GAYLE.
240192
BTPS/MGS/NJCIP
Christian
I LOVE MUSIC
I'm crazy, I'm cranky, and sometimes I'm just so random you'll wonder if you even know me. But mainly, I just want to be able to do the things I want to do, which is seemingly
impossible in this insanely-paced life of ours. And so, this blog becomes my escape, temporal relief from the stress of life. Temporal, but nonetheless, relief.
I love almost all sorts of music. Classical, pop, rock, k-pop, j-pop, chinese pop, jazz. Almost all sorts. But I absolutely dislike songs with mindless lyrics. As much as music is important,
the lyrics too play a vital role.
I'm secretly a potato in hiding and even though, that rollie-pollie potato-ish side seems to have disappeared under the ever-piling workload, I know that crazy couch potato that
goos about randomly is still somewhere. Waiting for the return of the couch potato, still.
And I love reading too. Just wish I had more time to read. In times like this, you wish those people with IQs of 180 and above could invent something like a time capsule so we'd have enough
time. Then again maybe not. Life would be boring, living at such a slow pace. There'd be no more thrill.
Okay after listening to George Crumb, I am inspired AND freaked out. The whole whispering effect is freaking. And it’s just on audio. Imagine if there was visuals to go with it. But I think George Crumb is pretty ingenious. The way he does the word painting is so radical and so apt.
Haha. Feel inspired to throw in a gong and a singer into my composition.
Lol
But after listening to this CD. I am convinced that I must listen to more of such new words and CDs to gain more ideas.
Gonna ransack the music library tomorrow.
And now I need to figure out just how I’m gonna cough my composition out by Friday. ‘cos actually now I want to be able to listen to a few (thousand) more CDs before I start writing at all. Cos currently my ideas are so myopic they’re just quite useless.
So yeahh.
Ah well. Shall see.
Tomorrow is listen to CDs and Compose (if possible) and Practice Piano (this is a must) day. I must MUST somehow memorize the rest of Tempest by Saturday or Ms Lim really will strangle me. :/
SIGH
Anyway.
The MV for 159PM (2pm)’s Heartbeat is OUT! Haha. Okay I think they all look quite hot in the MV. Haha. oops. And I realize why they all kept long hair now. Cos they need it for the choreography when they flick their heads at one part. Need the “cool-hair-flick” that is only achievable when there is sufficient hair to even be flicked. There’s this part that has a weird contorted dance thing (probably to reflect the puppet and lifelessness thing) but ya in all it’s cool.
Now the only thing that’s left is PARK JAEBUM. Hurry up and come back. Then it’ll be 2pm once more. Haha.
*****
--Take time to realize/If you just realize what I just realized
----But I won’t spell it out for you/No it’s never gonna be that simple
Haha. This sounds absolutely ridiculous but after listening to 1.59PM’s new teaser of about 30s, it gave me this brilliant idea for composition. Who says listening to pop music is bad eh? Hahaha.
Anyway. I think I need to lay off my Bach for a while. Okay I know it’s not ideal but it really has come to a stage where the more I play, the worse it gets. Happens every so often. And I really must stop playing it for a while and then come back to it. This really isn’t the best time for it to happen but oh well.
Something that I forgot to say when I was talking about {Prologue} yesterday. The chinese section which although pales in comparison to Kinokuniya’s Chinese section, actually had Chinese books on things like The Philosophy of Beethoven’s Music by some Adurno or something. IN CHINESE. If you can bring in Chinese books on classical music why aren’t there English books on classical music?! Bleh.
Anyway. I feel tired. ):
Can’t wait to get started on reading all my new books but I must first finish the ones I borrowed from the library. Don’t know why I’m so tired but oh well. In just a two days, PW will be OVER! (yeah stop gloating already, you. Haha. D:)
Blah.
Think the holiday is going to be a ridiculously busy one. Collab concert. Competition. Composition. Why do they all start with Cs? Hmm. :/ oh. AND CHEMISTRY. ))):
Just thinking about it makes me feel tired. Sigh. Shan’t think about it. Sleep sleep sleep.
So for the first time in a long while I finally went to do some shopping. Visited Ion Orchard and I must say it's a lot better now that the place isn't as packed as it was the last time I visited it. Well I guess there are really loads of unusual shops there but the problem is the shops are so unusual that there are few people in there and that just about means I don't really want to step into the shop anymore. Haha.
But I kinda like the basement. I don't really know why but walking around the food section reminds me of Japan and their shopping centers. Pretty cool. That is, until the lunch crowd starts filling in but before that, it's nice.
Still, the place is big and confusing and somewhat claustrophobic. After walking rounds and rounds I failed to locate Artbox nor did I see Provence (I think that's how its spelled). Sigh. I really want a new pencil case cos my current one died on me. The cover got detached! )): And I want a phone pouch too. The ones I'd been using all along are too skinny for my now fat in comparison LG and so I haven't a pouch to put it into. This accounts for the scratches that a accumulating on the screen. ): Bleh.
Oh but. I found something else! PROLOGUE! It's so nice! I must first say that I'm a complete sucker for books and stationary. I really am. Before I got to prologue which is located at the highest floor, I came across this shop which i think is called Kiki or something like that selling notebooks and stationary. Ah it was so nice! But everything was so expensive you'd probably have to sell your house if you tried buying 5 files. Okay of course I'm exaggerating but you get the point. It was so expensive!
So anyway. Prologue! Haha. I couldn't resist. I just love the name of the store and so here are pictures! Hee. At this point I must digress and talk about the wonders of my LG. Haha. The photo editing function is fantastic. Because I was trying my best not to be a public nuisance and stop people from walking across while I take the picture, I took the picture in a very rushed manner and so I didn't adjust the lighting nor the other things that come with it. But waddayaknow, my phone can completely edit all of that. I can even sharpen the picture la. Haha. Cool stuff. So happy. Hee. Okay okay pictures!
See for this one. I wanted to take the whole long string but well it spread across a long way which I couldn't possibly capture unless all the letters were made to look like ants so yeah. Figured I'd do with this.
Anyway. Prologue is actually a branch of Popular and its supposed to bring in some books that others don't. So even though it may not have an awesome range, it should have some unique selections. I did find loads of cool stuff. Haha. Ended up walking out of the bookshop with Kafka, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy in my hands. (Yes lrj. I bought them! :D) But I must mention first that the Stationary section was so nice too! Haha. They had this really cute card making sets for Handicraft Idiots like me except that they were more catered to Rich Handicraft Idiots since there's no way I'd pay so much for a card making kit so oh well. ): But it was nice to look at all those prettily designed papers and stickers and yadayada nonetheless.
Trooped off to musicessentials after and yay! I bought Beethoven Sonata Vol II. Bach Toccata. There was this Beethoven Sonatas that had editings by Schnabel! I wanted it! Except that for some strange reason because of the editings, none of the Sonatas I played were in that Volume! And then they didn't have the other. So ended up with Urtext instead. Super wasted. ):
Oh wells.
At least I now have my scores. Then again, I think I might just continue to use the photocopies in school since uhh... The book is so thick. I'd die bringing it to school everyday. ):
And. Hah! Have got ideas for my composition already. Can't wait to get to school on Monday and quickly get it down and see what works. Most of the time, I throw away at least 5 ideas before I get one that seems vaguely passable even though it's still pretty crap. Lalala.
I must have the skeleton score out before school reopens!!
I realize my titles have no link whatsoever to my blog posts anymore. Actually I think there is, and that’s the reason why these lines pop randomly into my head everytime but I can’t quite figure out what the link is. Oh well!
(In case it’s not known, my blog title is taken from one of MJ’s songs. I think it’s the title and it’s a really nice, and poignantly sad song.)
Anyway. So now that the exams are over, I’ve started reading again. (Yeah okay so I’m supposed to be studying yadayadayada whatever. I don’t feel like studying yet. After that catastrophic result from studying like crap brought about nothing at all, I’m still stuck in the “studying is futile” mood which will probably wear off sometime later)
I think the 3 books I borrowed have left stark impressions on me.
The first disturbed me greatly. It’s called “The Heroines” and it’s supposed to be about how this lady always has heroines from books visiting her during times when they aren’t present in their story and what have you. That sounds cool and all. Now the main reason I borrowed it is because there’s mention of Catherine Earnshaw and well throughout there’s this strange presence that Catherine Earnshaw has and only at the end, does the reader find out that when Catherine visited this lady, Heathcliff came a long and in the spur of the moment, bedded the lady and left her with a child who is the narrator of the story. O.o What the crap is that?! Destroyed my image of Heathcliff. :/ Blehhh. I now see how dangerous these “continuations” of classics are. They can really break it. In fact, I think such continuations should not be allowed at all. Blehh.
The second book, Library of Shadows, was fascinating. It’s about how some people can manipulate and control others through reading. Haha. Cool stuff. Looks like one of those books that will become a movie sooner or later. (Mark my words!) Haha. And this somehow made me think of Lady Macbeth. I don’t know. Like how Shostakovich used the music to make it such that even though she murdered so many people, she was still correct at the end. :/ Bizzare really. How it corrupts the sense of morals. Dangerous stuff, music is.
Now the third book that I’ve yet to finish reading is the Plague. Chanced upon this book while browsing the fiction section and I remember lrj mentioning this book so I thought I’d borrow it. Well it isn’t the first book I’ve read about the Plague and so some things overlap like how the rats always die first and they die in the most theatrical manner. Okay more so here than in Year of Wonders. The rats always manage to squeal in pure despair and die with blood spurting out of their mouths. :/ But anyways. Yeah. The style of writing is really great and I’m waiting to see the greater philosophical issues behind the surface since this was written after the Nazi invasion of France and according to the blurb at the back, is supposed to be about human courage and determination against the seeming arbitrariness and absurdity of human existence. Haha. But before that, something else has already caught my attention. This novel is set in Oran, on the outskirts of France that is populated by the French Immigrants who are descendants of Arabs. This is the exact group that we’ve been studying in PW and who are the ones who rioted! Haha Can’t believe the coincidence. And it kind of makes me understand the setting better Like how conditions are so bad and all. Cool stuff. PW does have its uses. Hahahaha. Can’t wait to finish reading it.
On a side note, I seem to have decided my doom. Haha. Instruments for my A Levels Composition next year are…
Quite suicidal really. Since in all honesty, I don’t know what the marimba or the glockenspiel really sounds like except that I know one of them sounds really nice with the piano (haha what a music student I am) and I don’t really know how to write for the harp (especially the glissando bits. Hmm.) So ya. Suicidal I think. But ay oh well. I think it’ll be fun. After all, when else will I ever ever get the chance to do something so big and record it and all ever?! Never! Haha. So yes grab the chance. And I promise myself that I will have the skeletal score out before school reopens. (I don’t think I can learn a Ballade anymore. Hm. It’s too difficult. )): )
Yep. Oh and. Muahahaha. It looks like I’m going to be playing mighty wonderful pieces for Piano Ensemble next year. Hee. Can’t wait. A Levels practical though is such a big fat headache. So many restrictions all over. Bleh. I kinda think I wanna play with Bryan. Haha. Technically he definitely can make it la. Please. Look at the insane pieces he plays flawlessly. Lalala. But lrj isn’t keen on me getting someone from outside school. )):
Oh well. See how it goes. Nadadadadada.
I wish I could use Shostakovich but that isn’t happening either since its a concerto. ): All my plans for A Levels cannot make it. Bleh.
Haha. Okay see if I can get the Rach. I shall work extra hard. Heee. Piano piano piano. It’s starting again! Ahhhh can’t wait. ^^
Had to resist the overwhelming urge to rip my report into shreds when I first got it back. Stupid results. Stupid percentile. I feel so stupid. And all the effort. Useless. Grah what the crap.
In any case, I resisted. Mummy was absolutely unimpressed with the percentile. Well. I guess it’s only to be expected.
Sometimes…
I wonder…
If only…
But…
I guess…
Still…
I wish…
This overwhelming feeling of…
Keys to the above blurb: Music/You/Studies/Life/Me
Okay my post looks quite nonsensical now. Haha inspired by Stimmung. Go figure. It’s just there’s so many thoughts floating in my head now and hey I can’t quite separate them one from the other either but yeah they’re there and they’d all fit nicely into the above standard so oh wells.
Leave it alone. Too lazy to write it all out. Shan’t bore any readers of mine with it too.
Masterclass. Masterclass. Masterclass.
Today’s masterclass really really reminded me of lessons with John. Especially when dom was doing the little exercises to try to get tempest right, all the things that were said I’ve done them before. Hand rotation. The outter notes first. Dropping of the hand for the slurs part. Coordination of triplets. Kinda miss those lessons. :/
And I desperately need help with tempest. I cannot play the last movement. Relax. Hey I already am. I still can’t play it. Even at snail speed I still get tired. Something is wrong. And I can’t correct it. I think it’s some bad habit developed over so many years of playing the piano wrongly but well. No one seems to quite know what it is. Mostly everyone goes, Huh why can’t you play it? I don’t know. I wish I did. Help help help. My technique is bad but I don’t know what I can do to improve it.
