Performing on Stage

Daily writing prompt

Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?

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I’ve performed on stage twice recently, which if viewed on a bar graph would look like the only data set, a small blip, for many years.

Sunday December 7th, my symphonic band had a concert. This concert season was the first time I’ve played saxophone seriously or as part of a group since high school. I think I was being a bit hard on myself because I felt disappointed that I hadn’t truly mastered any of the 10 pieces part of our concert. A more generous and objective perspective reveals that it was an excellent concert, and that I should be very proud of myself for re-embracing saxophone, joining a community, and creating art.

The second performance actually occured a few days earlier, meaning there’s no good reason for this paragraph to come after the previous one. Anyway – it began by taking out the trash. As I was doing so, I noticed a stranger outside my apartment building. I let them in (sue me), but the first thing this person said to me was “Do you like music?” After responding in the affirmative, and telling him that I dabble in writing, he said “You should come to my open mic a few blocks down.” I had a few hours to kill, so I did end up going to the mic to check it out. Despite this new friend’s encouragements to perform, I did not end up doing so, citing any of the excuses you’d expect: nerves, not being prepared, etc. The next week, however, I bumped into this same person, and for whatever reason, or the inherent irrationality of the human brain, I decided to perform. And it went well! My voice was steady, but I didn’t know what to do with my hands. There was hardly anyone at the open mic’s venue, and I recognized that hardly any of these people would be paying hardly any attention at all; all of these factors made it easier to get over my nerves. I ended up reading some short writings from this blog as well as some older poems from years gone by. I will do the mic again. It’s another exercise in growth, or another way of putting my art out there, of rooting my writing tendrils into the earth to support my identity of being a writer.