When the final note has been played, the audience is on their feet with loud applause, I then exit the stage with a smile and blow a kiss good night to all. Cue house lights and exit music. I immediately head to my dressing room and seek out the coldest bottle of water I can find. You can’t drink cold water before you sing, but you must keep your vocal chords properly moistened. It is so refreshing after a show to find an ice-cold bottle of water buried in the slush of the cooler. Ahhhh, just what I needed. Pack away violin safely. Touch up the makeup, blot the perspiration from my brow. Now I’m ready to face the world again.

The rest of the band is backstage, popping open cold beer, toasting with a clank of each bottle. It was a GREAT show! We gather together and head out to see our fans. This is one of my favourite parts. I get to finally put names to faces of people whom I have only met online, or have heard mention from other friends. Some are friends who have come to the show (without me knowing in advance) to surprise me! Others are friends I see at almost every show, and I always look forward to hugging them and catching up with their personal lives, too. Before our time is up, they have all become a friend to me. Security then gently pushes us all to exit the venue as they have their job to do, too. We say our farewells and look forward to the next show.

I then make my way backstage again. Other band members have family or close friends backstage, and I get to visit with them a short while, too. But I mainly like that time alone again to reflect on the show itself. Did I perform it to the best of my abilities? Did I play the right notes? Was I pitchy? Could I hear myself well enough in the monitors? All questions that prepare me for the next show. Yes, I like to enjoy the recent past and exhilaration of a show, but I am always looking to the future. I always see room for improvement. I make mental and physical notes to myself so that I don’t forget them the next day or before the next time I do that type of show (which can be as much as a year or more later). Once I have re-lived the show, made my notes, then I am ready to relax and enjoy the art of the hang. Hmmm, I think that will be the topic my next post.