On the Down

This morning Aonghas and I competed in the North Shore Performing Arts Competition over in...North Shore. It was the accordion section of the competition, which includes competition classes for piano, violin and other instruments, as well as other stuff like discussing current affairs on stage, reciting poetry, jazz and ballet, and dressing up in costume to act as someone else. I suppose that's performing arts for you!

Anyway I was competing in two classes, with Aonghas in one of them! In the first class I was playing Sonata in D by Haydn, which I have stuffed up twice in two times I have performed it so far. I was hoping I would buck the trend and not stuff it up for a third time...you know third time lucky..but it wasn't to be. I performed it and screwed it up again! There was this part my accordion teacher told me I was going to screw up during accordion lesson yesterday, and as I approached that part I kept thinking to myself that I was going to prove him wrong but I kept hearing him telling me I was going to stuff it up in my mind and guess what? I stuffed it up! So yeah I didn't do so well in that class. Aonghas won it and earned himself $20. That's not even enough to pay for the entry fee and the amount our mum paid to come in to watch!

After that class, I set about ensuring I didn't stuff up my other performance! I went outside and found a corner and practised till my hand died! Not really, just till Aonghas called me in to perform. The second performance went slightly better. I was up against Jessica Chen ARCH NEMESIS again. We were both playing Russian songs, with her playing Russian COWBOY while I was playing Russian DANCE. This time Aonghas wasn't in it. When it came to my performance I managed to keep playing and not stop which was good! I suppose it's because it's a loud, rough, fast piece and I like playing loudly, roughly and fast! My teacher yesterday told me I have a tendency to play TOO loud though! I got a better result for this piece, but the judge's comments were interesting:

"I thought your interpretation of the first half of the piece was strange"

That sounds pretty cool, my interpretation!

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On an even more solemn note it was sad enough hearing about those two teenagers who died down in Christchurch yesterday after a car plowed into them, but after coming across a Bebo group dedicated to one of the deceased, it really hit me, even though I don't know any of them personally! So I pass on my condolences to those poor poor people down in Christchurch!