A Musical Extravaganza!

Today has been one of those awesome fun-filled college days. Social Science students were bubbling with excitement because today we had our Western Solo and Group Singing Competition. It wasn’t just a Co-curricular competition. Based on today’s performance, students were going to get selected to perform at the Convocation AND would get a chance to go out of station to take part in the Youth Fest! Everybody was busy practicing and singing and yodeling in classes and the corridors. Well, as always we hadn’t practiced our song beforehand. In fact, we hadn’t even decided which song we were going to sing. So, the best part was, that we bunked two classes and went to a friend’s (Smriti) place to practice. We decided to sing “Sway” by The Pussycat Dolls. Out came her majestic synthesizer and we started singing. It was so much fun, singing, practicing, harmonizing, our voices blending together and forming this beautiful symphony. We would also start singing other songs just because we were enjoying singing them so much! Well, at first I decided I won’t take part in the solo contest. But then I was like, what the hell, let’s give it a shot. So I practiced a bit of “Way Back Into Love” from the movie ‘Music and Lyrics’.
We went to college, late for our next class. :P
When the competition started, we were one of the first groups to perform, and surprisingly, we sang much better than we had expected to sing! It was a great feeling, to stand there, singing, accompanied by the soft acoustic guitar being played by one of my friends (Samrath) tapping your feet, snapping your fingers along with the beat.
When the solo part commenced, I started getting all jittery. I knew most of the singers there were brilliant and I knew I didn’t stand a chance against them. As I saw the students, going on to the stage one by one and performing, I was startled and also happy to know that we’ve got such talent in our college. I mean some of them sang just amazingly well man. I completely enjoyed it, sitting there, listening to their songs, feeling them, singing along and then clapping and cheering. But as my turn approached, I was all nerves. I almost chickened out, but my friends asked me not to do so and go and give it my best try.
Then I realized, to think of winning the competition or getting selected for the fest was a long-shot. No, I did not want to take part in it for anybody; I had to do it for myself. I had to get rid of my stage-fright. I knew I had to go there and sing as well as I could. And that’s what I did. I didn’t even look at the audience (because that makes me nervous). I just looked straight ahead and after singing a line or two, I got this comfortable feeling. I didn’t do a bad job, really. And the best part was that I didn’t goof up and it helped me shed some of my inhibitions to some extent. It felt good when my friends told me I sang well. :=)
The results will be announced tomorrow. I don’t even care who wins. I’m happy that I did not back out. I would have seriously regretted it. After everything got over we went outside and the weather was amazing. It was cloudy, windy, chilly and it was drizzling. We are to give an Official Freshers party to our juniors on the 21st and we started to think of more songs that we could sing that day. It was so much fun, standing there, singing songs on the top of our lungs, and talking and laughing. The whole atmosphere had this musical ring to it which just rejuvenated my soul. And even on our way back home, on my Scooty, we kept singing songs without a care in the world.
Truly, what would life be without music? Without all these wonderful songs and musical instruments and tunes and lyrics and surs? This thought immediately reminded me of a song by Abba: Thank You For The Music.
It goes like this:

“Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing
Thanks for all the joy they're bringing
Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty?
What would life be?
Without a song or a dance what are we?
So I say thank you for the music
For giving it to me.”

I completely love music. <3 Music is life. Music transports you into another world. Music stays with you forever. Music enriches your spirit. Music makes you happy. There are SO many amazing singers and players in the world. There is so much more music to be explored and heard and appreciated and enjoyed. I came across this quote once somewhere: “Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.”
I honestly have this unexplainable admiration and respect for people who can sing well.. They make the world a brighter place to live in! Kudos to all the great singers and musicians worldwide! :D