Watching Alice Sara Ott do her magic made me realize a few things.
First, she's playing by memory. Maybe because she's the soloist that's why she doesn't have any guide. But I think even if they put something like that in front of her she won't be able to make use of it anyway. She's just so into the piece. She's playing by heart. And not just her part but the entirety of the ensemble. You can see her mouthing off the parts before, during and after her solo parts. She's so deep into the music that her eyes, her mouth, her face, the entirety of her body is in tune with everything that's going on. She and the orchestra are like the personification of the concerto, like they're the physical manifestation of this beautiful piece.
Second, after being dazed by the beauty of it all, I realized how much work she must have put into this 48-minute performance. I'm guessing that while preparing for this, her whole life must have been taken over by the music. Because you can't tell them apart while watching this. There must have been a complete merging to be able to produce something like this. You can't fake this. Hours and hours of practice until the piece becomes the air that you breathe. Traversing the subconscious level so that you have to actually force yourself to think of something else, otherwise it will be the only thing to occupy your mind.
Third, I may just have understood why I failed the bar exam. Maybe, if I don't master the principles like how Sara mastered the notes; maybe, if I don't appreciate them enough to give them life like how she did in there; maybe, if I don't enjoy myself like how she's apparently having the time of her life in that concerto while taking the next bar exam; maybe, if I don't breathe the review like air, I won't be able to win. Maybe I need to have this kind of transcendence so that the bar will finally give me the chance to be a lawyer.
Fck. Gotta get my ducks in a freaking neat row.