G6 results & New Home

I thought of combining this blog with my main blog (the same issues came up when I was about to create this small corner for my piano playing adventures :D)... & decided (again) to keep them separated. But, I moved to the same blogging platform.

From Vox (closed down) to Typepad (I keep forgetting my password!) & finally back to the first place where I started keeping a blog in 2005! Hopefully I'll update this more often because now it's more convenient :)

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I passed my ABRSM practical exam for G6 (that I took last year) with merit! It was only a few weeks after the exam that I got a call from Sabah's Ministry of Education to go retrieve my result. All the results for Sabahan candidates are there, enclosed in big fancy envelopes with individual & music school names. Funny thing though. There was only a piece of paper inside my envelope so if you put the envelope out under the sun, I can see what's inside! Basically it became semi-transparent... So haha... it felt a bit anti-climax to me but I saw what my result was before I even pull out the paper XD

Honestly, the first thing I did was let out a relieved sigh. I'm all "I passed!"... BUT I confess, the few marks I lost for my [silly] mistakes cost me a distinction. I got 125/150 - passed with merit - and just 5 marks short for a distinction. Well... it actually matched the efforts I put into practising though.. maybe even more than I deserve, I think.

Now I'm practicing Grade 7 pieces & I got into a bit shock in the beginning. More like in a form of hitting a wall? It's like what I do all this time doesn't matter anymore. Like I don't know how to play the piano anymore. I'm slowly trying to get over this feeling with the help of my piano teacher (although I didn't tell her about this).. it has something to do more with my confidence in playing.

She also warned me that I really, really need to practise more now that I'm in the higher grade. I understand this very much after seeing the level of G7 pieces. Logically, this should help me build my confidence... but I don't know why I struggle so much in dedicating practice time at home (considering how I spend most of my time at home). I also play non-exam pieces/songs & sometimes I play one to gauge how I'm "doing" that day.

One interesting thing I realised few weeks ago was I did some hours of sight-reading practice (more like randomly picking things to play & don't care if I got it right or not at the first play) & played my exam pieces quite well during the next class. I didn't even practise much my exam pieces! So I'm going to try doing more of that now~

Almost a 2-month absence...

…from this blog. Actually from all blogs. Except Tumblr and Twitter, of course. Though.. I don’t tweet much these few days.

BTW. My Twitter Bio now reads like this :

Positive pessimist. Curious. Sophomore. Struggling with Math problems and Programming assignments in university. Currently obsessed with Ohno Satoshi & Arashi.

Anyway. Instead of me asking my piano teacher to skip to Grade 4, she had asked me first few weeks ago. I was elated of course but I didn’t show my enthusiasm… she wanted me to think first then tell her next week (but she totally forgotten about it). Then.. in yesterday’s piano class, she mentioned about it again. I suspect she has similar thoughts with me though… I think I should really do well for the G3 pieces first before moving on to G4’s pieces… And she gave me another hard (4 sharps with 4-in-1 notes *if you get what I mean*) piano piece to practise my sight-reading skills. I am not good at sight-reading but in the last exam (G2), when I practise sight-reading, I kind of have the feeling that I can do that well. Kind of.

Also, few weeks ago… I had some kind of vacation from piano practice (busy watching Arashi in my room). Sounds bad, you think? No, not really. The funny thing that happened was like me eating Kit Kat chocolate bar. I LOVE Kit Kat but I seldom eat them because… I want to preserve that feeling of longing to eat one. I think the same thing happened to the practice. When I play, I realised how I miss the sound of the piano… as if they are a new sound to me, I got excited and was a bit more confident to play. The result was odd but good.

I used to always play Demi Lovato and Jonas Brothers songs on the piano. Their songs are usually in keys with mostly sharps… Now that I’ve found a new love in Arashi’s leader, Ohno Satoshi… it’s pretty much Arashi songs only these days. Haha… Their songs are more varied though, keys with flats & sharps here and there…

I’m still scared of flats. And staccatos.

Sigh. Halting Practice.

The tiring new semester has put a stall on my piano practice. I didn't expect this to happen. Just as I get home, all I can think of is sleeping... I play the piano just to forget anything stressful (ah... I'm abusing the piano!!!).

[more...]

If...

Back to campus - Semester 3!

Nothing much happened lately... though... 

I find myself struggling to play with more speed... It's making me crazy & I keep asking myself "Why can't I do that????"  *sigh* 

And then... there's another thing that suddenly appeared.. Improvement or just an odd thing? I don't know yet. It's like this. When I play a piece, I realise that I'm trying to match the sound with the sound in my head. Sometimes I ended up just pressing whichever key I thought sounds like it... Sure, I make many mistakes, but I think it's good for me to develop a confidence during playing.

Oh, yeah.. A week before Semester 3 started, I read a post by a newly enrolled university-mate. She's majoring in music (piano). It made me thought of my own future. What if I didn't stop learning to play the piano 12 years ago? Will I be heading to the music field too? Will I aim to become a professional pianist? Though... there's many factors to be taken in account too actually... 12 years ago, my family wouldn't afford buying an upright piano... To be frank, I was afraid of my piano teacher at that time. BUT. Even with all those factors... if I made it through... I wonder...

How would that musical future look like?

Gosh. Distracted.

My other problem with doing constant practice is "new songs". I'm so easy at being attracted to some songs I just listened to & desperately wants to play them on the piano. I would google for the piano sheets. Most of the time I will find it. I would then concentrate on the song - only happens when the piano score I found for it isn't too hard for me. Few days later, I may or may not lose interest & abandon the song entirely. Haha. I don't even bother perfecting after I could play it. 

Sigh.

Jumping from songs to songs isn't really "healthy", right? One should finish what one has started.... 

BIG SIGH.