Before winter break, Street Art Club had hosted a fund-raising concert “Once Upon A Time” at a local basement music studio named 洛克音樂藝文展演空間 Rock Music Live House. This experience fits under the category of both creativity and service. I participated as both a performer and a club executive, planning the concert behind the scene. Months ago, Jayden, Antony, Tim, and I formed a band to perform for future SAC performances. I served as the electric guitarist in the band and was responsible for the two songs in the performance. Before the actual performance, we had numerous band practice sessions.
Below are the clips from the actual performance day.
First song:
Fish – PAPUN Band
Second song:
Flower – Hello Nico
For the bridge part of the first song, I was responsible for the guitar solo. This is the first time I perform electric guitar as a solo in SAC. Therefore, I was really nervous. While practicing, most of the time I would still make mistakes on one or two notes. Sometimes I could not follow the pace of the drum because the speed was too fast. On the actual performance day, the drum and other instruments were even unexpectedly loud when we all played our instruments at the same time, so I had to listen extra carefully to follow the beats. I thought that I might make mistakes, as I did during the practices. However, surprisingly, I enjoyed the moment on stage and the audience responded how the performance was smooth and great.
For the second song, the acoustic guitarist Tim made mistakes at the beginning of the song. The song was supposed to be 3/4 beats, whereas he played it as 4/4 beats. I was confused and hesitating whether I should go with his flow or get the beat back on track. However, the drummer has to be able to catch up with us too. On the verse, I played the correct beats and return the song to its correct tempo.
Before this experience, I always perform as vocal or vocal+acoustic guitar. This is the first time I practiced in a band and performed an electric guitar solo. From this experience, I have learned about team corporation. Practice individually is very different from practicing as a pair and group. We had to schedule a meeting time that works for everyone. Without a member, a band would not be complete as a whole. Many times, I had to listen to other members and adjust my own parts, such as matching tones and chords. After this experience, I feel more confident to play electric guitar in front of others. I also see growth in myself as both a performer and a team worker. I would like to do more group performances in the future.