Piano Forum

Hi guys, so in one of my first 20 posts here, I asked what piece I should play for a competition. Only visitor responded Well anyway I didn't pick either his or the one I "decided" on because you had to pick a piece you can play with the orchestra just *in case* you win. The winner plays with the symphony orchestra. They also get a chunk of cash! So anyway, the competition was yesterday. It was supposed to be for Juniors and Seniors in high school but my teacher said I could do it as a sophomore. You must understand that the competition is for any instrument - string, wind, piano, etc... and it is STRING DOMINATED. In fact, a pianist hasn't won in 21 years. So anyway I was competing in it yesterday. I was playing the Larghetto movement of chopin f minor concerto. There were a lot of pianists in it this year which made the competition pretty stiff. So I got up there with my teacher (nervous as heck) and she played the intro, I did the little run at the beginning, and boldly played the first base note. It was wrong. I panicked! The first note, resonating in the pedal, was WRONG! There was stiffness in the room, nobody wanted to be there. I continued on, blundering left and right. Then I had a very short break while my teacher played a short orchestral interlude. I thought "You know what, I'm playing one of my favorite pieces by my favorite composer on this beautiful piano in this beautiful room and people are here to watch me play it. Why should I be nervous about that?" And then I continued on with confidence. I suddenly wasn't very nervous and I was playing all the notes perfectly. In fact, it was more musical than I had ever played it! I played the last note and the audience thundered in applause.  It was pretty cool. Well anyway nobody else in the entire competition made a mistake. In it there was this senior who had a ton of awards and even had a wikipedia page for his piano accomplishments. And then they announced the winner,

ME!

I was so stunned I couldn't even get up. I just slowly slinked over to the congratulator and took my place on stage. It was amazing. Then the symphony conductor was like "I'll stay in contact with you, that one looks like a fun one to conduct." Then the first violinist was like "How hard is the first violin part, do you know?" Then my teacher was like "Congratulations. We have work to do"

Well anyway, that was probably the most amazing thing that's happened on my piano journey so far. I look forward to playing with the orchestra, if you have any tips for orchestra playing, please let me know!!