My Music Part 1

This is still a trip to the past, as I'm going to write the behind-the-scenes about how I got my 3 music trophies, mainly 2 of them, that I earned last December 9th, 2018.

The first and second trophy was an award from my music course Gloriamus for getting first rank in both my Gloriamus piano and flute examinations. I didn't have that much obstacles while preparing for my flute exams, but I had one big obstacle in preparing for my piano exams. That obstacle was discipline, which I still had until now. I do like the songs that I played for the exams, I just don't like the many practise sessions that I had to do to perfect & memorize the songs.

I had advance level piano exam as part of my piano study at Gloriamus in November 2017. I had to play four piano pieces from different music eras. I chose to play Sinfonia 12 by J.S. Bach, Hoboken XVI by Joseph Haydn, Fantasie Impromptu by Frederic Chopin, and Arabesque by Claude Debussy. I do like the songs that I chose for the exam however, they are complicated to learn. They were from different eras, so I had to play them differently according to the characteristics and existing instruments used during that time. For example, during the Baroque and Classical era of Bach and Haydn, they used harpsichords because the piano wasn’t invented yet. So I had to keep that in mind and be aware of the differences between harpsichords and modern piano and try to replicate how songs were played on harpsichords on modern piano. I also had to make sure that I played the rhythm of the notes precisely. Additionally, I also had to memorize the songs.

I encountered difficulties because of lack of discipline in practising. I didn’t practise every day and wasn’t serious in practising. I didn’t follow all the instructions and corrections that my teacher gave me. As a result, I couldn’t play the whole song smoothly. Normally, I could finish learning a music piece in 2 weeks if I wanted to, but because of my indiscipline, I hadn’t learned the pieces even after three months.

My teacher was surprised that I still couldn’t play the whole pieces even at a month before my exam, so she gently scolded me. She said that I would not be able to memorize and play my pieces smoothly if my progress was still this slow.There was a high chance that I would fail the exam. Fail an exam!!! I've never failed an exam ever in my 14 years of life, especially a piano exam. My teacher’s words gave me the motivation to prove her wrong. I'll prove that my teacher got it wrong!

I started spending all of my free time (when I don’t have other lessons) practising the four piano pieces. First, I have to learn all the melodies and rhythm and be able to play from the beginning to the end with absolutely no mistake. Secondly, I have to add the dynamics and characteristics of the pieces. Thirdly, I have to memorize them. I practised for hours and hours on the songs every day. First, I have to make my playing smooth (it's not even smooth yet) then I have to memorise it. It was  very repetitive, and it did get pretty boring, but I persevere because I didn’t want to get scolded again.

By the time the exam day arrived, I felt fully prepared!

To be continued!