Consecutive Concerts

Two weeks ago, I travelled to Chennai to participate in a competition where one was required to perform songs composed by Oothukadu Venkata Kavi. I played the same songs as my last performance. For more information about that experience, please take a look at my previous post.

After my last experience, I was not as worked up as I was before so I ended up calm for the three hours I had to wait before getting on stage. During this time, I managed to squeeze in a practice session with my guru Chitraveena Ganesh who helped me work on the songs which I was to play very soon.

When they called my name, I could not perform immediately due to the difficulties with setting the instrument up so someone played on stage while I awkwardly walked behind him with a handful of wires and mike stomping about the stage during his performance. I hoped that this would break his concentration leading to my victory! When I finally finished, I had to come on stage to start my song.

I gave them a choice of two songs and thankfully they chose the one I was more proficient in. When I sat down, I found out that my instrument was not tuned. I spent the next five minutes awkwardly tuning my instrument while the judges were yawning out of boredom. However, this soon as changed as I started to play. I wish I could have seen the look on the judges face when I started but I was too engrossed in my music. I had to hit every note with precision or the first prize would be lost due to a something as simple as a slip of hand. Suddenly, my mike fell down on my speaker and posed as a massive distraction which could hamper my ability to play well. My mother then walked up to the stage while I was performing and fixed the mike. I found this quite embarrassing but it was not as bad as traveling all the way to Chennai and not winning.

I also missed a few notes during the performance but the judges forgave me because they were too enthralled to notice the mistakes. This is one of the advantages of playing  a rare instrument like the Chitraveena.

If we fast forward to the prize ceremony, I was scared that I would not win a prize but I came through and managed to win first place! I was truly surprised and was ecstatic when I received my gold medal and certificate. I really hope this will be a foundation for a long and glorious music career. I feel I performed better then I did last time due to the lack of other performers and the enhanced and more vigorous practice sessions I went through. I look forward to my next performance and will do whatever it takes to get it perfect.