The Good, Bad, and Indifferent

All concerts may sound great to the audience, but in fact, musicians have very difference lasting experiences. Sometimes a concert goes really well, not so great, or somewhere in the middle.

The Good

Two summers ago, I went on tour to Portugal with the Empire State Youth Orchestra. On June 29th, 2015, the orchestra boarded a plane to go on the adventure of a lifetime. All 86 of us played four concerts in four different cities over the course of two weeks. On this trip, I learned firsthand about cultural diversity, and how there is only one universal language: music. When the Empire State Youth Orchestra arrived at Teatro Virginia in Portugal, we had no way to verbally communicate with the Portuguese orchestra we were performing with. I had the opportunity to sit next to a Portuguese clarinetist, Mara. We were able to have a basic conversation with consisting of “Hellos” and “How are you's”, but we couldn’t go much deeper than that. Our different languages created a barrier that initially seemed impossible to cross. But, when the first downbeat hit, we were no longer two different countries with two different languages; we played as one. 

Figure 1. ESYO clarinetists with Mara, a Portuguese clarinetist.

The Bad (but not that bad)

Last year my orchestra performed Javelin by Michael Torke. In one section, the melody was solely first and second clarinet, which was only stand partner and I. I practiced the section a lot at home and we went over it multiple times every rehearsal. There were days when we nailed it, and others when we couldn't get in tune with each other or our sixteenth notes just weren't syncing. When the downbeat hit on the day of the concert, all I could do was hope that we both were having good playing days and would sync with each other. The performance was going well; bows were dancing on strings to the melody, and it seemed that my stand partner and I were playing well together. But, right near the end of our "duet" when the page turned into a sea of sixteenths, nerves kicked in and I rushed to the bottom of the page. When I stood up as the audience was applauding, my mistake overshadowed everything good that happened, and I felt like I ruined the whole concert. I genuinely felt that I didn't deserve to stand there as the audience applauded. This was probably an overreaction, but at the time it felt warranted. Clearly, not every musician plays their part perfectly every time, but it's important to learn from every experience so that you can have a better performance next time.

Figure 2. Imagine that you are the person inside the red circle, and the giant wave is the upcoming page of notes. That is what it felt like as the page of sixteenth notes approached.

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/explore/giant-waves/?lp=true

The Indifferent

Sometimes, performances aren't great, but they aren't bad by any means either. When you stand up at the end of the concert and the audience bursts into a round of applause, there may be a concert or two where you feel like it was just another rehearsal and you forgot to live in the moment. It's easy to forget that you're in concert dress and in front of an audience and let the concert just go by. To avoid enduring an indifferent experience, my advice to you is to make every note intentional and constantly remind yourself of where you are and why you are playing.