Symphony II: Dinger in a Tux

Were you AT the symphony show?  Did you hear about it?  Was it on the news?  YouTube?  Well…if you must know, I guess I’ll have to tell ya.

I hit a dinger.  The first night.  A dinger in a tux.

It happens to everybody.  Most of the time, you never know it.  A slightly missed cymbal crash gets lost beside a thumping bass line.  A clam of a chord is hardly noticed when danced across by a fiddle fill.  A briefly forgotten lyric is beautifully covered by a cool guitar move.

Then there’s me.  Oh, no.  I couldn’t make my mistake surrounded by a full orchestra.  Couldn’t count on my band brothers to cover.  Couldn’t hide inside the lights, the pomp, or the circumstance. 

Nope.  Right there at the top of “When Stars Go Blue,” when it’s me all by myself, nobody else, just me all out there "nekkid" – that’s when I hit mine.

Tim kept his cool; it didn’t bother him.  He just stopped everyone in their tracks and started over.  “Hang on…haaaang on…Jeff messed up, and we wanna do this one right!”  He smirkily grinned back.  He wasn’t mad; he was funny…but…yeeeaaaarrrg!  Now we start over. 

What’s the next note?  Uh…there it is.  It all sounds great.  I’m a nervous wreck.  Just shake it off.  Loosen up.  Get normal.  NORMAL?  I’m sitting down behind a Steinway piano surrounded by an orchestra and I almost never am sitting down and now I’ve got sweat running down the middle of my back wondering if I can remember I can feel it moving what key is the next song in even though I’ve played it probably two thousand time what was that oh my no that was right and cool their clapping…whew.

At that moment, I was really wishing we could just set down our instruments, walk out, take a deep breath…and then walk in and start over.  They said that was a bad idea.  Fine.

At least I looked good.

Comments

[Christine Donovan]

Jeff...three things: one, your "dinger" just makes you human; two, it gave you a fun subject to share in your blog; and three, if your gonna do a "dinger," then do it in a tuxedo!

Fun blog; it made me smile!

Christine

[Barb (of the flashing sign)]

Oh, my gosh! Leave it to Tim. I'm sure no one else in the audience would have noticed your "dinger." We've all hit them at one time or other; unfortunately, you just happened to be dressed to the nines, bonding with a Steinway, in front of a couple of thousand people. :)

(Sorry, but that makes me chuckle.)

I've played piano for 51 years, but before a performance I still get the jitters hoping I don't make a mistake. I also don't understand what sicko invented sharps. I bet it was a dentist.

Love your writing style, blogs, and your performances; all three make me smile. :)

[gayle]

Aahh...a dinger in style with many witnesses! I'm sure it was not that bad! Just shows you are only human like the rest of us! But when all was said and done, I am sure it was a great performance.

Hope you enjoyed yourself! All the best!