Faith Prevaled In the 2009 Piano Competition

If you are seeking faith, and yet unsure how to go about doing it, then read this story.

Ashley started to practice in December of 2008 for her spring 2009 competition. She received two pieces: Toccatina for her advanced classical piece, and Because You Loved Me for her advanced pop piece. The spring 2009 competition would be the first time Ashley played in advanced categories. She didn't know what to expect from her rivals, many of whom have played in advanced categories at least once. Ashley also didn't know how many people she would be playing against. To her, the meaning of playing in an "advanced category" was as vague as "julienne a carrot" to someone who'd never cooked. Although Mike and I were just as clueless as to what to expect, we knew that our guidance would be critical to her preparations. Being the loving Asian parents as we are (ohhhh yeah), for five months, we preached, praised, yelled, encouraged, threatened to stop her dance lessons and sometimes even felt despondent about the whole thing. However, despite the rigorous practice routines, we did let Ashley know from time to time that she is always a winner no matter what happened at the competition (didn't I tell you we are loving parents!).

On the first day of competition, Ashley was so nervous, I can only describe her as an acrophobia performing a sky-dive. Being the last of twelve competitors to perform only multiplied her emotional struggles, particularly because all the kids, including David Deng and Tiffany Ha from our music school (who were also first-time advanced category competitors), were playing very long and difficult pieces. To my amazement though, Ashley played with a calm demeanor until the very end of the song, when her fingers suddenly became stiff and caused her to stumbled on a note. Ashley balled her eyes out for that mistake. [First day at the competition]

On the morning of second day, Ashley practiced very hard for her pop piece. To her dismay, she was still making mistakes. As her moral supporters, we could only help by making light of everything (okay, not exactly, but we did our best). At 12:30pm, she was the first of twelve competitors to go up. To some players, being the first to go was more detrimental than being the middle or even the last. To Ashley, however, it was clearly not the case. She exuded confidence and control, and played the song to near perfection! Before her performance was over, my eyes welled up both from admiration and pure joy that her effort had paid off! This time, she returned to her seat with a big smile on her face. She knew she did her job.

Ashley took second place for her beautiful performance! First place went to our favorite competitor, Elisah, who played a beautiful jazzy version of Over the Rainbow. These two girls are one-of-the-kind because it is rare for first-year advance players to win trophies, and they both did it. Here is a snap of them two together - what a beautiful moment! [Ashley (left) and Elisah (right)]

I don't think "proud" would be the choicest word for me to describe how I feel about Ashley. What she did was awe-inspiring. We asked her afterward what was on her mind while she was playing. She answered, "Nothing, I just focused." The amount of faith coming from that little body was incredible; it helped her through the most difficult moment that she had to face yet. As long as she keeps her faith, this girl will always be strong!