OKOKOK No panic. Tomorrow is the big day ! The day I wasted RM50 for. The day I wasted countless afternoons for ! The day I come home with a shiny (tiny) trophy saying first place. Gahhhh. I'm kinda nervous D= That's right. Tomorrow is Music Fes !
It's a contest (musically-based, of course) organized by KK Music Society every year. It last from morning to evening. Some of the instruments you can compete in are Piano, Violin, Vocals, Choir (Not sure do they still have that?), Combo Bands etc. I've been competing since Primary 3 (though my memory tells me it's Primary 2) until now. I take part almost every year in hopes of bagging a prize ^.^ Sadly, it never turns out the way I want it to and end up wasting around RM100 competing. The only time I got a prize is during Primary 3 (my first time competing, I got 2nd place.), Form 2 (I did my Canon in D solo and got 3rd place) and Form 3 where I did a Military March duet with Andre and BAGGED FIRST PLACE. Wakkakakakaka. That was the best moment in my life since me and Andre were like "Ok nvm. We're gonna lose" after our names weren't announced for 3rd or 2nd place (Yes, they announce anti-chronologically). But then we got high when they announced our names for first place. I dropped my bag as we clumsily walked to the stage. It was truly overwhelming (just 'cuz I used this word doesn't mean I'm gonna cry)
I didn't compete in Form 4 for 2 good reasons. It was organized at Nexus Karambunai that year so it was VERY far away (bad choice, event planners =P) and I was taking my Grade 5 practical exam that year. I know it's VERY possible to juggle both of them. But honestly, I'm lazy (very lazy when it comes to piano). So I placed all of my focus into my exam and ditched the contest. Skip the details, ShnWei sounded interested when I raised the offer to do a duet with her for Music Fes. So I promised her we'd do it during Form 5. Well, she didn't know what duet to do so I suggested Military March, the one I did with Andre. As always I did Secondo while I let her take Primo. In case many of you don't get what Primo or Secondo or duet-ing is, here's a short wiki article (I promise it's short =P) about Piano Duets:
A piano duet is a piece of music written for two people to play at one piano. It is often called Piano 4 hands.
To play piano duets the two players sit with one person on the right (playing the high notes) and the other person on the left (playing the low notes). The person on the right is called “Primo” (“First”) and the person on the left is called “Secondo” (“Second”).
Piano duet music is usually printed with the Secondo part on the left-hand page and the Primo part on the right-hand page. Occasionally it is printed with the two parts underneath one another.
Playing piano duets is great fun and an excellent way to become a better musician. Like all group music making, each player has to learn to listen and adapt to what is going on in the other part. Sometimes one player will have to take away his or her hand quickly so that the other player can play the same note immediately afterwards. Sometimes the players have to cross their hands (secondo’s right hand crosses with primo’s left hand).
A lot of the time the primo’s part may have both hands written in the treble clef and the secondo’s part may have both hands written in the bass clef. This can sometimes be confusing at first.
The pedalling is usually done by the secondo player. This is because pedalling is very much about keeping chords going (“sustaining”), and it is the secondo who usually has the chords which give the harmony because these are in the lower part.
Taken from http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_duet
So in short, Primo is like the melody part and Secondo is like background music. If I were to put this into band terms, the Primo is like the guitar and keyboard (providing melody and vocal pitches) while Secondo acts like the drums and bass (beats and background sound). I like to play backing support because it compliments the main melody and people hardly notice it. Ohoho if I were playing the melody, a single mistake could sound very obvious to the listeners so it's kinda scary. Plus, Primo players must be swift (unless we're playing a slow song) while Secondo players have to have good finger control and good timing. In this case, I'm bad at both =P
Back to the story, I already did Secondo with Andre last year so I thought it'd be easier to reprise my role and gave ShnWei the primo part. It was her first time competing so she was kinda nervous (Well who wouldn't be). In the end, we didn't manage to win but I guess it was fun. She was definitely eager to compete again next year. Which is tomorrow 0.0 She sms-ed me while I was still in PLKN asking about the duet. Well, I'd like more time to consider and review the song that we'll be performing but, of course, I was stranded in the middle of a forest with limited contact with the outside world so I just gave her a OK. This time she was the one the picked the song, she even has a book full of duets (somebody looks committed...). The one that we'll be playing is called Minuet and Trio (I think) which is around Grade 5 (i THINK). I was GIVEN Secondo again (much to my ummm....pleasure ??) I thought we'd be in the lead (registered around Feb, started practicing around end of March) ohhhh but how wrong I was. We're still barely presentable. AND THE FRIGGIN' CONTEST IS TOMORROW !! Ahhhh Someone shoot me. I am NOT ready. Still making mistakes and dazing off in the middle of practice. I need to concentrate tomorrow. I hope nothing bad happens to me...Last year, I came early to "study" my judge (it paid off in Form 2) but I found out I left my PHONE at home =.= So I had almost no way to contact ShnWei.
A good question: Why don't I compete in a solo ? It's very possible to, I did it last year. They'll even work extra hard (and miss the schedule deadline this year) to make sure your performances don't clash with each other. But of course, I'll get stage fright XD and my performance would go downhill from there onwards. I think I'd do better if the song was a loud one filled with energy and stuff but my teacher said that fitted Andre more. She said I should do a slow song. Eeeeeeeeee.....WRONG. I was perfectly fine at home but when it comes to playing on stage. My notes, speed and energy go HAYWIRE. So yeah. That's why I'm more insistent when it comes to duets. Having someone sitting next to you really takes the scariness away. You should try it sometimes, especially if you've never tried duets before. A tio is even MORE fun. I tried one before when I was little with Andre and Jason. It was so extremely easy that I accidentally started daydreaming and the performance was still top notch ! Well it's almost the big day (As in, midnight) so I should head to bed before I sleep in tomorrow D= which I tend to to A LOT ! Wish me luck tomorrow ! Although I'm sure by the time you read this, our performance would've already been over. But oh well, it's good to think that everyone is cheering us on, isn't it ?
For those who missed our performance last year (like everyone in this world), here's a video taken by ShnWei's mom.
We made a few mistakes but I guess it's fine. And now here's our final practice video taken this morning for those who won't be able to make it tomorrow (once again, THIS WHOLE WORLD). It's Minuet and Trio (what a weird name). Hopefully, we'll be better than this tomorrow and no mistakes will occur.
This blog post was ended while listening to CORNER OF MEMORIES - PERSONA 4 OST
Wishing for the best,
TK
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