forgetful composers
Monday, October 30, 2006, 08:54 p.m. #1211

My composer-friend just met someone who has offered to publish a book on his compositions and his ruan techniques. Really, really happy for him! After so many years, his talent is finally recognised and affirmed. But the problem with my friend is, he composes, but seldom writes his music down. More than a dozen years ago, I used to like his compositions so much and was so free that I asked him to record all his pieces while I wrote them down by hearing. More than a dozen years later, he has lost all the scores (I think I should be angry that he lost all my hard work), but thanks to my fanatically meticulous system of filing, I uncovered ten of his compositions, some of which even the composer himself has forgotten their existence. Just scanned and sent all the scores to him. Also found some of my own compositions. Realised that besides the performed-before "Memories of the Clock Tower" (which was written in memory of those times in TCHS), I actually have a piece to commemorate those days in HCJC too!!! *still excited over the discoveries*

bach, beethoven and the boys
Monday, October 30, 2006, 06:30 p.m. #1210

Haven't finished one whole book for a very long time, but "Bach, Beethoven And The Boys: Music History As It Ought To Be Taught" (by David Barber) is one book which I'll gladly read several times over.

The book chronicles the lives of great composers, their sex lives and foibles, and is chock-full of interesting facts and trivia, told in a very humorous manner (complete with witty cartoon illustrations)... One early composer (Josquin) composed a motet "Remember thy word unto thy servant" to remind his employer of a promised raise, one (Palestrina) unplugged his tenants' toilets in the morning and composed motets and masses in the afternoon, while another (Gesualdo) was the only known murderer-composer to have murdered his wife, their little baby, and his wife's lover (who was wearing her nightgown when both were caught in bed, and shot)... When Bach and Handel were old and losing their eyesight, both became blind after the same English oculist, John Taylor, operated on their eyes. Bach's eyes eyesight was miraculously restored suddenly one day, but he died of stroke ten days later. Haydn's wife cut his manuscripts into strips to curl her hair with. Mozart first proposed to a girl when both of them were seven years old (she turned him down). Beethoven kept a full chamberpot under his piano, and dumped his dinner over a waiter when he was angry. Wagner wrote his scores in different colours: strings in red, woodwinds in green, and brass and percussion in black. Schumann invented a harness contraption to strengthen the fingers of his right hand for playing the piano, but the invention permanently crippled his two fingers (and made his handwriting a mess). Tchaichovsky always propped his head with his left hand when conducting (with his right) because of a morbid fear that his head might fall off in the middle of a piece... These are probably inconsequential trivia, but they really make music history so much more fun!

A highly recommended book, available at all good national libraries.

like some superstar on world tour
Sunday, October 29, 2006, 08:10 p.m. #1209

Short break from reservist, and it flew past with music lessons (theory and guitar) and rehearsals (BH and Edvox). Hmm. Sometimes I wonder whether I'm overloading myself with too many commitments. Anyway the upcoming holidays are going to be jam-packed with rehearsals, meetings, weddings and outings. Planned a short Vietnam trip during the few consecutive days that I'll be free, only to find out today that the NAC competition is right on the last day of my trip (I was informed last time that it's one day later - I even recorded the date in my phone calendar)... Luckily the returning flight is going to reach Singapore in the early afternoon - that day I'll probably have to dash to the competition venue directly from the airport. Sis said I'm like some superstar/musician performing on a world tour. Haha.

Hmm. This month carries the least number of entries ever. Got to blog more.

the weekly indulgence
Tuesday, October 24, 2006, 02:57 p.m. #1208

Last Friday, the keyboard gang and I went to the hawker centre at Changi and had a feast. That's quite rare as we always had our dinner at restaurants on Fridays, and frankly, the expenses were starting to make some of us feel quite guilty. ZL and I were contemplating how we could put it across to Ed that we should stop indulging in expensive food every week - at first Ed would say that he needed to eat good food to reward himself after a long, stressful week, but as the weeks went by, we realised that he needed to reward himself every week. (Ed is indeed facing a lot of stress, so we always cannot bear to dampen his mood on Fridays.) Not that we couldn't afford this Friday indulgence, but spending hundreds on just four Fridays in a month wasn't exactly very economically-wise. So ZL and I were very glad when Ed agreed to having hawker food. Hope this carries on. :)

Reservist started yesterday, and I'm glad the public holiday (today) made these two weeks of hell seem more bearable. Sure, it's good to see the old friends, but thinking of the upcoming route march and long run in mask suits really make me feel very dizzy. Hope time flies faster.


(My army friends - taken during the barbeque earlier this year.)

meetings and partings
Friday, October 20, 2006, 04:41 p.m. #1207

There's so much to update about... Okay, shall list out whatever I can remember...


(The faces of 2E5 - watch the final class video online at Youtube or download it at Filefront.)

Went on two movie outings with my form class students over the past few weeks. The first was "Pulse" - a horrible horror flick that was horrifically not horrifying (watched it after a Saturday remedial session with the boys) - and the second was "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" - a comedy that wasn't extremely bad (watched it in celebration of the end of exams)... Guess I still attach too much feelings to my form class, so much so that I am unwilling to let go, as if they're my own kids. Today was the last time I see them as I'll be going for reservist next week - brought them to Science Centre as part of the school's post-exam activities. And after the trip, we parted - there wasn't even a proper goodbye or "closing speech" as the kids were dismissed immediately after they got off the bus. The closure just didn't feel right. In any case, that's the end of 2E5. Will be welcoming a whole new form class next year - the start of another very long engagement. :)

Met up with the HCCO friends last night. It's been ages since we last met, and it was indeed a very enjoyable one. Updated each other about our lives, and after the dinner at Soup Kitchen, we were so unwilling to go that we sat outside Auntie Anne to continue chatting (after all the auntie anne's have closed shop and left). After the session, I was even assigned to set up a blog for us to communicate and share photos more conveniently. Also fixed the date for our next gathering. How nice.

Promotions meeting today - the few hours that decided the fates of many students. None of my form class students got retained, but one Chinese national got transferred to the Normal stream as she failed her English (despite scoring distinctions in Math and Higher Chinese) - this time I support the school's decision as the Normal stream will really give her more time to improve her English so that she can perform better at the O levels, and also provide her more opportunities than transferring her to the last Express class (which offers one subject less). As I am unable to personally speak to her about the school's decision (due to reservist), I wrote a letter (in Chinese) to explain to her and to encourage her - hopefully she will understand that we made the decision for her own good.

headache
Sunday, October 15, 2006, 12:36 p.m. #1206

Having a headache from yesterday's over-exertion. Had theory and guitar lessons in the morning, then performed at Esplanade Library (trio with GY and XX) in the afternoon, and attended the Edvox concert rehearsal at YMS at night. Had a long chat with GY on our way home (thanks to the Deepavali jam) - impressed with her ability to play the piano so well when she has only learnt it for four years. Quite inspired, but I don't think I have the time and capacity for classical piano anymore.

Gave the BHCO practice a miss this morning because of my headache. Stayed at home to design the posters for my school's outreach to the primary schools... Shall take a nap later - hopefully the headache will go away...

the lecturer who ought to be quiet
Thursday, October 12, 2006, 08:11 p.m. #1205

Did anyone watch that Channel U forum last week? I was absolutely pissed by one of the speakers. The topic was, are teachers nowadays facing a lot of stress? And this lecturer kept on saying that he didn't think there's much stress in being a teacher, just that the younger teachers nowadays are unable to take stress and they love to complain, because they are all too fragile to be able to cope with hardship since they're born after the war. -_-

How would a LECTURER understand what a teacher is going through? All he needs to do is to talk to a passive crowd, and spend the rest of his time doing his own research or earning extra income. He doesn't even need classroom management like stopping students who decide to catch spiders in the middle of the lesson, nor do admin stuff like collecting money from a class of 40, nor conduct tutorials or collect assignments, nor call up parents to inform them about their child's results, truancy or misconduct, nor plan and prepare for school events, nor bring students outfield and do all the logistics that go with that, nor monitor the students' emotional and academical needs... He didn't even need to take responsibility for his students' results! What right does he have to criticise teachers when he doesn't even know what we're going through?

I'm glad the rest of the speakers are teachers (one of them is a senior teacher in TCHS) and they offered a little insight for the audience - but that lecturer had been quite obnoxious and kept disrupting them - I thought it reflected very badly on himself anyway, making baseless sweeping statements like that on national TV. I was just irritated that the public might go off thinking teachers nowadays are just spoilt brats after they watched the program - which is so not true. My colleague, who also watched the telecast, was so disturbed and disgusted by the lecturer's possible influence on the public's perception that he couldn't sleep the whole night. Haha.

a concert of royal compositions
Sunday, October 8, 2006, 10:54 p.m. #1204

After two days of marking, I attended a free concert in the evening with Jane and ZL - A Concert of Royal Compositions, presented by The Bangkok Symphony Orchestra. This concert was part of their celebration of the 60th anniversary of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej's accession to the throne, and it showcased the King's compositions, which range from jazz tunes and patriotic marches to ballet suites and romantic ballads.

Whoever said that good things never come free must have been seriously wrong. This concert was good - in fact it was far more than just good - it's probably the BEST concert I've ever attended in my ENTIRE life. From the moment when the emcee announced for the audience to stand for the Thai national anthem to be played, I knew the concert was going to be extraordinary. (The Thai emcee was a Ph.D. holder by the way, and his speech throughout the concert was already music to the ears.) Not only were the King's pieces beautifully written, the orchestra's execution was impeccable. The intricate clean-ness and unified dynamics were out of this world - how could so many dynamic changes be shaped within one bar as a whole orchestra?! I didn't even want to blink my eyes for fear of missing something.

A totally breathtaking experience.

sleep less
Saturday, October 7, 2006, 06:38 p.m. #1203

There's a question in the Science exam which described a boy who turns on the airconditioner for 8 hours every night when he sleeps. The question was, how can the boy reduce the energy consumption? And one student wrote, he should sleep less. Hmm. :|

The PSI right now is 150. When I look out of my window, it's as if my flat is in the midst of grayish clouds. An excellent excuse for me to not go jogging. :)

hazy midautumn
Friday, October 6, 2006, 11:30 p.m. #1202

It's been a long day. Went for keyboard lessons at Hark after work, then met up with GY and XX at night at Edvox to practise our trio pieces, as we'll be performing at Esplanade (the library? the recital studio?) next week as part of Edvox's promotion drive. Practised on our own for the first hour without any guidance, then GY persuaded Ken, a guitar teacher who happened to be around, to give his comments. Then my violin teacher Michelle came in. Then Hawa and Helena came in too as the school had to close and they were waiting for Ken and Michelle. So the three of us suddenly had FOUR music teachers as our audience, practising with us and giving us pointers. Quite a memorable scene - all seven of us in a room - the teachers selflessly staying behind after a long day's work to help us, passionately discussing among themselves how the dynamics should work out for a Baroque piece... Really appreciate their kind gesture. A nice way to spend the Midautumn Festival.

Anyway, it's a really small world. Ken, that guitar teacher I mentioned earlier, only started chatting with me on Friendster one week ago after he saw that we had similar interests. And a few days ago we realised that we are both related to Edvox, then today we finally met in real life at the music school. Is the music scene really so small?

On my way back home from the trio practice, I saw the worst haze I've ever seen in my whole life. According to the news, the average PSI in the afternoon reached 80. I believe what I saw was much worse. I couldn't see much beyond 200 metres. In the day, it's like I was wearing badly-smudged spectacles; at night, the visibility was even lower. I wonder how the people in Indonesia are surviving... Below is the shot which I took, without any editing for "dreamy effect":

chyi
Thursday, October 5, 2006, 11:03 a.m. #1201

没有泪
寂寞 要怎么流

十分喜欢这段齐豫的歌词（许常德所作）。最近又再回顾齐豫天籁般的歌声。小时候听着她的《橄榄树》成长，当时并不知道她的名字，还一直以为那是电影《欢颜》里的女主角胡慧中所唱的。若干年后，知道了齐豫这个人的存在，听到了她的《天下有情人》，《飞鸟与鱼》，《哭泣的骆驼》，《幸福》等，深深地被她清澈高亢的嗓音所吸引。当时疯狂地买了她所有的华语专辑，一段时期一直陶醉其中。后来，华语乐坛渐渐出现了许多歌声不怎么样但包装得很好的艺人，而从前凭实力与真情感动人们的艺人逐渐消匿而去。不能怪谁。人们的喜好跟着时代的变迁不断地演变，现在是“速食年代”，凡事不需要太过完美，只要“快乐就好”。只是惋惜“才华”的定义越来越宽阔——大家都是有“才华”的人啊。最近费玉清与周杰伦合唱《千里之外》，对我来说，两人实力的差异显而易见，但竟然有一些学生觉得费玉清的参与毁了那首歌——真正有真材实料的，反而是老古董，惹人嫌弃了。

lame observations
Monday, October 2, 2006, 07:51 p.m. #1200

Did a gig at a charity organisation on Children's Day with a group of CO friends. I played erhu - and it'd been quite a disaster as I wasn't used to the tension of the strings and the position of notes. After getting used to zhonghu, erhu's a little different, requiring a softer touch on the left hand and a lighter pressure at the bow. Thought I disgraced myself quite badly - luckily the group covered up for each other quite well. That's what I call team spirit. Ha.

On the car, Junb realised that birds flew slower than cars and wondered how long it'd take them to fly from Serangoon to Jurong in order to eat a worm. And we suggested that birds wouldn't usually fly so far to catch a worm. But Junb insisted that they could have got tired of Serangoon worms and needed a change of menu sometimes. Then I commented that they could have split up the journey into several days... A pretty lame conversation, huh?

By the way, on another lamer note, I always feel quite uneasy when people correct me when I call my club the Environment Club. When I fill in forms or send emails regarding my club, some people would reply and call my club the EnvironmentAL Club instead. Fine, "environmental" may be more grammatically correct, but I think the word "environment" is already long enough and I wouldn't want to extend it with an "-al". And I think it should be okay for names to be grammatically incorrect. Just like we don't say "Scientific Centre", or "Dramatic Club", or "Basketball-playing Team", or "Singaporean Airlines", ya? ;)