More than what I thought it was!!

             After my P.U.C I joined Jyoti Nivas Autonomous College. I had to audition for choir once more and I made it through.I was also chosen as a member of the college acapella team. Ashrita ,(from my first year P.U.C team) also joined this college after her P.U.C to study her degree.She is now going to finish her second year degree. She along with a third year student Nethmi was already part of the previous year s degree acapella team.Suzanna too joined Jyoti Nivas Autonomous College and like me also got selected to be part of the team.Along with us ,Betty,Monica( both of them second years) and Smirti a third year student got selected.

From top to bottom - Betty,Monica, Smirti ,Suzanna,I , Nethmi and Ashrita

              When I joined the degree course ,I realized that acapella was not as simple as I thought it was. Competition here is in a whole new level, harmony is not enough. As an all girl team we have a lot of disadvantages , we lack a good base singer, as girls can not sing as low as boys and we lack a good beat boxer ( well I should not be complaining as Ashrita, who is now our beat boxer is improving everyday, she is better than most of the other team beat boxers ). Other teams had boys as well as girls and hence found it easier to make songs turned acapella sound perfect.
                During our first semester only gospel fest were held ( with the exception of 'Autumn Muse' the St. Johns Medical College cultural fest) As our harmony is good and as that is all that is required for a  gospel acapella competition ,we secured the first place. In 'Autumn Muse' we secured the second place. We were wonder struck by the St. Johns acapella team, who had won the competition. They sounded perfect, they sounding like a recording   taken place in a studio. We then realized that we needed to pull our socks up and improve.

Our Team (2010-2011) - Autumn Muse 2010

                   The 19th Glorious Festival of Harmony went on well. We did a good job as we were conducted by Ms. Salome Rao. The first semester ended after our various Christmas choir performances .I had a wonderful time during of of these performances.We sang a lot of carols acapella.

College Choir at the 19th Glorious Festival of Harmony 

                     2nd semester was a semester of non stop cultural fest. I cannot count the number of fest we took part in. We did not secure the first place in any of the fest as we had a lot more competition. Every engineering, medical college across Bangalore and sometimes even across India took part. The talent amazed us and at every fest we learnt more. We only managed to secure the second or the third place at a few fest .
                       We learnt that we have good harmony, but a lot of other things like the choice of song and stage presence were things that we really needed to work on. We also realized that it important to compose an original acapella.
                        I cannot wait to begin practice next semester!

Acapella and Nothing Else!!

        Music took a whole new level in my second year.Ms. Salome Rao who had passed out of our degree college was appointed as the choir conductor of both the degree as well as the P.U.C.She combined both colleges and formed one choir after taking auditions.

Choir-2009

         From choir ,eight people from P.U.C were chosen  to represent our college in various P.U.C level college fest. Suzanna ,Aswathi,Aditi and I who were part of the previous years team got selected along with four other freshers, Nupur,Cherit,Trishna and Treasa.

Team-2009

         The year started off with our choir performance at the' 18th Glorious Festival of Harmony '. We gave an excellent performance .We worked for nearly two months to get the songs together.One of the songs that we performed was called ' friend of mine'.It was sung acapella by the entire choir which comprised of sixty or so members.You can imagine the amount of time and work that was put into this performance.
           After our performance at 'The Festival of Harmony ' , the inter college fest began.We secured the first place at 'Exodus'. We sang a  hymn that had 6 parts.Ms Salome helped us put together an acapella medley that we performed at 'Equinox'.We practiced everyday ,faithfully ,for about a month and we put in a lot of work.We sang in six parts and added beat boxing in certain areas.We practiced stage presence and danced uniformly while we sang. We secured the first place at 'Equinox'and at all the other fest that followed. I am proud to say that our team was unbeatable. We prayed before every performance and enjoyed ourselves on stage.

Team-2009

Acapella or acoustic music ? what are we singing ?

      After I had completed my tenth grade in school I joined Jyoti Nivas Pre University College.Music in college was given great importance.In my first year I tried out for the college choir .As we did not have  a choir conductor at the time ,one of our lecturers took the auditions. I got selected . During the audition I had mentioned that  I could play the piano, so I was called to play for a function held in college.I was too scared to go there myself so I took two of my friends Aditi and Aswathi along with me . At our first practice session I met Ashrita ,Jenit and Babita . These girls were my seniors ,they were studying their second P.U.C and were part of the previous years Western Acoustic team. The next day two other freshers Suzanna and Jessica were made to join us, both of them could play the guitar.I still look back and wonder how all of us formed a team !

From left to right: Aswathi , Jenit,me , Aditi ,Jessica, Suzanna and Babita
Team  2008 -09

        The function that we had to sing for was called ' The International Conference ' .P.U.C as well as the degree students took part in this function.It was during one of the rehearsals that we heard the degree team perform,we were mesmerized by their voices .I had never heard voices blend so beautifully before. They sounded better that the original song and they used no instruments!
          Later that year we took part in the gospel fest 'Exodus' which is held every year in the month of September at St.Joseph College of Arts and Science and is open to P.U.C as well as degree students .We learnt a few hymns in two part harmony and Suzanna played the guitar.Ashrita who is actually an Indian music singer forced us to take part in vernacular music, as our college did  not have an Indian music team . We went on stage twice.The first time to sing vernacular music and the second time to sing western music.I  do not know what we sang for vernacular music but i do know that most of my singing was an act .I made a complete fool of myself but still had the time of my life.As the competition for vernacular music was close to nothing , we secured the first place. I still remember how much we laughed about winning a trophy that we did not deserve .The competition for western music on the other hand was worse than we could have ever imagined, it was really tough. Our team was nothing in comparison to the other teams . Our degree team secured the first place.They sounded beautiful , their harmony was perfect.

Jenit, I ,Aditi and Babita 

              It was only after this fest that we realized that we really needed to work hard. We started listening to acapella groups and tried to pick up something from them . We then got ready for largest Pre University fest  'Equinox'. This fest was hosted by St. Josephs Pre University College. The day before this fest we got to know  Ms. Salome Rao who is our present choir conductor. She was studying her third year B.com at the time . She listened to us sing and gave us her suggestions. She was surprised, as we, according to her had improved a lot.
We sang a five part harmony version of ' can't hurry love ' and secured the second place.
                We were  placed either first or second at the fest that followed . Every fest for us was an experience we learnt so much from.

All of us 

How it all began

     Music is and has always been a part of me . It is something that I cannot live without. All my life I have been singing. I do not think that I could have  spent even a day without music,my life revolves around music.When I was young my mother sent me for piano lessons and that broadened my interest in music.

The piano and I 

     In school I was really lucky to study with a batch of girls who loved music too. As I studied in a catholic institution, our day began with an assembly.During this assembly we would have a prayer service and we would conclude the prayer service by singing a hymn.The singing of the hymn was always accompanied by a pianist.Only girls from the 9th and 10th grade were allowed to play.When I reached the 9th grade I started playing the piano for the morning assemblies , this taught me so much. Initially when I began to play I was so nervous I would practice so much for that one hymn, my fingers would tremble while I played. The feeling that I used to have after performing is a feeling that I will never forget, it was a feeling of  complete satisfaction and achievement.I started to gain confidence and with this confidence I began to explore the various ways by which I could play a song.  My classmates were very supportive, they would sing with me while I used to practice .

My classmates and I surrounding the piano

      In the 10th grade a friend of mine( who could also play the piano ) and I along with a few other friends who could sing  formed a group and we used to sing whenever we were free. We discovered that we could sing one song in various voices (parts ) and make it sound whole.During our free time we would sing a song in various parts , every time we sang we would discover something new. We found  that a term could be used to describe the kind of music that we were singing and that was "acapella"
     Towards the middle of our academic year we were invited to take part in an acapella competition in Baldwin girl's School. We were all so excited .We practiced ' lean on me ' and we figured out the parts ourselves as we had no one to teach us. It was our first competition, we said a prayer before we went on stage and then we performed .All that I can remember of that performance is that we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We took part with the intention of having fun. Not only did we have a great time, we also secured the second place.This is one  performance that  I will never forget.Later that year we took part in another school fest called 'Expressions' which was hosted by Frank Antony Public School. Here we secured the third place .
       It was not about winning but about taking part and at the same time enjoying what we were doing.Singing with my friends in school was a pleasure that I will never forget .