Personal Narrative: An Origin Story

When I was in the third grade and began to take an interest in musicals, my two best friends and I decided we would perform “Popular” from Wicked in our school’s talent show. I was looking forward to having fun with my friends onstage, but secretly I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. I had so many doubts about going onstage in front of my entire school. What if they thought I sang badly? Why didn’t we use backup music? Pink is definitely not my color. It was my first time singing by myself with a large audience watching me, but nonetheless, the three of us went onstage. Regardless of what others may have thought about us, we all felt exhilarated and relieved once we were done.

Let’s back up, I walked into the BCPA studios with my binder full of the music I was going to sing, and excitement racing through me. BCPA is known for great shows and great performers, and I couldn’t wait to be a part of it. We would be performing a Broadway Revue-two acts with musical sets from different big hit musicals, some from Broadway themselves. Musicals such as Chorus Line, Dear Edwina, Footloose, Heathers/Carrie, Book of Mormon, and more. One of the fun parts about this show is we were to have a live band, and my dad would be the drummer! This would be our first show onstage together, and I couldn’t wait.

Completing her final musical at NorthWood High School just a few weeks ago, Sara Bowling finds herself at an interesting crossroads in terms of her performance career. While she possesses a lifelong history with musical performance, beginning in her earliest memories, she is coming to terms with an understanding of the fleeting nature of the opportunities provided to her throughout her early life. A senior at NorthWood High School, Sara’s eyes are fixed on the murky but exciting adventure that is her future. She intends to pursue her post-secondary education at Ball State University, starting next fall, and aspires to complete all four years there as a member of their honors college. That said, she is clear that while her enjoyment of music remains, her future pursuit of performance is entirely uncertain.

All the judges were going to look at was me and only me, I had nothing to help cover up my mistakes. I took some deep breathes as I was announced, and walked out into my first formation on stage. As the music started I was doing okay, then I looked into one of the judges eyes and I blanked. I could not remember the rest of my choreography. I had let my nerves get the best of me! I had heard enough times from my instructor that the judges do not know our solos so we can improvise something. I did just that, but when I walked off that stage I was disappointed in myself. My whole family had shown up just to see me forget my solo! I could not bare to face my family and see the looks of disappointment on their faces. I went back to the dressing room to get ready for awards, as I was finished I had worked up enough courage to go see my family. As I was walking out the doors I was shocked to see my family standing in the waiting area smiling from ear to ear. I walked up to my mom crying because I thought she would be disappointed in me and her opinion matters the most to me. My mom told me that she was so proud of me because I had the courage to go out on that stage and perform all by

“Hey you want to drive”, my step-dad yelled over the loud engine of blue grizzly 4x4 quad I yelled “yes!!”, so as I got one the quad I put on my helmet and fased the strap on the same color helmet.

The concert that I went to the “Vocal Jazz Ensemble” on the date of May 21. Performance from the Vocal Jazz Ensemble and special guest Final Note-Us, both group performed extremely well and sang great songs. The concert consisted of eight songs, two from Final Note-Us group and six from the main performers Vocal Jazz Ensemble. There were thirteen vocalist in the opening group and a pianist, while the main group had twelve vocalist, one pianist, one bass, and one drum. Before hand going to the concert I thought it would’ve been the same boring concert I been to, but this one opened my eyes, from the very beginning I got hooked into the concert. If I a chance to rewatch the performance I would do it and open me up to not

As we began to learn our singing parts and I heard all the beautiful voices surrounding me, I had a moment when I thought, "Oh my, God. I don't think I'm talented enough to be a part of this cast. At some point someone, or all of the production staff, is going to realize that they made a huge mistake." As I drove home I kept telling myself that I am going to need to work extremely hard and bust my little booty to prove that I belong in the cast.

For the remainder of the month we got together three times a week to write, rehearse and iron out details of the show. That was one of the most stress filled, exciting months of my life. On one hand the pressure of the show gave us motivation to make more progress in music that i feel like i ever had in my entire life, but on the other hand that creeping feeling that we weren't going to be prepared enough by the time the show rolled around was just as constant. After weeks of stress filled practices and promoting the show to our friends and family, and around town, the night was finally

The poem below is a byproduct of an early fall Friday morning spent relaxing outside of Hendershot's Coffee. While I sipped on my dark roast coffee, I witness many homeless gentlemen and women passing along on Prince Ave. After living in Augusta, Ga for ten years and participating in a church in the dead center of downtown, I was familiar with the homeless and usually never thought much into the subject. My mentality changed when a grey breaded man with his face tan from the long hours in the sun walked passed me. I had never experienced such a disclosure of sadness radiate off a human being. And as he swiftly escaped from my view, the name Tim resided in my mind from the name tag on the right breast pocket of his shirt. My poem The Evolution

Applause erupted. I felt my body go numb. Our entire group burst from our seats, unable to contain our excitement. As our names were called as the winners of the 2017 Next Generation Jazz Festival, it wasn’t even the music that mattered most; the feeling of unity as we joined hands was beyond fulfilling. In my junior year, my vocal jazz director offered me the role of student director of the ensemble, and at first, I felt intimidated by taking on such a huge role, but I knew that I couldn’t step into this role timidly. As the year began, I worked closely with my director to create a strategic plan for the year, and we carefully planned the songs we would sing for the upcoming Next Generation Jazz Festival—a competition we had won for two consecutive

Throughout the semester I have noticed my writing grow significantly. Some of my work was a bit sketchy but that could be fixed by proofreading. I did not like writing all of my papers but I did enjoy the reading involved for the book reviews.

I was astonished, but at the same time somewhat expecting this outcome. I really felt I was ready to solo. But not everybody was supportive. Envious of my selection, many of the chorus members didn’t want me to have the entire solo. Their complaints resulted in Mary and I sharing the solo. After about 10

When was the last time you were offered a solo, duet, or even a triplet opportunity? My friends and I wanted to take this opportunity and become the best that we could be. Everyone was there including my parents and all the other parents that were there to see the other kids who were performing. The pressure was building up and I was starting to get nervous.

In those moments of performance nothing else mattered. The tense feeling of those around me slowly dissipated as got into the music, we went from fast heartbeats and ragged breaths to completely losing ourselves in the music and the moment. We became the definition of a band, blending together as one group with no one sticking out in an offensive or immature way. Each one of was performing to our greatest ability and everything felt natural; as if this were the exact place that every single of were meant to be at that exact time. Furthermore, I was confident that we would deliver a brilliant, powerful, and moving performance that the crowd would not forget. Our sounds echoed throughout the auditorium, bouncing off of every wall as we progressed through each musical

Although it is nothing new to me, risking on stage is something everyone struggles with. Improv pushed me out of my comfort zone, performance poetry left me vulnerable, and singing live at seven a.m. is a singer's worst nightmare. Despite initial fears, I’d say the performances went pretty well. Performance poetry was difficult. I didn’t quite have the most harmonious group. But I am glad we were able to go and preach what we did I had an absolute BLAST during the musical theatre festival. I worked my butt off to go on stage, back to booth, on stage, back to the booth, and for six hours straight. There were many technical difficulties, and I never want to hear “Sincerely Me” again, but I had a blast while performing the number I did from Book Of Mormon. My only regret is that I may have spread myself too thin. That number had so much more potential, but I had to sacrifice so much of my rehearsal time to work on lights. I’m just glad I was able to make everyone happy as best I could. I just had to do what was best for the class as a