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Last night, I played a concert with the wind ensembleof which I have been a member of for 7 years. As some of you know, I am totally deaf. Be that as it may, I don't have enormous problems with most music (my attacks are a tad early - no tuning problems). All during the rehearsals leading up to it, I was having major problems and panic attacks about my playing. Well, the concert went smoothly, with only a couple minor glitches on my part (thank God); but, when we played the Stars and Stripes Forever (which I should have memorized; I've played it so often). I skipped a whole phrase (after the dogfight) and repeated from the trio. That, of course, caused some interesting 'double strikes' on notes. The saving grace was that it was the same notes, just on the beats, instead of off the beats. That brings me to my question: HOW THE HELL CAN YOU MESS UP SOMETHING THAT YOU KNOW SO WELL AND STILL PLAY ALL THE OTHER MUSIC THAT YOU WERE TOTALLY TERRIFIED OF? Just one of the rhetorical problems for which the members of this board might have similar stories and or theories.

Terrified means watching the page and trying really hard. Lots of concentration. Mentally draining. After a half-hour or more of that on a concert, it's easy to lose focus. Stars and Stripes came up, and the autopilot tried to kick in. Sadly, your screensaver came on before S&S was done.

I wish I could claim it's never happened to me...