{"id":6,"date":"2021-04-26T01:54:53","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T08:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sophie\/blog\/?p=6"},"modified":"2022-12-27T21:56:20","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T05:56:20","slug":"appointments-amid-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/26\/appointments-amid-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Appointments Amid Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1. Preparation<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I have a piano recital to attend, so I\u2019m spending hours beforehand staring at black on white on black. I\u2019m not allowed my sheet music during the recital, so I need to imprint those blacks and whites and movements before I leave. That balance was terrible. Again. My fingers stumbled. I can\u2019t stumble, I have a piano recital to attend, and I\u2019m not ready. And I don\u2019t want to\u2014I can\u2019t<\/em>\u2014leave the house\u2014I haven\u2019t left the neighborhood in months!Do you know how many germs are on a piano keyboard? I don\u2019t, but I know it\u2019s a lot. Just think. Grimy fingers all over the piano, touching and pressing again and again, who knows where they\u2019ve been. I can\u2019t wear gloves because they\u2019ll slip and they\u2019re clumsy. The studio doesn\u2019t even use alcohol wipes because alcohol ruins the keys. They probably don\u2019t even clean it in the slightest! I\u2019ll be going into a COVID-19 hotbed, don\u2019t you see?The notes are so exacting. I can never play measure 63 evenly, and don\u2019t even get me started on the pedals. Pedals are usually so easy, just add them on and move on. Ba-da-da smooth<\/em> yes. But then when middle pedals are added, when you need to extend the left but not the right hand, when you need to hold all three pedals at once, there\u2019s nothing in the world more bothersome.I\u2019ll be fine, I tell myself. I\u2019ve practiced the pedals, left hand in measure 63 is quiet so they can\u2019t tell it\u2019s not even in the least, and mom\u2019s made so many face masks that we could probably open a shop selling them. We\u2019ve got hand sanitizer in the car, there\u2019s no need to worry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. (Not) worrying<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t worry, of course not. After all, it\u2019s just a little recital, what could go wrong with that? Even if I miss some notes, it\u2019s not the end of the world, and neither is being a bit sick\u2014I\u2019ve been sick plenty! I\u2019m combing my hair because it really needs a comb, not at all because I\u2019m stressed or anything. And the excessive amount of hair combed out? That\u2019s absolutely normal, not the result of anxiety. That\u2019d be simply ridiculous, after all, and I\u2019m many things but I\u2019m not that ridiculous. I think perhaps mom is driving too fast\u2014we just passed that jeep when there really was no need. She should really slow down, even if we might arrive a bit late. After all, those recitals rarely ever start on time. In fact, if we slow down so much that we miss it entirely, that\u2019s not the end of the world, either. My teacher will understand that the traffic was terrible, so mom, if you would, you can\u2014shoot, she\u2019s pulling up to the studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. (Not) the next Beethoven<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Our next performer is Sophie Liu. Oh no. Not already!Black on white on black. It\u2019s not that hard. Ba-da-da I know this ba-da-da. Why is she standing so close? I\u2019m sure she can look at my hands from afar. Will I get away with quieter, lighter, less germ-infected touches? I\u2019m already using the damper pedal so surely she won\u2019t notice. I\u2019m sure that\u2019s not six feet, it\u2019s probably not even three. Please<\/em> back away a bit, the CDC guidelines say you must! And don\u2019t<\/em> breathe down my neck, please don\u2019t, I don\u2019t want your saliva anywhere on me, I think I have a cough coming on, I can\u2019t breathe! what\u2019s the next note? Why can\u2019t I find it? I\u2019ll have to go back and replay those two pages, and god<\/em> I\u2019m stumbling<\/em>, why can\u2019t I stop stumbling!I almost don\u2019t curtsy at the end because that showing was so poor it doesn\u2019t deserve the recognition. I doubt I\u2019ll be able to look my teacher in her eye next class. This is a disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Still (not) worrying<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Now I will just be going home, and I will most certainly not sit on edge for two weeks straight wondering if I\u2019m sick now, if I\u2019ll infect my parents, if they\u2019ll di<\/em>\u2014no. Not worrying at all, not in the least.\u2014all so I could attend a disaster.
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1. Preparation I have a piano recital to attend, so I\u2019m spending hours beforehand staring at black on white on black. I\u2019m not allowed my Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7,3,12,4],"aioseo_notices":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145,"href":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions\/145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giftofpresent.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}