Saturday, June 27, 2009

Piano Exam



OK, to be honest, I'm not sure if I'll pass, but I want to share what happened yesterday.

My name was called, and I walked slowly down the corridor, hoping to elongate the time so that I wouldn't have to face the examiner so soon. The door opened and a man with chubby face greeted me with a smile and said "Hi, Yin Chien! Welcome in!"

"Oh..." I thought. "This guy is a little too excited." I politely wished him good morning and went in the room. He instructed me to sit down on the piano bench and I did as he told. I requested to play scales first. My scales was terrible. Oh. I kept on mumbling a soft "sorry", which was more like a whisper.

Strange, I wasn't so scared after all. Was all the waiting making me nervous and not the exam itself?

"You're going to play last year's pieces, am I right, Yin Chien?" He asked me with a heavy British accent. I replied promptly, " Yes, sir. A1."

"I see. Bach's Prelude and Fugue in A flat major."

"Yes sir."

"You may start now."

I played with enthusiasm and felt myself indulged in the music at the beginning. Then, I accidentally pressed on a wrong note but I quickly continued without correcting it. Oh. A mistake.

The fugue was played quite well and I was happy with the ending.

Next was B7 - Mozart's Sonata in C Major K.309

Everything went on so well but at the ending part, I pressed on a wrong chord. Oh. Another mistake. Never mind, I told myself. It wasn't so bad. My little koala clip fell on the floor when I was packing my Mozart sonata book and I didn't pick it up because I had to play my last piece.

The last piece, and the hardest one --- for me. Prokofiev's Gavotte. I hate this song, but my teacher urged me to play this because it's the only one without chords exceeding ten notes. Alright, I admit it, my fingers are short. Way too short. My baby fingers are some sort of "stumpy" or "stubby". My limit is 8 notes, nothing more. However, it seems that a lot of chords are having a distance of 10 notes. So, I just have to force myself into playing it.

My pathetic C3 --- Wrong notes, accidentally "misplaced" fingers, and short pauses.

But thank God, the ending went quite well.

After that, the sight reading. The examiner said "Thank you very much" before telling me that I have to play a sight reading piece next. OK, I said.

He walked to my side and suddenly bent down to pick up my fallen koala and handed it over to me.

"Here's your little fella", he said cheerfully.

I guess examiners treat you extra nicely when you're on the brink of 'fail' and 'pass'.

I don't know how the sight-reading turned out to be and I don't want to tell you about it.

My aural was the worst of all. You know it, I can't sing! My ears are simply not functioning. Modulations? No way. Only the last part --- "he-does-the-playing, I-do-the-saying" part, I managed to get it right. He tested me with a Classical piece. Was it because my previous test are so terrible that he decided to help me with an easier question? I don't know and I won't know.

After that, he said "thank you very much" again and I thanked him back.

"Have a nice day!" I said, pretending to be cheerful as he was.

"Bye-bye." I heard him saying when I was reaching for the door.

"Bye" was the only word I managed to reply.
___________________________________________

After I closed the door, I hopped towards my teacher and asked her if I would pass this. She put her index finger on her mouth, instructing me to keep quiet.

"I think you'll pass." She said.

"But I have done so many mistakes! And he's so nice to me." I replied.

"Just relax. I think you'll pass."

Is it true? So what if I don't pass?






2 comments:

Anonymous said...

YOU WILL.

Be confident.

Be positive.

It will be just fine!

Aik said...

Thanks, Rocksee!

But my scales are terrible. LOL