This summer I have to perform Chicago's "Just You and Me" multiple times for a reoccurring gig.

Yeah, I know. It's not a hard piece. The issue is that I played this in HS and later to make beer money in university, and later it was me and my bride's wedding song. For some stupid reason I am emotionally attached to this piece of music.

Now when I think of performing it my mouth goes dry, my eyes tear up and I mix my partials and I just plain 'F it up 30% of the time.

I playing this for a paying audience - I have to do better than that.

How do you emotionally detach yourself from a piece so you can really focus and play it? :idk:

For me it's Eva Cassidy's version of Over the Rainbow - it's pretty unique. I used to work with Eva and I'm on some of her recordings. She died at age 30....

[quote="Doug Elliott"]For me it's Eva Cassidy's version of Over the Rainbow - it's pretty unique. I used to work with Eva and I'm on some of her recordings. She died at age 30....[/quote]
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Me too, Doug. Eva's Over the Rainbow kills me every time I hear it, especially the live at Blues Alley version. Man, what a huge talent she was.

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[quote="BillO"]This summer I have to perform Chicago's "Just You and Me" multiple times for a reoccurring gig.

Yeah, I know. It's not a hard piece. The issue is that I played this in HS and later to make beer money in university, and later it was me and my bride's wedding song. For some stupid reason I am emotionally attached to this piece of music.

Now when I think of performing it my mouth goes dry, my eyes tear up and I mix my partials and I just plain 'F it up 30% of the time.

I playing this for a paying audience - I have to do better than that.

How do you emotionally detach yourself from a piece so you can really focus and play it? :idk:[/quote]
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Just do it....over and over and over.

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[quote="Doug Elliott"]For me it's Eva Cassidy's version of Over the Rainbow - it's pretty unique. I used to work with Eva and I'm on some of her recordings. She died at age 30....[/quote]

Yes, this is how that piece was meant to be played. What wonderful interpretation. What a loss her passing was to all the world.

[quote="TheSheriff"]======

Just do it....over and over and over.

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That's my plan right now. We'll see how it goes. 10 sessions with it today ... so far.

'How do you emotionally detach yourself from a piece so you can really focus and play it'?

Perhaps USE your emotions........control them, don't fight them.

Share your feelings through your interpretation. Your audience will appreciate your honesty.

YOUR emotions are what is going to make your performance special.

I don't detach; I invest. Putting emotions into music is an excellent way to connect with the audience. Be grateful for the opportunity to do so.

I've had to play solos at memorial services for friends who have died. As a very emotional person, I find It's very tough for me to hold myself together. I have to detach somewhat to get through it; the emotion comes through in any case (and is apparently noticeable to the audience). So far, I've never fallen apart.

Eva's Over the Rainbow gets me too. They played it on NPR on a Saturday when I was driving to a gig in Tulsa and I was hitching up while blazing down the interstate at 80mph. Dangerous.

Lush Life - this song has so many layers to it and has been a part of me for over 20 years now... sometime's it's really hard to play. I sing it to my daughter now and get a lump in my throat every time.

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans... "and there's one thing more, I miss the one I care for, more than I miss New Orleans" writing those words gets me weepy. It's hard to play with a lump in your throat.

Imagination... "for example, I go around wanting you, yes I do, but I can't imagine that you want me too..."

Pitiful!

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys and I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry; if I'm anywhere in the vicinity of these songs, I have to take a bathroom break if I'm not on stage. There was a video of a performance with Billy Armstrong (sons of the pioneers) doing "I'm So Lonesome..." from years ago where I'm in the backing band and if you look really close house right, you'll see the trombone player's shoulders hitching up and down. That's me bawling my eyes out and having no way to control it. "Heroes" was a song my grandma and grandpa used to play for me when I was young, long before I had a horn in my hand. It'll be played at my funeral.

If I know I have to play a song that strikes me, I practice playing it, not so much to work that feeling out - I don't ever want to lose that, but I want to figure out how to still play it while dealing with the physical obstacles that result from the lumpy throat and the tears - and how to channel that into a more honest performance.

The worst thing is when you're conducting - can't hide behind the horn, can't turn your face away from the band or you get a face full of audience, and vice versa. Sometimes you just have say the hell with it and let it all out. And maybe that isn't such a bad thing, we crave art for the humanity and there is nothing more human than losing your mind a little bit on a song.

[quote="TheSheriff"]<QUOTE author="Doug Elliott" post_id="86933" time="1559957696" user_id="51">
For me it's Eva Cassidy's version of Over the Rainbow - it's pretty unique. I used to work with Eva and I'm on some of her recordings. She died at age 30....[/quote]
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Me too, Doug. Eva's Over the Rainbow kills me every time I hear it, especially the live at Blues Alley version. Man, what a huge talent she was.

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</QUOTE>
That's one of my favorite tunes, and I had not heard hers before reading this thread. Off I go to YouTube to check it out, found that Blues Alley version. Made it about 20 seconds. Going to wait until I leave work to finish it. Damn...