Music School Concert

Had a concert today...no lah, not my concert lah! Music school had a concert today and since I am a student and so are my two kids, we spent the whole Sunday preparing for and performing. My two kids played the piano. They asked me to play the piano as my performance and my answer was....YOU CRAZY AH???? Hey, I am not prepared lah, ok? I perform but never in my life have I ever performed piano on stage before. True, the stage is my second home but if you give me a screwdriver and ask me to build an ark on stage....cannot do lah, rite? The only way I can be confident on stage is when you give me, not a screwdriver, but a microphone. So, that was it. My kids played the piano and I sang. Now, with this experience, I've come to realize that it's not easy trying to organize something like this. Brothers and sisters, we're talking about 90++++++++ kids and huge musical instruments like a grand piano and other keyboards and stuff. 2 is enough to drive me crazy. Imagine being huddled backstage with itchy backsides. Because the people at the music school are my good friends, I've to help out a little behind there. My performance was toward the end and it helped (or not). Aiyo, man!!!!!! It was hell during rehearsal because the kids were everywhere. When we call their names, one is in the toilet, another is replacing her guitar string and another forget her violin! None of them could stay still behind stage for very long. Needless to say, my kids were the same. Thankfully, Jared got to go first...him being the itchiest one of all. We spent 10am till 2.30pm rehearsing because we needed to iron out the sound system issues. Bloody stupid private college got lousy sound system people, you see. Anyway, the rehearsal was damn bloody long and then after that, we got like a couple of hours to shower, dress up, put makeup and drive back to the venue. Luckily, I stay close....but was still late. Jared, like me, is quite unafraid of the stage. He is quite upfront about that. When he got on stage, the lights were out and everything was dark and then suddenly, the lights came on and he was blinded! The people started laughing because he screwed up his nose and squinted at the crowd like...."I have to do this because of you and the lights are blinding me! And what the hell are you laughing at, you baffooons!" Throughout his performance, he squinted at the lights and he kept looking away and backwards and the audiences laughed at his obviously candid antics. After the performance, he was the first to collect his books (quick to get out of the angry rays of the spotlight) and stood at the pre-drawn line in front of the stage where they were to bow to the audience. His partner, a sweet little 4 year old girl, was a little slower. He showed his disdain at her...drawing another round of laughter. Poor girl. Joshua was serious all the way. He asked me a lot of times that he was scared. In fact, backstage while everyone was furiously chatting away with their friends or hiding their friends' sheets and notes or violins, Joshua was practising his songs using his imagination! Well, he spent some time pretending he was a dinosaur too but that's beside the point. Joshua is one serious fella. He went on stage and performed with all his might and when he got off, he was the first to bow, first to exit and the first thing he asked me was "Did I go good, mom? I was good, right?" OF COURSE, YOU WERE GOOD, honey!!!! Perfect-o! For me, I didn't have much time to think of anything else because my crew, the people who were going to play the song while I sing, were pre-teen boys and girls armed with violins and onne nervous pianist. Throughout, I've had to threaten the violin-yielding boys that I would get their mothers backstage because they hid another violinist's notes. All I had to say was "Why? You like her is it? That's why you're teasing her!" and the Korean boy and the American-Malaysian boy ran for their lives, retrieved the notes and returned it to the poor girl. Eeee---yyyerrrrr...... The backstage was tight....as with all backstages....ugly scenes back there. I have to run across from one side of the stage to another a lot of times. And the boys would all be blocking their ways with their instruments all the time. "Give me one million dollars". I shove them aside proclaiming, "I get home and draw it for you". I don't know what kind of message I send out but these boys think that they can play with me....maybe it's because I am playful as well. Hee hee hee.....I tickle them, I admit, to get them to let me through. While these kids were playful backstage, when we were on stage to perform, the pianist, despite her nervousness, was perfect. Those boys who blocked my way....were pitch perfect on their violins. The girl with her notes hidden....absolutely immaculate. In the end, although very tiring, it was a satisfying experience. I think, most of us, had the time of our lives.