I played a gig about a year ago that really tested my inner “type-A,” “always-well-prepared-in-advance” habit. Now that’s a great habit to have as a musician, but every once and a while a gig comes around that offers you no opportunity to prepare. And you never no what additional challenges might come into play on top of that.

It was Thursday afternoon, and I was literally sitting at my computer waiting for an email or text with the set for the gig (which was scheduled to happen in about 3 hours). A fellow musician had called me about a week before for this one-off special-event sort of gig. I really didn’t know who I was playing with, and I didn’t even know much about the event itself. I just trusted the guy I knew who connected me with this particular event.

Sure enough, the evening rolled around with no communication from the bandleader or singer. I showed up extra early in hopes that maybe there’d be some charts on the music stand next to the house kit that was already set up. No...