Thursday, May 17, 2012

Better Than Taylor Swift - First Public Performance

Today was an amazing day in my life. I will NEVER forget it. Today, Princess number five did her first public performance and I was in AWE!

She asked me to take her sisters guitar over after school so she could try out for the talent show. She had decided to perform the song she wrote a few months ago. I was a bit nervous for her since she has never played in front of anyone but a few friends and our family.

I went home and grabbed the guitar, case and pick. I asked her sisters if they wanted to go and see her try out and act like groupies while she played. We all piled into the car and as I climbed in, I thought, "I should grab the camera." Well, I will regret not following that though for a long time. I may never get over it.

We sat down, she pulled out the guitar, walked up on stage in front of three teachers and a room full of her peers. She started, and the room was silent. She looked up, smiled, sang, played the song flawlessly, didn't look like she was nervous at all. Her voice didn't shake as mine does when I an nervous. She acted like she had been getting up on stage and playing the guitar and singing her entire life! Her sister and I just couldn't get over it. The entire room clapped and hooted after she finished her song.


She walked off the stage like it was no big deal, put her guitar away and went to sit with a few friends while we politely sat through some not so wonderful singing. During the next song, not one teacher was watching, they were talking with kids or walked out etc. The audience was visiting. It wasn't until that moment, watching Princess number 5 today, that I realized how amazing she is as a person and not just my daughter.

Her sisters and I just couldn't get over her confidence and poise on stage. She didn't look down at her hands, she sang her song out loud. It was the song she wrote. I haven't heard her play it in weeks. I don't know the last time she practiced. She has a bit of a cold but you wouldn't know it.

Even if she never got up again, I was so proud of her today. Most people would keep fear from letting them get up in front of peers and sing a song they wrote worrying that someone would make fun or something. IT would be especially hard because that song comes from her heart. Here is a link to the song post if you missed it.

I had been thinking about buying Princess number five her own guitar for some time. I looked at some second hand stores and some music stores and the second hand one's were so abused and the music store one's were expensive so I prayed and for a few weeks, there has been one posted on a yard sale listing with a distant picture with no information on brand, size etc.

Yesterday, I contacted the person through email and they gave me their address so I could look at it today. Little did I know what Princess five would do before I even went to look. I had planned on waiting until her birthday to give her the guitar not sure I would even find one or buy one. However, after her AMAZING performance today, I KNEW I had to find her a guitar to call her own that was a bit nicer than the few we own.

After her choir concert tonight, I took her over to look at the guitar. It was being sold by a boy younger than my princess. I thought that was funny. She LOVED the guitar. He made more than he bought it for and I probably paid a bit more than it was worth but it came with a back pack case, picks, strap and a few books.

When we arrived home, she couldn't wait to show her sister her guitar. (Click here to view that video)Now I won't have a birthday gift but I thought her first concert song should be on her own guitar and she would need to practice now having a new guitar so I am looking forward to the talent show to see Princess five play HER song on HER guitar.

Maybe she will never go anywhere, but, for a 12 year old to write and then perform her own song in front of a building full of middle school kids who are so critical and afraid of anyone being different, she is amazing to me!

We made her play a song for us tonight.(Click here to watch that.) She did a verse of "The Call" by Regina Spector just so I could show you her playing her new guitar. If you missed the post I wrote about that song, click here to see that.

Where ever you may see her in the future, just know that you saw her first on this blog! Go Princess number five, take on the world! 

I have been waiting for over an hour for the video to upload. It won't. Same story, different day. I will try uploading it to Youtube while I journal and see if I can get the video up.

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