ABU DHABI // Like most children her age, Sarah al Kaabi loves playing computer games and listening to pop music. But when asked what her favourite hobby is, she replies: "Playing the piano."
When asked how she relaxes, she answers: "Playing the piano."
When she wakes up in the morning, the first thing she does is pray. After that, she plays the piano.
Last night Sarah, 11, was named as one of the winners of the UAE heat of the first Gulf International Chopin Competition. Later this month, she will be among those who represent the country at the final rounds of the competition in Kuwait.
To get there, she had to perform two pieces Mozart's Sonata No 16 in C Major and Beethoven's Für Elise for seven judges.
She was one of 12 children in her age group, three of whom were Emirati.
"My fingers are always moving," she said. "When I am bored, I am playing the piano, I hear the music in my head, my fingers play on the desk, on my books."
Sarah comes from a family of seven children, all of whom play at least one instrument. Her mother, Kafia, said she had never needed to be strict with any of her children about practising.
She and her husband had always tried to give their children as many opportunities and experiences as possible, said Mrs al Kaabi.
"It's about exposure to real life, giving them choices for their future, in education, in their hobbies," she said.
"We treat Sarah like an adult. Last year she came with me on a UAE business delegation to Malaysia. It's about opening their eyes so they have the confidence to make decisions themselves."
Even though she learnt the piano as a child, Mrs al Kaabi did not tell her daughter about that until she had reached a certain level, allowing Sarah to develop her own passion for playing.
"I don't need to pressure her to play," said Mrs al Kaabi. "She is always practising. It can't all be school work. This gives her some balance in her life.
"There is always someone playing an instrument in the house."
Sarah's father, Khaled, an engineer, does not play an instrument, but "he loves to hear them play and he encourages them in everything they do", Mrs al Kaabi said.
Sarah sees the piano not as a discipline but as an outlet, her source of escape.
"Me and my brother always fight over who will play," she said. "We had a fight over who could play Beethoven better." And the result? "I won."
She began learning the piano at seven. She learns most music by ear, picking up complex pieces without seeing them written out. "She doesn't need to read music," said Mrs al Kaabi. Sarah finds traditional piano instruction, through scales and arpeggios, "boring".
It is her 10 hours or more of practice each week that has taken her to this level.
She has been to several classical concerts in the city and says she is inspired by the musicians on stage, hoping one day to be in their shoes.
She is no stranger to performing in public. In November, she played with the Emirates Youth Orchestra in a concert for Unicef, the children's charity, at the General Women's Union. On National Day she played for the Ministry of Culture in Dubai.
Her teacher, Martin Hrsel, who teaches her twice a week at the Ministry of Culture, said Sarah was one of the country's young musical talents, the "future of the country".
"She has no problem playing in public. She hears the music of the whole orchestra, not just her own. She is very confident and is making excellent progress," he said.
Sarah's mother is passionate about music. She campaigns for music to have a greater emphasis in the emirates.
"There is so much emphasis on knowledge, not music," she said. "For football, you have a proper academy system like at Al Jazira. The young boys study and practice there, but for music there's nothing like this.
"We need to focus on the future, on taking our young talents to the international stage, which just isn't being done at the moment."
@Email:mswan@thenational.ae
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 3 (Sterling 46', De Bruyne 65', Gundogan 70')
Aston Villa 0
Red card: Fernandinho (Manchester City)
Man of the Match: Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last-16. first leg
Atletico Madrid v Juventus, midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Last 10 winners of African Footballer of the Year
2006: Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Ivory Coast)
2007: Frederic Kanoute (Sevilla and Mali)
2008: Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal and Togo)
2009: Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Ivory Coast)
2010: Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan and Cameroon)
2011: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2012: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2013: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2014: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2015: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund and Gabon)
2016: Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City and Algeria)
Scores
Bournemouth 0-4 Liverpool
Arsenal 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Burnley 1-0 Brighton
Manchester United 4-1 Fulham
West Ham 3-2 Crystal Palace
Saturday fixtures:
Chelsea v Manchester City, 9.30pm (UAE)
Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur, 11.45pm (UAE)
Brief scores:
Manchester City 3
Bernardo Silva 16', Sterling 57', Gundogan 79'
Bournemouth 1
Wilson 44'
Man of the match: Leroy Sane (Manchester City)
FFP EXPLAINED
What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
Not Dark Yet
Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer
Four stars
MATCH INFO
Wales 1 (Bale 45 3')
Croatia 1 (Vlasic 09')
Day 3 stumps
New Zealand 153 & 249
Pakistan 227 & 37-0 (target 176)
Pakistan require another 139 runs with 10 wickets remaining
Match info:
Manchester City 2
Sterling (8'), Walker (52')
Newcastle United 1
Yedlin (30')
The Light of the Moon
Director: Jessica M Thompson
Starring: Stephanie Beatriz, Michael Stahl-David
Three stars
Company%20Profile
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TV: World Cup Qualifier 2018 matches will be aired on on OSN Sports HD Cricket channel
Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier
ICC Academy, November 22-28
UAE fixtures
Nov 22, v Malaysia
Nov 23, v Hong Kong
Nov 25, v Bhutan
Nov 26, v Kuwait
Nov 28, v Nepal
ICC T20I rankings
14. Nepal
17. UAE
25. Hong Kong
34. Kuwait
35. Malaysia
44. Bhutan
UAE squad
Chaya Mughal (captain), Natasha Cherriath, Samaira Dharnidharka, Kavisha Egodage, Mahika Gaur, Priyanjali Jain, Suraksha Kotte, Vaishnave Mahesh, Judit Peter, Esha Rohit, Theertha Satish, Chamani Seneviratne, Khushi Sharma, Subha Venkataraman
ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon
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What should do investors do now?
What does the S&P 500's new all-time high mean for the average investor?
Should I be euphoric?
No. It's fine to be pleased about hearty returns on your investments. But it's not a good idea to tie your emotions closely to the ups and downs of the stock market. You'll get tired fast. This market moment comes on the heels of last year's nosedive. And it's not the first or last time the stock market will make a dramatic move.
So what happened?
It's more about what happened last year. Many of the concerns that triggered that plunge towards the end of last have largely been quelled. The US and China are slowly moving toward a trade agreement. The Federal Reserve has indicated it likely will not raise rates at all in 2019 after seven recent increases. And those changes, along with some strong earnings reports and broader healthy economic indicators, have fueled some optimism in stock markets.
"The panic in the fourth quarter was based mostly on fears," says Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist for Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company. "The fundamentals have mostly held up, while the fears have gone away and the fears were based mostly on emotion."
Should I buy? Should I sell?
Maybe. It depends on what your long-term investment plan is. The best advice is usually the same no matter the day — determine your financial goals, make a plan to reach them and stick to it.
"I would encourage (investors) not to overreact to highs, just as I would encourage them not to overreact to the lows of December," Mr Schutte says.
All the same, there are some situations in which you should consider taking action. If you think you can't live through another low like last year, the time to get out is now. If the balance of assets in your portfolio is out of whack thanks to the rise of the stock market, make adjustments. And if you need your money in the next five to 10 years, it shouldn't be in stocks anyhow. But for most people, it's also a good time to just leave things be.
Resist the urge to abandon the diversification of your portfolio, Mr Schutte cautions. It may be tempting to shed other investments that aren't performing as well, such as some international stocks, but diversification is designed to help steady your performance over time.
Will the rally last?
No one knows for sure. But David Bailin, chief investment officer at Citi Private Bank, expects the US market could move up 5 per cent to 7 per cent more over the next nine to 12 months, provided the Fed doesn't raise rates and earnings growth exceeds current expectations. We are in a late cycle market, a period when US equities have historically done very well, but volatility also rises, he says.
"This phase can last six months to several years, but it's important clients remain invested and not try to prematurely position for a contraction of the market," Mr Bailin says. "Doing so would risk missing out on important portfolio returns."
SCORES
Yorkshire Vikings 144-1 in 12.5 overs
(Tom Kohler 72 not out, Harry Broook 42 not out)
bt Hobart Hurricanes 140-7 in 20 overs
(Caleb Jewell 38, Sean Willis 35, Karl Carver 2-29, Josh Shaw 2-39)
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
Other key dates
-
Finals draw: December 2
-
Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
-
Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
-
Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
MATCH INFO
Karnataka Tuskers 110-5 (10 ovs)
Tharanga 48, Shafiq 34, Rampaul 2-16
Delhi Bulls 91-8 (10 ovs)
Mathews 31, Rimmington 3-28
Karnataka Tuskers win by 19 runs
