What a mess! I played my first open mic tonight at the coffee shop behind my house and I was so nervous I could have taken a group picture by myself. The five cups of highlander grog coffee probably didn't help. I'm not drinking coffee next time! I did three songs, singing and playing, but they were the worst I've EVER played them. Not sure I've ever had nerves that bad when I played guitar and sang in front of people. Singing while playing banjo is much harder for me. I'm going back Thursday night for another helping of humility. It could only get better (I hope).
16 Comments |
 | panthersquall says:
3/15/2011 9:16:43 PM
Congratulations, David! I wouldn't worry too much about playing badly - we are always our own worst critics. The nerves are intense, though, aren't they? I don't imagine all that coffee made things any better! 5 cups, my goodness.
I'm learning to love humility. After a long week of being totally competent at everything, it's nice to go somewhere and make a complete fool of myself...
What songs did you play? What will you play on Thursday?
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 | David Cunningham says:
3/15/2011 9:47:27 PM
I played Sneaky Snake (Tom T. Hall), Jesus Walking on the Water (Violet Femmes), and The Draft Dodger Rag (Phil Ochs). It was the worst. I'm playing right now (not as I type though) through my entire song list with ease trying to reconcile the earlier mess and figure out what went wrong. The biggest mistake I made was not going outside to warmup first. I know I can't play until after a half hour or so. Dumb mistake. I know better.
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| David Cunningham says:
3/15/2011 10:05:40 PM
Thursday who knows...
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 | David M says:
3/16/2011 1:14:21 AM
All sounds very familiar David..!!
My 3rd helping is tonight and I'm not looking forward to it one bit yet..! The good thing is, mine are only the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of a month so I have 3 weeks off soon.. :-)
You may find it easiest to just play your most honest run of the mill tunes that your nerves can still ride without messing up. Try and impress during these early outings and it could all blow up in our faces me thinks..!
Anyway David, thanks for sharing your experience and good luck for tomorrow... David
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| panthersquall says:
3/16/2011 3:13:22 AM
Good luck to you tonight, David (M)!
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| David Cunningham says:
3/16/2011 5:50:05 AM
David M, if I played like you I'd be a lot less nervous. I listened to a couple of yours last night and I don't think you can properly be called novice any longer or very much longer anyway. You'll kill em I bet.
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 | rendesvous1840 says:
3/16/2011 10:03:37 AM
You might need to decaff a bit. Limit it to one cup, and switch to something else. Don't beat your self up, it won't change history if we miss a few notes or get out of time. The sun came up this morning, right on schedule. Even with Daylight Savings Time in effect.
Paul
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| David Cunningham says:
3/16/2011 10:10:24 AM
Water only now. I've hit my bottom. One is too many and a 1000 is not enough...
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| David M says:
3/17/2011 3:41:40 AM
Very kind of you davidus...I only wish I could produce on the night..!
I look forward to your future open mic reports, they say it gets easier..!!!...
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| David M says:
3/22/2011 1:24:55 AM
Have you had another go yet Davidus..?
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| David Cunningham says:
3/22/2011 3:53:33 AM
I may go up tonight. Still thinking about it. Probably will.
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| David M says:
3/23/2011 12:58:55 AM
Good luck then.. no pressure from here to perform or not but it'd be good to hear your experience one way or 'tother. Hopefully you'll enjoy it this time.. ;-)
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| David Cunningham says:
3/23/2011 5:39:24 AM
Much better this time. I had them all laughing before I began and with the goofy stuff I said between songs. I was the only banjo player at the event. I played and sang four songs during my set and then we each played an extra one at the end. My wife and three ladies from my church showed up, two of whom are in the choir with me. Now they want me to play "Oil in my Lamp" on Easter Sunday with everybody singing.
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| David Cunningham says:
3/30/2011 5:28:28 AM
Played third one last night. Even easier than last.
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 | TonyS says:
4/25/2011 3:26:36 PM
That's great - does it get easier? Nope -I still get nervous - just ry to have fun!!
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| David Cunningham says:
4/25/2011 3:28:45 PM
Last couple times I've been pretty relaxed. Now it's time to learn new songs.
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