Personal Narrative: Harbenera

I hurried to get dressed with a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up past my cast. I also wore a red tie and black skinny jeans. I could only sing so we had to use the track guitar. Last thing I had to do was my vocal warmups. I finished and went to the side of the stage. My mind was swirled with thoughts as the video ran and our cue was said to go on stage. My microphone was on me and I was as ready as I was ever going to be. We all ran on stage and started to play. We started with undisclosed desires. Since I didn’t have my guitar to play it gave me a chance to rest and just

For this concert report I chose to go to a performance of student composers held at the Kimball Recital Hall. I chose this one because I wanted to see some of the talent that my peers have in the music realm, and also it was one of the only concerts I have been able to attend because I usually work at night. It was impressive to hear pieces composed by students. I cannot imagine creating something as complex as a musical composition, much less actually performing it, so this aspect of the concert was particularly awe-inspiring. There was a large attendance, and I think that much of the audience consisted of friends of the composers and/or performers. I went with three friends, who I convinced by telling it would be interesting to see

Before I even entered high school, I obtained a love of theater and the performing arts. I have been singing and acting since I was nine, as well as on and off dancing since three. Taking classes at a local theater really introduced me to this interest of mine. When I entered high school, an injury kept me from doing shows. But now I graduate with nine high school shows under my belt, as well as being in multiple community theater productions. Being a part of these shows made me feel a strong sense of belonging, and whether I was an ensemble or lead

A couple of months later competition season came and I was so nervous to go out there and perform in front of a lot of people. After the first

Over the past 3 years at Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School I've been able to blossom into a culture of music and theater. I started choir in 6th grade, along side doing that years musical. Music and theater weren't new to me at that point, for I knew what it's like to dance to loud music in my room, and what it's like to sit through musicals and plays my older sisters did. And I was eager to star in my own musicals and concerts. That’s when "Shakespeare Comes to Calamity Creek" showed me what it's like to be in a performance, and how much work it takes outside of it. That it takes more than just the time at rehearsal to make a show great. How it takes a couple of hours just to remember lines, or how it takes a couple of rehearsals to really get

So the singing sounded like this “you can be amazing you can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug. When I was done the girl that sits next to me says “Why is your face so red?” I don’t respond because I feel weird and stupid for not being able to sing better than I did. I had this weird blood tasting taste in my mouth. The taste tasted gross. Then she said why don’t we all sing together out loud. Ready set go then this is all I hear amazing blah blah blah blah nothing blah blah than I hear everyone just scream SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY AND LET THE WORDS FALLOUT mmmm I WANNA SEE YOU BE BEAVE! After we were done singing the song our choir teacher said these kids need to come to me and sing in front of the class so we can hear you sing. Myah and some other kid come up. When I was singing I like I could do it. Then she started the song we in my opinion sounded great. When class was over I went to put my folder away and the choir teacher said that she is most likely to pick me for the solo. Hope I get the

My heart was beating as I stood in the elevator waiting for my floor to come. The audition was on the 2nd floor in room 214. I stood outside the door 5 minutes early in hopes I might get in early. But as time passed it was 10:20 and pretty soon I was worried I had missed the room or went to the wrong place. Thankfully the judge came out and told me they were ready. The judges were all professors I had just previously spoke too except one. The marching band director was present along with the ones I spoke too which was good because I planned on trying for the marching band scholarship during this audition. I had a short talk with them explaining what I was playing as well as why I was auditioning at their school. The time came for me to play, I took a breath, relaxed every inch of my body the best I could, and got lost in the music. I forgot anyone was even there, I was so focused on my craft and what was coming out of my saxophone it didn't matter who was in the room, I was there to make music. I entered a state of bliss almost forgetting I was in an audition. After playing my first piece the judges looked pleasantly surprised. What they didn't know was that the first piece I played was the easy one. Now was time for the big moment, my big finale. Three pages of music and preparation to show off to a room full of musicians with a skillset I dream to have. One more first breath, relax, enter a state of bliss, and play. Each

In a specific scene, I needed to command the attention of my on stage boyfriend and friends before the climax of the show. At first, I merely said my lines and moved about my designated area. After a few tries and my directors telling me to “give more,” I started to use my hands along with my words and feisty inflections. My body language expanded and started to tell Anita’s story with zeal. My volume and confidence soared and I owned my presence on stage. I had never truly allowed that sort of sass and power to course through me like I did in that performance. Later in the same scene, I sang and danced a number with my fellow ensemble ladies. These girls could now play off of my bold actions and enthusiasm, and the scene was made so energetic that it stole the show. I burst my comfort zone to truly embody Anita, and I will never regret doing so seeing what it has done for me now, months after the curtain has

Once I arrived to rehearsal, we immediately began practicing the most challenging pieces first. After practicing for about four hours, eighteen musicians, eighteen stands, eighteen instrument cases, and a conductor, packed onto the bus. We were on our way to the festival. When we arrived at the festival, we set up our stuff, practiced the introduction and bows. After going through the songs again, I felt like I had played these songs my entire life. It was about three o’clock, we went to the dining hall and had dinner before the performance, since the performance started at seven. After eating, we my friends and I walked around the campus talking. I entered the dressing room and changing into my black dress, and black dress shoes. Once again we went through places and entrances. We all made our way backstage, holding our instruments and music. We entered the stage, bowed and sat down to

I have never been able to sing, nor will I ever have the ability to sing well. That is why I have talented friends. Throughout the years, Kenzie and I have always gone and seen the shows the school was putting on. With having a few good friends in all the shows, it was always important to me and Kenzie that we went to support our friends. With both of us having jobs we were lucky to find a day that worked for both of us. Luckily we thought ahead and bought our tickets online to secure that we would have the best seats possible, which are always front row so we can see our friends up close and even for any possible microphone problems we would always be in the clear. The drive to the school was normal, Kenzie drove and we talked about what we knew from what our friends had been saying and what parts we were most excited for. Mine was the fact that Hadyn was playing a character so different from the ones it seems like she always has during these shows, which would include a sad love song and a few pretty dresses. This time it was going to be all black and some deeper, darker singing.

Though I was shaking badly and I felt like I was going to faint, I took some deep breaths and pictured absolutely nothing but my back yard where I spent most of my time sitting on the bench swing just singing to myself. I knew that I had a lot of amazing people around me, most being my friends, and I knew they were all so talented so that just made it a bit harder to focus. The fact that my mom had said she was going to tape it and show my dad at a later time didn’t help the nerves at all. But I tried my best to stay calm and focus on that image in the back of my

Majority of musicians and other performers usually come to a similar breaking point when their first performance comes around; stage-fright. It usually occurs on the “first” performance of some sort. For me, it changed my life, and i could never know how that one feeling of worrying that you didn’t do something right or that you might mess up at a certain point could change someone if it was about doing something you love.

Recently, I auditioned for my first high school show, "The Great Gatsby". Days before the auditions I was practicing my music and monologue. I challenged myself by choosing two brand new pieces of material, and in doing so, it made the audition more nerve-racking. Finally, when it was my turn to audition I got up on stage, introduced myself, and began my monologue. As the words began flying out of my mouth, I began to feel like they had no meaning. I felt distanced from my character and therefore my portrayal of her was not the way I had originally intended. As I continued the monologue, my audience's eyes bore blank stares. Their unresponsiveness rattled me and my hands began to shake. I knew in that moment that I was failing as an actress because I was not making my audience feel any emotion. When my monologue was over, I stood up from the chair I had delivered it in took a moment to breath. The air was heavy and the stage lights felt bright. Then I broke the silence with my audition song. Without accompaniment, I started off in the wrong key. I knew it, and as I went on, I started thinking of the best way I could stop before I ruined my entire audition. So I cut off, right before the difficult section of the song that I would not have been able to do in the wrong key. As the last note held in the air I said "thank you" and took a seat. The applause they gave felt undeserved and I would have cried if I did not know that that could be seen as unprofessional. I went through call backs without being asked to read anything else, so although my heart was as heavy as the weight of my audition mistakes, I knew I would not be given a role. When I saw the cast list, my expression was as blank as the stares my fellow actors had given during my audition. I was numb from the experience, and for the first few weeks I avoided believing my reality, and went along with the motions of the rehearsals as part of the chorus. I

We stayed late at school every night making the play even better than it was the night before with the help of Mr. Nulik. We knew that schools around the country would be shooting for the same goal that we were; to perform at the International Thespian Festival. We also knew that only 10 schools would make it so we did our best to outwork every single one. As an orange I thrive on competition and I’ve been a very competitive person from when I was little. I was always competing in several different sports from the time I was 5 to now, but I had never wanted to win something so badly. I was ready to go on stage and give the judges one of the best shows they’ve ever seen. I would tell you I wasn’t nervous, but I try my best not to lie. I was nervous, just not as nervous as some of my castmates. The reason I was not as nervous is because I am very comfortable in front of people or up on stage because I am a natural entertainer. Coincidentally, that is a characteristic of orange. When performing, it seemed everything was going great until the speaker started to not function like it was supposed to. My castmates looked at me for what to do, but I, like them, was taken by surprise at its malfunction. Not knowing what to do but knowing that the show must go on, I started to fiddle with the speaker and microphone whilst staying in character. Luckily being resourceful is

This is a picture of the first time I ever sang in front of a large crowd. I was in a play at my old church when I was little. The play was about the story of Christmas and I was playing the part of one of the angels. The woman who was directing the play wanted to add in a song but she didn’t know who was going to sing it. I was a shy little kid who could barely order her own food at restaurants. She knew my family and I really well so of course she picked me to sing the song. I had doubts about it at first because I had never done anything like this before. I did end up saying yes to singing the song for her so she could include it in the play like I could tell she really wanted to. My dad promised me that if I did sing the song he would come up on stage with me and play the song on the piano. This made me feel a little better about singing but I was still very nervous. We practiced the song during rehearsal and some at home too so I would definitely know when and what I was singing. On the day of the play I was really nervous but I knew I couldn’t go back now. I pulled myself together and played my part as an angel which I had no problem doing since I didn’t have many lines. When it came time for me to sing I was shaking with nerves. It