As I was organizing my music books and going through them before I chuck them away in one of the cupboards in the library, I realized that I do miss going for Piano lessons despite the strenuous practices I have to go through.
I remember complaining about having to sit on the chair for 45 minutes when I was in my earlier grades but as I moved on, 45 minutes was only for finger exercises! The scales became more complex, from 2 octaves to 3 then 4, from major scales to minor, first in harmonic only and then they made us do both harmonic and melodic (arrghh!) AND not forgetting the long list of arpeggios, root position, first and second inversions and the dominant and diminished seventh chords in root! Then I had to choose 3 pieces (which takes at least 3-5 months to have it perfected and can go up to 5 pages long) from the different eras to play, sight reading (any random piece given by the examiner which has to be played on the spot) and aural tests. Aural tests was fun at the beginning but came Grade 8, I was wishing that I was Chopin. Those were ONLY the practical side of it!
I remember complaining about having to sit on the chair for 45 minutes when I was in my earlier grades but as I moved on, 45 minutes was only for finger exercises! The scales became more complex, from 2 octaves to 3 then 4, from major scales to minor, first in harmonic only and then they made us do both harmonic and melodic (arrghh!) AND not forgetting the long list of arpeggios, root position, first and second inversions and the dominant and diminished seventh chords in root! Then I had to choose 3 pieces (which takes at least 3-5 months to have it perfected and can go up to 5 pages long) from the different eras to play, sight reading (any random piece given by the examiner which has to be played on the spot) and aural tests. Aural tests was fun at the beginning but came Grade 8, I was wishing that I was Chopin. Those were ONLY the practical side of it!
Came theory, it first started out with naming the keys and answering simple questions, all can be done within 20 minutes. Theory classes were so fun as there wasn't many Italian words to learn. But NOOOO! There was a giant leap from Grade 5 to Grade 6. Everything changed! It was more towards compostition and I had to study the history of composers, learn to differentiate the music from different eras either by listening or by looking at the musical scores (when I first started, it all sounded or least looked the same to me), learn Italian, German and French words, and know how other musical instruments work. DO I LOOK LIKE DEBUSSY? I remember dreading for classes every Saturday morning.
The past year paper. Question 1 was fun!
This is one of the musical scores which I had to complete.
You need an eye for details for the last questionI definitely did not have one.
But practice makes perfect.
Year 2006 was definitely a busy one for me! I had to sit for my Grade 8 examinations on top of preparing for my SPM and being the school prefect (Yes, I was once the nerdy girl with not so good grades). But at the end of the day, I think I am who I am today all thanks to piano lessons. I have taught myself to be patient and to continuously do something until I have perfected it. Learning may be one hell of a torturous process but at the end of the day, I feel good about myself! When I listen to music now, I can differentiate the different musical lines and I have the tendency to listen to the bass instead. Its annoying but it comes naturally to me.
And with the amount of money my parents had to fork out to send me for Piano classes, I'm going to prove it to them that it paid off (although I'm not musically inclined now, not yet). The values which I have picked up throughout my journey have been used when I started my college and I will make them proud by getting a First Class Honours Degree when I come back next year. Better still, if I manage to get a scholarship from LSE for my Masters :)
Till then, nothing can bring me down. NOTHING.
xoxo, -carmen-
