shades of grey.

hello.

today was class outing (or rather clique gathering) for sushi buffet. today was the first, and probably one of the few times i'd ever go for it, partly because of cost and partly because 3 - 6pm is not a strategic time to have a eat-all-you can session.

was watching a documentary entitled 'my brilliant brain' (or something like that) on natgeo. it followed an eight year old pianist, who played beethoven's sonatina no. 1 when he was three, more cleanly than i can now. and oh yes he has perfect pitch (apparently 1 in 10000 people have it; well it does make me feel a bit more privileged :P) and can recognize tonality of chords. and yeah he's like playing high level concertos and chopin pieces.

well so the reason one of the researchers gave for some childrens' amazing ability with music is because they like it and are drawn into something like a trance when they play it. and heres the catch: they get better at it when they practice even more and want to learn it better (i just practice up to a point when i get pissed/sian/when i feel like i'm not improving).

so the discussion goes on about whether it is nature or nurture, and the conclusion is never drawn, so i guess both have their part in creating a genius.

but my consolations are that if i were to live the life the little dude lives, i'd be practising 8h a day, and i wouldn't be able to connect that well to friends my age, and i wouldn't have the privilege of going through a normal schooling life. and even young prodigies face a challenge when they go through puberty/become an adult cos the thing about child prodigies is that it seems queer that a child is doing what adults can do, but when they grow older a lot more is demanded like critical interpretation and an individual style in order to keep their fame. and yeah mozart was one of those people, but he died at 35.

so in conclusion, life is fair. when i practice music, i think the most important thing is to enjoy myself, and not bother whether i can master the pieces to the extent the world class performers on youtube do. the documentary also found that if children started to receive brain stimulation in the form of creative learning and puzzles even before the age of 3, they would have an advantage in terms of intellect later in life. but i guess what is most important is that we recognize that God has given us different talents and use it for his glory.

posted by guitar123 @ 11:32 PM 0 comments

tim: actually don't need to buy a very expensive car..

buy low-end ferrari can already.

today's outing was quite fun, walking around orchard area with timms, zeke and weihan. one of the few times you'd catch a bunch of guys shopping together.

posted by guitar123 @ 10:53 PM 0 comments

i've spent the last 2h cleaning up my table. the total amount of visible table is now the size of an A3 piece of paper, an achievement i must say. haha and this is the first time the compulsive disorder to clean the table kicked in so hard. luckily besides all the dust the only other gross stuff i encountered was three small spiders.

but it was quite sad, packing away all my old notes into a cardboard box. won't be studying academic subjects for at least the next two years. and i've got about a year to think of what course i want to study in uni.

but for now, just relaxation, and yes, more guitar.

posted by guitar123 @ 11:05 PM 0 comments

hello. exams are over! woohoo.

all i can say now is that God has really seen me through the music paper today. despite a bad nightmare that i had just before i woke up lol.

free as a bird now. tres piezas espanolas looks deceptively simple. but i'm sure they put it in FRSM for a reason. and youtube is down i cant hear a recording of it but i shall go try to play it anyway :))))))

posted by guitar123 @ 1:14 PM 0 comments

Koopman: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV 645 - JS. Bach

posted by guitar123 @ 5:16 PM 0 comments

my scores from the USA are hereeeeeee!!!!

but i'm not going to open them yet. shall save the glee for monday.
tres piezas espanolas by rodrigo (which is in both LTCL and FRSM and which i dont expect to learn so quickly but will be one of my life's goals) and suite espanola by albeniz arranged for guitar by manuel barrueco, some of the movements are in both licentiate diplomas.

and the postman had to go and stuff it into my house mailbox lah -.-

its been quite a long day, made it through renaissance music, baroque, and classical. now listening to mozart's eine kliene nachtmusik, which translated means 'a little night music' :) during the classical period the classical music of the day was well.. pop music! haydn wrote 104 symphonies, and mozart 41.

music is also a lot about economics. when there is demand, there will be supply. and if demand is great enough the wages of the producers would be higher. during the period of 1750 to 1820 vienna was just the place for it, and the truly talented from that period could be said to be quite duly rewarded. too bad it isnt quite so today, with the current market clearing conditions for classical music.

posted by guitar123 @ 10:38 PM 0 comments

flat-pick style guitarists, eat your hearts out

posted by guitar123 @ 10:21 PM 0 comments

let the healing begin.

the past eight days have been incredibly tiring, but i'm so glad the bulk of my papers is over. God has really been good to me, giving me papers that i can manage. now i have quite a reasonable amount of time to rest and study for math p3 on friday, and then music next monday.

woohoo.

posted by guitar123 @ 11:07 AM 0 comments