As we are in the final preparations for our concert and festival performance this week, I contemplate how to “bump up” getting ready. We have practiced a lot – gone through the motions, as it were – of what will go on at the performances. I look back on my own life of performances, and I’m sorry that so many of them were done in a state of nervous anticipation rather than enjoyment. I think the secret is to practice like the dickens prior to the performance, and then perform with joy. I wish this for each and every student performing this week!