Have you ever been part of a PERFECT performance?

[Erdy1]

Yesterday was an incredible day for me. I am the director of my church choir, and yesterday we had our annual Christmas music program (consisting of narration of the birth of Jesus with a variety of music numbers thrown in) during our worship service and then in the evening our annual presentation of selections from Handel's "Messiah." Our choir is entirely made up of volunteers, and although many of the choir members are very talented, there is not a "professional" musician in the bunch -- But they are some of the most dedicated people I have ever worked with. We have weekly rehearsals that only last 1 hour long, and then for these special holiday performances we had 4 hours of extra rehearsals on Saturday and Sunday -- That's a lot of singing!

Well, I have been in audition, top-notch choirs, and I have participated in numerous other musical performances, but I don't know if I have ever been part of such perfect performances before in my life! It was incredible. Not a single mistake, not even the smallest glitch in either of the hour-long performances. The music came alive, and was not hindered in any way by human weakness. From my perspective, I can only say the choir was filled with the power of God and Music. A very transcendant experience, unlike any other I have ever had.
I have been part of many moving performances, but none with such a sense of perfection. And I wasn't the only one who felt it -- the performers and audience members were all amazed by the entire experience. We do this every year, but somehow it was special this year.

Has anyone else ever felt this? Doesn't have to be a "religious" experience -- music is a force in and of itself, and "the perfect performance" is a goal all musicians strive for. Has anyone else ever experienced "the perfect performance" and felt it's magic?

[PO]

Excellant, erdyl. It really is something that you are lucky to have experienced (of course, a lot of rehearsal goes into these "moments").

My first one was playing at Golden Valley, Minnesota High School for their Prom dance. Yep, a silly school dance.

Well, that was the 1st time everything "clicked" in my own musical career. What started as a semi-formal dance turned into an outrageous blow-out. The band was simply tight and inspired. This was 4 years after I started playing, so I waited for that moment for a while.

The songs flowed from one to the other and the crowd was on their feet for 2 hours. We ended the night with Roundabout, too! Blew the roof off the place.

After that, we never had a "bad" gig.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Erdyl speaking of choir. We had a small singing group at my church years ago. I sang alto in it. There was another singer who sang alto and together....I believe we achieved that perfect blend. There were two songs that the group sang that we were so on it that we even breathed at the same time. Such a high to sing like that.

[BrianD]

I'll have to ask my wife about this!

[Mr. Holland]

I remember a performance with a my band in large pub about two years ago. We play rock music, playing covers from Deep Purple, Rolling Stones, Lenny Kravitz, Black Crowes, Jimi Hendrix etc. We normaly play a three hour show, with two 10 minutes breaks in it. That evening we started playing at 23.00 and we finished the evening, or should I say, next morning at about 3.30, so 4 1/2 hours of playing and still the audience were shouting for more and we were allready playing encores for over an hour and the only reason we didn't go on, was because I couldn't even lift my drumsticks up anymore. There haven't been many times that I was as tired as then, but it was such a gratifying tireness.

Now, I don't think we played perfect that evening from a technical point of view, there were some mistakes (not many) made, but from the point of view of a satisfying performance aswell for the audience as for the band, it was the most perfect we've ever done.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Mr. Holland THAT was a great story and a great rock moment! Wow.

[upbgirl]

i assume you mean musical performances..
[too bad-i had a GREAT gymnastics story!]

only one perfect-
after over 30 years of playing...

senior year-high school

a tune called 'variations on an american theme'
and the main melody was 'sweet betsey from pike'
it was the same song [betsey] done in several styles of music
[sort of like when wakey plays twinkle in the style of mozart-or mary had a little lamb in the style of chopin]

there were 120 of us in the symphony band then..
i had a piccolo solo, and it HAD to be counted-NOT memorized cause it was a strange lead-in part for the next section..we werent allowed to tap our feet-we wore white shoes as part of our uniforms..
but i HAD to tap, or i'd cause a train wreck for this one part..
i tapped furiously under the conductors scathing glance, but..
it was perfect!
i remember after we got done with that tune, i really wanted to stand up and yell my signature 'WHOOHOO", but he was already mad because one foot had been tapping.. lol!
that performance was recorded on vinyl, too! i tried to get a copy of it from the first chair flute chick-not here yet..
[maybe if i heard it NOW after so many years, it might NOT have been perfect-but it felt GREAT that one night!]

have a funeral gig coming up soon, and i am hoping beyond hope that THAT will be another perfect performance..
it is not about howe many people are there-what i wear-order of songs-none of those things..
it's about sending off a good friend to heaven with a beautiful song to accompany her!
and i KNOW we can do it! This has to be perfect! for her family and her!
i hope i can find that 'zone' you real musicians refer to..
only arrived there 'ONE TIME' so far! fingers crossed [till i pick up that flute, that is.. ;) ]

[Mr. Holland]

i assume you mean musical performances..
[too bad-i had a GREAT gymnastics story!]

only one perfect-
after over 30 years of playing...

senior year-high school

a tune called 'variations on an american theme'
and the main melody was 'sweet betsey from pike'
it was the same song [betsey] done in several styles of music
[sort of like when wakey plays twinkle in the style of mozart-or mary had a little lamb in the style of chopin]

there were 120 of us in the symphony band then..
i had a piccolo solo, and it HAD to be counted-NOT memorized cause it was a strange lead-in part for the next section..we werent allowed to tap our feet-we wore white shoes as part of our uniforms..
but i HAD to tap, or i'd cause a train wreck for this one part..
i tapped furiously under the conductors scathing glance, but..
it was perfect!
i remember after we got done with that tune, i really wanted to stand up and yell my signature 'WHOOHOO", but he was already mad because one foot had been tapping.. lol!
that performance was recorded on vinyl, too! i tried to get a copy of it from the first chair flute chick-not here yet..
[maybe if i heard it NOW after so many years, it might NOT have been perfect-but it felt GREAT that one night!]

have a funeral gig coming up soon, and i am hoping beyond hope that THAT will be another perfect performance..
it is not about howe many people are there-what i wear-order of songs-none of those things..
it's about sending off a good friend to heaven with a beautiful song to accompany her!
and i KNOW we can do it! This has to be perfect! for her family and her!
i hope i can find that 'zone' you real musicians refer to..
only arrived there 'ONE TIME' so far! fingers crossed [till i pick up that flute, that is.. ;) ]

Rooting for you!! :thumbs:

[kmcpro615]

I don't buy into perfection....but I do know when a very special moment is happening. I have had many great moments while performing. I don't necessarily feel it's all that different from day to day life when I have felt really good about "being in the moment" in some way. Being acknowledged for your performance in real time is very cool, but I think you were probably already feeling pretty good about what you were doing before the crowd caught on. They just affirmed what you already knew.

KMCc:)

[gt76yesman]

Not possible, we are only humans, at least most of us are.....

I have seen some that are darn near perfection.

Glendo

[Ryan]

Well I was in a pretty close to perfect performance. Last year me and my friends played the song "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath for our school variety show. (this was before I had ever even heard of prog. forgive me.) This wasn't really like a talent show, you couldn't really do whatever you wanted in it. It was a well put together, well rehearsed show. I being the lead guitarist, thought I needed some way to spice up our performance. It seemed kind of boring during practice. So, to the music directors shock, I played part of the song (it happened to be the easiest part of the song) behind by neck. Kids thought this was pretty cool. The rest of the performance went pretty near perfect too. At the end I kind of wanted to smash my guitar, but it was $350, and I didn't have any more money. It was quite an experience.

[In the Attic]

Music has a way of taking us on an unconscience journey that borders on Nirvanna. When that moment of perfection arises, it is accompanied by an almost spirtualistic awakening, something that cannot be bottled for another day. I find that it comes when I jam with my best friends in intimate settings. Something happens when you mix the right amount of passion, potion, kinship and music. It is hard to explain, but it is for those moment we dream.

[michaelbb]

Michael BB here to say that, YES, I was part of a perfect performance. In the lobby of the Edgewater Hotel in Madison WI, famous as the location where the Zappa band had the "fishing" experience that led to the composition MudShark, I was playing with a jazz quartet. My improvised solo on the Cole Porter tune, I Love You (there are 123 songs with that title, by the way) came out as both melodically elegant, harmonically precise, and rythymically clear as if it were precomposed executed by someone with more technique than I usually display. It was perfect not only in its conception, but in its execution, a bit of a rarity for me, since my wrist problems prevent me from practising on any regular basis.
The second kind of perfection that I have experienced is a group spontaneity that featues improvised unisons, a feature of jazz and rock that is even more exciting to me than "mere" perfection. It usually means that all the musicians involved are not only executing together, but are traveling the same improvasitory or conceptual groove. Those moments are always great. It is the mark of musical compatibility for me when they occur quickly with a new group of players.
The third type I know of are artists like the classical pianist Arturo Michaelanglo Benedetti. He has a limited enough repetoire that he has never played a wrong note on a record or a concert, or a concert record, for that matter. Classical recordings are loaded with wrong notes, in the sense that very few of them are ever perfect, according to the score being used. Some players, like Alfred Cortot, were so famousx for their abundance of mistakes that one listened for the interpretation, and knew that many of the pitches were incorrect.
Perfection of execution is a goal I have not allowed myself to pursue. Perfection of conception and group interaction in the moment is more valueable and more magical to me as a player, and hopefully, to most discerning audiences as well. MBB