Thursday, July 15, 2010

Rubicon

I just turned down an organ gig because of MS. The first time I've ever turned down a music job because of the MS.

It was as organist for a funeral... A Sunday-morning service, I might have been able to get away with, but not a funeral. Too much on the line.

And of course, if the "inability to play the organ" wasn't bad enough, the gig was an hour away on a completely unoccupied freeway. Like a "5AM Sunday morning" unoccupied freeway. Driving down there during the week would have been 90+ minutes of non-stop pain.

Is it better to not do this gig? Heck, yeah.

But although I've turned down many a gig because I was already booked, I've never turned down one because I couldn't play an instrument that I used to be able to play. And it was indeed not just an instrument I could play well, generically speaking, but an organ that I was really familiar with and could really, really play.

Until today.

I think I'm OK with it... but I don't know yet, really.

As with so many things MS, we'll have to see how this one plays out.

No comments: