I sang a solo at Artsplash in front of hundreds of people

Destination: Michael Fowler Centre

(for privacy, names used in this blog are not their actual names)

but before that...

Prologue

Nervously, I stroll toward the salon with unease. I'm in a panic, since my appointment at the salon is at 3:30, and the performance starts in about 1 and a half hours.

An hour and a bit till I regret life decisions.

Now, let me explain what Artsplash is. Artsplash a collective group of schools formed together to make a choir. Schools from the Wellington region go to one specific place to perform: at the Michael Fowler Centre, an enormous event venue in Wellington. It's no joke, the event venue had previous performances such as acting ones, and even the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra came to play instruments.

And at 11:00am during school hours on a Wednesday, the people in my school who volunteered for Artsplash and myself included went on a mini school trip to the Michael Fowler Centre to attend a rehearsal with all the other schools. A takeaway from this trip...

The walking was agonising. 

No, but seriously, even though I got the worst headache, I pushed through and here am I, agreeing to take a hair cut before the performance.

Promptly, I hop onto the chair, adrenaline rushing through my body for no apparent reason.

Mum shows a concept image of what I want my hair to look like.  The barber scans the image carefully in a few short seconds, then takes out his scissors and hair clip, and snips away my hair silently in peace.

*

I'm done. That took a long time, my impatient self thinks. The entire time I was just trying to remain as still as possible, and only move my head a few millimetres or so. But other than the cars revving outside or the indistinct chatter of people walking by the salon, the silence between the barber and I was actually quite relaxing.

The barber grabs one final lock of my hair and blow dries it and...

 

 

Tadaa! It actually looked so good. I really like it :). 

Mum pays the counter, says a brief thank you, and we head to the car park, AKA the meeting place that Mum and Ninang agreed to.

But anyway, I push the distractions away. I have a concert to get to. In a matter of...

"Mum, what's the time?"

She checks it on her phone.

"Uh, 4:20."

40 MINUTES?! OH NO. And Ninang isn't even here yet. I stamp my foot on the concrete repeatedly, considering that I actually might be late. 

But I eventually calm my nerves down, and a red car enters the car park.

It's Ninang. 

She parks the car into a spot then, since we're walking, head outside to the crisp frigid Wellington air, on our way to the Michael Fowler Centre.

Present time

Frantically searching around for Jess, the teacher in charge of this choir, and the designated spot that we all agreed to meet, people who are taller than me are practically everywhere. 

Where are they? I think then...

Yes! I spot Jess and the choir kids chatting to themselves in the corner. Perfect.

"Hi Sophia." My friend Gabriela swoops in to my side.

"Oh, hi Gabriela, hi Lana." I greet them both shyly. This is their first time seeing my hair, and I hadn't even told them at school that I had a hair appointment today.

Gabriela analyses me for a bit, then unexpectedly blurts out "Wow, you look so pretty.".

I'm taken aback. "O-oh, thank you."

I quickly take notice that Jess is holding the bag of pom poms she bought from Look Sharp. That's the props we're gonna use when the song "Celebration" comes up. It's the last song we're gonna sing. We're gonna go all out.

She gives out the pompoms to the people that she lays her eyes on and I feel bad because she looks more stressed out than I am from everything that's happening.

"Alright Te Aro! Time to head on stage!" Jess calls out. ALREADY?? 

Oh no. 

Automatically forming a line, Te Aro marches upstairs to where the performance actually held.

It takes a long journey to go up in my opinion, but considering that this is a big place, it makes sense that it takes a long time.

We enter the "stage", which is basically rows of seats on the sides and the front. The whole venue feels so empty without all the parents and teachers arriving yet. Especially without the schools coming to perform.

Taking a seat, I eye my right. It looks really squashed since there's forty of us in one line. Or at least in total. Nicole, a friend of mine, hasn't arrived yet. I'm kinda worried. It's like 15 minutes before the show starts.

And 10. 

And now, 5 minutes.

5 MINUTES?! SHE'S NOT EVEN HERE YET, AND THE SHOW'S STARTING IN 5 MINUTES.

I run through the reasons why she could possibly late. Then, it hits me. Maybe it's because of traffic. I'm getting real worried now. Most schools are here, the orchestra playing is already set up their things, the band set up is done too, and yet she's still not here. I glance at the door nervously. No Nicole is to be seen.

This is the WORST timing to be late. I sort of panic. Then, finally, guess what?

Nicole grabs a pompom and rushes to her seat in the nick of time.

"NICOLE! I thought you weren't coming!" Gabriela, Lana and I all say at once.

"Why were you late?" I ask her.

"Because of traffic. It literally took 4 minutes long!" 

We talk for a little bit more until the lights dim down to the audience, and the spotlight's literally on us. That's a cue that we're starting the performance, and to be honest with you, it's quite a dramatic one.

It's time to sing.

*

I thought it would take a long time to sing all 9 songs, but all the songs flow on by. Every time a song ends the crowd would always put their hands together to applaud us. It's quite refreshing.

But now, the song where I have to sing a solo. The moment I have been frightened of. 

I walk into the stage, wishing the ground would swallow me whole. 

But as soon as the instrumentals played, I felt a sort of calmness wash over me. It was like everything was gonna be okay and there wasn't hundreds of people staring at me.

I felt... calm.

"I will search the world. I will face its harms. I will find my hero's welcome waiting in... your arms." I finish the last lyrics.

And the song ends, leading the crowd to erupt in applause. 

I hurriedly walk back up to the stage when we're instructed to. I mutter an apology for bumping into someone.

"And now for the last song, Celebration!!!"

Everyone takes out their props and the whole stage is sparkly with hats and pompoms glistening in the spotlight.

I go full out with my pompom and sway it around like a maniac.

"CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES COME ON! LET'S CELEBRATE!!!"

I look around. Everyone's having such a great time. We're all just going crazy. Gosh this might be the highlight of my year.

And eventually the crowd starts clapping along with us too. What a great finish. 

"YEAH!!" We finish and everyone yells and scream their hearts out. I grin in embarrassment. 

That...

wasn't as bad as I were expecting it to be.

Huh. Weird.

FIN

thanks for reading!