It's important to be both pragmatic yet briliantly optimistic for life. It's important to understand that the only thing that comes with a 100% guarantee in life would be death. Expecting a death is never easy!
I'll constantly remind myself to stay strong, and never let myself go astray...
My juries are next week, and yet I'm not ready for Mozart 2nd and 3rd movement.
Lit presentation on the Theatre of the Abstract was neat - an impromptu performance flows pretty naturally. Clinton and I were pretty organized, and Ms Chew apparently thought we gave a very good dramatization of Endgame. She wants us to put the presentation up on the LitWiki.
Which I've yet to locate :X
Other than that, I'm simply lost these days as to what to blog about. No wonder the lack of tags
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
What else.
I realised I start every post in nearly the same fashion, or at least I think I do. That's because I've a boring format!
We did the orchestration for the Introduction for Flame of Youth this RE period today. And Bryan and I played for 5 hours.
And...
My mum went back to hospital.
And what else. Hm.
We did the orchestration for the Introduction for Flame of Youth this RE period today. And Bryan and I played for 5 hours.
And...
My mum went back to hospital.
And what else. Hm.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Musical Fun
Jamming is so fun. Today I played for 3 hours with Graham, Joey, Glenn, and singer Yee Xiang. Graham rhythm, Glenn lead, Jonathan bass, Joey drums, YeeXiang singer. We tried Vindicated at first, but it didn't work out well as expected because of the range for Yeexiang. Anyway Daniel's band budged into the room and watched us play for a while - we got some hackles but they softened afterwhile when we really got down to the music.
Then we moved Vindicated two steps down so that we could let Yeexiang reach some of the high notes, but Campus Superstar contestant stepped in and helped us out a little bit. I sang a favourite song of mine - Somewhere only we know, but we didn't continue much of it. I guess Vindicated was the song of the day.
After that it started getting really cool, because we played some blues hillibilly, and walkingbass, and there were really awesome solos from Glenn and Graham. So we were just jumping around and singing/screaming our heads off, thanks to Glenn attempting some of the high notes. Really fantastic, the feel.
Anyway I was being 'sorried' and pitied because I only played oldschool music - I guess I can be a more useful bass player if I had learnt to adjust my ears to the insensitivities of contemporary music. Suddenly music wasn't simply about sensitivity, but all about feelings and emotions.
But suddenly it wasn't - I found out that the sensitivities needed in both contemporary and art music were the same, except only on a different volume scale. There was still a need to maintain how loud the bass was going to be, momentum towards the next phrase, previous harmonies that have to be cleared and evaporated from the environment before one can move on to the next notes - the upbeats that had to be clearly and carefully placed. It is perhaps, more subtle. More difficult to see.
And then there's the issue of code-switching. For me to be able to switch from contemporary and art music would be a skill - a technique to my musical wellbeing - something I can put to good use. But of course, being proficient in everything can mean not being an expert in one.
I still have to develop my piano playing, a never-ending process. And discover new things I can do with the bass, to provide the best sound that the audience would want to hear.
Last but not least, I would like to congratulate the RE team for completing our first phase - composition of piece. We would be working on orchestration, and move to our final phase, that is recording, in the few weeks to come.
Wanted: People who can sing and play an instrument at the same time, can harmonise, loves music from the 1950s - 1990s, all at the same time, in Raffles Institution.
Then we moved Vindicated two steps down so that we could let Yeexiang reach some of the high notes, but Campus Superstar contestant stepped in and helped us out a little bit. I sang a favourite song of mine - Somewhere only we know, but we didn't continue much of it. I guess Vindicated was the song of the day.
After that it started getting really cool, because we played some blues hillibilly, and walkingbass, and there were really awesome solos from Glenn and Graham. So we were just jumping around and singing/screaming our heads off, thanks to Glenn attempting some of the high notes. Really fantastic, the feel.
Anyway I was being 'sorried' and pitied because I only played oldschool music - I guess I can be a more useful bass player if I had learnt to adjust my ears to the insensitivities of contemporary music. Suddenly music wasn't simply about sensitivity, but all about feelings and emotions.
But suddenly it wasn't - I found out that the sensitivities needed in both contemporary and art music were the same, except only on a different volume scale. There was still a need to maintain how loud the bass was going to be, momentum towards the next phrase, previous harmonies that have to be cleared and evaporated from the environment before one can move on to the next notes - the upbeats that had to be clearly and carefully placed. It is perhaps, more subtle. More difficult to see.
And then there's the issue of code-switching. For me to be able to switch from contemporary and art music would be a skill - a technique to my musical wellbeing - something I can put to good use. But of course, being proficient in everything can mean not being an expert in one.
I still have to develop my piano playing, a never-ending process. And discover new things I can do with the bass, to provide the best sound that the audience would want to hear.
Last but not least, I would like to congratulate the RE team for completing our first phase - composition of piece. We would be working on orchestration, and move to our final phase, that is recording, in the few weeks to come.
Wanted: People who can sing and play an instrument at the same time, can harmonise, loves music from the 1950s - 1990s, all at the same time, in Raffles Institution.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Happy birthday to Mervyn!
Ok. I'm seriously going to get down to blogging.
Anyway today was Mervyn's birthday, and we were of course, celebrating his birthday. But it was SO SPECIAL! He played a Haydn Piano Concerto with Dr. Hecht, and he wrote his own cadenza! Now that's completely cool. I wouldn't want to say now that I could compose a cadenza as well as him, but I don't think it's impossible. For goodness sake, he's only ten, and I probably have five more years of musical experience compared to him.
Well, life's unfair, and I definitely hope all the best to him in his music endeavors!
Ok I'll update somemore.
Anyway today was Mervyn's birthday, and we were of course, celebrating his birthday. But it was SO SPECIAL! He played a Haydn Piano Concerto with Dr. Hecht, and he wrote his own cadenza! Now that's completely cool. I wouldn't want to say now that I could compose a cadenza as well as him, but I don't think it's impossible. For goodness sake, he's only ten, and I probably have five more years of musical experience compared to him.
Well, life's unfair, and I definitely hope all the best to him in his music endeavors!
Ok I'll update somemore.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Mr. Gregory and an Accompaniment concert
Today rocked.
Ok anyway we started with Mr. Sean Gregory's workshop at 11, replacing Dr. Edward's normal theory class on Saturdays. It was pretty cool, since we were doing African rhythms and aesthetic exercises. We clapped in different rhythms, stamped our feet, hit our chests and thighs, and snapped our fingers.
And then we went on to improvisation, where we had different melodies for each section created by him.
Anyway last year he came to do a workshop with the freshmen, and I was totally fascinated by his African tunes and rhythms. We were taught on stage to do a rainsong for the audience last year, and it was beautiful, with all the rich harmonies of African tunes and complex rhythms.
I probably still can remember a little of the melody.
So today we did another song, this time a dinner song from Ghana. So there was the call-and-answer, something that went like - 'yeah, yeah, mo-ba-co ni-wco-shway'. Anyway it was damn funny that I accidently did the harmonization thing, because I actually forgot the starting note for the melody, and coincedentally sang a third higher -.- So much for trying so hard.
Anyway the harmonies were extremely beautiful. I still can remember it now! And I wish we could do it again..."yeah yeah, mo-ba-co ni-wco-shway"...(fades away)
Oh for the raindance thing last year, we had people pitterpattering with the fingers, and others doing different sounds like wind blowing and the singing. And then the haunting melodies and the rhythms and harmoines. Ok. African ROCKS.
After that we finished the workshop, and I went for lunch with Alan. So I ate Subway and he ate chilli-spammed wanton mee, which after finishing he was simply red and sweating like crap. Out came the tissue papers.
After that I went to the library to read on orchestra playing and the Beatles Anthologies, before taking a short nap in the library. I headed home after that. But there was more to come!
Clarence sms-ed me about a concert this evening - 'Everyone needs Accompanying'. Ok no words can describe the amount of fun I had there. Ok firstly Fiona came to watch also (clapclap) so I wasn't going to be soloing there and enjoying the music all by myself. Secondly, I realised my colleagues were so fun! Akkra was singing a lovesong! - Dream a little Dream. It was so funny watching him sing, because of his usual character. I mean, his usual character is quite nice and clean, but when he was singing it was simply terrific. And then Ying Han sang also! Simply cool. Beautiful.
And Debussy's Romance was my favourite classical piece for tonight. Simply because I'm writing one that sounds alike. Sh. Fiona's was Tchaikovsky's Waltz-Scherzo. Du Rui played it! I've seen him around, but he does say hi. Yay.
Then we headed back home, and now I'm here, starving. While some people get to eat fried things mixed together called ngoh hiang/wu xiang. AND fries.
Ok anyway we started with Mr. Sean Gregory's workshop at 11, replacing Dr. Edward's normal theory class on Saturdays. It was pretty cool, since we were doing African rhythms and aesthetic exercises. We clapped in different rhythms, stamped our feet, hit our chests and thighs, and snapped our fingers.
And then we went on to improvisation, where we had different melodies for each section created by him.
Anyway last year he came to do a workshop with the freshmen, and I was totally fascinated by his African tunes and rhythms. We were taught on stage to do a rainsong for the audience last year, and it was beautiful, with all the rich harmonies of African tunes and complex rhythms.
I probably still can remember a little of the melody.
So today we did another song, this time a dinner song from Ghana. So there was the call-and-answer, something that went like - 'yeah, yeah, mo-ba-co ni-wco-shway'. Anyway it was damn funny that I accidently did the harmonization thing, because I actually forgot the starting note for the melody, and coincedentally sang a third higher -.- So much for trying so hard.
Anyway the harmonies were extremely beautiful. I still can remember it now! And I wish we could do it again..."yeah yeah, mo-ba-co ni-wco-shway"...(fades away)
Oh for the raindance thing last year, we had people pitterpattering with the fingers, and others doing different sounds like wind blowing and the singing. And then the haunting melodies and the rhythms and harmoines. Ok. African ROCKS.
After that we finished the workshop, and I went for lunch with Alan. So I ate Subway and he ate chilli-spammed wanton mee, which after finishing he was simply red and sweating like crap. Out came the tissue papers.
After that I went to the library to read on orchestra playing and the Beatles Anthologies, before taking a short nap in the library. I headed home after that. But there was more to come!
Clarence sms-ed me about a concert this evening - 'Everyone needs Accompanying'. Ok no words can describe the amount of fun I had there. Ok firstly Fiona came to watch also (clapclap) so I wasn't going to be soloing there and enjoying the music all by myself. Secondly, I realised my colleagues were so fun! Akkra was singing a lovesong! - Dream a little Dream. It was so funny watching him sing, because of his usual character. I mean, his usual character is quite nice and clean, but when he was singing it was simply terrific. And then Ying Han sang also! Simply cool. Beautiful.
And Debussy's Romance was my favourite classical piece for tonight. Simply because I'm writing one that sounds alike. Sh. Fiona's was Tchaikovsky's Waltz-Scherzo. Du Rui played it! I've seen him around, but he does say hi. Yay.
Then we headed back home, and now I'm here, starving. While some people get to eat fried things mixed together called ngoh hiang/wu xiang. AND fries.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Chedule
Finally I can log on to Blogger. I've been offline so often (shouldn't it be online?) that when I signed in I found cobwebs on my display picture!
Now here's the punchline: Jonathan Shin finally gets caught by pangs of headaches and hopefully not fever! So I thought I was Superman and able to do loads of things at one time. Unfortunately not. Let's take a look at my schedule...
Monday (which has already passed)
-School (7am to 3.15pm)
-CCA (3.30 to 6.30pm)
-YST (7.30 to 9.30pm)
-Shower, Dinner, Composition (10pm to 12am) Oh, and add in Heroes.
Tuesday (which has already ended)
-School (7am to 1.30pm)
-YST (7-9pm)
Wednesday (which has yet to end)
-Schoool (7am to 3.15pm)
-YST (4.30pm to 9pm)
Thursday (which is tomorrow)
-School (7am to 1.30pm)
-MEP (2.15-5.15)
-YST (9 to 11pm)
Friday
-School (7am to 12.30pm)
-YST (2pm-5pm)
-CONCERT (7.30pm-10pm)
Saturday
-YST (11-1pm)
Ah. My schedule for the entire week. Enough to freak you and I and the entire human race. Gruelling but worth it. There's hardly anything worth to type out here anyway. Other than that I screwed up Philosophy and Mathematics. However I did well in English comprehension and Literature Dramatic Recitation. Yay! Full marks for Vocabulary, and in my fantasy world I get one extra mark for getting all correct.
And Dramatic Recitation - 18/20! Cheers to Byap and Norman.
Today's piano lesson was absolutely ZIBEI! After watching Zhang Aidi (who is only Secondary 2) play both Bach and Chopin, while I only played Chopin, I feel so ashamed to be in the room. Sian. Must practise hard but must keep healthy.
So NOW I know why Chopin died so young. Probably must have been practising too much!
Now here's the punchline: Jonathan Shin finally gets caught by pangs of headaches and hopefully not fever! So I thought I was Superman and able to do loads of things at one time. Unfortunately not. Let's take a look at my schedule...
Monday (which has already passed)
-School (7am to 3.15pm)
-CCA (3.30 to 6.30pm)
-YST (7.30 to 9.30pm)
-Shower, Dinner, Composition (10pm to 12am) Oh, and add in Heroes.
Tuesday (which has already ended)
-School (7am to 1.30pm)
-YST (7-9pm)
Wednesday (which has yet to end)
-Schoool (7am to 3.15pm)
-YST (4.30pm to 9pm)
Thursday (which is tomorrow)
-School (7am to 1.30pm)
-MEP (2.15-5.15)
-YST (9 to 11pm)
Friday
-School (7am to 12.30pm)
-YST (2pm-5pm)
-CONCERT (7.30pm-10pm)
Saturday
-YST (11-1pm)
Ah. My schedule for the entire week. Enough to freak you and I and the entire human race. Gruelling but worth it. There's hardly anything worth to type out here anyway. Other than that I screwed up Philosophy and Mathematics. However I did well in English comprehension and Literature Dramatic Recitation. Yay! Full marks for Vocabulary, and in my fantasy world I get one extra mark for getting all correct.
And Dramatic Recitation - 18/20! Cheers to Byap and Norman.
Today's piano lesson was absolutely ZIBEI! After watching Zhang Aidi (who is only Secondary 2) play both Bach and Chopin, while I only played Chopin, I feel so ashamed to be in the room. Sian. Must practise hard but must keep healthy.
So NOW I know why Chopin died so young. Probably must have been practising too much!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Why do Colours have Concerts
And we shall all ask this question together - why?
Well it is a question directed to perhaps anything that ever existed in the whole universe. Basic questions like, why does my pencilbox contain pencils? What are the pencils there for? To write? Why must we write? So that we can communicate? Why must we communicate?
(Stumped)
Oh yes, we communicate so we can fulfil the human nature to socialize. (Figure that out yourself! Sorry...)So why do we have to socialize? Because it's human nature? Why does human nature exist? Well, because we're created that way? Why were we created?
Shit. Truly stumped. Crap.
WHY DO WE EXIST?
WHY DOES ANYTHING EXIST?
WHY DOESN'T THEOPHILUS GIVE US AN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION?
PLEASE, don't mind the last question. But in any case if I did mentioned it then never mind, but Byap and I were talking briefly about it during Mathematics lesson. It was brought up to my mind again when I read my friend's blog this evening. (Although I don't think it's in the same context.)
Some interesting things happened yesterday on Wednesday - I started seeing (imagining? now that's a different story) colours that came along with the sounds I heard, which led me to a confused state during two-piano class, no thanks to the brilliant range of tonality and dissonances provided during a climax of Della Joio's Aria and Toccata. So I started seeing(?) rainbow colours and streaks and different hues of blue green purple yellow brown red orange in all shapes and assortments.
And I got a BIG headache.
Something I can use to my advantage :) Another skill I can access in my musical arsenal.
Chopin's Etude was entirely understandable, just that I need some good psychomotor skills. I realised it used every part of my mental strength and body coordination and both ears. I had to keep the melody like bells (something which I've already noticed in the beginning), take note of the pedal (something I will not tell you guys here as it is too complicated to type out), take notice of the pedalling of the hands, take notice of the harmonic progressions and follow according to the progressions, and listen and listen and listen.
Try that man. Anyway I'm glad I've been told of this in one lesson, which gives me time to prepare it for next week's lesson. It would be tough, but entirely worth it. Why not, if it can make the piece better than it sounded before?
Once again, advertisements for two concerts that I'll be featured in. One would be the April 4th Primarily Piano concert (where I'll play as the FIRST guy). I'll be playing Mozart's K330. Yes, that cute piece that is in reality extremely detailed.
And then Shostakovich's Concertino, which I'll be playing as 2nd piano accompanying Aidi who's on 3rd. No, 1st piano. That would be on the April 15th.
I'm grateful for the all the concert opportunities!
Well it is a question directed to perhaps anything that ever existed in the whole universe. Basic questions like, why does my pencilbox contain pencils? What are the pencils there for? To write? Why must we write? So that we can communicate? Why must we communicate?
(Stumped)
Oh yes, we communicate so we can fulfil the human nature to socialize. (Figure that out yourself! Sorry...)So why do we have to socialize? Because it's human nature? Why does human nature exist? Well, because we're created that way? Why were we created?
Shit. Truly stumped. Crap.
WHY DO WE EXIST?
WHY DOES ANYTHING EXIST?
WHY DOESN'T THEOPHILUS GIVE US AN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION?
PLEASE, don't mind the last question. But in any case if I did mentioned it then never mind, but Byap and I were talking briefly about it during Mathematics lesson. It was brought up to my mind again when I read my friend's blog this evening. (Although I don't think it's in the same context.)
Some interesting things happened yesterday on Wednesday - I started seeing (imagining? now that's a different story) colours that came along with the sounds I heard, which led me to a confused state during two-piano class, no thanks to the brilliant range of tonality and dissonances provided during a climax of Della Joio's Aria and Toccata. So I started seeing(?) rainbow colours and streaks and different hues of blue green purple yellow brown red orange in all shapes and assortments.
And I got a BIG headache.
Something I can use to my advantage :) Another skill I can access in my musical arsenal.
Chopin's Etude was entirely understandable, just that I need some good psychomotor skills. I realised it used every part of my mental strength and body coordination and both ears. I had to keep the melody like bells (something which I've already noticed in the beginning), take note of the pedal (something I will not tell you guys here as it is too complicated to type out), take notice of the pedalling of the hands, take notice of the harmonic progressions and follow according to the progressions, and listen and listen and listen.
Try that man. Anyway I'm glad I've been told of this in one lesson, which gives me time to prepare it for next week's lesson. It would be tough, but entirely worth it. Why not, if it can make the piece better than it sounded before?
Once again, advertisements for two concerts that I'll be featured in. One would be the April 4th Primarily Piano concert (where I'll play as the FIRST guy). I'll be playing Mozart's K330. Yes, that cute piece that is in reality extremely detailed.
And then Shostakovich's Concertino, which I'll be playing as 2nd piano accompanying Aidi who's on 3rd. No, 1st piano. That would be on the April 15th.
I'm grateful for the all the concert opportunities!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Suay~
What an unlucky day today. Well to start after 8 years we changed the position of the house clock, and at exactly 12am it fell off the wall and crashed into the floor, shattering the glass and instantly waking the entire family up.
The next morning I woke up pretty fine, even though I ended up sleeping at 1am and having to wake up at 5.15am! I was tossing and turning around in bed, going so much as to sleep the other way, my head at the end of the bed.
Went to Bishan Stadium with the help of a friend I met at Bishan MRT, and then I got to enjoy the morning mist that emerged from the huge field beside the stadium. Fresh grass...no sound of crickets, just the clean fresh smell of a new morning.
Anyway it was Track-and-Field meet at Bishan Stadium for Raffles Institution, and for me it wasn't really that much fun, considering I was never one who had a mind to run quickly and escape from a couple of imaginary cops. The really nice part that made me want to cringe with nostalgia (cringe?) was the entire time the Morrison house got together at the stands. And that was where I met all the 2G guys back again. We relived a couple of jokes, like Neelia Rohc, Jaren's forehead, and the like. So we were indulging in much fun and laughter for the first hour, although the fun died down when some of us went away.
Kope~(d) a guitar from a Hulletian and started singing with the guys, before attempting to leave early. I did succeed 2 times on passing the NPCC guards, but of course I came back. I never had the intention to leave early, anyway. But just to show them that their plan wasn't foolproof afterall - wasn't really a waste of time though - I did the attempts just before we ended. :)
Got back to RI, played football with 4L guys. What a fantastic bonding session for us once again - we did some passing and playing together. However I did get burns from the sun afterwards - the field was emitting extremely hot air, so much so that we could see the hot air rising from the grass. Mirage? Illusion? I don't know what to call that.
Ate lunch with those guys, before we headed off back home. I came back home to see my dad's head bandaged - he fainted and knocked his head against a door. Apparently he didn't eat much in the morning, saw them draw blood from my mum and was feeling emotional, so he blacked-out.
Hope that doesn't happen to me anytime, though I did hit my head against a sharp corner at home a few hours back.
How unlucky...
(Sleeps)
The next morning I woke up pretty fine, even though I ended up sleeping at 1am and having to wake up at 5.15am! I was tossing and turning around in bed, going so much as to sleep the other way, my head at the end of the bed.
Went to Bishan Stadium with the help of a friend I met at Bishan MRT, and then I got to enjoy the morning mist that emerged from the huge field beside the stadium. Fresh grass...no sound of crickets, just the clean fresh smell of a new morning.
Anyway it was Track-and-Field meet at Bishan Stadium for Raffles Institution, and for me it wasn't really that much fun, considering I was never one who had a mind to run quickly and escape from a couple of imaginary cops. The really nice part that made me want to cringe with nostalgia (cringe?) was the entire time the Morrison house got together at the stands. And that was where I met all the 2G guys back again. We relived a couple of jokes, like Neelia Rohc, Jaren's forehead, and the like. So we were indulging in much fun and laughter for the first hour, although the fun died down when some of us went away.
Kope~(d) a guitar from a Hulletian and started singing with the guys, before attempting to leave early. I did succeed 2 times on passing the NPCC guards, but of course I came back. I never had the intention to leave early, anyway. But just to show them that their plan wasn't foolproof afterall - wasn't really a waste of time though - I did the attempts just before we ended. :)
Got back to RI, played football with 4L guys. What a fantastic bonding session for us once again - we did some passing and playing together. However I did get burns from the sun afterwards - the field was emitting extremely hot air, so much so that we could see the hot air rising from the grass. Mirage? Illusion? I don't know what to call that.
Ate lunch with those guys, before we headed off back home. I came back home to see my dad's head bandaged - he fainted and knocked his head against a door. Apparently he didn't eat much in the morning, saw them draw blood from my mum and was feeling emotional, so he blacked-out.
Hope that doesn't happen to me anytime, though I did hit my head against a sharp corner at home a few hours back.
How unlucky...
(Sleeps)
Saturday, March 22, 2008
No updates since last Sunday! Saddening for the readers, but good for me. I get a break, a break, a break a break a break OH YEAH! Yeah we had school till Thursday, where it was the RI Community Day - RISE went to AWWA Elderly Care Centre. I wouldn't want to dwell too much on that, except that when my dad read the email Kaicheng sent out on the e-groups, he mentioned that those guys who were constantly playing must stop the 'bochap' attitude - doesn't simply apply to music-lovers or non-music lovers in RISE - everyone has a responsibility to make the event successful.
I shall not do a public scolding here - not like I want to - but I'm glad at least I know the reasons that they have acted the way they've done. I'm contended to know that I've did my best to understand the reasons why they have lost interest...But they did a good job as station masters anyway! Ok that part is true other than playing soccer behind the main screen...
That day before was Dr Hecht's lesson on Bach - I played Prelude and Fugue in D major. Learnt a new finger action - and new imagery (which is never-ending and part of what makes lesson fun) for the fugue. From angel voices from the balcony to proclaimations...Baroque music is certainly beautiful although Ben Low and Bryan think it's boring!
Recently I've been listening to Sigismond Thalberg. I don't know what's the reason but he's virtuosic enough. It might have been Ben's Liszt's Harmoniques that made me interested in the Romantic virtuosic playing since this week...
Thought of so many things to talk about but I forgot all of them. Will definitely talk about them tomorrow.
Kaicheng just hummed to me a tune for a video he's creating (yumyum - nope not on food, definitely for CCA) and I had to copy it down on manuscript. UNFORTUNATELY, it was all much syncopated, which led me to have a hard time writing it down on paper.
But it was fun though.
And I liked Oblivion Part 1...
I shall not do a public scolding here - not like I want to - but I'm glad at least I know the reasons that they have acted the way they've done. I'm contended to know that I've did my best to understand the reasons why they have lost interest...But they did a good job as station masters anyway! Ok that part is true other than playing soccer behind the main screen...
That day before was Dr Hecht's lesson on Bach - I played Prelude and Fugue in D major. Learnt a new finger action - and new imagery (which is never-ending and part of what makes lesson fun) for the fugue. From angel voices from the balcony to proclaimations...Baroque music is certainly beautiful although Ben Low and Bryan think it's boring!
Recently I've been listening to Sigismond Thalberg. I don't know what's the reason but he's virtuosic enough. It might have been Ben's Liszt's Harmoniques that made me interested in the Romantic virtuosic playing since this week...
Thought of so many things to talk about but I forgot all of them. Will definitely talk about them tomorrow.
Kaicheng just hummed to me a tune for a video he's creating (yumyum - nope not on food, definitely for CCA) and I had to copy it down on manuscript. UNFORTUNATELY, it was all much syncopated, which led me to have a hard time writing it down on paper.
But it was fun though.
And I liked Oblivion Part 1...
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Numb
I'm done for the day.
I've returned.
I'm back.
I'm tired!
Well for starters I was asked to sight-read Schumann's Piano Concerto has an orchestral pianist so that the rest can get a feel of it. I managed to get the structure of it right, although 1/3 or more of the notes were wrong. I was extremely disappointed not to have been able to apply what I've learnt - hand pedalling, voice leading...
15th March Saturday________________________________________________________________
And today I'm blogging for Saturday.
Early in the morning I woke up to the sound of my mum asking if I was going to miss theory class with Dr Edwards. Of course I wasn't - I've been waiting for this day for a week to test out my composition. But anyway I used 45 minutes in the morning to figure out the progression for TWO bars nearing the end of the piece.
Not really effecient, but I managed to sort out the final part. Unfortunately this made me 7 minutes late for theory class - I ran from the Kent Ridge Bus Stop all the way to Sem Room 7. Luckily, Dr Edwards had yet to arrive.
He was having Composition auditions...so I was early!
Ok anyway so I was asked to play my composition first. After I finished the three page work we all went through a pretty detailed analysis of my composition. I realised most of the things that were pointed out were coincedentally nicely in place - I didn't plan them or anything. Maybe it was subconscious. Only the 'sets in two' were planned.
Dr Edwards pointed out two opposite ends of the compositional spectrum - Continuity and Variety, or otherwise known as Coherence and Interest respectively. I guess the key is to hover around the middle of the spectrum - keeping a level of coherence and continuity, while also trying to provide variety and keep the listener interest.
It's like how I told my RE teammates about conventionality and originality. After me was Zhu En, and then Andrea and Aidi. Andrea did about 8 too (like me), and it was really great to see my counterparts' compositions. I agreed with Dr Edward's point about it looking easy, but when it came to playing...it was really difficult. But anyway I think experience does matter - learning and adding new techniques and new colours to your compositional arsenal allows for more ideas and also development of the composition.
And later that day the Conservatory was holding auditions for people coming into it next year...anyway the Ensemble rooms were used for warming up. A couple of dads peering into Ensemble room 4 (I was practising there) but heck. I was once like that too - I mean the warming up part!
Went to eat Mcdonalds at the Engineering Block with Sue Yi, Wasin, and Akkra soon after. Akkra spammed chilli sauce on the small plastic plate so much so that the whole thing spilled over simultaenously and formed a nice circle shape that looked like a red blood cell...And Wasin was eating his McWings and making noises like 'mmm...' and 'ahhhh...' and 'oooohhh...' Prizes for guessing he was eating McWings.
Attempted to copy him at the Chocolate Sundae I got for $1.50, but he said I was too fake - heck I ENJOYED the sundae more than his wings. I still win Wasin! :P Ok just kidding we must be respectful to our seniors. When we went back to the Conservatory though, we had lots of fun. Well, Akkra and I, that is. We were acting as singer and accompanist going for audition with an invisible auditioner. I started shrieking and screaming and Akkra started to forget his notes, and we laughed lots. Like Akkra improvising 'Mary had a little lamb' and 'Mary has no animals'. Hey at least we got away with something to learn ok!
Failed to convince my mum to let me go for the cello concert though by Ralph Kirshbaum. Lots of people were saying it was going to be good, but unfortunately I couldn't go...
But I did start to copy the Elaborations on another piece of manuscript.
16th March Sunday________________________________________
This is for Sunday, that is today.
Yesterday night I had a very cool dream and a frightening bodily experience.
We'll start with the physical experience. Somewhere in the middle of night, my entire body suffered paralysis and I was unable to gain control of my arms and legs. Something we all call, numbness. So it was as if I had pins and needles everywhere. My ears experienced an increasing loud sound, much like thunder. It climaxed to a boom that was extremely loud. My head started to tilt towards the left, and I had totally no control of my neck muscles.
So it was like me lying on the bed, entirely paralyzed, and my ears hearing an increasing crashing sound, while my head involuntarily tilting towards the left. While all this happened though I was trying my best to be conscious of my own movements and actions, but it entirely fail through - it was obvious I had no control.
Immediately after it stopped I quickly tried to massage my arms but it happened again. First was the numbness that set in into my torso, legs, and arms and hands. Then after that the booming sound in my ears. It sounded like a fighter jet engine - right beside my ears. And then my head started tilting left again.
All this really happened, and I shall take note of my sleeping position at night again.
In my dream however, I was able to stop and control time - much like the Heroes character Hiro. Anyway by regulating my heartbeat I was able to control the time around me. In this case I was in a 100m-sprint. At the start of the race I breathed so slowly and felt so conscious of my heartbeat that everything around me started to slow down. And then I started running to the end. And then at some point of time I was in New York trying to steal an item, by I remembered clearly being surrounded by the police. They started shooting bullets at me, and I closed my eyes and started being aware of my own heartbeat. The bullets did stop right in front of me, but I couldn't move at all.
And that was when I panicked and told myself that if my heartbeat started going right up the bullets would go straight into me and I would die. However I just couldn't move - and maybe that was when the paralysis hit me. I'm not sure which one came first. Maybe they both intertwined - scary enough though.
Morning came, and I went for my jabs at the Ang Mo Kio clinic I visited earlier this week with my cousins. Younger cousin Nigel told even younger cousin-brother Julian that it was going to hurt a lot, and he had to take 6 jabs. -.- Now that's mind-numbing.
Anyway I managed to suppress the fear emotion - probably because of the many performances I had been in and the nervousness I had felt - didn't feel frightened at all. And it seriously was an ant-bite. The pain came AFTER the ant-bite though. My arm started to go numb, but it's much better than thinking about the injection. After massaging it though the pain lessened throughout the day and it's clearly much better now.
Shall finish copying and editing the Elaborations, and they'll be up pretty soon!
I've returned.
I'm back.
I'm tired!
Well for starters I was asked to sight-read Schumann's Piano Concerto has an orchestral pianist so that the rest can get a feel of it. I managed to get the structure of it right, although 1/3 or more of the notes were wrong. I was extremely disappointed not to have been able to apply what I've learnt - hand pedalling, voice leading...
15th March Saturday________________________________________________________________
And today I'm blogging for Saturday.
Early in the morning I woke up to the sound of my mum asking if I was going to miss theory class with Dr Edwards. Of course I wasn't - I've been waiting for this day for a week to test out my composition. But anyway I used 45 minutes in the morning to figure out the progression for TWO bars nearing the end of the piece.
Not really effecient, but I managed to sort out the final part. Unfortunately this made me 7 minutes late for theory class - I ran from the Kent Ridge Bus Stop all the way to Sem Room 7. Luckily, Dr Edwards had yet to arrive.
He was having Composition auditions...so I was early!
Ok anyway so I was asked to play my composition first. After I finished the three page work we all went through a pretty detailed analysis of my composition. I realised most of the things that were pointed out were coincedentally nicely in place - I didn't plan them or anything. Maybe it was subconscious. Only the 'sets in two' were planned.
Dr Edwards pointed out two opposite ends of the compositional spectrum - Continuity and Variety, or otherwise known as Coherence and Interest respectively. I guess the key is to hover around the middle of the spectrum - keeping a level of coherence and continuity, while also trying to provide variety and keep the listener interest.
It's like how I told my RE teammates about conventionality and originality. After me was Zhu En, and then Andrea and Aidi. Andrea did about 8 too (like me), and it was really great to see my counterparts' compositions. I agreed with Dr Edward's point about it looking easy, but when it came to playing...it was really difficult. But anyway I think experience does matter - learning and adding new techniques and new colours to your compositional arsenal allows for more ideas and also development of the composition.
And later that day the Conservatory was holding auditions for people coming into it next year...anyway the Ensemble rooms were used for warming up. A couple of dads peering into Ensemble room 4 (I was practising there) but heck. I was once like that too - I mean the warming up part!
Went to eat Mcdonalds at the Engineering Block with Sue Yi, Wasin, and Akkra soon after. Akkra spammed chilli sauce on the small plastic plate so much so that the whole thing spilled over simultaenously and formed a nice circle shape that looked like a red blood cell...And Wasin was eating his McWings and making noises like 'mmm...' and 'ahhhh...' and 'oooohhh...' Prizes for guessing he was eating McWings.
Attempted to copy him at the Chocolate Sundae I got for $1.50, but he said I was too fake - heck I ENJOYED the sundae more than his wings. I still win Wasin! :P Ok just kidding we must be respectful to our seniors. When we went back to the Conservatory though, we had lots of fun. Well, Akkra and I, that is. We were acting as singer and accompanist going for audition with an invisible auditioner. I started shrieking and screaming and Akkra started to forget his notes, and we laughed lots. Like Akkra improvising 'Mary had a little lamb' and 'Mary has no animals'. Hey at least we got away with something to learn ok!
Failed to convince my mum to let me go for the cello concert though by Ralph Kirshbaum. Lots of people were saying it was going to be good, but unfortunately I couldn't go...
But I did start to copy the Elaborations on another piece of manuscript.
16th March Sunday________________________________________
This is for Sunday, that is today.
Yesterday night I had a very cool dream and a frightening bodily experience.
We'll start with the physical experience. Somewhere in the middle of night, my entire body suffered paralysis and I was unable to gain control of my arms and legs. Something we all call, numbness. So it was as if I had pins and needles everywhere. My ears experienced an increasing loud sound, much like thunder. It climaxed to a boom that was extremely loud. My head started to tilt towards the left, and I had totally no control of my neck muscles.
So it was like me lying on the bed, entirely paralyzed, and my ears hearing an increasing crashing sound, while my head involuntarily tilting towards the left. While all this happened though I was trying my best to be conscious of my own movements and actions, but it entirely fail through - it was obvious I had no control.
Immediately after it stopped I quickly tried to massage my arms but it happened again. First was the numbness that set in into my torso, legs, and arms and hands. Then after that the booming sound in my ears. It sounded like a fighter jet engine - right beside my ears. And then my head started tilting left again.
All this really happened, and I shall take note of my sleeping position at night again.
In my dream however, I was able to stop and control time - much like the Heroes character Hiro. Anyway by regulating my heartbeat I was able to control the time around me. In this case I was in a 100m-sprint. At the start of the race I breathed so slowly and felt so conscious of my heartbeat that everything around me started to slow down. And then I started running to the end. And then at some point of time I was in New York trying to steal an item, by I remembered clearly being surrounded by the police. They started shooting bullets at me, and I closed my eyes and started being aware of my own heartbeat. The bullets did stop right in front of me, but I couldn't move at all.
And that was when I panicked and told myself that if my heartbeat started going right up the bullets would go straight into me and I would die. However I just couldn't move - and maybe that was when the paralysis hit me. I'm not sure which one came first. Maybe they both intertwined - scary enough though.
Morning came, and I went for my jabs at the Ang Mo Kio clinic I visited earlier this week with my cousins. Younger cousin Nigel told even younger cousin-brother Julian that it was going to hurt a lot, and he had to take 6 jabs. -.- Now that's mind-numbing.
Anyway I managed to suppress the fear emotion - probably because of the many performances I had been in and the nervousness I had felt - didn't feel frightened at all. And it seriously was an ant-bite. The pain came AFTER the ant-bite though. My arm started to go numb, but it's much better than thinking about the injection. After massaging it though the pain lessened throughout the day and it's clearly much better now.
Shall finish copying and editing the Elaborations, and they'll be up pretty soon!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Phne post 1
Ths post is special becos im typing it from my phne. How fun! Of course it wouldnt be lng as im nt sure if i need to pay bills 4 internet usage. Indeed a historic moment for the readers and i!
Yay. Meanwhle just keep reading n ul be entertained.
A phne post
Yay. Meanwhle just keep reading n ul be entertained.
A phne post
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
chaIR! just...just look it backwards
I've decided to spend my half an hour waiting for the Korean drama my aunt and grandma are watching to end so that I can practise in peace.
So I've decided to be in the shoes of a random object for today - originally wanted you guys to take part in a poll to decide what object I should be in my blogpost. But since I've decided to use this immediate time available to me, too bad buddies!
Let's see...should I be an eraser? Should I be a piano? No. Too boring - you guys would just click one of my links and fly away. Should I be a...pair of glasses? A toilet bowl? A cloud? A building? A bed? Nope. Too many possibilites for bed. Hardly anyone of them not graphic. I shall be a chair...
Good evening.
I'm a chair from Raffles Institution. No, not chairman, neither a chairlady, just a chair. You can call me seat, for short. Although I've been stood upon many times, they still call me a seat.
I'm afraid to launch into Theoglish, but that language just reflects my education - imagine listening to all kinds of information; from physics - Maxwell's Third Law of Thermodynamics and Newton's Third Law of Motion - to chemistry - The entire Periodic Table and different kinds of chemical equations - to biology - "You got balls meh?" and "Eh fck you lah".
My brain capa- Oh! Sorry I didn't mean it by THAT kind of biology. I learn about the deoxyribonucleic acid and extremely complicated phrases like 'Each type of base on one strand forms a bond with just one type of base on the other strand. ' Simply shows how useful Wikipedia is.
Anyway, my brain capacity is larger than anyone can really expect. All these years of learning have made me quite sure that if I sat for A-levels I could be on my way to Cambridge or Oxford. Unfortunately, SIA doesn't have seats catered for chairs. Or seats.
And if you think this is lame, it's NOT!
It's a sad life being a chair. I shall be direct - I have to smell the same ass over and over again for the year! If only I got to smell an ass that's like a flower - although I know a seatfriend of mine who gets to smell such an ass. And that's not all - often I have to endure huge amounts of pain in order to satisfy the sitter. For one, I often have to balance on just two legs with a 50kg weight on me - that's being a HUMAN!
And sadly, I'm not a human. I've heard of friends who are often flipped over on the heads and stomach, before being flipped over on their four legs. This huge amount of pain - being turned over and stamped directly on the head over and over again, is I hardly need to say, a terrible ordeal.
The school that I reside in - Raffles Institution - has half an hour breaks.
Let's do a little calculation - the humans do about 10 of such flips in a minute.
30
x
10
____
300
THREE HUNDRED TIMES? That's like being hit on the head 300 times in less than half an hour. No human could have survived that.
Unfortunately for us, we can. Our hard plastic exterior enables us to withstand such pain. However, we cannot last long - I've heard of seatfriends who have died in such a tragic manner. Just like in 2005 - 5 humans apparently threw chairs around in the hall so much so that a chairhead broke asunder! The pain we felt can be reflected in the hall name - "AHH!" - Albert Hong Hall.
Many of you human bastards don't understand what I'm going through - what we're going through. We're just chairs - not human beings. Look, we admit, you're bigger, you're better. But that doesn't mean you can simply stamp, kick, throw us all around for your own pleasure!
So stop being assholes (figuratively) and just...just SIT on us!
Imagine if all these were true.
IT IS!
Alright that's seriously the end lol I'm now a human. If you liked this post, please vote for it at this website Funniest Post Competition
Thank you!
So I've decided to be in the shoes of a random object for today - originally wanted you guys to take part in a poll to decide what object I should be in my blogpost. But since I've decided to use this immediate time available to me, too bad buddies!
Let's see...should I be an eraser? Should I be a piano? No. Too boring - you guys would just click one of my links and fly away. Should I be a...pair of glasses? A toilet bowl? A cloud? A building? A bed? Nope. Too many possibilites for bed. Hardly anyone of them not graphic. I shall be a chair...
Good evening.
I'm a chair from Raffles Institution. No, not chairman, neither a chairlady, just a chair. You can call me seat, for short. Although I've been stood upon many times, they still call me a seat.
I'm afraid to launch into Theoglish, but that language just reflects my education - imagine listening to all kinds of information; from physics - Maxwell's Third Law of Thermodynamics and Newton's Third Law of Motion - to chemistry - The entire Periodic Table and different kinds of chemical equations - to biology - "You got balls meh?" and "Eh fck you lah".
My brain capa- Oh! Sorry I didn't mean it by THAT kind of biology. I learn about the deoxyribonucleic acid and extremely complicated phrases like 'Each type of base on one strand forms a bond with just one type of base on the other strand. ' Simply shows how useful Wikipedia is.
Anyway, my brain capacity is larger than anyone can really expect. All these years of learning have made me quite sure that if I sat for A-levels I could be on my way to Cambridge or Oxford. Unfortunately, SIA doesn't have seats catered for chairs. Or seats.
And if you think this is lame, it's NOT!
It's a sad life being a chair. I shall be direct - I have to smell the same ass over and over again for the year! If only I got to smell an ass that's like a flower - although I know a seatfriend of mine who gets to smell such an ass. And that's not all - often I have to endure huge amounts of pain in order to satisfy the sitter. For one, I often have to balance on just two legs with a 50kg weight on me - that's being a HUMAN!
And sadly, I'm not a human. I've heard of friends who are often flipped over on the heads and stomach, before being flipped over on their four legs. This huge amount of pain - being turned over and stamped directly on the head over and over again, is I hardly need to say, a terrible ordeal.
The school that I reside in - Raffles Institution - has half an hour breaks.
Let's do a little calculation - the humans do about 10 of such flips in a minute.
30
x
10
____
300
THREE HUNDRED TIMES? That's like being hit on the head 300 times in less than half an hour. No human could have survived that.
Unfortunately for us, we can. Our hard plastic exterior enables us to withstand such pain. However, we cannot last long - I've heard of seatfriends who have died in such a tragic manner. Just like in 2005 - 5 humans apparently threw chairs around in the hall so much so that a chairhead broke asunder! The pain we felt can be reflected in the hall name - "AHH!" - Albert Hong Hall.
Many of you human bastards don't understand what I'm going through - what we're going through. We're just chairs - not human beings. Look, we admit, you're bigger, you're better. But that doesn't mean you can simply stamp, kick, throw us all around for your own pleasure!
So stop being assholes (figuratively) and just...just SIT on us!
Imagine if all these were true.
IT IS!
Alright that's seriously the end lol I'm now a human. If you liked this post, please vote for it at this website Funniest Post Competition
Thank you!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Forgetful forgetful
Might have as well show you guys the first copy of an incomplete Chaconne on a Groundbass of Bach. Extremely messy, but the process of editing is fun and also enjoyable. For copyright reasons I'll just put one page of it.
Understanding the composer's process of composing has always been a source of inspiration to me - reading on how the Beatles start a piece from jamming and then solidifying their ideas. Not as if mine's good, but heck. We're always learning anyway.
No big stuff on going, except I lost my ez-link card on Friday and when I was going to YA on Saturday I just realized that that was the case. Because I tapped my wallet on the machine but it didn't work so yeap. Opened it, holy crap, nothing's there.
I panicked for quite a moment before I suddenly realize where I left it - in the Hullett Memorial Library. So I went there this morning to collet my card, and they punished me by asking me to write lines. Anyway this morning I broke all of the rules possible in the library - I entered the library with PE shirt, I brought my bag into the library, I was talking very loudly to the librarian.
So the woman librarian asked me, "Are you Secondary 1?"
"No."
"Why don't you follow the rules then?"
Ok fine I didn't follow the rules simply because I was in a hurry to hand in my Chinese homework to my teacher. Ok Mdm Librarian? She was pretty naggy anyway and constantly repeated her words that were coated with vile sarcasm and dry of wit. So much for leaving my card behind to book a project corner.
Next time I'll just get my friend to continuously remind me to take my card out whenever I book a project corner. I'm a pretty forgetful person!
I'm not doing anything productive at the moment.
1) Finish practising A major and 2nd movement of Mozart.
2) Finish Chaconne.
Alright let's get to work people.
Understanding the composer's process of composing has always been a source of inspiration to me - reading on how the Beatles start a piece from jamming and then solidifying their ideas. Not as if mine's good, but heck. We're always learning anyway.
No big stuff on going, except I lost my ez-link card on Friday and when I was going to YA on Saturday I just realized that that was the case. Because I tapped my wallet on the machine but it didn't work so yeap. Opened it, holy crap, nothing's there.
I panicked for quite a moment before I suddenly realize where I left it - in the Hullett Memorial Library. So I went there this morning to collet my card, and they punished me by asking me to write lines. Anyway this morning I broke all of the rules possible in the library - I entered the library with PE shirt, I brought my bag into the library, I was talking very loudly to the librarian.
So the woman librarian asked me, "Are you Secondary 1?"
"No."
"Why don't you follow the rules then?"
Ok fine I didn't follow the rules simply because I was in a hurry to hand in my Chinese homework to my teacher. Ok Mdm Librarian? She was pretty naggy anyway and constantly repeated her words that were coated with vile sarcasm and dry of wit. So much for leaving my card behind to book a project corner.
Next time I'll just get my friend to continuously remind me to take my card out whenever I book a project corner. I'm a pretty forgetful person!
I'm not doing anything productive at the moment.
1) Finish practising A major and 2nd movement of Mozart.
2) Finish Chaconne.
Alright let's get to work people.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Shin Chaconne on a GroundBass of Bach
I got to hear Bach's Chaconne in D minor for Solo Violin Bwv 1004 yesterday in YA class. We had an 'assignment' for the week - to write four elaborations of the ground bass provided by our dear Bach.
However since we're having March holidays now, I've decided to do about 20-50 of them, and I've already started on the first...six already. Not bad, considering I didn't use keyboard and when I played it I just had to make minor edits. Also partly training one's level of concentration and ability to 'hear' the note inside one's head.
I've developed them over the years, and now I must say they're quite reliable, except it takes a burden on your brain and also limits the range of colours you can put onto the score. With the keyboard I must say it's defintely much easier.
I know this is about homework, but...
You know, music just rules.
However since we're having March holidays now, I've decided to do about 20-50 of them, and I've already started on the first...six already. Not bad, considering I didn't use keyboard and when I played it I just had to make minor edits. Also partly training one's level of concentration and ability to 'hear' the note inside one's head.
I've developed them over the years, and now I must say they're quite reliable, except it takes a burden on your brain and also limits the range of colours you can put onto the score. With the keyboard I must say it's defintely much easier.
I know this is about homework, but...
You know, music just rules.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Topsy-turvy
Today's one of the most topsy-turvy days I've ever had! From the start at 8am all the way to 6pm - I was constantly bombarded with different kind of feelings. Class camaraderie, class stupidity, class miscommunication, class fun, CCA EXCO meeting 1 and EXCO meeting 2.
It was mixed into all these 10 hours that I could hardly register and think that all of these could have happened in one day!
And so it began - in PE lesson. We were having our 2.4 warm-ups, and today was another one of them. The class was divided into two, and one half would be the timers and the other half were the runners. After all of the first half finished running, it was time to switch - our class big guy Shide was in my group, and all of us in the group had a plan to 'pace' him. Which meant that we ran behind and beside him. However after two rounds of 'pacing' our kind PE teacher started getting a little genuinely angry.
It could possibly be the way that we took and look at these trail runs - something just for fun. I think our PE teacher actually meant us well to use this time to exercise and prepare ourselves for the actual run in the coming weeks. He told the whole class that he would be talking to us next time we saw him. Scolding? Perhaps.
After the PE class was English, where I had a rather fantastic mood after I saw my group through altogether with a 3.6, equivalently to an A. 4.0 is A+. I was feeling pretty glad - I previouly mentioned two posts back about this thing we have been working so hard for. Bugis Junction, Central Library, and hours trying to prepare.
Truly a great feeling to lead them Zhongren Ian and Bryan.
The mood was altogether destroyed soon after though - for the term-end celebration we had today, it was marred simply because of miscommunication between the monitor (who didn't come in the morning) and the class itself. I shall not recall this terrible incident.
After that was Mathematics, and I was lost for a full hour as usual. Should have brought more manuscript paper along - Trignometry without any visual aids suck so much that I specifically called up Kingkoil for a portable mattress to bring. And my Trigonometry itself sucks so much that all the vacuum cleaner companies have attempted to buy my brand of Trigo - sucks the most. Anyway for the quiz itself I had an amazing total of _.
Immediately rushed to complete my Literature work in the library, and successfully typed out a 700 word essay in 45 minutes thanks to nice, structured planning at home. I handed in though, my THUMBDRIVE to Miss Chew, who thankfully accepted it but told me that she wasn't a printing machine. Wanted to ask if I could pay her though...:X
Attempted finishing two of my essays, but only succeeded doing one over the course of one day. Shall hand in all of my Chinese work on Monday.
String Ensemble EXCO meeting was enlightening, and I'm sure all of you will be looking forward to a revamp and lots of fresh things. Basically dumping the old EXCo away and putting on new clothings that smell good. We'll all put on new clothing that smell good together...
Of course, I will be blogging about juicier stuff in the next few days!
It was mixed into all these 10 hours that I could hardly register and think that all of these could have happened in one day!
And so it began - in PE lesson. We were having our 2.4 warm-ups, and today was another one of them. The class was divided into two, and one half would be the timers and the other half were the runners. After all of the first half finished running, it was time to switch - our class big guy Shide was in my group, and all of us in the group had a plan to 'pace' him. Which meant that we ran behind and beside him. However after two rounds of 'pacing' our kind PE teacher started getting a little genuinely angry.
It could possibly be the way that we took and look at these trail runs - something just for fun. I think our PE teacher actually meant us well to use this time to exercise and prepare ourselves for the actual run in the coming weeks. He told the whole class that he would be talking to us next time we saw him. Scolding? Perhaps.
After the PE class was English, where I had a rather fantastic mood after I saw my group through altogether with a 3.6, equivalently to an A. 4.0 is A+. I was feeling pretty glad - I previouly mentioned two posts back about this thing we have been working so hard for. Bugis Junction, Central Library, and hours trying to prepare.
Truly a great feeling to lead them Zhongren Ian and Bryan.
The mood was altogether destroyed soon after though - for the term-end celebration we had today, it was marred simply because of miscommunication between the monitor (who didn't come in the morning) and the class itself. I shall not recall this terrible incident.
After that was Mathematics, and I was lost for a full hour as usual. Should have brought more manuscript paper along - Trignometry without any visual aids suck so much that I specifically called up Kingkoil for a portable mattress to bring. And my Trigonometry itself sucks so much that all the vacuum cleaner companies have attempted to buy my brand of Trigo - sucks the most. Anyway for the quiz itself I had an amazing total of _.
Immediately rushed to complete my Literature work in the library, and successfully typed out a 700 word essay in 45 minutes thanks to nice, structured planning at home. I handed in though, my THUMBDRIVE to Miss Chew, who thankfully accepted it but told me that she wasn't a printing machine. Wanted to ask if I could pay her though...:X
Attempted finishing two of my essays, but only succeeded doing one over the course of one day. Shall hand in all of my Chinese work on Monday.
String Ensemble EXCO meeting was enlightening, and I'm sure all of you will be looking forward to a revamp and lots of fresh things. Basically dumping the old EXCo away and putting on new clothings that smell good. We'll all put on new clothing that smell good together...
Of course, I will be blogging about juicier stuff in the next few days!
Monday, March 3, 2008
I did it RI's way...
Our English Reading Programme ended today, with our Ray Charles Biography Angle Presentation given out with much bumps but nonetheless we got our point across to the masses. (numbering 24)
The group consisted of Zhongren, Ian, Bryan and I, me being the leader. We literally did the preperation last minute, with a rushed Saturday 9am meeting at the Central Library at Bugis. We finally got to talking at about 10, as the library opened at 10. So we rushed to get the books needed at the basement, then proceeded to the 7th storey to have a good view and more importantly, a good and refreshed MIND!
So we discussed and read through the script, and then finally at 1.30 went for lunch. At Bugis's Mcdonalds. It was on a whole a rather short and RI-like project, as we left everything to the end and rushed like there was no Godzilla at Bukit Batok. (Therefore we were pretty fast)
Another presentation I was involved in today was the earlier Philosophy class, where our group consisting Leon, Zhongren, Jun Sean and I, Jun Sean being the 'leader' also attempted to follow the Do-Your-Project-Like-Rafflesians-Do rule book, and we left things to 1am.
Well, I sent him my slide information at about 1am when it was instead promised to be sent by 1pm, essentially putting me 12 hours late, which would mean minus 5%. Thank goodness Jun Sean isn't a RI teacher. I'm sure MOE wouldn't want teachers who would possess the ability to produce contagious laughter.
Having wrapped up these two presentations, there's one last project left for the week: Literature Dramatization and Literature CRP. That makes it two, but I put one there so that whenever I look at it, I feel more relaxed.
Ah...I'm now more relaxed.
The group consisted of Zhongren, Ian, Bryan and I, me being the leader. We literally did the preperation last minute, with a rushed Saturday 9am meeting at the Central Library at Bugis. We finally got to talking at about 10, as the library opened at 10. So we rushed to get the books needed at the basement, then proceeded to the 7th storey to have a good view and more importantly, a good and refreshed MIND!
So we discussed and read through the script, and then finally at 1.30 went for lunch. At Bugis's Mcdonalds. It was on a whole a rather short and RI-like project, as we left everything to the end and rushed like there was no Godzilla at Bukit Batok. (Therefore we were pretty fast)
Another presentation I was involved in today was the earlier Philosophy class, where our group consisting Leon, Zhongren, Jun Sean and I, Jun Sean being the 'leader' also attempted to follow the Do-Your-Project-Like-Rafflesians-Do rule book, and we left things to 1am.
Well, I sent him my slide information at about 1am when it was instead promised to be sent by 1pm, essentially putting me 12 hours late, which would mean minus 5%. Thank goodness Jun Sean isn't a RI teacher. I'm sure MOE wouldn't want teachers who would possess the ability to produce contagious laughter.
Having wrapped up these two presentations, there's one last project left for the week: Literature Dramatization and Literature CRP. That makes it two, but I put one there so that whenever I look at it, I feel more relaxed.
Ah...I'm now more relaxed.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Disgraceful RI guys act
I like to watch how RI guys react to every thing and action during mass gatherings. Just like in the Lecture Theatre. Just like in the canteen. Just like in the classrooms. Just like in the Hall.
Just two days ago during the Prefectorial Investiture, the Secondary 4s were treated to a comfortable yet fantastic view of the Hall from the Gallery situated one level above, a privilege that we all enjoy once we have endured 3 years of wearing white tight pants that occasionally grow tighter.
Sexual innuendos aside, I managed to witness one of the largest (racial?) jeering I've ever experienced in RI. Well all of us were on the top floor, and all the prefects were being 'invest'ed into the investiture, so naturally the names were read out and the photos of the prefects shown on a huge screen in front of the hall.
Last year in the campaigning I believe there's a need to mention that this guy from China - surnamed 'Wang' - had his campaign line as 'Vote for Wang, never let you down'.
Unfortunately for him I suppose his message went out the wrong way, and everyone was absolutely frenzied by his pronunciation - Vote for Whang (Wank), never [let you down]
So whenever he went on stage to give a speech, he would always be met with thunderous applause and a couple of cat-calls and wolf-whistles. Now on that day of Prefects' Investiture, his presentation was followed by an Indian who went with the prefectorial avatar of Groundbreaker - probably someone who would break new ground in whatever thing he chose to do. Unfortunately he didn't strike with the general masses, and on that day we were chose to see the ugly side of RI boys.
Anyway there was as usual much cheer and joy when Mr. Wang was 'invested'. Unfortunately after him was Groundbreaker, and it was juxtaposed with the sudden hushes, jeers, and 'boos' that rang around the Hall. It was pretty clear that the Headmaster was attempting to force out a smile on his Chinese face, but the entire event continued anyway. Well the representatives from the other schools were probably as amused as some of us, but deep inside I believe they know they've just seen a disgraceful act.
Just two days ago during the Prefectorial Investiture, the Secondary 4s were treated to a comfortable yet fantastic view of the Hall from the Gallery situated one level above, a privilege that we all enjoy once we have endured 3 years of wearing white tight pants that occasionally grow tighter.
Sexual innuendos aside, I managed to witness one of the largest (racial?) jeering I've ever experienced in RI. Well all of us were on the top floor, and all the prefects were being 'invest'ed into the investiture, so naturally the names were read out and the photos of the prefects shown on a huge screen in front of the hall.
Last year in the campaigning I believe there's a need to mention that this guy from China - surnamed 'Wang' - had his campaign line as 'Vote for Wang, never let you down'.
Unfortunately for him I suppose his message went out the wrong way, and everyone was absolutely frenzied by his pronunciation - Vote for Whang (Wank), never [let you down]
So whenever he went on stage to give a speech, he would always be met with thunderous applause and a couple of cat-calls and wolf-whistles. Now on that day of Prefects' Investiture, his presentation was followed by an Indian who went with the prefectorial avatar of Groundbreaker - probably someone who would break new ground in whatever thing he chose to do. Unfortunately he didn't strike with the general masses, and on that day we were chose to see the ugly side of RI boys.
Anyway there was as usual much cheer and joy when Mr. Wang was 'invested'. Unfortunately after him was Groundbreaker, and it was juxtaposed with the sudden hushes, jeers, and 'boos' that rang around the Hall. It was pretty clear that the Headmaster was attempting to force out a smile on his Chinese face, but the entire event continued anyway. Well the representatives from the other schools were probably as amused as some of us, but deep inside I believe they know they've just seen a disgraceful act.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Moscow 2040
It is inevitable that one day somewhere someone would get tired of blogging and recording his thoughts. Nonetheless, there are also times where somewhere someone would find some liberated time to do so.
On Tuesday there was Dr Hecht and Mr Tiu's two-piano concert recital, and I feel a review of it would be redundant as we already have one from a distinguished reader of my blog; Dr. Chang Tou Liang!
Yeah he wrote a review in the ST on the excellent concert, which was published on Wednesday. Needless to say I read it and thought some of my friends (and even myself) can pick up lots of review writing tips from this medical doctor and music lover. The recently-formed review-writing disease has strucked some of us, but well, it's all for better music appreciation and improved English skills.
On Thursday during MEP we did our last 2 hours of composition test, of which I changed poems 3 times and finally settled with the one I started with, using 45 minutes to write melody and an accompaniment that was a mixture of Debussy-Reflection-of-the-Water and Jonathan-Shin-Crap. The melody wasn't at all good. I would feel more comfortable putting the blame first on the text though. With good text comes good music.
With bad text comes uncomfortable melodies and 3 weeks wasted.
After MEP with much abated breath my dad and I went home to catch the results of the Youth Olympic Bid. In the end, it was fortunately Moscow 2040! Singapore will host 2010. Yay...
Anyway before that my dad was attempting to convince me that it was definitely Singapore. "Prime Minister Lee, who earns hundreds of thousands of dollars a minute, surely wouldn't be there to waste his own time, would he?" And besides, they wouldn't organise such a huge event for 100 secondary schools to come down to the Padang to view the results. More importantly, Prime Minister Lee and Ng Ser Miang have visited Switzerland so many times over the past few weeks.
Well honestly speaking my dad rarely goes wrong on predicting politics, considering his wizened age and political mind. :)
If PM Lee were reading this, I'm sure he would be nodding his head too in agreement.
(Eh how he know! So clever...)
On Tuesday there was Dr Hecht and Mr Tiu's two-piano concert recital, and I feel a review of it would be redundant as we already have one from a distinguished reader of my blog; Dr. Chang Tou Liang!
Yeah he wrote a review in the ST on the excellent concert, which was published on Wednesday. Needless to say I read it and thought some of my friends (and even myself) can pick up lots of review writing tips from this medical doctor and music lover. The recently-formed review-writing disease has strucked some of us, but well, it's all for better music appreciation and improved English skills.
On Thursday during MEP we did our last 2 hours of composition test, of which I changed poems 3 times and finally settled with the one I started with, using 45 minutes to write melody and an accompaniment that was a mixture of Debussy-Reflection-of-the-Water and Jonathan-Shin-Crap. The melody wasn't at all good. I would feel more comfortable putting the blame first on the text though. With good text comes good music.
With bad text comes uncomfortable melodies and 3 weeks wasted.
After MEP with much abated breath my dad and I went home to catch the results of the Youth Olympic Bid. In the end, it was fortunately Moscow 2040! Singapore will host 2010. Yay...
Anyway before that my dad was attempting to convince me that it was definitely Singapore. "Prime Minister Lee, who earns hundreds of thousands of dollars a minute, surely wouldn't be there to waste his own time, would he?" And besides, they wouldn't organise such a huge event for 100 secondary schools to come down to the Padang to view the results. More importantly, Prime Minister Lee and Ng Ser Miang have visited Switzerland so many times over the past few weeks.
Well honestly speaking my dad rarely goes wrong on predicting politics, considering his wizened age and political mind. :)
If PM Lee were reading this, I'm sure he would be nodding his head too in agreement.
(Eh how he know! So clever...)
Saturday, February 16, 2008
always look on the relaxed and forgetful part of life...
I'm pretty sure someone had hynotised me. And they should have awarded me a phD for most number of items lost in a day. Just yesterday I was in the Conservatory for theory lessons when I went to practise so afterwards.
After 3 hours of practice and a 1 hour recital by Hannah and a few chocolates provided by Hannah, I was off to head home from NUS. So I went across the road to catch bus 96 (I missed the first one because I was eating Pocky and thinking I was definitely waiting for bus 76). Well after 5 seconds of wondering I made up my mind that bus 96 was flying off to Clementi MRT and not the non-existent 76, I took off from my seat and took just one small step towards the bus.
Well, there's a twist to every story; the bus driver moved off!
So I figured I was going to wait for say, 20 minutes.
I was wrong - the next bus 76 was there in a mere 20 seconds. The nice thing about it was that it reached Clementi MRT faster than the one I missed previously. Heehee.
Anyway I believe you all had this gut feeling that 'something' is missing from your bag but you can't think of what it is. And sometimes they are the most obvious things. I realised I was missing two things. One was on the MRT, and the other was today. This morning!
I forgot to bring out with me a file which contained all my theory work (thankfully I've retrieved it back because Qin Ying passed it to Tarin, who would subsequently pass it to me tomorrow). And the thing I realised I had forgotten to take out from the practice room was the PENCILBOX.
PENCILBOX!!!
Yeah I didn't get into big shit but that's one life lesson learnt -
Always bring two pencilboxes and two files!
In any case my pop music idols are the Beatles, and I think I've found my literary idols! Well they are Monty Python (a group), and I bet some of you readers have never heard of them. Well they're from the 1960s, *groans from the public* and yes they're witty and clever! Your idols have to be smart somehow anyway.
I watched a couple of their sketches and skits, and also some of their movies! Two of which I shall put here for all you guys to watch and laugh.
Song for today was 'Always look on the Bright Side of Life!'
Which was interesting how I used it to deal with my seething mad mood during Mathematics Tuition. Tomorrow we're going to sit for a Math test, and we were going to be tested on Circular Measure and Probability! So there was this RI guy who was also in the class, sitting beside me.
I started on Question 1 at home, and started doing Question 2. He started from another worksheet, and in half-an-hour's time switched to my paper from Question 1. My Mathematical Orang-Utan mind was no match for his, and very soon he was on par with me! (At Question 6)
In any case I resolved to beat him by finishing Question 6 faster than him by 7pm, but failed to do so because my watch was 10 minutes early. He was mumbling a thousand numerics out of his mouth, and I hardly could concentrate! Some mantra he had there...
"sinetwopointzeroeighttimeshmm...timescosineninepointfourfourthreeseventwo.hmmmmshithowtodothisineedtogotothetoiletandshit dividedbytwotimesfourteencosinesixty hambugerturkeychickencrapwithcheeseandfrenchfriesbaboonflyflytwentypointeight"
Anyway so I decided to breathe in and breathe out and count to ten. Something you guys must actually try and concentrate when you'll are pissed! And then I started to sing "Always look on the Bright Side of Life", which calmed and relaxed me. And so I gave up trying to beat him, but in the end he left early at seven. I realised I should try doing things at my own pace.
Well, it may sound crappy, but after all one should take concentrate and do things naturally so he can do it at his best! Just like before any performance, I breathe in and breathe out, and run through all the details, and be responsible for my performance!
Maybe they should give me a phD for relaxation also...
After 3 hours of practice and a 1 hour recital by Hannah and a few chocolates provided by Hannah, I was off to head home from NUS. So I went across the road to catch bus 96 (I missed the first one because I was eating Pocky and thinking I was definitely waiting for bus 76). Well after 5 seconds of wondering I made up my mind that bus 96 was flying off to Clementi MRT and not the non-existent 76, I took off from my seat and took just one small step towards the bus.
Well, there's a twist to every story; the bus driver moved off!
So I figured I was going to wait for say, 20 minutes.
I was wrong - the next bus 76 was there in a mere 20 seconds. The nice thing about it was that it reached Clementi MRT faster than the one I missed previously. Heehee.
Anyway I believe you all had this gut feeling that 'something' is missing from your bag but you can't think of what it is. And sometimes they are the most obvious things. I realised I was missing two things. One was on the MRT, and the other was today. This morning!
I forgot to bring out with me a file which contained all my theory work (thankfully I've retrieved it back because Qin Ying passed it to Tarin, who would subsequently pass it to me tomorrow). And the thing I realised I had forgotten to take out from the practice room was the PENCILBOX.
PENCILBOX!!!
Yeah I didn't get into big shit but that's one life lesson learnt -
Always bring two pencilboxes and two files!
In any case my pop music idols are the Beatles, and I think I've found my literary idols! Well they are Monty Python (a group), and I bet some of you readers have never heard of them. Well they're from the 1960s, *groans from the public* and yes they're witty and clever! Your idols have to be smart somehow anyway.
I watched a couple of their sketches and skits, and also some of their movies! Two of which I shall put here for all you guys to watch and laugh.
Song for today was 'Always look on the Bright Side of Life!'
Which was interesting how I used it to deal with my seething mad mood during Mathematics Tuition. Tomorrow we're going to sit for a Math test, and we were going to be tested on Circular Measure and Probability! So there was this RI guy who was also in the class, sitting beside me.
I started on Question 1 at home, and started doing Question 2. He started from another worksheet, and in half-an-hour's time switched to my paper from Question 1. My Mathematical Orang-Utan mind was no match for his, and very soon he was on par with me! (At Question 6)
In any case I resolved to beat him by finishing Question 6 faster than him by 7pm, but failed to do so because my watch was 10 minutes early. He was mumbling a thousand numerics out of his mouth, and I hardly could concentrate! Some mantra he had there...
"sinetwopointzeroeighttimeshmm...timescosineninepointfourfourthreeseventwo.hmmmmshithowtodothisineedtogotothetoiletandshit dividedbytwotimesfourteencosinesixty hambugerturkeychickencrapwithcheeseandfrenchfriesbaboonflyflytwentypointeight"
Anyway so I decided to breathe in and breathe out and count to ten. Something you guys must actually try and concentrate when you'll are pissed! And then I started to sing "Always look on the Bright Side of Life", which calmed and relaxed me. And so I gave up trying to beat him, but in the end he left early at seven. I realised I should try doing things at my own pace.
Well, it may sound crappy, but after all one should take concentrate and do things naturally so he can do it at his best! Just like before any performance, I breathe in and breathe out, and run through all the details, and be responsible for my performance!
Maybe they should give me a phD for relaxation also...
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