Birthday Gifts

The 6th of March might seem like a pretty insignificant day for most people. DJians, on the other hand, will remember that day as the last day of the first term exam. For me, it marks the day I become a year older. And what better way to start it than 2 favourite subjects, namely Maths and Science.

Okay, admittedly, I'm really afraid I'd screw up my first term, as I've been spending a great block of time (3-4 hours a day), well, playing. As in, playing the piano. Actually, that doesn't sound like a very smart thing to do, since I didn't even think I was good enough for the finals. Let's get this straight : 160 people from the whole country took part in the heats/audition. Only 24 humans got into the finals alive. Only 5 humans got to the finals in my category and I'm sure they're all very "geng" (slang for "extremely good"). That is, except me. So, yeah, be afraid. Be very very afraid.

The 7th of March 2009, Saturday, was nicknamed the "Music Marathon" day. Why? We were at the the Plenary Theatre, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre for the whole day. If you must know, it is also a significant day for Sarah Brightman, who held her concert 2 floors below us at the Plenary Hall. At precisely 8.30 pm (provided the VIPs turn up early), our competition's gala, Sarah Brightman's world tour concert and Kitaro's performance would start kicking. Wait, if my story starts at 8.30, I won't have anything else to say. Ahem. Rewind!!!!

It is 9.00 in the morning. We miraculously reach KLCC. After dropping my mum and I off, my father went to play golf, but not before he wished me good luck. After we got off, we asked for directions. We made our way up to the 3rd floor, and on the way, we saw how hectic everyone was on the first floor, scrambling around like mice trying to prepare for Sarah Brightman's arrival.

The 3rd floor...

Was pretty empty.

Except for the Roland Piano Festival signs polluting the place. Time to register myself and start panicking.

We saw the Duet category rehearsal and soon after, it was our briefing (Junior and Open categories). My category (Junior) consisted of Jonathan Long, Joshua Ng, Samuel Tee, Woon Wu Chyi and I. (Wu Chyi is from Alexandria's school). Jonathan is my age, Samuel and Wu Chyi are one year my junior and Joshua is a happy 11-year old. The first 4 got to ballot and I was left with number 3. The most amusing thing was that Jonathan, who picked first, was the first player. Joshua, who balloted second got the 2nd player. Samuel was 4th and Wu Chyi was 5th. Which left me as 3rd. Well, I spoilt the sequence which could have otherwise been in alphabetical order. We went back to the theatre and continued watching the others rehearse until our turn.

I knew my rehearsal was robotic. I didn't move. At all. No expressions. Nothing. I just sat there and played suu-perrrr slooooow. Every other contestant breezed through their pieces, but nooo, I didn't want to tense up. 10 minutes of rehearsing was up after I took roughly 5 minutes to run through the piece and "clean up" some bits. My piece actually lasts for 2-3 minutes only, which, by the way, is the shortest piece in the whole competition. Which adds up to my thinking that I have no chance. By the way, every other person alive who heard me play were probably wondering how I got into the competition in the first place.

Come 1.30pm, we would gather in the Green Room for standby. The only talkative people then were Joshua, Samuel and his church friend, Paul. Paul was a finalist from the Jazz category and, just like the typical "jazzer", he was chilling out.
"Hey, why don't we go up there and greet the judges like this: "Yo, wazzup!......""
There was a lot more nonsense in there, actually, with one "experiment" sounding so cool it was informal.
After a while, I joined in and we all got to know Joshua the most, since he was the youngest, being only 11 this year, and he was the most talkative. It seems that he only took grade 3, 5 and 8 and was taking ATCL diploma this year. Samuel was grade 8 and was under Ms Phang, which explains why he looked familiar. Jonathan wasn't there yet and only came in about 2.20pm. Wu Chyi only laughed at how silly all of us were.

Anyway, we were all separated at 2.25, 35 minutes before our competition. Or rather, I was separated. There was the Male and Female room and it was very obvious that we couldn't intrude into the other room. So, I went into the Female room and luckily found someone there. We talked a bit and I got to know that she was from the Open category. After a while, I realised I couldn't take the cold in the room anymore. Both of us went out (it was very warm outside) and that means no one was in the room. The door was electronic and that would also mean that we couldn't enter the room anymore. I found Joshua opening and closing the Male room door, clearly enjoying himself. Samuel just came back from a sneak practice from outside and was talking to Paul.
"I think you're going to win later. Everyone says you're so good."
"Of course that's what everyone says. Nobody's going to come up and say "Hey, you know you sucked just now?""

Anyway, after 5 minutes, our whole category was outside and we all looked like rebels. Samuel and Paul were sitting on the floor, Joshua and the other 2 guys were busy destroying the electric door. When they finally got bored of it, they decide to bang open the Females' room door. When that didn't help, they banged the card sensor. When Cherry found us, she was shocked to see us looking like beggars there. Of course, by then, Jonathan and Joshua had to go backstage to prepare. A few minutes later, I was called there. I only saw Jonathan's grand ending and Joshua's performance was well done. I was so cold there that one fellow in charge had to bring a towel to wrap around me. Yay.

The next few minutes were blurry. No, I didn't faint on the spot, thank goodness. I was just so absorbed in what I was doing I couldn't remember what I did. Ironic, but true. I don't even remember how my piece went except that I played F as E somewhere. I don't even remember. I just remembered enjoying my music. FINALLY. Mission accomplished. Joshua had already vanished somewhere but Jonathan and I insisted we watched Samuel's and Wu Chyi's performance. Only 2 people were allowed backstage at any one time and so we were forced to act like burglars hiding in some secret room to hear their performances.

There, Jonathan said that Chong Lim was the one who chose the finalists for this year's competition. Or rather, that was the information his teacher, Ms Lai, gave him. Yes, Ms Lai, the freaky musician producer. She was Chong Lim's teacher herself. Okay, well, then maybe Chong Lim has a funny taste for picking me into the finals. That sounds very odd. Ng Chong Lim?? Plucked me out from that bunch of piano geeks into the finals? Pro.

After everyone was done, we joined our families and I saw Rachel, my choir's Chairperson. She said I played well, but looking back at what Paul said, it might not be true. My mum and I would spend the rest of the day up 'til 6 watching the long-winded performance of those with bigger works. The duets were real interesting to watch, especially the group of friends who chose their songs from the same composer, Astor Piazzolla.

Alex came at 6.30 and met her outside the theatre. There, we talked nonsense and caught up on my irritating form teacher. At 6.45, I had to go to the Green Room (waiting room for participants) to stand by. After that, we went for a briefing by Charles in the theatre. Kong Su Mei, my violin accompanist, was the emcee for the night. Su Mei was going to announce the winner of each category and the winner had to play their winning piece.
"Ok, then I'll say the winner for this category is bla-bla-bla and will be playing bla-bla-bla."
Joshua: No-lah! The winner for this category is *TOOT*!
*Everyone bursts out laughing*
Samuel: Yeah! The winner is *TOOT* and will be playing *TOOT* by *TOOT*.
Man, it sounds so wrong. The worst thing was that Joshua was on my left and Samuel was on my right. And apparently, I transfer the ideas from both of them to each other. The good news is that Samuel said it softly, so that only the 5 of us could hear it. And we all snickered from that point onwards.

Then, Charles taught us how to line up to get our prizes and how to line up for our group photo. After that, he dismissed us.
"Now, all of you can wait in the Females' and Males' rooms. Girls, don't enter the guys room and guys, don't go inside the girls room. Or, if you're unsure whether you're a boy or a girl, just wait in the Green Room."
Apparently, everyone was unsure of their gender.

In the GR, our category had started engaging in an endless conversation of hard-core nonsense. Samuel kept disturbing Stephanie over the phone and before she could say anything, he would put down the phone. And he mentioned that Ms Phang wanted Stephanie to re-sit her violin exam until she got a distinction.

Joshua took over when he demonstrated his thumb to us. It was so cool when we found out that his left thumb's bone could dislodge. All we had to do was push his thumb backwards and you could feel it dislodging itself. Amazingly, he could control it to go back to the normal position. Cool finger.

Other stupid things included turning off the toilet lights when Joshua was in the toilet. And drinking a lot of water. And throwing sugar packets. Joshua reminded us that the competition was just a few hours ago, as we all expressed feelings of disbelief that it all happened today. It felt like a year ago, really.

Then, we started disturbing everyone in the room, especially Samuel, who kept disturbing Martin from the Open Classical category.
"Do you know how to play Don Giovanni?"
To which Martin replied: Are you crazy?? If I could play Don Giovanni, I wouldn't be entering competitions anymore, I'd be out there making money!!!

And we found out from Martin that Wu Chyi has been playing his piece, Fantasie Impromptu, for 3 years already. Haha, wow. We all joked that maybe he plays the same thing for every competition he enters until he completely perfected it.

Suddenly, Cherry called our category out. The moment of truth. *Scary music*

Su Mei called us out one by one and we each received a fake certificate.

"..........and the runner up for this category is .....me(?!)."

HAH?!?!!? Seriously???!!!

I walked up to Mr Dennis Tan to receive my trophy. The only thoughts running through my head that time was that the trophy was so cool and that the judges have lost their minds. That includes Chong Lim as well.

The winner was pretty obvious. Wu Chyi. Come on, seriously. THREE years of practice. My piece is like 5 months old! But it surprised me why Joshua didn't get a position. Poor thing. He entered last year too and was hoping for something this year.

(Oh, I got a free birthday present!!!)





But anyway, the letdown for the other 3 didn't stop us from doing crazy things. We were all fighting with our trophies like out of a Star Wars scene. Joshua really lost it when he said, "Let's hit each other's trophies and souvenirs and see which one doesn't break. That's the true winner."
Before we started the "battles", we were called to view the winners' performances. The winners were (according to category):
Pop: Teoh Cherylyn (What's Love Got To Do With It by Graham Lyle & Terry Britten)
Jazz: Paul Khoo (Fly Me to the Moon by Bart Howard)
Junior Classical: Woon Wu Chyi (Fantasia Impromptu by Chopin)
Open Classical: Tan Hsien Chih (Ballade No.4, Op 52 by Chopin)[Man, he was good]
Duet Classical: Low Chyh Shen + Winstons (Adios Nonino by Astor Piazzolla)[very interesting piece]
Piano Concerto: Grace Alexander (Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin)[very nice but tooooooo long-winded]

During Chyh Shen and Winstons's performance, Jonathan, Joshua, Samuel and I were debating on what type of music their piece was. Maybe you could listen to it and identify it in your own way. The piece was Adios Nonino by Astor Piazzolla, if you didn't grasp it on top. (And Samuel referred to Winstons as "The Guy Who Looks Like A Korean".)

Then, during the last performance, we were called backstage. Being musicians, you would think we appreciate long performances lasting 20 minutes or so. Well, actually, we don't. We were all half dying backstage and everyone was praying for the concerto winner to end her song quickly. When they got to their last passage, Joshua was leaping around announcing happily to everyone that they're almost finished.

We took several group photos and dismissed into the Green Room. There, we were given our real certificates and went home after that.

We had supper with Alex and her family after that at the Hakka Restaurant.

What a long road it has been. Eventhough it was such a short period of time ago, memories of the competition feel far away, as if it never happened at all.

I will always look upon this day with tears of joy. Unrepeatable, spectacular, unexpected, once-in-a-lifetime and only in the living memory of my past.

Editor's note: By the way, Paul was the winner for the Jazz category. Apparently, he outshone the other contestants so much that the judges decided to give out only the first place (which went to him). That means the second place is not even up for grabs. He was seriously enjoying his music that he even tapped his feet and could be seen dancing with his own music. This proves that all genii/talented freak mutations are compulsive liars. =P