I wish I were creative. I mean really creative. I just watched a documentary about Stephen Hatfield and his opera, and I can’t even imagine being so artistic. The man is probably the single most inventive and thoughtful person I’ve even seen. He seems to be able to turn absolutely anything into art. Good art ( Read more... )

If I had to name a single favorite composer (which I don’t often try to do), I think Brahms would be my choice. He’s the composer people say I have a feel for, and it was during his second piano concerto that I can first remember not being able to stay still while I listened. It was too glorious. I meant to mark the occasion by playing through the ( Read more... )

Bach is over and I’m free until the vocal classes on Friday! It seems odd - depressingly so - that I should be thinking about my pieces that way. It’s all about simply getting through the next class gracefully and not about enjoying playing music. It also struck me today how much waiting is involved in the festival. There’s far too much time spent ( Read more... )

Brahms went better than I expected. The octaves were clean and precise, and all the assembled piano teachers were generous with their praise afterwards. I still came second. You can’t beat perfection, I suppose. There’s just something so disheartening about playing my best and getting second place. It’s funny, because I knew beforehand, when I saw ( Read more... )

My relatives have descended for the week. The familiar flutterings in my stomach remind me that I’ll be on stage this afternoon, and my octaves have gone on the blink just in time for the performance. I’m afraid of not practicing, but afraid of practicing too much in case I start making mistakes that I don’t have time to fix. I wish I could forget ( Read more... )

I was convinced I’d wake up this morning with no voice and fingers that couldn’t type, let alone play the piano. I didn’t. In fact, my Prelude and Fugue was better than it’s ever been this morning, and my songs sounded normal. They sounded good, actually. All I have to do now is get up and repeat all of that in front of an audience this evening ( Read more... )