Chapter 175

Chopin, Queen Elizaveta, Tchaikovsky.

Just like there are talks of the three major competitions in the world.

People tend to classify competitions based on levels and importance.

Of course, this was a concept that applied to competitions within narrow Korea too.

It was undeniably true that there were differences in levels among each competition.

If I had to pick just one among them,

It would undoubtedly be the Student Music Association Competition, the largest competition in the country where I had won the grand prize multiple times.

However, this kind of talk wasn’t always applicable.

Especially in high school, ranking the major competitions became meaningless.

Competitions hosted by universities.

Competitions hosted by newspapers.

Competitions hosted by associations.

In Korea alone, there were 12 competitions.

And then there were international competitions recognized by the International Competition Federation.

The common feature of all these events was one thing.

They were all competitions recognized for university admissions.

In other words, the merit of being included in the admission portfolio meant that, at least for high school, the levels and importance of these competitions were rendered equal.

Most high school students majoring in piano participated in them.

“Hello~!”

I brightly greeted my performance instructor, the lesson teacher, and calmly sat down in front of the piano.

“Oh my, Do-hee? You look so pretty today. Have you practiced the piece a lot?”

So, then, what’s the reason for being recognized by universities?

Of course, it meant that I was presenting a performance acknowledged by universities.

So what is the kind of performance recognized by universities?

There’s a clear idiom that serves as an example.

Typical entrance exam art.

Of course, this was a satirical and humorous comment,

But it was true that admission art refers to conventional and formulaic paintings focusing too much on technique.

After all, the goal was for students to draw the same thing according to a predetermined style.

Thus, their ideas and techniques were bound to be similar.

Therefore, playing entrance exam pieces is the same thing.

Standardized playing methods, expressions that reveal musicality without being aggressive, structured rhythms.

It was the “typical entrance exam performance.”

More than anything, the specialized art high schools served as a process for entering arts universities.

All the structured systems and curriculums were tailored to entrance exams.

“Have you prepared your preliminary piece? Then shall we try playing your main piece right away?”

And the instructor sitting in front of me, although unable to become a pianist, was an elite who succeeded in entrance exams and graduated from a prestigious music university.

The accompanist exam teacher earlier was also an elite who graduated from a well-respected music college in Korea.

The teachers in specialized arts high schools were those who had gone through the entrance exam curriculum.

They were hired staff to guide students so that they could mimic their paths.

In the end, they were people employed to help students succeed in entrance exams.

And that was both a strength and, in a way, a weakness of specialized arts high schools.
It was a flaw.

“Yes.”

I nodded and placed my hands on the keys.

The lesson teacher’s expectations were pretty much clear.

“I need to play accurately with at least a minimal feeling, just as the sheet music says.”

The piece I was about to play was Chopin’s Ballade No. 4.

It was the designated piece for the finals of the competition.

Of course, if I failed to get through the preliminaries, it would be meaningless.

I would have to practice the designated pieces for the preliminaries before the finals, too.

But honestly, it didn’t matter.

I figured that if I practiced enough, I could easily play the two-minute preliminary performance in a standardized way anytime.

*

After finishing school, I hailed a taxi instead of my manager’s van today.

“Have a good day, student!”

“Thank you.”

I got out in front of the piano teacher’s house.

I had meant to visit for fun someday when I had time, but today I felt a bit embarrassed because I wasn’t just here to hang out.

When I rang the bell, I heard a voice that was always pleasant and familiar.

—Coming out~

The only difference from my previous visit was that I could no longer hear the cries of the teacher’s son, Jin-hyun.

He must be six years old now.

“Do-hee!”

The door swung open, and the teacher, looking just as I remembered, ran to hug me.

“Teacher, I’m here~”

“What a surprise! Superstar Do-hee came to visit!”

Now that I was taller, I couldn’t be fully enveloped in that cozy embrace, but it still felt warm.

Now I understood.

A big chest is something everyone, young and old, appreciates.

*

“Do-hee only visits during the piano competitions. It hurts my heart a little… but I’m relieved that I can be of some help… and someday, Do-hee will probably forget about me…?”

“No, as I mentioned earlier, I’ve been super busy with SEVEN activities, and that’s why I couldn’t come… If it weren’t for the competition today, I would be practicing at the agency…”

“I wanted to go to the SEVEN concert to cheer for you, but…”

“But you said you couldn’t come because of Jin-hyun…”

sigh “The truth is, my husband had a conference that day and made plans beforehand. Otherwise, I would have left Jin-hyun with someone and gone. When will I get to see our Do-hee’s first concert again, right? It’s just cruel.”

The teacher and I shared unfinished daily chats.

Of course, during that time, Jin-hyun was sitting on my lap, cozy in my arms.

“Sis! Are you a princess?”

“A princess? Well, I guess?”

“Sis, let’s get married later!”

I had used the teacher’s embrace when I was little, so I figured it was only fair that I returned the favor.

“Jin-hyun, how about you go play with Dad for a bit? I need to talk with Mom.”

“Nooo! I want to stay with you!”
“Hey! I’m going to be with my sister!”

“Sigh, Hwang Jin-hyun. Who taught you to be such a brat? Should I bring out Mom’s rod?”

“Come on, Jin-hyun is going to play with Dad now~”

“Noo! Dad smells!”

“You’ll smell like me someday!”

“Nooo! Sister!”

The teacher’s husband forcibly took him away.

I briefly turned away from Jin-hyun reaching for me.

Stubborn as ever, just like when he was three.

“I’m sorry, Jin-hyun is at that age where he can be really annoying.”

“Well, that’s typical for kids. They’re cute anyway.”

“When you came over last time, he cried for ages after you left. Kids definitely know how to overreact.”

We headed to the piano room as usual.

“Sigh, our Do-hee was so smart and well-behaved when she was five and six. I can’t tell you how many unrealistic dreams I had because of her. I envy Do-hee’s mom so much…”

What about Jin-hyun…

Why is our mom flat-chested?

What did Do-ah drink while growing up?

And so we sat in front of the piano.

“You said it’s Chopin’s Ballade No. 4, right?”

“Yes.”

“This assigned piece is really tough.”

The teacher took out the score for Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 from the binder.

“Um… but honestly, I don’t know if I can teach better than the prep school teachers. Perhaps Do-hee could even play better than me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. She hasn’t had proper practice with her idol activities.”

“But Do-hee probably played for at least an hour every day, right?”

“…There were days I didn’t practice, but maybe?”

“Exactly.”

The teacher smiled warmly.

“Hold on a sec? Let me recall what I used to play.”

And she slowly gazed at the score and turned the pages.

The pages gradually stopped at measure 211.

“Do-hee, do you find the coda section here difficult, or is there anything tricky about it?”

Coda, a section added at the end of a piece for emphasis.

It’s the part that players of Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 find hardest.

“Well, I don’t know…”

Honestly, I didn’t find anything difficult.

Personally speaking.

“Actually, if there are no technical issues in the coda, the important thing is expression, right? Like a powerful coda, a crescendo in forte, or a decrescendo in melody.”

The teacher placed her right hand on the piano.

And played all the notes honestly.

“It’s not necessary to play every single note of the melody with your right hand. Just highlight the important soprano line… and tone down the alto melody. That way, the emotions that explode in the coda will be conveyed accurately. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to express, right?”
“It will definitely be conveyed. Of course, that’s not an easy expression, though?”

This time, she pointed to the sheet music.

And then placed her left hand on the keys.

“Well, here the left hand should play a sforzando on F, while this part should be expressed as staccato, but played with a non-legato style, you know? Like this depth. If you hit it too aggressively, it will lose its musicality.”

The teacher turned her head away from the sheet music.

“But, Do-hee, I don’t think you came here today because you don’t know this sort of thing. The Do-hee I imagine should be able to handle this level of expression easily.”

As the teacher said, this was an expression of refined musicality.

It was a level of technique and emotion that would be difficult for a high school student.

But it also didn’t veer far from the techniques of an adult preparing for university entrance exams.

“If you didn’t know, at least your school teachers should have taught you this much.”

Today’s lesson teacher praised my performance.

She said it was so clean and precise.

But to me, that was merely the feeling of recording and playing back; it wasn’t a performance.

It was a rigid, formulaic way of playing.

“You have your own interpretation that you want to play, right?”

I nodded my head slightly.

My feelings about this piece were different.

“I’ll give it a moment.”

The teacher sat beside me and took my hand.

“Then let’s just play it like that. I somehow feel that you will play it well.”

Then, she gently pressed a part of my head and leaned me against her like when I was little.

“By the way, our Do-hee, why is your hair so nice? What kind of maintenance do you get as a celebrity?”

The teacher lightly brushed away the hair that tickled my eyes.

“I do get some maintenance, but I’ve never dyed it. Kim Seo-yoon has dog hair.”

“It looks fine from the outside.”

“It’s just an illusion, using products. If you pull it a little, it all falls off. Dog hair.”

The teacher chuckled with a smirk.

“Right, I want to meet Seo-yoon in person sometime.”

“When I debut this time, you must come to the showcase. Bring Jin-hyun too. We’ll take a group photo afterward.”

“Sure, sure. Let’s do that.”

In her warm embrace, I subtly smiled and gently closed my eyes.

My heart gradually became tranquil.

There was still some pressure and doubt, but it felt like it was best to just play as I wanted.

If I can’t get on stage…

I’m sorry, Team Leader So-hyun, but I’ll think about that when the time comes.

After all, there’s a major competition in a month.

I can always participate again for a rematch, right…

I stayed there for a while, eyes closed and nestled in her embrace.

Even when I heard Jin-hyun whining and looking for me in the living room,

I felt a calmness, free from everyday stress for the first time in a while.

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