Piano Party @ Ben's House

I went for the Piano Party held at Ben's House (a condo near NUS area) on 12 Sep 09 with my hubby. Ben is a friend I made in the Piano Forum. Ben is a very great host and tries to make us feel comfortable and I really appreciate it.

My hubby is worried for me to go there alone (a very protective man) and moreover I don't really know the people there, so he decided to accompany me. Haha, he being someone who doesn't really appreciate classical music and piano, and not so musically inclined, he brought his Sony HX1 there to take photos, so that he can "entertain" himself, while I sit there, enjoy the music, chit chat and have fun. I appreciate his presence though, but do constantly worried that he might be bored.

We went there immediately after our Antenatel Class which ended at around 12pm. The party is suppose to start at 1pm, but we were there at around 12.15pm. We were the first guests to reach. The caterer was still there preparing the buffet spread. Not long later, Wzkit arrived. Ben opened up his piano and switched off the TV. And here are some photos of his Suater Omega 220 taken by my hubby before the rest of the guests come. A very nice piano:-









Wzkit was playing the piano when my hubby was taking the photos of the piano. And you see him trying out the piano at the other side of the photo. Ben has tuned it to EBVT III temperament. Haha, actually, I can't really hear the difference between his EBVT III and my Equal Temperament. Haha, so, I guess I am quite "deaf" too!

While Wzkit was playing the piano, and stepped on the una corda pedal, the whole key shifted like what my Piano Teacher told me. Haha, my first time seeing it move. So interesting. Okok, I sound very "sua ku". But honestly speaking, I don't feel that the two sound with and without the una corda has much of a difference. Or, is there a difference?

This is Ben (the host) playing on his piano. He looks quite young. I mean, I expect to see quite an old man, coz he seems to have went through a lot of ups and downs in his life from the way I "talked" to him via messages and emails.

Ok, the caterer is finally done with the buffet spread, and this is the most interesting part for my hubby. It is nyonya food from Chilli Padi. Too bad, my hubby had a sore throat, so he did not try the mee siam, which looks very nice. Haha, though I don't fancy spicy food, but the food taste nice. I drank a lot of lime juice and it was very successful in helping me cope with the spiciness of the food. Think the spread is for about 20 people. The food was there from about 1pm to 4pm (when the people came again to clear up). But I saw that there were a lot "leftovers". I ate a lot liow. But I guess there are many who just played the piano and did not eat enough. Haha.

Ok, not long after the spread is ready, more and more people came. There were about 20 people (I think), and the whole living room, dining area and the study room (where the food were) are all packed with people. I met a few of the other Piano Forum friends.

Wow, they all have very powerful backgrounds. There are economists, NUS Mechanical Engineering Lecturers, Sauter Piano Dealer who is also an Interior Designer and Lynnette Seah was there too. And they all are very rich, as in staying in landed properties, freehold condo, buying condos like buying clothes, having Steinway and Sauter pianos at their home. All I asked have all completed their Grade 8 exams, some performing in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, some in the NUS Symphony Orchestra, some completed their Piano Diplomas, some will be taking their Diploma exams soon. Some can play other instruments other than pianos. Wow! Very very impressive group of people. Haha, my hubby commented that these group of people are like a different category, living a very different life from people like us (who seems to be crawling on the ground). They are all very English speaking group of people too. And when they asked about me and my hubby. Haha, like nothing very special about the 2 of us, just very ordinary people and a small potato in our company. And haha, when asked about my piano background, even funnier. Haha. My hubby know nuts about piano, and I barely know much, and just starting out my Grade 2.

But, I must say, I did enjoy myself, and was an eye opener to meet them. I mean you rarely get a chance to talk to another group of people whom you don't meet them in life right? And understanding how they feel and live their life. And most importantly, we share a common interest which is music, which is why we are all in this party. If invited again, I would love to go, but maybe not with my hubby coz he was getting very bored, other than the food. And hopefully when my baby is out, I can leave the baby with him. Don't think is a nice idea to bring my little one there, just in case she starts crying when they are performing.

I had a nice chat with Alvin, who is the Sauter Piano Dealer. And he shared with me and my hubby his experience of dealing with those even richer customers, who have terrible attitudes and expectations for his part time job as an interior designer. He also shared with us how he started his hobby into selling Sauter. Haha, and really selling pianos is not his rice bowl, else he would have been starved to death, but rather a passion which he needs to do some other part time job in order to support. Oh, he is also building his own piano for himself by himself. But because there is no equipments, parts, advices and factory in Singapore, he will fly to Germany when he has the time and money and do some work on his dream piano. And so far, it is far from ready. But quite a nice guy to chat with. As in, not someone who is at all interested to sell you anything, but just a normal friend talking about anything under the sun. Please lor, see my pattern, also know that I can't afford a Sauter. =P

The best part of the Piano Party. Lynnette Seah is performing on her violin. She play until it looks very easy, not nervous at all one, just enjoying herself playing some pieces and they are all very nice. I don't know who is the pianist, but seems to be someone whom she had been working with, or at least the pianist came prepared!

Haha, then she was asking volunteers to play on the piano as accompanists and haha, as usual, everyone just sat there and looked at each other. And she was like, "hey, good opportunity to play the piano with another musician and the best part is I am not charging you!" Haha, we all laughed. And when she realised is because no one dares to play a piece via sight-reading with her, she was like, what? Pianist can't sight-read? Haha, I guess though I feel these pianists are pro, still not pro enough as compared to her. Haha! In the end, everyone volunteered a guy called Jonathon, who is suppose to be the best sight-reader. And in the end 2 persons were playing on the piano, one playing the left hand and one playing the right hand and Lynnette was playing the violin. I thought the pianists were not bad, to be able to play the pieces just by sight-reading. Haha, I am far from that!

Then, after Lynnette finished her "performance", Jonathon brought out his don't know what instrument, and started blowing. I think is a Bassoon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassoon

Haha, my hubby was asking Lynnette if there is chance for all the 3 instruments to be played together. Haha, he was hoping for an orchestra kind of thing. But to his disappointment, don't have.

Just some comments which my hubby has about his observation. The people in this Piano Party all seems to be able to play the piano well. And the focus is on how well they play the pieces, how expressive and so on. But there is no element of composing and creativity. His thoughts is that instruments like a piano, should not be just about playing it from scores that were written many years back. Well, these pieces are also composed by people in the past. And why is it that this creativity is not the focus when one learns the piano? Shouldn't music be about creativity instead of strictly following the scores that were composed years ago?

Haha, and well, I also do notice that in my piano lessons so far, the focus has been on my piano playing techniques and how well I can play a piece. Though theory has some element of composing, but does not seems to be the focus of learning piano. But maybe there is this focus in the higher grades? I also not very sure. But I did asked my teacher about composing music, and she told me I need to have a strong understanding of the theory first before I can understand how to compose, and to get there, I need to complete at least Grade 4 or 5. Is that true?