Tuesday, October 31, 2006

RESULTS

hmmm....

many of you have been bugging me to put the results up, so here it is... before i do so, let me review the questions and answers.. =)

1) c

hmm... this is probably the easiest question ever.. the way she played was unique and no other masters ever played like her, her musicality and character is just amazing.. woe to those who got this wrong!!

2) b

his works are rather easy to understand, and the tune being very catchy.. i like the way he composed his music, and of course it was his bohemian style which stood out the most, which made the music he wrote so lyrical at times..

3) c

ooo.. i think none of you guys got this question correct.. dvorak might be my favourite composer, but this symphony is my favourite, due to its thick texture and lyrical passages.. it beats dvorak any time.. =p

4) d

=D

5) b

ok, so people not from nafa would not know this question.. haha..

6) d

no comments.. haha

7) a

haydn in d is definitely out.. after i learnt the concerto in c, i never had the interest to play another classical concerto again.. dvorak is a little too mad for me right now, and i dont plan to play elgar anytime soon, if not at all.. i mean after how du pre played it, whats the point when someone already reached the highest possible standard for this piece?

8) a

i signed up for the mechatronics course in temasek poly before deciding in nafa.. i was thinking that mechatronics might lead me into aeronautical engineering, then to pilot training so on and so forth, but i had second thoughts about it after my dad talked to me.. the rest were just for fun..

9) d

yes i might be a star wars fan, but i do not have the first episode.. haha...

10) d

ok.. probably the 2nd most wrong answers belong here... i think the only person who got it right was my sis, because the person who calls me sai-han (say sai1-han1 in an ang moh accent) is my bro-in-law.. han-han is my bro's nickname used by my parents.. haha..

sooo, if you're keen to find out what you've got, its here:

jwen: 2/10
the chang: 1/10
project alamak supervisor: 8/10 (wwoooooooo)
yau: 5/10
my dear sister: 3/10 =(
the slut: 4/10
audrey: 4/10
andris: 4/10
leslie: 1/10
kai: 3/10
ch: 5/10
lyr: 6/10
en xin: 3/10
wan qiu: 4/10

so i guess the winner is project alamak supervisor.. haha.. hmm.. interesting..

ok... so thats it..

enjoy$#!@%$

Friday, October 27, 2006

Life.......

*sigh*

life is short and precious... created and taken by God, cursed yet blessed in some ways.. it is sometimes taken at times least expected, but most of the time, blessed even though un-noticed... it was the way he played, his music, and to others who were closer to him, his life.. i might not have known him personally, but it was the way he played, how hard he tried that touched me the most.. although there is nothing much i can say to his family to console them, i pray that God will help them through this moment of their lives...

In Memory
Of
Danil Shagimadanov
(1990-2006)
SNYO Flute Principal

Sunday, October 15, 2006

NEW

hmmm....

i'm a changed man... at least for now... why? it is slightly due to something, which only my most trusted sister and a couple of you know about it.. but a whole big deal was because of God, and because of dan wrote in his blog.. its something i cant elaborate right now... =D

ok.. its quiz time, for those of you who have anticipated this moment... state your answers in my tagboard with identifiable(?) names, and i shall declare the winner probably a week from now.. no.. wait.. i'll be in hk.. ok.. by the coming thursday... the winner will probably win a prize from hong kong..

here goes............

1) who is my favourite cellist?
a. rostropovich
b. yo-yo ma
c. jacqueline du pre
d. pablo casals

2) who is my favourite composer?
a. Brahms
b. Dvorak
c. Stravinsky
d. Gabriel Faure

3) which is my favourite symphony?
a. Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique
b. Dvorak's New World Symphony
c.
Brahm's Symphony No. 2
d.
Dvorak's Symphony No. 8

ok... this is getting too easy... here are the difficult questions...

4) what is the brand of the watch i am wearing?
a. swatch
b. omega
c. hugen
d. fortis

5) in this semester, i did a history presentation on a certain piece of music. what was it?
a. smetana's ma vlast
b. mussorgsky's night on bald mountain
c. ibert's flute concerto
d. dvorak's cello concerto

6) how many keychains do i have on my bag?
a. 0
b. 1
c. 2
d. 3

7) which of these cello concertos do i hope to learn next?
a. Saint-saen's cello concerto in A minor
b. Haydn's cello concerto in D
c. Dvorak's cello concerto in B minor
d. Elgar's cello concerto

8) what did i really want to be before i became a musician?
a. pilot
b. bio-chemist
c. aeronautical engineer
d. navy officer

9) which of these movies do i NOT have in my collection?
a. jarhead
b. fun with dick and jane
c. the incredibles
d. star wars episode 1 "the phantom menace"

and last of all....

10) which of these nicknames were never used on me? (pronounciations shown)
a. sea-hum
b. see-han
c. sai-han
d. han-han

ok... thats it.. sibmit your answers before the coming thursday and the winner gets a prize from me from hk... haha.. all the best..

enjoy$%^@#%@

Saturday, October 07, 2006

... !!!

yes...

exams are over... well, the practical was ok... made some stupid mistakes in my studies, but i know i practiced hard for it, so i dont really care what the results will be... it seems now i have the habit to practice at night, specifically at 11pm to about 2am.. 2 weeks ago, i couldnt sleep, so i practiced from 4am to 7am.. crazy? maybe...

anyway, it seems that theres a problem surrounding me right now.. not, it does not really involve me, but it is an issue that all of us know definitely.. homosexuality... before i start anything, let me get this straight, i do not hate gays (or lesbians for any of this matter). i just totally disagree with the world's thinking and most people too.. now, the world is already starting to accept homosexuality bit by bit, and soon, there will be no moral limits as to whether same gender marriages or sexual acts can go to... God did not create man and woman to allow man and man or woman and woman to sleep together.. man and woman is what a relationship should be.. now, i'm not saying i hate these people or asking you to do so.. in fact, i do know a few of them, and i treat them as normal human beings, just as we should to others, and if any of you who do otherwise should be ashamed of yourselves.. but let me get this clear.. loving them as friends should NOT include encouraging their ideas or actions of homosexuality.. it is morally wrong and of course, who would encourage another to do what is wrong? but what if you think its ok? what differentiates(?) between morally right or wrong? well, all i can say is that you can find them all in the bible.. and why the bible? to understand what is morally right, there has to be a standard set in this world, a standard where nobody can oppose or question, or else, who sets the rules? and God is the one who created us right? who else is better to set the rules and standards than our creator Himself? He is God afterall, and who knows better? but what if you dont believe in God? then tell me, how do you set your moral standards? how do you tell whether premarital sex is wrong or right? how do you view homosexuality? on what basis do you put your morals on?

well, yes.. thats probably my most straightforward entry so far... just had to tell you guys where i stand for those of you involved..

on lighter notes, MY SIS GAVE BIRTH!!! WHOOOOOO!!!! you can see pics of the baby here ---> www.xanga.com/gelok

i think she blocked me, maybe not.. well, i'm trying hard not to think about it.. thats why relationships can ruin a person..

anyway, i'll probably post a pop quiz for some of you reading sometime tomorrow or something(although i doubt there are more than 5)..

enjoy$#!@%$#@

Monday, September 25, 2006

DEAD

I'M STILL AWAKE!!!

studying for history exam.. what else... zzzzzz
am so dead.... help...

Friday, September 15, 2006

Aimless Post....

ooooooooooooooooook.....

here i am to blog again... didnt have the motivation to... anyway, nafa had our gala concert on tuesday, with the choir and vocal soloists nancy yuen, lim shieh yi(?), william-something and student zhou qian (not to be confused with yong siew toh's violin lecturer)...

just came back from eating durian...

anyway, in my personal opinion, i thought this was one of our best concerts yet... i think.. cant wait for the video to be released.. i thought the cellos did pretty well, except for a few blunders here and there, but they were insignificant... at least from what i thought...

i had a rather disturbing dream last night... me, my bro and father was in america to visit my sis for a month.. since she moved to texas, we were driving on the highway which was in the tornado alley.. well, no, no tornadoes appeared.. but, we crashed into the corner of a tunnel.. uh, i didnt see us crash, but as we approached the wall, i woke up... oh well...

i'm like doing orchestration (which is already 2 days overdue) and blogging at the same time lah.. but come to think of it, i'm beginning to enjoy orchestrating... seem to get used to it now.. kinda fun actually, but not when you have to rush for a dateline(deadline?)...

oh yes, adriel's weber's solo is improving... another 3 months to concert, and at this rate, he should be playing like a pro by then.. and ibert(say ee-bear) flute concerto's 3rd movement is madness... but we got used to it in 20 mins.. not bad eh? =p
if kevin the flautist in nafa wins the upcoming concerto competition, thats what we're gonna play, and if we actually do, well, all i can say is good luck to the orchestra...

and i must say that many people have been reading my blog all along and i was rather oblivious to it.. nobody told me? lol... lucky i didnt gossip about you-know-who doing you-know-what at you-know-where with you-think-i-think-you-know-who... go figure... haha...

ok, nothing else much to say.. oh yes! i saw a copy of singapore's encyclopedia on my dining table a few days back, and it was opened to the letter 'C', and immediately, i saw my brother's name with a description.. it goes like this:

Chan Yoong Han (1974- ) Musician.
Chan Yoong Han studied in Australia and the United States. He has performed in music festivals worldwide, and as a solo violinist in concertos with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. A distinguished member of the orchestra's first violin section, he is also one of Singapore's most active practitioners os chamber music. In 1998-99, he curated, organized and performed a series of eight solo chamber recitals entitled Motifs and Murals. Chan also won the Young Artist Award (Music) in 1994. <----- its supposed to be 2004!!!

well, thats not the first time they misinformed the public about him.. the worst case was when he appeared in the newspaper a few years back, i think when he gave the very first performance in the esplanade to the public when it first opened... they spelled his name wrong 3 times.. no, the mistakes were all inconsistent.. first it was chan yong han, then chan yoon han, and then chan yew han or something like that... haiyo.. newspaper editors nowadays...

so i was flipping through the encyclopedia for people that i might know, and of course one of them who came into mind was our beloved lecturer...

Goh, Zechariah (1970- ) Composer. <--- cool!
Zechariah Goh Toh Chai studied piano performance and composition at the Univertiy of Kansas, where he was awarded the Anthony B. Cius Music Composition Award in 2000 and 2001. His works, which include choral, chamber and orchestral pieces, have been performed in Singapore, Korea, the United States, Australia, Europe and Brazil. He teaches at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. In 2003, he was given the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council.

many people like lim yau are inside too... interesting... ok.. enough of typing.. got work to do..

enjoy$#!#@!

Thursday, September 07, 2006

WHAT

wooooooooooooooooooo....

am in my school's com lab now... joyce just brought in nafa's recording of our concert with peter esswood, the one with fingal's cave and smetana's moldau... you know what?? we actually SOUND GOOD!! amazing....... maybe its just the recording that covered up our mistakes... wow... its really good... just cant believe it...

for those people who knew, i was really pissed on monday.. no, i'm not pissed with mr hartung.. he's a very good conductor.. the reason i was angry was because, for some reason, the cello section was rushing in the vivaldi and bach concerto.. hartung was literally screaming at us, and he almost wanted to give up on us.. no, not on the strings, on the cellos, in front of an audience... i cant believe it.. i cant believe that i couldnt hear that we were rushing.. i was following the soloists as close as i could.. did i really rush? was it just the tendency to rush that he was pissed with? i dunno... the utter humiliation we faced.. i should be able to tell when we were rushing...

the next day, i was feeling better... until string's class.. when dr goh came in and talked to us about the rehearsal on monday.. he said he was impressed with the progession the strings have made, specifically the violins and violas, which he says is probably the best section now.. he didnt mention the cellos and bass.. what could i say? the cellos and bass are left behind the violins and violas.. we didnt improve since hartung came? this shouldnt be the case.. so i'm really dissappointed..

another thing i was shocked about was when clarence performed for string class.. after his played, hartung asked ma sai about his playing.. for those not in nafa, ma sai is a very virtuosic double bass player.. best in nafa in terms of technicality.. i wasnt happy with the fact that mr hartung was actually comparing ma sai and clarence's playing.. come on.. it is very discouraging for the player leh... so in the end, clarence didnt get any constructive comments about his playing.. i cant believe it..

string ensemble concert at vch on thursday and nafa orchestra/chorus concert next tuesday... i'd better play well or else i'm screwed.. stupid vivaldi cello solos...

on lighter notes, remember i said i was dreaming about lim yau and soon lee? well, the day after i dreamt of lim yau, i dreamt of him again.. this is sick, then the day after that i dreamt of lim soon lee again!! omg... i think i'm super stress now... i dreamt of someone last night also.. its really weird la.. shall not disclose names for now or people will think too much... haha

well, my church's anniversary celebration is coming soon... am i excited about it? somewhat yes, but i'm still not over the fact that i cant play for it..

celebrated my brother's birthday yesterday.. i bought him a dc comics artwork book.. it looks good.. i had a hard time deciding on what to buy him, so i bought that.. probably the worst present ever got for anybody.. i will make it up on christmas... anyway, we went to eat at a brazilian restaurant near the queen astrid park area.. i tell you, the queen astrid park is filled with filthily rich people with bungalows that look like fortress with high concrete walls.. its ridiculously huge for singapore... for those who have been to my house, their houses are like as long as my house's building, which contains about 10 families!! go see it for yourself... anyway, side-tracking... so we ate at this brazilian buffet.. it isnt one of those where you walk around and get your food.. the food come to you.. there are waiter's carrying skewers of meat around.. they have medium-rare beef, chicken liver, honey-backed ham, lamb, beef ribs, pork, fish, grilled pineapple blah blah blah... and we had wine too.. it was the most i've drank so far.. 2 glasses.. and i finally knew the right way of drinking wine.. ask me for those who want to know.. haha...

well, i've talked to my sis about certain stuffs about someone.. conclusion? i shall wait.. be patient.. get to know the character, make sure that its really what i want, ask God and see what happens... fine... i shall wait.. no hurry.. push it and your life is destroyed.. at least for awhile.. i dont want anything to go wrong.. i hope... who am i talking about? for me to know, for you to find out.. haha...

enjoy)(*&)(*$)*&%

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Look And Listen!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

come on guys... you should know this by now.. look at the conductor and listen to the music... stop rushing.. if you cant look at the conductor, then look at me, although i do make mistakes sometimes, but follow my lead.. come on.. its basic orchestra practice.. you should know it by now.. stop making people scream at you and getting pissed over this kind of stupid mistakes..

haiz.. anyway, i have a few things to talk about.. first of all, about ns.. i just dont understand why guys are trying to wimp out of ns.. come on.. its the time when we start learning discipline and learning how to rough it out.. are you guys men or whimps? ns is something all guys should go through.. its not as if they are sending you to death camps or making you a soldier for life.. so just get in there and learn to be a man lah..

and another thing.. when i was coming home just now, a whole group of super irritating, loud, talkative, trying-to-be-cool-and-think-they-are-so-cool malay and indian teens came up the bus.. i cant stand them.. they are thtop of my racist list.. why are they like that? they talked as if they owned the entire bus, and think they are cool and funny... whatever... they are the most corrupt and have the most disgusting attitudes of all people.. i'm not generalising here.. not all malay teens are bad, like my classmates, but those out there, wearing chains and caps, with ties hanging loose on their necks... who do they think they are exactly? so you think i'm just racist against them? wait til you hear about their own people being racist against them.. i have both indian and malay friends who cant stand those teenies i was mentioning.. now, am i the only one now? can you imagine your own race being racist against your race? that is how stupid and insulting those teenies can get...

anyway, on lighter notes, i dreamt of lim yau last night.. for some reason... lol.. he was in my kitchen conducting cello sectionals! like what the.............. i dunno.. the night before last night, i dreamt of lim soon lee also... so whats next? casteels? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

i played to strings performance class on tuesday, played faure's elegie... well, i knew the piece quite well.. the only problem is playing it well.. i wouldnt say i did a good job, and i wouldnt say it was bad either.. it was....... ooook... main problem of intonation and vibrato... they said my sound projection improved.. well, that isnt exactly my priority right now, but fine.. christo said he liked the ending.. there was a silent resonence(?) after i played the last long soft note... well, the piece itself is emotional, so its quite difficult to portray it well.. as for the fast passage, i thought my andrenaline whould help me through it.. the fact was it helped too much.. my fingers were going faster than my mind could think, so i rushed a little and of course played some wrong notes, but at least i didnt break down.. more luck next time i guess...

so thats it.. my whiney post filled with complaints and comments... happy reading..

enjoy#$@#$

Friday, August 25, 2006

Turning Point....

yesssssssssssssssss.....

it is official... i wont be principal cellist in syo... well, no, i'm not sad.. disappointed maybe... i dunno... i only played the solo once, and that was it... well, i'm not going to be pissed, sad, angry, etc.. about it.. i have decided.. i'm not going to play music for the sake of being better than others.. i'm going to play music because i want to and i love to... it is my life now.. i guess this is the time when i have to rely on God and his strength, that i may not be put down by others anymore.. in any case, thanks for some of you guys' support... you know who you are.. ^^

anyway, i have a whole pint of ben & jerry's ice cream (brownie fudge chunk) waiting for me in the freezer.. cant wait.. but first, i have to switch on my vcd player and put in my lord of the rings: two towers movie, sit back on my comfy bed and dig in to my ice-cream... mmmmmmmmmmmm....

OH.. talking about lord of the rings, guess what.. syo is actually playing a piece from lord of the ring... lol.. its basically a medly of most of the themes found in the fellowship of the ring movie.. and we are playing it with some malaysian youth orchestra i think.. lol... oh, and mr lim's baton is slightly crooked.. if you actually look carefully, the end of his baton is slanted...

ok... for those of you who knows me well enough, i'm a weird dreamer.. i can dream of anything, anyone, anywhere, anything... so guess what i dreamt last night... hahaa... i dreamt of someone, who actually went shopping for his/her brother's birthday... so when i woke up, i smsed him/her whether he/she has any siblings who had an upcoming birthday... of course the answer was no... yes.. i'm weird.. dont ask me why.. thats just the way i am...

ok.. thats it.. at least this post is like 4982% betetr than the previous one...

oh.. and i havent shaved for 2 weeks... whoooo

enjoy#$!%$

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Peace....

*glares*

well, i thought it would be a good idea to make peace with him, but too bad... i doubt i can make it for his departure... not easy being a conductor you know...

oh, nafa appeared on channel u today.. didnt get to watch cause of rehearsal, but i heard that eva and laurel were featured.. haha... eva with her green-coloured hair playing solo... she has a bright future indeed...

i got the principal seat again in nafa... am i happy? not sure.. really... i'm concerned over the reason why they put me there... i dont think its my playing.. maybe its just the fact that i have more experience in leading.. thats all.. i'd rather play well than lead well now...

i thought i had a lot to blog about.. somehow, as always, my mind seems blank now... am trading music with andris now.. her du pre's saint-saen(?) concerto with my rostro's haydn in d... weird.... as always...

oooooo... ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! i gotta learn the saint-saen(?) concerto man... have to ask my teacher first... never really knew how to spell 'saint-saen'... anybody??

uh... crap.. this is probably the most crappy post ever... bleah...

enjoy#@%$!&^$#

Friday, August 18, 2006

Du Pre....

sad........

haiz... feel so sad now... just watched a documentary about jacqueline de pre on youtube just now.. there are 8 parts to it... its really sad la... wah lau... almost cried.. she's my favourite cellist... her interpretation, technic, character, amazing.... if only she was still alive.. its really a pity that she had to go so early... now i'm also reading a book, hilary and jackie... its an auto-biography of her, written by her sister and brother, hilary and piers respectively... well, its really emotional... the book tells of her life with her family, her relationship with her sister and brother... you know, when i was reading the book, her relationship with her brother seems to be very very similar to me and my sister... and guess what, the brother used to learn the clarinet, then he gave up... hilary played the violin for some time before settling on the flute... you guys should read this book.. i was already about to cry when i read the first 2 pages... can you imagine... if your interested in watching the documentary, go www.youtube.com and search 'du pre and elgar cello concerto'.. there are 8 parts, so watch it in order...

well, on lighter notes, actually, no lighter notes.... just, ...... that.....

nafa had our concert on tuesday with darrell ang conducting.. well, i've thought it through... it was definitely wrong for us to judge him like that.. he is afterall like everyone of us.. he's not perfect.. he's learning and developing his abilities as a conductor... maybe his character has more room for improvement, but dont all of us have too? i dunno... i didnt really enjoy the concert we played that night... he kept glaring at me... when somebody in the cello section rushes, he glares at me and assumed it was me.. well, and he's also biased against me i think... shant talk about it...

didnt get to play the weber solo for syo tonight.. some other day perhaps...

enjoy%$#

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Solololo...

...................

right... mr lim asked me to look through the solo part for weber's invitation to a dance.. so that means adriel and i will be 'fighting' for principal seat... well, i screwed up when i played it the first time, which was last thursday... it was fine at the beginning, til i screwed up 2 bars of it in the middle section... argh!! haiz.. i practiced so hard for it!! and it ends up like that.. oh well.. i dunno.. i asked my teacher to help me with it, and she did a great bunch of work on it.. she's good i tell you... she taught me a whole lot of things, important articulation and bow control which i've never thought of.. well, lets just see how it goes the next time i'm playing it, if mr lim considers it that is... adriel will be playing next on saturday, and i wont be going for rehearsal cause nafa is having rehearsal... oh yes, thats another interesting topic...

well, darrell ang is here to conduct us for our next concert.. well, he may be good for professional orchestras, but the whole of nafa agrees on one thing, we dont like him and he cant take students, or professionals-in-training.. he will remain as another legacy, one which the students of nafa will start rising up against... its really funny i tell you... the extent to which we hate him is unthinkable in the music society.. well, its not really about his conducting.. he qued the brass players at the wrong places, scolded them for not practicing their parts when they actually did but was wrong because he qued them in wrongly, actually editing the composer's score (when the composer is my lecturer), and suggested going to every individual wind player's house to give them private coaching... i mean, which conductor would offer to do that??!! its madness!! well, some of us thinks he has other motives for doing that, but thats not for you guys to know.. =p

so, our concert is actually next week, wednesday at nafa theatre, and they invited the music big shots.. lim soon lee, lim yau, chan tze law etc.... yea, wait til mr lim (soon lee) sees me playing.. i wonder what he will say next during the next syo rehearsal...

i watched battel royale at seng fu's house a couple of days ago.. its sick i tell you... SICK... its a japanese show.. its about this class of students who were chosen by the government to be sent to a reomote deserted island to kill each other until only one survivor remains.. it is sick.. imagine killing your own classmates.. they have to, because each of them has a metallic device strapped onto their necks.. if there is no winner at the end of the 3rd day, the collar would explode, ripping your neck off, and of course killing you.. so throughout the movie, you can see human desperation, madness and sometimes trust... but its really disturbing... i still cant put myself to understand how people can kill their friends.. if it was me, i would rather hide in a safe place, not kill anybody, and just die on the 3rd day.. but of course, i may not be sane enough to do that when the time comes... oh yes.. forgot.. each of them has a unique weapon given to them.. those who are lucky gets guns, crossbows, knives or other useful devices.. those who are really suay get paper fans, binoculars, cooking pot lid, and other stupid stuffs... well, sick... thats all i can say about this movie.. it seems japan is always the one coming up with stupid things...

enjoy#$@&

Sunday, July 30, 2006

V

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November, the gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot."

yes, for those of you who watched the movie, its from V for vendetta.. its probably one of the coolest and best movie i've watched.. i just bought the vcd this evening... its really really really good... well, its about a guy who's planning to overthrow the government that rules the people with fear and control with and iron fist... and this guy is called V.. you dont see his face for the entire movie coz he wears this white smiley mask.. why? apparently he was part of a government cover-up.. what they did was that they arrested people who arent guilty of anything, and used them as experiments for biological weapon research... of course many people died, 100,000 to be exact... and what did the government do? they made up a cover-up story, claiming it was a virus epidemic, and they follow-upped very well with it.. they had the situation 'under control' by giving the people placebo vaccines and claiming it did stop the virus from spreading... so, the facility that was holding all these experiments had an accident and was burnt down to the ground... only one experiment survived..

no, he did not have mutant abilities.. he was merely human, only a little much faster and stronger... but he was burnt very badly, so he wears a mask.. he goes around killing the government party members one by one.. and there was a part where he managed to broadcast tchaikovsky's 1812 overture on the streets with all the governement speakers, then at the exact right moement, the parliament building blew up with amazing displays of fireworks... oh yes!! i love this movie!!! its really good...

hahaa... when i was watching it, it keeps reminding me of the singapore government.. to be honest and blunt, i hate them... stupid propagandas and dumb people who just cant do the job properly, sucking our money to feed their wallets, as if they needed so much... what makes them so special, that they can earn more than 5-6 digits worth or pay? we chose them to help us! they should be serving us, not the other way round... i just cant wait for a certain guy to die and see what happens to the government... oh well... whatever..

anyway, snyo rehearsal has started since the day before yesterday... i didnt turn up on thursday coz i had to play for some peru independence anniversary celebration at shangri-la hotel.. all the big shots there, ambassadors and all... oh, we had good food there too.. we were allowed to eat with them after our performance, which was actually playing the peru and singapore national anthem... lol.. in the end, half the string ensemble went drunk, or rather high, after drinking some beer, wine and some super strong cocktail... i had a cup of it, and my face was a little red after that.. lol..... we were laughing all the way, and some guy actually tried to hook up with eva... hahaha.... he failed.. miserably...

back to syo.... i sat at 4th chair today coz i was late, so adriel was in pricipal's seat while wilbur was associate... weber's invitation to a dance wasnt too bad.. the cello solo looks easy... LOOKS... can be deceiving... adriel played the solo well... not bad... then mr lim came over during the break and told me to practice the solo part.. well.. lets just see how it goes this coming thursday... someone told me i should claim the principal's seat.. by right i should be principal since i was associate... well, now that i dont mind, but it is still mr lim's decision at the end... oh, and syo is confirmed for going to aberdeen next year... woooo... august i think... andris should join us man... we need all the help we can get.. prolly playing brahm's 4th symphony..

anyway, went to meet up with some of the guys i know at somerset.. leslie, you might know them very well... i dunno... i was thinking a lot then... i was disappointed, frustrated, irritated and prolly angry at the thought of it... these people are people i respect and look up to a lot... they are people who live lives of example, but they dont seem to understand certain things.. no, i'm not saying they are like worldly people who dont give a crap about anything.. i mean the way they do things... they are indecisive.. i just dont understand why they cant quickly decide on one thing and get on with it.. they have to stand in the middle of orchard road, blocking people's way with around 10 of us... yes, maybe its our numbers that makes it difficult to decide, but they are united, and it should be no problem doing so.. and one of them said i should mix around with them more often ratehr than sticking to him... well, i'm fine with that, but the problem is i have hardly any common topics with them... i'm a classical musician, and the only one there too.. who can i talk with about orchestra and conductors other than people in nafa? well, of course i have other things to talk about, but only seng fu is able to communicate well with me, if you know what i mean.. as in we have lots of common topics... too many, in fact we can chat the whole night long til the next morning, if we can survive that is... we can talk about matrix, army, classical music, concerts, jokes, why the earth is round, v for vendetta, blah blah blah.... but the rest just dont relaly get it... i dunno.. maybe its just me.. i'm not bonding well with the group.. there are other factors too.. i'm quite sick of the way they try to click with me, but it seems fake to me... it seems, doesnt mean it is, just to me... they said they want to watch my concerts... they never came.. everytime i see them, they ash when my next performance is, as if it was a ritual to ask me every week.. do they intend to come as they said they would? for the past few months, it didnt seem so... are they sincere? maybe.. prove me wrong...

enjoy#@$!%$

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Pride Rock...

ooooh i just can't wait to be king........

ooooh yes... bought cds today... 5 disney soundtracks (orginal of course) for $19.90.. the catch? its from china, with chinese words on the cover... another catch? when i ripped them into my computer, all the titles are wrong.. so i have to spend like 10 minutes renaming them...

well, some of you were asking whats up with the conductor who pissed me off... he came to conduct my school's string ensemble.. he doesnt like people to write things on their scores, if it is already on the score... he doesnt like us to circle the dynamics... well, thats irritating... he always scolds us for not following the dynamics... why? because the dynamics are not catching our attention, and we circle them so that we notice them... and he doesnt want us to do so.. i mean, yes, he is training us to read the score properly, but sometimes if circling them works, why not? nothing wrong? he says that if we circle them, our brain will take more time to process the circle, what we wrote on the score, the given dynamics, bowing, etc, and by the time we did those, its too late to play it properly... i mean, come on!! even professional orchestras write things on their scores rite?? =.= there are other things about him, but i wont bother typing it out...

oh well, i'm over it anway... i guess i should apologise to the cello section.. i have been giving them the black face that day... but for those who knows me well, even when i have a black face, i wont vent my anger on anybody who talks to me.. so feel free to talk to me even if i look pissed... hahaa...

on lighter things, i went to kl with the new music ensemble on sunday til tuesday.. we were supposed to represent Singapore in some international music conference held in kl... i never really had that lots of fun since i went to america... we watched pirates of the caribbean there, and we were like checking our seats for HIV-infected needles just in case.. hahaa... the urban legend.. well, it goes like this.. there was a girl who went to watch a movie in malaysia, and when she sat on her seat, she felt a very sharp pain in her butt... she looked down and saw a syringe(?).. then the person sitting beside her said "welcome to the hiv family".... sure enough, she went for a check-up, and it was positive.. omg..... traumatising yea...

yea.. i loved that movie.. the plot is not bad, and the twist was really a twist.. cool... oh yea! we saw this car advertisement in the cinema... it goes like this...

BEAUTY HAS A NEW MEANING...
(CAR DRIVES BY)

LUST HAS A NEW MEANING...
(CAR DRIVES BY)

DESIRE HAS A NEW MEANING...
(CAR DRIVES BY)




PROTON 101




wah lau.. ahahaaaa... when we saw that, jeremy, jeremiah, yunqi and i burst out laughing like mad... hahahahhahahahaa.... oh welll.... our hotel was located just 5 mins walk away from the twin towers... cool? its less that 5 mins walk from where we are performing too... and its a 4 or 5 star hotel too... and i stole one of their tequila shot glasses.. haha... its free anyway...

my plan backfired to celebrate ee wei's birthday there... at first she was thinking of celebrating yunqi's birthday, which has already passed last week, and ee wei's birthday is on the 20th of july... so she planned to celebrate yunqi's birthday.. so i bluffed her that we are, and we are going to buy a cake.. so i told yunqi that we are celebrating ee wei's birthday instead... and i told her to tell the rest.. uh, apparently they didnt get the message... so in the end, they ended up singing the birthdat song for yunqi instead... actually for both, but yea.. the plan was foiled...

we only ate good food there.. mainly from the hotel's restaurant, which is 24 hours open... their satay is GOOOOOOD!!! juicy and tender!! omgomg... especially the beef one... wah lau!! cant find it in singapore la... the problem is their satay sauce isnt nice enough...

i didnt buy much there.. just bought a couple of mpo (malaysian philharmonic orchestra) cds and quite a bunch of tidbits... dr goh paid for quite a lot of our food.. it must have cost a bomb for him... well, he's one interesting fellow... funny too... should get to know him.. hahaa..

my mother bought me a pair of oakley sunglasses too... $400+.... well, i told her i didnt really need to spend that money to buy it, but she insisted.. she said as long as i dont lose it or spoil it, its worth it.. healthy eyes are more important.. so i gave in.. =p
but really, some times i think i've been neglecting my parents nowadays... should spend more time with them... will see what i can do...

the question still remains... to be or not to be... haiz...

enjoy^$@#%@

Friday, July 14, 2006

Performathon....

dsoraygvnosritgyvnuihrighbvklsdfhg..........

i thought i might blog since i didnt blog for such a long time now....

yesterday was hell for me.. actually, not really.. i'm surprised i managed to get through it without much difficulty... but thats an understatement... i had 2 performances yesterday.. the first was an afternoon concert, or rather music platform for my school.. i was playing modern music composed by Singaporean composers, namely leong yoon ping, kelly tang and zecheriah goh toh chai, who is also my school's lecturer... of all the 4 pieces i played, i think the first one was the most non-sensical... it was like, 'what is going on?' it was a quintet, with a double bass and piano.. in all, we were only given 5 weeks to prepare all the pieces, and it was madness... dr goh's piece was my favourite among the 4... the piano trio he wrote was interesting, although its technically a little crazy... it seems he likes to write in semi-quavers, and they are usually isolated in groups of 1 crotchet beat.. nvm.. too complicated.. nafa is gonna play one of his orchestra works called 'naunces' (?) lol.... he also wrote an arrange for a malay folk song 'suriram'.. thats probably the only melodic and lyrical piece i played with them... kelly tang's piano trio was the one we were most worried with.. the timing is madness, we had to count, sometimes in irregular beats.. and i got lost in the middle of the performance.. but at least i managed to catch it back... my uncle played this piece a few years ago too, and the recording was amazing... the group is going to kl on sunday and coming back on tuesday for some international music conference... i cant wait for it to be over.. i have to stop playing modern music and get back on track with classical pieces... gonna play tchaikovsky's piano trio op. 50 with yi kai..

the 2nd performance i had was the snyo concert at night... we played mozart's symphony 25 and shostakovich's 'gadfly suite'.. apparently the gadfly suite was written for a movie in 1955.. i should find it someday and watch it... i like that suite.. and i thought we did quite well for it, although we heard some comments about the cello section from some of my friends... well, i couldnt really hear anything from the front.. its quite a sad concert.. depressing... lots of people are leaving syo, and this is the last concert with them... ike, andris, charlotte, wilbur are all leaving... the cello section will never be the same again... it seems as though i'm the only one of my generation to stay behind, other than ruo lin... since andris is leaving, i MIGHT end up being principal cellist, but i'm not so enthusiastic about it.. i dont want to occupy myself with this kind of stress and responsibility, thats why i'm hoping mr lim will push adriel up and me staying as i am now... besides, they are gonna play weber's invitation to a dance, which has a HUGE HUGE cello solo in it.. i would rather call it a one movement cello concerto.. if mr lim ever puts me as principal, i will see if the piece is manageable, or i'll quit... well, i cant say i'm doing a good job as a sectional leader in nafa, and i definitely doubt it will be any better in syo...

well, really, syo cello section will never be the same with the people leaving now.. i thought i should write some farewell messages to those i know... cheesy or mushy? dont think too much...

well, first wilbur... he's probably the only person i hang out with in the cello section.. we always eat dinner after rehearsals, and start talking about people in the orchestra.. haha.. really crappy.. it seems we have a lot of common topics to talk about... well, he's migrating to hong kong in august.. there goes my toilet buddy...

charlotte... the person who seems to be always fighting me for cabs at the end of rehearsals... i knew her ever since i came into the training orchestra, and we went in to the main together too... so that means we have been in the same orchestra for the same amount of years... she's probably the most talkative, or 'attitude' person i know, but the cello section would seem empty without her....

last but not least, andris... probably one of the most talented person i know... plays the piano and cello sooo well... i would say it was my privilege(?) and honour to be playing with her for all those months... and i can tell you that she is indisposable for the cello section.. now that she's leaving, the cello section will never have another person as her to lead them ever again...

well..... thats it... i will definitely miss you guys.. all the best and God bless for your exams...

enjoy*)(&%^^%*#)*&^

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Padawan.....

you have learnt well, my young padawan....

haiz... came home from orchestra rehearsal in nafa... i had the choice whether to go or not, but i did... i figured i couldnt leave and forsake my cello section.. haha... i regretted... the piece was mad.. played beethoven 3rd symphony... its crazy... first of all, my sight-reading isnt really good.. secondly, the piece is mad... thirdly, the piece is difficult.. shall i continue?

have to play for string class tomorrow, and was only informed of it this afternoon.. ao last minute.. what to do? its nafa.. oh well.. still thinking of what to play.. something easy and sight-readable.. probably popper no.3...

my ps teacher has changed... it used to be my uncle.. now its yu jing, the sso cello associate principal... well, i went for my first lesson last friday.. i really liked it... she focused on all the basics, my posture, the articulation, bow control, etc... she's good i tell you.. GOOD... anyway, the exercises she gave me looks very easy.. LOOKS.. looks can be deceiving... i tried to play it, and i was out of tune.. well, it was supposed to teach you how to play it in tune.. haha... it figures... at least now i have something to practice... hopefully i can improve and take my playing to another level with her... no pieces for now...

feelings can be deceiving... if you fall prey and slave to it, it will lead you astray, and probably to your own destruction, but if you control it and know what to do with it, your life will be wonderful...

probably...








well, maybe.......












perhaps......












possibly.........

just dont take my word for it...

enjoy$#!$%$#@

Friday, June 23, 2006

Illuminati....

whee whee...

reading dan brown's angels and demons... its really really really really really really really good and exciting.. really a very good book.. its not as critical as da vinci code.. its more of a scientific fact book, other than some rubbish which is commonly found in dan's books.... well, the amazing thing was that the day before i started reading this book, which i borrowed from my neighbour, i was watching a documentary on discovery channel about megastructures.... the CERN (Conseil European pour la Recherche Nucleaire) is building this huge underground particle accelerator machine, which will be the world's biggest machine in the world when completed... the purpose? to experiment and research on the big bang... the whole machine underground will be shaped in a circle, with a circumference of 27km... what it does is it uses magnetic fields to accelerate 2 particles of electrons or something in opposite directions, then making them collide into each other at a speed of 180,000km per sec.... this will create a huge explosion, and create energy, which they hope will be used for our power supply in the future... its energy output is 100% for this energy source compared to nuclear energy, which is only about 8% efficient... soon after i watched it, i borrowed the book from my neighbour, and read the first few chapters, and was shocked to find out that it was almost exactly what the discovery channel was saying... they also mentioned about the building of the machine in europe... so i guess this fact is based on that event..

anyway, the book is really good... what happened in the book is that a scientist was murdered.. he happened to discover how to make anti-matter, the opposite of matter... thats where the religious part comes in... this scientist was a devout christian, who was determined to prove that God existed through science and the big bang... that God was the one who created the big bang and that the 2 opposing forces came from him instead of nothing... basically he got murdered because he made a breakthrough by creating anti-matter, and the illuminati, an elite group of mysterious and brightest scientists in the world who are against any religions, espeically the catholics.... it appears they are behind the biggest conspiracy ever... long story.. anyway, they stole the anti-matter... whats wrong with that? anti-matter destroys matter once it touches matter, including air.. its destructive power is enormous... 5000 nanograms of anti-matter, when in contact with matter, is enough to blind you, even when you are not looking directly at it.... so imagine half a gram of it being stolen, and being used as a time bomb...

on top of that, the pope just died, and all the cardinals are gathered in the vatican city to elect a new pope.. there are however 4 of them, who are the most prefeerred and highest ranking of them, were kidnapped by the illuminati, and threatened to kill one of them every hour... so john langdon comes in to find the lair of the illuminati, which are clues laid down in ancient artifacts which are so subtle that most people, of not all will not even notice, like a statue pointing in a certain direction, is actually pointing to another marker...

its actually too much to say it out... go read it!! just make sure you treat it as a work of fiction... i still cant believe that people would really believe in the da vinci code... oh well...

this is probably one of my longest post ever...

enjoy(*&%&@

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Too Late

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!


the only problem is i'm 1 day late.... hmm.. oh well...

19 and counting... and no M19 movies.. sad...

enjoy*&%^$

Monday, June 12, 2006

The Prodigy.........

zzzzzzzzz.............

just ate me dinner... chicken chop bought home by my dad... not bad.. haha... oh wells...

went for pco rehearsal for the rossini stabat concert this coming sat.. it was probably one of the worst rehearsal i've ever had with pco, and christoven thinks so too for him.. my concentration was down, and everything seemed like a blur for me.. you know when you are not focusing, and then the thigns you see arent appearing that real to you? and somehow the lights around you seem to dim or flicker? it was exactly what i felt, only that the light was literally flickering above me.. one of the lamps was spoilt... and a bunch of wrong notes came from my cello... i wonder what mr lim thinks of me now...

andris was principal cellist, as usual, and she smsed me in the morning that its gonna be a sight-reading session, and it will be super scary.. uh, coming from her? cannot be trusted... when we started reading the score, she played as if she practiced for weeks already.. not surprising... haha... what do you expect from a prodigy? nono... its proooooooooooooooooooooooooodigy, as alan would put it...

well, havent been contacting wei kang for the past few days... for some of you who knew, well, yea... wei kang!!! oi!! we're here if you ever need us ok? dont do anything stupid.. really... hope you're doing well larh.. nothing much i can say.. i'm not the kind of guy who can comfort someone... so i hope at least i can help out in any way?

i've been thinking... prodigies... in the musical world especially... what exactly brought them about? was it intense training and discipline by the parents? or a natural gift that happens just like that? i dunno... maybe both... it happened that both my brother and sister were under strict discipline from my dad... i didnt receive as much attenti0n from him compared to them, because i learn cello, not violin, which my dad specialises in... he couldnt really help me much when i was young, and all he could really do was to force me to practice and practice... i cant help but feel a sense of jealousy, enviness and regret when i look at those really good people out there.... if only i could be like them.. if only i practiced like mad when i was young... if only............ then things would be much easier now... nothing i can do now... but practice and practice and practice to make up for lost time... oh well....

now i'm depressed... =.=

enjoy$%@#%@

Monday, June 05, 2006

Last Day...

............

am in the com lab now... with a bunch of people i dont know who are recording for darius's composition competition... and they are forming a circle around me now.. hahaa... i feel WEIRD... i am sooo out of place right now... oh wells....

anyway, school starts tomorrow... cant believe it that i cant really wait for it... i'm just so bored of doing nothing during the holidays... and that samuel is trying to ruin my life.. he's out to get me...

DARIUS's compo sounds good.. i'm sure he will win this competition.. if he wins, his song will be the national day song for this year.. aint that cool? i think EVAN would be proud...

dont really know what to blog about... as for my msn nick, it was wei kang and shaun!! those 2 pushed me into the pool during our class bbq... evil beings... i trusted them.. i planned out everything, i designed the masterplan, and they used it against me...

i had another weird dream last night, and its very freaky.. it was about my sister.. shall not talk about it.. haha.. no, she didnt die, it was weirder than that... i may tell you guys what it was about soon.. i think..

this must be my shortest post ever..

enjoy(*^$$#