I can do it, yes I can....

January 11, 2006 at 3:52 PM

I'll be happy when this next week and a half are over. My grade 10 violin exam is looming over my head and it's now down to major crunch time to make sure everything is in top shape. On Sunday night my violin teacher came over and we spent a few hours playing through my study, excerpts and pieces. Yesterday, after a meeting with a fellow faculty member at work and a piano lesson I had another long-ish lesson and we played through almost all of the technique required for the exam. And on Thursday it's a lesson on ear training and some of the more technical aspects of the exam. I really like all the pieces I am doing for my exam...Bach, Beethoven, Barber, Vitali.....but aside from the Barber concerto I'm feeling a bit burnt out with the other repertoire and un-inspired to practice them much. I'm trying to get some ideas of what I want to start working on after my exam though now. I'm really seriously contemplating the Debussy Sonata. It's something a little bit different and less played. For concertos, I have no idea which to pick, I'm too addicted to so many of them and I'm sure my teacher in Vancouver will have his own ideas of what is an appropiate and most beneficial choice for me that I'll hopefully like. For concert pieces....hmm...I'd like to do Ysaye Sonata No. 4 or dig the Stravinsky Suite Italliene out again or maybe think about doing the Chausson Poeme or....so many options! My "project" at the moment is still the G minor fugue and the last two movements of the G minor sonata but I'm eager to start serious work on the Ciaccona.....There is just so much great repertoire and too little time! Did I mention yet that I really want to do this awesome modern solo sonata? It's 1 mvt. long but it's 20+ minutes in length so it's not a piece I'd have much opportunity to perform.

My piano teacher wants me to enter this piece I am playing in a competition that takes place in April. I would be interested but it's the combination of the political motivations and dictations of how certain students do that deters me and the piece I'd play is really hard, on the long side and has basicly no patterns on being able to memorise it (it's a modern work). I love the piece, if I set my mind to it I think I could have it ready, I think I'll still set those goals for myself to have the piece memorised but I'm iffy about the competition. Maybe, too, if I'd actually performed piano in public in a setting like that in the last 4-5 years I'd be a little more willing but I haven't played in a piano competition now for years and my public performance experience is limited and the last time it was for any number of people is already a couple of years ago. *ponders*

Now I am off to school. The next few weeks will be some marathon weeks for that too as I have a bunch of major exams starting soon and tests on everything to get ready for those exams everytime I turn around! Ah!

Alright, I'm going to attempt to post a few pictures again and then I'll stop with the pictures unless I somehow get a picture of something really stellar.