Julian Matthias and I: The day of the concert

I don't get as excited for orchestra concerts as I used to.  I think that I've gotten jaded over the years and I think of a concert as more of a "last rehearsal" rather than a performance.  But I never fail to get a rush of emotion on the day of the concert and appreciate the cumulative work that's been put into making the concert happen.  At the last concert I played I had this "a-ha" moment in the middle of the piece.  I liked the program that we played but wasn't terribly fond of any one piece.  It wasn't until the orchestra was on stage and halfway through the program when I remembered that I wasn't just playing notes but playing music.  With the right amount of practice and preparation anyone can read and play notes; turning those notes into a cohesive interpretation or story is a separate matter entirely.  It's easy to get caught up in just my part, even if it's boring or repetitive at times since I play in the second violin section.  So I have to remind myself to open my ears to what other instruments are playing, and remember that my part is just that: a part, a small piece of the pie that is the whole composition.  Also it helps to try to get nostalgic about whatever I'm playing, to think of the concert as the last time I'll ever play this music with this group of people, at this age.