MMario, ain't it the truth.

After 32 years of playing for my dough, I've never done a concert where I didn't ask someone (Heather for the last 12) "How was it?"

I still worry whether:

My pitch was spot on

My tempos seemed right

Did I talk too much?

Did I enunciate properly?

Was the set paced properly?

Did folks "hear" my mistakes?

Overall, I've got a lot of confidence in the music I sing and play publicly, but that insecurity never REALLY goes away. I'm well aware that most of your friends and family will always say "ooooh that was wonderful..." but I constantly learn from objective criticism...and I KNOW that it improves your performance next time. Keeps you from getting lazy as well. Some folks just radiate "self-confidence" (whether they believe it or not) but most of the worthwhile artists I've met sure don't.

Rick