Kaitlyn Resler, 22, born in Orlando, Florida, is a master’s degree student at The Juilliard School and a recipient of a Kovner fellowship. Ms. Resler also received her bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Julie Landsman. Ms. Resler is currently an active player with Wicked on Broadway, The Colorado Symphony, the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra and the Florida Orchestra. Kaitlyn is Co – Leader of eGALitarian – a brass ensemble of women musicians in NYC dedicated to improving and inspiring the lives of women in the community.
Pit life is one of the most fun playing experiences I’ve ever had. But as we all know… it does often require a significant amount of downtime, often with nothing to do but dwell inside our crazy, beautiful minds! These are five things I realized about myself in the past few months while I had those endless hours of pit contemplation.
1. You can’t win at music. Sure there are competitions, job auditions etc… but ultimately isn’t music all about sharing a story with the audience and impacting lives? When I put it into this perspective the concept of “winning” music seems a little silly.
2. No one is counting your mistakes but you. I find myself time and time again tallying up the number of cracked notes. It was a nice realization to come to that no one else was counting every single little blip in my playing but me!
3. Comparing yourself to others will never be beneficial. Different people are at different places in their lives. Live in the moment and acknowledge all the things you have going for you right now.
4. Learn to appreciate your mind! For the longest time, I hated the fact that I would overthink every single thing in my life. Sometimes I even go down the rabbit hole of overanalyzing my analyzation of my thoughts! Whew.. but as I’ve come to realize, these crazy minds are what bring people together. It’s what helps us create life long relationships and connections with people and ultimately is our #1 source for creativity!
5. Music is meant to be fun. – a last but certainly not least familiar, simple, and super cliche concept. I know we’ve all heard it a million times but every single day it is so easy to forget. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the stressful side of performing that I often find myself forgetting that this is supposed to be an art form that is enjoyable for us and our audience! We, as musicians, are so lucky that our “work” is something that we can be so passionate about.