Whether it's a seven-year-old or a seventy-year-old (Rubinstein, Serkin, Horowitz), asian or not -- there is always going to be somebody who can play your music better. Way better. Faster, cleaner, whatever. This is not what's important. What is important is that you have something to say in your own performance of the piece. If that is the case, it doesn't matter if yours is not the fastest recording. Make it interesting, make it your own. Also, everybody learns at their own pace. It may take you a while to overcome the challenges in the piece you're struggling with, but eventually you will get there. Patience is difficult, I know. But it's worth it!
belting it out to perfection?..
sight reads it to perfection.
played it to perfection .
Maybe not perfection, but simplicity. As Chopin said:"Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art."
Is there anything more disheartening than jumping on YouTube to check out a piece that you're struggling with and seeing a seven year old Chinese kid belting it out to perfection?..
I think the dying poet said it well, too. I NEVER go check up on a piece in youtube until it's finished. I'm preparing for a concert next month and i'm determined to make the music mine and i don't care a fig about what is considered the correct interpretation. I may never play again, but it's going to be different this time. To hell with the wrong notes. It's going to mean something.
That's good! I mean, still record yourself asap to make sure YOU like what you're doing! But you are expressing the composer's music and the music in you that is sympathetic. Other people'music is...it's creepy if you play it just like Richter or whatever. There are general elements that help the music flow that you should pass on from other's previous recordings to your own and on to the next to keep the piece in context. But the music should be phrased according to your own range of technique and feeling, not paraphrased.