Piano exam

This post is four days overdue because the office computer is down ..... I am now blogging from the computer in the Maxims Suite in Genting Hotel ( Thanks to H** B** ) ....

Anyway , I would like to talk about how the piano exam went ....

My exam started from 2pm to 3pm .... I reached Istana Hotel at 12.30pm !!!! Too early ... what to do ? It was raining that day ??? It hasn't rained for a week in Kuala Lumpur and suddenly there was this rain in the middle of a hot afternoon ???!!! Hmm ... I wonder it meant .... lol .

I registered and waited for ONE AND A HALF HOUR .... then something caught up to me .... I was half way through waiting when suddenly I ' Hachoo !!! ' .... Omg .... Right before a piano performance came such a thing ... It would look terrible if this happened in the middle of the exam .... I kept an extra piece of tissue from the washroom just in case ...

At 2pm sharp ( after I submitted my Programme Note to the receptionist ) , I was called in .... Standing in front of me were these two huge 'Ang Mo's .... Both looked elderly and a little scary ... We introduced ourselves . I chose to do Recital first ...

They asked me to try out the piano . The moment I saw 'Yamaha' printed on the GRAND PIANO ... I was like 'Shoot !!!' .... I hate Yamaha ... something about the pitch of this piano just irritates me every time . I tried out and yes , the pitch was very sharp and loud ....typical Yamaha .... There went my Recital ... I think it was less than 30 minutes but they didn't seem to be bothered by it . The missed notes were plentiful ... It was more than the time I practised .... So to pass my Recital is merely possible .... I would be very surprised if it did ....]

I chose Quick Study aka Sight Reading for my second section . It was a two-paged score ( normal ) and I was given 5 minutes to play with it without being judged . The key was D major ... Not bad .... Time signature was 6/8 .... simple rhythm .... Romantic composer ..... I just need to pay more attention to the phrasing and dynamics .... So I started practising then suddenly I saw a 'duplet' sign mixed with three quavers .... there were rests all over as well .... I knew it wasn't going to be so easy !!!! So I spent most of my time working out my duplet rhythm and failed miserably .... I ended up just playing them slower than quaver rhythm ..... Whether I can pass this , I have absolutely no idea ...

Last was Viva Voce aka 'Interview' session . Here were the questions they asked ...

1. Bach - What is Tierce de Picardie ?
My Answer : the third note of a minor key is raised to sound like a major chord .... ( I didn't answer in such fluent English though .... )

2. Beethoven - Tell me a little background of this piece . When was it composed ?
My Answer : first period of his life when he first arrived to Vienna and before he went deaf .... it was composed in 1798 .... Thanks to wikipedia in the morning .. it saved my day .

3. Beethoven - What type of piano did he use ? Was it like the one you just played ?
My Answer - Piano type was pianoforte .... and I guess this piano right here is also pianoforte .... ( I beat around the bush a lot on this ) ..... Thanks to Celeste's express course on Beethoven a day before ....

4. Chopin - Tell me a little about Chopin . Where did he come from ?
My Answer - He was a Polish and was very patriotic towards his country ... this was the only thing I knew about Chopin . It was part of my Programme Note ..... They seemed ok with my answer ...

5. Faure - Do you think Faure as an Impressionist ?
My Answer - No . He was half Late Romanticist and half Impressionist . His work consisted of both styles ... bla bla bla ... boring ....

6. General - What else would you like to tell us or was that something you have prepared but we didn't ask ?
My Answer : 'Crap! ... What sort of question is this ?' ... I had to say something . So I chose from the piece I am most familiar with - Bach . I told them I wasn't asked about the structure of fugue ( Which they asked Celeste ... ) ...
Examiner : So , would you like to tell us about the structure of this fugue ?
My Answer : 'Crap ! .... I didn't study much on fugue ...' So I tried to divert it to something else and said " I would rather compliment his work" ... So I said everything to suck up to him ..... Sad ....

In general , I am 99.99% sure I am going to fail .... it has to be one component or more .... Good news : I won't know it until 8 weeks later and no more piano for me !!!! After 9 years of piano , it felt like I finally graduated ... haha ....