First Piece

I made a surprising breakthrough (for me it was!) in piano...

Somehow... I've memorised the first piece I'm going to play for the exam!

KYAAAAAAAAAAA~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm never really good at memorising things so this was quite an accomplishment for me!

Actually, I got one third of the second piece memorized too... I just need to spend more time on the piano!

Perhaps it was "growth"...

I almost can't believe it when I realised there are less than two months left before my piano practical exam. Still so bad at scales and the other things you played after that. There was a period where that's the only thing I play during extra lessons... it was kind of a robotic experience. *sigh*

And... the aural parts. GAH. I still can't get the part that is so new to me - singing just by sight-reading the notes.

What frustrates me most is it really, really, really felt like I'm almost there but I couldn't reach it. It sounds like I just need to practise more really... but with current situation in university, it was hard to do them. I think I've reached a point in my life where I see how highly connected everything related to me are to each other, I became overwhelmed that I'm unsure how to proceed... and I kept being reminded how I hate what I'm studying now in university...

Recently, I tried to proceed carefully... by trying to address smaller problems first before the big ones... for piano, it was a pleasant surprise to me when I finally can play a song (still with mistakes though) that sounded like random notes played together months ago. Like I finally can hear the voice or something...

Reading some discussions on piano forums really encourages me... I might be bad at some areas (for now) but that doesn't mean there's no progress happening!!!

It gives me a glimpse of hope for my musical future. There are so many pieces and songs, so many more musical journeys yet to be explored, ... it is limitless... and it makes me happy to think that I have this chance in the future.



Persevere.

ABRSM music theory exam [12-March-2012]

Sat for the theory exam in KK High School yesterday with my brother. My brother took the grade 1 exam while I took grade 3. There were some questions that I got a bit confused at... but I'll pass. I believe I will pass this exam :D

I realized that having a mock exam day every week for a month before the real exam is really helpful. Like helps with not being nervous etc.. I could apply the same for the subjects I'm taking this semester.

Piano Classes [10-Mar-2012 & 11-Mar-2012]

Theory again.. :P

The music theory exam is tomorrow~! Actually I haven't memorise the italian terms... Uh-oh. 

Anyway... I kept getting confused at how to describe the intervals for minor scales. Today, all confusions were cleared. LOL. FINALLY understood how to look at it. & Miss C said she's going to stress on the scales after the music school's midterm holidays... Still haven't practise that scary looking minor scales. She also talked about the aural section. Seems like there'll be a part where I have to sing out notes on paper... and then the examiner plays the notes to check if I sang correctly.  This is actually scary... but I'm kind of excited to learn this! (crazy?) Isn't this basically sight-reading??? Sight-reading is a nice skill to have IMO...

Piano Classes [04-Mar-2012 & 05-Mar-2012]

Did theory exercises for Grade 3 because my brother and I will be sitting for ABRSM music theory exam next week on March 12th. 

Bought two songbook that focus on moving up grades (like pieces with level in between such and such grade). I already have g1-g2 & g2-g3 at home, the ones I bought were g3-g4 & g4-g5 :P... Tried playing them already. Very nice. My playing progress was much slower when I play the g4-g5 pieces ... so I guess I'm really right on my supposed grade, huh.

I wonder if I'm experiencing this music learning the way I would be if I learn earlier (or similar like others who started early)... For now, the way I'm seeing it, I'm learning not because I'm that passionate about music. It's more like I'm appreciative of the opportunity I get to learn something I forgo in the past... it's like the fun just have barely started (lol).. Of course it's fun now... but as I just rewatched Nodame Cantabile, I realised there are so many more that I could learn regarding music.. & many pieces I want to play... well.. not that I'm aiming to go to a music college or something.. it's really a personal thing. I was thinking that I want to be someone who could play one of Beethoven's sonatas (for example) without having to graduate from a music college in the future. Very personal thing, right..