Thank you all, I am almost moved by your participation in what has been a true undertaking for me! Now I move on to the official thanks. First and foremost, I thank my father and my mother who have believed in my potential since I was little, and let's face it, they invested a lot of money to allow me to cultivate my passion; my girlfriend who helped me even with music history, stayed very close to me, and who puts up with me, which is not easy, but above all she tolerates seeing us only once a week to let me study, when we would both like to see each other a little more. I thank my teacher who believed in my potential and who has been close to me during all these years of study that were not always bright due to the many commitments I have (preparing music history and the eighth year in six months is not what you would call a walk in the park!), I thank Paolo who was close to me and helped me a lot in this undertaking, I thank Aunt Marina who gives me excellent advice and who puts up with me every time I go to her house to play on Paolo's Steinway 🙂, I thank the legendary Gennarino and his better half Dana, who was also an active participant and critic in my preparation in addition to the affection she showed me, which I reciprocate from the heart, and finally even if they cannot hear me, I publicly thank the entire secretariat staff (In particular "Aunt Mary", a fantastic woman, a precise and indispensable secretary at the conservatory in addition to being very likable, her daughter Antonella, always very helpful, friendly and cordial, and the great Tommaso who is always ready to help you) and the operators of Rodi Garganico and the commission; all wonderful, bright, helpful and welcoming people. Passing the eighth-year exam and music history with flying colors in these record times gives me indescribable satisfaction, also because finally the path opens up for my final diploma which will bring my efforts to completion (Provided everything goes well 😆).
But now I want to share the undertaking with you...
7 AM on Tuesday, June 21st - Paolo comes to pick me up at home.
4 and a half hours with stops to arrive in Rodi Garganico. A small but very cute village, well-structured. A winding descent that looks very much like Monte Carlo takes us from the center of the town to the beach. It's time to eat at "Ciccio al mare", a very nice restaurant right on the beach. Very fresh fish and a warm welcome. We go to the hotel to drop off the suitcases and then straight to the conservatory to try the exam piano. A room with terrible acoustics—as Paolo says, a few egg cartons would suffice—extremely high reverberation time; in other words, all the study and time I spent caring for the clarity of notes and sound goes down the drain. I try the piano... Everything is flat, very out of tune, poorly regulated, impossible to perform a pianissimo... The dynamic range of the piano goes from mezzo-forte to fortissimo, the sostenuto pedal doesn't work, it doesn't produce enough keyboard movement to strike two strings instead of 3. I don't give up, I have to get used to it anyway, I have to try it; just as I play two chords, they ask me to change rooms because in the next room they are doing guitar diplomas. They send me to the auditorium where a Steinway Mod. D 274 appears imperiously, a brand new Steinway Grand Piano worth 130,000 euros with the pedals still wrapped!! Beside it, another Steinway mod. A. Obviously I go to the D, but it's locked! 😆
All that's left is to play on the A. I immediately realize a sound that is too bright for a Steinway; I get up from the bench to check the state of the hammers... Completely flat and marked... It's a piano that has been used a lot. The sound was nonetheless very pleasant, despite being a bit harsh, it was by far much better than the Toyo I had tried before, on which I would have had to play for the exam... Steinway is Steinway even when battered, it's always a pleasure to play it.
I go back to the first floor and re-enter the hall. I try it and leave. Bitter about the fact that the exam piano had been poorly prepared and that the room only created a confusion of notes, I don't give up. If it is like this for me, it will be like this for others too.
We return to the hotel and then again to Ciccio al mare for dinner. After dinner we go to Peschici, a small village where you feel like you are in Greece, just a few kilometers from Rodi Garganico. A digestive walk and back to the hotel to rest... Tomorrow is my exam!
Wake up at 7, breakfast at the hotel and off to the conservatory for the exam.
There are 3 of us taking the exam, all 3 private students; the only internal student did not show up. The first boy, Antonio, enters; I was the second and I remember that I hadn't yet chosen the 3 Scarlatti sonatas (Should I play 2, 3, and 5, or 2, 5, and 13, or 2, 3, and 13?). I chose the first configuration 10 minutes before entering, thinking it was the most suitable for the condition of the piano I was about to play on. I enter; the committee to my left is composed of 4 masters, among whom I immediately recognize Maestro Ferrati because I had already seen him in some of his YouTube videos (an excellent pianist). I was happy with his presence because I was certain he would appreciate some nuances in the pieces I had prepared. The committee puts me at ease; I prepare to sit on the stool, clean the piano keyboard with my alcohol-soaked handkerchief, present the first Scarlatti piece I had drawn earlier to the committee, and begin to perform. I was very relaxed, soft hand, thinking about the music, not thinking about the exam. I proceed in sequence with Moscheles' virtuoso study no. 1 (Even though I would have preferred to perform the Mendelssohn prelude, which is more expressive). My hand was warm and I ventured a very sustained speed. The tempo was held until the end. Then it's time for Beethoven, first movement, started a bit too fast but tempo held until the end. Second movement: adagio cantabile; given the condition of the piano, it lent itself much to the execution of this cantabile of the sonata and I exploited this to my advantage. I am interrupted halfway through the second movement to proceed with the third movement. Third movement: clean, linear, can I dare say? Beethovenian. Debussy, very difficult to perform on that piano; the keyboard had little return weight, I often found myself playing the same note even before the key had returned to an adequate position to be struck again; it took time to get used to it; first page a bit uncertain, then the rest fine. Finally, Chopin's Berceuse, which was my 'joker'; fluctuations in tempo, singing with the right hand, weight transferred from shoulder to arm, the singing came out wonderfully. Repetitive, balanced, and light right hand, ostentatious virtuosity at the beginning until the liberation of expression—these are the secrets of the Berceuse. After the exam, I notice Maestro Ferrati's gaze, pleased, or at least that's how it seemed to me. Having left the room, Paolo gives me his very positive judgment. I am also happy with my performance; after all, exams are like this: you play it well 100 times at home, but then you gamble everything all at once at the exam! After the last girl enters (Valentina, whom I greet and invite to respond by sharing her experience as soon as she returns home and can register), we proceed to the drawing of Bach and Clementi. Bach - Volume II no. 20; Clementi - no. 18 (The study on thirds).
I was happy with Bach, a dodecaphonic prelude, chromatics that in Bach express pain and thus expressiveness; even though it was difficult I liked it, and when I like something I learn much faster. I wasn't very happy with Clementi, but as they say, not every batch of donuts comes out with a hole. I close myself in my room and begin to review Bach and Clementi on the digital piano (I should mention that I didn't really study Bach and Clementi during the exam preparation; I mostly just read them, given the limited time); it was therefore about making them adequate for an exam level. Bach starts coming together after the first half hour; after an hour and a half from the start, Bach is ready for the exam, both the prelude and the fugue, right speed, right expression, right notes, but above all, the right tempo. I start with Clementi but it wasn't working; some passages just wouldn't stick in my head, I was too tired. On Paolo's advice, I unplug and we go to eat. Upon returning, I get out of bed around 11:30 and restart with Clementi. 30 minutes pass and finally Clementi starts coming together. I breathe a sigh of relief; tomorrow, waking up at 8, I will still have a couple of hours to review... So I decide to go to sleep.
The next day I wake up and start playing again; to my surprise, Clementi was going well, sleep had fixed all the most difficult positions in my mind. It took less than an hour to have Bach and Clementi ready. Back at the conservatory, they call me; I start with Bach, everything fine, I start with Clementi, a small slip towards the end but good overall. It's time for the interpretation test. We are given a photocopy of two pages of a Schumann piece. A Romantic author, it's made for me, and there I was expecting Scriabin!!
At exactly 1:00 PM, I found myself locked in a classroom exposed to the sun with closed windows that could not be opened and a closed door that could not be opened because I could not communicate with anyone, a stifling heat! I sit at the piano (a Pleyel grand) and begin to read; I am amazed by how simple reading is. I take a pencil and eraser and begin to note down interpretation instructions. The piece had many subjects and many responses, very well, responses more softly. Scales moving upwards, growing, now a breath, now one must differentiate the staccato, giving the right importance to the notes on the weak beats of the syncopations. I play it from the beginning and exclaim: "This youth album is wonderful". At the end, after a quarter of an hour, the piece was ready. 2 hours and 45 minutes remained... My shirt was soaked with sweat, my head was spinning; I force myself, drink a little water, and consume a packet of honey that I had taken at breakfast in the hotel, thus managing to resist another hour in the sauna. I leave the classroom and go to the conservatory staff (Angela and Antonio): "Please, could you change my classroom? I don't feel very well!". Faced with my shirt as wet as if I had taken a shower, Angela moves me again to the auditorium on the Steinway, turning on the air conditioning (Very kind and understanding). I spent the following hours playing the Schumann piece that had been assigned to me, interspersed with pieces for the diploma, just to not waste time... Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Liszt's Concert Study 3 (a sigh) were what the Steinway demanded. At 3:30, tired of waiting, I leave the auditorium half an hour before the time limit (16:00) and reach Paolo who was waiting for me at the end of the corridor (the only ventilated and cool place in the conservatory where even the staff went to get some air). Piano promotions are underway; we must wait. At 5:15, they call me back to do the 3-hour test. I perform the piece very well with Maestro Ferrati, who was checking my execution right behind me. I am given another piece for sight-reading. Almost impossible to play at sight (Tenth intervals that with my big hands I managed to take well, but I dare not think how someone with small hands would have done it, 4-voice composition). A few slips, but all in all it went well. Scales for double thirds and double sixths and a culture test. Finally, the exam is over. Stressed by the heat and the heavy day, I wait together with Paolo, Valentina, and Antonio for the exam results. A professor comes out and communicates my grade (8.71): "Damn, I got almost a nine", that was my exclamation. Incredulous, I almost felt like crying. The nights spent studying until 5 in the morning had borne fruit. Maestro Ferrati leaves the classroom and finally, having finished the exam, I could congratulate him, no longer risking being seen as a suck-up—something I hate—for the excellent performances I had seen on YouTube. He invites me and Paolo to his concert in Fondi (LT) which will be held on July 25th, which I cannot miss, and I invite anyone in the area to attend because it is truly worth it; he congratulates me on the performance of the Berceuse, the one he preferred out of all of them. After the exam, we get back in the car, and I have a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth.
Many pianists describe their eighth year as a day to forget; not me, I will miss that day, it was a beautiful experience that I would repeat another 1000 times. Is it because of the welcome from the teachers and all the conservatory staff? Is it because of the air you breathe in Rodi Garganico? Is it because it is simply part of those days in life that will never be forgotten? I don't know what the reason is, what I do know is that it will always remain in my memory and heart as a hard, stressful, tiring experience, but one that I lived to the fullest and that gave me enormous satisfaction.
Forgive me if I have been long-winded, but since this is a portal where music is discussed, I thought it would be nice and interesting to tell you in detail how the hardest exam for pianists in conservatories takes place, what the sensations of the examinee are, and what the memories of these days are.
I renew my thanks to everyone, and a special thank you to Paolo for the affection and the good he shows me, which I reciprocate completely (how can one not love him?) and for everything he has done and continues to do for me... These are things I will not forget!
I leave you at the end with a nice video that I edited, created by myself and Paolo, which will serve as a memory of these splendid and unforgettable days in Rodi Garganico.
Greetings to everyone!
