The above video is not me playing, unfortunately, but Yuri Charyguine; however, it is the same instrument that I play (bayan - B system chromatic button accordion, that is) and I did play the same piece in public - rather less expertly - yesterday. It was all extremely scary: Martin, one of the organisers of Topsham Rock School, asked me a while back if I'd like to play a short slot for the Topsham Ferryman's Weekend open air music event at the Passage House Inn.
This was a great idea theoretically, but it was very different on the day. There must have been around 60-70 people, and it was the first time I'd played amplified, but it went pretty well; I did a jazz-based set of Stormy Weather, Stranger on the Shore, and Autumn Leaves. I was majorly nervous, but it helped to go round the corner and play for a couple of minutes to warm up. In fact the anxiety didn't kick in fully until afterward, when I bought a cooling Mojito (below) and found I couldn't pick up the glass because my hand was shaking so much. Still, I can live with that: getting over public performance anxiety ("I can play this perfectly at home" syndrome) is one of the problem areas I'm having to work on, and it's definitely getting less during the actual playing.
(The act after me was Elphick the juggler, who briefly played piano accordion while riding a unicyle. I refuse to learn to do that!).
- Ray
No comments:
Post a Comment