Not so bad after all

The middle school I went to was called The Harbor School. In my music class we were assigned three people per group and had to pick a song to sing to the school. It was sort of like a talent show, the only difference was that we were being graded to do this and I really wanted an A.  I was partnered with two of my friends named Diamond and Natalie. We decided to pick the song Unfaithful by Rihanna, we all loved the melody and harmony in the song so we practiced the song together and figured out who should play the high note and who should play the low note. Natalie and I did not know the lyrics of the song as well as Diamond did so we decided that she should be the main lead in case we got lost in between. A few groups sang before us and when it was our turn to sing we came up and started the instrumental. As we began to sing the soundtrack stopped working, I am not sure what happened but the instrumental was gone, what a relief right!? wrong. I kind of found it quite embarrassing.

Before we had gone up stage it was exciting and nerve-racking all at the same time for me. I always had stage fright and I knew this was not going to be easy. However, I wanted this A. The school was pretty big which made it more frightening all I could think about was how many eyes would be on us and immediately started to break a sweat by the thought of it. Diamond and Natalie was full of confidence, they couldn't wait for our turn, which made me feel like a coward. My stomach felt the same way it feels when I'm on a rollercoaster. I was terrified. When we began singing I started to loosen up slowly and thought that this wasn't so bad, especially since my mom always told me to picture the audience in their underwear. However, as I started to get more comfortable the music stopped in the middle of the song. I was angry because I really wanted this to be good, I believed it was finally a chance to show my talent and not be afraid anymore. So experiencing this was kind of upsetting.

After the 5 minutes of awkwardness, I started to continue the song solo without the soundtrack playing and get my group and the audience to sing along. A minute later everyone in the auditorium sang with me and my music teacher ran to the piano and my other teacher grabbed a clarinet and they both played the rhythm while we sang and it really did sound beautiful. I believed I turned this bad situation into a good one because I stepped out of my comfort zone to finish the song and I had a chance to show my voice to everyone and I knew I sounded great because not only did we win but everyone kept complimenting me. I didn't know I had the guts to do such a brave thing, especially since I was the most scared one in the group. If the soundtrack never broke then we probably wouldn't have won and I wouldn't have gained a little more confidence n myself although I am still scared.



Alchemy

Substance that turns
lead into gold
metal into metal
something considered
magic?

It is more
then just chemistry...
It is reality
Its something you change
Ordinary to extraordinary
It is magic

Martin Luther King
once a young man
treated like trash
judged by the color of his skin
turned out to be the man
to change racism...

Abraham Lincoln
president of US during civil war
once a person like you and me
turned out to be the man to help end slavery
in this messed up, cruel world

A young girl
always skipping
sneaking out
joined a program
(Sociedad Latina),
that helps youth 
she turned her life around
changed her grades
thought about the future
currently so independent
hardworking and intelligent
it was me
I am an Alchemy