It's very late and tomorrow is a long day, but just a quick post because tonight's concert deserves it. It was one of those concerts where the energy and interaction between musicians reminded me why I signed up in the first place.

I was also incredibly nervous for the concert, but then, waiting in the wings, two things happened. First, I was inspired by the very intrepid violin playing coming from Veronika Skuplik and Bjarte Eike, and secondly, trying to deal with the nerves, I told myself to just enjoy them. And of course as the butterflies flutted about in my stomach I wondered exactly what about it I should enjoy, when I realized, actually I was really lucky to have something to care so much about that I got nervous. I wasn't nervous about embarrassing myself, only about not making beautiful, communicative music, and I thought, well, at least it's something worth getting excited about. By the time I got on stage to play some very soloistic trombone parts I was still nervous of course, but also incredibly positive and I think it came through.

Remembering back, most of my trials with nerves have been solved by remembering at the last minute just how lucky I am to be in my line of work.