We all have been there. Forgetting our vocal line, missing the cue, blowing the arrangement; one domino falls over and the entire band goes with it. As uncomfortable as it can be, revealing our disappointment on stage, telling the audience how badly its been blown with body language and comments to one another, should never occur.

I, for one, take mistakes very personally. I believe I can perform at a higher standard, never comparing myself to others, but comparing myself to myself. My personal standards are much too high and that’s not right to lay on someone else.

They, who ever they are, say that public speaking is considered one the most fearful experiences a person can have. How about botching parts on stage and throwing everyone off? Particularly annoying is working with sequences and not playing the proper arrangement: oops, that was the chorus but here we all are at a verse.

How do you fake your way out of that? Well, you just do. Sometimes you stop; it can’t be taken back.

How about most of the band being half in the bag by first down beat? Don’t worry, by the third set they will all be fully in; that’s when the fun starts.

One of the things I love about all of this is how thick my skin has become; it is becoming ever more difficult to shame myself. I used to become mortified at mistakes but now I recognize blunders as Standard Operating Procedure. I attribute my complacency to error as part of a humans ability to adapt. My personal evolution has gone from being disconcerted by failure to owning the mistake. Let’s just see if I can consciously repeat the flub next measure. Call it technique.

Can we help you in anyway?