It was a week where I kept asking myself, "why did I offer to do this?". In order to come up to a presentable level for our public performance, I felt I had to put in the best effort I could. I was joining a group who have been performing together for over a decade. I practiced for 1 to 2 hours each day.
Last night was the event. I felt like I was driving down a mountain road with no brakes. We stood for the whole performance; I hadn't spent any time playing while standing. The group leader would call out a song, we'd find it in our binders, and go. I was the tenor; we had alto, soprano, and bass/baritone. So everyone can hear exactly what's coming out of my horn, because each one of us had a different part. I was sight-reading about half of the songs we played. It was intense.
We started at about 5:20, played until we broke at 6, then played from 6:10 to 6:45. It was a long time, and a lot of songs. I was exhausted, but I think it went pretty well. There weren't any major gaffes, the group members seemed generally favorable, and the crowd was entertained. A few of the regular community concert band members were there, and they were impressed with my effort.
The group indicated that there would probably be another time (like the Christmas season) where I might be asked to repeat. And that's how we left it. I gave the alto player (who plays clarinet next to me in the band) her tenor back, and the soprano player (1st clarinet in the band) all the music back. Knowing I'll regret this, here's a snippet of a song we performed. I'm wearing shorts.
