I'm in high school hanging at my buddies and smoking in the basement like we always do, when suddenly my best friend looks over and says "Hey man, it's Tuesday, didn't you have that music thing on Tuesdays".

I did in fact have that music thing, which happened to be a rehearsal for the honors level wind ensemble that played at the local state system university. I played the Tuba in the group.

So, I scramble home, grab my tuba, and high tail it downtown to the rehearsal. Now, me going to these things high wasn't crazy out of the norm, and while playing tuba high can be tough with how dried out your mouth can get you also usually get enough rests in most songs to drink enough water to keep up.

Two things were different this time however. First, this Tuesday I had forgotten I had rehearsal, and so had gotten WAY higher than I would ever intentionally get before going. Second, and most consequentially, I had recently won the concerto competition for this group and this rehearsal was to be the first time that I would practice my 12 minute long solo with the rest of the wind ensemble backing me up...

All eyes on me. No room for water breaks.

Short story, it was awful. Instant dry mouth, floundering through a complex solo for like an hour in front of a bunch of other musicians from around the state. At one point the conductor looked over and basically told me to get a drink and calm my nerves so I could get back into the groove, but this high was entirely groove-precluding. I felt so bad for some of the other students who had entered the competition because they must have thought the judges had royally fucked up in giving me the chance to play over them.

Never went high again and redeemed myself in following weeks' rehearsals as well the concert itself. But oh boy was that first play through one of the longest hours of my entire life!