Animal Hair

Must remember to thank Melissa for the Carnegie Hall mug, otherwise I'll be branded as an ass (soon enough).

With the extra mug, I can now drink water more often, at the same time drink a cup of fresh milk, and then put it in the sink, and take another mug to drink water, before remembering I drank water with the other one already, and I must save water. And that there was still one more mug left to be used.

But all the same, thank you for the mug! I didn't get a souvenir last year from New York, so this was it.

On to more matters about the hair, I went to snip off my locks of hair today at the salon. (No, hair salon, not piano salon. No piano.) Usually my mum would accompany me for my haircuts, so they were obviously puzzled and were hesitant to cut my hair before my mum arrived. Well, they could wait till I pass out of hunger and then obviously float somewhere else, but luckily they didn't.

So I told my mum passed away already and then they were shocked and sympathetic at the same time. Can't believe they recognised my mum and I after only about ten visits over 6 years. Hardly believable. The assistant lady boss said my mum was probably a woman with a quick fuse, which I could hardly disagree, and smiles were exchanged sympathetically.

Had my mane shaved off, now I look like a lioness. A Chinese one at that - the guy barber talked to me first in Malay while I was reading Dick Lee's biography at the side. I honestly didn't know he was talking Malay until he told me later, after I spoke back to him in Chinese.

"我以为你是马来人...对不起阿boy..."

Which I had replied with a wave of a hand and he flew aWAY...

How I wish he did - he didn't though.

Rewind back a few hours, I re-listened to Monday's recording and practised again. And then went downstairs to buy seafood-flavoured cup noodles. MUNDANE.

While I was boiling the seafood-flavoured cup noodles I thought of 10 reasons why people wouldn't want to be me, and 10 reasons why people would. And then I realised it was impossible because everyone would have their own suitable lifestyle, and everyone's lifestyle's different.

Like how almost every other musician I know has either a dog or a cat, or a dog and a cat. Well, do musicians with pets develop better as musicians? To have a non-human being in the house, to understand the mannerisms of animals in order to aid music?

Recently I went to Miss Julie Tan's house to have a small chit-chat about food and music (what else) and got to play with the Westie, and her name was Heidi.

Now seriously, this dog's really really cute, because the moment I entered the house she started jumping around me with a nearly human smile. In fact, Heidi could have even been a baby - human mannerisms of sneezing, lying on the floor upside-down and waiting to be scratched, and staring at the ceiling in the cutest fashion that even I was lying on the floor tummy-rubbing the dog.

And Miss Tan talked about their really constant beats (in terms of gait) and their jumping trajectories. I thought that might have been over-analysing, but it was true to a certain extent. (Give me my History L3 mark NOW.) Well it goes to say that some of music's deepest yet simplest facts can be taken directly from nature.

I left the house thinking (blah blah blah I'll skip the philosophical crap).

Crap is meant to be shared, so I wish some of us musicians would spend some time with non-human beings and nature, hopefully being able to discover something that could benefit one's intepretation of music.

Have a good week ahead!


P.S. I found a few locks of Mum's hair still stuck in her comb - miss you mum!

Paying attention

I was feeling amused yet sad at the same time while I was garbling my Chinese speech on food, music and love.

I didn't know if Mdm Wang did it accidently or something, but before I said my words she told everyone to do their 作业! Which meant I had to talk to an entire class of bowed heads, concentrating on their work. And I guess only a few who weren't interested in finishing their work was listening to what I said.

Really didn't have the intended message I wanted to give, firstly because I didn't manage to complete the music section of it, and the little poem I wrote at the end didn't have the build-up to it.

So I was kinda getting the feeling of my non-existence (emo) on the stage.

But it's alright, I think I've been doing my own stuff too when people were talking too. But she usually tells everyone to stop doing their work when someone talks! This time she told everyone to start doing assignments.

Ok then after that I went for MEP Masterclass with Dr John Sharpley. And he talked about how the dissonance being beautiful, and not just only for pitches, but also in terms of rhythm. And there was probably one more but I forgot.

Really great masterclass! I think for the first time everyone was paying attention to a masterclass given, but it was partly because the group listening to it was pretty small and 'concised'.

Soccer for half-an-hour with my newly-bought small Size 3 soccer ball, and Bryan Choong the Ironman shown with his never-ending spirit. Where he faced off with Thunderleg Leonard, who fired a volley at Ironman's chest (and the ball promptly bounced back to the Thunderleg). Leonard fired again, this time bouncing off Ironman's knee, and for the last time Thunderleg fired, before bouncing off the never-wavering Ironman - into goal.

And such is the power of Bryan Choong. And the Guy Spirit.

Went off to RGS Strings afterwards, bought a loaf of bread along the way. The choreographing was pretty corny (for guys like me who failed to realise that the theatre actually enhances the music, so it was worth it). But corny it was still.

Lanabel, who played as solo violinist yesterday, showed flawless technique and a strong tone, but the orchestra was at some point of time trying to catch up with her. I believe better ensemble coordination would work out for a better performance of Mozart's G major Concerto.

There was a lack of orchestral balance though - 10 cellos against 7 violas, 10 cellos against 9 Violin 1s. At some point of time, the cellos overpowered the violins (18)

In Mozart the feeling of an elegant, light orchestra was compromised. It may have been reversed had the entire orchestra engage in a more articulated and talkative manner, in order to complement the soloist.

The entire concert was fuelled by their enthusiasm, which provided for a comfortable evening for me to chill out, and at the same time, be amused.

Thanks RGS Strings...

Ok that's all I'm going to write about Raffles Strings concert, because I'm going to John's house to practice Quintet.

And then to SSO's Gala Concert at 7.30pm. See you'll!

No title! (due to lack of creativity)

I woke up at 4am to an ironically cold, wet and windy Sunday. Rainday would be more apt...

The evening before I was having dinner with my dad, Clarence, and his parents. We were having this dinner because my dad wanted to thank Clarence's parents for being my soon-to-be caretakers in Germany, where we would be facing some yummy competition.

Unfortunately my defences are still under construction, and I'll continue my practice in a while.

Meanwhile there were many life lessons that were brought to the dinner table yesterday, especially from Clarence's mum, in which she shared some of her life stories with us, some of them tragic, some of them thought-provoking. I wouldn't share it with you guys here on this table, because I think everyone present would prefer it to be kept private...

Meanwhile we had dinner at Siam Kitchen (my first time there) where I had beef noodles. And spent the rest of my time feeding myself with crackers that were provided on the table. And then 'cooling' it down with sips of warm water every now and then.

My failure to post pictures has often been a bane.

It IS still a bane, sadly.

Anyway after we had dinner together, my dad and I proceeded to the basement level of Causeway Point, where he went to the DIY shop, and I had the most profound melody I've thought of in a while, which I promptly jotted down/typed in my handphone.

No guarantee of its success however, it depends how I use and develop this melody which shows how successful it is.

When I went back home I caught the second half of LOTR - Fellowship of the Ring at 10pm, which I watched till 11.45, and then flipped to Channel 8. Continued watching this Chinese/Cantonese show called Magic Kitchen starring Andy Lau, Jerry Yan, and Sammi Cheng. Some story combining food/cooking and love.

A little divertion: Currently I have this blue Imation thumbdrive which has an 'Yu' written on it in white ink, and I suspect it's John YU's. John, if this is yours, do acknowledge it by tagging on my tagboard and saying its yours!


So after that I had this same melody continuously stuck in my head, but I did get home in the end to jot it down on manuscript paper. It is sad however that I spent nearly an hour of sleeptime being plagued with these beautiful sounds that I wanted to wake up and write down. Maybe I was just being superstitious, but I woke up and shut the manuscript book so I could continue sleeping. Well, I did slept half an hour later.

It is definitely for a string instrument, but I thought it was more suited for the cello, because of its breath and space. I might even write it for trio, now that I think the violin has enough richness to try this melody out.
Seriously, I wasn't thinking about what happened 2 days ago! Just a thought that developed while I was typing this out.

There really are only three things going in my mind now - my performance in Germany and my practice, my overdue homework, and my 音乐作品s. (In order of importance). And 还有另外一件事，但我觉得在这里写有点没味道.

Is something pissing Jonathan Shin off again? On the contrary, no. Just something's that's been bugging me for the past few 星期s.

谢谢.

Rehearsal at my house

Yeah, we can open a Philharmonic orchestra here. Why not call it Jonathan Philharmonic Hall!

For the first time in eight years I have opened my house to musicians. Congratulations to Kwek and John Lee. Unfortunately I haven't prepared any prizes.

So I thought I called all of them to come at 10am, but unfortunately Theo didn't, and he came at 9am. I woke up at 8.56am though, thinking about what I needed to prepare, and I decided to read this book I borrowed yesterday.



It's really a collection of stories or dialogues that are 1-2 pages long, and are really hilarious. Like, interviewing a cow, a chicken and a pig on animal cruelty after creating a translating machine.

Here's a small part:
"-You've been incarcerated in this slaughterhouse your entire life. How has it affected you emotionally?
-I am cow. I eat grass. Grass on ground. Me move mouth down to grass. Chew up grass.
-Do you think animal slavery will end in your lifetime?
-Eat grass, rest. Eat grass, rest. Sleep.
-Do you feel that animals deserve the same rights as human beings?
-Grass on ground. Eat it all up."

Alright so after I woke up I received a handphone ring from Kwek, who asked me to open the door because he was outside. I opened the door, and he was , indeed, outside.

And he proceeded to sit at the sofa while I cleared up the living room space to make room for the trio that was going to play later. While he read Ant Farm, I proceeded to play the NAXOS Griffes CD. I'm addicted to it - Hansel and Gretel, Symphonie Phantastique - really fantastic pieces.

Proceeded to play Lalo's Spanish Symphony with Theo, and then sat down to talk about music matters and future plans. And of course a possible collaboration and the Lounge.

We waited till 10am for John Lee to arrive, because that was the planned time. (Ryan Kwan and Haotian didn't come, because Ryan didn't have his scores, and Haotian was MIA). Interesting fact: Theophilus took Ryan's scores for Violin II, and Theophilus didn't bring his scores.

But we did rehearse it in the end. I only had the second, third and fourth page, and we did a run-through of the piece, rickety-rackety run-through. For about 45 minutes.

And then we did improvistory trios that were worthy enough to be placed on scores and then published and then to be shipped around the world. We got from Romantic style to really Modern works that went to Dada-ism and Abstract. Which Theophilus Kwek wasn't able to join in on - which made him felt left-out.

After that John and I sight-read Mozart's four-hand works, which promptly made Kwek feel isolated. Lol, we didn't even meant it that way! So of course I got around to showing them some of my works I've kept for over the past few months, and my recent inclination to finding new SOUNDS and TIMBRES that I can use.

Some of the works have kitsch melodies, so they aren't really nice.

Played 10 secs of RISK, and then spaghetti.

Really fun day.

A Pipe Dream

I have an itch to create another MusicLounge, but it failed pretty badly the last time I did it, partly because I was solo-ing the whole thing, and also I was pretty busy.

If I do set-up on this time, it would probably need a few people to maintain it. Then again, how would it be run? Will we be covering everything about music under the sun?

Will it have readers?

Maybe I'll have some of my uni colleagues publish something. And I'll pull in some people too.

I believe this weblog we're going to create would be accessible to teenagers who dwell in classical art music.

We'll put latest concerts in it, videos, threads, teenage reviews, methods, whatever.

The scope is getting wider though.

-.-

Well, a pipe dream thus far, but I'll solidify it. Meanwhile, back to finding my musical identity.

We missed Monday Munching again!

It's been a creative week for the past few days, except it tapered off by yesterday. I wonder, is it neccesary for one to have a composition teacher before one can start off on composition?

This afternoon I decided to take a listen to the entire Griffes music collection (from Dr Chang) while I was chilling off. It sounded really unique, neither Debussy nor Ravel, nor Schoenberg and Scriabin. Uniquely Griffes.

Monday's lesson was cool again! But all my short-comings have returned - should I master it my life would be made easier...



Recently I was doing some shopping with my dad at OG for new shoes and shirts, when we stepped into a lift. Which we shared with an Indian couple, with a child. So the child was roughly 4-5 years old, (old enough to walk).

This lift had metal bar handles at its three sides, and the dad didn't notice enough to stop himself from putting the kid on the floor. And the kid did something natural enough - walk.

I wasn't really paying much attention too, just that I saw this kid walk towards one side with a slanted gait, and then-

Well moral of the story is, don't listen to what notes can come out from the impact, just look at the impact itself.

-And there was this resounding Bb that was jarring yet whole at the same time, a sound which is very difficult to forget.

Then there was a steely silence, at which point the kid took his time to register which Lego(TM) block had hit him, and which part it hit. So while I relished the still-ringing sounds, I saw the Indian woman (otherwise the mum) give a shocked gasp.

After the kid identified the Unidentified Floating Object, he promptly ran into the opposite direction, which meant directly under his dad's belt.

I didn't bother to see what happened next, because the lift door open, and we stepped out into the bright lights, and a huge torrent of shrieks flooding from behind me.

OG didn't make my mood any better! After we spent a little over $100 we received a coupon to get a oyster pearl. At first I kept refusing to go and collect this useless oyster pearl, but my dad said just go and collect.

It was authentic, but there was this next counter which said you had to attach it to some kind of jewelry chain which you can choose from at your own leisure. So at first I said, "I'll just have the pearl."

And then the saleswoman obviously wasn't counting on me to say that, and she asked me where my mum was. So I said, "Nvm, I'll just have the pearl. It's ok."

"Well, it wouldn't look good like that, you'll have to attach a piece of jewelry to it so that it looks nicer..." And then proceeded to bug me on where my mum was and that she should be making the choice.

But they're just doing their job, so I'll forgive them. Except no more pearls, thank you.

Horse Die Come Down Walk

Ok recently there was the Singapore Music Teachers' Association (SMTA) Piano Festival, where I was working as a helper.

It was uneventful, because I was repeatedly slotting sheets into scores and passing them to the adjudicators inside the Recital Studio, who had to bear a little NachtMusik.

Other than that, I just had dinner with Dr Hecht again and my dad at his house! We're spending so much more time there, and we were patting his two cats, Barney and Max.

Max's the more active one, and nearly toppled the wine bottle on the dining table while we were preparing dinner. Basically Max's just more active. And Barney apparently has three positions - one at the couch, in the balcony, and under the curtains. So the biggest decision of his day would be where he would be sleeping for the next few hours.

That's ALL he has to worry about, because Dr Hecht feeds them so often they're so fat, and they don't have to worry at all about starving.

Otherwise, the cough has gotten worse.

Originally I had many things to talk about, but I'm simply beaten up now. Like, how I went to send Sze and the NYSE girls off to New York with Sec 3 Suck-Ups and Lumpy. While we had all the taupoks and all the shoving around last year, the girls were taking photos, photos and more photos.

They were supposed to be off by 6pm, but I came at around 3pm for lunch with my dad, and then he went off at 4pm. By 4pm I settled at one of the seats in Terminal One near Row 3 and took out my trusty manuscript book.

Which I filled with continuing motives. So the first Nanyang girl came, and then they all came in quick succession. Terminal 1 really looks old now, with its light dimmer than usual. Maybe they were trying to save electricity, but it looks really run-down.

So there was a mini-argument between a couple and a father of a girl. You know how usually there are rows facing back-to-back? Well, I was at one of them, and behind me on the seats were a suitcase and a violin. So this couple couldn't find a seat and moved away the violin.

The father went, "You think it's right to do that?"
And the guy said, "No one's seating here."
"But don't you think it's wrong, since the girl has already placed her instrument there?"
"(Shrugs)"

I thought I might as well tell the daddy that the situation would be different if Sze were there. The dad looked at me like, "oh-wait-how-do-you-know-sze" face, so I just repeated what I said. And he couldn't agree better.

Isn't it cow sense that the girl might just have gone off for a while, and she might be back to sit down later? And please treat instruments more nicely next time, Couple. Anyway I think that case belonged to Jingting, but I'm not really sure.

But if my cello were there, man, I don't think I'll do anything. I'll just smile at the guy. Why bother to reason with him. As the Hokkien saying goes, when the horse dies, just get down and walk.

If he takes my seat, I'll take another! Life's too short to trouble over such things.

Me eat Food, hear Music. Me love them both

I hardly get tired of blogging - you get to reach out to so many people outside at the comfort of your own desk, your own home, your own fan. Erm, and computer. My own, of course.

And after reading Theo's latest post I can say safely that if he doesn't stop blogging we're all going to lose our writing jobs. And I NEED MY PAY. Well if he succumbed to the nuffnang ads he would earn enough to buy a bungalow tomorrow.

Halt! Everyone has his/her own strengths, and I'mma work on my own strengths, which are astutely minute and minutely astute. (Where the heck did that come out from.) So anyway I was working on my post about the parallels we can draw between music and food yesterday.


A couple of weeks ago I was dining with Piano Teacher at home along with my apprentice cook Dad. The adults were drinking the red wine, when Dr Hecht started talking about different kinds of wine and oils and their depths.

Obviously you can see where I'm heading to, but I'm here to draw you a clearer picture.

So yesterday while I was practising my piano I thought of the quote again, and I realised Sze actually mentioned it before! When the run-throughs were slacken and deproving, he would always bring in the analogy of the cook.

The cook cannot enjoy and savour the steak, only the diner can. Which basically means the cook can't lose his concentration and start drooling at the steak, because he's the one who's responsible for PRODUCING it, while the diner is responsible for CONSUMING it!

Just like the musician. We cannot slacken and enjoy this music we're producing, because that would cause us to lose our focus, and focus is neccesary in a performance! It's like a hole that expands when one's focus increases, allowing more ideas to come through and formalise, and lastly be translated into vibrations to the audience.

So there. The chef has available to him the different kinds of colouring (ooh), oils, wine, salts, peppers, and sugars, icings, toppings. And just like us, we have the pedals, tones, ornaments, phrasings, dynamics.

Of course, chefs can inject 'soul' into their products, and of course, we can too. But what makes it more challenging for us musicians would be that we get to do it ALL IN REAL TIME! And this process repeats thousands of times in one performance -
Prepare, Play, Listen, Prepare, Play, Listen, Prepare etc.

This applies to all musicians out there - we mentally listen to how a note would sound like, prepare it, and then play it, then we listen to the previous sound,and then we prepare it again and etc.

So that's what makes music more challenging than food in a way.

Of course, there's only ONE chance for the food to make it. Once you taste the end product, that's it, you're graded. And that's what makes it challenging for the food section too!

In music, when you have a memory lapse or you improvise (otherwise play a wrong note), you still can make up for it through the rest of the piece.

Yay! Italicized parts are things that I wish to share to some musicians blogging about music constantly. It's a joy to see fellow musicians talking about sounds and the human mind, body, and soul.

Monday Munching delayed to Tuesday. Today.

Monday Munching - Food and Music has been delayed due to some technical problems. We'll be back later today...

Meanwhile here's something that caught my eye from an unsuspecting junior:

"Anyway, the camp was DAMN boring. [No offence to the EXCO members]

It was also the first time I was having rehearsals with the whole ensemble. Then the conductor, Mr Sze made me sit at the 3rd row. What the HELL lah. I mean, I can't even play the piece, as in, I can't even follow the rest, then he go and put me in the front.

And the rest of the Sec 1 noobs are sitting at the last row. I mean, if you sit at the last row, you can fake and pretend to be playing. (that's what Clarence and Andrew did) Then when I was playing, I made a very small mistake and he started shouting at me.

Down, Up, Up bow! Even if you are a Sec 1 you are not exempted!

That's what he said. Anyway, after that rehearsal, we had a meal at Mac, and we had ANOTHER rehearsal. Then I forgot to bring my pencil. Mr Sze shouted, "Pencil check!" and half the ensemble didn't raise their hand. You know what he said? "To the field!"

What kind of music CCA is this man. We ran like 5 rounds and did 80+ push ups. JUST BECAUSE I DIDN'T BRING THAT STUPID PENCIL!"


I'm not surprised I didn't think of this when I was in Secondary 1. We were disciplined, and we understood what discipline meant and how things worked. Aaaand pencils are very important things juniors...without your pencils how are you going to write important things in your scores?

Well honestly we seniors didn't do a good job of disciplining them, but nowadays Secondary 1s are getting more and more defiant. And some Secondary 2s also, but they're less defiant in general.

In life challenges are what makes it fun. But there are times when challenges cross the line of rationality and discipline, then the fun is gone.

Dreams 2

I've lost the battle! Sickness and Disease 1 Jonathan 0.

Moral of the story: never play soccer under the sun and then under the rain, and then under the sun again IF you're a person who's never been in such situations before.

Unfortunately I've been in these situation so many times, but I don't know why I got it this time. And secondly, after playing soccer, don't start eating Pringles and crackers. They always seem to be 'heaty' as what the Chinese always say.

I figured I got the cold, and I was hacking away and shivering.

So I got a call from Shangxuan on Friday night at my cousin's basement, and he told me to arrange a work for his Church camp for Viola, Keyboard, and Voice. The piece? Fly Me to the Moon, a work which I had previously arranged and performed with my friends Daniel and David last year.

I was in a dilemma - to continue my work or start on this new project. Anyway I did the latter, and then the fever developed. As I dive into this pool of self-pity, please do pass me a towel after my swim. I did the arrangements, and then on Sunday night was the performance at the Church Camp.

Well by then I looked like a walking piece of shit, and the performance was a bit liao-lui (as what my dad said - thanks for watching dad!) I realised I was sharing the back-stage with a Singapore Idol finalist - some lady who looked familiar enough.

Ok I'm done with the self-pity part.

When I went back home my dad put some Vicks in a cup and poured boiling water into it, and asked me to inhale deeply the fumes to clear my lungs. I did that, and in seconds menthol filled my system, and my tongue felt sour and spicy at the same time.

I started coughing and spluttering all the SHIT that had been in my body for the past week. Yay. We did it again, and by sleeptime I was better already. Took a spoonful of cough syrup, and off to bed I went.

Maybe being feverish really gives you fantastic dreams. Because I think I dreamnt about 8-10 dreams in a row, like floating in the air, and flying around in the clouds. Erm, literally flying. And huge, large plains and more and more of nature.

Lots and lots of colours. It might have been the menthol in my brain, causing these effects. I don't really know. When I'm not sick, I shall inhale the fumes again, and if I do have these dreams, I'll call you guys up. :)

200th anti-climatic post

Here's my 200th contribution to this blog-newspaper called I-talk-you-listen. There are other writers but they have been on continuous leave so I am the only guy writing in this column.

I'm going to my cousin's house in a while to play Marvel-Capcom, DotA, and Warcraft III. And I'll be staying overnight so I'll probably use their upright piano at the basement of their house to complete some mysterious and magical work. Shh...Ok maybe not so mysterious and magical after all already but it's fun experimenting with different shades.

I can't wait to go back to school to jam with my friends! I'm starting to turn into a Benjamin Liu except that at least I still go to school. But I'm a realistic person, and I know that school is the only thing that can get me any future, so I still have to get through this.

RISE Camp 7

I shall ask for a one-month no pay leave to blogger.com. If they do agree, my readers will be a little disappointed. If I do have (self-depreciating humour).

I just went for my second-last RISE camp/ maybe even last RISE camp! I hope it's the former. Nothing much to write about it, since the Secondary 4s weren't required to play. So we just stoned around, and when the Secondary 1s, 2s and 3s were playing, the Secondary 4s played soccer.

It got boring after a while, particularly since I wanted to play soccer AND music. I didn't get to play music, so I was disappointed. We had fun thinking about what had happened over the past 4 years, and some very quotable quotes from Mr Sze and from our fellow RISE members.

The famous 'stand down!' was brought into play, and we laughed like there was no tomorrow. Thing was, we were supposed to go lights out by 12am, but some of us climbed over RI's formidable walls and went to 7-11 to get some breakfast goods like bread and instant noodles. I got bread. We weren't supposed to do that, but RI's adminstration doesn't think of us as teens that are tired and hungry by 12 after the night games. So they lock us all in. And one knows that when one is hungry there is a limit, and we reached that. ALright, maybe we didn't have a limit, just that we were really hungry and everything.

On the second day's night we played Mr Sze' nightgame, where we followed bearings that led us to passwords where we could call a handphone number that was placed on the paper, and then say a password. We had two choices of password, and one would lead us to an easier quest while the other a difficult one. Pretty straightfoward, but there was one in the swimming pool which I dived into to get the password.

That part turned out to be screwed after some group before us displaced the passwords and instead of the passwords being INSIDE the pool, it floated up. Our group got screwed anyway for having it floating on the pool.

We lost in the end, because our group was particularly slow. But our Group's Group 1 was first! So we balanced out in the end. Yay!

Now we shall wait - currently listening to Beatles's All Together Now

The June of 2006

This feels like I'm in June 2006. I don't know how to describe it, but coming close to it would be elation and joy.

Well, only one person knows how I felt in the June of 2006, and I'm feeling it again.

What a good feeling that is