Procrastinating, again, today ended up in me rediscovering the Debussy pieces I'd played as a child (wow, it seems like an entire lifetime ago that I was in primary school and playing Debussy) and it was just so delightful to fall in love with his arabesques all over again.

It's quite magical when one hesitantly plays the first few notes and then suddenly it all comes flooding back and the melody flows out as if it's always been singing so brilliantly and vibrantly, as if it's never fallen silent before. (Admittedly though they are a piece of cake to sight read.) And playing the arabesques again, suddenly it's crystal clear what my piano teacher meant those many years ago when she rambled on about shades of colour, about dark and bright and mellow and blue and yellow and ringing, about movement and rubato and phrasing and breath-taking. Language that used to be foreign and completely incomprehensible, which is now so familiar it seems like I've never not understood it.

It's amusing what one sees in hindsight. At the time I thought I played it the arabesques perfectly, but looking back I'm pretty sure I played it like this little girl did. Jimmy used to always tell me that sometimes no matter how much I practiced a piece it wouldn't get any better; that I needed time and experience and maturity and patience to be able to fully appreciate a piece. I think today I finally understood this for myself. I'm actually quite disappointed with all the youtube renditions of Debussy's second arabesque - they all seem to be so rushed. Fast is ok, rushed isn't; and none of them quite capture the humour of the piece.

The second arabesque is everything light and playful and frivolous but at its essence it's always unpredictable and changing with a depth that encompasses every shade of the rainbow. Although of course I don't think I'll ever be able to translate that into my playing; sometimes it's slightly depressing that I can hear in my head exactly how it's meant to sound but my technique can never catch up with my imagination ><"

I really should get back to work. Today actually wasn't all that bad in terms of productivity - I finished a chem paper and revised sections of chem and bio; but still. I was so tempted to spend the entire night at the piano but after two and a half hours my fingers and arms started protesting after their long periods of disuse. Oh well. Somehow I've come to appreciate exam periods all the more - because in procrastinating I manage to live a much more fulfilling life than if I just had eons of free time XD