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Playing for Pleasure

May 27, 2008 at 12:16 AM

ON Sunday, I had the privilege to play one of those gigs that everyone loves playing. It was for a friend's father's 70th birthday, and they asked me to come and play, as he used to be a violinist. I just packed a whole heap of music and went off and played. It was just solo violin, though at points I was joined by a harmonica and piano accordion. But it was great fun, just playing music and not having to worry about what people thought. No matter what I played, they enjoyed it.

There was one guy who was particularly interested in me, and sat in front of me almost the whole time I was playing. I got talking to him and found out he liked Tchaikovsky. Looked in one of my books and found the theme to Tchaikovsky's first Piano concerto. Played that - he loved it. Later found out that his favourite piece was Romeo and Juliet. Later I noticed that I had a melody from that as well, so I was able to play that.

The trick now is to take what I was feeling and experiencing on that day, and recreate it during my classical, more "serious" performances.

I once had a similar experience. It was a paying gig for some wealthy woman's Xmas party. The people there weren't focusing on me. I was just supposed to sit and play classical music for background mood. I practiced and brought my Classical Fakebook with me. After a while, I was instructed to roam around the tables where people were eating and play music for them. I was completely unprepared for this, but I had fun with it. I played whatever came to mind, including Xmas carols, Bach, and bluegrass. That experience was fun, and it gives me courage to try the unexpected again.