Stressbusters

Being a musician is a stressful job. We don't have people's lives in our hands like heart surgeons or government officials do, but when we have a bad day it's witnessed by a hall full of people and gets written up in the newspaper. (Don't misunderstand: being a musician is also an incredibly rewarding job which makes the stress worth the pain.) Stress affects different people in different ways, however, I have noticed that musicians tend to use their creativity as a weapon against their stress. We get the musical sillies.

My first season here my viola had an unfortunate accident. We were rehearsing in the pit when something flew in from the audience side and smacked my viola while I was playing. It was quite the jolt, knocking all my strings out of tune, collapsing the bridge, and even cracking the sound post and belly of the instrument. It was horrifying. I was devastated. What did we do? We made a movie about it, of course! With a cast and crew entirely made up of KSO musicians and their families, The Brown Viola premiered that summer and made the rounds at several parties and music festivals. It's a strange experience to be in Michigan for non-musical reasons and have a complete stranger recognize you as “that girl from The Brown Viola.”

Last week was crazy for my quartet. I am exhausted today and I didn't even play on the Bernstein Trio yesterday! I can't imagine how Andy and Edward are feeling this morning. I dedicate this bit of musical silliness to my fellow quartet members. We survived, y'all!