One sparkle at a time


On Saturday, October 20th, Erik participated in the MTNA competition (music teacher's national association) for the first time in the Senior division (15-18 yr old). We casually talked about it last year but we knew that the program to prepare for is quite rigorous and we felt that he was not ready last year. This september marked 6 years of Erik's piano journey. So he has begun the 7th year as of this month.  The photo above was taken as we were leaving to head out the door in the morning to the competition. His spirit was calm, happy, and excited.

I am simply amazed how far he has traveled in the mere 6 years,,,, .  Although, I studied piano for 12 years, I do not have the same level of ability to understand what he can understand now and I am delighted to say that my son completely moved on to a realm I am not able to fully understand. I am also amazed at the humble spirit he possesses through it all. He was very humble when the announcement was made and he learned that he was the state winner to advance to the regional competition.

So, he was just awarded an opportunity to compete at the regional competition at the senior level where state winners from several southern states will gather where selections will be made as to who will be advancing to the national. We have no doubt that he is probably the youngest and the LEAST experienced out of all that would gather at the regional in January and that the chance is quite slim that he would place at all with only 6 years of experience but we are not concerned about what will happen there. I love his spirit that he is not afraid to lose or not win,,or to know that others are ahead. He is very comfortable with himself and he is happy to be where he is. And I LOVE all of this. He is a unique teenager who has his mind on things that are not very typical of average teenagers I know.  His content spirit is a pure gift.But when these events are pushing him up and moving him ahead, there is an inevitable need for a swift maturing as well. He is maturing at every event he experiences. When I was hit with breast cancer and I was not sure of how to translate the given prognosis or how it would actually play out for me personally, I dreamt of seeing him turn 15, as though it was a far future.  Erik, being 15 now, I am enjoying every note he plays and every phrase he memorizes.  I am proud of his accomplishments but I am also proud of his calm spirit, gentle smile, simple sense of joy, awareness for the gift, and the gratitude for the opportunity.

Our bravo goes to his Teacher, Francis for his steady coaching and pulling that he has done to bring him to a new level each week.  As his College level student also won to advance to the regional,  we are very excited and anticipate a lot more practice ahead as these students prepare for the next competition.

The video below shows one of the three pieces he performed for the competition.  For those of you who are professional, you would hear wrong or missed notes and even if you are not professional, you will also recognize an awkward moment that Erik expressed as "my mind went blank all of the sudden but came back fortunately", and you would also notice a horrible recording job that I did.  He looked incredibly handsome sitting at the beautiful Fazioli concert grand. I hope that you would enjoy his performance ...it is by Ravel and it is about water,,, that flows, splashes and sparkles,,,, yes, if you close your eyes and just listen, you may just hear the sparkle,,,,,one sparkle at a time.


Comments

Amy Blazer said…
so beautiful!! (I'm talking about the piano music as well as the words from a loving mother)
October 22, 2012 at 8:37 AM
Elizabeth Brogdon said…
Wonderful job!
October 29, 2012 at 1:19 PM
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