Music festival 2016
The Music Festival 2016, was amazing and very enjoyable! This year, I did a duet with my friend Anna Balmaine. It was both our first times performing a duet, it was a challenge but also very fun!
The Music Festival was supposed to be on the 27th of October, but this happened to be a Strike Day for the teachers. Therefore they postponed it to the 28th of November, which suited me fine as Anna and I would have more time to practice. Also, the day before, Wednesday the 26th October, I went to a concert in the 3 arena with my friends! We went to see The Lumineers, which was fantastic. I was a bit worried I might lose my voice before the Music Festival, and that would definitely not be good. So having the Music Festival 4 weeks later, worked out perfectly for me!
About 2 months ago, Anna and I decided to partake in the Music Festival. We both researched possible songs that we could sing together. Then I went over to her house, and we spent a long time listening to all the songs we had listed and narrowing down our options. After almost 2 hours we ended up with two songs: ‘I Know Him So Well’ from the musical Chess, and ‘Tell Him’ by Barbra Streisand and Céline Dion. After learning them both, and asking friends and family which one they prefered we decided on ‘Tell Him’! Let the rehearsing commence...
Anna and I practiced a lot over the past 2 months. During lunch breaks we would go over our harmonies and we went to each other’s houses a few times to go over our song. When the day of the Music Festival came, there was not much more practicing we could do, only focus and have confidence. However there was one line in the song, we simply couldn’t master! Sometimes it would work, and other times the harmony was all over the place. I’d say we were both a little worried about that line.
On Monday the 28th of November, Anna, along with most of our year, went Scuba Diving. That meant she wasn’t there for the initial sound-check. I ended up singing the entire song on my own for the sound-check; it definitely sounds better with the two of us! When they all came back we did a final sound-check with our backing track and it was sounding brilliant!
Anna and I were second on stage from our category, which was Groups. I was very nervous before going on stage. I kept worrying that I would forget the words, or lose my voice. Thankfully none of that happened! We did one last practice and then we walked onto the stage, our faces beaming. It was a wonderful feeling and sensation, singing with Anna in front of lot of people! I actually couldn’t see anyone as they were all in the dark. I was relieved and sad when it was over! All the effort we put into ot was worth it. I always forget the Music Festival is a competition. After all the acts were done, I went into school and got my bags. I was about to walk to my car when I realized everyone was in the Junior School Hall! I sprinted and just made it in time. I thought the winners really deserved the prizes, they were fantastic. I’m really glad I was part of the music festival 2016 and can’t wait for the music festival next year!