New start

I haven't updated my blog for a few weeks. The reason was that I had been concentrated on the preparation for a concert. Indeed I just performed one movement of Grieg Piano Concerto. Honestly it is not a very difficult concerto, comparing to Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Liszt etc. However, I still had to spend lots of time to practise because it is a very famous concerto and I had a feeling that I must try to do as much as I can. There is no such thing called "perfect music". You can think of something to improve each time you practise. Since I am a perfectionist, I never feel satisfied of my playing. As a result, I had spent most of my time on this piece for the past few weeks. I thought about this piece in my mind all the time even when I was on the MTR or having meals.

Finally it came to the concert. It was my first time that I didn't feel nervous at all before performing. I used to shiver when I was waiting to play. However, I was just so calm yesterday. When it was my turn, I just walked out to the stage and took a bow. At that moment, I realised that I actually love performing on stage very much. I was so happy when I saw the audience clapping their hands. I messed up lots of notes actually but there was something which I did better than before. That was I was very confident even when I heard my wrong notes. And also, I think I was able to convey my feelings to the audience. I always failed to do that because when I was young, my attitude towards playing piano on stage was like a student finishing homework. However, last night it was entirely different. I could feel that I was enjoying the performance and I didn't want to leave the stage. I remember my teacher told me, "A good performance does not mean playing all the notes correctly. But it means whether you can play it by your heart and allow the audience to understand your emotions and feelings. Music is a language and it has the power to let people understand you. Wrong notes do not mean anything. Just forget about the notes when going up to the stage." I think I could do it last night finally. To me, this improvement symbolizes a new start in my piano playing.

My Chinese has been deteriorated rapidly after CE. I will begin to write in English in the future. Also, my secondary school life is over. I am going to take MTD programme in BU these coming few months before I go to college in the USA. I think these two changes represent two brand new starts of my blog and school life.