I sat in my chair, shaking with nervousness and excitement. I was about to play my fiddle at Higher Ground Music Center in South Burlington.
As the master of ceremonies introduced me, I started to walk up on stage. In the back of my head I heard cheering, but in front, everything was blank. I tried to remember what my friends and family told me, “Imagine that all the audience is in their underpants!”
Nope, I thought, that was just too weird. “Imagine you are just playing in your room and nobody is there.”
That’s impossible; there were more than 50 people in front of me. I tried hard to smile as I sat in front of the mic. I didn’t have the strength to do that now. Maybe if I played one song before, I would feel better.
I glanced at the song list in my hand. I decided not to follow that for now; when I wrote that, I was not nervous at all, just excited that I had this huge opportunity. But now I needed to play my favorite song that would let my stress out. “St. Nick’s” was the perfect song. As I droned on the A string for eight measures, I started to feel better.
Then I launched into the song. It was pretty fast paced and upbeat so I could only pay attention to the song, not the audience. It sounded really pretty and clear. When I finished the song, I felt so much better, happy even. I made my announcement, launched into another song and I was fine.
The Young Writers Project provides VPR's audience another avenue to hear and read selections from Vermont's young writers. The project is a collaboration organized by Geoff Gevalt at the Young Writers Project. The thoughts and ideas expressed here are the writers' own and do not necessarily reflect those of Vermont Public Radio.
