Our National Day 2017

 Traffic congestion from town, our accompanist was almost late.

Just two days before the "Open Class", I received an email on the date and time slot for our Solo Performance. I really had no idea what this class was about. Her teacher had recommended us to attend this class and told her to "just play one piece of any song".  So we thought it was something casual. Until I read the email saying that we have to arrange for our own accompanist (pianist, in our case).  I informed her teacher but she asked why the event is held on a holiday. I take it as she will not be volunteering herself as the accompanist. I clarified with the school's admin and they say to bring the CD. But I don't have a CD when I bought that exam book, where do I find the piano tune then?  The more I thought over it, the more uneasy I became. So I asked my friend Pam if she could ask her daughter to play the tune and whatsapp me the video so that I can play it over my phone...... to think that I thought of that is crazy shit. It shows how little I know what was going on. Luckily Pam is not as blur as me. She quickly roped in her contact to help us. Pro bono some more. Over just one hour of getting to build a bit of rapport with Kiki, they practiced a little on the eve of our event. Good thing we had him with us, due to the quiet and tensed atmosphere in the studio, Kiki was nervous and her rhythm was out by a little. I cringed as she walked on stage, that little girl was hunching even more than she normally did. She was like trying to make herself small, arched and slouching shoulders. Gosh, girl, you have to stand tall! She played not as well as she normally did. I think she must have been really nervous but she carried on. She sat at the other section with all the other students, so I wasn't able to talk to her or calm her. But I had signaled her "I love you". While the other kids played their violins, I could tell that Kiki was impressed. Each time after one kid finishes his/her performance, Kiki looked at me and nodded. Like tell me- ya, that was fantastic. I thought to myself, wow, these children, are they born prodigies? They were professional. I saw stickers bearing - Bronze, Silver, Gold labels. I thought well, nevermind lah, Bronze is fine, at least we get to learn what these kind of classes are about. Then the adjudicator (empire/judge) announced that she was delighted that she needn't issue any Bronze certificates for this class. My heart smiled, yay, Silver will be nice. Before the certificate presentation, the adjudicator went on to explain that more important than playing every single notes accurately, is the flow and ability to touch the hearts of the audience. She suggests that we watch or learn the Flamingo Dance, be confident, entertaining, be poised and enjoy. She also added that unlike many other instruments, violin is one of the most difficult instrument to play. She says unlike a piano key that makes a particular note, the violin player has to "call out" the note from the violin using his/her arms and fingers. Well, I hadn't thought of it that way. After she presented quite many Silver certificates, she said- Now, the Gold. Rachael.  My heart leaped. Wow, we got Gold!  Hahahaha. Felt undeserving but still heart-bursting. Thank you, for the encouragement, we will keep learning and improving.

 Thanks for the last minute notice & showing up for us. 

We need to learn Stage Etiquette. Cannot let nervousness get the better of us.