deborahjross | First piano recital

A few months ago, I decided I was ready to try playing in front of other people. For some reason, I have enormous performance anxiety about playing and singing, but not speaking/reading, teaching, dancing. My teacher has been so supportive, and the playfulness and fun of the recital made an idea environment.

I played Bach Minuet in dm, singing my own lyrics -- that was the hard part. Bach is tricky because (a) if you mess up the fingering, you're a goner; (b) the hands are playing phrases that overlap, so there are very few places where they both start together. Then I launched into my "LotR suite: -- "In Dreams," sung and played, then "Rohan," (Eowyn's Theme and "King of the Golden Hall."

Of course, I made lots of fumbles and mistakes; had to start the second part of the Bach again 'cause I got lost. But... I had fun, there were places the music sang, and I was so surprised when I nailed the high E in "In Dreams" that I just hung out there for what seemed like forever, but was probably only 1/2 sec!

Now the adrenaline is draining away and I'm about to do a little writing before a hard-earned rest.