Saturday, October 31, 2015

//when dreams turn into reality


Life is pretty crazy amazing right now. 
I mean, I am not sure what exactly happened this year but THINGS OCCURRED and here I am, writing to you guys with some incredible experiences to recount. 
Geez, that was super vague. I can't write any more. -_-

Well, I kinda officially earned my rank as a concert pianist. 

(*insert endless exclamation marks here*)

(*and here*)

(*and here too*)

Okay screw that. Who am I to try and hide my excitement over that statement, when it was pretty much one of the most monumental experiences of my life????

I'M GONNA USE ALL THE BLASTED EXCLAMATION MARKS I WANT TO, THANK YA VERY MUCH. 


I PERFORMED MY FIRST CONCERT EVER!!!!!!!!!! (there!)
Not just a recital. Not just a cameo in another artist's production. 
My own, full concert. (with a cameo from another conservatory included.)
It was intense, it was amazing and it went by so very fast. I loved it so much. 
I was asked to play at Dunnellon Presbyterian about five months ago, through my conservatory teacher Ms. Leslie. In five months, I had to pull together a full program of musical literature. It was a tight squeeze and there were times when I seriously thought it wasn't gonna work out. 

Ms. Leslie and me 
God is so gracious though. I don't know why He allowed me to have this opportunity and not somebody else, honestly. I didn't deserve it. 
All I can express is gratitude. Thankfulness to Him for this chance that took 2015 and turned it into something so unexpected and marvelous. 

Now, admittedly, I don't know if I've ever been so stressed in my life. During the whole practice stage, and the month leading into the concert, I was stresssssssssed beyond stressed. It might sound silly, but heck. I was bursting at the seams with excitement and pressure to succeed with this event. 
I wanted to give it my all, and make good impressions with my audience since it was my premiere event. But most of all, I wanted to glorify my Maker and point back to Him.
Honestly, I was so looking forward to being done with the event so that the pressure would be relieved and I could exhale again. 


It's so strange. All those weeks of practice and missing practice and killing myself for missing practice and wishing I'd gotten more done before the big day rolled in. All those days of dreaming about the concert, all the days of dreading it, and all the days of in-between where I honestly didn't want to think about it at all because my brain was fried. 
Now those days are gone. 
And now the concert is behind me, too. 
What. Happened. To. Time. 

Mommy & me 
The longest wait was actually 30 minutes before the concert started, when I was forced to sit and do absolutely nothing backstage in the choir room. The funny thing is, those moments of build-up seemed to drone on for an eternity, while the actual concert flew by at a remarkable rate. 


Some friends, Daniel and Anna
My program consisted of a myriad of pieces. Some of my own compositions, a little Chopin, a little Joplin and everything inbetween. 
Hopefully I can get some videos up soon, but that's gonna take a while because eesh videos take agesss to edit on my computer. 

But anyway. 

//

One milestone down. 
One step closer to my lifelong aspiration becoming the real deal. 
One dream turned reality. 
I can say now that I'm a true concert pianist because I've done the thing. I can say now that I know what it's like to perform over an hour's worth of music with an audience entirely at my disposal so to speak. 
I've felt the struggles that came with it all, and learned the lessons it offered to teach. 
Thank you so much to my extraordinary teacher Ms. Leslie, because without her, I would never have been able to accomplish this. She was the one who pushed me on. It wasn't pleasant sometimes but she knew what kind of thing I was getting into, and she treated it with according severity. I truly needed that kind of pushing. 

With this event in the past, new windows of opportunity are continually opening. Life is a thrill, even when there are days that it's just the usual grind. 

I can't wait to see what God has in store next. 


 
// theme song for this post: "Do or Die" - 30 Seconds to Mars