2017-01-15

【Aiden in English】

        I think I’ve failed one too many times on this single piano piece to count. Funny thing is, I just continuously mess up at the most unexpected part. Not that the times before mattered, but this time particular try was quite different. It counted for something more than our self-evaluation. I say “our” because it is the duo piano Mozart piece that I’ve been practicing for nearly half a year now.

        The Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major K448 3rd Movement by Mozart contained some of the worst performance moments in my career. Twice, I messed up on memory, and twice more I simply played incorrect notes. In earlier performances, there wasn’t much on the line. My partner and I may basically be embarrassed, but our teacher always had the hope that these lessons, when the real deal arrived, we would be ready. “Ready for what?” Well, there is a competition for concertos and duo pieces that are hosted by the local Philadelphia Music Teachers Association, and according to my teacher, it is very difficult to win.

        Truthfully, we never were quite “ready”. No, I think we practiced enough together, and the teamwork was there. I just didn’t think we were mentally prepared enough. Playing on your own is very easy, so to speak. You don’t have to worry about the other person or worry about following up on a strict time.

        When there are two people playing the same song, here’s how I see it. You have four hands, so there are two times the possibility of messing up. Because there are two people and not one, the second piano part must always look at the first piano for time and cues, especially after long periods of rest. Also, since the parts can’t fight each other, one of the piano parts must always be quiet. With all of these factors, there was just so much to think about before the competition.

        The grading sheet is a single piece of paper, with scores out of ten on the accuracy, phrasing, and all the basic terms of music. Upon reading the categories, I felt pretty good. Then, when I sat down at the piano, my mind went blank, and the first note I played … was wrong.

        I guess it’s true about how music connects people. Well, my partner later also screwed in a fairly simple area. Funny how nervous energy can chain through people. And once again, I messed up, and so did he. Overall, it was a disaster, much worse than the other performance.

        At the end of the day, we had a good laugh. I think the experience was really important because I couldn’t continue to succeed forever. However, it was still very embarrassing nevertheless.

【紅霞譯文】

        我自以為彈不好這首鋼琴曲子，滑稽的是最不該失誤的地方卻偏偏老出問題，暫且不談之前毛病，今天的表演又攛掇出不同新花樣，比咱們自我估算的更荒誕，這裡我拿“咱們”說事，因為過去近乎半年以來我一直練習莫扎特雙鋼琴二重奏。

        莫扎特的《D大調雙鋼琴奏鳴曲作品K448第三樂章》滲透着本人鋼琴生涯里最為難堪的一段表演經歷：兩度忘譜，兩次錯鍵，過去演出時從未有過類似問題，讓我和搭檔深感難堪，但老師倒期待我倆從中汲取教訓，為實戰做好準備。“準備什麼？”用我鋼琴老師的話來講，想要在當地費城音樂教師協會主辦的協奏曲和二重奏比賽上獲勝談何容易。

        論真格的，我倆這輩子甭想做好“準備”。不對，我認為彼此共同練琴時間不少，業已樹立團隊意識，只是雙方缺乏足夠的精神準備。這麼說吧，兩人若各練各的非常容易，你既用不着擔心外人，也無需考慮合拍問題。

        在我看來，當兩人合奏同一首樂曲，也就是四隻手聯彈，出錯的概率隨之成倍增加，畢竟雙人不同於單人，第二鋼琴必須始終配合第一鋼琴，尤其在很長休止之後。兩架鋼琴不能相互較勁，其中一個非輕彈不可，除了這些要素，比賽前還有很多東西需要考慮。

        評分表不過為一頁紙而已，準確性、樂句性以及音樂基本元素均在評判範圍之中，所列各項按十分計。看完之後，我感覺尚好，可一旦坐到鋼琴前，我腦袋瓜一下子懵了，第一個音符……彈錯了位置。

        我覺得音樂的魅力在於把大家聯繫在一起，是啊，沒過多久我的搭檔也在小河溝里翻船，神經能竟引起人間如此連鎖反應，實在好笑。接下來我再次失手，而他又緊步後塵，總而言之，這次表演真是一場史無前例的磨難。

        演出結束後，我倆一笑了之，凡事重在參與，畢竟我不可能總是一帆風順，然而今天場上表現確實令人尷尬。

Crosslinks(相關博文)：

2016 Recital @ Dorothy Sutton Music Fest(音樂教師節匯報演出)

2013年音樂教師節(2013 Dorothy Sutton Music Fest)

2011年鋼琴考級與音樂教師節(2011 Dorothy Sutton Music Fest)