Super anxious and nervous, my hands went cold, AND I got a bad piano. The first half of my performance exam was a disaster to say the least. Sight-reading was horrible, didn't use the pedal when it said to, and my technical piece was pretty bad too. I wasn't used to the piano, and my nerves were racked up... not a good combo.
But the point of this post isn't about the exams itself, exactly. It's about the process of my practicing this month, which includes, well, a drama, of all things, helping me.
I hated the Level 10 pieces my teacher chose for me, to be honest. They were too bland for me, which was why I always didn't want to practice them. But I knew I had to love them somehow, or else I wasn't gonna do well at all.
Guess what helped?
Nodame Cantabile!
I watched this drama once before, when I was in a slump with piano back in Level 7. Hated piano, hated classical music, hate hate hated. But the drama helped me refuel my motivation and made me love piano (and classical music) again, and I think I've said this on my blog already, so blah blah blah...
(Keep in mind that I was only 13 when I watched the drama... I probably didn't have a big of an epiphany, but it was still pretty big to get me back into piano.)
Four years later, the motivation wore off, I forgot what the drama was like, I forgot everything...
I was on a "let's re-watch old J-dramas" phase, and so I decided to watch Nodame Cantabile again, and it so happened that it was nearing the piano exams...... (I'm so glad I did, 'cause it really helped me with my performance exam LOL.)
My reaction to the drama is the same as it was 4 years ago. I'm squealing because Chiaki x Nodame, obviously.
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| SQUEALLLLLLLLLLL (gifs by seouleu @ Tumblr ♥ wat a beautiful post) |
And /ahem/ more importantly, I had an even bigger epiphany(ies) about music again.
What I realized/learned from re-watching Nodame Cantabile:
I am a Nodame. Not in the sense that I was a child prodigy and that I'm a brilliant pianist (because HAH, no way José), but in the sense that I didn't know (and still don't exactly know) how interpret music. I played blindly, and the name of the composer meant nothing to me. Mozart? Kabalevsky? Sure. Scarlatti? Beethoven? Chopin? I knew their names but I never attributed their names to any playing style. I never interpreted anything. I only knew how to play the songs because my teacher had the audio for them. I would listen, and then try to imitate.
My teacher never went into depth with the composers of the pieces I played, and so I was oblivious to them all this time. Music analysis? HAH. What's that?
HORRIBLE DESU NE??? 'Cause it really is.
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| Sorry Mozart |
I also learned little things from the drama, and one of them was pretty applicable this time around... that Mozart had a mostly playful style to his compositions. :D
I looked at my Mozart piece, and I realized that it really was playful. It jumped a lot. Didn't even realize what I was playing before---I just imitated the audio, remember? Then I played the song with a playful touch... and it sounded 10 times better. Everything flowed nicely, because, well, that was how it was supposed to be played.
(I also played it like Nodame sometimes; with my back hunched over. It was fun, but I knew playing like that wasn't standard and that it'd hurt my back, so I stopped LOL)
I used to think that playing classical music was subjective, like poetry. I thought it was up to the performer to play the pieces however he/she wants to play it (just like how Nodame felt about music). But when I saw that scene where Nodame realizes with Professor Auclair that just like how she wanted her own composition to be played a certain way, composers wanted the same thing. The written dynamics are there for that reason, and Nodame learned that she should respect them. I had a severe epiphany over that part. Like, I went "o ma god, I wonder how many other songs I've butchered." (Kinda like that lady in the Prego pasta sauce commercial... "I wonder what other bad decisions I've made..")
OFF-TOPIC, but I'm also like Nodame in the sense that guys like Chiaki are my type. LOLOLOL joking. .....OKAY, maybe not really. :D OFF-TOPIC ALERT BUT I HAD TO SAY IT OKAY. Seriously, jokes aside, Chiaki's a cool guy. He's the most likable male lead character I've seen, 'cause he subtly shows that he cares about Nodame (by cooking for her and helping her with her piano studies), and respects Nodame and her skills (and makes it clear to her). He still teases Nodame a lot (and whacks her when she's being too lovey-dovey for his own comfort), but his teasing isn't brutal and hurtful, unlike some male lead characters I've seen in dramas... (Exhibit A: IRIE NAOKI, that damn bastard.) He knows when to stop and compliment her. (or smile at her. Or comfort her when she's down. Aww.)
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| AREN'T THEY THE CUTEST |
I like guys who have both sides of the personality spectrum.. that they're not completely "cold jerk" (like IRIE NAOKI, that bastard) or "let me drown you in pink goo." Chiaki sits comfortably in the middle, and I like that. Hopefully I can find someone like Chiaki one day, but that's besides the point ///coughs and wheezes///
But anyway, the Nodame Cantabile drama isn't for everyone because of other factors, such as the rather eccentric way the drama is presented and edited, and it's kinda "crazy" for people who prefer K-Dramas, since K-Dramas usually are more toned down. But Nodame Cantabile is one of the better dramas I've watched in my life, and it'll be super hard for a drama to surpass Nodame Cantabile for me. It's lighthearted but so meaningful at the same time.
It's the first drama I've ever watched in which romance is a side-plot. The romance is given to you in tasteful bits, so that it's not too overwhelming, but not nonexistent at the same time. If you want cheesy similes, romance is like the side dish to the main course, and the main course in this drama is the musical and personal development of Nodame and Chiaki. And better yet, they develop them together, sometimes from each other. So, so good.
I thought Kotoko x Naoki was my ultimate ship, but I guess I forgot about Nodame x Chiaki. :D SORRY KOTOKO X NAOKI
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| Totally irrelevant but-- |
Anyways, thanks Nodame, for helping me through this hectic weekend. I hope I get to pass Level 10. This is it. This is the end. It's bittersweet, but I hope I can keep piano as a staple in my life. And hopefully one day I can fit a beautiful grand piano in my house... I have yet to play on a grand piano whose keys are still a white-color and are intact -_- (The "Certificate of Merit" people could at least provide their students with good pianos for an exam, for goodness sake... how do y'all expect people to play their best when you give them worn out pianos)
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| The pianos in the movies were absolutely gorgeous T_T |
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