How to play - Around the keyboard in 8 minutes

I've got to admit, it's like a vacuum. For the past few weeks we have been totally absorbed into our studies, with no time to do other stuff (except for me, I blog) except to study, study, and of course, study.

And all these weeks we don't realise we aren't doing anything else except for reading and revising tons of worksheets, practising coordinate geoometry, spending hours at the toilet bowl doing titration.

Suddenly, it's over. It's disappeared! And our lost eyes wander around, to see what life means to us, with all those books gone. No, you cannot bear to pick up that textbook again. But you deleted all those games on your computer already. Halo, Diablo, Oreo, World of Warcraft...No game is spared from the onslaught of the parents and the books. And now, with the war over, seeking for entertainment will never be the same again.

So here I am! Typing blog posts as a form of entertainment.

Here's an excerpt from Jun Sean, once my desk-partner in class:

"Well. All is not too well really. The EOYs seem to leave me empty more than leaving me overjoyed for some reason or other. Not that I love taking exams, but there’s no longer anything in sight that demands my attention. A state of emptiness, that there’s nothing really worth being happy about with the passage of an entire year of highs and lows. An absence of catharsis for the common man.

I’m losing it."


Basically sums up our emotions after the End-of-Year...

What a beautiful morning. I woke up to the sound of my mother talking on the phone to my third aunt, loud and clear, for I feel a need to emphasize how loud these 5 ladies can talk (not counting one big sister), like their mother's voice (my grandmother). The other day I overheard my mum talking to my grandma, and gosh my grandma's voice was solid and strong, and the mother-daughter conversation tested the phone's ability to manage such a loud conversation and prevent itself from being short-circuited by the shower of saliva.

It held through, fortunately. I've known all the aunts for my whole life, and when they go shopping it can be a problem sometimes. Strong ladies, definitely. But they sometimes get on my nerves. It's alright, me being Jonathan Shin. I've had enough practice at home!

So I woke up, and looked outside the window. The 22nd storey view is indeed beautiful, and the sun shown brightly by the window. I walked out and...

"Wake yourself up by playing scales!"

My dad grumbled immediately, saying how life gets tough for his son, having to play the piano the moment he starts the day. "Grr."

Last night while practising I planned myself a scale chart to practise through continuously.

HERE IS -

How to play:
Around the keyboard in 8 minutes

C major
A minor
F major
D minor
Bb major
G minor
Eb major
C minor
Ab major
F minor
Db major
Bb minor
F# major
Eb minor
B major
Ab minor
E major
Db minor
A major
F# minor
D major
B minor
G major
E minor

The trick is this - the entire series is supposed to be played continuously without stopping. For example, C major - A minor is connected by playing C-D-C-B-A, and then playing the A minor scale.

A minor-F major is thus connected by playing A-Bb-A-G-F.

If you noticed, C to A is 3 semitones apart.

A to F is 4 semitones apart.

F to D is 3 semitones apart.

D to Bb is 4 semitones apart.

So it's kinda alternated. If you go to low, like by the time you reach G minor it should be very low already has you keep moving downwards, you can change to the next scale ONE octave higher.

How to play the 4 octaves scales. Let's take C major for example again:

1. Both hands move two octaves up (playing the C major scale)
2. When reaching the C two octaves up, split and play contrary motion outwards. The left hand will reach the lowest C you started from, the right hand will reach the highest C (4th octave)
3. Return back to original 2nd octave C by playing contrary motion inwards
4. Move both hands upwards two octaves, right hand reaching the highest C again, left hand reaching the 3rd octave C
5. Move back downwards to the 2nd octave C
6. Repeat steps 2 and 3
7. Return back to starting position and continue (moving to A minor) with:

C-D-C-B-A

Repeat all the steps again, this time in the key of A minor. Ditto for the rest.

The entire 'piece' takes approximately 8 minutes if practised the way I do it.

And when you finally reach E minor, going back to C major, end with
E-F-E-D-C

And finish with a brilliant C major chord!

The best way to start your day (other than Bach)