Tag Archives: energy

That Sweet Feeling of a Performance Gone Well

Earlier today I had the pleasure of performing at the Dodson Series Concert (these are concerts held once a month in the Dodson Room in Irving K. Barber Learning Centre), and I’m happy to report that all of the performances (all by UBC Music students) went very well!

Like pretty much anyone ever, I get a bit nervous before I play.  I used to get a lot more nervous than I do now, but with every performance I gain better control over my adrenalin. As I sat down at the harp, I took a deep breath in, imagined the first few bars as I wanted them to sound, and then began to play. I knew that I had that piece down cold.  I’d practiced well, and I had just played it in the dress rehearsal, and nothing was going to go wrong. One of the most important things I think I did today was keep breathing while I played  – it’s easy to forget when you’re nervous, and not breathing makes it very easy to get tense and tired which can sabotage your playing.

I finished the piece, and I don’t even remember playing a wrong note. I stood up, smiled, and bowed, letting the applause wash over me. After pouring all that energy out into the audience, it felt so good to feel all the appreciative energy of the audience come back to me.  A few people came up to me afterwards to congratulate me on my performance and let me know how much they enjoyed it. I think those people who come up afterwards are my favourite part of performing; knowing I’ve played in a way I’m proud of makes me feel great, but knowing that I’ve been able to connect with and inspire another person so much that they want to come up and thank me for it makes me feel amazing.

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Take a Second to Appreciate

Today as I was hurrying from the music building to my next class in the chemistry building (it’s actually a philosophy course; I don’t know why it’s in there), I sort of had a little magic moment.  As I walked past Koerner Library onto that big lovely square looking out at Irving, I was struck by how awesome UBC is.  I walked up to the railing that overlooked the mini-valley between Irving and Koerner, and watched as three friends lay sprawled out on the grass, eating their lunch; a man was practicing yoga on the pavement not far from them, and all around me people were walking, talking, laughing, rushing off to their next class; across from me people were puring in and out of Irving, and over my shoulder construction workers were getting on with their work, contributing to our ever-changing campus.

I took in a big breath of cool spring moment-of-sunshine-between-rain air, and thought:

Wow.

I thought, right in front of me, there is so much; there is beauty, there is friendship, there is happiness, there is progress, there is energy, there is innovation and love and opportunity and so much energy, oh my goodness, isn’t it so amazing?

You know when you go to recruitment and welcome events?  When you went to a campus tour?  When you went to Imagine Day, do you remember how you felt?  When they played that slide show, that movie, didn’t you feel so incredibly inspired?  Didn’t it all feel so magical?

That’s how it felt for me.  And I think that sometimes we get so caught up in homework and tests and trying to pay our tuition and making plans for the weekend or for the summer that we kind of forget how incredibly amazing this place is we live in every day.

UBC is a really awesome and magical place, and I really encourage you to just take a second to breathe it in and appreciate it, because it’s still as magical as it was when you were sitting in the stadium on Imagine Day.

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