Principal Horn of the Cleveland Orchestra Nathaniel Silberschlag on Being Your Best
Andrew Hitz
The last sentence here from Nathaniel Silberschlag, Principal Horn of the Cleveland Orchestra, from Episode 171 of The Brass Junkies really floored me:
"I honestly just was not that nervous about (his Kennedy Center Opera audition) because I didn't have any high expectations for myself. And I think because of that it lent itself to… taking no prisoners.
And I was like, I'm just going to give this my best shot. I can only be the best me on a given day."
The last 11 words from that quote had a profound impact on me.
I can only be the best me on a given day.
I love it when something so obvious is said so eloquently in a way that I need to hear. All I can do is try to be the best version of me at any given time.
While this point is obvious, the way he puts it is brilliant. His job isn’t to be great. His job is only to be the best he can be today.
None of us is promised linear progress in anything. Not even one of the best horn players in the world like Nathaniel!
There will be plenty of times when something isn’t as good on Thursday as it was on Wednesday, or even a week ago. Rather than getting held up on where we should be (in our minds, of course!), Nathaniel is encouraging us to focus simply on being our best possible version today. And that has nothing to do with last week!
Thanks for the reminder, Nathaniel. This is something I need to be reminded of from time to time!
(The above GIF is from the part of the interview when Nathaniel told us about how he had to tell the Kennedy Center Opera section that he couldn’t go out for a drink after winning the audition because he was 19 and because his father was waiting for him in the car. We were dying.)
You can watch our entire interview with Nathaniel Silberschlag on YouTube below or find links to all the other places you can find it here.