Back in the Spring, Rachel was on the fence about whether to compete in this year’s Young Hoosier’s Piano Competition. Last year was her first year and she did very well, making it to the Finals, in spite of not knowing of the competition until about a month before the Preliminaries. But it is a pretty big time commitment because although the preliminaries are in June, the finals are not until August. So, that’s the majority of the summer wrapped up in practice and anticipation.
During that first experience with the competition, we learned that all the finalists are invited to play a 30-minute public performance for the fairgoers. Rachel realized that was her favorite part of the entire experience, but she still wasn’t sure if that was reason enough to enter the competition. We agreed to ask her instructor’s opinion on the matter, and she encouraged Rachel to enter, as long as the goal was not to win, but rather to get the piece polished enough to be competition-ready. So, Rachel decided to enter the competition, admitting that the major deciding factor for her was the lure of the 30-minute public performance. :-) The song she played was Muzio Clementi’s “Sonata, Opus 47, No. 2 in B Flat Major,” which was one of the first songs Ms. Kim had her learn when she started lessons last Fall. When Rachel first heard a recording a someone playing the song, she said “I’m suppose to learn how to play that?!” :-)
The public performance was scheduled for 12:00 noon on Saturday, August 11th and the competition time was at 4:08 that afternoon. After a harrowing morning, getting everyone ready and out the door by 10:30, realizing on the way down that our camera’s memory card was left at home in the laptop, fighting State Fair traffic on a beautiful Saturday morning, hiking from the van to the Ellison Home & Family Arts building (probably a 15-minute walk at a pretty good pace!), we walked in to the building at 12:00 on the dot. Despite all the rushing, Rachel was able to compose herself and put together a very nice public performance. Mom and Dad got there about 2 minutes after we did. (Our friends from church got there about 2 minutes after she finished playing!)
Our friend asked if I made the name placard. I explained to her that the company that sponsors the competition makes all the placards. And besides, if I had made it, the font would have been about 500 point instead of 20. :-D
Afterwards, we went up to the 3rd floor where the practice rooms are so Rachel could prepare a little bit more for the competition.
From there, we grabbed a bite to eat, then hit the cattle and saddlehorse barns until it was closer to show time. Per Rachel’s wishes, the majority of us waited outside the performance room until she was done competing (good thing: I could hear Trent between performances – the room was extremely quiet!.). I tiptoed in right before she played so I could record the performance with Mick’s phone.
I took this picture right before she began playing:
and this one while she was waiting for the judges to finish scoring her…
She did a wonderful job! And the judges agreed: she placed 2nd! We are so very proud of her and are glad all her hard work paid off!
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