1 . I was 11 years old when asked my mom for piano lessons in 2010. We were in the fallout of the recession(经济衰退). She said a polite “no”.

That didn’t stop me. I googled the measurements for a keyboard, drew the keys on a piece of paper and stuck it on my desk. I would click _______on an online keyboard and “play” them back on my paper one - keeping the _______they made on the computer in my head. I spent six months playing without touching a real piano. Once my mom saw that I was _______, she borrowed money and bought me 10 lessons.

I still remember the first one. I was _______by how real the sound of the piano was. I sat my grade one after eight lessons. Once I started secondary school, we couldn’t _______lessons again. I passed grade three, then grade five, practicing only on my piece of paper.

One evening, When I was about 13, my mom said she had a surprise for me; it was an electronic keyboard, bought with more _______money. It was the first time I’d played for her. She was in shock.

My school didn’t offer music A-level. I found the Purcell School for young musicians. The tryouts(选拔) were _______. Some of the questions _______an estimation (评价) of the composer(作曲家) or when it was written. I felt overwhelmed. To my _______I was offered a place.

At Purcell, I spent two years working as hard as I could. I performed to ________money and saved enough to buy my first piano.

When I left Purcell, I was __________the senior piano prize and senior academic music prize. I am now at the Guildhall School in London. I feel __________: it’s been 10 years since I drew my paper piano, and I’m at one of the world’s __________ music schools.

The irony is that I continue to do a lot of my practice away from the piano: What we call ________ practice. The paper piano helped spark my __________about how music works, the building blocks that form the pieces.

2 . I’m a big fan of pop music and I enjoy listening to music quite a lot. Although people can listen to_______music on their music players when they are travelling, working or studying, _______festivals and concerts are becoming more and more_______. This is because I believe they offer two main _______.

The first one is that the sound is much_______ at live concerts where the music and voices come _______from the musicians. This makes it a much more emotional(有感染力的) _______because you have direct contact with the_______ and you react(回应) to them and they react to you.

The second advantage is the atmosphere(气氛). _______ listening to a recording__________on your personal music player, at a concert you are __________ with a huge crowd of people and __________the music together. This means it is a __________as well as an artistic experience.

The main__________ is that you cannot listen to live music __________you want like you can on a personal music player. Besides, the __________ from the audience sometimes__________the quality of the sound.

In my opinion, __________, the best way to enjoy music is the wonderful atmosphere of a live concert. It is more exciting__________you are surrounded by other__________who are dancing with you happily.