Friday, March 25, 2011

An attempt to put sheer exhilaration into words

It has been roughly 3 months since 26 sprightly, young Malaysians have touched UK soil. Yet, the ten glorious days spent at the Yehudi Menuhin School have made such an indelible impact in their hearts and minds that they still talk and reminisce about it till today.

I should know. I am one of them.

Within the 10 days, the initial awkwardness was replaced by hugs, shy smiles grew into abandoned laughter, and sleeping at 10pm extended to the wee hours of the morning (I blame common-rooming).

All of us learned invaluable lessons during the course, not only musically, but intellectually as well. Every one of the classes, group or individual, were crafted to introduce us to new things and enhance our current knowledge. Shortly put, the atmosphere of those 10 days breathed with the excitement of learning. Practice rooms were almost constantly occupied, notes were taken at every class, and brief moments with the revered professors were held in utmost attention.

Being in a place surrounded by fellow musicians, all eager to learn as much as possible from this camp, and sharing this driving passion was enough to drive me delirious with delight.

Goodbyes were almost unbearable, especially for me. While everybody returned Malaysia, I was to board a plane bound for San Francisco. College...sigh. While waving from the taxi cab to the host of OMWPAians, I fought back tears and stood up and kept waving (the taxi driver thought I was mad)...hanging dearly onto the every last moment till the Yehudi Menuhin School grew smaller and smaller and altogether vanished.

It never vanished from my mind, however. You never forget things like this. You just don't.

This quarter in college has been a whirlwind of assignments, exams, and concerts. But no matter how hectic life was, I look forward to my little practice room each day, pumped with renewed vigor and inspired with the constant memory of Yehudi Menuhin. As my fingers touch the well-worn ivory keys, I smile and imagine my fellow piano chums doing the same...halfway around the world.

I love you people so, so much. OMWPA December 2010: it was a dream come true. Thank you Bobby!

***

To get a more detailed description of this course (as opposed to my rather vague, extended rambling) click HERE.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG pure brilliance! and i love how you linked this to Andrea's!!! ='D

P.S. it's WHO-YOU-THINK-IT-IS.... chocolate! XD haven't been devouring a lot of chocolate though... D=

Eliz said...

...Wow. Those 10 days sound pretty intense ^_~

It was solely piano ?_?
Y'know, for some reason, I thought it was for violin... It being Yehudi Menuhin and all *headscratch*

Anyways, the pics in the link are awesome ;D Snow! Everywhere! *wheee*

Sounds like you and your chums had quite an experience :)
Sheer exhilaration indeed ^_^

Shu said...

Come back to london! :P

Shu said...

We need an update!

:P