My Last Piano Performance - Why I Do What I Do

This is it. The culmination of years of practice and composition coming together to this one event.

Tonight, in about four hours, is my last piano performance ever. The reasons for this are because I don't really have anywhere else to perform except at my mother's bi-annual performance for beginning piano students. I'm not really one of her students, nor am I a beginning musician, but I consider myself lucky nonetheless to have a place to let out my musical talent. By the time her next 'recital' comes around I'll be busy trying to graduate, getting ready for college, and possibly have no use of my right wrist due to probable upcoming surgery to deal with my carpal tunnel (or "musicians wrist" as I so 'fondly' call it).

Needless to say, I'm somewhat nervous. Dropping an instrument feels like losing an old friend, and a central part of my life. I really hope that after surgery I can even recover quickly enough to continue guitar, which doesn't require as much wrist movement. (Note that just because many guitarists move their strumming wrist a lot when playing, doesn't mean that the movement is actually necessary, and I'm not getting surgery in my left wrist after all. :P)

In memorial of the piano I've played for years, here's a timeline; complete with the music I played and my reason for playing, even though I've only had one place to play and no real support due to my lack of teaching (note that while my parents have encouraged my learning to play the piano, it was always more of 'courtesy encouragement' because they wanted to support my interests).



The beginning:
I distinctly remember asking my little sister (who was in piano lessons at the time) to point out "Middle C" on both the piano and on the then-unreadable bass clef. My reason for asking was a song that a friend of mine emailed my way called "I Am The Doctor". It sounded fun, and really I wanted to learn the piano. At the time I had had a couple years of violin and was playing the trumpet. I never really went anywhere with my violin and the trumpet could only handle chords in a group. I wanted a solo instrument on which I could play anything I wanted too (it's for this reason that many of my songs are unrealistically fast and un-simplified for piano. I don't want chords and a single note melody- I started playing so that I could play compressed full scores of music).

My first piano song was an arrangement of "I Am The Doctor", that was emailed to me by a friend. A big thanks to that friend for giving me a reason to start.

When my mom allowed me to perform "I Am The Doctor" at her performance, there was no going back for me. Now, I can be rather shy and self-conscious. My body still trembles when I perform solo, despite having performed music since I started violin at age four. So when I was complimented graciously by members of the audience after the performance, I was shocked. No one had ever come up specifically to me to congratulate me after a performance, and I knew I had to perform for them again when one family eagerly asked me a few months later if I was going to play another Doctor Who song for the upcoming recital. I agreed, surprised that I was being asked to return and play again. I sat down at my computer that day, and began writing the song for the next performance. An arrangement of music from Doctor Who, just as requested. This was how "The Doctor's Legacy" came to be. You can listen to it here: The Doctor's Legacy

After that performance, there was no going back. I loved piano and the freedom it gave me. Not only did the music I played make me feel good, but I was no longer bound to the single notes of my trumpet. I had the ability to perform solo, any song I wished. My third song was performed at my mothers next piano recital. It was an arrangement of "Winter Wrap Up". I learned to play it on piano by ear, so there is no existing sheet music of the way I play it. You can find the complete score that I rebuilt here though: Winter Wrap Up

Winter Wrap Up was performed at my mothers Winter Recital last year.

In June, I went to a religious summer camp called "EFY" (especially for youth). I went and signed up for the variety show there. Yes, it was only a variety show, but I consider this the highlight of my piano performing career. There were 2000+ people in my "session" (the people at EFY at the time). Of those 2000 people, 40 tried out specifically for piano. Of those 40, I was one in three chosen to perform at this performance. I was stunned. I hadn't expected to be chosen as a performer. Me, a self-taught pianist in the beginning of their second year of teaching themselves, was chosen to perform my piano rendition of "Winter Wrap Up" in front of a crowd of 2000+ teenagers. I got a standing ovation from most of the audience. (I attribute the standing ovation mostly to the extremely positive atmosphere of the religious camp, but it was still the high point in my piano playing career.)

At the end of June, for my mothers summer/spring recital, I performed my arranged compilation of themes from Pokemon Emerald. Better known simply as "Emerald". You can find the music here: Emerald

Now it's November, time for my mothers winter recital. Unless I am extremely fortunate, this will be my last piano performance. I've been allowed to play two pieces of music. The first is a prelude that will be played to start off the recital, it is entitled "Memories". Memories will include select parts from all the piano pieces I've played at recitals in the past. The beginning of "I Am The Doctor", the end of "The Doctor's Legacy", "Winter Wrap Up", and the end of "Emerald". I will be putting up a video of my live performance of "Memories".

My second and main song for this years recital will be performed at the very end and will be entitled, "Farewell". It will feature parts from my arrangement of the Pokemon Diamond closing theme, entitled "Diamond", my unreleased piano arrangement of "N's Farewell", and my own music to tie them together. I will be putting up a video of my live performance of "Farewell".

If you've read all the way to this point, then thank you. This certainly wasn't a blog post written for entertainment, and your support is greatly appreciated. While you're at it, you should comment below. :) I've gotten plenty of text, facebook, and twitter replies to my blog posts as of late, but no actual replies.

Sincerely,
Nervously,
Hopefully,
-AdmiralCubie