About 7 years ago I had the opportunity to participate in a regional singing contest in my city called "Quiero cantar" (I want to sing), in which, like all musical contests, there were auditions where about 200 people attended. I was excited because there had never been a contest so well organized and of course I was encouraged to participate. The day of the audition I arrived at the stipulated time, I got in the line of people and waited for several hours to audition, however, the wait was not so bad because I was talking and even singing for a while with several musicians who were waiting like me.
After this, I was even closer to my turn and even though I had my musical piece well prepared, I was very nervous. They called my name and I finally entered the audition place, they asked my age and immediately invited me to sing. The song I sang was "Como la flor" by the great Selena Quintanilla and I immediately felt that the jurors connected with the piece because I could tell they were enjoying it. When I finished singing they told me that they really liked my voice, but that they had been waiting for me to move a little more, just like Selena did in her big concerts.
At that moment I told them that I had not done it because I was a little nervous but that I was going to work a lot on my stage control to be more comfortable and move without any problem, to which they replied that I was fine, and that I had won a golden pass, which meant a direct pass to the contest. I went out happy and excited to tell my family and it wasn't until five days later that we started attending the academy to start preparing our repertoire for the presentation.
During the meetings with the instructors we saw several basic music and vocal technique classes since the program was totally focused on working on the piece of music that each participant would choose. In my case I wanted to venture with the same song with which I auditioned to improve it and also to make a tribute to one of my favorite singers "Selena Quintanilla", therefore, during those days of preparation I studied it much more to make a quality show not only in the vocal part but at the stage level.
The day of the concert arrived and we were all very excited, we were summoned four hours before the show to help with some stage details, therefore, I had to take all the costumes, accessories, makeup and even food so I wouldn't go hungry. Luckily I had a partner named Luigi who months before the show had done some work on my hair and was willing to do my hair free of charge for this very special event for me.
It is worth mentioning that for my presentation I convinced a group of students and my brother to accompany me on stage as my "musicians", just as it happened with Selena and the dinos, so we rehearsed several times to be in sync and make the show a unique presentation. The fun part of this is that my "musicians" didn't have to actually play, they just had to pretend they were playing and focus on the choreography and make the audience enjoy their energy. After sound check, dressing up and being groomed by luigi, the concert started and the only thing left to do was to wait for our name to be called. It was our turn and with a lot of emotion we made almost the whole auditorium dance, since these Selena's classics sound a lot in Latin America.
My wardrobe was inspired by Selena, I wore high rise pants, a black and gold sequined top made by my boyfriend's mom, high golden sandals, my hair with a balayage style and finally with a subtle makeup. On stage my voice was the only thing that really sounded live and direct, being my students the ones in charge of helping me to double the following instruments: keyboard, electric guitar, bass, drums and backing vocals, making it look like a totally live show.
I hope that after the confinement more events of this type can be held to help promote regional and national artists, or to create innovative programs that currently allow virtual participation. I hope you liked this little anecdote as much as I did and I will see you in the next opportunity❤️.
The photo and video were taken by the event producer "Quiero cantar"
If you liked it, leave me your opinion in the comments
The images and the text separator were made by me in canva
Translator: @Deepl