Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Playing my solo two days before the recital in front of my teacher

I played the piece well enough.
The major problems worked out,
ok, some of the notes didn't sound
and there were a few faltering fingers
but it was good, good enough,
I thought.
I knew from his face that he was about
to point out "Just a few" things to work on
in the next two days, just the whole way
I play it and how I had lost the alive sound
I used to have that he had me get rid of
so I'd get more the notes to speak,
oh and that chromatic scale and by the way
it would be good if, and if that, too, and
all the comments and suggestions
stilted my playing when I tried to remember
all 17 suggestions and then he told me
that my playing had lost all its life.
The lesson should have been about
not playing for your teacher right before
a recital, or at least, stuffing his mouth with
Kleenex or filling it with wine.

No comments: