The Joint-School Music Festival is an inter-school event where several schools formed bands and prepared three performances each: one group song, one solo singing performance, and one instrumental performance. The event was hosted by Nepal Don Bosco Secondary School. Six schools participated, including the host school: St. Xavier's (Godavari and Jawlakhel), St. Mary's, Kathmandu University High School, Rosebud School, and Nepal Don Bosco School. The event was held on Tuesday, Asar 2083 (June ).
Luckily, our school also participated, and fifteen students were chosen from classes 8 to 10. On the day of the event, our bus picked me up at my stop at around 7:40 a.m. All the students on our bus looked excited, though some were still feeling sleepy. We reached the venue safely at around 9:00 a.m., and our music teacher gave us some instructions. We gathered and entered the school, which felt quiet and peaceful. Afterward, we kept all of our instruments in a separate room and went to have breakfast. After eating, we gathered and took our seats in the hall.
The event started with a welcome note and a short speech by the Father Principal of the school. Then, the performances started. The first performer was SXG, followed by an amazing performance from SXJ, and then St. Mary's with wonderful melodies. After them, our waiting time was finally over. The floor was ours.
We had a few minutes for a soundcheck, and once we were done with it, we started our set. Our first song was “Ekata”, which was dedicated to the nation. The second performance was a solo song titled "Badal Sari", dedicated to friendship. Our vocalist for this song was Ms. Gareema Pradhan from Grade 9. Our last performance was an instrumental song called "Parivartan", in which we used cultural Nepali instruments like the Dhime, Jhyali, Madal, Basuri, and Tungna. I also played the guitar in two songs and the Tungna during the instrumental performance.
After our performance, it was Rosebud's turn, and finally, Nepal Don Bosco delivered a mind-blowing performance. By the end, the entire event felt just like a real concert. After all the performances, the Vice Principal gave a short thank-you note for the wonderful show. The chief guest, Mr. Babu Raj Maharjan, also delivered a motivational speech and shared his experiences.
After the event, we had a short photo session and took group photos. All the students were in a hurry to eat lunch, so we ate our delicious food quickly and took a short rest. We sat together for a while and discussed our performance; our music teacher told us that we did a good job.
Then, we packed our belongings, thanked the school, and planned to play the Dhime Baja—and we actually did it while departing from the venue! The participants from the other schools were thoroughly enjoying the music as we returned to our hometowns.
We gave a good performance, but to be honest, I was not totally satisfied when we listened to the recordings later. We realized that we had made some minor mistakes. However, I would like to thank our school, our respected Principal, our teachers, and our music teacher. They encouraged us for this event and gave us the time and support we needed for our practice sessions.
