letters from the road.

2012.

a musician — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:05:52 +0000

just had a really great “winter” break doing Crazy Christmas, travelling, driving, arranging pop music, meeting up with friends, spending(!!!), and..not exactly practising.

here’s to a crazy 2012.

tough luck.

a musician — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 08:34:24 +0000

at a certain point, being nice and respectful just doesn’t cut it. not when certain “bros” care too much about themselves. at least now i know.

could listen to her voice all day..

a musician — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 08:33:39 +0000

there is never a “better” second year. its the only one.

a musician — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:11:50 +0000

came back from hongkong recharged and “scarred” for life on the elbow. a month or so to school.

wanna accomplish to the best of my abilities; the 3 Eb concertos, my latest hooked-onto C piece, the few tough excerpts, an arban, knowing more repertoires, and the foundation work. hope i make full use of my time when i look back here by August.

cheers!

fireworks.

a musician — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:03:12 +0000

do you ever feel, like a plastic bag?
WEIRDEST OPENING LYRICS EVER, to any song i’ve heard. but i must say katy perry’s ‘firework’ is pretty damn catchy. its been stuck in my head for days. a pop song?! goodness. haha. and on a side note about her music video; only a 21st-century artiste like her can appear with fireworks shooting out from her boobs(or heart?!) plus a couple of gay men making out, and get away with it!! love it.

and 2010 comes to an end; happy days are here again

a musician — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:53:03 +0000

i didn’t know how to feel about the results release. still don’t. probably cause this is the very first semester and i have no clue how my peers have done. but it was somewhat expected..and i don’t wanna use the word for it, but for my performance grade, it was some kinda “resigned” expectation. my previous post just shook me up again abt how i felt in the past, but the only way is up, isn’t it? i sure hope i can maintain the other portion of grades though.

anyway i want to wrap the year up for myself so memories don’t fade too quickly. i had a ball of time this year with many,many performances with different groups and each of them were inspiring in their own ways. but i think the one thing that stayed constant was my constant internal preaching to tell myself to play it the best, to not miss any notes etc; a kind of mental thing i’m forcing myself to inculcate/internalise..whatever haha. so here’s the list and the memorable bits for myself to look at and go “ah,ha!” a few decades down the road.

i. wwinds at the Esplanade with Maestro Ito (fun part was all him!)
ii. nusso at VCH performing Berlioz’s Fantastique (passing time on stage for 3 mvts)
iii. guestplaying w acj strings for Shostakovich’s Piano,Tpt + Strings
iv. nusso brass quintet playing Be A Clown (cue pre-performance beers)
v. wwinds at some NAFA performance
vi. acj at SIBF (dressing room cheering for a few of us)
vii. nusso playing Sketches (again!)
viii. Brandt 2 at ms ng’s student recital (disaster)
viiii. nusso & carmen suite (pre-habanera nerves)
x. firebird suite w tpo (bar-counting; scary entrances)
xi. re:mix (and all the privileges!)
xii. nusso alumni at SAM (in a good way, the unexpected audience)
xiii. musart (most inconsistent playing-wise personally)
xiii. buzz brass everywhere (st luke’s elderly daycare; conservatory brass showcase; acs(int’l) introduction to brass; eastpoint mall gig; nuhs charity drive; the oriental fanfare-almost)

that should be all. nowadays, its pretty much hitting the “music gym” and getting into a couple hrs and more of practice if i can. besides, someone just left town (again!) for europe so..that makes me sad. and lonely, but not alone. there’s a difference. haha. to think she just returned from Uncle Sam. i guess that’s what you call continent-hopping!! haha. i miss you.

and a song for whoever still bothers to get here. this is a barbara streisand & judy garland classic that was closely imitated by lea michele and chris colfer in glee. its the kinda song i think people’d never get sick of listening to every morning, rain or shine. at least people who share similar musical tastebuds as me hahah. its a mashup of the 2 closely similar(clothes!!) videos from each duet in different eras, and i have no idea how the glee version didn’t appear in their latest CD offering. it was the best song/thing to come out of this season!

first half-semester.

a musician — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:16:03 +0000

7 weeks. that’s all it takes to settle down. settle down well, or not, that’s another thing. right now i sincerely hope that someday, i’ll look at back what i’m writing, and be able to tell myself, ‘hey, you know what, it might seem so impossible, to hit those notes, play with those style, ace those excerpts, make a good impression playing-wise, and have a certain degree of success, and enjoy all of it at the same time; but it’s all been worth it.’ studying music as a fraction of the JC curriculum has helped, but performance-wise..its a long walk through the tunnel and i don’t see any light.

tomorrow i’m having one more lesson with my teacher before the national orchestra flies off on tour, and that only means independence and tons of free time. and self-discipline. i’m having friends telling me they feel so screwed as they cannot manage their workload, their english, their theory homework. i can only give a shrug. as much as i’m surviving in those areas, it’s a long and hard fight to stay alive on the instrument. i need to remember how to enjoy music once again.

it’s a strange world. i can remember how, from the ecstasy of the university orchestra concert and the delight of playing at least decent for the solos and enjoying it, to the very next next day’s individual lesson in the conservatory bringing every ounce of positive energy to a dead stop. hauled back down to the earth. twice i’ve had lessons which end with a really negative level of optimism. twice is really enough. i really wish for humility and tons of self-discipline.

i’ll check back here in half a year’s time when the first year finally ends, hopefully in a more positive shell. thankful for a couple of lessons from two of the better professors which i look forward to on a weekly basis. one of them introduced us to Jane Monheit. love her take on ‘Somwhere Over The Rainbow’

recital day.

a musician — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:44:11 +0000

we’ve met quite a few days the past week..but i miss you real bad.
might.. that.. be…..love??
- semi quoted from nodame

HAHAHAHAHAAA

wimbledon.

a musician — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:17:04 +0000

wow. what a night of sporting moments.

firstly, USA at the world cup, on a breakaway attack where it was 4 american players running at 2 algerian defenders. with landon donovan managing to smash in the crucial rebound in injury time, after the england-slovenia match had ended. and if this wasn’t amazing enough…

tennis at the wimbledon lawn courts. isner vs mahut. 1st round match. and they’re onto their 3rd day of competition tonight..having faced each other for the past two days!?!!? gosh. anyway the scoreboard reads 4-6,6-3,7-6,6-7,59-59. that’s about 10 hours of tennis in total not counting the 3rd day they’re meeting each other later on today.
this is an espn highlight: http://espn.go.com/sports/tennis/blog/_/name/espntennis/id/5320880/ten-times-unbelievable

i’m so inspired now…to watch more sports.

1.5 months to school

a musician — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:21:38 +0000

haydn.
hummel.
neruda.
denis wright.
brandt 2.
norma.