Piano Exam is Draining My Life Away

Thank G** I am taking only few units for A level exam . Throughout the 'holiday' , I was preparing for my coming Diploma piano exam in mid July . Little did I know it was going to be so tiring .

First was the program note . What is program note ? It is something like a description of the pieces a candidate is playing . This includes the history of the pieces , when it was first composed , published and performed , which instruments are best put together to play this piece , to whom the pieces were dedicated to et cetera .... OMG ..... I am so clueless ... Somemore I can't copy bulat-bulat from the Internet like I always do ..... I am clueless when it comes to the background of composers ..... I am still working on it .

Next in the list is Viva Voce . It is nothing more than an oral exam . The tricky part is that they ask something too relevant to the pieces . Questions can range from general ideas such as ' Which part of this piece shows the musical style of the composer ? ' to very detail things like ' Describe how this piece is different from this composer's other work ? ' ..... Basically I am a dead man ....

Of course the one of the most important elements of the exam is THE PIECES of course !!! I have to perform for half an hour = 3-4 pieces ..... each from a different period ..... sounds easy ? Not for me .... I finished my Grade 8 in Form 4 and started practising since then .... it took me 3 years to build my foundation considering my fingerwork is so poor ( still is ) ... Good news is I have chosen 3 pieces to play but I think they can't last 30 minutes .... This means I need to prepare 1 more song just in case and do the PROGRAM NOTE for that piece again ....... Again , I am a dead man .

Last part of the exam is SIGHT READING ... They will give me a piece that I have never seen before in my life and play it .... hmm .......... let me see .. I failed me sight reading since Grade 6 ... all this while the pieces had been saving me ..... Another good news : If I fail any of the component , no matter how good I do in other components , I will still get a ' FAILED ' ......... To make things worse , my piano genius friend C****** Y** H** Y** did her exam last year and failed in the hands of sight reading .... Probability of me getting through is again -1 ( definitely will happen in the opposite of what is expected ..... my creation ... not in S3 ..... ) .

So , my parents paid quite a lot for this exam ... I'll just try my best .... see whether can sip through or not .... Well , these are my pieces : Sonata in F major Opus 10 Number 2 by Beethoven , Impromptu in F minor by Gabriel Faure , Prelude and Fugue 16 BWV 861 by J.S. Bach .... I also got some cool videos on how some piano genius play these pieces .... Enjoy !!! ( Please be reminded I am nothing close to these people ) .



Sonata in F Major Opus 10 Number 2 First Movement



Sonata in F Major Opus 10 Number 2 Second Movement


Sonata in F major Opus 10 Number 2 Third Movement



Impromptu in F minor by Gabriel Faure


Prelude 16 BWV 861 by J.S. Bach