Joshua Bryant

Bell A-1 / 2
11/17/16

Cello

The stage was colossal with giant red curtains looming above me. I had never been this

scared before in my entire life. My legs were floppy and wobbly like a noodle. Sweat was

streaming down my back because of the spotlights blazing their light beams down on me. Fear

was taking over. The curtains were closed and everything was perfectly silent because the people

had not entered the auditorium yet. The stage smelled like rosin which has the aroma of rich

maple syrup and the scent of oak wood. Our conductor was chillingly calm, no knee shaking, no

finger twiddling, nothing. It was probably because she had conducted hundreds of times before.

We hurriedly practiced our songs and my nerves

were uncontrollable and so were the butterflies in

my stomach. This was All-City Strings at the

Sandler Center in Virginia Beach, and it was the

night when I had to face one of my biggest fears.

When we came to the end of our last

practice song, all chaos was let loose in my mind

and the voice of fear was shouting, RUN OFF

THE STAGE! The voice of doubt shouted

You are going to fail at this! The voice of

negativity was blaring, You hate playing the

cello! It makes your back ache, your hands cramp, and the cello is gigantic and nerdy. It seemed

like an eternity, but the curtains finally lifted without a sound, which astounded me. All the

people in the audience looked so tiny like dolls sitting in their seats. They stared blankly at the

stage. I was afraid and the closest friend to me was Aamir, who sat three rows forward and too

many seats to the left.

My hands were trembling with fear, and I knew what was about to come. The conductor

raised her baton, which meant everyone needed to get in their ready position. She whispered

Good Luck and winked at us. She gracefully lifted her baton higher, which meant that we

needed to get in our playing position. The first four songs were beautiful, and the audience

wildly applauded after each piece. Then at the final song of the performance, which was called

Rock On, I crashed and burned. It was very bad. Everyone sounded amazing at the beginning

of the piece, but I failed miserably at the last few measures. The kid next to me played a note just

a little bit too long and his bow poked me. I flinched and I heard a mumbled and embarrassed,

Sorry, from him. I was horrified to realize that I had lost track of which measure I was playing.

All sorts of sirens and alarms started going off in my mind. The voice of embarrassment in my

head screamed, EMBARRASSMENT! EMBARRASSMENT! YOU FAILED! YOU FAILED!

In a moment of panic, I could not find which measure we were playing.

My biggest fear was becoming a reality and it was too late to run off the stage and hide

behind the curtains. Would my parents think, Oh, Josh has not actually practiced, and he does

not know what to play! So I faked it and I made it, I ran my bow an inch above my strings, so it

looked like I was playing, and there were 17 other cellos so it didn't sound any different. The

song had finally ended. YES! I had escaped public embarrassment! I speed-walked off stage as I

listened to the roaring applause and cheers of the audience. A few minutes later, I saw all of my
family standing and waiting to give me a hug! My brain was melted from the stress but my

nerves were finally calm. My cousin who plays the cello in the Chamber Orchestra at his school

said, You played really well! I let out a sigh of relief!

In the end, we went out to go get pizza, and I received a $15 dollar gift card to my

favorite online puzzle store. Attached was a nice note from my parents. They were proud of me

for conquering one of my biggest fears, playing on a stage in front of a live audience. I learned

something important that night. Taking risks is important even when it makes me uncomfortable

or scared. It feels good to try new things. At the end of the night, I felt proud and happy.

Watch the us of exclamation marks. You use a lot. Choose vocab

that is stronger...stronger, more vivid words will enhance your

story better than punctuation.