Cheyenne had another orchestra concert on Tuesday.  This concert was a series of pieces by small performance groups that the students in each group had selected. The groups ranged in size from a duo to seven or eight.  Their teacher, Mrs. Klundt, said they did all the work themselves with only minor coaching from her.

I have to give these kids my due respect, I would be scared to death to play in such a small group in front of people.  Every single movement of the bow is noted in such pieces.  All the eyes and ears are on you and that is an awful lot of pressure.  It is quite different than middle school orchestra where you have a whole slew of kids playing at the same time.

There are not that many students in freshman orchestra.  I would guess they number somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 or so.  As such, the audience was quite small – I’d guess there were about 40 people there.  My whole family always tries to attend Cheyenne’s performances.  That is how we roll.  This time around, Cory, Niloufar, and Dusty could not make it, but Mike, me, Sarah, Noah, and Shelby (Noah’s girlfriend) were there along with both Cheyenne’s grandmothers on her father’s side and her grandfather.  Yes, out of the estimated 40 or so folks in attendance, there were eight people there for Cheyenne alone.  I often remind Cheyenne when she tells her siblings that they don’t have to come to any given performance, that she is fortunate to have so many family members nearby to attend her events.

The day after the performance, Cheyenne told me she was really quite nervous during her pieces.  She said her heart was in her throat and her hands were visibly shaking.  I did not notice this during the show.  This type of nervousness is almost completely counter to Cheyenne’s outward display of cocky teenage confidence.  It reminded me that at the end of the day, she is still just a kid.

That doesn’t mean that less family members will attend performances.  We are who we are.  What it means is that I will spend a little more time reminding her that life is full of such moments where you fear making a mistake while everyone is watching; and, while mistakes will invariably be made, they are not the end of the world.   All there is to do is to prepare and do her best – she may not win an award every time (or ever), but she’ll know she participated fully.  No matter what, she can know her family collective will be there to support her and seeing as she is the most talented viola player in our family we have nothing but praise for every bow stroke.  😉