Piano Scholarship

Darby auditioned for a piano scholarship today. We only found out about it two weeks ago, and when we did find out about it, the deadline to apply had already passed, though only by a couple days. After making some phone calls, they agreed to take our application and allow Darby to audition. The audition was for a piano camp scholarship for this summer. 1st place meant free tuition for the camp, but there were also 3 partial scholarships. Here is a picture of her during the actual audition (I could not go in, so this is through a window). She played Sonatina in A minor by Kuhlau.



The music she played for the audition was a piece she had been working on for a couple months due to an upcoming school piano recital. But because of this audition, she doubled up on her practicing, which I think will help her at the recital, which is now in just a few days.

Even though I had to stand outside the room, I could still hear her play, and I thought she did VERY well. I was impressed (and I've heard her play it A LOT) with her performance, and confident she would place, even though I hadn't heard the other kids.

She was relieved to be done with the audition, but then got impatient during the wait for the results. Though it took about an hour for them to be posted, it turned out to be a very worthwhile wait. Darby placed second, meaning she received a $150 scholarship! Awesome!



Here is the critique text from the judge:

"Darby,
You play with clarity and focus. Thank you for your accurate performance filled with flair and brilliance. Wonderful dynamic contrast between forte and piano, paired with crisp articulations. Nice legato passage work too. You are a wonderful player.

You look a bit stiff at the piano - try to free up the wrists and support the fingers with a looser upper body with the arm resting freely. Try to taper the crescendos more - this helps the tempo from rushing in the faster rhythmic values and finger work.

Overall, a polished, brilliant, and energetic performance. Bravo!"

As Shelby waited for her sister's activity to complete (mostly) patiently, she got her wish to check out the fountain we walked by on the way to the audition on the Southern Nazarene University campus. Which is a nice campus, incidentally. So the setting made for a nice photo opp.