Stage courage...

The little violinist was maybe 4 or 5 years old.
He was standing in front of an audience gathered to hear the graduates of a Suzuki program.
There were proud parents and siblings and grandparents like me who wanted to see their students play the music they'd learned over the past year.
It was beautiful music and well played.
(Every time I hear Suzuki students play, I am so impressed!
Suzuki is the method of teaching violin introduced by the Japanese musician Shinichi Suzuki. Suzuki introduces very young children to fine music that includes teaching discipline, endurance and a love for classical music.)
This young man was doing fine on his instrument when he suddenly broke into tears, his face crumpling as he worked his bow back and forth, back and forth.
We in the audience recognized his sad situation but could do nothing to comfort him.
We simply watched him soldier on, feeling badly for him but knowing his tears would pass and he would someday realize he'd overcome stage fright, played through the fear.
In the meantime, it was tough to watch this small musician play on while he grimaced and wiped his face with his sleeve.
I think he had everyone in the audience pulling for him and to his credit, he stuck it out.
Bravo!

This is a sample Suzuki lad, not the one who started crying.