Nothing gives me the heebie jeebies like playing my banjo when
a) I’m recording a video
b) somebody can hear me.
I know sooner or later I will have to play for people & play with other people. Frankly, I wasn’t looking forward to it. So I’m taking baby steps to get ready for it.
I’ve started picking on the porch. Occasionally people walk by & see me playing. I’ve been surprised at how many people say “Sounding good!” as they walk by. Then I realized most of them have never seen a banjo in real life before, much less hear someone picking. But it’s helped me get over a bit of stage fright.
Now I’ve gone one step further. Monday is my day to go & visit with elderly sick & shut-ins from our church, and one woman expressed an interest in banjo music. So I told her I would bring mine along, which I did three weeks ago. She had never seen a real banjo, and it intrigued her. (She’s sharp as a tack at 92, with cancer.)
I played a bit for her & her daughter. They were fascinated by the case & the stuff I had in it.
So it’s become a routine for me to bring out the banjo for about 5 minutes of music. Today, I picked “Amazing Grace,” and the ladies sang along. No one has ever sung to my music before, so it was pretty cool.
I know this is not Carnegie Hall nor the Grand Ole Opry. But my music was reaching another person and I was getting over the heebie jeebies.
The moral of the story: Go slow to play fast. Play for your dog, your cat, the trees & the birds. Sooner of later, you will play for one or two strangers.
You’ll be glad you did.
