Playing the piano is one thing - we all love to play, once we can hit a few notes correctly, play a song, have some music in our lives - but performing is another.
And yet why do we play an instrument if not to perform, for ourselves and others? And so I, like most instrument teachers, have my students, as part of their learning journey, perform publicly for others.
Because everybody loves to hear some live music.
And then there's the challenge behind the challenge: learning the piece.
Thus we musicians are always battling our Frankensteins.
But perhaps worst of all are what I call the Obscura Daemonia, the Hidden Demons. A Hidden Demon is a part of your piece that you have down pat, that you never mess up, that you're best friends with, that you don't even think about but then at your performance, wham, it turns on you: this is the part you mess up on, not the horrid Frankenstien you were worried about but this easy part that you totally knew!
Of course, a couple of wrong notes isn't the end of the world, and, as I'm always reminding my students, a few wrong notes don't spoil an over-all beautiful piece.
Everybody sounded good at the dress rehearsal. I think we've taken care of all the monsters. I think we'll all be okay.
Excuse me now while I go on one quick last Frankenstein patrol.