I got back from a piano soiree which ended much later than expected. Remembering the soiree we had, years ago, in my house, I thought it would be another snooty affair and I almost backed out. [Of course, it wasn’t entirely a socialite event as we had the great privilege of watching little Clare Yeo, only 8 at the time. The quietly mischievous girl, who graced our Bösendorfer, is now in the Juilliard School of Music in New York.]
Anyway, back to yesterday evening. The prospect of meeting more die-hard classical snoots seemed quite real to me. The mother of a pianist who played in my house, lamented recently that her son had switched to jazz, urgh, what was she to do? If I had met that mother at this soiree I would not be very polite, as I myself decided to make the switch after years of torment in front of the piano, playing scales and squinting in incomprehension at sight-reading pieces. To each his own!
However, the prospect of meeting new friends deemed suitable by my very cultured grand-aunt, was intriguing. Initially, when we arrived it was very hard to get the ball rolling – we introduced ourselves to strangers (friends of friends) who were also invited to the soiree. Then there was silence, so I decided to help out (with limp wrist) in the kitchen.
Fortunately, more people arrived, and it turns out that one guy was running an events company, and another guy (who played at the soiree at my house) was now promoting local artistes. He offered to see what he could do for me, so keep your fingers crossed! Thank you God for this opportunity. Tedd Joselson, piano maestro, was there too.
We enjoyed a recital by Sherwin Lee, who is performing in a concert at Alliance Francaise on 6 August (8-10pm) and 7 August (4-6pm). All proceeds go to the Singapore Red Cross Society. If any friends reading this are interested in going, please let me know soon. There won’t be any golden crosses or peanuts, I’m sure 😉
Anyway, to round off the evening, some young men and ladies started humming and tinkering around on the piano. Eventually, three of them (Daniel, Pierre and Michelle) decided to sing Music of the Night. However nobody knew how to accompany them, so I volunteered my services. I let D start singing, figured out what key it was, and played the whole song through with them. It was fun. The good thing is, I realised that I’m hardly nervous in front of an audience anymore. And after listening to them sing, I realised we have lots of young talent around!
[Off-tangent thought: All those psychology books I’m reading seem to be paying off. What’s the point in being nervous, when all it does is worsen your performance? When that logic sinks in, you’re able to shut off most of the emotions that affect you badly.]