Do you have a special routine before practicing or performing?  Most elite athletes and even musicians go thru a set pattern to get ready to practice or perform.  One of the oddest and funniest examples is the ever eccentric Edvard Grieg, as we learn about below.

BY JEAN BELMONT FORD

Musicians can be an eccentric lot. We don’t quite reach the same heights as baseball players when it comes to superstitious behavior, but there are some exceptions. Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, having built a house, learned that the children used to call a little ravine in the area “Troll Valley” named his house “Troll Hill.”

A little girl came to visit Troll Hill and asked Grieg if he had any toys. He said that he kept a troll and a pig on his night stand. His wife Nina said that Edvard patted them on the head and told them “Goodnight” before going to sleep each evening.

The girl was so taken by the story that she offered him her “pet” frog doll which was made from cloth. Grieg accepted the gift and carried it around with him in his pocket for the rest of his life. Every time he had a public concert, he pat the frog on the head and say, “Good luck.”

From an original post on Music Spoke in October, 2016