A challenge for Nina

[francesn]

…Nina appeared on the rostrum.

She froze for a moment under the lights. Up until that point it had all seemed horribly unreal, almost though it had been a bad dream, but now she realised she wasn’t going to wake up. Mr Denny really was ill and she was really going to have to conduct the orchestra waiting expectantly in front of her.

The audience rustled a little behind her, waiting for the music to begin. She fiddled with her baton, trying to fight the panic rising inside her. She could imagine what they were saying and it did nothing to soothe her nerves. She was the school’s star musician, she couldn’t fail at this and yet she could not bring herself to do it. It wasn’t like playing the piano. The piano was completely under her control, it would not do anything she didn’t tell it to. The orchestra, as she had found at out the disastrous rehearsal that morning, was not. She fought the rising panic as she remembered how Stella Johnson had started the flute cadenza too high and prayed that Stella wouldn’t do it again. She remembered the awful feeling as the orchestra had ground to a halt on passages they had played a thousand times and that there had been nothing she could do to stop it.

A thump sounded behind the curtain breaking her reverie. She had to start, and she had to start soon. Nina took a deep breath and looked down. The score was still unopened. Just as well she hadn’t raised her baton to start, she thought. She opened it and looked down at the music which she had spent the last six hours studying so intently. She saw “Overture by Tristan Denny” printed at the top of the first page and had to choke back tears. This was the first time Mr Denny had composed a special overture for the pantomime and he was too ill to conduct. Nina keenly felt the unfairness of it all. It wasn’t right that Mr Denny had put so much work into this piece and it should now be left to the hands of a novice conductor.

She heard the familiar music playing itself in her head, allowing the tempo to establish itself until it pulsed through her body. Raising her baton she found that her hands no longer trembled. She lifted her chin, smiled at the orchestra and prepared herself. Nina knew what she had to do. She beat a bar and brought the strings and flute in. There was authority in the sweep of her baton and the girls felt it.
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of course I don't look busy - I did it right the first time

[Fiona Mc]

Thanks Fran. Its nice to see what Nina was feeling and thinking before she conducted for the first time at the Panto. I know i wouldn't have liked to have done it

[Kathy_S]

Thank you, Frances. That's lovely.
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