Re: [Harp-L] stage fright

["andrew collinson" <meadow.sweet@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On the subject of artists accepting praise... I never forgot a lesson 
Iearned (as a fan). Many years ago, the great tenor player, Ben Webster did 
a gig in my home town. A few of us went up to the stage afterwards and told 
him how fantastic he'd been. "No", he said, "I wasn't good tonight." "Yeah, 
I know", said a friend of mine... just to empathise, really. "You KNOW?", 
Ben came back.

You could have scooped my friend up with a spoon. He was crushed.

J.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bloozeharp" <bloozeharp@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "harpl" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2005 9:34 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] stage fright


This morning at Church, our music director wanted me to do my version of 
Amazing Grace (2nd pos/G harp) during the service. Large crowd,etc. No 
problem. I know this tune inside and out. While I'm waiting for my cue my 
heart starts racing (big time) and I find myself in the throes of big time 
stage fright. Has never happened to this degree-ever. Tried the long slow 
breaths etc but couldn't shake it. Started playing and made several mistakes 
in the first verse and a couple in the 2nd then kind of leveled out. 
Finished playing and got a standing ovation but I felt that they just did it 
for my effort, not the quality of my playing. I was bummed to say the least. 
But I remembered what this list said last week about accepting praise for 
your playing without whining about how terrible you thought it was or what 
you did wrong and so on. So I accepted the fact that I did the best I could 
at that given time and warmly thanked everyone who told me they liked it. 
Afterwards, my harshest critic (my wife), came up and hugged me and said 
don't sweat the mistakes-it was the feeling I put into the song that 
everyone loved. I guess I'll live afterall.
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