As a person who has performed on stage for years (dance, acting, teaching, etc.) and who likes improvisation and live moment, I thought I was ready to perform anytime.

However, apparently I was not so much, especially in a field I was not so much familiar with. This reminded me that being prepared anytime is pretty important, not only in performance opportunity but also in any other occasion like work environment.

The other day, I had an excursion through my job in which all of a sudden I was asked to play the guitar in front of 20-30 people.

They probably thought I was good at guitar but I was not prepared, since I had not played for many years. Although I like playing music (I used to play the piano for 9 years, trombone for 1 year, and guitar for 1 year), but when it comes to showing, it is different.

As a performer, I really don’t like to do a mediocre show, so I said I wasn’t ready at all, but it  was not listened to. Sometimes people might think that Japanese people are just being humble although they are skillful, but this was not the case whatsoever. I could see much expectation in their eyes.

Ok, I tried (half drunk).

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What happened? I didn’t go well at all.

I every criticized the guitar in my mind (it was not tuned correctly) which was my fault as well, since the guitar had nothing wrong with my poor performance. In fact, I was the one who got this guitar for free: when we bought 40 guitars to provide to children for a project, I asked if it’s possible to provide us 1 sample. The supplier kindly provided one, which caused my shameful performance.

It was my capacity which I had to criticize to, not a guitar.

This time, I learned that:
You never know when people ask you to perform, so you need to be prepared all the time with constant practice, which can be applied to other things.

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