Jeremy Weinglass: Blog

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to perform at an event known as "Fuente Eterno" held annually at Guadalupe Canyon in Mexico. I was honored to be asked by one of the organizers to perform and so we put a lot of thought into what I should do. I was being given a prime time slot on Saturday night and this was a chance to involve my community and really go for it to create the type of performance I had been dreaming of. I decided I would play through my entire 12 month "Odyssey" that I had been working on for so long and recently finished. On top of that, I wanted to add a new visual dimension to the performance and have dancers interpreting the story of the music.

Since in the time leading up to this trip I was also working on rehearsing and recording the Odyssey album, there was not a lot of time for rehearsing and working on choreography with 8 different dancers. I did the best I could and got the music to the dancers and gave them some guidance with some key music cues, but it was really up to them to come up with what they were going to do and how they would interpret the music.

It wasn't until an hour before show time when we all managed to be together for the first time to run through some of the cues, transitions and the finale that brought everyone back on stage together. I guess you could say I was nervous and excited to see how this would all unfold!

Once I was on stage, I took a deep breath and decided to close my eyes through most of the performance so that I would not be distracted by the dancing going on in front of me. I just made a decision to let it all go, to let it be as it was, and to just play my music!

This trick worked for a little while. But then, about half way through the second song, "February," it occurred to me that I could not pause between songs like I am used to doing - I don't even have enough time to take a sip of water between songs or I run the risk of disrupting the flow of the dancers. It started to dawn on me that this wasn't a 12 song, 45 minute performance; this was one continuous 45 minute marathon!

Now, the tables had turned and the pressure was on me... I had been so busy worrying about the dancers and how that element would come together that I hadn't even practiced playing through the entire Odyssey without stopping before. Oh, no! What if I was the one who messed up this performance? Now I was in my head and that always spells trouble. I started to get sloppy; I was making mistakes that I don't usually make. I was falling into a zone of marveling at my fingers move and hoping they don't mess up. My anxiety began to grow and I almost panicked.

Then there was a moment, as I was starting "July" and the second half was now underway. Before I stumbled and made another mistake, I went deep inside myself and I remembered that I created this moment to play my music right now! All of the preparation had been for this moment. All of a sudden, it seemed so simple. It was a choice I could consciously make right then to just be present and play; play like I never had before. And that's exactly what I did as my music echoed throughout the entire canyon!

In the end, there were definitely hiccups along the way, learning experiences to be had and lots of room for improvement; but my intention had been achieved. I wanted to create a performance that would allow people to see the potential of my concept and get them excited about it. The show did exactly that. After the show I was greeted with lots of enthusiasm and feedback from people who were interested in helping me take the show to the next level.

I am excited to say that we are now in the process of creating a full visual scripted show which we plan to debut in Los Angeles sometime in June!