[hanabiwings]

I've performed two Ayu songs in front of audiences.

During my junior year, we had two exchange students in choir--one from Korea and one from Japan--so the instructor was interested in singing songs from both of the countries. Since I spoke Japanese, she wanted me to help the girl pick out a good song and possibly teach it to the class. So, we went to my house and listened to about 60 songs before deciding on A Song for XX as the one we would perform. I wrote a lyric in English that the whole mass choir (about 200 students) could sing in the middle of the song [we broke away from the Japanese for two verses and sang in English] but I thought it would be difficult to teach the whole song in Japanese. So, we sang that. It turned out really, really well. I still feel really proud when I hear the two of us singing the duet and then the choir coming in during the middle and also during the "la la la" at the end [they sang harmony parts like the backup vocals on the track].

Second, I sang "Voyage" during my school's talent show during my senior year. It was a lot of fun. I had to cut out the little music box part at the beginning to keep it under 5 minutes, so it started in with piano. I think that everyone was a little surprised to hear Japanese (I went to school in a small city) but, it was a lot of fun.