speachless :)

i've been practising for the past three quarters of an hour, maybe even an hour by now. i just finished playing an old Chopin Nocturne that i learned 19 or 20 years ago, the Nocturne in E minor. it made me weep tonight.

first, that i can remember a piece 19 years after having played it in the Kiwanis festival (i placed, either first or second, with my performance). and second, at the beauty of the piece, and the maturity of emotion i am finally bringing to it, even if i'm not playing it perfectly. although i really like Chopin, there are several of his works of which i'm not very fond, and that list keeps growing. but this Nocturne, i'm in awe. this will always be on my list of favs when it comes to performance.

i learned it as a student of Mme Contant's, in North Bay. she was my teacher from my very first lesson, when i was 4 years old. i played the Nocturne for her one last time before heading off to the Kiwanis festival. for the first time in my recollection, she sat back and just listened, no interruptions with her conductor's baton, no utterances of things to improve or correct. she just listened. and when it was all over, she wept too. she wept for the recent loss of her husband. i'll never forget this piece.