This is a story about one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. It all started 5 years ago in India. I was interested in learning piano and started taking lessons. It wasn’t such a big thing and I didn’t practice that much. I took group classes and was fine with it. Later my family moved to the US and things changed. I got a new teacher. His name was Mr. Vazopolos and he was strict but very good. He helped me push myself and play very complex pieces. He also made me practice 45 minutes every day. I also became much better at piano because I was doing a solo class.
About a year later in June 2017 Mr. Vazopolos introduced me to the American Protege International Piano and Strings competition. The competition was in Carnegie Hall. He told me to audition for it. So I started preparing for it. I was planning on auditioning with the Moonlight Sonata third movement. It wasn’t easy so I had to practice one hour everyday until the competition date! On January 20th I sent my audition in. I was nervous because I thought I didn’t do well. But I got in! I was really happy, but I still needed a lot of work.
Later on June 30 I went to Carnegie Hall and performed. It was surely an amazing experience. The Weill Hall was the smaller of two halls and was really beautiful and the piano was also quite amazing. A lot of other kids were there too. I had almost my entire family there to cheer me on, including some of my friends. When it was my turn to play I got a little nervous, but I took a few deep breaths and walked onto the stage. I had expected the hall to be much bigger but turns out it wasn’t so big after all. It had about three hundred seats and was beautiful. I played the best I could and enjoyed the experience very much. After the concert my family and friends celebrated and we went for lunch nearby.
It was an amazing experience and I absolutely loved it. I think it made me more confident in performing in front of large audiences and made me better at piano overall. I hope to enter this competition and other ones in the future. I want to continue my experience of performing in great halls for as long as I can.
