Saturday, November 04, 2006
Piano Piano
omg. only today did i realise how pro my aunt is. she is a piano teacher btw. she was telling me and my 2cousins her life story today.
she had 4 teachers. all of them internationally renown, and perform around the world.
the first teacher learnt in england, where the style is very rigid and fixed. she got all her basics there, and completed grade 8 in 4 years. how he got her grades were quite lame. my aunt dun like taking exams, which apparently is also found in my genes. so the teacher also say tat he noes tat she dun like exams, but after a week or two will tell her tat he forgot and registered her for exam. did tat to her every exam. hahah.
then the teacher left for england. so while she was looking for a new teacher, her fren was like telling how she cldnt get the teacher she wanted. so my aunt got the teacher's number and called up. here's the conv.
Teacher: im very busy and do not have the time to listen to you play.
Aunt: just let me play for you once, and if u tink im nt up to standard, fine by.
Teacher: ok. come tml.
haha like wth right? so zai. but anw so she went la. and the teacher was uberly impressed. and began lessons immediately the next day. but before she left tat day, the teacher told her to play a 16-page Chopin song. it was around 6pm when my aunt left, but still she took it seriously and managed to play 15pages. only till the next day did she realise tat her teacher was just joking. hahaha. but the teacher was impressed la. the teacher was trained in germany, where the style is both rigid and flexible, which is a mixture of the french and england style. bla bla bla too much for me to rmb.
next teacher is a french trained one. she also had to play a song for him before he accepted her as his student. after she finished playing, the teacher only asked who was her previous teacher, and my aunt replied mr wang la. the teacher only smiled. the french style is extremely versatile. and after learning from this teacher, a light and soft song tat required the pedal could sound exactly the same or even better without the pedal. hows tat. haha.
the last teacher was trained in china. if im nt wrong she's currently president of nanyang academy of fine arts(nafa). my aunt said tat the china ppl are nuts over technique, and infinite drills are a standard procedure.
my aunt learnt the piano for a total of 14 years under teachers. but after she left all each teacher, all of them asked her to go back to them. haha. wang li da of them mentioned tat she was the pride of all his students. pro pro. she was a performer until she injured her hands, by doing housework a nd being slammed on by the door a few times.
and then she went on to be a teacher. back then when she was practicing in the practice room in yamaha under the talent group, ppl would knock on the door either out of admiration or jealousy, so she claims but i still believe. even the teachers there would be in awe la. haha.
anw the piano tat my aunt is still using now, around 35 years old, costs $8,800 in the old currency. the brand is KNIGHT, an authentic england brand tat is not sold in singapore anymore. after so many years it still only needs tuning. no problems at all.
sorry for this long post about my aunt. but im really proud of her. only if i had like 1% of her talent. wahaha. i tell u i wld have gone mad. =P pro pro pro.
my retrospect;
11:08 PM
