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Katherine.T
entries
November 8, 2008
Chapter 2-Stringendo's
The lady at the counter greeted me warmly. She had this weird, funny crooked smile like she's suffering from some kind of dental disease. I used to hold my breath and smiled politely, and as I got past her, I'd start laughing like an idiot. Mean, eh?
Stringendo's had not changed much since the last time I came, which was exactly 3 months ago. The floor's still dusty (sorry to say, Mr. Joe), the air-conditioning's still so freezing cold, and the window panes, still neon blue as ever. Mr. Joe put me on 'vacation', because he thought I deserved some quality time to relax after my exam. Frankly, I took too much of advantage of my 3-month break use, as I never bothered to touch even a single key on my piano. If Mr. Joe found out about this, he'd never give me post-exam breaks anymore.
As I took off my sandals, I heard a familiar voice calling my name. I lifted my head slightly upwards to see who was that.
"Ebony! You're finally here! Mr. Joe was wondering where you are and I was so worried that you can't make it here today because he said you might be going outstation and then I'll have to keep your slip for you and I-"
That's Adeline. Adeline Mary Tham. I preferred calling her Addie for short. Her complexion's ten times fairer than mine, and she's quite petite; like a life-sized china doll. She's two years my junior, but that didn't make much of a difference between us in terms of skills and ability though. She's an extremely skillful violinist, no joke about that. About one month ago-in conjunction with the Mid-Autumn Festival-us chinese most preferably called it, the Lantern/Mooncake Festival-Addie performed Mozart's 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (KV 525)' as the first violin, accompanied by the Petaling Jaya Youth Chamber Orchestra a.k.a. the PJYCO.
"-but Miss Sandra said that you wouldn't be here till tomorrow so I thought of calling you tomorrow night, but I'm afraid that I might forget so I was about to give you a call just now but before I could, you're here already."
Oh, I forgot something about Addie. She tended to babble a lot and elaborate things very, very fast, like a tongue-twisting machine. Some people who hadn't hear her speaking for the 1st time tended to have their jaws dropped wide open like a big fat O. It always took me about a minute or two to understand her as I didn't have super-speed hearing. But Addie didn't really care about that, she's pretty cool about things though. I finally spoke up after staring at her for a long while as she spoke.
"Right, thanks Addie. So how's life for the past few months?"
"Great! UPSR-a compulsory school exam young students sit for at the age of twelve before entering middle school, FYI again if you don't already know-was easy, especially Science and Maths! The questions about shadows came out for Science paper 2 and it's easy as I thought it was. Luckily my Science teacher has already given my class intensive exercises thoroughly and I felt confident answering them," she grimaced, ear to ear.
"Wow! Lucky you. When it was my year, Science was the most nerve-breaking paper. They asked about the preservation and conservation of animals and plants and I didn't really get the hang of it though."
"Nah, it's okay. You aced it perfectly, didn't you Miss Smarty Pants?" she nudged me.
"Well, yeah. Everything's going to be fine. Chillax Addie, you'll get straight A's for sure. I bet your study for 4 months will pay off somehow, Miss Smarty Pants N0. 2." I teased her light-heartedly.
"I hope so," she managed a weak smile.
Addie and I chatted out way through the hallway. Amidst the crowd, I saw Mr. Joe noting something down from the buletin board with a pen-feather-a quail's one, actually-and a piece of paper he's holding. He's the only music teacher I've ever known in my life that used a bird feather as a pen. Traditional yet decent. When he was done, he cleaned the pen-feather with a piece of tissue paper and slipped the pen-feather back into his pocket. His looked up and his creasy eyes were probably searching for a particular person in the crowd. It could be me by any chance, just like what Addie said about him wondering where am I just now. His face turned on a frown and sighed. Then, he turned around and walked away.
"Mr. Joe! Hey, Mr. Joe! Wait up!" I called out.
He didn't even realise that I was calling his name. Maybe because his hearing wasn't very good anymore. I mean, he's already 58 years old, more like my grandpa. People all around him, such as music teachers, students, workers, etc all showed great respect to him like he was their "sifu"(master/teacher in Chinese). Well, he was my "sifu" in music.
I caught up with him and Addie trailed behind me, telling me to slow down.
"Mr. Joe!I'm. Here. Already," I said as I panted breathlessly.
"Oh, hello Ebony!"he exclaimed. "I thought you couldn't make it today. So how are you?"
"I'm fine. Thanks. Actually, my mum cancelled the trip so that I can get my results today. It's more important than travelling anyway. I wouldn't want to miss it," I explained, trying to sound as sincere as I could.
"Indeed, it certainly is, young lady. Well, since you're here, I think we can start results giving ceremony already. Oh my, it's already past nine-o-five. We must get ready quick."
"But, but, but-" I hesitated.
"Yes?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Oh. nevermind. I was just expecting it not to be so soon. I was kind of...nervous, actually."
"Just get the hang of that, won't you? And Adeline, would you mind showing Ebony her seat in the hall? Just incase she doesn't know where is it."
"Sure, Mr. Joe," replied Addie, whom I didn't realise was beside me all the time if she hadn't say a word.
"So hurry along now girls, time wait for no man; or girl," he joked.
Before I could even truned around, Addie grabbed my right arm and marched out of the hallway like an FBI agent which has just caught a dumbfounded terrorist red-handed. She marched into the hall, still grabbing my arm as tiny laughter and chuckles behind us juggled by.
"Is proper seating even necessary?" I asked her.
"Yes, because we'll all be called upstage according to our names and grades and Mr. Joe wants to assure that it's in the correct order, just incase if anyone got lost in their line or step onto each other's foot while trying to make their way to get their results on stage," Addie explained patiently.
"What!? On stage!? That means there will be photographers then?"
"Oh, yes. But they will only take pictures of those that did very well in their exams, like getting a distinction or something."
I was relieved when I heard that. I would never get a distinction for my Grade 8 Practical, so I ain't got to worry about that. As we entered the hall, I saw people arranging the microphone stand and projecting the lights. Addie made her way to the very front of the seating area, and kindly showed my seat, which is the 3rd row from the front stage. She then took her seat as well, which was 2 rows behind me, diagonally to my left.
Music students started coming in, a whole bunch of them. The younger ones like 4 to 8-year-olds sat in the 1st row, and the older ones like me occupied the 2nd and 3rd rows. My heart was racing and my palms were sweating. Gosh, I guess I was a little too anxious about it.
Then, Mr. Joe came in with Ms. Sandra by his side, carrying a stack of comment sheets. I couldn't bear to look at them, so I tried to distract my thoughts by looking at the neon pink lighting up on the ceiling. It was less than 5 minutes later that I heard Ms. Sandra's voice on the mike.
"A very warm welcome to the wonderful teachers, and our beloved music students. A very good morning to you all. As we all know, today's the day when young students will collect their exam results for the practical exam held in PJ Hilton for the past 3 months. Now, please be seated immediately as our head, Mr. Joe Lau is about to give a short speech. Thank you."
The audience applauded as Ms. Sandra passed the mike to Mr. Joe.
"Thank you, Sandra. Once again, a very good morning to the spectacular audience here today. I don't know that so many of you can make it to this remarkable event today. But first of all, give yourselves a big applause as you all have done well in your exams."
The audience applauded again, louder than before and cheered as Mr. Joe spoke.
"Alright. We all know that music exams are very important. They resurface your ability and how well can you interpret a certain piece of music. But learning music isn't all about sitting for exams and acing them. It's a lifelong journey one must embark on with. Many parents thought that learning music is just a hobby or pastime for their child, and also to prove to them that they can be talented musicians if they get a merit or distinction for their music exams. But seriously, what's the point if you got a distinction for an exam but yet you don't even know how to pronounce Chopin's name properly? Isn't that a shame? Therefore, the passion and love for music must be there if one wishes to obtain a diploma, a degree, a masters', or even a doctorate. For me, I study music as my profession because of the love I share for it, not just for the sake of earning money. Nonetheless, I hope you all, young aspiring musicians will continue to do the same thing as I do. And once more, a job well done to all of you. Thank you."
We cheered on and applauded loudly as Mr. Joe finished his speech. Ms. Sandra silenced us and Mr. Joe started calling our names to go up on stage one by one and collect our results. I could feel the adrenalin rush inside my heart as it thumped harder every second. It always happened everytime I was about to get my results or something. Nausea, I guessed.
I tried to calm myself down as much as possible.
"Relax, girl. Relax. You're going to be fine. Just calm down. Just calm-"
"Ebony Ma,"Mr. Joe's voice rang shrilly on the mike.
I got up, and headed to the stage. I tried to be extremely careful on the mini staircase leading to the stage so that I won't make a fool of myself incase I tripped on in. I smiled sheepishly as I shook Mr. Joe's hand and received my results slip. He gave me a warm smile and I hurried down the mini staircase back to my seat.
As the others were already opening and looking into their slips, I wasn't dare to take even a slight peek into it. Various expressions were spreaded in the hall that very moment. Some very smiling with joy, but some were teary-eyed and had their faces buried in their hands. Some of them even remain calm as if their results didn't really bother them that much. As for me, I planned to open my slip when I got home later.
Dozens of eyes were shifted back to the stage when Mr. Joe started speaking again. He cleared his throat and starter speaking again.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls; this year, I would want to present a very special award to whoever that has done very well in their exams, practically and theoritically. He or she will receive RM3,000 cash and a trophy.
I was yawning and shifting my seat as I couldn't wait to get out of that hall, until...
"With great honour, I shall present this award to our youngest pianist to ever finish her student grades-all 8 of them-and move on with diploma, Miss Ebony Ma!"
My mind went completely blank that very second.