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Imogen Cooper – Tempus Fugit
The Piano Visions recital series at the Art Academy in Stockholm welcomed British Pianist Imogen Cooper for two recitals in November 2021. The program offered a glimpse into her earlier life, by including repertoire by Ravel and Liszt, which she worked on during her student years in Paris and Vienna. Read more >>

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Topic: A Terrible Experience (Read 6548 times)

kghayesh

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Posts: 489

A Terrible Experience

on: March 21, 2005, 01:49:21 PM

I was supposed to participate in a local competition that took place a couple of days ago but a very unforgettable thing happened to me...

I was so enthusiastic about the competition and started to prepare the required programme. My teacher chose for me Prelude and Fugue no.1 in C from the WTC 1, Mozart's Sonata k.545 in C and Chopin's Nocturne no.20 in C# minor op. posth. I quickly learnt and nearly mastered the Nocturne and the prelude. I knew the Sonata before, so it didn't need much work, but there was only 1 week remaining and i can play only about 40% of the fugue. I became more and more nervous and afraid i won't be able to catch the competition and my teacher eventually told me that i'd better not enter the competition and wait until i am more prepared. I was somehow disappointed but i knew that was better than to enter while i am not much ready.

At the day of the competition, i went there just to watch the contestors and see whether i had a chance or not. Surprisingly enough, i found only one whose performance was very good and all the others were not at all what i expected. I became sure that if i had participated, on the worst case, i can get the second place.

Then i thought of 'Why not try my luck??'. I went to the jury and told them that i was ready but i will not play the fugue. They negotiated for some seconds and then i heard one of them say 'Let him play'. I became so concentrated and afraid that i forgot everything rather than how i am gonna play as it was my first appearance in this sort of performances.

I started with the prelude. In the begining i was somehow afraid but then after a few seconds i became gradually less tense until i felt as if i was playing at home!!! The prelude went ok and so the first movement (allegro) of the Sonata. At this stage i was so confident that i can get one of the top 3 positions. Then, all of a sudden, the mobile phone in my pocket rang

. I told myself ("What the **** i forgot to turn it off") I began to stumble and to lose concentration and i repeated some part coz i forgot what was next. All this and the phone kept ringing and vibrating in my pocket.

The jury noticed that i was repeating some part many times, so they stopped me and told me to start the third movement. At this time, the phone has stopped ringing. So, i didn't turn it off as i thought it will be a negative thing in my criticizing. I started the third movement and began to regain my confidence and concentration and oops, the phone rang again.... The third movement was rondo and not easy like the second, so it needed more concentration. So, when the phone rang i nearlly totally lost my concentration and had a memory blackout and stopped a couple of times, which was really a disgusting experience. The jury stopped me again and told me to move on to the nocturne.

Luckily enough the phone didn't ring while playing the nocturne, but so what?? after i had nearly lost all my confidence and temper. However, i played the nocturne in an acceptable performance. The problem is that after the jury stopped me for the third time but this time it was not because of mistakes. I don't really know why did they stop me, but i think they did so because of the piece was a bit long for them.....

It was actually a terrible experience for me and it really lowered my self-esteem so much. I know it was an unpredictable thing to happen but i was so annoyed.

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jlh

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