Recently, Ivan has been asked by his teacher to join a piano competition. He was a bit reluctant in the beginning due to past bad experience in competition. But after some persuasion, he has agreed to participate.
He has just finished learning Grade 5 exam piece. And his teacher taught that he can play something Grade 7 level for the competition. So he was given a Chopin piece for the Classical Category, which is full of dynamics and expression. Ivan loves the piece, and he was able to play the piece (first page) in 3 days. And, he is especially elated that he can play something two grades higher than he current ability. His teacher is surprised himself, and said that from now on, he can teach him Grade 7 pieces.
For modern song category, we were at lost initially on deciding a good song to play. His teacher is good in Jazz music, and tried a few Jazz pieces with him. Ivan didn't appreciate Jazz as much. And in the end, Ivan chose a Richard Clayderman song.
Now, Ivan is so motivated, and looking forward to the competition. He didn't intend to win any prizes. He thought if he can obtain a consolation prize, it will be good enough. Third position would be a bonus. I am glad that he is not putting pressure on himself.
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The competition was held in September. He was almost ready for the two songs he practiced for hours daily. The first piece was Chopin Mazurka Op. 7 No. 1.
He has been listening to Arthur Rubinstein playing below for months.
Ivan won 3rd prize with this piece in the classical piece category. He was playing slightly slower than the piece above. And a bit off from the supposed Mazurka style. The judge was Shuenda Wong, a well known pianist and teacher in Malaysia.
The second piece was a Modern piece, played by Richard Clayderman's, "A Comme Amour". A really difficult piece of Grade 7 - 8 level. Ivan won first prize in the modern category of the competition.
