Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Sax in public

It was my sax teacher Mel's wedding on Sunday. Do you recall she asked if I would play a solo at her reception? (She'd asked half a dozen of her other students too and told us that we could bottle out on the day if we couldn't face it.)   

I was talking to a couple of fellow wedding guests immediately after the ceremony about playing the sax, solo, in public, and how nervous I was, and how it is not something I have yearned to do. I just wanted to play the sax for me. And the woman said "Oh, everyone should have playing in public on their bucket list."  I bridled inwardly, thinking, Surely the thing about a  bucket list is that it is deeply personal and there are no universal shoulds or shouldn'ts. For the record I have two remaining items on my bucket list - to go camping with my younger brother, and to do a US road trip with my fabulous daughter-in-law Wendy (she of the margarita episode).

Mel's wedding reception was in the evening and I came home to get changed into fitted black trousers, a black top with a fifties neckline (it was a fifties-themed wedding) and these earrings and this leather bracelet:



Yes, the earrings are HUGE. Not fifties, but funky.

I thought I looked ace, until I saw the photo of me taken at a distance, when all I could see was a grey haired woman (whose hair wasn't doing what it should have been) wearing reading glasses, which were way more prominent than her funky earrings. This is why I am giving you a photo of the jewellery and not of me wearing them.  I always think i look better than I actually do - it's like a reverse of the body image problem that anorexics have, but at least it means I get a little confidence boost. 

I waited for my turn to play, shaking imperceptibly and with my heart thumping harder than I can remember it doing before. The last three times I'd practised Ain't Misbehavin' at home I had fluffed a bar, the same bar.

I am used to speaking in public and am rarely phased by it. I can always make a self-deprecating joke to get the audience on my side. But playing a solo in public is different. There is no space for jokes.

Well....I played! I smudged the same bar, and I lost the timing for two bars in As Time Goes By, but I picked up just fine and Zoe (who was there for moral support) said that Joe Public didn't clock a damn thing (ref. Acorn Antiques.) 

Mel was delighted, which made it all worth it. 

But I don't want to do it again. 












4 comments:

Christine said...

Well done!

marmee said...

such a brave thing!

Sue Hepworth said...

thank you, Chrissie and Marmee.

Anonymous said...

The things we do to please people - Mel was happy - you didnt die (looking at CBT at the moment! ) you didnt have to do it but you did - and you dont have to do it again - but you could because you survived. Well done. Jenetta