Chapter Three

By now I had settled into a more stable routine of piano practice and lessons. I didn’t find practising five hours as tedious as I had feared. In fact I now looked forward to going to that piano shop to practise because something unexpected happened! 

One morning as soon as I arrived at the piano shop I was greeted by a very excited shop owner who was all smiles, quite a change from his usual sullen attitude. He took me to a more spacious room at the other side of his shop where, amongst upright pianos and their crates, he had cleared a space for me to practise at a grand piano! He was quite excited for me to try it out. It was a beautiful Blüthner semi-concert grand, an old piano with a completely refurbished interior, a new action comprising hammer heads and their dampers, new felts and even new strings! The keyboard too had new keys! Only its outer casing was in a sorry state with its black matt varnish scratched and shabby, but that was not important. The sounding board and the bridge were intact, and its sound rang out in mellowed golden tones – it was such a beautiful piano, I couldn’t believe that I was allowed to use it to practise! I had never seen the shop owner as animated and chatty and beaming from ear to ear! He told me that he had observed me from the first day I practised at his shop, and was impressed that I had never complained about the old upright piano in that small room but came five days a week, on time at 9 in the morning and honestly practised because he could hear me playing from outside! Compared to all the students who had been sent by CROUS to practise at his shop, he was really impressed with my determination and my unprotesting attitude, that he felt that I deserved to have a better piano and a better room to practise in! I was speechless! He told Madame Fortin, at CROUS, that he was happy to arrange for my practice at his shop. He was astonished when she told him that I had come from Malaysia and was a student of Professor Pierre Sancan! I hadn’t told him all these details since I didn’t think they were necessary. Now that this Blüthner grand piano had been refurbished he wanted me to use it and he hoped that I would like it – well of course!  I couldn’t have asked for more! 

He apologised that the room was crowded with upright pianos but he had cleared sufficent space around the grand and had put a small table and chair next to the piano for me to use. This room had large windows which let in more light so it was altogether more pleasant. I now looked forward to practise for four hours which ended too quickly! 

I really loved that old Blüthner grand and I regret that I couldn’t buy it to bring it back to Malaysia when I returned for good. I still remember its wonderful tone even after all these years.

My piano technique started to show improvement as I was now practising more difficult piano pieces. Professor Sancan seemed pleased and I rarely got reprimanded but there was once when he meted out a punishment which I never forgot.

As I had mentioned in an earlier chapter, Sancan had selected a program of piano pieces which I prepared for my weekly lessons apart from my daily regime of piano technical exercises and Chopin Etudes. Amongst the repertoire of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin, I had to prepare a piece by Debussy called Reflets Dans L’Eau (Reflections in the Water). It was the first time I had ever learnt a piano piece by the French composer, Claude Debussy because I disliked the sound of the composer’s harmonies. For me Debussy’s music was tuneless and insipid, vague and undefined, a mishmass of notes drowned in a welter of sound simply because that was how I had heard Debussy’s piano music performed in Malaysia, amongst students and even at piano recitals by visiting artists. So my heart sank when Sancan included a piano piece by Debussy for me to learn! I tried to evade practising that piece, giving all kinds of excuses – but Sancan never forgot what he asked each of his students to prepare! Finally I ran out of excuses because Sancan insisted that I had to bring it for the following week’s lesson. I could see that he was annoyed and exasperated at my extreme reluctance but I was stubborn and only half-heartedly practised the Debussy. I was in for a rude shock when I went for my lesson the following week!

I remember very clearly that my lesson was at 5pm. Professor Sancan asked for the Debussy straight away, so I started to play it, stumbling as I went along. He stopped my playing and came over to check my Book. I hadn’t done my homework because in order to learn the Art of Fingering, I had to copy certain examples of fingering from Sancan’s books and then study them in order to continue writing the fingering for the rest of the piece that I was practising. I hadn’t done that for the Debussy. I could see that Sancan was quite angry but instead of scolding me he asked me to pack my things and follow him to another room.

Opposite his main Studio Sancan had another Studio, a much smaller room and sparse with just an upright piano with its stool, a table and a chair. The room was bare and had only one tall window. He told me that since I hadn’t practised the Debussy piece and hadn’t done my fingering he would leave me there and return later to check my work. There were pencils and an eraser on the table. Then not saying anything more, he left me and worse, he locked the outer door of that Studio! I was mortified and felt very crestfallen! It was also quite cold in that room since the heater was off! So I kept my coat on and sat at that old upright piano and started to work on the fingering as well as practise. 

The hours went by and Sancan did not appear! I worked steadily and completed writing the fingering in my Book. I also practised everything carefully because I was quite ashamed of myself. Fortunately I didn’t notice the time because I became engrossed in my work. Suddenly I heard the doors open and in rushed Professor Sancan! To my amazement he was most apologetic! He had actually completely forgotten about me but luckily for me, he had left his house keys at his main Studio! Then when he saw the light in the smaller Studio he remembered me! It was now 11pm! He was really most concerned and hurried me out where he paid for a taxi to send me back to my place. He brushed aside my apologies as he was frantic to send me back! Told me that he had honestly completely forgotten about me and that he would see me two days later but, in case I wasn’t well, he asked me to call him at his Studio and he would reschedule my class.

By the time I returned to the finishing school it was close to midnight! I was ushered inside by an extremely worried concierge who accompanied me to the main foyer where an anxious Mlle Chabaud awaited my arrival. She was about to call the police! Needless to say, she was extremely annoyed with Professor Sancan for locking me up in that small Studio. I was truthful as always, and told her why I had been punished! Still, she said, it wasn’t correct that he had locked me inside that room whether I deserved to be punished or not! Since I had Sancan’s telephone number at his Studio she took it and called him the next day to voice her thoughts and to ensure that this would never ever happen again! 

It was a good thing that I had told the receptionist at the foyer that I had a piano lesson before I left that afternoon and when I did not return in time for dinner, she informed Mlle Chabaud. I was then taken to the dining room where the cook had prepared a sandwich for me with a hot drink which was sent to my room.

Two days later I had an early afternoon lesson with Professor Sancan. He was profusely apologetic and so was I, for my disobedience and stubborness, but that didn’t seem to matter as much because he had received a call from Mlle Chabaud, who had expressed her annoyance at the way I had been punished! He didn’t realise that I was staying at a finishing school and at 12 Rue Monsieur! Little did I know then the importance of that historic Residence! However, I recall that we had a very friendly conversation together that afternoon, which cleared the air between us both and thereafter, I enjoyed my lessons more with Professor Sancan who, in turn, treated me with a lot more deference. My spoken French was also more fluent, so too my comprehension of colloquial French.   

I had a very good piano lesson that afternoon as I was well-prepared. I had done the fingering and had checked everything thoroughly in the interim. For me the punishment taught me to rid myself of my stubborn wilfulness. I had finally decided to learn the Art of Fingering, and I became rather good at fingering so much so that when I studied at the Conservatoire, I sometimes helped my fellow students with their fingering problems! 

But best of all, I started to appreciate Debussy’s music because Professor Sancan introduced me to Impressionism and then I became fascinated with Debussy’s music to the point that I always obtained the best points at my piano examinations for my interpretation of Debussy! Professor Sancan was a remarkable exponent of Impressionistic music, having himself studied with Debussy and Ravel. Through his interpretative lessons where he played whilst explaining the Impressionistic quality of Debussy’s piano music, he unveiled the mist from my eyes. His playing was exquisite as he had a certain way of drawing sounds of fluid transparency from the piano. I saw what he wanted me to see and to translate those images he described, into the music that Debussy wrote. He sent me to the Impressionists’ Museum in Paris where I spent time in the afternoons looking at the paintings of Monet and all those artists who had dedicated their lives to create Impressionism. I bought a book to read about Impressionism and immersed myself into learning as much as I could.

Since I was learning Debussy’s ‘Reflections in the Water’, Sancan told me to go to one of the bridges spanning the river Seine to observe the reflections in the water. I did that one evening, when the weather became warmer towards late Spring, and stopped for quite a long time on the beautiful bridge called Pont Alexandre Trois at dusk. I began to appreciate Impressionism and Debussy’s music and ended up by completely loving it that I couldn’t hear enough of it! I also listened to Walter Giesking’s remarkable LP recordings of Debussy’s piano music following Professor Sancan’s advice. 

This episode certainly left a marked impression on me and never again was I scolded nor was I punished by Professor Sancan.   

To be continued

To listen to audio recordings of Walter Giesking there’s a remake of his complete works of Claude Debussy on YouTube entitled, Debussy by Giesking – Complete Piano Works.

 
There’s a French broadcast of Walter Giesking on YouTube.

Walter Giesking – 1953 radio broadcast, which highlights only certain piano works by Claude Debussy.