being trained in classical music and exposed to playing pop style in church, i grew up to be competent in both. Not super competent, decently competent.
hated going for piano lessons in the past. peeps may find it hard to believe seeing my love for music. going to my piano tr's house was likened to going to 'hell'. as i walk to her place a few blocks away, i'd literally imagine myself walking into a place devoid of life... there'd be a particular curb (which is no longer there, with all the devt taking place) i'll step onto, imagine the 'hell's gates' opening. and in i go for piano lesson,getting scolded is a norm. 'how many times must i tell you to curve in your fingers?....' the moments i step out of my tr's place is a relief. on my way home, there'll be another curb (non-existent as well) which when i step onto i'll imagine the door to life open for me to get out. and the moment i 'cross over the threshold', in my mind will be this little melodic tune tt goes 'run, run as fast as u can.. run run like u've neva run before'....
dun get me wrong. i enjoy classical music. (i like jazz more. ha ha). the training just aint easy. no wonder so many pple drop out of classical piano. and because of the pressure to do well for exams, many teachers (not all) only drill students on the exam pieces. it is not uncommon to hear peeps saying they only learn 3/4 pieces each year - d exam pieces.and no wonder many complain that even tho they hv achieved high grades in classical piano, they cannot improvise / 'play by ear'.
so is classical piano that bad? having not played piano for close to a decade after i completed my grade 8, i realized, that classical piano is a good foundation block into other genres such as pop and jazz.
first, there's the touch that you are trained to achieve from the discipline required of classical piano. after resuming classical for a couple of months, my touch for pop and jazz improved as well.
second, much to peep's surprise, classical music provides the scales / modes for improvisation. the chord progressions and extensions as well as runs on classical pieces could so easily be integrated into other genres and sound brilliant!
while it sounds great... there is one prob i'm starting to face even tho classical supposedly helps in my other genres. after playing classical, my brain is starting to become LAZY!!! classical can possibly be 'spoon feeding' as one simply nids to read scores and less mental activity in the area of creation is required. now i'm so lazy when i get to prac piano, the easy way out - pick out a classical piece. just follow the score. no nid to think. no nid to improvise... EEKS!!
so here's the long and short of my exp w classical music. i guess i just nid to be more disciplined in prac the different genres.. ha ha... but the weather's too warm for me to prac.... ha ha ha....
Friday, May 23, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
On the journey on the train...
I thank God for a seat... and so i’m writing an entry to my
Journey to Cambodia – 14 – 18 May 2008
It was a trip i wasn’t sure would materialize as it falls on one of the days i’[m teaching. By the grace of God, i managed to get approval to shift my lessons. So last Wednesday (tt din seem so far back) i made my way to the airport directly from campus. In the morn en route to campus, i actually felt like just skipping class and go straight to Cambodia. The good thing though was that I enjoyed the class that day.
I was early at the airport, so had lunch by myself. I tink i’m getting used to the idea of just eating alone. Eating used to be a social thing.. but now.. its starting to be come functional!
Anyway we arranged to meet at 2.30pm for check in. At approx 2.40 i handed over my passport to the lady at the checkin counter only to get this response: Mdm, is this your old passport?
GOODNESS GRACIOUS. I did pack in a rush tis trip. Only the evening before after teaching for 8 long hours. And i simply asked FM to pick up my passport from a little drawer, not checking the contents within.
I went quickly to FM and we sped home for my passport. Thank God we arrived in time. It had been such a rush few days prior to the trip. The only ‘rest’ i could expect would only come once i board the flight.
It was a good trip. I got to noe the youth better. Tis trip, i decided that i will build relationships unlike the previous trip. I spent time with ah ong and this elderly couple from Sarawak, eddy and rose. There i made chrysanthemum tea, barley, herbal chicken soup (we call the Da Chang Jin soup – the Korean drama – due to the packaging of the herbs). Helped out in the making of curry puffs for the fun fair for the 10th anniversary of the funfair. I even taught a gal there how to brew chrysanthemum tea. Only, a much more sweetened version for their taste buds.
There were loads of bugs too during the trip. Different types over the different nights. First night was stinking bugs, second night was flying insects which shed their wings all over the place the next morning when i was sweeping the floor i thot they could pass off as confetti!!
Ate a lot of bread. :D with fake nutella. Saw the lady at tutompong.
Anyway, i gotta stop. I’m reaching my stop soon. These few days will be super busy... so i’m glad for this time for a quick entry. Thank God for the seat. Ha ha.
Journey to Cambodia – 14 – 18 May 2008
It was a trip i wasn’t sure would materialize as it falls on one of the days i’[m teaching. By the grace of God, i managed to get approval to shift my lessons. So last Wednesday (tt din seem so far back) i made my way to the airport directly from campus. In the morn en route to campus, i actually felt like just skipping class and go straight to Cambodia. The good thing though was that I enjoyed the class that day.
I was early at the airport, so had lunch by myself. I tink i’m getting used to the idea of just eating alone. Eating used to be a social thing.. but now.. its starting to be come functional!
Anyway we arranged to meet at 2.30pm for check in. At approx 2.40 i handed over my passport to the lady at the checkin counter only to get this response: Mdm, is this your old passport?
GOODNESS GRACIOUS. I did pack in a rush tis trip. Only the evening before after teaching for 8 long hours. And i simply asked FM to pick up my passport from a little drawer, not checking the contents within.
I went quickly to FM and we sped home for my passport. Thank God we arrived in time. It had been such a rush few days prior to the trip. The only ‘rest’ i could expect would only come once i board the flight.
It was a good trip. I got to noe the youth better. Tis trip, i decided that i will build relationships unlike the previous trip. I spent time with ah ong and this elderly couple from Sarawak, eddy and rose. There i made chrysanthemum tea, barley, herbal chicken soup (we call the Da Chang Jin soup – the Korean drama – due to the packaging of the herbs). Helped out in the making of curry puffs for the fun fair for the 10th anniversary of the funfair. I even taught a gal there how to brew chrysanthemum tea. Only, a much more sweetened version for their taste buds.
There were loads of bugs too during the trip. Different types over the different nights. First night was stinking bugs, second night was flying insects which shed their wings all over the place the next morning when i was sweeping the floor i thot they could pass off as confetti!!
Ate a lot of bread. :D with fake nutella. Saw the lady at tutompong.
Anyway, i gotta stop. I’m reaching my stop soon. These few days will be super busy... so i’m glad for this time for a quick entry. Thank God for the seat. Ha ha.
Friday, May 02, 2008
busy busy busy.....
busy.. but decided to post.... because
1. next time when i look back i noe wat i've been up to..
2. i scared this blog dead.. ha ha.. and i noe there are a coulpe of peeps still reading and concerned abt my life.. ha ha
anywayz, tis week has been madness. I did 5 days worth of teaching in 3 days because of public holiday on thurs tt required us to shift our lessons to another day, plus my usual mon tuition was shifted to tues cos the kid's exam was on wed. so on tues, i effectively taught for TEN full hours.... 8 in SP and 2 for tuition. Wed was 4 hrs of teaching, plus another 2 hrs of training on use of DVD camcorder?!? and thurs was altho a 'labor day' hols, i shifted my piano lessons and tuition to thurs as i'll be away this weekend to a KELONG!! for a well-deserved break!! ha ha.... but tues really killed me (plus more than half an hour wait for silly bus 100, only to have 4 buses come tog, and i was so late for tuition, when i was so tired from SP!!)
any complains? i'm so busy tt i hvn't been able to prac piano at all! either tt or i'm too tired for that.... but actually, i do enjoy what i'm doing now. i'm still teaching... still helping peeps do better ( i hope!). still interacting with young peeps.. which is great... when i vet thro their drafts over emails and all... it felt nice that i was doing something constructive rather than tonnes of admin work i used to hv to do. so now, its just a matter of learning to manage my time better.
on wed, FM and i brought a cake to Hannah's place to give her a surprise for her bday. (hannah just live across the road from FM. and the road's really narrow. ha ha. very very near.) tink it was divine appt.
anywayz tts my life... now i gotta run... because i nid to prac some pieces b4 i meet JJ to jam later for the perf at TTSH in jun.... argh..... bye bye piano dip!!
1. next time when i look back i noe wat i've been up to..
2. i scared this blog dead.. ha ha.. and i noe there are a coulpe of peeps still reading and concerned abt my life.. ha ha
anywayz, tis week has been madness. I did 5 days worth of teaching in 3 days because of public holiday on thurs tt required us to shift our lessons to another day, plus my usual mon tuition was shifted to tues cos the kid's exam was on wed. so on tues, i effectively taught for TEN full hours.... 8 in SP and 2 for tuition. Wed was 4 hrs of teaching, plus another 2 hrs of training on use of DVD camcorder?!? and thurs was altho a 'labor day' hols, i shifted my piano lessons and tuition to thurs as i'll be away this weekend to a KELONG!! for a well-deserved break!! ha ha.... but tues really killed me (plus more than half an hour wait for silly bus 100, only to have 4 buses come tog, and i was so late for tuition, when i was so tired from SP!!)
any complains? i'm so busy tt i hvn't been able to prac piano at all! either tt or i'm too tired for that.... but actually, i do enjoy what i'm doing now. i'm still teaching... still helping peeps do better ( i hope!). still interacting with young peeps.. which is great... when i vet thro their drafts over emails and all... it felt nice that i was doing something constructive rather than tonnes of admin work i used to hv to do. so now, its just a matter of learning to manage my time better.
on wed, FM and i brought a cake to Hannah's place to give her a surprise for her bday. (hannah just live across the road from FM. and the road's really narrow. ha ha. very very near.) tink it was divine appt.
anywayz tts my life... now i gotta run... because i nid to prac some pieces b4 i meet JJ to jam later for the perf at TTSH in jun.... argh..... bye bye piano dip!!
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