Chopin Music Nerd

 When I woke up when my alarm this morning, I didn’t want to get up. Not very ready for school, I went downstairs to the kitchen. When my dad asked me what I wanted for for breakfast, I tried to say something but I couldn’t. Figures. I was up half of the night coughing. I had to stay home from school today, which was dissapointing. I’m not sure if I will be going tomorrow, but it looks like I won’t be going. I can talk now, but my voice is messed up, and I have an extremely runny nose. UGHHHH. I hate being sick.

   Today, my grade in English, my lowest subject went up by 5%. Now, I have 97% in English, so it is no longer my weakest subject. My weakest subject is Advanced Pre-Algebra: 95%. Last night at my recital, my performance was nearly flawless- I played one wrong note in the left hand while I was playing the semiquavers. My teacher was speechless at my performance. Chopin’s Etude Op. 10 No. 12 was a rather stressful piece to learn- so much practice!!!! My teacher literally made me play the same measue 25 times a week- my hand hurt so much when I first started this piece. Although I will not be performing this piece anytime soon ( I’m 12, there’s no way I can compete in the Chopin Festival), I will continue to play this song everyday at least once. Chopin’s Etudes are all truly masterpieces- I will continue to play all of his pieces. Once I perfect a piece, I keep it memorized forever- I still remember playing songs from when I was 6. Who knows, one day down the line, I may want to use this piece for an audition, or just to give people a vague outline of how I play piano, and my level.

   My next piece will be a Chopin Etude as well - Etude Op. 10 No.3, “Tristesse”, one of Chopin’s most difficult Etudes. Etude Op. 10 No. 3 is such a beautiful piece- gentle and flowing, such a difficult piece to play and interpret. I keep a notebook full of my music summary/analyisis papers- I have anyalyzed 30 pieces as of today. Each summary is 2-3 page long, explaining in deep detail what skills the interpreter must have, what technique issues appear, summarizing the basic and complex aspects of the piece.

  Tommorow, I have a piano recital. I cannot shake the feeling that I will mess up- I won’t hit a key hard enough, I’ll forget the music, I’ll play the wrong note, or I’ll play the same section of music twice. I need to practice a lot. the piece I will be playing is Chopin’s Etude Op. 10 No. 12, “Revolutionary”. Chopin wrote this piece around 1831, inspired by the Russian attack on Warsaw during the November 1830 Uprising, which inspired Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude. Chopin did not want any of his pieces to be known be simply one name- he did not create the nickname for his “Raindrop” No. Prelude, neither did he for any of his other compositions. Chopin’s Etude Op. 10 No.12 is difficult, as with all of his etudes. In particluar, the left hand semiquavers are rather relentless, and the right-hand cross-rhythms. This piece is also challenging because the interpreter must have fast hands- or else the piece will not be interpreted to its full extent. Since this piece was inspired by conflict and fighting, if you listen closely, you can close your eyes and percieve the piece as making a war-like sound.

   Today was not terrible, neither was it fantastic. During first period, I got 84% on a math test; took a test about taking a test in study skills in second period; got 85% on a test that I didn’t study for at all ( good part); and my team of 5 people lost every match during tennis today- all because we played teams that cheated. During fifth period, my friend hit her head on her desk; and in sixth period, I got 90% on an essay that I was hoping to get 100% on, and then on the ride home on the public bus, I got stuck next to a gang of boys (seriously, and actual gang) that were screaming, and every 5 seconds there was a stream of profanity.

    The weirdest part of the day was that instead of having a Fredric Chopoin composition stuck in my head, I had Jeux D’eau by Maurice Ravel. Chopin is a Romantic Period composer, while Ravel is from the Impressionism Era of music. Although the types of music and the composers heavily different, I love music from both composers. I also excel at interpreting at both, while I dislike some of Bach’s music, as well as Moazrt’s music, and I am terrible at interpreting their music, because I don’t relate as easily to their music styles. I excel at most of Bethoven’s compositions as well, which is interesting to me, as even most Virtuoso Pianists do not interpret him well.

     At 5 in the morning, I read the last few chapters of the book we are reading in English, Freak the Mighty, I was also listened to very moving music from my favorite anime, Clannad. As the news of a character’s death is told and the protagonsit reacts, the music made the feeling very depressing.

My own personal Tumblr page…. no followers, just my thoughts. I’ll see how this goes, and update this in my free time. Follow me if you want to….. I don’t mind! : )