Concert

So, just got back from my band concert.
We had a really great repertoire this time. We had a couple songs from Riverdance, as well as a selection of Star Wars songs. And three other songs as well.
I had a solo in Riverdance - the opening theme to the entire show (usually played on a tin whistle). I'll see if I can find a recording.
Originally I was going to play a small solo at the end of Yoda's theme. But it was made up entirely of long notes, so every time I shook, the notes sounded horribly wobbly. I kept hoping I'd get over it. There were three rehearsals where Christina (1st flute, and an AMAZING musician) was away, so I took over all her solos - like Princess Leiya's theme. It was good practice for me to play i front of the people, and I did pretty well. But even after that, I was still wobbly on Yoda's solo (despite me being able to paly it perfectly at home). So, finally a little over a month ago I said to Christina "you'd better take this solo, or I'm going to screw up the piece."
So when we next rehearsed it, Mr. G said, "Christina, you take Yoda's solo. Tara, you take the Riverdance solo.
There are two solos in Riverdance - the beginning one, and then one during the main Riverdance theme, which is fun and fast and which I can play fine, since it's fast enough that I don't shake on it). Except he had to shorten the piece. We had so much music that if we played the whole thing, our concert would have been raeallly long. So the second solo was in danger of being cut. I wish we could have played the whole thing, but the parts we did play were really fun.
So, I asked which solo was mine, and he said the opening solo.
Mentally I was going "why would you do that!" because that has long notes in it too, which will sound horrible if I start shaking again. But it's a beautiful piece, and I loved to play it.
I could play it perfect in the solitude of my living room. But during several of the rehearsals, I did shake on the long notes.
Then on Tuesday, I discovered that our concert was the following Thursday, AKA today (I thought it was the next week). So, it was my last chance to rehearse my solo with the band. We played it twice. The first time, my stupid nerves had me shaking all over the place. But I did really well the second time. Maybe because Christina got me to laugh a lot and relax, and maybe because I sat up straighter. I dunno. Either way, I got it during the last rehearsal. ^-^'

Dad really loves Riverdance, so I kept our performance of it a secret. I only practiced my solo when he wasn't around. And I set him up for it by getting him to watch Riverdance with me last night.
Riverdance was the second piece in our set. And it started right out with my solo. I did pretty good. I think I shook on a couple of the long notes, but apparently it wasn't really obvious. The ornaments (bends) helped to disguise it. Slightly less than most of my practice runs at home, but pretty darn good. People said I did really good, so hopefully they were being honest instead of polite. Heheh.
Dad was really surprised about Riverdance. I set him up sufficiently. ^-^
Whoo. I need more practice at solos, just so I stop freaking out about them. ^-^' Just dump me in front of a room full of people and make me play for about an hour.
On the plus side, it's made my speeches better, since speeches aren't nearly as nerve-wracking as solos (because in class, no one is really listening to you. Heheh. You know it's true).

I can't seem to find a good recording of my solo. Most of the youtube videos have cut the beginning off. Either that, or there's annoying narration over it. Anyway, it's the slow solo at the beginning of Reel Around the Sun.

Anyone who hasn't seen Riverdance should definitely see it. I can't recommend it enough. It's AMAZING. Especially the original (which, unfortunately, I don't believe has been released on DVD). But the two original main dancers are insanely amazing. Let me see if can find a video of the guy. He held (still holds?) the world record for fastest footsteps. The DVD version is sort of a mix of several different performances. It has clips from the original. And it has some new pieces too. Like Shivna. I really like that one.
I got to see this live a while ago. I posted about it. Though the two lead dancers weren't as good as the original, a lot of the other acts were better than the original.
Ah, here's the finale. This will do.