Student Bloggers

Currently Studying At: University of Melbourne, Australia

Homeschool: Belmont University

Picture this: black flare pants, a black sequin-y top, head adorned with a blue sparkly cowboy hat, prancing across a stage with similarly clad legends, and every movement met by the screams of a deliriously supportive crowd. Before you ask, no, this was not a description of some dream sequence I had--this actually happened. One night of apprehension, adrenaline, and just the slightest bit of insanity...and it became the most fun I've had on this trip so far.

To backtrack just a bit, I wasn't able to schedule any vocal lessons when I was making my class schedule for Melbourne, so upon arrival, I was actively searching for a way to keep up my performance chops. As soon as people from my residential college heard I was a singer, they told me I had to be part of Battle of the Bands, which would be auditioned for later. Apparently, this battle was fought between the bands of the ten residential colleges in September, and our college had won last year. The Battle was enthusiastically mentioned by so many people that I figured I needed to at least audition for this thing. What did I have to lose anyway?

The audition rolled around, and I chose my favorite Amy Winehouse song. I decided to accompany myself on piano as well, even though I'm still gaining confidence playing other songs than my own on piano. But again, what did I have to lose!

Despite some rushing in the piano rhythm, I made it into the band, and I got even more excited when I heard our setlist: a Stevie Wonder mashup, J-Lo's "Let's Get Loud," a snippet of "Old Town Road," "Drops of Jupiter" by Train, and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Needless to say, I had a really good feeling already.

Just a side-note, I was also rather excited to get into this group, because being onstage has always helped me get to know people better. Just dropping yourself across the world is not as easy as it may sound, and anything familiar provides support like a notch in a rock-climbing wall. It sounds silly, but I feel more myself when I'm singing and playing music with others. Music is so uniting that no amount of accent or cultural difference can stand in the way of creating genuine relationships. Being in this band, I knew I'd be finding more of "my people."

Once rehearsals began, we had about a month and a half to prepare our fifteen-minute set for the big night. The band was made up of guitar, piano, bass, drums, violin, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and three vocalists. It was a full setup, and with so many people, it could have easily been a strenuous rehearsal process. But even with busy schedules, we were able to get everyone on the same page with plenty of time to polish the set, and as I'd hoped, I had a place where I felt at home and supported by new friends.

The big day of the performance arrived--nerves and excitement were both very high for all of us. Soundcheck went exceedingly well, and after donning our flashy costumes, we went to dinner before our call time. However, while scarfing dumplings, we get a call that another band is doing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" which is baffling because we all had to send in our song choices a month in advance to prevent this issue. I was livid at first because that was the song I sang lead on, but there was nothing we could do. We couldn't let this mishap get to us. This was just another lesson in rolling with the punches.

When we finally got onstage, we were greeted with a wave of screams and cheers from our friends from University College. It seemed like everyone had turned up, and to see so many beautifully familiar faces was exhilarating. The set felt phenomenal--I was so proud of the people I was performing with. Indescribable--an absolute dream. I expounded so much energy I almost fainted backstage!

We ended up getting third place, which we all felt was a bit unjust, but very rarely does a competition reflect the heart of the performance. Truly, we had achieved so much more. We had become like one entity; we knew our set so well, there was hardly any thinking involved. I was able to enjoy one of the purest moments of fun I've ever had--and I owe it all to this band.