When things go wrong

No matter how experienced or learned someone is, how many resources they have, how many measures they take, accidents and mistakes are inescapable. What defines a good musician isn't the absence of hiccups or errors, but rather, how they react to them.

Take as an example this rendition of Queen's quintessential song, Bohemian Rhapsody, played during a concert in Caracas, Venezuela, back in 1981.

Even if you aren't a fervent fan of Queen, it's highly likely that you've listened to this song enough times to tell something goes wrong at the 01:40 mark. Brian May works around the issue to play the solo for that part, but by 02:04, he changes the melody completely. The image isn't that clear, but apparently he missed his cue and broke one of his strings immediately after.

Observe how he doesn't freeze, doesn't stop or reacts in a visibly panicked way. His fellow band members do look slightly confused while they understand what happened, but this doesn't prevent them from playing their parts. They carry on together, and instead of a catastrophe, their performance here becomes an interesting, unique version of the song.

This is how you do it, and you don't have to be a member of the legendary Queen to achieve it. Simple things like rehearsing in depth to improve the communication with your band or crew, talking with them about what to do in case of an accident or problem, and focusing on the moment to quickly find solutions, are enough to prepare you for eventualities and help you overcome them.

This is a topic we talk about several times across the three seasons of the Success Beyond The Score podcast. Particularly in episode 7 of season 2, you can listen to Millicent interviewing the award-winning, international operatic soprano Abigail Kelly, and talking about how to memorise operatic texts and what to do to prevent issues.

As we've said before, there's no point in getting discouraged or beating yourself for a mistake or accident. Just take the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody to heart, and "carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters..."