3rd ASEAN International Chopin Piano Competition
November 2008
15th : As I do my final packing before I leave for KL, I try and polish up my piano playing before I compete in my first international piano competition. My dad and I had plans to watch a concert that day at the Dewan Filharmonik in KLCC with my cousins. We were prepared for that concert which was at 2:00, BUT little did we know that the concert was actually at 12. Still travelling on our was down to KL we missed that concert, and what a shame, as Malaysia's young pianist Yoh Hao Zi was going to play the Scherzo No.2 Op.31 by Frederic Chopin.
Funny thing was, that piece was on my repertoire for this piano competition. I was going to play the same piece on the 17th.
Scary thing was, Ms Yoh Hao Zi (14 years old) was also competing in the same competition!! I have absolutely no experience with this piece and here she is playing it in front of crowd in an auditorium. What an embaressment it was going to be!
Lucky thing was, she was in a different category! :):):) Harhar
16th : All contestants registered and were getting ready for the opening ceremony and balloting session. 8 pm. Everyone is sitting in the hall and there was huge tension! We knew we were gonna compete with each other. Some people were so focused that they refused to make friends! (quite scary) So the host makes a boring speech, "blah blah blah...." and then she introduces the Jury. Representing Malaysia is one of Malaysia's finest pianist - Nicholas Ong who now has a Ph.D in Music at the Julliard School in New york. Balloting session arrives and everyone lines up getting ready to ballot and praying not to see a ( 1 ) on that piece of paper! A girl beside me who was so afraid of being the first to play on stage tomorrow had her fingers crossed. She was the first one in my category to pick a piece of paper out of a hat and true enough it was a ( 1 )! RELIEVE, RELIEVE! for all other contestants. My turn came up and i got a ( 4 ) which was not too bad.
17th : Woke up at 7, sat myself at the piano seat, and then proceeded to pound on the piano for 6 hours. Making sure there are no slips, no (forgetting the piece half way), and no harsh sounds in my playing, 1 o clock arrives. I was scheduled to play at 4:15. So I started getting ready and my dad and I headed to the Dewan Panggung Bandaraya. My hands were sweaty as I sat in the LRT. And it was then when I finally understood wht "having butterflies in your stomach" means! Around 4, all contestants waited backstage to warm up and do some last minute practice.
Contestant ( 1 ) Performs..... :)
Contestant ( 2 ) Follows.... :|
Contestant ( 3 ) makes his way on stage... :(
"and now we shall the performance by contestant No.4..." (applause) :O
Heart starts to race as I walked on the stage. Legs were trembling and hands were shaking. Despite that I tried to look professional.
My program were as follows :
(1) Bach : Prelude and Fugue in Ab Major BWV862 Book 1 from Well-Tempered Klavier
(2) Chopin : Etude Op.12 No.12 (Revolutionary) in C minor
(3) Chopin : Etude Op.25 No.9 (Butterfly) in Gb Major
Let me tell you want happened in my second piece. The first chord in dominant key played as accented "forte" (meaning loud). I plunged the first chord on the keys but then I realised that my foot was not on the pedal!!! I PANICKED! I had to look under the piano to find the pedal but i couldnt because straight after the first chord were a series of fast descending scales in the left hand (which I cant take my eyes off). So then I actually played the 1st few bars without the pedal, and boy did it sound bad! My lesson : Make sure my foot is on the pedal before I start!
15th : As I do my final packing before I leave for KL, I try and polish up my piano playing before I compete in my first international piano competition. My dad and I had plans to watch a concert that day at the Dewan Filharmonik in KLCC with my cousins. We were prepared for that concert which was at 2:00, BUT little did we know that the concert was actually at 12. Still travelling on our was down to KL we missed that concert, and what a shame, as Malaysia's young pianist Yoh Hao Zi was going to play the Scherzo No.2 Op.31 by Frederic Chopin.
Funny thing was, that piece was on my repertoire for this piano competition. I was going to play the same piece on the 17th.
Scary thing was, Ms Yoh Hao Zi (14 years old) was also competing in the same competition!! I have absolutely no experience with this piece and here she is playing it in front of crowd in an auditorium. What an embaressment it was going to be!
Lucky thing was, she was in a different category! :):):) Harhar
16th : All contestants registered and were getting ready for the opening ceremony and balloting session. 8 pm. Everyone is sitting in the hall and there was huge tension! We knew we were gonna compete with each other. Some people were so focused that they refused to make friends! (quite scary) So the host makes a boring speech, "blah blah blah...." and then she introduces the Jury. Representing Malaysia is one of Malaysia's finest pianist - Nicholas Ong who now has a Ph.D in Music at the Julliard School in New york. Balloting session arrives and everyone lines up getting ready to ballot and praying not to see a ( 1 ) on that piece of paper! A girl beside me who was so afraid of being the first to play on stage tomorrow had her fingers crossed. She was the first one in my category to pick a piece of paper out of a hat and true enough it was a ( 1 )! RELIEVE, RELIEVE! for all other contestants. My turn came up and i got a ( 4 ) which was not too bad.
17th : Woke up at 7, sat myself at the piano seat, and then proceeded to pound on the piano for 6 hours. Making sure there are no slips, no (forgetting the piece half way), and no harsh sounds in my playing, 1 o clock arrives. I was scheduled to play at 4:15. So I started getting ready and my dad and I headed to the Dewan Panggung Bandaraya. My hands were sweaty as I sat in the LRT. And it was then when I finally understood wht "having butterflies in your stomach" means! Around 4, all contestants waited backstage to warm up and do some last minute practice.
Contestant ( 1 ) Performs..... :)
Contestant ( 2 ) Follows.... :|
Contestant ( 3 ) makes his way on stage... :(
"and now we shall the performance by contestant No.4..." (applause) :O
Heart starts to race as I walked on the stage. Legs were trembling and hands were shaking. Despite that I tried to look professional.
My program were as follows :
(1) Bach : Prelude and Fugue in Ab Major BWV862 Book 1 from Well-Tempered Klavier
(2) Chopin : Etude Op.12 No.12 (Revolutionary) in C minor
(3) Chopin : Etude Op.25 No.9 (Butterfly) in Gb Major
Let me tell you want happened in my second piece. The first chord in dominant key played as accented "forte" (meaning loud). I plunged the first chord on the keys but then I realised that my foot was not on the pedal!!! I PANICKED! I had to look under the piano to find the pedal but i couldnt because straight after the first chord were a series of fast descending scales in the left hand (which I cant take my eyes off). So then I actually played the 1st few bars without the pedal, and boy did it sound bad! My lesson : Make sure my foot is on the pedal before I start!
So everyone finished their performance and awaits the results.
well.... what can I say. Only 3 out of the 16 contestants made it into the Second round! And I wasnt one of them! What a pity to have practiced at least 4 hours a day for over a month and not even qualify for the next round! Haha, Well thats a truth about competitions! But boy did I enjoy my time!
Really hope to compete more and gain more experience in performing! And hope that there will come a day when I do win a competition (or at least qualify for the next round for crying out
loud)!!
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