups will be chosen and that some people even rented studios to practise.Yikes.Just imagine the chances of getting into the top 12.However,i was not nervous,at all.So after school i skipped PE,and Rachel and WanJun got to my house to practise.Before i go into details,i shall tell you how frustrated i was yesterday.I was taking my daily naps in the afternoon and i woke up at around 6pm to find a message in my handphone.It was from Xiang Ting,one of the girls from choir.She said that no microphones will be provided,(Great.)no piano,(Greater.)only keyboards.(Best.)I was too tired to get pissed at that time,so i just stared at the message and gave a soft chuckle under my breath and shook my head.Forwarded the message to WanJun and Rachel and WanJun in particular,didnt want to play in the competition anymore,saying that keyboards stinks and that it defeats the whole point of performing.(Agreed.)However,me and Rachel decided to go ahead with the plan."Give it a try,for the fun of it." i said to WanJun.Oh well,and so we did.Back to the topic,so they came to my house to practise on my keyboard.Its funny how something so old finally came into handy.Haha,and it took me awhile to get it out of the old cupboard.The old binoculars even dropped onto my head.Ouch.Anyway,so i go it out and we started the practise in my room.Argh,WanJun kept making mistakes and that caused me to be really nervous about the performance later.I mean,with the scores there she's supposed to be able to play it.Also,she had the whole weekend to practise,i wonder what she was doing.However,i kept telling myself to calm down,and face the problem.So,me and Rachel kept helping her with the chords,and tried figuring out ways to make life easier for her.Even when she left at 440pm,we havent played the song from beginning to the end yet.Thats bad isnt it.Rachel stayed back for awhile to practise,and we actually sounded pretty good together.Anyway,i took my guitar and rushed to school for the audition.As i was rushing for time,i hecked the guitar casing and went to school with the guitar in my hand,which drew a lot of attention especially from the security guards.Me and Rachel immediately went to the 3rd floor to practise and met up with WanJun.She was too nervous and made a couple of mistakes here and there.Though im fine with mistakes,but she repeated the part where she made the mistakes,and that kinda sucks because i have to slow down my singing to suit her playing,and that sounded awful.Despite Miss Nirmala and Mrs Neo's encouragements when they saw us,i was still damn bloody nervous.Not because of the performance but the fact that we have less than 30 mins and WanJun still couldnt play the song smoothly.Special thanks to YongAn who became our temporary audience for a while.We went upstairs to the audition room and met up with Samantha and her gang.Argh.I was still very pissed over the fact that we dont have piano.Great.We started practising outside at the corridors,where most of the groups gathered for practising.There were some tremendously good ones,like Rachel's Sngs junior,who sang like angels playing harps upon the clouds.I think i sound pretty good with her.Haha.(Hey call me.LoL!!)There were some really bad ones,like that j1 group which practised outside the room,as well as the group at the corner.I was fainting when i heard them.Russell and Ahmad joined as well.However,they were hopping around all over the place without any form of fear.I guess they are just used to stuff like that.Thankfully,Russell and Ahmad had the skills but hadnt the voice.HA!So i finally won you at something concerning music!Anyway,so we waited and our turn soon approached.WanJun was hestitating about performing,especially about the fact that scores are not allowed in the competition.(Which is bloody dumb because those choir smart butts never told us about it.)She couldnt play without the scores,and she wanted to back out.Rachel wanted to pursuade her to stay,since weve been practising and all the practising wouldve been wasted.I just kept quite because i didnt want to make any comments which might potentially hurt her feelings.So i kept silent when Rachel asked if i think WanJun should back out.In the end,we agreed and she left for home.Now its left to me and Rachel,and the role of the pianist was left to her while i became the guitarist.Luckily,we were very flexible and after some practising,Rachel memorised the score and i,being a Jay Chou fan,knew the chords long ago.So when our names were called,we went in immediately and i dragged the chair to me and i sat down while Rachel prepared her keyboards.I took a deep breath,and Rachel introduced the song.I gave the cue for her to start and she started the intro to AnJing.As she played the intro i was saying a soft prayer under my breath and my hand was sweating.As the intro came towards the end in took another deep breath,and started singing.It was nerve whrecking at first.Ive never sang in front of people before,at least not for competitions.First time today,and oh god,it was scary.Ahmad peeked through the door and gave me a thumbs up,and that was encouraging.So i kept singing the song on and on.Throughout the time my eyes were fixed on my guitar and the floor,perhaps on the chairs once in awhile but not on the judges.That was bad.But hell,i did not screw up,so thats good.After the verse was repeated for the second time,i got pretty comfortable with things,and started putting in more emotions,since the last part of the song has to be raised by one key,from G to A.And i started thinking about Rs,since that song sorta fits her in a way,and i used her picture as practise,so as to put in more emotions.And during the transition,i slowed down to a soft strum on my guitar,then accompanied by Rachel's keyboards i started the chorus for the last time.And it sounded pretty awesome i must admit.I just sang my lungs out and didnt care how loud i was.Finally,the song ended and the judges clapped.I placed my sweaty palms together and bowed.Before i went off i told the judges,"By the way,just in case i dont get through to the competition,i just want to say that i've done my best,and i have no regrets.We had no professional training.".At first,the judges didnt get why i said that,but Rachel added on to what i said and said,"That was from American Idol,William Hung."The judges got it,and started laughing like crazy.Point to notes,they are adult judges,not student from choir.Pushed through the door and was relieved.Gave Rachel a high five and Samantha's group were ready to sing their song.Rachel went down for her badminton training,leaving me to watch their performance.It was great actually,particularly on the piano for A Thousand Miles and the vocals for At the Beginning.However,both the piano and vocals were pretty weak for respective songs.Oh well,which was why Sam placed the two songs together anyway.They have a good chance in my opinion,i just hope that i am good enough to be in the competition.Being in the top 12 will mean so much to me.Two things i love in my life,movies and music.And whatever things that has got to do with those two,i will be very excited about it.Argh.Music is my dream,and if i dont get into the competition i will be seriously frustrated and sad.I was telling Sam about it as i waited with her at the fountain for her dad.It's a pretty nice place to chat actually,especially when the fountain is turned off and the whole school is quiet.With the guitar i started practising for my performance on Thursday.Thank god it recieved pretty good comments from Sam.Hopefully it will turn out great?Fingers crossed.All right,ive lost my voice,and i dont think i will be able to talk much in school tomorrow.However,thanks to my blog,i can talk as much as i want.HA.The magic of keyboards,isnt it?All right,wish me luck for the audition results and,bye for now.Tired,exhausted.I need to stop talking from now.

Quotes of the Day:
Truman Burbank,'Good morning! And in case I don't see you: good afternoon, good evening and good night!'

Network Executive,'For God's sake, Chris! The whole world is watching. We can't let him die in front of a live audience!'
Christof,' He was born in front of a live audience.'

Truman Burbank,'Somebody help me, I'm being spontaneous!'

[Truman attempts to leave his town and a convoy of cars pulls in front of him to block his exit.]
Truman Burbank,'Blocked at every turn. Beautifully synchronized, don't you agree?'
Meryl,' You're blaming me for the traffic?'
Truman Burbank,'Should I?'
Meryl,' Truman, let's go home.'
Truman Burbank,'You're right. We could be stuck here for hours. It could be like this all the way to Atlantic City. Let's go back. I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me.'
Meryl,'Truman, can you slow down?'
Truman Burbank,'Yes, I can.'
Meryl,'Truman. Truman, that's our turnoff.'
Truman Burbank,'I changed my mind. What's New Orleans like this time of year? Mardi Gras, woooooo! Ha ha ha ha ha! Hoo hoo hoo! Whoooohoo! Look, Meryl! Same road, no cars. It's magic! Hahaha!'
Meryl,'You let me out, Truman. You're not right in the head. You want to destroy yourself you do it on your own.'
Truman Burbank,' I think I'd like a little company.'

Christof,'We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.'
---'The Truman Show'(1998)

Song of the Moment---Hit That by The Offsprings