That was the most stressful thing I've ever done.

[Arseface]

I came to school at 10am, and didn't leave until 10 pm. What is wrong with me? I'll tell you: my VCE school assessment for music was on today. every year, at this time, we put on a big show for all the parents where everyone who plays gets assessed and if they fail, they wont pass music. This is a big deal for me because I love music, and so does my family. If I fail, my family stops feeding me.

The first 8 or so hours were awesome. I set up the stage and pa and everything and then just played guitar for the rest. When people started arriving for the concert and I was shooed off stage I started crapping my pants with nerves.

Then, I make the stupidest error when it comes time to perform. I was the first solo presentation to go, and the first thing that happened (and you know the rest of your night is going to go down the drain when this happens) was that I tripped on the stairs going to the stage, and everyone sees this and laughs. But thats ok, I can bounce back. I set everything up, introduce my piece, tell them to play my backing track, I start playing. Nothing comes out! I forgot to turn my god damned amp on. Yes, I may be retarded. Thank god the rest of my solo pieces were smooth sailing.
Then my group pieces come around. I play with this other guitarist and let's just say that I'm marginally better than him. We're playing, it's all going good. We get to our second piece, and I'm thinking I might just get through this. I get to my solo, and he plays the wrong chord about a third into it, and this completely stuffs me up. I stop and just throw my pick at him. This goes well down with the audience, but I'll get shat on by my assessor tomorrow. Then I say, "Alright, from the solo." We start, and about halfway through my solo MY AMP CUTS OUT! So I just said f*ck it and walked off.

The rest of the night was mildly entertaining, however.

/rant

PS. I've been carring heavy things for twelve hours. My ankles are ready to snap. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed. I'll reply tomorrow.

[moonfever]

OMG, that's horrible. Sounds almost like Murphys' law. I hope today is a much better day. To bad, you couldn't get a new amp, to go with your guitar. I think you could have done much better, if the person you were playing with, hadn't skipped those few chords, or messed up. You had already fallen down, before you went on. I just hope the teacher gives you A for effort. There's nothing harder than performing for people. I always did much better alone.

[projectego]

Oh, crap. Sorry to hear that, AF! Wish there was something I could do to help.

[Joey.nsz]

Ouch that pretty much sux But all that matters is the music, as long as you play yours with love and passion ^^ then all is well.

Let's just hope you survive your assessor

[Arseface]

Yeah, I don't think they're going to mark me too harshly. I'm just glad it's all over! Oh and I forgot to mention, when I realised my amp was turned off I said sh*t loud enough so that everyone in the room heard it. After we were told explicitly not to swear on stage.

But everything is going to be good. My teacher said I passed just because I got up and performed, but he would mark me to get a grade. I don't really care if I pass with an E (I don't think I will, fingers crossed) I'm just glad I passed.

[Tsuyu]

Originally Posted by Arseface

After we were told explicitly not to swear on stage.

How can they expect you to rock out without using the appropriate language? Insanity!

[TRA Rotid]

Sounds like taken from a movie, too bad it turned out this way.

Originally Posted by moonfever

There's nothing harder than performing for people

Yeah, I agree.

[Miekkas]

Wow, it sounds horrible what happened to you AF. I'm sorry you had to go through that

[FableFreak]

That sucks. I know the feeling though, it's like when I'm hunting with a different guide and I'm always freaking out because if I take a shot that doesn't kill the animal flat-out then we have to track it for hours (we spent 7 hours tracking a single hog once). Or you have to take a sloppy second shot, which could ruin the trophy or meat on the animal.

[Angel]

Things always seem to go wrong in an assessed performance. I remember when all my foldback cut out as well as the drummer's clicktrack (which caused him no end of trouble) and I could hear nothing on stage from the band or my own voice whatsoever. I had no idea if we had started, finished or were somewhere in the middle but there were about 5000 people watching me, plus record producers, and I had to wing it...plus couldn't swear as I was representing a Christian label

[TRA Rotid]

Wow, Angel, 5,000 people. You`re a rockstar, or even a rocksuperstar. I feel so honored to be here.

[Angel]

Hardly - I was doing a small festival (like, 2 songs max) along with many other bands trying to get record deals and the producers thought it would be endlessly amusing to assess and critique our performances in front of everyone who attended the festival. And we weren't allowed to do our own material so were stuck with a choice of The Corrs or The Cardigans covers...

The festival was part of a Christian outreach programme which happened every year in Bristol and people just came along coz it was free

[TRA Rotid]

Originally Posted by Angel

The Corrs or The Cardigans covers...

I feel your pain, I do!

I`d like to do a band, as a singer. I can`t play any instruments. But doubt if I could managed in front of people (or even one person)

[Angel]

It's actually easier in front of loads of people rather than a few - makes it less personal that way and you can tell yourself that A), you can't recognise anyone in the sea of faces and B) if it all goes wrong you'll probably never have to see any of them again

Back home I was singing in front of between 500-700 people each sunday at church so I've had about 12 years of it, more or less...still get nervous though which annoys me so much.

Arseface, I'm not familiar with Australian...well....anyt hing...but what will this VCE lead to eventually? Would you be going on to study music in further education?