sang at holiday inn

Tonight was interesting.
As some of you know, I'm still looking for places to perform. Went to holiday inn to check it out during the day and heard they were looking for a female singer. So planned to go back there at night. But mum had her old classmate over for dinner with her family. Said she had 2 sons around my age. Wasn't at all interested but ended up giving in and stayed for dinner. Surprisingly it wasn't so bad. They actually talked and wasn't shy. Boys from the states. Now those kinda boys I like. Cool dudes =)
Even with the dinner and conversation, I made it a point of going back to meet the band. I got parents green flag and went. Luckily those boys wanted to follow which made things easier for me. I brought them to a couple of places and the band was nice. I have to remember not to speak in fluent english with my accent. I find that these ppl tend to struggle talking to me. They only felt comfortable talking to me after I added a few bahasa melayu or bahasa sarawak in my sentances =)
Anyways, they got me to sing 2 songs.... 'L-O-V-E' and 'girl from ipanema'. The girls wanted me to sing more but the thing was I wasn't paid so I didn't quite wanna do that although I did enjoy singing up there. Once I started singing, it was like the stage was mine. It was magnificent. The boys thought I was nervous but I was just thinking about performing. I felt like singing more. It was like part of me. Although I don't move as much as those singers, I enjoy and I don't fear performing anymore. I don't tremble like I use to on stage. I suppose I need to use more space for hand gestures. Improving bit by bit. I just can't wait to perform more. It's like a drug.
1st time parents didn't call me the whole night so it was a great night. It was Kevin's bday which made it fun as well I suppose although no bday cake. And Justin was cool too. Love those guys. Didn't think I'd enjoy their company but they were cool.
Next stop? Mojo? Jambu? Fling?
These are the few places which asked me to play. I just need confirmation dates from them. Hopefully soon. I really can't wait.
Jamming with full band on the 2nd next year.
More news soon =)

2nd performance

was in church and it was something I would have never done or never dared to do in a traditional church like mine.
Did a medley of 'He lives' and 'Our God Reigns' during the 1st section with deal accompanying me. We hardly practice. Only tried it out twice then on stage we just improvised all the way. Something new I did with hymn songs. But as usual I thought the rehearsal was SOOO much better then the actual performance.
2nd solo I did was 'Tiny hand in mine'. It's a xmas song about Mary singing to her baby. I was accompanied by the choir and sound track. Choir was quite soft and as usual I was looking too much at my piece since we also hardly rehearse on this piece. Only did it twice and I was sight reading. I need to work on my hand movement and eye contact. I suppose I need more practice as well so that I would remember the words. Need to work on that as well.
A few aunty came up saying if I have an album to give them one or let them know. That's not such a bad idea isn't it? =) But finding accompanist and musicians are always hard and it's hard to find someone committed to rehearse over and over again and record.
I'll put up 2 of the recording which dad did on youtube. It's not perfect and all and I know pitch is sorta the problem. I didn't warm up at all and it was really rushing the whole way.
The funny thing is. This time when I'm singing up there, I felt confident and I wasn't trembling as I always do before. I just sang and I felt the music as usual. I felt like I was lost in the music although I was looking at the words. I just need to fix other things about my singing. I've fixed my stage frightness, singing technique, mic holding but now have to work on hands and eye contact. Little by little baby.. little by little =)

1st xmas performance

1st ever live in Kuching and it was seriously scary. I had to put up all my courage and have a really thick skin before doing what I did. All I need to work on now is the lyrics and eye contact. I tend to get lost in the music and let my mind wonder off. I think it's lack of practice.
1st we performed for this Mr international 2007/08 for 15 minutes. It was a really sucky place. Keyboard was crap. And there wasn't any music stands or chairs. It wasn't too bad i should think. Although the keyboard started sounding crap and it transposed and stuff. But I think it wasn't too bad. A guy helped hold up my book and said my voice was lovely totally ignoring my pianist but the candidates for Mr International totally ignored me and asked my pianist if he was playing again. Pretty hilarious but that was it i suppose. A pretty crap performance but not too bad until you don't feel like performing anymore. By the way for your info, my pianist is Lionel Lam =D and yes, he's on my blog list so you can check out his blog version of the performance if he DOES write one.
After the cruise, we went to fling to check out the place. Actually I dunno why I went there also. I think it was more of coz the boss kept asking me to perform and sing there plus he kept inviting me there so me and Lionel went. Ended up eating, drinking there and also performing 2 songs. Dunno how that happened. The only problem was that i needed a mic. That's the only thing. Other then that it was soo much better then the Mr International thingy.
I'm happy and sorta satisfied. Can't wait till the next gig. I hope my performance was ok or rather good. I wonder what ppl really thought. I hope it was worth the dream and effort.