That time I almost missed my recital ...

When I was growing up in Michigan, I was very lucky to be part of an early morning strings program. It offered children in grade 4 and 5 free music lessons and we could borrow the instruments for free during the school terms. I was so excited and happy to be able to choose violin as my instrument. The first time I took the violin home, I opened the case and lovingly stroked the blue velvet lining. I had learned about the bow and rosin that first day. I was so eager to show off to my sister that I could play! I tightened the bow, used the rosin on it as the teacher instructed and thought, I am ready! Say hi to the next Mozart! I put the violin under my chin and off I went.

Of course I was horrible! The squeaky scratchy sounds coming from the violin were definitely not the musical masterpiece I imagined in my mind. Poor family! Poor neighbors!

Because the lessons took place before school started and we had to wait at a bus stop to get on a yellow school bus to take us to another school for the classes, winter mornings were the worst! I had to get up at the crack of dawn to get ready. My friend would knock on my door and we would trudge through the snow to get to the bus stop. Sometimes I really didn't want to get out of bed. My nose was always red and runny and my fingers felt frozen despite the mittens. But the thought of being able to perform on stage at the end of the year motivated me to never skip a lesson.

My friend and I gradually improved and kept practicing. As the planning for the final recital approached, I was really hoping to be chosen to perform a solo or duo to have a chance to shine on stage. My teacher ended up getting my friend and I to play a violin duo. We felt so honored to be among the few selected.

Because the girls had to wear white blouses and dark blue or black skirts, I also had an excuse to go shopping! We were poor back then so I never had new clothes. Most of the time I wore hand me downs. My mom took me to the mall and I tried on various blouses and skirts before deciding on a very crisp long blue skirt and a soft white long sleeved shirt with a beautiful scalloped collar. I was so happy!

As the night of the recital was drawing near, my friend and I practiced for many hours every day. We wanted everything to be perfect! The day of the recital we had a rehearsal in the morning and got dropped off at school as usual. When the last bell rang I excitedly grabbed my violin case and rushed home. I got dressed and was rearing to go when I realised that the sheet music was missing! What? Where could it be? Not in my bag, not under the table or bed, nowhere to be found.

"Oh no! What am I going to do? My friend will kill me!"

Now, you might think that we would have memorized all the notes, but we were beginners! We would not be able to play without the sheet music.

Panicked, I shouted to my mom that I needed to get back to school to get the papers from my desk. "I am certain I left them there."

Unfortunately we didn't have a car so I had to run all the way to school. Luckily it wasn't too far but I was panting and panting when I got there. By then all the cars in the parking lot were gone and I tried to pull open the front doors, but of course they were all locked. I rushed to the side door banging on it as hard as I could to see if there was anyone inside who could open the doors for me. No response. My tears were flowing down by this stage and I was desperate. I ran to the back of the school where my classroom was.

I was tempted to break a window open and climb in when I noticed the janitor in the room!! Thank God! I was crying loudly and had snot coming out of my nose but I didn't care. I jumped up and down and rapped on the window to get his attention. He was vacuuming so he could not hear me at first.

"Can you let me in? I forgot something very important"! He must have thought I was crazy. But the nice man quickly opened the door for me and let me run to my desk. I opened the top and saw the sheet music hiding under two other pieces of paper. What a huge relief! But I needed to run back as fast as I could to get in my friend's mom's car so we could make it to the concert in time.

By the time I ran home I was so out of breath I wanted to just collapse and die. But of course I couldn't! I am so glad that I didn't let my friend down. We played the duo without any mistakes and the sound of the applause really made all the hours of practice and early mornings worth it. That was such a memorable day.

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