Piano Performance

My brother nudged my elbow.

"You're next," he whispered .

"I know. Stop reminding me!" I said crossly.

Was I really next? Already? I can't do this, I can't. But can I? No, this must be a nightmare, I thought as I pinched myself to make sure it wasn't. I was sitting in a chair, in the midst of an audience facing a pianist on stage. There is no way I can get up there and play!! I thought to myself. My stomach churned, and I felt sick, and wouldn't have been surprised if my stomach had dropped out right then. Suddenly, the audience gave a round of applause, which startled me out of my thoughts. A feeling of dread came over me. It was my turn. Why can't something happen, like someone suddenly getting sick? I realized how selfish that thought had been, and quickly shamed myself for thinking that.

"Are you okay?" My mom asked, concerned.

"Ohh, uhhhh.... Yeah. I'm fine" I reassured her, though it felt like I was mostly trying to convince myself that I was going to be fine

"C'mon! Go, hurry!" My brother urged.

I slowly stood up and walked up to the aisle leading to the stage, my long, blue dress swishing around my ankles. Why do I have to do this? I thought. Half of me wanted to run back to my seat, but the other half, the stronger half, wanted to get this over with. Deep breath in, deep breath out, I thought, and pulled myself together to keep walking. I can do this, I will do my very best, I told myself. But deep down, I still thought that I would make a big mistake and embarrass myself in front of the whole audience.

As I walked down the carpet, I could feel everyone's eyes on me, and getting to the end of the carpet felt like it was taking hours. The stage loomed over me as I reached the top of the stairs, then on the stage. My teacher will be so mad at me if I mess up, I said to myself. My heels click-clacked on the polished wooden stage floor as I made my way to the piano. My hands reached to pull out the piano seat so that my feet would be able to push the golden pedals. The pedals were so shiny that I could see my reflection in them.

Wow, this piano is really pretty! I thought. I wanted to run my hands over the smooth black side of the piano, but I knew I wasn't supposed to do that. The lights from above glared into my eyes so that I could barely make out my mom hurrying to take a video of me. My palms were sweaty, and I blew on them to make sure my hands didn't slip off the piano in the middle of the piece. Well, here goes nothing! I thought. I sat down and placed my hands on the delicate keys of the piano, then set my hands in the starting position, and started to play. As I kept going, I told myself, 'I'm almost done, I'm almost done' and my fingers danced over the keys, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible.

Everything went smoothly for a while until I heard something. My fingers had landed on the wrong key. My muscles tensed, and I froze up. I wanted to bury my face in my hands and run off the stage, but my body didn't budge. The knot in my stomach got tighter. Why now? I thought pleadingly. Why when I'm so close to finishing??!! Calm down, I thought. Everyone makes mistakes. I remembered when my mom had given me advice while I had been practicing, "If you make a mistake, just keep playing, and nobody will notice." I shook my head. Don't get distracted! Then I realized that I was still holding the wrong note. I quickly put my hands on the right keys, and kept playing.

After that, I had a few bumps, but I never stopped again. As I neared the end, I found myself enjoying my time onstage, and I could feel a smile widening across my face. I'm doing it! I'm actually doing it!

For the final note, I gently and softly put my hands on the right keys, making it the perfect ending. That note echoed across the room, due to my holding down the pedal. After letting it stay like that for a moment, The audience noticed I was done and gave me a standing ovation. As I was bowing, a thought crossed my mind. I played my piece the best I could, and because of that, I was beaming. My mistake helped me. I'm glad that I didn't let my mistakes hold me back, I thought. It is true, I thought. I'm pretty sure nobody noticed that I had made a mistake. Nobody.