Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!
Today, we had our first real rehearsal.
And it was… very interesting, actually.
So when I arrived they’d already been rehearsing for about an hour, and he introduced me (again), and said I was going to be the soloist. And I sat down. There was a lot of stopping and starting – sometimes he had some feedback for me, but mostly I was just along for the ride and helping them get used to playing with a soloist.
And it was such a different experience for me, too. You remember last year when I accompanied Liz at her recital? It was like that, but a lot louder. I don’t know how else to explain it. When the orchestra got going, they were almost overwhelming, but pianos are loud too.
We didn’t actually play all the way through any movement, but he kind of jumped back and forth through the music. We mostly practiced making sure we were all in sync, that we had the cues right, and all that kind of thing. He had me play all the way through the cadenza so they’d know when they were supposed to come in, and we went right through the coda, and… wow. It’s so different with an orchestra. And with several dozen people just patiently watching while you plow through a fairly technically complex part of the music.
But I think we can do this.
Afterwards, he asked me why I sounded different. And I told him about yesterday, about what the concert pianist told me, and he sighed. “I wish I could get that through to the orchestra”, he said. “It could sound so much better, but they still haven’t figured out that it’s not about the notes.”
“Yesterday, he told me I’m seventeen, I know nothing,” I said, matter-of-factly.
He laughed. “Well, I might have been a bit more tactful, but… maybe a little less tact is the right thing. We have another rehearsal without you, so… maybe I’ll use that.”
I giggled.
Next week we have a couple of rehearsals, and then the dress rehearsal is Friday. I hope this works out. I’d be so embarrassed if I screw this up.
Anyway, in more teenagery news, I stayed over at Liz’s last night, and we had some fun eating chocolate and playing board games. She always decimates me at Scrabble, but I’m pretty good at some of the more chance based games. I also rehearsed her piece with her and she’s coming along fine too. I told her what the concert pianist told me and she just nodded. “They’ve been telling me that since I was little, and I still haven’t entirely got it. It’s the hardest thing about music.”
I guess they don’t tell you that, you really have to discover that for yourself.
Is it that way for everything you learn, really? You don’t know how much you don’t know until you’re good enough to know how much you don’t know? And only then do you start to become a master at it?
Maybe so.
We’re getting ready for the big picnic on Monday. Everyone’s invited. We’re going to commandeer a park. We’ve actually invited most of the church, too. We’ve got all sorts of grills lined up, several dad-types (including Dave and Crystal’s father) to do the grilling, and quite a few of the women are cooking up fixins’. It’s going to be a thing. I can’t wait.
I’m not going to the waterpark though until after the performance. I’m not risking an injury.
Anyway. Gotta go. More practice tomorrow.