Coins in the Fountain

One of the judges was someone I know. Well, not exactly know...but somebody I've met before.

A year ago, before my first audition, I worried that this might happen. I was concerned about someone from the local music community, someone who had seen me on a "real" stage, might see me auditioning to be a subway musician and therefore lower their opinion of me.

Today though, unlike last year, I wasn't at all worried about "what he might think" (except that he and the others think positively about my performance). In the course of a year, I had become much less concerned about status in the local music scene and more focused on simple quality of communication.

My audition went well. I did not goofily wave "hi!" to the judge I sort of knew, and he appeared objective and professional. TTC staffers shook my hand as I came offstage and a previous auditioner yelled "beautiful!" from the stands. I exchanged business cards with a talented country duo who sang before me, and marvelled at the skill of the European accordian player (whom I'd met on the subway this year, and who had told me his instrument was worth an astounding amount of money). Listening to him, and knowing he'd make it in for sure, I was reminded of the apples-and-oranges problem of comparing talented local singer-songwriters with world-class classical musicians.

Anyway...whew.

That's over with.

And I definitely felt better, having thrown a few coins back into the fountain, with a wish.