jL - Week in Practice - Commercial Success

Here is a quick Sunday night musing about what I’m focusing on this week.

In the classroom - a Commercial Success: Our final concert is Tuesday night.  We’re playing a lot of new music and (like always) we could certainly use a few more rehearsals.  For years, I would get extremely stressed and (more often than I’d like to admit) I would take it out on the ensemble.  We could play easier rep, and it would certainly be tighter, but I’d rather do it this way.  

A colleague once taught me that we’re not searching for a squeaky clean performance this week, but rather a Commercial Success.  If the kids and their families leave on Tuesday night humming a tune or two, with big smiles on their faces from the moving experience of a night of inspired music-making, then we’ve won.  Will there be a couple of moments that don’t live up to my expectations?  Could be, but the cost of getting it there isn’t worth it to me anymore.  

Please don’t misunderstand; I want it to be exceptional (and some of it will be), but most importantly, I want kids who are walking off the stage for (possibly) the last time to remember the feeling of making music and being part of something bigger than themselves.

Behind the scenes - Love Letters to my Future Self: I have a new pen pal.  This time of year, I’ve learned to write (love) letters to my future self.  When something catches me off-guard, I add it to my annual timeline, but more importantly, I schedule send my(future)self a quick note explaining what happened and reminding them how to avoid ending up in that space again.  It is extremely therapeutic (I can be pretty snarky and funny to future me 😛), but more importantly, if future me actually listens, it can save me the frustration in year 27!

Let me know how I can help - have an AMAZING week!

Jeff