Salzburg, Austria

My apologies for dropping the ball the last few days. Today is Monday, June 8, 2015. Saturday and Sunday we came and went to Salzburg, Austria. On the Friday prior, we hung around Ludwigsburg just doing the very normal things.

I'll start with highlights from Friday. Despite what we were told, there are loads of people who don't/won't/can't speak any English. Maybe they didn't do very well at it in school? We're finding the people who typically don't speak English are the waiters/waitresses and operations staff on the trains. I'm definitely hoping this to be the extent of it as I prepare my course for Friday. The college students that we've met all speak English very well and are happy to do so. I also fully acknowledge that I am in their country and that English is not the official language. We all do our best. One of the difficult things is ordering food at restaurants. Believe it or not, there is a Mexican Grill and Bar in Ludwigsburg. We went there with hopes of an easy meal. Not so much. Our waitress didn't speak English and seemed a little snooty that we didn't do very well in German. We ordered. It was no Fiesta Mexicana but it was as good as anything we've made at home. Win.

The next day we opted to live the life of many of the college-age students we see here. We each packed a smallish backpack and hit the rails. This was our first time seeing the rural side of Germany. We took the S Bahn for 1.3 Euros each to Stuttgart (the train stop is just down the street from us). In Stuttgart, we used our DB Rail Pass to catch a train to Munich and then Salzburg. The rail pass is nice. You just write the day you'll be traveling in the box at the bottom and find an unreserved seat. You could ride around all day on this ticket. The country side is more what I expected from Germany. Lots of rolling hills, big mountains on the horizon, and quaint little villages. Pictures from the train didn't turn out so well as we were traveling close to 150 miles/hour. Either way, it was a great ride to and from Salzburg.

Once in Salzburg, we settled into the Boutique Hotel von Am. It's a great little hotel tucked in what looks like an alley and, maybe ironically, across the alley from a store called American Heritage. Our room had a view of the spires from some of the local churches. It was fairly small but very modern (LED lights in the shower, lots of IKEA furniture, and you have to turn the main switch for your lights on with the key card). Like most things, location was a big factor. We were easy walking distance to all the churches, castles, Mozart sights, and shops.

After lunch at a little cafe, we toured Mozart's birth house. It was great, lots of very cool exhibits and displays. I really enjoyed the sound chamber they made that looped one of the Mozart Violin Concerti. It looked like an oval-shaped sauna and reflected the sound to imitate a concert hall. There were other smaller chambers that you ducked under and heard a recording in an acoustically superior top half of a phone booth. These all had dioramas to show you scenes from the opera you were hearing. There were models of the original sets to his operas. I see why he got in a bit of trouble from the Masons. We spent a few hours there and, despite it being very crowded, really enjoyed ourselves. My big thing at museums is to not let the flow of the crowd change my experience. You have to be willing to plop yourself in front of an exhibit that interests you and just stay there and read the material and enjoy the display.

After Mozart's birthplace, we walked around and looked at the churches. After purchasing a beautiful watercolor from a woman selling her work on the street, we opted to attend a small recital. Every Friday and Saturday night, someone plays Mozart piano sonatas. We heard Elana Braslavsky but I wasn't sure if it was a different pianist every week or just her all summer. http://www.agenturorpheus.at/agentur-orpheus/konzerte/salzburg/mozart-klaviersonaten-salzburg.html We heard K. 330 and 331. I am not sure if she plays the same 2 sonatas every week. It was a good performance and nice to see how people in Salzburg perform Mozart. The space was a stone room adjacent to a church. I think we'd probably call it a fellowship hall now but it had some other name. Essentially, enough room to sit 50 people and a piano. Tickets were 22 Euros but it was money well spent. I love intimate recitals like that and it's great to hear live music. Unfortunately, there's a big trend away from consuming arts in the US and probably everywhere. A recording of a piece cannot convey what it feels like to hear it live (especially given the venue in this case). At the Mozart museums, we saw several paintings that are typically in text books when discussing Mozart. It's one thing to see the painting in a text book, it's really quite another to see the painting. Then consider the artist had some first hand connection with Mozart and you are left with a sense of awe. I think the paintings, instruments, and hair displays were the most powerful to me.

Following the recital, we had a bit to eat at another cafe on the way home. Town closes down around 7:00 so it was rather quiet. The cafe wasn't far from where a group of dudes was busking with their Mumford and Sons-copies. They really weren't bad but a little out of place. The cops arrived and reluctantly sent them on their way. Cops in Germany/Austria are a little more every-man looking than they are in the US. Mostly, they are young, fit, men and women in their late 20's and 30's. No bulging biceps or commando-look. They all wear what I call tactical casual attire (kevlar vests, combat boots, no helmets, full belt rigs, including handguns). They are not very intimidating but just good at their jobs.

The next morning I got up a bit early and went for a nice run around Salzburg. There is a great river walk extending throughout the city that I followed for a while until I figured out a way up the hill to the Museum of Modern Art. It was a great run.

River walk in Salzburg

View from the Museum of Modern Art

View west of Salzburg on the castle on the hill on the way to the MoMA

Locks with people's names on them. Presumably, the keys are in the river. 

After breakfast, we explored the Mozart House (different from the birth house). Again, very impressive and lots to see. With our packs in place, we made our way to the train station and hoped the trains back to Ludwigsburg. 

(...but where does the coal go?)

That was quite an adventure. Stay tuned for more to come! Auf Wiedersehen!

First run in Germany, Ludwigsburg schloss, and ordering Pizza

Hello Friends! Let's talk about Wednesday. My first big goal yesterday was to get in a run and go through all of my music for the rehearsal I'll have today (Thursday). Knowing it would be rather tricky to reorient myself if I became too turned around, I studied the map very carefully before leaving and even took a photo of it with my phone and out the door I went. I gave myself a strict 45 minute window and talked through every turn I made so that I'd better remember my location. Huge success. I ran from my house past the Ludwigsburg schloss past campus and in Favoritepark. The park is well shaded and has a paved path that runs through it to a castle (not to be confused with the palace across the street). I didn't find much for restrooms but I'm reasonably certain they are there somewhere. I did observe lots of old guys with their buddies just out on a slow, casual stroll. 

Favorite Park Castle

Deer living in the park

The path between the castle and the palace

Following my run, I was eager to share my discoveries with Roni. I went home and we decided to go see the Ludwigsburg schloss after I took a quick shower. I wasn't able to take photos inside but I'll pull some off the website to share here. We took the English tour (of course) and found it to be an exquisite tour. The guide gave us many details about the art and artifacts present in the palace. At one point he opened up a bunch of the doors and we could see down the hallway (the short way of the palace) for 160 yards. There are two churches, an opera house, a ballroom, and a recital hall among the many other rooms. The recital hall had a pretty new looking Steinway (not antique, not German) but he explained that people regularly use that hall for performances (mystery solved). 

Opera Hall

Marble Ballroom

Ludwigsburg schloss from the air

The palace was a great tour and well worth the time and admission (it was only 7€ each, so not bad for a 90 minute tour). If you go, remember that you can't take pictures inside and that if you bring a backpack or bag, you'll have to check it in a locker or wear it around your belly. 

The last victory yesterday was ordering pizza. This was nothing if not a multicultural activity. About 4 doors down from us, we have a pizza delivery shop. We opted for take-out and so I marched myself down there with a list of what we each wanted on our pizza. The shop is run by some people whom, I believe, are from the middle East somewhere (possibly Turkey?). The official signs in the shop were in German but the notes to employees were in what looked to be Arabic. In the smoky dining area, at the under-renovation-bar, I gave the guy my order and he told me to come back in 10 minutes. I came back in 12 and they weren't quite ready. I wasn't really in a hurry so I sat at the table and waited and about 5 minutes the chef came out with my pizzas. We got them home and they were what we ordered. I think this is a win. Each day is getting easier in dealing with the culture differences between the US and Germany. 

After some practicing in the evening, I enjoyed my first German beer in Germany. The quaff of the day was the Bayreuther Hell. As you would expect, light and summer-y. I can see why they would drink these in a 1 liter mug. It sorta reminded me of a Coors but with more flavor but not quite as much as some of the microbrews we would get back in Durango. I'm no beer expert so I just enjoy one at the end of a successful day. Cheers!

Day 1: Ludwigsburg, Bahnhof, Platzmarkt

Hallo Freunden! These initial updates are going to seem a bit mundane as we've thus far only done things that rate mundane at best at home but are rather challenging for us here in Germany. Here goes.

Yesterday began after a night of Sleep-of-the-Dead. This time change business is really goofing Roni and I up and we are making every attempt to keep "normal" hours. We didn't really have any food at our house so out to door we went. Incidentally, we live next door to a real place called Fight Club in Ludwigsburg. They may make soap there, too, but I'm not certain. See Fight Club Rules No. 1 and 2.

When we left, we had only some broken directions about a grocery being only a few blocks away. We later discovered that there is, in fact, a little normal-looking market a few blocks away and right next to the train station. Good to know. Meanwhile we roamed more than a few blocks away and found what looked like a mall and there was a grocery in there, too. This one was about a third the size of a normal Safeway and had everything we needed although we didn't know when we left that all the cool kids bring their own grocery bags. We scoured most of the store before Roni ran next door to the HM (there are lots of these here) and grabbed us some €10 reusable grocery bags and came back. As we checked out, we found some (albeit less high quality) for €.20. Lesson learned. When we got home, we napped. That was pretty tiring. 

After a nap, I practiced my upcoming recital music for a little while. I'm splitting the recital with Roni and I am playing Brahms Sonata No. 2, Mvt. 2, Mandat Folk Songs, a piece called Swing Suite by Wayne Jaeckel (3 movements of fun, stereotypical, unaccompanied jazz), and Schubert Der Hirt auf Dem Felsen. She's singing some Ned Rorem tunes and a few others, though I'm not 100% and she's sleeping. There are posters of us all over campus!

I'll post a program closer to the recital.

Later, I had a meeting with some folks from the University. We had a tour of campus and viewed some of the musical and educational facilities. Our new piano colleague drove us to there. This was very helpful as we could see at least part of the city. I'm going to head out for a run after writing this and see if I can learn a little more about the layout of the city. We have a map that shows some big parks but it's hard to tell if they are somewhere a person can run. The drivers seem to drive with an "all-in" mentality and really aren't watching for people on foot or even in other cars. We rode the S Bahn home with few major disasters. Despite buying our tickets at the kiosk (in English, mind you) one of ours was €1.20 and the other was €2.30. We have no idea why. No one checked our tickets. As we detrained, we headed back home with a minor miscalculation in navigation but got to see a little more of the city. I am hoping that we can see the castle today as I think it is just up the street from us and about halfway between our cozy little loft and school. More on this later. 

After returning from school, we walked to Robin and Kathy's future hotel and found that it's on our street and only about .59 miles away.

We came home and I started on a luxurious dinner of pasta with some fresh bread we grabbed near the train station. To turn off our brains a little before bed, we watched some Family Guys we have saved on our computers (in English). There's nothing mindless about watching TV in another language. Now for Day 2. Auf wiedersehen!

Das Abenteuer beginnt

Willkommen! Thanks for following my blog. We are off to Ludwigsburg, Germany. Neither my wife nor myself have been to Europe so we hope that you all may enjoy our overseas shenanigans. 

Our adventure began yesterday when we drove from Casper, WY to Lafayette, CO to stay with a friend. Dinner was at a cute pizza place in Louisville. 

After dinner we enjoyed beer on the patio. The beer was great and worth mentioning. If you get the chance to enjoy a draw of Montanya's Spiced Imperial Porter, it's worth the trouble of getting it. 

As I write this, we are waiting in DIA on an air traffic control delay. People are understandably upset as it is a pretty significant delay. We have about 12 hours in Frankfurt before we catch the train to Stuttgart. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Also, anyone know: is this Pike's Peak?

Being Uniquely You: Part II Authenticity

Our most precious commodity is our authenticity.  

Before you read further, I'd like you to complete an activity.  It doesn't take long and it could change your approach to life. Here's the activity:

1. Open a Word document (or Pages, Evernote... whatever you prefer)
2. Title it (something to this effect: "Things I Love About Myself That Other People Consider F'd Up."
3. Insert the date
4. List 5-10 things that you do or are that meet the title's description
5. Save this document for reference later.

My list includes things like:

• Enjoys running 100-mile races
• Vegan
• Likes getting or viewing tattoos
• Arranging for clarinet choir
• Small business
• Conservative politically 
• Working towards living debt free
• Playing Baermann
• Reading the Bible
• Being a science nerd
• Being very good at/educated about things people really don't think are useful

I'll do this exercise every so often and compare lists just to see where I am with these things.  The combination of these items is uniquely me.  No two people's lists will be the same and that is the very quality that makes you an appealing candidate in any endeavor. My wife says I'm a conundrum.  I like it that way. Maybe that should be on my list.

Here's how this connects to the previous posting: We live in the age of the entrepreneur.  We cannot count on someone else designing our job description, recruiting our students, generating our revenue, or even continue doing our jobs the way "we always have" and expecting it to suit us long term.  We cannot even count on having an employer long term. This is a mixed blessing. We are growing in our independence and autonomy.  Many people no longer have someone looking over our shoulder.  The problem here is that many lack the stability of larger employers and steady paychecks. 

We best serve our students (or customers/patients/clients) by teaching them to be uniquely their own people and by us being uniquely our own.  Others will be attracted to us when we are not pretending to be something we're not and instead are uniquely ourselves. People will come to our programs, enlist our services, and even want to be around us socially when we are genuine.  Maybe your ideal gig is playing in a quartet. It's simply not enough to be good at playing your instrument, you must also be good at networking, asking for performances, getting performances (that pay), and constantly figuring out what your customer wants. When you figure this out, you won't be one of the hundreds auditioning for one spot in an orchestra that may or may not even get filled at this audition.  If you have enough quartet gigs to keep food on your table and a roof above your head, the pressure of winning the audition is largely mitigated.  It's gravy if you win but not the end of the world if you don't.   

I play on my strengths and my unique combination from my list above and that is why I'm successful and why my students succeed.  I have good pedagogical ideas, but, as we all know, there's no magic spell to make someone a great clarinetist. It doesn't matter that I didn't study with Professor Q from the University of Z. I'll probably never have a student play in the New York Philharmonic, nor will I have students who really want to march in a college marching band, or come from large amounts of money. None of those options are authentic to my situation and I'm ok with that.  I recruit students who work hard and want to follow their own path. Sometimes we talk about marketing, small business, debt, taxes in addition to the items on our syllabus.  Students need to learn how to survive in as entrepreneurs, not employees. If I don't teach them this, who will? Maybe a future blog post from an ultra marathoning clarinetist will have some insight?

Here's the takeaway: your biggest success is being unique and putting in the hard work to back it up. Eric Thomas, the Hip Hop Preacher said it well: "You may come from privilege, your daddy may own the company, but you will not outwork me." 

So take that list, reflect on your uniqueness, put in some hard work and go with it. I can think of very few fields more dissimilar than ultra marathoning and clarinet-ing. But the lessons learned in one enhance the other. That's uniquely me and I embrace it. When you work for yourself, you'll always have an income. That's the way to escape someone else's job description and be your own boss and love your work. Become uniquely you. 

  

Being Uniquely You: Part I College Recruiting

I'm going to divide this blog post into two sections.  The first (the one you're reading) will be devoted to my thoughts on college recruiting and how I got to the Being Uniquely You portion of this. If you're not involved in a college scene, feel free to skip to Part II.  The second will be my thoughts on changing a dated system and being uniquely you.  Believe it or not, they're strongly connected.

A dear friend recently came to me with a problem centered around staying relevant in an extremely competitive market. As I'm sure you know, I teach music at a college. Part of my job is attracting students to my school. There are many ways people do this but the old fashioned way is by playing principal in a symphony and getting a reputation as a great player. We'll talk about the downsides of this but another way of recruiting was hosting festivals with the intent of attracting students. Still other schools have large scholarship endowments, preparation programs, well-known faculty, and still others attract students with large marching bands. 

Each of these ways are pretty common and were fairly tried-and-true for many years. In our modern college environment, each of these has it's challenges and are proving to be dated. Let's look at them carefully.

In the early to middle part of the 20th century, there were pretty much two options for musicians at the college level... future educators and symphony performers.

For the educators, students chose their schools based on their personal geography, the quality of the music education degree, and to some extent the quality of the band or orchestra.  Their degree is an extension of the education department. These students typically end up teaching music in schools as general music teachers or band/choir/orchestra conductors.  

For the players, people studied music at places like Curtis, Juilliard, and Eastman with the intention of becoming professional clarinetists themselves. Eventually, the larger state schools caught on and, for a while, the two groups produced most of the country's clarinetists for the symphonies and upper military bands. As the arts became deemphasized nationally, many symphonies started folding, reducing forces, or adjusting to their reduced revenues.  In short: fewer jobs.  People stuck with their dreams of playing in a symphony for a living and we were left where we are today... many candidates for a very few number of jobs, people playing lots of smaller gigs in regional symphonies, and many people switching fields. A more recent stress for performing musicians are auditions resulting in no selection. Clearly there are some problems with our old school model of hiring musicians for symphonies but either way, there are fewer jobs and reduced interest in pursuing that as a career. That translates to reduced interest in studying clarinet (or any instrument) in the college levels.  

The next means of recruitment of quality candidates is by hosting festivals.  It's the idea that you have a party, invite guests and some of those guests see how great your school is and want to come there.  Most All-State festivals are based around this model. Typically the organizational bodies do this. Some schools host this type of event every year.  It is my observation that potential students typically go to one to two of these events a year, at best.  But they're fun, you meet some interesting people, hear some good performances, and give your school a fairly high profile in a very specific market.  One problem here is that you rely on having a decent number of high school band directors and other community people attending to make the festival a success.  Festivals set up for large ensembles often offer adjudication for ensembles. This approach can turn a friendly gathering into a competition which isn't all bad but is still dependent on a large number of band directors bringing their bands.   

The next recruiting tool is the Jerry Maguire concept: Show me the money! Some schools have incredible scholarship endowments.  Some have virtually none.  Most have at least a little bit for a moderate number of students.  In my experience, this is the single best recruiting tool. People have trouble saying no to a free college education, though it happens on occasion. On the recruiting side of this, we have a little more trouble as often funding is limited and we have to spread it thinner than anyone would prefer. With an impending student loan crisis, smart students will be hesitant to borrow money for an education, especially for a career path that can be as tumultuous as a performing musician.  I advise students enroll in a music education degree so that upon graduation, they'll have at least a good shot at a junior high band director job or something better (though, I know many people who are perfectly happy with this career path).  This all changes if the student has aspiration in a field other than music.  The highest percentage of students accepted to medical schools are music majors.  Students on this track may be better served by a general music degree or if they are highly motivated, a performance degree.  These students need lots of electives that just aren't feasible in a music education degree.  The big thing here is that students leave college expecting careers and that is not guaranteed in any field but more students will matriculate at our schools if we have a good track record of job placement, even if that's not officially our job.  Students want to go to school for little out-of-pocket expense and to have a job when they graduate.  While an admirable goal, I've never met a student who went to school only to improve their mind.  

Some schools recruit by being good at getting students' jobs.  Many schools lie or fudge the numbers on this so I advise students do their due diligence before forking over any cash or signing up for financial aid.  That said, some schools are virtually feeders for jobs such as playing in the lower tier military bands, landing freelance work, and getting into graduate programs.  This can be a great recruiting tool if everyone is honest and upfront with their information.  

Often schools will employ well-known faculty.  This is good for attracting the student who wants to study with a celebrity of the instrument.  But, then again, how many of us are celebrities? Very few.  You can make yourself better-known by visiting schools, having an online, social media presence, writing a blog (did you think I do this because I have something to get off my chest?), or otherwise putting their name, face, and musical sound on the minds of students and their parents. 

The last means of recruitment I'll discuss is programs' marching band.  This can be a mixed bag of blessings and curses.  In my experience, marching bands are typically made of mostly non-majors but at smaller schools, the percentage can go up dramatically.  This is a fun way for students to be part of the football program and many schools offer scholarships for participation.  At some schools, no scholarships are required to field a marching band larger than some small towns.  Some students really want to go to a school where they can participate in this way. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach however, the students should be advised about how to deal with cold temperatures, the perils of some of the choreography, and since marching band rehearsals and performance take a huge amount of time, they should be taught how to maximize their available time.  This experience is very helpful for students interested in a career in the military and being good at it before boot camp will save them some push-ups in the mud later down the road.  

None of these recruiting methods is inherently better than any other.  Sometimes we rely on a combination of a few of them.  They worked. The bottom line is, for us to stay relevant and employed, we need students.  We need to contribute something meaningful to the larger academic and musical communities. For students to continue in music, they need us. Here's the problem: getting them in the door is only half the battle. Students may be signing up for a music education, which they'll get, but what they don't see is that we have to teach them basic business and entrepreneurship and how to shape a career around their unique skill set. I'll continue this in Part II. Thanks for reading thus far!

Two sides of the craftsman: the carpenter and the programer

Teaching a lesson yesterday, I discovered an element of any performance-based activity (running or clarinet) that is not discussed in depth on any forums that have crossed my path.  The foundation of this discussion is that we are craftsmen.  A teacher a few years ago used the the phrase "perfecting your craft" about clarinet playing and initially I was put off by it.  In my mind, the word "craft" seemed to imply some sort of artsy, glitter and glue stick made, paper plates and macaroni project that is common in 5th grade art class and even makes its way to farmers markets and art shows.  Ugh, that was NOT why I played clarinet.  In my mind, I was a race horse with a clarinet.  Sometime later, probably after reflecting on pieces my paternal grandfather had completed as a woodworker did I come to embrace the true craftsmanship of his work.  He took great pride in his woodworking and made all sorts of furniture, puzzles, desks and boxes.  While woodworking was never his profession, he was very good at it and it brought joy, pleasure, and beauty to his life and to those who enjoyed his work. This seems an amiable goal for any musician or runner.  The wood was typically from a tree in the woods behind his house (also built by him, by hand... he never owed a dime on it or the land).  He simply was a craftsman.  He chopped, milled, cut, sanded, stained, and polished every board-foot of the wood he used.  There were lessons to be learned here.

One of the Glenn Mietz pieces I own is a very small, simple box with square dovetails.  I think he made a few of these and gave one to each of his children.  I put little odds and ends in it but it has a great deal of significance to me.  To me, the box is a small representation of what it means to be a craftsman.  He started with raw wood.  Maybe we can extrapolate that to music as purchasing a new piece of music or in running, coming back from a break.  As a craftsman, we work the project until it looks and functions as we intend it to.  This is an important concept as often our bodies function in a manner inconsistent to how we would prefer.  We all know the value of practicing or training slowly so that we can meticulously work through the problems we encounter.  Every phrase is shaped, every hill is run and, we hope, every imperfection is removed before our work is complete.

Unlike the carpenter, music and running are both performances.  We are required by the very nature of our endeavors to complete all the necessary steps as gracefully as possible in a single attempt whether at a race or at a recital.  This is where we employ the craftsmanship of a much more modern artisan... the computer programer.  Computer programs are at their essence and set of instructions that once initiated, run to their programed conclusion.  It will probably come as no surprise that this is the same manner of doing things that NASA uses (check out Tom Hanks in Apollo 13).  There are predetermined series of events which must be completed.  Think of the most basic series of events in your life.  Let's say you wanted to write a program to get a glass of water.  It might look like this:

1. Stand up
2. Walk to the kitchen
3. Remove a glass from the cupboard with your right hand
4. Turn on the faucet with your left hand
5. Hold glass under the faucet with your right hand until full
6. Turn off faucet with your left hand
7. Enjoy water

As a performance-driven artist/athlete, our instructions may be remarkably similar yet we seldom see it as such.  When we figure out how to practice in a deliberate sequence, our results are scarily consistent (see Rule No. 3).  This is where performance anxiety and nerves are systematically slaughtered by your conscious effort.  The more times we have initiated and completed the sequence correctly, the less we worry about it.  It is your job as a performer to consider each of those steps.  If you weren't 100% on how to turn on the faucet, step 4 may be rather stressful in a live-fire situation.  I go through this at hotels all the time.  "How the heck do I turn on the shower?! Twist, pull, slide?"  I usually figure it out through trial and error but am not above calling the front desk if I can't figure it out.  As a programmer of our own self-empowered performances, it is our job to find and correct those moments where we're not 100% how to accomplish them.  We accomplish this by completing them very slowly at first and, as we get better at them, doing it faster and faster.  If you can't figure it out on your own, ask your teacher, coach, mentor or, better still, look it up!  Whether they realize it or not, every great performer from sprinters to virtuoso musicians to astronauts goes through a predetermined series of events.  The more we do it, the easier and more consistently we can do it.

The last bit of this is what to do when something goes awry in a live situation.  The easiest answer is to accept your mistake, course correct if needed, and get back to the program.  Chances are, unless you do something (like shake your head, blow out the water in your keys, blush, or give it away) no one will notice.  There will always be elements of live performance we cannot control.  I've had reeds dry out on me, I've had the weather change dramatically in only a few minutes, I've run out of water 2 or 3 miles ahead of schedule, bears have a tendency of popping out of the woods and people walk in during the middle of the soft section of your clarinet/viola duo, etc. None of these things are really predictable but all are over-comable.  The smart performer just rolls with it, completes the performance as gracefully as possible, and makes contingencies for any future occurrences.   Personally, I learned to moisten my reeds during extended rests, to bring a jacket or at least rub my chest during adverse weather, to discern which streams are most likely safe to drink, when/where to carry bear spray and deal with them from a safe distance, and how to ignore distractions on stage.  Like the aforementioned Apollo 13 mission, success depends on improvisation and adaptation.

So here's the summary: Be the craftsman.  Work your craft slowly until it is performance-ready.   Look for any places where a contingency may be necessary.  At performance time, run the program.  After the performance, enjoy your success.  No glitter, macaroni, or glue sticks required.