Jumping in

After breakfast, we scrambled to get ready to leave for our rehearsal and our recital that was to happen immediately after. We met Jeremy's page turner, and then dove right in, trying out various parts of the program, feeling out the acoustic of the hall. We debated about whether the piano lid should be at at full or half stick, we ran through the portions of the program that caused us stress, we warmed up the appropriate parts of our bodies needed for performance, and then we waited. While I waiting, I wrote out some song texts, trying to make sure I had them in my memory. I exercised that silly singer habit of testing my voice to make sure that it hadn't left me even though it felt fine thirty seconds ago. Jeremy sat and calmly read. We tied our ties, and then headed out to the hall, and without ever having run the program start to finish, plunged into Purcell.
Suddenly, it was over, our encore finished, Jeremy and I taking our final bows. It felt like a good performance. For a first run, it felt miraculously incredible. Our focus was intense, our hearts expressive. There were some things that we would like to fix, but that is the magic of live performance. It is perfectly human in it's imperfection and must be left behind. Until the next time.