Recital

Once a year I put on a pretty dress and stand in front of a bunch of friends and family and colleagues on an incredibly hot stage and show them what I've been doing with all that time I've spent in the practice room. Yesterday was that day.

As always, there were things that went really well and things that didn't go well at all. In my defense, I've been pretty distracted lately, which is contributing to my lack of posting. About two weeks ago, I found out that I have been accepted to study at Aspen, one of the most prestigious summer festivals in the US. Nine weeks in Colorado this summer! Needless to say, I've been over the moon about it. It has, however, cast a bit of an extra element of challenge over my recital. Suddenly there was all this extra pressure to be amazing, to do everything perfectly, to prove that I really deserved to go to Aspen. Every little mistake was proof that I didn't deserve it. It was really messing with my head. Slowly, slowly, I was getting past it, trying not to think about how excited I was and just focus on getting the recital done. And it was working, sort of. But I really think that the things that didn't go well last night were a function of my messed up head, and not a function of me not knowing my music or being able to play it well.

So now I can get excited! And I just bought a new mouthpiece last week, which I haven't been able to play until the recital was over. I can't wait to move ahead, to learn and grow and continue to put on recitals! Onward!