It is Late Now, But I am Glad It is
Posted: Thursday, June 23, 2011
by HyunSoung Kim
hyunsoung's blog about life as a foreigner
I really hated it. Sometimes I really wished that an earthquake would arise to demolish the building so that I didn't have to go there the next day. Walking to my bus station, I was hoping the electricity would go off so that I couldn't go with the trolley bus which means I would be late :). I wished my head would hurt real hard so that... My professor said if we have headache, we shouldn't play violin.
At that time, hours passed real fast, that is when I didn't have tests in school, but even if I had them I wouldn't study much, read once, twice, once and that would be it. Next to it I was in Taekwondo and Basketball clubs, and with my "I hate studying" mindset, who would like to make sounds out of a violin for homework and plus the songs that we didn't choose.
The music school consisted of six years, and I think this happened in the fifth. Every end of the school years we have big exams where we have to play numerous songs memorized. And I was real bad at memorization, I would just repeat the line numerous times and hoped that I got it and when I would try it out without notes, I would hardly get it without longs clocks of playing.
A day was left untill the final exams and man I wasn't confident at all, the reasons, I don't have to mention them. It was still daylight and while I was practicing, bum one string broke... Even if it was sunday, we bought the string somehow, but we didn't know how to attach it to the violin while my professor was busy... he told us to just keep practicing.
Tommorow came with the fast paced heartbeats, will I make it, I don't want to repeat a year of continuous "hell", the reality was dark. Finally I came into the music school, my professor attached the string and headed to the exam room while students were waiting in queue. That waiting time surely cut some hours from our life with nervousness and stress, actually the whole six years did.
It was my turn, last look at my friend and my stony feet were heading to the last room in the corridor. The big doors opened I saw four professors sitting, one of them was my professor, which was a bit relieving. I accepted the fact that I mistaked and didn't practice enough and so I was playing the songs. The first song went ok while the second was a bit harder and in the middle of playing I stopped, maybe it was nervousness or I really didn't know the incomming notes. While playing the third song, I surely had mistakes, but I went on playing, and there came the part, the parts which I didn't memorize, practice.
My head was diving, when I saw one professor gesturing me that it is enough. I knew that they knew it. Another waiting time, I was expecting the worst and hoping for a bad but a passing mark. The results came.
I was happy. And I was grateful. Happy because there was now only one year to finish the hell I imagined and perceived. Grateful to my professor who always told me the worst scenarios to make me practice and helped me finish the music school and head to life with the diploma that can always show me my mediocrity in early years when I was blind of the other side of the card, the benefits, and lack of gratitude of actually being able to practice an instrument while many dream about a school, what more, a music school.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)I loved this article Hyun. All I can say after reading one of your lines -"While my professor was busy... he told us to just keep practicing." I was brought up to believe that practice makes perfect. You go boy
Keep well and keep playing
Kacy
While i was bad at studying, the professor kept telling me about the repetition technique, and i am still using it sometimes. Thanks Kacy for dropping by.
Reminds me of my early school years that I can be honest with you, I hated it so much that I made myself absent at least once a week and if I was lucky enough, twice. Was I silly or crazy ? I am glad it was all over for me !
But you are still young. You have a bright future ahead of you. Go for it !Hilda, you were worse than me :D, i guess you were happy at those 'free' weeks :). Hilda! We are all young while we are alive. And yes, thanks for commenting :)
Very nice article bro...I love to be at school in those days...now want to stay off from office ...ha ha ha...Thanks for a honest story...Regards, CPHaha, yeah i guess those were the easy years :), Thank you for visiting Chira :)
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