# ever wonder what teenagers "rant" about...



## april02 (Nov 25, 2001)

--- So as the only teenager I know of on the boards I would like to rant about a few things recently going on in my life. It is currently 12:14 a.m. and I can't sleep because on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. I have a vocal competition. This has been stressing me out for a while. There's tremendous presure to do very very well as I was picked along with two other vocalists from my 2,000 person high school to represent us at the Overture Awards. I've been cooking up a storm to cool my nerves but NOTHING seems to help. On top of that I found out today that alas I DO have to take final exams in all of my semester classes (despite my 4.2 G.P.A. and that I'm a senior... usually this is more than enough to earn someone an extra day of rest...) sigh... Now look, I realize that I am lucky. I do not pay rent utilities and food bills. I do not hold down a job to support a family but I do have stress and it's very real... thanks for listening... --april--


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## solanna (Dec 17, 2000)

Hey April,
Congrats on the 4.2 GPA. ****, I never even got close to that.


So, I guess the big question is...What do you plan on doing after you graduate?


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

April it's easy enough for me to sit here and tell you to relax, you're the one up there. Let me say this though. The competition to be on top has gotten ridiculous thanks to the $$$ that gets thrown around. Just look around you at the pressure put on kids to be #1 so that mommy and daddy can get themselves a meal ticket.
Relax and realize that the people watching are mostly people that envy you for just being up there. Many wish they could be in your shoes, and the rest of us are just proud of you and for you for just doing it. There will always be someone better then even the best. So if you go and do it for you, not for anyone else just you, you'll be fine. If you were in the top 3 of 2,000 there's a reason. You've already proven yourself, there's nothing left to prove so go out and do it for you and have fun.
As far as the tests go. Whattya gonna do! Rest now and you'll have plenty of time to rest later too when you can sleep late because you're unemployed. To be successful at anything you will have to bust your ***. There will be plaenty of time to relax along the way when you can look back at what you've accomplished. When you can be happy with who you are and what you have done with yourself, relaxation is always with you.
Good luck, and hey, relax you'll be fine and yes your stress is real.


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## athenaeus (Jul 24, 2001)

Well you will take me for nuts but ENJOY THE COMPETITION.

Trying hard and competing is something very healthy and fun and do not underestimate those that they tell you that taking part is as important as winning.

Try to do well in the exams too. Education is the only fortune that will always belong to YOU what ever happens in your life. None can take what you have in your head!

Break your leg

Mats mouts ( kisses in Greek  )


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## shimmer (Jan 26, 2001)

#1 Relax
#2 Concentrate
#3 Enjoy yourself

Frankly April, if you are not enjoying yourself, then you should not even go. A competition may seem on the surface to be about who is the best, but it really isn't. It's about YOU!!!

How much have you learned? How have you grown musically? Do you have better musicality? Do you understand your body and how your voice reacts to all contributing factors? What does the piece you are singing mean to you? What did it mean in the context it was written? We all have personal limitations, and no two voices can actually be the same, but what are your strengths? Make sure they come out in the performance. At the end of the day, you are not going to dwell on the other performers' strengths, but their weaknesses. Do not fall into the temptation of doing the same for yourself. Regardless of the outcome, point out to yourself what went well, how you've shown your improvement, and why you can be proud of what you did and how you've grown. Don't make it the end-all, it isn't. Inevitably you'll sing again. It's just another one of those steps.

Something I did the year I played a Mozart concerto with an orchestra was to literally lay down on my back on the cold cement and practice progressive relaxation, where you consciously focus on each muscle and tense it and relax it. You will sing your best if your body is relaxed EXCEPT for those muscles that you draw on to do the work that is required. Your back, legs, arms, throat, etc, need to be purposely relaxed. Leave yourself plenty of time, and do not apologize for needing to do this. Try as hard as you can not to be rushed or strained. 

One more thing, and I remember highschool, with the pressure to get good grades- your singing isn't about your grades. Your singing isn't about your GPA. This performance isn't about that chem final or the homework on your bed or the essay you haven't finished. It's about what you can communicate in that small space of time. Focus on what you're doing.

Above all, enjoy yourself. Allow yourself to make eye contact with your audience. That's why you're there, that's why they are there, revel in it. It always calmed me down to look someone in the eye before I sang or played. You don't have anything to fear!!! 

Let us know how it went!!! 

~~Shimmer~~
An accompanist who hasn't accompanied for a while, and misses the thrill of performance!!!


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## april02 (Nov 25, 2001)

--- to all who responded---
Thanks for the encouragement... I just got home froom rehearsal which went fabulously... I was warming up at high C's and it didn't feel like a thing... Shimmer-- it's funny that you're an accompanist... mine cancelled last minute sending me on a frantic search but all is well. Solanna-- Actually I was planning on Culinary school at J&W in SC. Thanks for listening... --april--


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## april02 (Nov 25, 2001)

---Mr. Bond... you remembered... Well the dessert went wondrfully I made a marble cheesecake with rasberry sauce. 

Actually my thing was 9a.m. this morning. I sang Sebben Cruddele (italian) and The way you look tonight... I think it went pretty well, but I guess I'm never satisfied... haha Oh! Great news... The lady I got to be my accompanist asked me this morning if I would CONSIDER LETTING her be my voice teacher. She doesn't even usually take new students. I was so excited. It feels so good to be able to sit back and chill now and be able to drink a soda freely without worrying about my voice... (I usually don't drink soda for a few days before a solo) I got home and just plopped on the couch... it was nice... So, on a different note... what DID you guys stress about when you were seventeen...
---april---
p.s. Quenelle... I posted a song I wrote on the virtual pirate radio station... obviosly I couldn't post the accompaniment... and since I play by ear and feeling more than theory and basic structure it'd take me a while to write out... haha Seriously, I really appreciate everything you said and I truly believe that as you say " a kindness is never lost" thank you once again for showing me that kindness...


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## athenaeus (Jul 24, 2001)

April,

Could you post in the "Recipe exchange" forum your recipe for marble cheesecake because I have lost mine?

Thank you.


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## peachcreek (Sep 21, 2001)

I have three teenagers. Two daughters and a son. I assure you April, there are a lot of kids out there that feel your same pressures. My oldest daughter sounds like you. She graduated a year early with honors and is spending the year in Ecuador as an exchange student, and is planning to go to Marymount. She wanted to take her ACT TWICE because she thought that her score was too low and she got a 24. My middle daughter is the socialite. WHEN she is home I swear she has a phone grafted to her head... And my 13 year old son is into anything that goes fast- bikes, skis, and he wants to learn to drive!
Three kids. Same home. They all turned out so different.
Also, they ALL grew up around restaurants. The only thing they all agree on? None are interested in the restaurant business!


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## zorba the greek (Oct 11, 2001)

Hi April.

I watch your posts although I am not in the position to participte much. I know what you mean. I have two sons 19 and 17 and I always say that I try not to push but everytime the younger comes home with a new accomplishment I cannot feel but proud. This is a kind of pressure too you know.
What Peachcreek says is common in girls. This perfectionism in this age. 
You know April, I will be honest with you but reading the other thread about the marriage I felt a relief that I have two sons and not a smart talented daughter that has either such questions or she is in Equador alone or she is washing dishes in London studying alone because she thinks she is Ulysses.
You know what I mean? I's difficult to be parent to nice, talented daughters like you. You feel pressure I know but parents try to do their best also.

( You ,fathers of talented and smart daughters, I admire you. you are heros!)


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## athenaeus (Jul 24, 2001)

Zorba, I hope you don't mean that daughters should be brought up in a different way than sons.
Why fathers send you to school for, to play with Barbie or to do well and be the first one?


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## pollyg (Mar 12, 2001)

April, when I was 17 I stressed about what people thought of me ( especially boys), about the dire situations around the world that I felt were totally overwhelming and that i could do nothing about ( wars, human rights abuses, environmental degridation and the threat of nuclear war. this may sound silly to you, but in the late eighties it was a big thing that everyone talked about.)
One of the great things about getting older is that you don't care so much what anyone thinks of you. You become more confident and freer. I'm 30 now and I have loved each year more than the last since I was a teenager.
Well, give or take a few minor catastrophes along the way...
Good luck in everything that you do.


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