Gillian nodded as she scooted over on the bench to play. “Rach-maninoff comes from here.” She placed a palm over her belly. “It might be different for you. But if you want to play him, you have to find a way to translate all that power. You can hit all the correct keys in the correct order and still, if you don’t feel it, it’s going to sound cold and perfunctory.” “Do you think I should play a different piece for the audition?” Shannon, one of her advanced students asked, clearly nervous. “I think you have all the talent you need to play this piece. It’s not as technically difficult as some other pieces you could use. But the key is your spin, your interpretation, and that means you have to feel it.” “If you say so. You make it look easy.” Gillian laughed. “I have been playing piano longer than you’ve been alive. At Juilliard I played this piece for hours every single day. I’d better make it look easy.” Shannon moved off the bench. “I’ll watch from here.”
