shades of grey.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:47:00 +0000

today i listened to the first piece of classical music in a long time. the butterfly lovers' concerto.

somehow i really miss analysing music down to the bone. even when i listen to pop music nowadays i marvel at the ways some singers add novelty to their music, especially with exotic musical instruments.

and i dunno what is it about me that makes me want to arrange everything for the guitar.

rarrh i really really need to revive my skills next year.. in preparation for the big O-R-D.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 09:07:00 +0000

sometimes i really fear.

i fear for the day i will have to pick up a book to begin studying again.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:26:00 +0000

the sounds of koyunbaba ring once again. on my guitar.

i'm reassured that there is classical guitar music out there that still has the ability to mesmerise me.

at least for now, that is.

i miss those days..

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 10:40:00 +0000

i really do.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:19:00 +0000

hello world.

so its been some time. enough time for me to get a nice tan, hit at least nine pull ups, and urh.. forget how to move my fingers in a fashion so as to exhibit levels of playing worthy of those four alphabets of A-T-C and L.

well i must say training has been tough, but life is going to change i guess. but as usual, future is uncertain.

but for now i shall just enjoy my slightly-more-than-weeklong 'holiday'.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 07:25:00 +0000

hello.

well many things have happened over the past year or so, and i'm thankful to God for each of the things which did. as enlistment looms i guess it is time for a hiatus, until i can think of something better to do with a blog.

:)

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:43:00 +0000

hello. long time no see.

just came back from a masterclass with maestro shin-ichi fukuda, and i must say i thoroughly enjoyed it.

yes yes the air con was too cold and i was playing fernando sor's theme and variations on a theme of mozart from the magic flute, a piece where warm fingers are definitely a plus to the technical side of the performance. although i mutilated the finale and several parts of the piece as usual, this time when i performed it seemed to be different from all the other times i had performed classical guitar pieces in the past. i went in with a 'nothing to lose' attitude, and it does make playing with the audience a metre away from you a whole lot less stressful.

didn't really have much time to go through much stuff, only got as far as the theme hahaha. but i did get some useful tips on technique, both left hand and right. but what strikes me the most about fukuda is his 'laid back style', in yingda's words haha. it really shows through both in his performance last night and today's masterclass. he really is able to make you feel at ease when you play for him. i'll remember the joke when he made when he drew a diagram of the left hand on the whiteboard: something like the fingers he drew were oversized, and he commented that they were 'like segovia's'. ok lah not funny u all probably wont understand.

after last night's performance, i've also learnt you can have a musically communicative performance without having to play without mistakes. fukuda did have one or two memory lapses last night, but as any good guitarist just improvised something on the spot to cover it up haha. and when you look at the concert as a whole (1 and a half hours of recital is not easy) you tend to forgive all the mistakes in the end.

i guess today has definitely been a boost to my confidence in guitar performance. whether or not i do pursue music as a career or not, i think i shall practice hard, explore new pieces, go back to that sagregas technique book that i so detested playing in the past, and perhaps one day i'll compete in the guitar comp, just for fun.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:32:00 +0000

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.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 14:53:00 +0000

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.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:05:00 +0000

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.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:14:00 +0000

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 :))))))

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

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:16:00 +0000

i was wondering why the music wasn't 100% neat but when i realised he was playing with his feet as well..

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:38:00 +0000

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.

flat-pick style guitarists, eat your hearts out

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:21:00 +0000

this guy with a russian balalaika can shred faster than most people i know

let the healing begin.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 03:07:00 +0000

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.

500th post.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 03:28:00 +0000

it is the last day of october already and the start of november brings with it the commencement of the ib exams; i shall not state the exact countdown to the first paper, but yes, it is very very near.

within these 2 1/2 or so weeks of study break, i've learnt several things that are crucial, and if ur in the IB programme you would like to know:

1. nothing can beat consistent work.

(a) 3 wks is not very short, but it isn't very long either. 3 wks can change some things, but most of subject knowledge is established during the 2 years.

(b) if you have a textbook for subjects like econs e.g. magee, ian dorton, pls go and read them no matter how taxing it is when you still have the time, not 3 wks b4 the exams like i did for units 2 and 3. yeah yeah people will be calling you mugger but just wait till exams for the last laugh.

2. after content mastery practice is the key.

3. if you really are at a loss for english paper 2, which i am now, reading sparknotes does help to some extent i feel. even if teachers tell you that ib markers are probably the ones who wrote sparknotes and don't rely on it blah blah blah, at the end of the day its better to write sense from sparknotes than irrelevant stuff from all those overtly chim siddhartha critiques.

a satirical musical composition to go. i've always wanted to do one of these to defy the rules in composition class. the best i could do was a compo with negative dynamics. this one is 6.02x10^23 times worse than mine.

for a bigger version see http://www.well.com/user/bryan/lament.html

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 02:15:00 +0000

when i opened the first page of readers' digest i got a shock when i saw this:
and it appears its been around for some time already.. since 1985!! so which one came first the airline or the pokemon? it looks like its the airline. lolol.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:51:00 +0000

well its been some time eh?

these few days have just been absolutely exhausting. you never know whether SEAB could be colluding with IB.. it appears the more recent maths papers both maths hl and psle often contain that questions that some students cannot do.. which require so called 'higher level thinking'.

physics mcqs are getting more and more tricksy by the years and the section Bs and option papers are like winning the lottery.. good for u if your answer is lucky enough to match that in the answer scheme.

and i'm at a loss for english paper 2.

just dying to get out of the house. content overload already.

one pic to go.. the only one that looks decent enough to be posted. and that perhaps carries with it the best memories of these 2 years.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 10:24:00 +0000

it is just surreal that the last 3 days of formal lessons are coming to a close..

tml the last fried food day during school term the year 6s will experience. haha.

last day we will attend morning assembly and hear 'baris sedia', watch the flags being raised too slowly, and listen to devotion & announcements..

last 3 days priya will come into class and talk to us about admin stuff..

last 3 days we act crazy in our freezing 6.13 classroom..

and 2 more physics lessons.. must take picture haha.

it's all samsara, i tell you

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 09:27:00 +0000

okay so prelim results today, and yeah i guess i did quite okay.

the biggest disappointment has to be english, with a 22 mark, 2 grade drop.

physics was good, managed to break 7 for the first time.. like.. ever :))))

the rest were okay i guess, and 37 really isn't a bad score at all, even though i was a bit disappointed at first. i really thank God for it, and i'm also thankful for friends like zeke who overwhelms me with his optimism. lol. and yes, we normal people have more capacity to improve than say someone with 41/42 :P

congratulations also to justin woo for obtaining the spot of the Highest Scoring Male for music, all you needed to do was to pass the written paper to get it. and don't tell me 'but' or 'i can't get a 7 for the real thing' cos i know you CAN.

and yes, despite the highly subjective nature of grading subjects like music (and english), music is so much more than grades and the way its subject to so many interpretations gives it its beauty. i now go into the music exam with an attitude that i like music and that's why i'm doing it, not to show i can be better than someone or get a higher grade than someone. i also have to admit that mrs li's encouragement of telling us to lift our chins up and push for the final and not care about the IAs that are already submitted makes sense.

we will never know how ib computes the scores for ANY subject; our school just uses percentages as an estimate. the interesting thing is that for me i havent been able to consistently score 40+ (actually i havent been able to reach it yet haha) but the thing is i've scored a 7 for each subject some time or another over these 2 years in the exams, just not all at the same time. and i guess these sorta grades really makes me put my trust in God to plan my revision schedule and guide me each step of the papers, cos i cannot say that i will be able to obtain a high grade on my own strength. and i guess every point above 40 would be a bonus for me when results come out next year.

here's a verse from ecclesiastes 4:4 that i think solomon was a real genius to think up (he was the wisest man who ever lived anyway) and i guess it really is quite true: 'And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.'

oh and mrs li has no sample scripts of how music students around the world answer their written papers, as in the strategies involved and stuff like that, so i guess we as the first batch would be doing a little trial and error with the way we answer those extracts that we have a measly 25mins to answer. but next year's batch would have a slight advantage - see who from this year scores well next year then can ask for tips lol.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:12:00 +0000

happy childrens' day to one and all.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:54:00 +0000

concert was a fantastic way to end the week; nothing beats listening to a live performance, with all its little subtle nuances and the awe-inducing silence the esplanade concert hall can contain.

there were some new things that i heard that i didnt pick up when listening to recordings, and the endings of the first and fifth movement were nothing short of spectacular; something to be felt. after studying the work in such depth and then going to listen to a live performance truly helps one to appreciate the performance better. and, yes, all the little inaccuracies made are forgiven, even the compromise of the 2nd harp not being strummed by a wooden stick in the 1st movement haha.

life is like music, fleeting such that each note, each phrase comes and goes and may never return, but yet in the mind can exist an entire structure of notes, phrases and themes which can appear almost all in the same moment, kind of the timelessness described in siddhartha lol.

and so apparently our mini holiday is extended by one more day; teachers are given one more marking day next thursday because of the wednesday declared holiday, which means an extra day for us :P plus honours day on friday = an effectively 1 wk hol.

okay its over.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 06:00:00 +0000

maths paper today was thankfully okay, quite enjoyed some of the questions, like the beijing mascots and the car colour and accident severity questions.

things to do now:
1) bartok concert tonight, highly ironic
2) buy guitar strings and change them
3) sleep like dead people.

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:26:00 +0000

i am here to announce that i am completely and utterly traumatised by the music written paper.

my time management was all over the place; i started with and took 40min for qn 4 the guitar extract. i took half an hour for dies irae (ironically i was just listening to it on tuesday; i listened to it because it sounded nice, not because i wanted to practice), chionged bartok in half an hour, and had 25 mins each for the last 2 unidentified extracts. it will be a miracle if i pass my last extract, it was like a jazz extract with only a trio playing and hardly any form, and i wrote like the equivalent of 1 side of paper. i wasnt really thinking much during the paper, it was more like.. listen listen listen.. write write write!!

i do hope the 3rd extract really was a neoclassical composition (which i wrote it was) but in this world you can never be sure of anything.

we do need a revolution. there has to be a better way to use that half hour we have for each extract.

and all i want to hear now is silence.

after bartok studying

noreply@blogger.com (guitar123) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:05:00 +0000

there is just too much to study for world music. everything is acculturated and everything is influenced by something. you cant just sum up an entire country's music tradition in 6 pages of notes. thats the beauty of music.

which doesnt make it simple at all for us music students.

i shall be dreaming of bartok tonight. hope i dream of the chorale and not the elegia.