Disney on Classic plays the nicest, most prestigious concert halls in the cities we visit. We are preceded and followed by the most famous names in the international music scene. At the Sejong Center in Seoul last week we followed Jose Carreras (one of the famous “3 Tenors”). The backstage walls in Niigata where we perform are emblazoned with a Who’s Who of artistic autographs from John Adams to Zubin Mehta. My dressing room in Osaka has autographed personal notes and photos of Herbert Von Karajan and Karl Böhm on the wall. It freaks me out to think that Von Karajan’s dressing room is now mine. I don’t even want to contemplate who has preceded me at Suntory Hall. It's too intimidating. I often suspect that when I tell people who actually know me what I do for a living they either don’t understand what I’m saying or they’re saying to themself, “Really? You? But you’re so...average.” There is the old saying that an expert is an average guy with a briefcase, far from home. That certainly applies to me. I’m about as average as they come. My parent’s weren’t musicians, I went to the public schools and had a very undistinguished career at an undistinguished college. In the display windows at the halls where we are appearing are the the posters of distinguished artists who will be appearing after Disney on Classic leaves town. Violinists, pianists, singers of every type, all looking so very sincere, so very well coifed, so very...artistic. I watch our concert master even as he is tuning up. The way he walks onstage, bows to the audience, his hand as he grips the bow. Then I look at me. I look at myself on the podium and it looks to me like I’m shaking a hammer handle at 60 people. Regular guys know about hammers.
It is also said that an expert is someone who has made every mistake possible in a very narrow field. This also applies to me. Spectacular, public error has been my teacher from day one. I have bombed so many times they should name a B-52 after me. Most people with any sense at all would have quit, and in fact, 99.9% of all the aspiring musicians I started with have gone back to being band directors, selling insurance, fixing automobiles and other real jobs. Meanwhile, here I am, sort of like the girl who came to LA to be a waitress but all the jobs were taken so she became an actress. A regular guy in a world of guys with 3 names.
1 comment:
kelley, you're so above average it makes my average head spin. us average guys look at you and think, "grrrrr! he's so darn above average! look at him, being all more than average and stuff! wow, what must it be like to be something other than average? dagnabbit!"
i will say, however, that the image of you as a waitress in l.a. sort of warms my heart. but i bet even as that, you'd be above average.
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