Lapidary

Welcome to my blog.

Its not an official start, but almost an official end. Im going to end my blog tonight! Believe or not, up to u.

MuHe just asked me about our upcoming concert next week. Well, it'll be featuring 2 vocalists, and of course... us, the best ensemble in the world. NAFA has chosen 2 Cellists to help us out, and other than Sarah, it'll be MuHe and SiHan! How fun right? Good, i think its going to be so happening, because we'll be playing 18 versions of 'XiuHeBao'. How exciting? Im playing the Pipa, i think u might have heard already. And, there'll be 4 Pipa players, how balanced right? 2 Ruans, and only a few ErHus, and 3 Dizis. We'll be having Percussionists coming over too. They'll hear our standard, and our professional practicing environment. I think its like going to be the best concert this year! Not too early to say, trust me... its the best! How i love it!

Believe me or not, up to u, i advice u not.

Today i woke up kinda early. In fact, too early. I fell asleep last night after talking to QingLun on the phone. So, i woke up at 6 in the morning, and i finished up with the scores. I copied them down, and then its about time to leave home. I bathed and got dressed. While walking out, i walked back to get my scores, because i didnt bring them out! If i would have forgotten, i'll kill myself. Whats the purpose of the day without bringing out the scores? Well, anyway... i carried the Pipa, because i thought that i'll be performing the Pipa in the evening with DongXiao and gang. But who knows? I played the Ruan, and the Pipa was carried around for the whole day for nothing!

I felt so comfortable today. Time was flowing on my side, as i took the MRT down to YanYu's house. After alighting, i took my time and walked over. I wasnt late, and she opened the door for me. Angela is growing! And now she can smile, and she looks so adorable. YanYu was carrying her, and then she left her on the bed, where she started smiling and giggling. How cute!

I took out the Pipa, and i showed her my programme booklet for the performance yesterday. I told her about the mistakes in the resume, and she was laughing about it. Well, i told u guys yesterday already, so i aint gonna talk about it again. Every lesson felt like a war to me. I had to fight and play really hard. She took out her Pipa, and started strumming away with me. I started off the piece with a weak blow, which left her laughing away, jeering at me.

I was kinda disappointed, but somehow... i got to understand the link between our body and our mind. We can know what we want, but not get them as how we want them to be. Its just a mentality thingi. We must coordinate our fingers with our mind, and one more... would be our spirit. Sometimes, they playing might be there, but without the spirit, there wont be any life. Well, this kinda describes my blog, a death of a mortal soul. Its just a dead body, without a living soul inside, thus... everything here are just words that are dead, not alive. I played the Pipa, and was beaten out. I raised my white flag and surrendered to YanYu.

We went through the piece based on our memories. I memorised the piece already, but there are a few parts which she didnt remember properly, so she adviced me to check with the score. I found the score in one of her files, and looked for the missing part. It turned out that im right, and shes right too about another part which was supposedly played with the second string, instead of the first. Well, im not sure... but somehow i remembered that its the first instead of the second. Anyway, with the second string, its so much easier!

After beating the drums and stressing the warcry, im done. The lesson ended with some chatting, and slowly... i kept my nails. So, she kept her's too... and we started talking. She had 3 drums at home today, and she played one to show me the effect of the requirements in the piece. Its kinda funny...

She gave me a red packet, though i didnt bring any oranges, and soon... left her house for Bugis. I walked to the MRT station, with the heavy load weighing me down. In the train, i was sitting beside this really fat woman. She took up so much space! She was sleeping, and she has beard! Anyway, kinda hairy above the lips too. I was kinda grossed out. She looked brutishly coarse, as in behaviour, because she was moving about while she was sleeping, but luckily, she didnt drool. The Malay dude beside me didnt wanna move, and with an empty seat beside him, he still sat there, giving me really no space at all to move. I sat there, with my Pipa, thinking of how initiative Singaporeans are.

I alighted at Bugis, and went shopping! MinHui, YiLeng and JiaJin would be late, and QingLun was kinda hard to contact. So, with the time to shop, i quickly went looking around for something to wear. I found this really Dedric's type of shirt, and i went to try it on. I tried twice, and decided on the 'M' size one. I dunno why, but it fits me just well, i think. People say that sometimes i wear tight clothings, but well... i hate tight clothings! I dun have tight ones, i usually wear comfortable sizes, and usually ranging from 'M' to 'XL'. So, today, i bought the 'M', because it fits me just nicely. I wore it, and went outside to meet with YiLeng, then JiaJin.

We took some suggestions, and finally got ourselves settled at Fish&Co. When we're about to enter, JiaJin saw QiaoFang, and we stopped and talked.

After that, i had to invite QingLun over myself. I had to call him and stuff. Treat him to a meal also so difficult! MinHui came, but she looked kinda annoyed. Dunno why. We ordered and soon, the last order came first. QingLun's fish came, and YiLeng's salad, then my soup. JiaJin and QingLun started eating first, then YiLeng. MinHui started second last, as for mine... i was the last to eat and last to finish! Mine is a huge plate with some rice, vegetable and with chunky and juicy flesh from the collar of the swordfish. Actually, there were 2 pieces of fried crap, and its the collar, with the hard bone, and chunky flesh that ive to dig out myself. How difficult! I should have ordered something else...

So, everybody was just chatting and waiting for me. I passed them the score, and they started counting mathematically, except for MinHui. I was really curious how it'll sound. I paid the bill and we headed to school. It wasnt expensive, but enough for me to finish the money i got from yesterday's performance. How much? U should know if u read my blog everyday.

On our way back, it started drizzling, then raining little droplets. YiLeng lent me her umbrella, but it served no purpose for me, because i couldnt open it, and its kinda weak. The metals were bending when the wind came... and it was almost inverted. I ran back within the second traffic... and saw this 2 girls crossing the road. They are really experts.

Got back, and found them all tuning and warming up. I printed the piece, and i wrote it in many different parts, thus it allows them to see what other players are playing as well. I got my conductor stand, and rehearsed the piece with them. It started kinda badly, and i was really thrown all the way to the back of the hall. It sounded so much different from what ive expected!

Anyway, they highlighted their parts, and we ran through the score, changing notes, chords and some other notations. They gave me suggestions for notes, tremolos and even technical changes. I loved it, and i allowed them to change, because i think they know the instruments better than me. I dun wish to restrict them from my own very basic kinda playing. However, no matter how, there are challenging things in my piece. As for the LiuQin, its just some running notes, but other than that... its all kinda simple. The Ruan has some hard parts, but mainly just simple counting and entrances, and it plays the role of providing the bass and a thicker texture. As for the YangQin, the hardest part in the entire piece throughout. It plays as the continuo as well as the melodic part in the faster section. Its extremely hard because of the hand crossing. There were hard chords, which stressed her out. I could tell that she was kinda giving up already... because she was spending alot of time finding the notes. Its hard, i can understand, because i wrote it with some context from my own Pipa fingerings. So, it doesnt match exactly, and in fact... its very far apart. She had to cross her hands and run in wierd positions and directions in order to just play a chord, or some running notes which doesnt have a tonal center. I was kinda stressed out too... because there was this part which required some counting. YiLeng said that im influenced by JoshuaChan, a HongKong composer. But well, not really... but somehow to a certain extent probably. However, mine aint as complicated as his, because mine is kinda simple, without much of countering melodies and polyphonic textures.

YiLeng had problems with the notes, and the fast running notes. Honestly, its hard, and it requires some practicing. MinHui had problems counting, and the fast melodic part. As for JiaJin, he was totally fine, sitting there and even volunteered to play the YangQin part!

QingLun came for awhile, but he left after that. Mark too. After going through and eating into Mark's rehearsal time, i went over to the studio to look for him. I rehearsed the piece with him, clarifying some parts and editing some unplayable chords. Mark's piece is written for Sharon, ZhengYi and i. Sharon would be playing the Piccolo and ZhengYi, the Vibraphone. It was fine, its an atonal piece. There wasnt much of a tonal material, and mostly atonal ways of approaching it, but its written with less restrictions. Its kinda in tempo too.

I was sightreading, and i must say that my sightreading skills suck. I read in the clef, always forgetting the key signature. I edited almost all his chords, and i told him to write with the bass clef too. The Pipa is notated in both clefs, and not with just the treble. I hate it when i see a single clef line, because im not used to it. People, remember! Its the Piano type of score that Pipa reads... not the single ones.

DongXiao was rushing me, because i have to perform with them at RafflesHotel. I hurried through the chords, and they left the Ruan outside the studio for me. Sebestian was the one who informed me. They all took the cab and left first. I wanted to leave, but Mark didnt look quite happy. Well, i told him that i will help him, so i stayed. I delayed the rehearsal, and soon... after helping and running through again, i left in a hurry and headed down to school to find a cab.

With the Ruan in hand, i was feeling kinda uncomfortable. Its heavy, and i hate to carry it with my hands. I tried calling for a cab, but none of their lines were working. The line was engaged all the time, so... i just kept flagging... and counting on my luck that one will stop. Eventually, one did. I was kinda happy... and the driver drove me to the hotel.

I passed him my card, and he told me that he dun accept cards. I was like so dead. The Indian man opened my door and asked if theres any problem... and i told him that i dun have enough to pay for the fare. So, the Indian man said that he'll pay for me first. I was so touched, and so happy. I alighted the cab and headed to the hotel. Then, i told him, and i think his name is Rajnan, to wait for me to perform first. I called DongXiao but she didnt pick up my call.

Soon, with the help of my own intuition, i found the place. She told me that its some StamfordRoom. I couldnt find any room! Its StamfordBallroom. The ballroom looked so terrible, its so ugly. I found them at a corner, looking really small, with some really ugly music going on. I took out the Ruan, and wore my Chinese costume and joined in the performance. We performed for the first set, and we headed for dinner. I only played a few chords... im so late.

DongXiao paid me first, so i went to pay Rajnan. Anyway, its only $6.20, but i paid him $7. For the service and kindness, i really appreciated his help, but i cant tip much. They headed to eat, and we bought burgers. Then, we headed back to the ballroom, where we had our free drinks.

After eating, we headed back and continued with our bad music. The performance was accepted by NAFA, and we had to play for merely $85! Its some pathetic money! Come on, the other musicians in school performs for $120 and stuff, and we only have $80 or even $20 that time. My goodness, how fair? How fair? Where is the justice?

I played the Ruan till my fingers were burning. I even had to force myself to solo with the Ruan. ShuMin didnt wanna solo, and i had to keep pushing her to. I accompanied her with the Ruan, and we just played the melody over and over again. I told her to go on... but she continued the melody again and again. Nevermind... anyway, i was scolding DongXiao, telling her to listen and to give cues clearly. Its so horrible! ShuMin didnt wanna play loudly, and QiaoFang and DongXiao were pulling me down. Im the accompaniment, and its actually kinda hard to follow them... because their speed was kinda wavering. As for me, i think im rushing actually. I tried all the chords possible for my fingers to play on the Ruan, and i think it was good. My fingers were almost bleeding... so we ended the performance and we stayed for the buffet. QiaoFang went off first.

We stayed and ate quite alot. I ate chawamushis, dumplings, egg and oysters, some noodles and 2 sticks of barbequed prawns. Well, the food aint as nice as those from PanPacificHotel. Im kinda disappointed with the hotel actually... i meant the one i just performed in. The food was kinda terrible, but being such a hungry ghost, i ate and ate and ate.

Soon, i was so full... i sat there, drinking and waiting for them to change and return. We headed to the taxi stand, which was so filled with foreigners. We went over to another taxi stand instead. After waiting for centuries, there came a cab, and the Indian man wanted to offer it to the Westerners. DongXiao, ShuMin and i couldnt take it anymore, because its so unfair, we ran for the cab and boarded it.

Screw off, Indian man.

We headed to school, and left our instruments there. I went to collect my Pipa, and met them downstairs. ShuMin and DongXiao were laughing like mad, because ShuMin thought that DongXiao was hanging her wrist in the air, and so ShuMin wanted to pat on it. Instead, its actually DongXiao's breast! So, ShuMin accidentally played with DongXiao's breast. Its so funny...

They were laughing like crazy, and ShuMin was about to break down. I left for the bus-stop, and was thinking about what ShuMin told me. Come on, still the same old donkey. Naivety still ruling over the personality of the animal. Its long flushed away already, it has dominated over me for too long. Far too long, and now im elated that it has disappeared from my life. Though some might still run in my blood, im sure enough that it'll not surface to bring me problems with some animal. So, we've patched up? No way. Not even close, just merely talking like hibye friends. Wait! Maybe thats how u term it as friends. But well, not for me. A friend would be people somebody like Christoven or QingLun, even ShuMin and gang. Well, ur far away, even from the dusty old road. I will survive, yes i will. Move it, and move out of my life... ur stepping on my style. By the way, i hope that i dun get the wrong idea. If u do, its fine, i dun bother. But well, im speaking from a very clear tone, not harsh and mean. Im just talking calmly, peacefully... and not implying anything bad, nor having any faults to blame anyone.

I need to compose now for QingLun's sister's birthday party now. Im not paid, but why do i wanna stress myself out? I'll be teaching Pipa tomorrow, and i must make my lessons more worth the time as compared to others. Im not just a Pipa teacher, i wanna preach music! Music is my main motive, not just the Pipa. Moreover, its music that we learn, and expressed only through our instruments. Music is in us! Not our instruments! So, music first, Pipa next. Thats how i view myself too. Music always first.

Alright, i better stop crapping and start cracking my nuts on the compositions. I think im going to do something Western, since she doesnt like Chinese stuff. But then, why call us to play? Stupid... For QingLun. For QingLun.

Everything here was evoked with superb, lapidary precision of life. I shall carve them out in stones... instead of blogging. Well, about the second paragraph, im merely joking! Just checking if u read till the end. Well, the blog will never end, it'll go on till i die. Or... when Blogger does.