12Doc – Day 8 – Collab Post

Hello everyone!

Welcome back as well as to the eighth day of the blog linkup! Have you been enjoying it so far? (I’m going to be posting twice today, cause… I’m a little behind xD you get a nice treat then – I hope xD) 

We have a special post today! I did a collaboration post with my dear friend, Blessing, so we had quite a bit of fun doing that! Hope y’all enjoy it! (by the way, my text is in the black, Blessing’s is in the red) Also, go check out Blessing’s post for today – it’s linked to this one 🙂

 

 

 

Hello everyone! Olivia and Blessing here. We’re really excited to do this collab post together for the 12 Twelve Days of Christmas Blog Linkup. Can you believe it’s only a week until Christmas, Blessing?

 

I know right? It’s crazy! But soooo excited, can’t wait! Also…hello everyone xD

 

Haha, hi 😉 So today we have a pretty cool post for all of y’all! Wanna give some more background on it, Blessing?

 

Hmm…well, it’d probably be good to start at the beginning 😉 Ok so! As some of you maaaay know from previous rants of mine on my blog about jamming with friends…Olivia and I along with some of our siblings very much so enjoy playing music together. Don’t you agree, Livs?

 

Definitely. We have a real blast just playing songs we’ve learned or found recently, and it works perfectly. This was the first time we’d all performed ‘as a band’ I guess you could say in front of quite a few people! It started when Blessing and I were talking one day… well, I’m sure the idea formed in your head already, so how did that idea come about?

 

Haha, well, last year my sisters and I played at our piano concert (if you would like to see this concert performance click here!) and apparently our piano teacher loved it so much, she asked if we would be interested in playing at the concert again. My sister and I were definitely for it and then we suddenly both had this idea that maybe we could “drag” the Nickersons into it with us. Makin’ memories, ya know? 😉

 

Haha, I don’t think it took a lot of convincing. We were pretty excited to do it! 😀

 

Yep. Y’all were eager beavers 😉 Anyway! Once we knew we all wanted to play together..we just had to get the more technical things figured out. But you know that saying, “Where there’s a will…there’s a way!”

 

Exactly! We spent a few days trying to get approval on both sides, all the while planning ahead for a big practicing day. Planning ahead is ALWAYS a good idea 😉

 

Mm hmm! Remember that group chat we came up with? I think we got awfully distracted with all those texts flying back and forth yet somehow we still managed to figure out driving and times and even a get together to practice. Apparently even though we homeschool we’re NOT as flexible as people might think 😛

 

It’s true, y’all. We’re all homeschooled and yet it took us a long time to finally figure out what day would work for all five of us. Here’s an example of us trying to figure out logistics:

“So, does Wednesday work for you guys?”
“Nope, sorry. We have youth.”

“Ooh right, ok! Um, does Monday work for you guys?”

“Ohhh, we have piano lessons.”

“Oh, riiiight! Does Thursday work for you guys?”

“Ahhh no, sorry! WE have youth 😦 “

“Well, does Tuesday work for you guys?”

“Well, we do have piano lessons, but we miiiight be able to fit it in…”

“Cool! Maybe we should try for Tuesday then. Or… does Saturday work?”

 

Oh yes and don’t forget trying to figure out what key to sing in…

“Soo, the key? Are we doing it in D or B?”

“Yeah, D is the better key to play in”

“But B is better to sing in”

“Ok…Wait what key are we in now? D??”

“How bout….let’s try it in both keys tomorrow. And see if we can sing the higher one or if we sound like we’re screeching. And if we’re all dyyyying, then we’ll do the lower one?”

“Have you tried Bm?”

“We tried many keys. Many. SO many”

“G minor”

“And A minor”

“And C minor”

“And C# minor”

“Pretty much a chromatic scale”

“I think we sang up the whole octave :P”

Aaaaaaand my brother, who also was the drummer for our little performance, was listening to all of us piano people and was pretty much like, “Um…I have NO idea what y’all are talking about.”

 

Anyways, with enough text messages (probably over 500)(might we even say 1000? :P) we were able to figure out the key and day to do our big practice 😀 Especially after we got parental approval, we were able to get them friends over to our house for the practice day. And what a day that was!

 

Also (mind if I peep in here) Practices in between were sliiiightly hard because we don’t exactly live the closest to each other xD And it was also a brand new song and we didn’t quite know how we were going to arrange it with all the instruments and voices and such…but we found a way around it didn’t we?

 

We sure did, thankfully. My siblings and I practiced the song at our house, and Blessing and her sister practiced it at their house, then we met at our youth group and did little five minute practices for a couple of weeks. As mentioned before, we planned a huge practicing session, where we got little technical things figured out as well as most of the song pretty well. So for the practicing session, Blessing and her two sisters came over right after our piano lessons was finished, and I think we got started on practicing pretty soon, right?

Weeeeelllll….pretty much yeah 😛 We DID take a walk before practice, but once we got back yep. Sat down and played. HARD xD

 

Sure did. I know that in between trying to figure parts, melodies, and harmonies, as well as drum beats out, we took a break and went downstairs to our basement, where Blessing played Anthem Lights and we all danced around and let our stiffness and whatever else was ailing us out. Oh yeah, I think we all were really tired too, so it helped to re-energize for a while xD

 

Haha yep! Had to shake all that tension out. And the cold in the basement was very helpful in waking us up.

 

Yes, plus it got pretty warm in the room where we had been practicing, so it was lovely to get some cool air! They left in the evening, and it had been a very productive day.

 

Indeedy! Very productive. We figured out solos and harmonies, and timing and chords, and notes between the fiddle and the whistle, and arrangement of the song (including adding our own personal touch with  the instrumental 😉 and we figured out this AWESOME cut too…AND we added a key change…yes, I’d say that was a very productive afternoon/evening!

 

After that, we had a few more little practices leading up to the big day then …. BAM! The day had arrived. I remember leading up to the big day, I was feeling somewhat ready, but also somewhat NOT READY. 😛 What about you?

 

Yep! Well, I think I was more excited than I was nervous, but I did feel a liiiitle nervous a couple minutes before we had to play.

 

I remember driving up, walking in the door to the church, and those butterflies, well, they took flight xD they were bouncing around in there a lot.

 

Aw haha! Did you see US bouncing up and down and waving at you when you drove up to the church? 😛

 

I’m not totally sure about that one, but I probably did, with my keen observation skills *winks* Yeah, especially a few minutes right before we started performing I got quite nervous, but once I started singing, I felt the nervousness fade a little bit, and that was awesome.

 

Ah yes. Her amazing singing. Blew everyone away, I’m telling ya! But let’s not jump ahead of ourselves 😉 SO we had to get to the church raaather early because we needed a soundcheck and we had also been invited to play at not one, but TWO concerts. So instead of just playing at the 11 o’clock concert, we also played at the 9 o’clock one. We had to be at the church for 8:30 am sooooo early morning. Ooh and hehe. The uh – singers were a liiiitle nervous because of sore throats and colds…

 

Hehe, riiiiight! Forgot about that. Most of us decided that it would be an amazing idea to get sick the week of the performance! I didn’t have it too bad, just a little bit sick, but my lovely friends over here, they got colds and sore throats. Aaaand the 8:30 soundcheck turned out to be an 8:51 soundcheck, so we had only nine minutes to soundcheck xD

 

Random fact, peoples, green tea with honey is amaaaazing. Tried it for the first time because apparently it helped with sore throats especially if you had to sing xD And it worked pretty well actually! And tastes SO good. And yeahhhh that soundcheck. That was kinda funny actually. But hey! It worked out. When the mic for the whistle was tested, I think we all just enjoyed the moment because the whistle was echoing soooo nicely in the church and had this – it was soooo beautiful! Haha yes, it WAS beautiful. Had this sort of enchanting feel to it. Oh! And remember when we played the chorus really quick and then apparently the sound lady or our piano teacher told y’all we could stop except that since I was facing away from the audience I didn’t see her? 😛

 

Did she really? I probably remember that, but I’m a little foggy right now xD Ok, now I remember it xD

 

Mm hmm. She did indeed. And you all stopped playing and singing…except for me xD But you know that sense you have when you can tell someone’s staring at you even though you can’t see them? That kicked in and I stopped playing/singing and turned…to see you all laughing at me 😛

 

Hehe! Sorryyy ‘bout that xD Well, you could say you got some extra sound check in then 😀 What was it like playing the piano and keeping it up throughout the entire song? Were you nervous?

 

It was fun! I was a little nervous after the soundcheck because I was getting some massive echo and so couldn’t really tell if I was playing on time or not. But apparently it was fine to you girls so yay! xD How did it feel like for YOU to be singing lead? Front and centre? 😉

 

Haha, well, it was a bit nerve racking. I could hear myself being projected throughout the entire room, which was a little interesting, but I also tried not to let my nerves get the best of me. Who needs to be nervous when God’s with you, and you are playing with friends and family? Also, I have no need to be afraid of the people out in the crowd, (preach it, sister! ;)) so I tried to smile and sing and it was a lot of fun!! I remember after we finished the first performance, I was so so excited and ready to perform again. (by the way, I’ve found that you don’t need to sing as hard into a microphone as you would normally have to if you’re singing around at home. Really it’s quite amazing.)

 

Haha yes! We don’t have a video of the first time we played but it was amazing and sooo much fun! *dances around in circles* (that was pretty much my reaction) Yessss, mine too. And then we took a picture in front of the Christmas tree 😛

 

*inserts a heart* I love the picture, and it’s such a special shot of the day with special memories! We sat down again to waiting for the next performance, which was at the end of the second concert, so we waited through many great songs the students played, and then we were up again! I didn’t feel as confident going into this performance, but it still went really well, as you can see from the video I posted yesterday. How did you feel going into the second performance?

 

I was still super excited! I mean, music is awesome and getting to play with your friends is just So. Much. Fun. It was definitely a blessing to be able to play TWICE that day. And I was also remembering how we had prayed before the first concert too – it was a great reminder to think that we were doing it for God’s glory and honour alone!

 

For sure! I think, despite some nerves, the praying really helped. It also helped to remember to do it for God’s glory, and to not worry about what others thought. It was an especially great opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus with others! When I actually thought about it like that, even while I was singing, it’s easier to bring down the nervousness and fear and whatever else and do it for the Lord instead. Plus it’s such an awesome feeling to be able to share the Good News with others, and through a song no less! It just shows us how we can be a witness to others even in little things.

 

Mm hmm!! In complete and total agreement with you 🙂 I think the one thing I really loved about the song was the chorus…after listening to it, the “He shall reign forevermore” just goes around and around in your head…like it’s on repeat. Or maybe that was just because we played it so often with practices and all? 😛

 

Haha! That’s very possible, but it could be both 😉 Either way, I think it’s still good for that line to go round and round in your head, even if you can’t get it out, it’s a good thing to be reminded of xD Ok, so if it’s in your head for like 10 hours straight, maybe try thinking something else, cause that will get very tiring xD (do not try this at home ;))

 

Yeahhhh…just a little. But still! It is just SO true…God WILL reign forevermore. And is there any greater news??

 

Nope! No, indeedy 😀 So after we finished the last performance, we bowed (it was more or less in sync too…that was AWESOME xD)and waited until the last part of the concert was over, then we went out into the hall thing, and ate some snacks, as well as watching our performance, which was recorded by Blessing’s dad.

 

Mm hmm! And that was the end of that very, very, VERY awesome morning.

 

Indeed it was! We hope you enjoyed this post! Hey, Blessing, how many days ‘till Christmas again? 😉

 

Ahhhhhhh…..FOUR MORE DAYS!!!!!!! *throws confetti* *dances* *throws more confetti*

 

That’s RIGHT!!! 😀 Yahooo!!!

 

Can’t wait! Anywaaayyy…thanks for sticking around for this rather lengthy post 😉 And don’t forget… He shall reign forevermore!!

Yes, everyone, don’t forget that!! And don’t forget to go to Faith’s blog for more posts in the blog linkup as well as checking out her amazing giveaway! Merry Christmas, folks! Cya next time!

 

Stay tuned for more posts! Tomorrow’s will be awesome – hopefully xD