Just Call Me Crash

So yesterday marked the final performance for the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra for this season.  Overall, I think that the concert went very well...a few squeaky chairs, some uncooperative stand lights, and of course, the occasional missed note.

Since we have been missing our normal conductor (please note...that was to be the subject of my last entry), it has been a regular occurrence to have a few curve balls thrown our way at rehearsal.  So it was not a huge surprise when I was asked to play a brand new part five minutes before we went on stage because apparently no one had been assigned to it.  Not a big deal...a few cymbal rolls...I could handle it.

Now nerves are not usually an issue for me when I perform since I have been playing for almost as long as I could hold sticks, but I felt a little anxious about the new part.  And also I had some friends in the audience who were seeing me play for the first time (just add them to the multitude of adoring fans I already have).  So I was thinking about this new part while the concert moved along...one piece completed, then another...I knew that I would be sight-reading soon.  So I was trying to concentrate on everything else that I had to keep track of...snare drum and  music...CHECK...soft-yarn mallets....CHECK...crash cymbals within reach...CHECK...woodblock and drumsticks...CHECK...suspended cymbal....CHECK.  We were nearing the end of the concert...three more movements to complete "The Planets."  Jupiter was in order, and again, this was another very new part for me...assigned the day before, but I felt confident that I had at least practiced it with the orchestra.  So everything was going along fine...the end was approaching and the final few bars were rushing towards us...the tempo became presto...a quick ending was in store, but something sounded different...the bells were in the wrong spot, the bass drum missed an entrance, and I suddenly realized that I wasn't counting measures anymore.  Oh, such panic.......and then the movement was over...no sudden rush, no dramatic ending, and no crash cymbal.     :(

Thanks to Alison, Lisa, and Kim for coming out to the show.  And Kristen...thanks for everything you've done to support my dreams.