Taking Risks

This past Friday I ventured out and participated in a vocal competition. It had been YEARS since I competed and I had the opportunity before me and decided that I would go for it. Why not? It was sponsored by the Priddis Music Company and the title of the event was "Utah Top Talent Singing Competition". It was an all day affair with four different age groups and three rounds to be judged in. There were four judges with various backgrounds in music and they rated each contestant on things like vocal expression, vocal sound and quality, stage presence and entertainment value. The first round was 30 seconds of your song done a cappella and if you got a certain score you moved on to the next round. The second round was a 1 1/2minute cut of your song done with tracks. Again if you made a certain score you moved on to the third and final round done in front of an audience. I made it to the third round and was pretty stoked! I chose to sing Maybe This Time from Cabaret. It is a song I am comfortable with and the arrangement that I was doing was pretty jazzy and I felt it could be a crowd pleaser. Most of the contestants did pop songs so I wasn't sure if I would come out on top doing a musical theater piece. I did the same song for all three rounds, although you can change it up if you want to. I sat there watching the younger contestants perform, thoroughly enjoying myself. There is SO MUCH talent in Utah. I was amazed at the younger generation and their courage to get up and share their God given talents. I especially enjoyed the 10-12 age group they were so uninhibited and raw. They sang from their hearts and I was blown a way. By the third round we all sang the full length of our song with our track. After hearing all the aspiring "Carrie Underwoods", "Adeles" and "Katy Perrys", it was my turn. I felt really great but the nerves got to me a bit at the last of my song and I didn't have as much control as I would have liked to. I pulled it together for the last few notes and sat down in a daze wondering if it had sounded OK in that one section. Soon they were announcing the awards and I was proud inside because the people I had picked to win in each age group won! I didn't win in my age group so I thought it was over. I felt so grateful to have been there and so proud of all those who did so well....then the announcer said that there was an overall prize for a competitor that had gotten the highest score out of anyone in each of the three rounds...and...I WON!! I jumped up and sprinted in my platform shoes! I was so excited!! The official title on my trophy is: Utah Top Talent 2011 Overall Winner. I won a cash prize, 2 hours of studio time at The Castle Recording Studio, some vocal performance products and a cute little trophy that you see in the picture above! YAY! I plan on using the studio time to record a CD for my family for Christmas. They will love that. My family is so awesome and supportive. This past year I haven't been able to take vocal lessons so I have worked very hard with recordings of past lessons from my teacher Brodie Perry. Luckily I was able to take a lesson via Skype (since Brodie is down in St. George) before I competed. He reminded me of certain things I needed to do to improve my overall vocal performance. Thanks so much Brodie! The thing I am most proud of though is the fact that I got out of my comfort zone and did something risky at my age. I have been singing in the comfort of my own home for over a year and when I told Roger about the possibility of competing he said, "You should do it honey. What good is all that talent if you don't share it and push yourself to perform in public." That really struck a chord, I knew he was right. I needed to meet the judges, I needed to meet the other people competing. I have to get myself out there if I am going to be a vocal teacher and present my musical firesides to the youth. It was hard and I know my nerves got in the way at one point of the song, but the more I do this the more comfortable I will be. This is the start of something AWESOME!!! :)