The insanely boring life…

School holiday has finally started, and I have loads of work for the holiday because I made it into the school’s famous one act play. The one that tours around the country… I am not an actor in it, though, but because of a good reason.

The reason I am not an actor is because I am having an operation on my face in June which is when the competitions become really rough. So, for me to have an operation then would be very bad. But I am exited about the operation, because that means I will finally be able to smile normally.

So, what am I doing in the one act play, you may ask. Simple: I am the Musical Director. Now, that title means the following: I have to write the entire musical score of the play and I have to put two poems into music and teach the kids all the songs (which I have to write). When I first heard exactly what I will be doing I almost got a heart attack. It is a daunting task to say the least. On the script are several indicators of when and what music should play. For instance, in the first few minutes I have to write (and I quote) “rape music” because the girl is being raped in that particular scene. That is just one example of the awkward music which I have to write.

The play is about 30 minutes long, so that is a lot of music to write.

I am worried because these plays are always national competitors and have won the national competitions on several occasions. The school spends up to R100 000 (about $12500) on these plays, so if my music flops, the entire performance will flop.

But it gets better: I have to perform the music live during every performance. I will actually be on the stage playing the music. Now if you don’t call that the epitome of stress, then I don’t know. This is probably the most stressful thing someone could ask me to do. But I am happy.

But besides that, my Sweeney Todd sheet music book has arrived. I paid $100 for this book (not including international delivery and taxes). The book was worth every cent, though. It is the entire script of Sweeney Todd and includes all the choir parts, all the music (for piano [and sometimes organ], but can be split into an entire orchestration) and all the lyrics. I am having a blast with it.

But that is all that is happening in my life. Thanks for reading this!

In my previous post, I said that I wrote my IT test. Well, I did, and I got my marks.

54%.

It is horrible, to say the least. Well, besides that, I found out that I had to do a music exam today just out of the blue. And lo and behold! I got 71%, which is not that bad for a music exam.

There is only ONE more test to go, and that is on Thursday (maths). Spare me. I don’t know how good I will do in that subject. I did choose the easy maths subject, but it is still quite difficult. Oh well. I will just have to lift up my head and move on.

We are currently doing Macbeth in English. If that teacher did not explain what every second word meant, then I would be lost. I have done Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Merchant of Venice before, so I know a little about Shakespeare, but Macbeth is just twice as hard. Like Greek with a Spanish accent, if you ask me.

Today was the most stressful day of my life. It was one of those days where everything just happened at the same time. This is what I did today:

• I.T. Test
• Drama Practical test
• Auditions for a play
• Musical rehearsals

All of those things required me to study a great deal. And I would have done so were it not for the fact that we went away for the weekend, which left little time for any studying.

So, the IT test was catastrophic, to say the least. It was the most horrible experience. I will probably get 50% for that test, which is a horrible mark for me. The Drama Practical was not too bad, although I did forget my words halfway through. I got 96% for the poetry part and a shocking 76% for my monologue. I am devastated. The one act play auditions went fine, as well. Although, when I saw the other kids who also auditioned (we were five, I think), I could not help but think, “I can not possibly compete with that.”

The musical rehearsals were the only thing that went well. I actually say about one word. Whoopie. I play the Mayor, as I’ve said in a previous post, and I am overruled by my wife the whole time. I don’t get a word in edgewise. Sad, isn’t it? But I play another character as well, so I am kinda happy. I play the character of the stage manager.

So, with those things said and done, my life will slow down now until the holiday. At which time I have 2 weeks off, then school will start again and my life will pick up its usual pace again.

I dread the day we get our report cards, though…

I have found out that I am in the musical. I play both the characters “Stage Manager” (yes, that is an actual character) and the “Mayor.”

So, yay. That means no dancing. I am so happy about that, because, you see, I cannot dance to save my life. It is simply impossible. IMPOSSIBLE!

I also auditioned for another play our school will have. This is a major major major play that is always entered into national competitions, etc. It only has one scene, so it is between 20 and 30 minutes long.

That main character, though… What I would not give to play that. And not BECAUSE it is a main character (well, maybe a little), but because of what the character represents.

It is about a boy who is physically disfigured and mentally unstable.

I won’t go into detailed plot lines now, but that character would be a very demanding role to play. Do you want to know how difficult it was to pull that off during the audition?

I hope I get the part, but I’m not going to get my hopes up. I have not auditioned for a role this big before, so I don’t think they would put so much on someone who has never done this before, even if the directors did make it sound like I would get the part because I have personal experience in regards to the teasing etc. that this boy goes through.

Wish me luck!

Right, I have a lot of things to say in one post.

Firstly, I am going to buy the complete Sweeney Todd Vocal Score, which costs a staggering $100. I have saved up for this quite a while. I can’t wait, though. It will be amazing.

Next on my list - I have finally gotten around to writing my own Fan Fiction after reading so many Harry Potter Fan Fictions. Mine is called Harry Potter and the Poet’s Dream. It is a Powerful!Harry story, which is probably a synonym to “Super Harry.” You can read it, if you want. It is about Harry who finds out that he is the heir of Merlin and finds his soul mate, and along with a god who cannot use his power to help them and Ron and Hermione, they have to save the world from one evil person. That reminds me, I still have to get rid of Voldemort. he is not the supreme evil of this story. I am really trying hard, but I am not COMPLETELY getting it right, so bear with me. i might do a complete rewrite once I am done with it.

And moving on.

I thought I’d have a little fun. I have two songs which I love to sing, and I thought I might post the recording of me playing it. I play it on the keyboard while I sing it. These songs do NOT include my voice. I must admit that they have a lot of errors in them, because I had to work out all the notes and chords out by myself and I play them while singing. Please forgive the errors. tell me what you think? Here are the two songs:

• Every time We Touch - Cascada
• Edelweiss - Sound of Music

And moving on to our next subject…

The cast for the musical which my school will perform will be announced on Monday. I am EXTREMELY excited. I probably won’t get a big role. Probably a small character and backup vocalist. I don’t know, though. It all depends on what the director decides.

And now I have come to the end of my speech. I am exhausted. Thanks for reading all this!