Frugal Bastard: The Boy Had A Piano Exam

Saturday, October 30, 2010

The Boy Had A Piano Exam

Big day on Wednesday. The Boy had his first piano exam and it was held at the University of Western Australia in a majestic old building. I went to work early as I had to pick him up just before lunch and after dropping him off back at school it wasn't worth heading back to work for an hour and a half only so I had the rest of the day off. I normally leave early for his taekwondo competition training that day.

I had a rough idea where it was. Had to head some three to four kilometres along from the main UWA campus along Princess Street. Kept driving for ages, so it seemed, and thought that I'd better pull over to check the map (don't have GPS). Pulled into a campus that was signposted as UWA so thought that that was a good start. Couldn't park in any of the parking bays nearby as they were for permit holders so kept driving until I came across the student parking area. After getting out of the car I found out that we were only 25 metres away from the entrance to the examination building. Lucky, eh?

He was as nervous as hell. It probably didn't help that his teacher mentioned how she remembered her exams and it didn't appear to be a happy memory when I collected him from school. Not only did he have to play three pieces in front of an examiner that he'd never met but he was quizzed on musical terms such as ritardando, decrescendo, etc with the real worry being the need to sing some notes to accompany what the examiner played. There were two other kids his age that were just before him as well so he's at the same level and I guess that that made him feel a bit better. He wasn't allowed to take any notes that would aid his playing, except for fingering, and so I had to rub some six pages clean - tiring work.

I think that he did alright. Couple of mistakes but nothing disasterous. Not sure when we'll receive the results though. Well done Boy.