Rockfest Rundown

This is a quick rundown on our AMAZING weekend. I will do a proper post later with photos and video clips!

Our show was AMAZING!! Did I say that already?

The adults (me, hubs and my closest friends who all also teach music) loaded into the venue at 10a. We paid $15 000 to hire the auditorium in a major venue, including the floor staff, lighting crew and sound crew.

We spent the first few hours loading in all the gear:

2x drum kits
3 x massive back line amps
1 x bass rig
4 x wireless guitar packs
15 x guitars


and all the extra bits and pieces!

The students arrived at 12pm. I met them at the door of the venue and their parents signed them over to me (30 excited kids, 6 -17, no pressure!) we all had our matching shirts on. It was so exciting! Our shirts with the show name and logo and all the names on the back was a GREAT idea! It was great for security, so we all knew the people in shirts were with us, and great for morale!

Once all the students were there we gave them tours of the dressing rooms and backstage area and did a sound check  run through of most of the songs.

Again, the cliche of "a bad rehearsal means a good show" came true! After the run through we were SO SCARED! The harmonies in Bohemian Rhapsody were SO BAD. I cannot even convey to you the badness. I wondered if it was too late to axe the song. Hubs suggested ditching the harmonies and singing is straight up. The students were adamant they could get it, so we let them.

Doors opened at 6.30 and I gave all the children the first call. My job was the backstage performer-wrangler. I had to get kids in costumes and up to the stage door on time. Let me tell you this - skinny teenage rock star boys have no concept of modesty. I saw waaaay too much skinny rockstar flesh (and underwear)!

The show started right on 7pm with a video display on a massive screen, with photos and the name of every performer flashing across the screen. It played to Joan Jett's Bad Reputation. It was MASSIVE. We could hear the audience screaming and cheering from downstairs in the Green Room. We had a direct feed from the video camera into the dressing rooms and green room (again, a surprise to the children) so they could watch the show. They were super excited when it all began.

The show went off without a hitch. Seriously. It was wonderful. Bohemian Rhapsody? Brian May wants our version as his ring tone. This is War? Perfect. My Allstar Guitar boys? Rocked the House. Hubs was SO proud of our boys. They had all the big guitar solo parts and went right up to the tip of the ego ramp. The theatricality that such a big stage and venue brought out in these kids is AMAZING!

Learning an instrument is usually a solitary task. Just you, your piano/guitar/drum kit and the teacher. We fostered such a sense of camaraderie in these performers. They are all friends on Facebook and messaging each other. It is really ...AMAZING!

My highlights were:

• standing in the foyer of the venue meeting the students as they arrived, and seeing the bright eyes and smiling faces of each and every one. Their excitement was palpable.
• walking 30 hungry rockstars to McDonalds, all of us in matching T shirts and feeling SO PROUD to be a part of this group. They were so well behaved...mostly.
• seeing two sweaty 17 year old rival drummers hug as they came off stage after playing in a drum due battle.
• In the encore song (You're the Voice), played by the teachers, when all the performers came on stage to sing with them. I peeked out into the audience and the whole crowd was on their feet! There was not a dry eye in the house! OK, maybe just me...
• at the end of the night getting hugs and kisses from all the kids
• kids saying they will miss me - even though I have roused on them, hustled them, blown my whistle at them etc for months! As head Supervisor I was routinely the bad cop and did everything from chastity policing (13 year olds are not what they were when I was 13...), costume vetos, kicking friends out, rousing on late kids etc etc.
• Seeing the real bond and connection develop between these crazy kids, from different schools, towns, music teachers, lifestyles etc. Seeing them turn into real little rock bands!

I basically loved the whole thing.

I am already planning next year....

Concert Eve

It is the day before the big show. I am beside myself. I have big time anxiety pulsating through my body.

Let me be clear - I am not performing in this show. I am firmly planted backstage wrangling rockstarlets and keeping stage parents away from their progeny.

So why am I so nervous???

It is a huge undertaking. We have 30 children and have to manage them for 12 hours. The youngest is 6. Is she going to need a nap? Will she get scared / bored / tired / sick?

We are doing a full run through of the show with the sound and lighting crew.  How will the students cope in such a big auditorium?

We usually do the concert in a school auditorium. This year we have hired a full cabaret theatre. It cost
$15 000 to hire the room (with the sound and lighting crews) and we have been fundraising all year!

I guess I am so nervous because this is soon going to be out of my control. There is no amount of lists I can make, or systems I can create, or things I can organise.

Come 6pm tomorrow night most of this is out of my control. I can deliver the rock stars to the side of the stage, in costume and ready to rock. What they do once they set foot on the stage is up to them!

I am also nervous because this is my husband's business. He is an amazing guitar teacher and the kids adore him. Eventually he will teach full time and give up working in the guitar store. Maybe.

I want this to go so well for him! All our family and people from my work are coming.

Supporting him in this show is a huge part of my wife life. I have learned so much about guitars, music, lighting design, sound engineering etc. I am off early today to pick up the wireless guitar packs we have hired.

I love supporting my husband in his world. I am so proud of his skills as a musician and his passion to aps that onto as a teacher. I am so proud to be his wife.

Let's rock!

Four Sleeps to Go!

There are only four sleeps until our big concert! I am so excited. I am almost more excited than the children! I wish you all could come. If you live in Sydney email me and I'll give you the details!

My hubs and I both work full time, in addition to his music teaching business. Needless to say our weekends and evenings have been music dominated lately!

The show is a HUGE endeavour. It is my hubs and his students who combine with three of our friends who teach piano / keys, drums and singing. We have put all the little rock stars in to bands for the big concert. Our youngest rockstar is 6 and she is super cute.

The children are doing some AMAZING pieces, including Bohemian Rhapsody, This is War, Technical Difficulties and Welcome to the Black Parade. They play all the instruments and do the vocals (and the teachers help out in a couple of songs).

We have been rehearsing steadily every Friday night and all day Saturday, plus this weekend we had the dress rehearsal. It was an enormous weekend!

The Friday rehearsal went well. My job is to run the backstage machine; getting children in costumes and up to the stage in time for every song. I have a whistle that I threaten to blow when they miss their songs or are late into the rehearsal room, or they dawdle. I think the only time I actually blew the whistle was on Hubs when he spoke when he wasn't meant to! All the kids thought that was hilarious.

Anyway, Friday was good. The children remembered their lyrics, we made good time, most of the songs only got run one time. It was the first rehearsal with the huge Marshall stacks we hired and the children all adjusted well. I left on Friday feeling so great about the show!

The came Saturday.

Saturday made me pray for truth to the old cliche about a bad rehearsal meaning a good show. One boy was late as he had a football presentation. One girl had to leave early as she had a singing gig. One girl (big star and in loads of numbers) called in sick.

One song sounded absolutely horrible and the teachers could not work out why. Tanya had a melt down trying to sync the acoustic guitar and piano and work out what was going wrong.

In the middle of everything, Natalie, the co-coordinator of the show bought a house. Not sure why it happened on that day! She came late as they had inspected the property. They then made an offer. She and her husband darted in and out of rehearsals all afternoon to conduct the bidding war.

It was crazy!

The realtor finally confirmed that their offer was accepted, but only if they could sign contracts that day. WHO DOES THAT??? I, as lawyer in residence, gave therm stern advice AGAINST that idea. They did not listen and went back at about 5 pm to view the property again and sign the papers.

There was one moment when I looked around the studio and the only adults were me and my husband. Tanya was sorting out the acoustic guitar for one song and Natalie was buying a house. I freaked out! All of a sudden we were in charge of all those kids and I am, to be totally blunt, tone deaf.

Lucky for my husband! We had taken the key of a song, The Kill, down so the boy could sing it. Nobody told all the kids singing backing vocals. When they sang it was TERRIBLE! So bad even I could hear it! I tried to explain that they needed to adjust their key to match the new key the song was in....

Crickets.....

Six angelic blank faces looking at me with blinking eyes....

I raced in the house to get Tanya's sister (who is an amazing singer and vocal coach). She did not know the song at all, but she couldn't do worse than me, right??

I ended up racing over to the new house to read over the contracts before my crazy friends signed. We changed the settlement period from 5 to 6 weeks. Thank goodness there is a cooling off period! Things were SO CRAZY on Saturday I hope they can have a proper think about things and reflect!

I left On Saturday with every bone aching. My head pounded. I almost wished my husband had a regular job like being a dentist. Or a regular hobby like golf. Or that we had one of those marriages where I took no interest in what he did.

I have no idea if we ate dinner that night. I know I went to bed early in preparation for the dress rehearsal on Sunday. Hubs stayed up late restringing all the guitars.

The dress rehearsal was an epic day and I will post about that tomorrow!

Some Wife Life secrets

I saw this on Amber's site and had to have a turn. Some of the questions are fun and some are actually thought provoking!

1. I have.............. no make up on.
2. Maybe I should......... do some ironing.
3. I love.......... pasta.
4. People would say that I am........ an organizer. 
5. I don't understand............ why people hurt children.
6. When I wake up in the morning…....... I brush my teeth and get dressed to shoes.
7. I have lost........... my pandora bracelet : (
8. Life is full of..........  opportunities.
9. My past taught me........ that I can only control a certain amount of my world.
10. I get annoyed.......... when people don't listen.
11. Parties are............ an opportunity to cook!
12. I wish............. for a healthy family.
13. Dogs...... should live outside.
14. Cats...... are not my kind of people.
15. Tomorrow is......... fast approaching.
16. I have a low tolerance for............... prejudice.
17. If I won a million dollars..............I would take my parents to America to visit my sister.
18. I'm totally terrified of............... dying.
19. I've come to realize that my last kiss................ is just the beginning.
20. I am listening to............Hubs teaching guitar downstairs.
21. I talk................ a real lot.
22. My best friend................ constantly amazes me.
23. My first kiss.............. under a mulberry tree at my first wedding, when I was 5!
24. Love is................ equally sacrifice and reward.
25. Marriage is.............. what has made me a woman.
26. Somewhere, someone is thinking............. maybe I should start a blog.
27. I'll always........... love my critters.
28. The last time I really cried............... my husband dried my tears.
29. My cell phone is........... a Blackberry.
30. Before I go to bed..............I read.
31. Right now I am thinking about...................... what is for dinner?
32. Babies are........................ what makes it worthwhile.
33. Today I............. got a fantastic massage.
34. I really want to be.....................a mother 
35. Someone that will most likely re-post this is….................. a thinker. It made me think!

New Blog Design

Hip hip hooray! Look at my beautiful new blog!

I am so excited. It is exactly what I wanted. The Design Girl was so wonderful to work with (and she was Sending Love to Cohen!).

I have been offline until I got my new design. Every time I looked at my old blog lately I shuddered and resisted the urge to through the computer in the river. You know, when you decide to get something new, and the old thing is instantly horrible ?

I have so many things to blog about. I literally have dozens of posts saved up and about a zillion photos on the desk top to upload (not so much literally a zillion, but a lot.)

We are two weeks away from the student showcase and my life has become a blur of teenagers, angst, ear plugs and lighting charts! (Sure , I'll help with the lighting chart...... We should definitely have lights..... Spotlights? Sure! Flashing coloured fancy ones? Absolutely!)

Providence has smiled because I have a really light load at work at the moment. I was in the office for three whole days last week! Freaky, but perfect. There is no way I could be in court every day and spend this much time on the show.

Next weekend is the dress rehearsal and the week after is the show. Ohmigosh I think I am more nervous than the kids! Oh to have the inhibitions of a 14 year old again!

Hope you like the new design. It will make me much more inclined to blog now, knowing my words are going to such a beautiful home!