For more than 15 years of piano playing, passing grades one after another, being able to increase the velocity of scales over that period of time from Moderato to Vivace, diversifying the type of music played from simple Sonatina to Schubert, from easy Impromptus to exquisitely-craft Waltzes by Chopin, and more significantly, from an amateur pianist who was being forced to practice playing that Yamaha upright to someone who practices almost everyday till the person who used to force me to do so, gets irritated.

And I thought I know all about music.

Moving forward, I am going for a piano competition where I am competing in the post-grade 8 category, which ultimately means I am competing with music teachers, professional pianist, and other people who will arguably bring world peace in just a 13 note scale or a simple rendition of “Marry had a little lamb” that they slide across on a 10 feet concert grand piano. This would also mean that if I were to earn respect from these people and show them that I am worth competing with, I should practice tenacity of greater magnitude.

What I overlooked, was the essence of playing a piano in a live setting.

I did know how a live piano performance is different from plugging in a earphone to a music player and press the “Play” button. The difference is not just in terms of the audio experience, but also the visual experience that makes a live performance so unique, that keeps the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra so appealing despite performing songs that are easily available at the typing of a few letters and a click at your P2P software and also some waiting time (depending on the efficiency and quality of your internet service provider).

But what I know haven’t been well-defined until recently - when I am preparing to put on a live piano performance myself. I know why I chose to go for a live performance in lieu of buying a CD and listen to it over and over again. I still have to learn a lot when it comes to having to put forward a unique experience to my audiences so that what they felt would be what I felt when I watch performances from the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and the like.

According to my piano teacher, a good live piano performer has the ability to do the following 3 things. First, excellent notation and techniques. Secondly, the ability to adapt to the different instrumental setting, as in the piano. Last but never the least, the ability to communicate with the audiences visually - body language.

Excellent notation and techniques comes with practice, lots of them. It basically mean not playing the wrong note, or at the very least, not playing a glaring mistake that will become a “ear sore” and raise eyebrow. It basically means playing well shaped melody line, well articulated notes, together with sheer clarity. It entails being able to play like a recording artist - the audio effect.

The ability to adapt to different kinds of instrumental setting means being able to play well in just all kinds of piano. Pianos vary in terms of sound quality, touching, intensity of sound, sustainability of notes, natural dynamics (as in loud or soft) and so on. Most live performance like a competition will not allow the applicants to try playing on the piano that will be used for the competition. Perhaps once or twice for rehearsal purposes, but it will not be the piano that you can practice playing on. Hence the piano that you practice playing on (i.e. your home piano) and the piano for the live performance will be two different pianos, which means they have different natural dynamics, touching, and sound quality. The ability to play well on just any piano and the skills to adapt in terms of touching and force applied, suddenly become one of the factors that make a great pianist.

Last but not the least, body language is the main thing that sets a CD and a live performance apart. Your posture, fingers’ movement, breathing, body movement, and so on, will all go to the attention of the audiences. It is a form of communication in a live performance. You can show plenty with your body movements. You can show intensity, climax, resolution, mood, dynamics and a lot more using body language. As of this point, I was suddenly reminded of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra’s tagline that goes about few seasons back - Hear, and you will see.

The idea is that the music, together with the body language of the performer, has the ability to ignite imagination in the audiences, which leads them to define a musical experience that involves all senses - sight, sound, etc - , of their own.

For now, the Waltz 14 in E minor by Chopin still has a lot of notation to improve on. Touchings have to be refined further, notes have to be more precise with little margin for error, and phrasing has to be well conveyed. That’s the hearing part.

Upon completion of the hearing part, there will be a need to work on the seeing part, so that you can hear, and will also see.

Time to practice that super fast running notes on bars 33 to 40.