High School is Still High School

Due to an accompanying gig, I had the joy of visiting Billings West High School this morning. What an adventure! I hadn’t been inside of a public high school in years and honestly? I kind of expected things to be very different than my 1985-1988 years at MCHS. More George Jetson robots or iPads or something. But instead, I saw paint that must be purchased by all public schools in one giant vat, locker signs (OK, the graphics were way cooler than our Commodore 64 “computers” could create back in the 80’s), announcements attached to bulletin boards with pushpins, and girls in choir dresses warming up their alto lines in the stairwells at the end of each hall.

(I particularly enjoyed this poster. I’m so old I’m cool and retro! Very fun!)

Due to my 35-minute early arrival (I didn’t trust my ability to not get lost and I don’t ever want someone I’m accompanying to be nervous so I pad my time with a lot of Tara lost time, just in case), I also got to people watch. A lot. It was great. Strong, handsome, sturdy young men playing instruments with a decent amount of accuracy and intonation. (OK. I’m trying to be gracious. Most of the kids I heard were just awful on intonation. Yeek! Ouch! I think I’ve forgotten how bad “tuning” is for young people.) Lovely young ladies carrying French Horns and flutes, adjusting their formal choir dresses, nervously chatting amongst themselves.

Oh! How I wanted to just take them all aside and look them in the eyes and tell them:

– You are lovely! You’re doing great. Relax. Enjoy. I know it’s hard to imagine the big picture when you’re fifteen years old, but this is actually a great season of your life in so many ways. You got to dedicate time and effort to rehearsing for this competition? You have a teacher? A private instructor? Parents who support you pursuing music AND academics (and probably sports too, I bet)? Take a deep breath, do your best, and let it go. Enjoy!

– When you finish your piece, the temptation will be to fixate on the one or two measures that weren’t the very best you can do or the very best you’ve ever done. We all are prone to do this—we measure every note, measure, and phrase by the BEST we’ve done and then we get so discouraged by how we didn’t quite measure up “when it mattered.” The truth is, we are all our own worst critics and the weak parts probably weren’t anywhere near as weak as we think. Plus, there’s nothing to be gained in fixating on the negative now. You did your best? Prepared well? Tried hard? Great! One more deep breath. Big smile. Happy thoughts. Let. It. Go.

In the interest of full disclosure as I’m writing all of that for the “kids”, I should probably tell you that preparing to accompany this piece has been a HUGE (huge huge HUGE!) stressor for me over the course of the last few months. When I first got the score, I couldn’t even fumble my way through it. I had to sit there for hours (and hours and hours) … note by note, writing in fingerings, practicing two and three measures at a time (for HOURS). I was a completely out of shape pianist train wreck. I really didn’t know if I could work up my chops enough to serve well.

But hooray! Nothing like good old fashioned HARD WORK practice to get you ready, even for difficult things. And I can honestly say that I don’t believe I held back the (WONDERFUL!) young woman who I had the joy of accompanying. She did great and I didn’t have any clunkers or missed (constant, running) notes, so hooray! And thank You, Lord, for helping me to persevere and serve well.

(If you’re interested in hearing the piece, it is the first movement of the Bach Violin Concerto in a minor. There is a sweet video of Maestro Isaac Stern playing it here …)

With that, I’m heading back into my real life …

Happy Monday!

Your friend,
Tara B.