The Scariest Moment

“What’s the scariest moment of your life?”

That is a question that never fails to fish up a good conversation starter. For me, it was a night back in February. It was a good enough amount of months after I switched to a new piano teacher. Well, she was a member of “The Greater Muskegon Piano Teachers Association”. Every year, they put on a competition for all of the students of teachers in the association. The first and second place winners receive scholarship money. Anyway, I got “invited” to compete. Knowing me, of course I procrastinated accepting the invite. I thought and thought and just kept waiting some more. Finally, the deadline came. The day of the deadline arrived, and was stalking me at every turn. I call my teacher and accept. She was super excited. Ok….Hopefully I won’t have to see anyone I know. That’ll be embarrassing. I’m just a newbie, everyone’s gonna judge me! At the time, I was in a musical, so I told my director that I would be absent for rehearsal. I loved going to rehearsal, so this was actually quite a big deal. The big day came. A sense of dread washed over me as I walked in and see THREE Spring Lake High School students. I actually considered going back to rehearsal. I was downright terrified. I sat with Amanda and Mackenzie as the recital began. We all were discussing what songs we were playing. And of course, the worst thing that could happen, happens. Mackenzie and I were both playing the same song: Bach’s Invention #13. She is SUPER GOOD at piano. Like, “been playing all her life good”. (This is a good time to note that I wasn’t playing to win, it was just a yolo decision to get practice at my poor performance skills.) The recital begins. My hands shake. My legs shake. My whole body is having tremors. I had to play right after Amanda, who is an amazing pianist. I thought, “WHY AM I EVEN IN THIS ADVANCED DECISION, I’VE ONLY PLAYED FOR A YEAR AND A HALF!?! NOT EVEN!!” I sat there getting more nervous after every performer finished and the applause began. Finally, Amanda went up, my legs shook like a fresh thunder storm, and my hands twitched. She finished playing. OH MY GOSH WHY AM I HERE?! I just wanted more than anything to go back to rehearsal and be my other character instead of myself. She finished playing. The moment of truth began. I had to walk up to the stage. I sat down, all eyes on me, judging the new girl. I start playing. I get stuck on one part in my invention, but I keep going. I don’t even think, my hands just play like a machine. A terrified machine. Then I play my Debussy song. Ok….ALL DONE. I hear the applause as I take my bow. I then fly to my seat quickly. After everyone played, some teacher gave me a chocolate eighth note, so it was a win for me! I’m pretty sure I ate it right there, too. Piano and chocolate make for a lot of excitement, so I called it a day.