Sounds and senses

Tonight I have my first performance of many pieces....Mirror by Edward Mebius, Reminiscences of Tranquillity by Yinam Leef and Tratti by Ig Henneman. My scores are still too low but I'm working so hard and trying my best - sounds obvious, but there it is!

Since my lesson the other day with Di Xiao, I have really committed myself to the interpretation of Leef's Reminiscences of Tranquillity, which is a really spiritual piece that requires a deep tranquillity to flow from within the performer. Tranquillity is not something that comes naturally to me, whilst running round like a headless chicken and feeling a bit panicky about a big competition, so finding my inner calm and allowing this music to flow through me has been immensely theraputic and beneficial to the rest of my practise, as well as my mental well-being!

I have also taken a lot from Di's inspiring advice on 'Mirror' by Edward Mebius, one of my two Dutch pieces. This piece is like a miniature play about a relationship that shifts through phases of peace, conflict and emotional numbness. It can quickly shift about ten gears and go from crystalline single harmonics...to rapid virtuosic feats where the hands seem to be trying to conquer opposing technical mountains!..and back to static, steady, semiquaver numbness. It's a really unusual piece. My son designs objects on Lego Digital Designer on the net, where you can build a model on the screen, watch it explode in 3D and then watch the pieces rebuild to form the model again. Mirror reminds me of this, in structure and meaning.

I have been emailing with Ig Henneman - the only female composer on my programme - about 'Tratti'. I should mention that I have a lot of music by female composers and I love playing music from the woman's point of view. However, when I was constructing my programme, there were certain pieces I had to include - for the requirements and for my personal passions about them - so it was a case of trying lots and lots of other pieces and finding the greatest possible variety of styles and expressions.

I am enjoying playing 'Tratti' for myself, and will find out in a mini preview of my programme for a few friends tonight, what it is like to perform it! 'Tratti' is Italian for 'features' and this piece has incredibly controlled, distinctive features - there is no room for interpretation here, I have to do exactly what the composer says!

Anyway, my practise beckons again, I was just taking a tiny break, and so back I go....

Ellie