1st Masterclass

Not knowing what to expect during Nafa's masterclass, I just try to prepare Renee as per her teacher's instructions.   However, unlike her previous ABRSM exam, we weren't given much time for preparations and things had also turned out alittle different from what we've been told.  No harm done though and fortunately, Renee wasn't the 1st to be called so she can roughly gauge on what to expect, :).

On her teacher's suggestion last Sunday, Renee managed to memorise the alternative piece by Tuesday and so, for the rest of the week, she wasn't 'made' to practice alot as I didn't want to pressurise her too much, :D.(Although she's memorised a few notes in the wrong key and had to make way for adjustment juz hours before the MC). 

We were abit late today but the MC hasn't begin and when I noticed the kids que-ing up for their violins to be tuned by 1 of the teachers, I quickly took out Renee's and got her to que up as well.  Surprisingly, she joined the que willingly, :)

Before the session began, 1 of the teachers(I think she's one of the senior teachers) 'warned' the children to do their best and play well as their performances would be watched/judged by the masterclass teacher(whom she claimed they themselves wld even address as teacher).  After the 1st 2 violinists, the masterclass teacher halted the class temporarily and asked for the audiences' preference.  Renee put up her hand to cast her vote and there I was worried "Oh no, is this what all the children will have to go through? What if no one votes for Renee later?" hahaha.

Whilst waiting for Renee's turn, we watched the MC teachers 'stopping' the children every now and then, to correct their posture, playing techniques and that got me even more worried 'cos out of all these kids, only Renee + another kid were not from their prep-class and if they need correction, how would Renee fare?  ^-^".

Finally, Renee's name was called...  I had thought/half-anticipated that she'd hesitate when it's her turn, but she walked up to the stage readily.  She even bowed alittle(when she had said she wldn't and I've told her she can skip it if she's not up to it since none has done so, though it's requested by the teachers) and smiled nicely when the teacher commented that she liked her violin(with the ribbon), hahaha.  She started her scales(in separate bowing) when the teachers nodded for her to begin but she took a little while to compose herself like I've told her to, when she's to play 1 arpeggio(in slurr bowing), hahaha(actually I found she took abit too long hahaha, probably due to her mentally selecting which one to play.  This was 1 of the last minute 'changes' as we'd told that they'd be prompted like ABRSM exams style.   It was later announced that that would be done on their 2nd MC.  Luckily these changes are very minor and easy for Renee to adapt to at the last min, and had not waited for the teachers to tell her what to play).  On her kinsey piece, she ended it with a 'move' taught by her teacher and some parents even 'wow-ed' whilst many of us laughed - 'cos this was not expected in the MC, hahaha, so funny(neither had I expected her to do it either).  I was simply relieved when the MC teacher had not made any negative nor corrective comments about her playing, *phew*.

When the grade I students had completed their 'performances', the MC teacher shared his thoughts on what he's observed, the wrong and the correct techniques he's seen, on how the violin/bow/postures should be 'controlled' to produce better music, the mechanism of the instrument and its bow, etc etc.  Those were valuable notes/advices but Renee was busy writing her story on her book. I would have recorded his 'speech' had I known earlier, so I could replay it for Renee later, haiz...  Then when he remarked that it's time for the stickers on the violins be removed, he said, whilst searching the crowd, something like "... there's a little girl but I can't remember which one now"(I didn't know whom he was referring to and though I noticed some audiences pointing to Renee, I'm still not entirely sure...), "she plays on tune without the stickers and this should be the way, we have to listen with our ears and not depend on the stickers to get the tune right, so you should all start taking off the stickers...".  That's when he went on to explain the difference and how is it tougher to play the violin as compared to the piano(jokingly apologising to the pianists present at e same time, ^_^) - not something entirely new to us but I hope Renee won't use this as her tool of argumentation when she faces tougher pieces next time!

More was shared by the MC teacher(and he ended with "you all go back and ponder over these" - oh man, poor us parents, lolz) and when it was time for the grade IIs to 'perform', I wondered if we could take our leave.  We stayed on as no-one seemed to be leaving but after a while, I couldn't stand it and went to check with 1 of the teachers at the back.  He said that we could and we happily did so, heee.

As there's still a good hour before her *theory lesson(haiz, another tough one to go through...), I decided to go for a tea-break at Fortune Centre but as we're reaching there, Renee said she wanted to go over to the Bodhisattva Kuan Yin temple.  Well, how can I refuse when it's pretty near and she's personally requested, so we went.

We had toasted bread with butter and kaya(needless to say, Renee's only got butter) for tea and she'd liked it so much that she requested for a 2nd round, hahaha(aiyoh, used to ask her to try ah kun's for breakfast but she'd always insisted on Mc's) but not wanting her to gorge too much on toasted bread, I suggested fruits and she said she wants apple, which she happily changed to a choice of orange when the former was not available at the stall.

When papa came to fetch us over to the teacher's for her practical lesson, the teacher asked "how's the masterclass?", the moment she opened the door  :). After viewing the video, she commented "not bad and, great ending"(probably being kind, heee), but as we can't be sure how she'd really fared, I asked if the MC teachers would share the children's performance with their respective teachers.  She said that it depends and asked if the teacher had made any comments/remarks about Renee's playing.  If they hadn't, then it should be alright...  Hmm, guess we should be able to find out the next lesson?...

Knowing that Renee had done ok during the MC, papa obliged her request to eat out(Mc again but luckily it's not Tony Roma's, else I'd faint man, kinda sick of it liao hahaha) and one can easily tell that she's feeling much relieved and happy, what with the constant chatter and laughing with Yunita, lolz.  Her joy even made her more co-operative during her practical lesson when she's least expected to be since we'd been out much earlier/longer than usual today - she re-learnt a playing technique today and did it quite well, just hope she'd still remember when she next practices...

*With no music background, I fnd it rather hard for me to help Renee with her theory homework.  Although she would try to explain to me what she's learnt but it's getting harder for me to grasp as their lessons progress on.  It's already hard for me to understand it on a violin, let alone when it's explained in the keyboard/piano way(in both treble and bass clef).  There were 2 sections from last week's homework that Renee was unable to complete and when I asked why she didn't inform the teacher that she doesn't know how to when the teacher had put '??' marks on them, perhaps Renee wasn't clear enough? but she claimed she did but the teacher told her that she still has to do it.  Oh gosh, since she doesn't quite fully understand and her mummy can't help her, how?  Headache for me...

To be fair, I guess it's rather hard for the teacher(not sure if she's also trained in violin or just piano) to coach each child individually due to the short timing and in such situation, I personally feel that it is actually tougher for the violin students as it's rather different from their instrument, etc, especially at their young age.  In any case, papa had suggested for me to seek her practical teacher's help and indeed, after her teacher's brief explanation(less than 5mins 'cos we daren't take up too much of her time for theory questions...), Renee seemed to have understood a little better.  I hope she really did 'cos I'm totally helpless in this area, :(