I've been in some tight spots while performing and came through with an ad-lib. Here's one of my stories. I'd love to hear yours!

My gig was at a fundraising dinner for the arts here in Vancouver Washington. I was singing accompanied by a guitar player. As he set up our next song I noticed that the photocopy he had was incomplete, and the ends of all the staffs were cut off, including a few notes. I commented on this, and he just exclaimed that it was O.K., because we have 90% of the song and that was good enough. The audience thought that was funny.

Here comes the climax of the song, a high note with great emotion. My mouth opens and nothing comes out but a squeak! We stopped, and the air was filled with tension. I asked my partner where the note went, and he pointed to the music and said that it was one of the notes that had been left off the end of the photocopy. The tension in the room was relieved with laughter.

We resumed, I sang beautifully, high note and all. After the performance, people flocked to us and told us that we had a wonderful routine. They thought it was all planned.

I love it.

So how did you get out of your close calls?

Margarita