As I was sitting in the car today, listening to the radio, I'm reminded of the time when I auditioned for vocal jazz at my high school... because Bryan Adams' song, "Heaven" was playing and that was the song I chose for the "freestyle" part of the audition. (Well I actually sang the song in this key...)
I remember how nervous I was because I'm rather shy, so singing in public is definitely not my forte. But I used to be brave. So I sucked it up. (Well, it's also that I wanted to impress the drummer for vocal jazz, haha.) The first part involved singing music that my band teacher handed out. It was a song called "Puttin' on the Ritz." One page. It was rather simple, but I practiced for hours with my keyboard so I'd hit each note perfectly.
As for the second piece that we were allowed to choose ourselves, I was undecided for the longest time on it. I remember wanting to sing Delta's "Not Me, Not I" (it was my favourite song at the time) or Delta's "Be Strong." They're all ballads, so...
On the day of the audition, I was the last one to go because I was beyond nervous. I remember having the pianist press the C key over and over again because being so nerve-wrecked, I had trouble hitting the note right, haha. But I finally did it because everyone else who auditioned before me were all waiting... I think I really surprised my band teacher, lol. He had that impressed look (not unlike Obama's "Not Bad" face, lol) and commented, "Wow. That was good." Then everyone started urging me to sing my other piece, but I was about to pass out so I said that I was unprepared. Then they kept telling me to wing it and I was like "No." So I got lucky and was able to reschedule the second part.
After some fumbling about, I decided on "Heaven," and went into my band teacher's office that day after school. I remember that he was busy with something and he had his back turned to me while I announced that I was here to do my audition. He didn't really say anything (awkward, lol, I think he probably forgot) so I mumbled that I was going to sit down while I sang because I was feeling light-headed. I then started singing... probably after the first verse, he turned around, looked at me and sort of scolded me and told me to stand up while I sang, lol. And so I did and ended the song after I finished the second chorus... It was still super awkward because he went back to doing his thing, as if I'm his radio or something. So then I mumbled that I was done and thanked him for listening and shuffled out of his office.
About halfway through that audition, my dear friend (actually a bunch of my friends came and expected to watch me audition because they thought it'd take place in the band room like last time and they really wanted to hear me sing -__- lol) walked into the hallway outside my band teacher's office and listened to me sing. I remember her giving me the thumbs up as she stood there and listened and I almost wanted to laugh while I sang.
A day or two after, my band teacher posted the list of names of people that made it... My name was the first one under the "Altos" section. It was a really happy day. One I'll never forget...
...I grew up listening to this station called 103.5 qmfm. It plays a lot of soft rock, pop... well you know what, that station plays a lot of different genres. I really enjoy it. As I was listening to it today, I remember how much I used to enjoy a lot of songs like, The Eagles' "Hotel California." I don't know why I liked that song so much, being at the age that I was. There was something mystical, something haunting about that song that frightened me... I guess that's what I loved about it. I also really enjoyed Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5." Hahaha, that song always makes me laugh and makes me want to dance. Boogey down! I also remember that I hated Macy Gray's "I Try" song. I don't know, maybe it was the screechy violin opening or her voice, but I just did not like it when that song would come on the radio station. It scared me for some reason. I also didn't like Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." I like this song slightly better now though, lol.
I feel the need to tell another story whenever I think about 103.5 qmfm. They used to have (actually, I'm not sure if they still have it or not) this segment on friday nights where they play songs by request and they sometimes add in a little story that has to do with why the person requested the song. Anyway. Being a young girl that I was, I was not impervious to the boy band fever, so at the time, I wanted to listen to *NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye." (My favourite, by the way, is JC and not Justin. *wink*) Lol, so I wrote in, pretending I was somebody else, requesting that they play this song because I wanted to break up with my boyfriend, "Josh." Hahaha and they played it! I remember the radio host was all like, "Good luck to you guys..." before he played the song. It was super hilarious, I was jumping around in my room.
Years passed and a lot of the radio hosts that I used to listen to and grown familiar with their voices have apparently left... It's kind of sad. But with memories like these, it doesn't seem so sad afterall...
