To all aspiring ballet pianists...

22 May 07

well well. just after taggin shan's blog I suddenly have an urge to blog about my work.

hmm after say close to 6months as ballet pianist i am so SO SO bored. yea same pieces over and over again. haiiii and I cant improvise for nuts. hence i always feel so paiseh when the ballet teacher asks me to improvise if i can.

I peifu the ballet teacher ok. Apparently ballet graded exams or the intermediate foundation/itermediate/adv found do not change syllabuses/dance moves at all. Neither do they change music. She has taught ballet for the 12 year running! If i were in her shoes I would have died of boredom already. hahahaha

Being a ballet pianist somehow degrades you to a "CD player" status. haha ok, usually I dont go groaning/whining to ppl that I feel like a professional automatic CD player. See, the thing is, if I cant make it for class, the teacher simply plays the CD instead. -_- aye but it's good in another way meaning I can go on urgent leaves/unlimited amts of leaves so long as i feel like it. Think this freedom is priceless. I remembered the days in RJ library. I practically felt like crying every morning before work and trying to think of all means/ways to call in sick. HAHA 9-5pm jobs that are so routined/disciplined/strict/staring at comp/no human contact is just-not-me. I cannot tahan it.

Also, the fact that the ballet teacher knows nothing abt piano playing at all gives me quite a headache at times. and it can get painful/tiring. Sometimes she wants you to play in a certain way and she says it using very weird english like "playing slower" is said by her as "steady Malisa!" haha the first few times I kept thinking I was rushing hence the need to be steady. Haha playing loud equates to "be dynamic" though i always thought dynamic as both loud and soft. ok ok. i just simply wasnt used to the language she used. sometimes a nice peaceful 3/4 time waltz if required, i would have to play SUPER fast. and i really mean the SUPER as in high-speed speeding. sometimes there are repeated octave chords in the right hand and jumping octaves in the left. and hello...i'm sight reading. so the thing is. the dancers can make mistakes and re-start. aha i simply have to rubbish my way through. bleah. for quite a few times i restarted and ahem. embarassing.hahaha! but the teacher is nice la=) she encourages me alot! hmm i mentioned abv that it gets tiring/painful right! haha I hate the "full contretemps"/"....an avant en tournant" pieces. CAN DIE. the dances jumps around in batches. I continuously play non-stop big fat FF OCTAVES for at least 15minutes.

lastly. being a ballet pianist has made my gastric worsen even more. I eat dinner at 10-1030 on ballet days.

haha but being a ballet pianist has its fair share of benefits i must admit. apart from the unlimited freedom, i get to see free lessons and know so so so much more about ballet. and REcently! i got to try going en pointe! hahahaha thats the standing-on-the-toe-shoes =D thats like a fream come true! I WANT SATIN POINTE SHOES!!!! =)

oh well. enough ranting. hahahaha