Biting a Bullet

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bertrayo5.9 K11 months agoPeakD5 min read

"Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don't feel like doing them."

Julius Erving

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/bertrayo/Enyo4d2KNC9dwGuWMVoWdT9r7awN4qgRzhmXSAVcpnyFGVx2s9Vx9PFMvLJYQdCFZvJ.png

Hello there, full-time weekenders!

My weekend would have been enjoyable without getting a sort of gig.

Let me explain,

I received a call some days ago about the anniversary activities for the 65th anniversary of UDO (my alma mater) and it was about playing some songs during a botanic exposition in the museum house of the poet Ramos Sucre. This alone wouldn't be a problem. Except that on weekends, I spend my days creating content for the week and doing stuff for the workshop.

No one was pushing me to take this on; however, considering how often I find myself taking part of the activities on the house and helping with other things, it was hard to say "no". That comes as a surprise. Having problems with that word isn't in me. The fact is that I need to experience performing with public. Even when the whole activity isn't related to music.

Here is were the plot twist is introduced and you get the idea of why this is a problem. It's simple.

When I got the call, I realized that from the whole covers I have recorded, there was 0 repertoire developed. Basically, I said yes to a gig without having any preparation. And this has cost me working on lots of things during the week. For the simple reason of not studying some pieces. So, I appointed two classes for this week just to get on with the repertoire and have worked till exhaustion to get everything right.

It hasn't been easy, but I'll manage. All this idea makes me regret saying 'yes' to this opportunity, but let my future self be the one that worries about the performance and all. I have little time to write this and keep studying the hard passages.

Meanwhile, my present self (the one writing this for you in the past) is thinking about how good could these songs be for a botanic activity. Certainly, I'm playing green music (if that's a thing). I just hope people don't get bored from the selection of music that has a little bit of everything I have recorded so far. It's already to late to call quits. And I don't like quitting!

And this whole problem has been an important call to get a grip on a repertoire as soon as possible. I went from knowing 1 song from memory to 8 in less than a week. It's a good thing I keep a YouTube channel as a bank of videos for the sole purpose of coming back to pieces. This didn't save me a sermon from the teacher about studying the songs I know.

Or that I'm supposed to know. I count 45 videos of solos in the channel. 45 and I remembered just the newest cover. I'm a joke!

However, I'd love to spend my weekend on my projects and keep my time to myself, but that's something that might be getting too much in the way of accomplishing other goals in life. Maybe going outside more isn't going to get in the way of projects and might even take me to other paths to be considered. Who knows is someone likes the music and I find myself playing gigs around town. More money and more music wouldn't hurt, don't you think?

But I digress. By the time you're reading this tomorrow, I'll already be preparing for my gig and understanding what it means to move from one place to another during a performance. According to the instructions, I'm supposed to take breaks between songs and enjoy the plants and a chat. Then, change places and play elsewhere. I don't like that idea of having music as a side dish for an activity that is an actual social gathering between people who like gardening and plants in general. Having music in the way makes it hard to get a conversation going without the proper atmosphere.

Now that I think about it, maybe that's the whole part bothering me. Playing is fine, but being part of the atmosphere is weird. This all comes from the kind of musician who hasn't done any gig in his life. And this doesn't count either since there's no pay.

However, the show must continue!