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X Factor

I have my audition on Tuesday 5th May. Need to be there by 9am but I'm thinking I'll arrive at around 5am.
Have been practising like mad! Still don't know what to wear though.
Scared! I am so so nervous and it's only hit me today that I am actually doing this. I feel like I'm not prepared. I'm worried I won't have any wear to warm up on the day. Where can i warm up? There will be people everywhere? Does anyone have any ideas? Help!!!

London Underground: Central Line

What a stupid excuse for a tube line! Every morning I wait for the tube at Bethnal Green station. On average I have to have wait for about 5 tubes to pass before I can actually get on! Every time a train comes, about 2 people can get on at each door! Ridiculous! And because most commuters in London are rude and only think about themselves - they don't move down inside the train! Once the doors close and the train heads off you can see that there is plenty of room in the carriages!

I say London Underground should get rid of carriages with seats - maybe every second carriage could be "standing carriages"? I hate the tube!!! Thank god I now have a bike!

After a short bus journey of about 10 mins I then change for the tube at Bethnal Green. Take the Central Line to Liverpool Street and then change for the Circle/H&S Line to Farringdon. I mean not really that far - but it's always such a nightmare! Every morning! Hopefully the weather will improve so that I can bike to work! It only takes me 25 mins max. Tube takes 45mins - 1hr!!!

I came second!

I came second in the singing competition which is great news for me and has given me a hige confidence boost! Unfortunetly I don't get a prize but still I am happy!
My audition is next week and I am currently suffering from a bad cold! Hopefully I will recover soon.

D

Results from Singing Competition...

I was sooooo nervous! Once I was on stage I was shaking like a leaf! My leg was the worst and I was so worried everyone could see me shaking. But anyways it didn't go to bad. I think it could've gone a lot better. I warmed up at home but I only went on at about 10:30 after getting there at 8pm and there was no where I could practise! It was awful.
It seemed like I got the loudest cheers so fingers crossed I will do well. The results will be published tomorrow can't wait!!!!

Victoria Park Adventures

Went for breakfast this morning near Victoria Park in a restaurant called the Fish House. You wouldn't have thought they did breakfast as they specialise in serving fish! But the breakfast was pretty good for your usual English Breakfast. Everything looked and tasted fresh and I will definitely be going again. The lady that served us was very friendly too.

After that went for a walk around Victoria Park. The park is definitely one of the best I have been too. Yes it's not one of your glamorous central London parks but it is peaceful and quite even on a hot spring day. The park is so vast that you will always find a quite spot. It is rare that you will spot a tourist. Every time I have been to Hyde Park or Green Park I always leave stressed because of all the people and extremely tired because of all the walking and dodging the large amounts of people.

Getting Nervous....

Ok so I am beginning to get nervous about my audition next week the 22nd April. I am one of 20 auditioning at the Blag Club in Notting Hill. My performance is at 21:05 precisely. It's a bit of a strange one as the audition will be in front of an audience. Each contestant has been given a guest list for the club which I still need to sort out!!! aaaahhhhhh!!!

The winner gets to record a song in a recording studio and also have a music video made which will just be amazing! I don't think I will win but it will be fun just to take part I hope.

I'm singing Apologise by One Republic which I have been taking singing lessons for and have been practising every second of every day! When I walk to the shop or take the dog for a walk I am singing. Yes you may have seen me singing to my self on the bus or on my way to work and you probably think I'm strange but I have to get it right!!! I'm evening singing to it as I write!

This will also be good practice for my X Factor audition on the 5th May at the O2 Arena. I auditioned a few years ago and it didn't go so well! I was so nervous and forgot my words it was so embarrassing! I was humiliated and it destroyed my confidence! This was about 4 years ago! It made me forget about what I love to do the most and I totally neglected my voice. Over the last year though for some reason I have been getting back into it and I feel more determined than ever. I definitely don't think I was ready for it the last time but now I know that I am! But still I keep think how humiliating will it be if I don't get through at least the first round? Anyways! One week and two days till the Blag Club!

Better get that guest list sorted or I'll have no support!!! Here's Sammy my baby!!!

D

Training

I had my first singing lesson last night in Wanstead. The last time I had one was about 4 years ago. The lesson was amazing! The guy is amazing!!! First we did quite a lot of warm up exercises, lots of shaking about and talking really loudly and making lots of weird noises. Then we did some singing warm ups going through my entire vocal range!

I then sang all the way through the song that I have chosen for my audition on the 22nd April. If I win this competition I will be able to go to a recording studio and work with a producer who has worked with the Sugababes. The prize also includes the production of a full music video! Amazing. Even if I don't win I think it will be great practise for my big audition on the 5th May. Anyways...after going through the song which I am finding quite difficult to sing he noticed that I was having problems with breathing. He explained to me that without the support that I will get from a breath it will really hard to sing the note I want. Also my vocals were coming across very breathy. He explained that to achieve tone, I need to concentrate on where the breath is coming from.
When you breath in to sing a note you need to think of your ribs moving out from the back. Your ribs can expand very easily from the back and that's where your breath should come from!

He then explained everything about how your vocals work, where they come from, how they get to your mouth where they go in your mouth. He said to think about the space that I have in my mouth and to concentrate on filling it all up. Don't waste it!
After that we worked on some of the vowels and broke down the song bit by bit.
The results were amazing and I felt like it was so much easier to sing it just all seemed to be flowing out my mouth and I felt much more in control of my voice. Which is the main thing I was worried about. The trouble with this was that it really effected my confidence but already, after just one hour I feel more in control and more confident.
I wonder how it will sound after the next lesson! And I wish I had started doing this like a month ago!
Next time we will be going through the song with the backing track and I hope I will remember everything from last night!
I can always read through this post before to remind myself!
He gave me a lot of confidence and he said that he doesn't see why I wouldn't do well in the competition but there are lots of things we can work on to increase my confidence and to make the sound clearer and more toned.

The song I am singing is Apologize by One Republic.

D

First Blog

Hi all

I've really wanted to start writing a blog for sometime now. I think it would be away for me to look back one day and remember. Kind of like when your a kid and you write in your diary everyday. I used to have a diary when I was young although as I have moved around so much it's been lost along with a lot of other stuff that I have written and collected over the years.
Anyways...

My name is Darrin Graham I am 22 and I am living in London. I moved to London about 2 1/2 years ago. It was a bit of a struggle at first but I think I'm okay now.
I work for a charity called Addaction which is the UK's largest Substance Misuse treatment organisation. I really believe in what Addaction does and I love the work I do.
I work in their Head Office which is in Farringdon - Mon - Fri - just like any other job.
Basically my job is to look after all the staff in the London & South East Area of the charity. Addaction has many projects and drop - in centres up and down the country.
I am also responsible for recruiting for new vacancies that may come up in the area and taking applicants through the recruitment process. I am also involved in tendering for new business.

Apart from my work I have a lot of other interests. The main being singing.
I don't consider myself to be very confident although I enjoy standing up in front of lots of people and singing. It is my dream to one day release singles and albums and tour around the country. I think that for the last few years I have neglected my talent. The last time I got up and sang was when I was working for Chelsea Football Club and they had a competition for staff based on the X Factor. I ended up winning somehow and won lots of money which I spent on christmas presents for my friends and family! It was the first time ever I could really spoil my family.

Anyways enough about that, I also enjoy spending time with my friends and going out anywhere where it's cheap and you can dance! My favourite tunes at the moment are Lily Allen - The Fear, Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls, Flo Rida and also loving Beyonce's new stuff.

I think that's enough for now but hopefully I will keep this up to date and not forget about it!!
Also I received my letter from the X Factor on Saturday - very exciting - but more about that later.

D