Danse Macabre

How to play a Chopin Etude

While in school where there's an ample availability of pianos (nevermind the tuning and odd one or two sticky keys), I would want to play and be reacquainted with the black and white.

So I grabbed a score from the school library, and did some research on youtube to find out how to play the music. In my exploration, I discovered gems. Spine chilling gems. So I discarded my music score and decided to bring out my Chopin Etude score.

Listening to this last one brought tears to my eyes. Not saying it's the best, but it was the most emotional for me.

Light of Gold Lux Aurumque

The power of imagination, and the effort to pull off a dream.

Edward Esch's Light of Gold

Light,

Warm and heavy as pure gold

and the angels sing softly

to the new-born baby.

Lux Aurumque (trans. in Latin by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
Lux
Calida gravisque
Pura velut aurum
Et canunt angeli
Mollitermodo natum.

My favourite song for the moment

Something haunting about repetitive strings and circular harmonies. LOL!

Though I have to admit that costume, which shoots laser beams, is rather distracting.

TPO: The Soldier's Tale

The Philharmonic Orchestra (Singapore) is performing Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale. Check it out here.

Love Story to Viva La Vida

Popular musical elements are usually recycled so it's not unusual to sometimes find similarities between two different songs... and link them. But I like this rearrangement, even though it sounds and feels different from the original songs. The emphasis on the rhythmic element still retains the spirit. Maybe the ancients were right, the beat does communicates with the spiritual?

明日恩典

A song I learnt recently. ^^

When we read music...

When people ask me, why do you like classical music? I sometimes wish they could experience the same rush I go through when reading through a piece of great music.
Literally akin to riding a roller coaster or skiing down the mountain. =D

Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3, 3rd Movement.

Gosh... I wonder if anyone in Singapore can get away with this kind of cadenza??!

You can always search YouTube for the usual concert rendition. ^_^

Yet another classical music video

You'll never hear Paginini again without being haunted by the image of this guy's face...

All About Mom

Anita Renfroe's The Mom Song (William Tell Overture)

Here's the Lyrics:

Get up now Get up now Get up out of bed Wash your face Brush your teeth Comb your sleepy head Here's your clothes And your shoes Hear the words I said Get up now Get up and make your bed
Are you hot? Are you cold? Are you wearing that? Where's your books and your lunch and your homework at? Grab your coat and your gloves and your scarf and hat Don't forget you got to feed the cat
Eat your breakfast The experts tell us it's the most important meal of all Take your vitamins so you will grow up one day to be big and tall Please remember the orthodontist will be seeing you at three today? Don't forget your piano lesson is this afternoon So you must play
Don't shovel Chew slowly But hurry The bus is here Be careful Come back here Did you wash behind your ears?
Play outside Don't play rough Would you just play fair? Be polite Make a friend Don't forget to share Work it out Wait your turn Never take a dare Get along Don't make me come down there
Clean your room Fold your clothes Put your stuff away Make your bed Do it now Do we have all day? Were you born in a barn? Would you like some hay Can you even hear a word I say?
Answer the phone Get Off the phone Don't sit so close Turn it down No texting at the table No more computer time tonight Your iPod's my iPod if you don't listen up
Where you going and with whom and what time do you think you're coming home? Saying thank you, please, excuse me Makes you welcome everywhere you roam You'll appreciate my wisdom Someday when you're older and you're grown Can't wait 'til you have a couple little children of your own
You'll thank me for the counsel I gave you so willingly But right now I thank you NOT to roll your eyes at me
Close your mouth when you chew Would appreciate Take a bite Maybe two Of the stuff you hate Use your fork Do not you burp Or I'll set you straight Eat the food I put upon your plate
Get an A, Get the door Don't get smart with me Get a Grip Get in here I'll count to 3 Get a job Get a life Get a PhD Get a dose of...
I don't care who started it You're grounded until you're 36 Get your story straight And tell the truth for once for heaven's sake And if all your friends jumped off a cliff Would you jump too? If I've said it once, I've said at least a thousand times before that
You're too old to act this way It must be your father's DNA Look at me when I am talking Stand up straight when you walk
A place for everything And everything must be in place Stop crying or I'll give you something real to cry about Oh!
Brush your teeth Wash your face Get your PJs on Get in bed Get a hug Say a prayer with Mom Don't forget I love you
**KISS**
And tomorrow we will do this all again because a mom's work never ends
You don't need the reason why
Because
Because
Because
Because
I said so
I said so
I said so
I said so
I'm the Mom
The mom
The mom
The mom
The mom
Ta-da

Words by Anita Renfroe Copyright 2007 Bluebonnet Hills Music/BMI

Meanwhile, S_nie and I each bought this cake for our moms. ^________^ I highly recommend this! One of the best cakes I've eaten. ^_^ Bought from Swissbake, Marine Parade.

The bottom layer was crunchy inbetween layers of sponge cake and creamy chocolate+coffee mousse. Yum! My mum even took a pic of herself and the cake! haha! Sorry, not posting it up on the Net.

Post ASKA concert with TPO, Singapore

One thing I really don't like about finishing concert projects is the nostalgia. I'd like to tell myself to 'Get on with life... move on... you've got those things you want to do, STOP THINKING ABOUT THE CONCERT!' But the reality is that I keep getting bombarded with memories, savoring each one OVER and OVER again. The worst is the music that keeps circulating around your head. And I keep getting sappy EVERYTIME. -_-"


Trust me, I do try to bombard myself with other music, I've been listening to Sibelius, listening to Switchfoot, Planetshakers, David Tao, Ella Fitzgerald, Ashkenazy, Perlman, Corrine May... I even looked up some of those indigenous Orang Asli/ Malay music that my prof. is crazy about... ARGHED. ASKA's still in my HEAD!


I blame it on my youth. If I wasn't so into Chage and Aska in the 90s, I'd be behaving like a proper adult and not going into a teenage fantasy world, going gaga, reliving adolesence manifestations today. -_-"


But he's so cool and suave!

I got to take picture with him and got his autograph too! Ahhaahaaha....!!!

Really, it was a enjoyable performing with him and the other Japanese musicians, Sawachika and Furukawa and not forgetting our conductor Mr. Fujiwara. I can't believe they are like 50 years old and plus. hahaha... Makes me wonder how they keep looking young. ~_~
Yeah but anyway, really whenever the guitar or piano comes in, I feel a lot settled. Rhythm, beat, feel of the music, you can really count on them. Maybe cos we are classically trained, so there are really slight differences in the way we play offbeats and syncopations. Slight but there's definitely a big difference in the way the music moves. To me at least.

I don't think the music was particular difficult for the orchestra, but seriously, to perform continuously with only about 4 short breaks really tested my stamina. And Aska just kept singing! Without any breaking, or hint of strain! Wah... so pro. *_*

Sigh, they are all so nice and friendly, and obliging! So happy to have performed on the same stage with them. Okay, I really must settle my emotions now that I've satisfied my nostalgia with a blogpost. Must stop watching youtube videos too, darn it.

p/s I wonder if I really like older men like QL says... *shudder NAH~~~ I just admire them. REALLY! -_-" why am I defending myself to myself??

Sistic outing

Today, I went to Sistic at JP and spent over $300 on tickets...

Classical music

I decided to check out Youtube's collection of classical music videos ^_^ What a haul! The very first video I watched was Jascha Heifetz's Paganini's Caprice No. 24
He's got a really beautiful tone, powerful and intense. Not only that, he has such a variety of emotional depths which he brings across so effectively, really feel like you're being led on a musical journey.

Sounds familiar? I think most people will be more familiar with Rachmaninoff's version
Mikhail Pletnev on the piano playing Rachmaninoff's Rapsody on the theme of Pagnini

Just for fun, I found another Paganini Caprice no. 24 this time on the classical guitar by Li Jie

From Linz to Leningrad

We are performing! Check out the mini write up I co-wrote with K_ and some of the other committee. Love the quote by Victor Hugo... Cos I was the one who found it! Bwahahaha!!!

Check this out. From Linz to Leningrad

“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”
- Victor Hugo

On 29 October 2006, The Philharmonic
Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Lim Yau, sheds its former name (the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra) to begin a new chapter, exploring Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 (“Linz”) and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 (“Leningrad”).

Nicknamed after the cities they were composed in and yet written in vastly contrasting circumstances. While traveling through the city of Linz, Mozart composed “Linz” within a short span of four to five days in 1783. Two centuries later, the beleaguered Shostakovich wrote “Leningrad” during the 900-day siege of Leningrad in 1941.

Was Mozart conveying his thoughts towards the city of Linz or just fulfilling an aristocratic fan’s desires? Did Shostakovich express his emotions at the raging war or perhaps, his emotions toward Stalin?

We may never know their intentions, but in our examination of their symphonies, we ask: to what end can music accomplish in today’s world? Can music truly be the common language of different people or is it simply a reflection of time?

Updates

Yups! It's coming! I've been rather busy with this these couple of weeks! Tomorrow night will be the orchestra's rehearsal with the singers. I'm quite excited to hear everything come together. Playing the orchestral parts while quite interesting, is rather lonely trying to imagine the voices singing.

In the mean time, anyone keen on Cabaret??

Being a poor student, I of course will opt for the cheapest. 29 July, 3pm anybody? Let me know b4 15 July, cos then got early bird discount! hehehe...

Yeah I know! 29 July is the TCS Walkathon. I signed up with 7 other friends liao... People are opting for the shorter route.

We are all going to meet at 6.30am at Cityhall MRT. 6.30AM!!!! That's like... INCREDIBLY EARLY for me. Lord, please wake me up in time!

So my plans are: Go walkathon in the morning, then go for Cabaret in the afternoon. Anyway, walkathon's going to end by 11am. So btw 11am and 3pm, should be enough time for me to freshen up. That's the plan, that is.

OKies, I should go take a shower. Tomorrow's another long day... :p

Rossini

Am playing in Rossini's Mass. Wonder when he lived? Sounds like Romantic period. But got continuo. Hmm...

Choir was pretty good. Basses not enough i thought. But then again I like deep deep, resounding sound. haha

Didn't recognised any of the soloists. Sounds good too. But then again I'm no judge on vocals.

No used to the conductor. A reverend. But then again, his beats are consistent not like our conductor. hahaha... A bit plodding along though... cos we rehearsed at more dramatic tempo. Good for me though. Bwahaha... don't have to worry about playing fast. always seem to have a problem sounding good when playing fast. hahaha

Tonight rehearsal's at UCC. Maybe thinking of going down to NUH to donate blood. Maybe not. Too lazy. Gonna go back and take a nice nap on this wet wet day. hahaha

Presenting...

My new bass guitar! Bwahahahaha....

The day I took a break...

Went for one of Mosaic Festival's concert with Aa_ and P_y_. "Montreux Jazz Special Concert BOB JAMES (USA) with Nathan East (USA), Jack Lee (Korea) & Lewis Pragasam (Malaysia) 11 Mar 06 Concert Hall 7.30pm "

They are GOOD. Gosh... the drum Lewis Pragasam was like totally loosed limbed and relaxed, no sweat breaking. I suspect Bob James had classical training, I heard a lot of romantic chords and progressions being used! Not totally jazz. Nathan East! WOOoaah.... he's so cool, plays the bass like an electric guitar. He's pretty versatile too! Sang his own compositions and whistled in tune! Too bad the sound for the Korean guitarist was so soft. Everytime he played the other 3 had to tone down so we could hear him. >_<; But the chemistry between the musicians were so totally cool. A lot of musical jokes thrown in for good measure too! Like those big band endings. hahaha... they were so exaggerated! Later went for a free performance of S. Korea's Oh! Brothers. Gosh THEY ROCK! Their spoken english was bad, but anyway they had korean fans on the ground, so no biggie if they could only speak marginally. hahaha... Really jiving lor... everybody on ground were like swinging and clapping, some were even dancing... The lead singer had this really shreaky shreak. But they were darn cute. Korean version of the Beatles. Kinda reminded me of Austin Powers ~ Yeah Baby! Yeah! hahaha.... At the end of their performance my left ear was deafened. Aa_ and P_y_ were both deafened too. Oh well... we were right at the front so got the first hand blast from the speakers. hahaha....

Farewells: The Last Symphonies of Mozart and Shostakovich

sigh... 3 rehearsals a week... do come and see the fruits of our labor!!!