About Spain

I realized that I never posted after my trip to the Jaen International Piano Competition in Jaen, Spain this past April. Here is a late account of my trip.

The travel the Spain (via train, plane, and bus) was going to take 22 hours. The day I was supposed to leave, I woke up early in the morning incredibly sick with fever, nausea, feeling like crud in general. I went straight to the doctor, who thought it might be my gall bladder and told me to cancel my trip or at the very least, postpone it a day. So I called the competition to ask if I could come a day late and just miss the opening drawing. They said that I would risk being disqualified.

I was forced to make the horrible decision of trying to travel for 22 hours while being sick as a dog, or cancel my trip altogether like the doctor said. For most people, the reasonable decision is to just cancel the trip. But I had worked SO hard for this competition, and I really felt like I was supposed to go. I packed as quickly as I could, and just hoped I wouldn't miss my plane.

The travel was pretty rough, but I made it. I went to the drawing of slots, (the 1st round, competitors performed on one of 3 days) and I was really hoping to go the last day so that I could recover fully. Nope...I drew a slot for the end of the 1st day.

By then, I was feeling a lot better, although not 100%. I pulled myself together, stepped onstage, and smiled hugely as I saw the full, applauding audience and the array of flags representing the different countries of the competitors. I performed a Bach Prelude and Fugue, a Chopin Etude, a Rachmaninoff Etude, and the Dutilleux Sonata. It went wonderfully, and I couldn't have been happier with my performance!

I thought I had a good shot of making it to round 2, but with 10 judges, nothing is certain. A couple of days later, I was bummed to find out that I didn't make it on. All that....for so little. Why had I gone? Looking at the big picture, I got to know some of the other competitors and made some friends, and I even got to talk to one of the judges (who told me he voted for me, as did some of the other judges, but a few judges thought one of my pieces was too fast!). This is part of it...the uncertainty, the subjectivity. But somehow, I love it all the same.