Hello Students!
As you may know, I spent last week playing with my band Fierce Bad Rabbit at the South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, TX!
SXSW is a massive festival where every conceivable venue in the city of Austin is converted into a performance space for bands. This festival attracts bands from all over the world to come and be heard. The week long event seems to get bigger and bigger every year and has earned a reputation as a sought after performing opportunity for any serious musician.
Fierce Bad Rabbit has been fortunate enough to play at SXSW for the last few years and usually plays several shows throughout the week. This year, we played 4 separate sets throughout the week, which gave us enough time to wander around the city and try to catch some good music.
While the entire festival is fun and exciting, the psychology of performing in front of people is still something to be comfortable with, especially being in an unfamiliar environment and playing for people you’ve never met! I’m usually pretty relaxed when performing with FBR, but I had one moment of panic when I completely botched a guitar solo at one of our biggest showcases! As I began my solo, I noticed people’s heads turning towards me as I began. There was even a man about 4 feet away from me with his video camera pointed directly at my guitar.
“Don’t mess up” I thought to myself.
For reasons yet unknown, my solo crumbled away into a shameful mumble of missed notes and confusion as most people watched and some filmed. I felt like dying. It is at moments like this, which will probably happen to you (hopefully in a less extreme degree) that you must keep calm and keep playing without the disgusted look of disappointment on your face. Nobody really knows if you mess up as long as you keep your face calm or smiley.
I spent the next few songs trying to gain back my composure and confidence while forgetting about what had happened. Eventually the set was over and I was free to escape the judgement from the world. As soon as I left the stage, I was complimented by a handful of people on my playing, to which I immediately confessed my embarrassment of the ill fated solo. No one seemed to recall what had happened and all of them told me not to worry about it. My band didn’t even notice when I mentioned it to them later on that day. The world was a brighter place.
I take music way too seriously sometimes. Don’t be like me. Try to have fun and be happy with what you are doing, even if you mess up a few times in front of a bunch of people. It will happen eventually. It happens to everyone. Keep calm and be smiley.