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NYAA: Healthy Living
October Progress Report
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My Healthy Living Goal: To reduce and find better ways to deal with my stress through Music.
Why have I chosen this goal?
I personally am very invested in Music and it is the one creative art I take solace in. Playing the piano and listening to a lot of music are things that I do regularly, and I want to bring this into the award as it is something that I am very passionate about.
How am I achieving this goal:
Despite having a two-week break in the middle of the month, I’ve made a lot of progress towards my goal.
Firstly, I had my Grade 5 Theory Exam on October 6th. I’ve learned that Music isn’t just about playing, it’s also about listening and comprehending, even on 2 dimensional surfaces. My G5 Theory exam not only helps me to learn more about music, but also the fact that it’s an exam helps me. My goal is to find better ways to deal with my stress, and having a big exam helps me understand the way I perceive stress and what I can do to help myself deal with stress better. I found out that repetition is one of the main things that helps me, and I have devised strategies for me to study that can definitely be applied elsewhere. I used Quizlet to study important vocabulary, and did lots of practice tests to prepare for my exam. I tried to make visual, real flashcards and maps, but I found out that those things don’t really help me, so that helped me find what ways I could learn best, through quizlets and practice questions and tests rather than the more unsustainable yet visual flashcards.
Here’s my confirmation slip – I haven’t received the results yet, but when I do, I will make sure to update this post with the results.
Secondly, on the 31st of October (just recently), I performed at Esplanade with my peers in the Piano Masterclass. I haven’t performed in a really long time, so this experience was the first proper performance I’ve had in two years. I tend to be really nervous when it comes to performing, and so this is part of my goal to become more confident (this requires a lot of good stress management). I learned a lot more about what my nerves are like now, and I tried out a lot of strategies to try and calm myself down for the performance, some of which include talking to friends and family, taking deep breaths, and trying not to think too much. I’ve found out that telling myself “it’s okay to make mistakes” really calms me down, even though I doubt it afterwards.
I’ve also watched a TED Talk linked here about how your body language can actually change your mind, and I tried some of these strategies to calm myself down. My aunt has also given me advice to play from your core, rather than your heart or your brain. This not only makes sure my brain doesn’t focus on every little mistake I make, but it also quells the feelings of nervousness in my chest. I think that I still want to practice playing from my core, because I feel like one experience isn’t completely enough to tell whether it works for me or not.
Reflecting on the actual performance itself, I think that for someone who hasn’t played on stage like that for two years, it was good. Even though I made mistakes, my piano teacher who was there said that I played well, and I also felt somewhat good about the performance after it was over. It was definitely a meaningful experience, it taught me a lot about my nerves and what I can do to manage them better. And the more I perform, the more confident I get.
Here’s a video link to the performance, and a photo of the program is below.
What am I looking forward to?
I have a lot more performances coming up, a piano recital, the Grade 9 Going Solo performance and also the International Women’s Day performance with the Piano Masterclass in March. Not to mention, I’m emceeing a guitar showcase, and might even be playing something there too (to be confirmed). I’ll also be very busy in the upcoming future with more Piano masterclasses, and my G6 Piano exam is coming up in February.
So that’s all for October! Thanks for reading and I’ll be back next month!