Embarassing Story

It was about couple years ago when I was still in the first year of middle school, back in my home country, Indonesia. Here's just a nostalgia of one embarassing yet beautiful moments in my childhood that I will never forget. I still remember that I used to be an 'obligated' pianist, sort of. It was in December, and in order to celebrate Christmas, it is a tradition in my home country for most 'rich' society to have an extravagant party at a luxurious place with expensive cost. Frankly, I was a member of music organization that is very popular and influential in my home country, and has spread its popularity to Europe, attracting European musicians to come visit Indonesia just to observe and appreciate how young musicians in my home country could compete against others, specifically European artists. Quite frankly, I was not really into playing piano. Then, there was rumor about a concert that would be exhibited in a famous Westin-hotel ballroom, and all current well-known musicians would be there, including the ones from Europe. I was one of the few people who were honored to represent pieces by well-known ancient Europian pianists like Chopin, Beethoven, etc during that concert. I know that a lot of people would be happy to have that kind of opportunity due to its 'big' sound, but it didn't excite me at all since I have stage-fear (up until now), especially if I am forced to stand alone and perform. A week before the big concert, I have been notified that it would be very crowded, compact with audience who are mostly wealthy parents with a children at least. Also the number was predicted to be about hundreds, since the location was so it was possible to gather so many people across the city in there. Hearing that from another source made me nervous and scared to hell since it is the fact that it would be the first time for me to perform live on-stage in front of people, or may I say, 'rich' people with high expectations.
My mom is a type of person who loves to brag about anything she owns, especially when it comes to me and my siblings. If any new guests are having the chance to come over our house, my mom would not let go the opportunity of showing off. I have counted how many times she mentioned and explained every trophy that my siblings & I have collected throughout our lives, it was like myriad. Honestly, It pretty much embarrassed me every time that happened. However, I love the fact that my mom always wants to take the best out of me, my brother, and my sister. For instance, among the three children, I am the best who could master piano well and fast; therefore I am the only one who should keep on bettering off myself at playing piano by taking constant piano lessons and hard exams every year. It is true that I often played Piano in the livingroom when no one was around, except my mom. It was just for fun, to calm my mind by listening to beautiful, classic song by wonderful European pianists in ancient time. Nevertheless, it did not mean I wanted to continue on pursuing piano lesson because obviously, I did not want to be a pianist, nor any other musicians occupations. But the real issue was, my mom did not notice that. Plus I got peer-pressure from my sister and brother that playing piano is worthless, and can make you weak at every aspect of life. I was still very young, so everything my family said I would take that into consideration deeply, regard those as true, stupid me.
The concert was about to be held in about a week. It's about time. Once, I was thinking , but there's no turning back since my mom and the piano organization said it was too late, there's no way for them to replace me with someone else because the song that I was about to play took weeks to master. I was very shocked and terrified, it was totally nerve-breaking to me. Knowing that, I forced myself to keep practicing, smoothening the play so that it looked professional and did not sound messy or pausy. But the big matter was the time left, and I haven't mastered the skill of playing the piece well. Surprisingly, a miracle happened. All of sudden, a day before the concert, I could play the piece fluently with lots of confidence. Maybe because the pressure was so hard on me, made me able to master it in no time. I am still pretty astonished by that, actually. Finally, that day has come and all audience (around 500 people) started having seats. Most of the males were wearing formals and tuxedos, whereas the females were wearing beautiful, expensive gowns with lots of accessories. Overall, the situation would make you bad if you embarass yourself since the professionalism in dress-up and attitudes require all people there to look professional and educated, too. The location, dinner tables' setting, light-setting, etc were very elegant. Then, after 10-minutes of preface and 20 minutes to have an interesting opening show, the piano part began. All the pianists were in line behind the stage, where the performers presented their pieces in turn, one by one. I was among them. It was finally my turn to show up on the stage. First, what I heard was a long, continuous clap from the audience that clamorring all over the sides of the ballroom. I could even see their smiley face and their eyes were on me. These gestures made me more and more nervous. I took a bow, and it was very quick since I wanted to get it over quickly, too. Then, I grabbed the chair and adjusted it so I could play the piano comfortably. I was so nervous until I forgot to wipe the piano woods so that the oil from previous player's fingers could be rid of. Hence, I subconsciously played with a very fast pace because the blocks of woods were very slippery. At first, I played really well and smooth. However, my nervousness did not stop invade my body and mind. Unfortunately, right in the middle part of the piece, I slipped my fingers off the piano blocks due to its slipperiness, cutting out the piece completely. I was very very scared, and did not know what to do. I tried to continue, but I forgot which part did I left off. So, visceral response of me came out. I looked over at the audience, and started giggling like an idiot, and then stopped. A minute after that, I started the piece all over again, from the beginning. Luckily, this time it was fluent, not too fast, and much better than the first one. Shockingly, no one laughed at that time, and everyone seemed to be very happy and satisfied with my performance. They gave me louder applause after I finished playing my piece. I was already extremely embarassed so I did not take a second bow to the audience, instead I rushed backstage as fast as I could. Nonetheless, I could not take away the shame that I committed, and up until now, I can't forget this embarassing precious memory. But, the truth of matter is, I was very proud of myself too since considering me as a young pianist who could play such difficult, intricate classic piece, since usually the ones who can play that piece are those who have at least mastered 8th level of piano lesson, while I was still in the 5th level.