I played for the high school solo/ensemble festival yesterday. I am very happy that it's over, and the kids did very well. I even managed to talk people into switching their schedules around so that I was done before noon. It was a pain for a lot of people to switch around the solos, and I feel bad for being demanding, but I couldn't justify being gone from Gunner all day long. It worked out in the end, and even the parents ended up being happy about things.
I have grumbled a lot throughout this experience about learning the music and about scheduling issues. And they really are issues for me. But after rehearsing with the kids and their awesome teacher, I remembered how much I enjoy it. Not all of the music is horrible, and even the horrible stuff is sort of exciting when it's played well. These particular students are fantastic. They're smart, they work hard, and they're talented, and I love being their coach/accompanist. I thought at one time of pursuing a career in coach/accompanying. I don't think I could ever do it for professional musicians, but I do love doing it in the student to teacher/coach situation.
One of the things I love about it is the attention to detail. I remember a piano lesson in college when my professor pointed out to me that I wasn't holding a note long enough. I was completely shocked that I hadn't noticed the full note value. Or that it even mattered that I notice that particular note value. And then I went to grad school and realized that everything about music is about the nuances. Every little note has to be held for a precise length of time, every rest released at an exact moment. There must be attention paid to every accent, staccato or slur. Not to mention the numerous musical directions slathered around the pages.
These are things I didn't pay attention to as a high school student, and like I said, I was shocked to find out that they were important. I enjoy teaching students about these things and watching them figure it out. I enjoy coaching them on ensemble issues, including cues, transitions, tempos, rhythms, especially since most of the kids haven't played with an accompanist much, or at all.
Anyway, this is a long way of me saying that I'll probably do it again next year. I will most likely go to the state festival later this Spring to play for the five kids who scored high enough. And I have told their teacher that I will accompany for his middle school students in their solo festival coming up in April.
3 comments:
I love your (on-going)amazing ability to find the positive in everything, but specifically the more challenging moments of your life. You are inspiring! Thanks for sharing.
I am bad at the most basic of details. Years ago I developed a bad habit of using the sustain pedal to help me hold notes because my fingers are too small to reach a lot of things, and often I can't both hold down a note and reach a moving line with the same hand. This habit has developed into real laziness, which has convinced me that I can never be an organist, as such laziness is not possible.
I enjoyed Mhana's comment- because I totally do the same thing. I don't think I realized just how lazy of a pianist I was until I married my husband and saw how he would practice a measure over and over again to make sure he got every note perfect. I think that's why I became a vocalist because I can rationalize my lack of perfection for "interpretation". If you tried to do that as an instrumentalist they would just look at you with raised eyebrows and say "no, that's not an interpretation...you just played that wrong". That's probably why vocalists have such a bad rap for being poor musicians.
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