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[Music]

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i got into music just because i felt

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like it was a place to express myself

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and stay connected i think of music as a

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universal language everyone and anyone

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can relate to you and your sound whether

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it isn’t even in english or hindi you

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know like i just feel like it is a

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feeling it is an energy and it is a

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connection to a lot of other people it

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makes me know that i’m not alone it

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makes me happy and the fact that you

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know i’m a teacher i’m also sharing that

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joy

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but they just get so crazy living life

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gets hard to do

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and i would gladly

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i do uh focus on many different genres

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so i sing pop i sing r b i sing sokka

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calypso hindi songs even i don’t speak

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the language but i sing that language so

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i am pretty versatile and like which

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genre i’m singing but i do notice that

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like some genres i do get most gigs for

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compared to others and i do feel like

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you know every every genre has their

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opportunity you just need to find the

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right social square know the right

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people network younger me struggled a

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lot with um

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i guess just having the confidence to

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trust that like no i should be on stage

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with them like this is where it is this

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is where it’s at and i think i

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personally grew a lot in the past years

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and i’m still growing to learn all of

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these things on my schedule i spent the

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most time just practicing my instrument

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actually i love warming up every single

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day um i do do a strict schedule of like

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posting an ad here and there once or

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twice a week but for like a daily

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routine i have to warm on my voice i

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have to get that awakened

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and and working right and as a vocalist

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you’re always using your instrument when

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you’re speaking so it’s very important

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to activate that muscle in a healthy

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manner before just waking up something

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happens you start yelling like you know

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you want to make sure that you’re

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staying healthy in that sense

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[Music]

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so i think it’s very

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important to just consciously think of

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this throughout your date where’s my

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voice placed is it forward placing

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placed or am i just down here

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uh chilling in the back and um so we

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want to make sure that we’re always

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forward and light and airy with our

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sound clear in our tone sometimes i

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write a song like the the chords and the

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drum beat and i don’t necessarily know

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if it’s a happy song or a sad song but

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looking back and you know catching into

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my feelings and accessing that part of

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the process really makes me like reflect

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like oh wait was i sad when i wrote this

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i don’t know

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and so based on the mood that i’m

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getting from the audio recording that i

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produced i then would focus on my lyrics

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melodically lyrically like that happens

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all together i know some people like

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make a melody and then add words to it

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but because i’m a singer

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singer-songwriter and i’ve learned

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improvisation from like i guess the many

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times of performance or school-wise i’ve

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been been been pretty good at um

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you know coming up with melodies and

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lyrics on the fly at the same time

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[Music]

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for me to do my best performance it has

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to be something that i’m comfortable

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with

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so if it’s something that i’m

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uncomfortable with i require more time

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more practice and more support from

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other things so to find that comfort i

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need to be listening a lot more i need

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to do a lot of homework before showing

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up to rehearsals i need to

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make myself so comfortable that i can do

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it in my sleep i feel like the the mass

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performance comes with a lot of time

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that you’ve put into it it’s nothing

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about oh i need to eat a banana before i

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go on stage or something it’s it’s a lot

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of work and it’s a lot of fun too right

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like and then when you’re on stage i

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think another thing that makes it the

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best for performance is trusting that

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you put in all of that time in rehearsal

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you have to let go at a certain point

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you can’t be on stage and counting and

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thinking like oh wait when do i come in

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no you know when to come in you’ve done

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the hard work now it’s time to enjoy

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yourself so this year i’m going to be a

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part of three acts uh arranged by the

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bollywood monster orchestra and they

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combine bollywood music with

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indo-caribbean music so a few

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arrangements that i’m excited for

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is the song ek love mixed with one love

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from bob marley

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[Music]

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and praise to the lord

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[Music]

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i think throwing me under a multiple

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scenarios did help me to think on the go

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and on my feet um and just kind of go

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with flow even in performance i think

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that helped me as well like what if you

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do miss this change what happens where

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do we go like what’s you know and that

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again comes with the trust of the

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musicians that you work with you have to

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let it go and be in that moment people

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that always think about the the past

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kind that’s that people that think about

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the future are always anxious being in

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the present moment working out that one

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note that you’re singing at that very

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moment committing to it that’s that’s

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what people feel the energy the vibe

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that you’re giving off in that moment

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hey

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all my ladies yo

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all the thugs

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hey we’re sipping on the whiskey y’all

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raising the herbs up

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[Music]

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one song that has been somewhat of a

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challenge for me was actually whiskey

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and it’s so funny that this was the song

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that was challenging because most of my

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parts are saying hey or yo

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in a certain rhythmic way i’m mostly on

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the offbeats when i’m when i’m saying

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hey hey hey or yo yo yo and the reason

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why this was so challenging is because i

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was used to being like the main act but

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this role of kind of almost being like

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an instrument

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uh with my voice right it’s it’s a very

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rhythmic part and i think that that’s

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something that i’ve never had to

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uh i guess memorize right so you have to

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know when to come in and say hey and you

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know which beat to start on and because

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it’s so repetitive and it’s so like it

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comes in and out you really need to know

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the music and memorize that

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[Music]

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so a program like this is very important

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from musicians and artists i think that

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they help guide you and shape you into

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the arts musician that you want to be

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it’s very centered on your music your

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motives and where you want to go this

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workshop is very hands-on there’s always

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someone there to help when you need to

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and i love that they just you know are

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there and paying you to be there too

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right so it’s not like any other program

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because uh you get funded for this and

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attending these workshops and learning

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whereas other places you probably have

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to pay to get this type of a level of

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education

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[Music]

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you

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