and cartwheeling back from his adventures...JS!

Dear Readers,

I have had immense imaginary pressure to blog because there are eyes that constantly return to the words here and are hungry for more. Or are there not? I wonder. Maybe there aren't but I'm blogging now, so who cares.

Ok lots of performances I realised that weren't blogged about. First on the list - Primarily Piano.

Yours truly played Ravel Sonatine Third Movement on that day, but I was truly only looking forward to the pizza, and the ice lemon tea which accompanied it. Two pizza slices, one cup, and I was off. But not before the well-wishes for the Medan performance came around once again...thanks people.

That was...Tuesday, two weeks back. If I'm not wrong, 24th of March.

Three days later (dramatic music please), Dr Hecht's lesson for all the Medan pieces which included:

Mozart Sonata 1st movement
Faure Impromptu
Liszt Petrarch Sonnet
Chopin Harp Etude
Griffes Scherzo
Ravel Sonatine
Shostakovich Concertino (2 pianos)
Gliere Valse Triste (sad waltz - direct translation, seriously) (2 pianos)
Chopin Polonaise Fantasie (orchestral reduction)

All of these which were memorised except for the orchestral reduction. How I love my 3MB-free brain as of today. Ask me what time I had my dinner yesterday and I wouldn't be able to continue this post.

So don't!

Medan's roads are extremely bumpy and cluttered, and it is entirely true that if you can drive in Indonesian traffic, you can drive anywhere in the world. But like any good author, let's start from the beginning.

Jonathan Shin was born in Ma.. On Saturday itself I skipped YA class for the first time (gasp) so I could rehearse with my band eXDee at Daniel's house. We got around to practising for around 4 hours, working on the dynamics and balance. Thinking about how I viewed classical art music against contemporary music a few years back, I'm surprised that I've changed alot. From thinking about how simple pop/indie/rock music can get, to getting RIGHT into the heat of it and viewing it from inside out.


There's a difference, and it's not rare you get that orgasmic feel running right into your bones every few hours you play in a band. Not forgetting classical music, but it's much easier considering the obscure chords you get when you play in a Mahler or Strauss orchestral piece. Yes, my point is, composers like Mahler and Strauss make use of such dissonances to produce aural pleasure.


We might argue though, that the power chords of I, IV, V and vi - the basic chord foundation of contemporary music help us to access that region of satisfaction and thrill with more ease. But it's not my time to argue about it. Eh, with different people comes contrasting viewpoints.


Ok then after that we cabbed down to Esplanade for our performance at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre. I'll gladly post some pictures.

Facebook didn't pop any photos of us up together, so none of it goes on the blog. As you can clearly see on the amplifier, it says "BAYBEATS AUDTION 2008". Ok fine fine, no caps, but yes I'm just trying to make it clearer for you'll.

Anyway that audition was exactly one week back, and we're proud to say eXDee has made it to the top 8! Which means we would BE performing for the Baybeats festival itself already. Here's the page if there are any doubters out there.

"What? eXDee is that good? Sure or not... (in typical Nigel style)?" Here's the page.

Yeah ok so now it's over and the festival will be held one week after my performance for Inspire Gala 09. Festival's on the 28th, 29th, and 30th of August. The middle one being my birthday date. Well, it would be nice if I got to perform on my birthday, but I rather it being a free day for me to spend quality time with my family than one full of hustle and bustle.

This day was no exception. After the performance I was whisked back home to continue packing my stuff for Medan (the flight was at 7.30pm).

zad came over to practise two pianos (I had yet to memorise the Valse then (!!) ) and Chi Ling from Ms Tan's house to watch us practise and send us off at the airport. The most memorable question of that day was from zad, on the topic of "How do you get on the LRT platform?" Stupefied for seconds.

And then after that five of us - Myself, Chi Ling, zad and her mum, my dad - went off to the Airport, got confused with Terminal 1 and Budget Terminal but made the check-in perfectly on time.

The plane trip was approximately 1 hour, which meant that I entered the plane listening to "Back in the USSR", which was the first track on the Beatles White album, and left it listening to "Julia", which was the last track. Nice.

First signs of what to expect in Indonesia was an express treatment - men asking us whether we needed help for our luggage, all promptly shrugged off. Simply no time for an express luggage loss, thank you very much.

Shirley and her mum picked us up from the airport, and the traffic nightmare began. Flags for the Indonesian elections were EVERYWHERE on the sidewalks, and it was a mirage of blue, yellow, and red. And in the event that my readers are as ignorant to the news as I am to blogging over the past few days, the Indonesian legislative elections are to be held on the 9th of April.

Total number of parties running? 44.

Compare it to Singapore, and we're simply a digit extension of a turned-off giant.

And lo and behold, the faces and posters were everywhere, some smiling, some looking bored, some resembling mug shots while pending trial for murder, a couple looking to strangle the photographer, and not least of all, the "why-am-i-wasting-time-participating-in-this"look.

Of course, those with minimal funding for advertising did not get to put their posters anywhere public, but I'm sure they were creative and took to public toilets to enter their pictures for target training (for men). "If I hit him, I'll vote him." "Aww, missed! I really liked his political ideas though. Maybe next time then." For women, I'm guessing it would be much tougher.

A nutshell insight of Indonesian toilet politics.


Anyway we had a good taste of Medan food, and I have to assure you that it did keep my bowel movements regular (compared to back in Singaore), and most importantly, Medan food is delicious. I missed the chicken glutinous rice wrapped with pandan leaves. And that dory fish (ahhh..) that was fried in its entirety and looked absolutely wholesome with its fins spread out and its tail whipped up in an angle. Brown, golden, and eyes that stare wide at the world.


Eat.


The performance was on the next day itself (which was Sunday). At 4pm, Singapore 5pm. A few hours before Adriel invited me to a soccer game, which I politely declined because I couldn't afford to miss a performance myself, though I was tempted to take a flight back when I received it. Thanks Adriel.

And finally, the performance itself. I wasn't nerve-wrecked, but it was enough to throw me off guard when I played Mozart's 1st movement - an improvised left hand should have done well to patch it up from the 200-people-5-guys audience. Valse Triste was a blatant show of attempting to memorise - we got all the notes right, but a glimpse of her while I was at the opposing end made me chuckle.

We were both running through our heads on the next notes, pretending to move with the music but simply trying to get on with the flow so as not to lose concentration. But it was good music nonetheless, with all of musicality and tone.

Shostakovich drooled with sarcasm and mindless teasing (my lifejob). We brought a fresh and energizing rendition to it. All in all, good job well done! The photo-taking session/coffee break after the whole thing was a killer to our cheeks, with forced smiling not forgotten. We both received a Parker pen as a token of appreciation, I thought it would be apt as a gift, but Parker pens would probably be more suited for men.

But the performance was dedicated to you anyway, you back in Singapore doing your homework while I played. :)

I got back following Monday, and the facebook friend requests started coming in, and all the photo tags were pouring in too. They can be viewed here - http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=739548283#/profile.php?id=739548283&v=photos

Four days later I performed at RJC Music J1 concert, Shostakovich again this time with Willette. Thanks Michelle from HC for coming. And of course, the ever-supportive Chan Chi Ling. Yay more incentive not to miss out the tonic and dominant chords of "Somewhere over the Rainbow", which was touching and served as a good ending to the concert. Good job guys. See, as unexpected, everything with Jonathan Shin last minute but very good, although I didn't play much a part in this concert except perform and checking the placements of the pianos.

An Ibach and a yamaha c6 is no joke. Good job RJC for investing so much into music, you really rock. After that 3 of us cabbed to NUS to watch Dr Hecht's Hommage to Poulenc Concert, which was another concert that was beyond words. The ensemble work, deft and exquisite, is ENTIRELY out of my critique range. We shall now look to the guidance of Dr. Chang Tou Liang and Miss Chan for a taste of what true reviewing is.

I, Jonathan Shin, am now simply a digit extension of a turned-off giant.

But no matter, because I have completed my journeys over the past 2 weeks, as it has always been. Like, an adventure. Next week, my first concert with RJC Piano Ensemble on Wednesday.

Meanwhile...my composition pursuits has me in the midst of sketches and manuscripts on my Piano Quartet - violin 1 violin 2 cello piano. If only. If only, I could replace violin 2 with viola. Hopefully it can make it in time for its premiere in August, and I would love to see TheoKwek, Lanabel, myself on cello and CL on piano for this one.

Yours truly,
Jonathan