Tag Archives: competition

Michelle’s Unnerving Practice and result

Michelle’s Unnerving  practice on the morning of her winning concerto competition performance

(Story by her dedicated and nervous mom, Sharon Yip) …..

Michelle had been practicing very hard on playing the Shostakovich Piano Concerto, did a pretty good job in recording (see the video posted), and was excited to go to the concerto competition. The day before the competition, she was feeling very sick, coughing and having fever. The doctor diagnosed her with bronchitis, and put her on antibiotics. “Oh no”, she said, “why do I get sick at the worst time?” We were all disappointed and didn’t know what to do. The next morning, she was feeling better after taking the medicines. After consulting Anna, we decided to let her try playing at the competition.
Michelle had been practicing very hard on playing the Shostakovich Piano Concerto, did a pretty good job in recording (see her video posted), and was excited to go to the concerto competition. The day before the competition, she was feeling very sick, coughing and having fever. The doctor diagnosed her with bronchitis, and put her on antibiotics. “Oh no”, she said, “why do I get sick at the worst time?” We were all disappointed and didn’t know what to do. The next morning, she was feeling better after taking the medicines. After consulting Anna, we decided to let her try playing at the competition. So……

She did a rehearsal at home.

As you can see from the video, she made bunch of mistakes, sounded messy in many places. She was embarrassed and frustrated (take a look at her facial expression when making big mistakes, and at the end …) She said:

“this is terrible! I’m not going to win anything!”

I reminded her about what her teacher always told her –

try your best, enjoy the playing, and don’t worry about the result.

She finally decided to go. The result? She followed her teacher’s advice, tried her best, and won the first place 🙂

My child is ready to start lessons…or is she? (Topic 1, Part 6. What is involved?)

In this post we continue looking through some factors which are involved in the initial decision to start music lessons. This post is about obvious and hidden costs of music lessons. 

The obvious costs are the teacher’s fees, books and other materials, travel costs, and the cost of obtaining and maintaining an instrument. Teachers’ fees fluctuate and can be checked on line or by calling teachers and music schools around for the most up-to-date information. Books and other printed materials can be estimated at around $100-$250 per year depending on the age of student.

Keep in mind that initial purchase cost of a piano is higher than a violin, or cello, or flute. A decent upright piano will cost you between about $3,000 for used one in good condition to $12,000 for a higher end brand new one.

Continue reading My child is ready to start lessons…or is she? (Topic 1, Part 6. What is involved?)