Opinion: How improvisation can help with perfectionism

I never wanted to be an orchestral musician. The perfectionism required in auditions mixed with the subjectivity of judges meant that I could never be myself on the cello. I would always be playing ‘in the style’ of the panel’s preferred orchestral sound, so that perhaps they might accept and validate me in the form of a regular pay cheque.

As a cellist, I felt pressure to explain what I planned to ‘do’ with myself. Even though I never intended to have a career playing in an orchestra, I felt pressured to practise audition excerpts and learn the expositions of standard concertos…