… NOT to say I’m anywhere near as talented as this wonderful violist, mind you!

But there’s an article in the Mercury News, by Richard Scheinin, on Geraldine Walther, the principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony from 1976 until … well, until about now. She’s moving on. To the Takács Quartet. I can’t even imagine what an exciting move this is for her! So click on the article link! (See how nice I am? I give you TWO links to the article in case you missed the first! Two links … for the price of none.) But one of my favorite paragraphs (the “I Know This Feeling” paragraph) says:

But, she adds, “Fear has always been my greatest motivator — fear of making a fool out of myself. Performers — we have all sorts of anxiety dreams: standing up in front of an orchestra and realizing that you have a trombone in your hands, the wrong instrument. Or sitting at a piano — I hardly play the piano — and having to perform the Grieg piano concerto.”

So that paragraph just made me smile.
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