a performer’s true face

teacher: ohh stop, stop. Do you know i can hear the thoughts that are going through your mind when you’re playing this song?

qinny: :S ahh?

teacher: ‘this is good, let me show you what i’ve prepared’,
‘let’s try something new’,
‘oh shit, a mistake’,
‘let’s try to cover up this mistake and pretend nothing happened’,
‘omg, this doesn’t seem to be working’

qinny: :$ oh gosh! that was really what was going through my head!!!

At that point in time i really didn’t know whether to feel scared or amused that my teacher was reading into my thoughts with 100% accuracy just by listening to my playing. Perhaps, music really is a craft that is so individualised, heavily influenced by the creator/performer’s character that we can peek into the characters of each of these musicians through their music. When a performer is performing, is that his truest self (putting aside nervousness and stage fright)? Is a person’s music reflective of his attitude / character in life?

Duets – The pianist way

The piano with its 88 black and white keys is such a versatile instrument that pianists are required to be virtuoso at the following:

1. harmony (chords), voice leading
2. rhythm / groove
* 1 and 2 will put the piano in the rhythm section / an accompaniment instrument
3. soloing / taking the melody as a lead instrument
4. arrangement

There seems to be endless possibilities with the piano, and the piano is often dubbed “the mini orchestra”. This may be one of the reasons why many orchestral arrangements can be performed as a piano piece. And with two pianists (four hands on 1 piano) on either 1 or 2 pianos, the versatility of the piano is further stretched.

Sonata for 2 pianos in D Major
One of the first piano duets that got me interested in piano duets. Mozart wrote this piece when he was 25 years old, composed for a performance that he would be doing with another pianist, Josephine von Aurnhammer, the daughter of one of his friends.

Anderson & Roe
A piano duo who have explored how two pianos can recreate orchestral music. Some of the pieces have been rearranged to further bring out the interactions between the two pianos.

Watch how these two absolutely fantastic pianists from Julliard demonstrate that piano playing can be as beautiful and as visual as dancing:

And lastly, a funny Muppets version of piano duets:

In response to the above video:

Usually, i wouldnt voice out on fb like this, but I am sure many people felt offended or even ashamed because of a certain national day song. We have been always been criticized and compared by foreigners for our lack of creativity & artistry because of their false impression of the conditioning we receive from society we live in, and sad to say this single incident have proven them right yet once more. I strongly urge every fellow musician & artist, especially those who bravely aspire to excel in the creative fields like myself, to take up the duty of working as hard as it takes, strive to show the critical world what we’re made of, that we don’t need to copy, WE are people of substance, so that WE may never have our pride as musicians & artists of this wonderful country be trampled on again. Lets do something about this…

- Quoted from a friend, who plays the Saxaphone.

and in response to my friend’s post on Facebook: (i’ve bold the parts that resonates with me)

You know, the funny thing is that it’s not that we’re untalented, that we lack creativity and artistry, or anything of that sort. It’s that we don’t get enough recognition from the leaders of society and those in authority. Furthermore, our society IS very suppressive of the arts. Though there are more and more arts schools now, the pressure to do well and excel in studies, get a well-paying job, and match up to society’s standards is a huge barrier to many people realizing the actual talent they have within them. It’s not a lack of institutions promoting the arts that is the problem. It’s the mentality of “I don’t want to do the arts because I don’t want to have to struggle to put rice on the table when I’m 50″.

On the national day song issue, honestly, I felt doing a parody of Lady Gaga was an insult to local talents such as Dick Lee (I don’t quite fancy his style of music, but with his accomplishments as an artiste, one must still concede that he at least has appeal to some degree), Corrinne May, or even the Singapore Idol winners. It was an insult because rather than looking for local talent to do a song for a NATIONAL event, they take a song written by a foreign artiste, change the lyrics, and put it into the song lineup for the said event. While I can appreciate the apparent hidden truth behind the meaning of the song and the lyrical nuances that provide a satirical point of view of Singapore’s culture, National Day is just the wrong place to do it because it smacks too much of disregard for the local talent that they claim they’ve been trying to hard to promote. I also find it a huge disrespect to the country.

That said, I don’t take this personally. Because I’m still going to continue doing what I do. I love it that music allows for me to express myself in a way that words cannot, but that others can still interprete in a deeper way than through mere academia. I’m still going to write and to play each instrument for pure love of the craft. I’m still going to put in the hours to better myself so that the expression becomes even clearer and sweeter. I’m still going to do a hundred recordings and pick out only one that I like, because I know that one is going to be worth the effort. I will still find enjoyment and satisfaction at having strung together words and notes that pierce the heart and core of one’s being (though it may rarely come).

They can throw all these opportunities that were meant for us to the wind. But they can never take away the joy that we find in our art. And one day, I believe, this joy will find it’s way out .

 

lovely nails for finger workers

I’ve decided to start a new blog!

I’ve been hearing quite a fair bit about the friendly and easy to use interface of WordPress, and thus decided to make a switch, partly with the hope of a good user experience and partly because i wanted a blog with which i could share things outside of my personal life (for which i have my private blog ).

Having played the piano since the age of 7, i do recall the days when i would anxiously check that my nails were of the ‘correct length’ for fear of being reprimanded by my classical piano instructor, who was adamant on drilling into me the correct playing posture – with your fingertips – which meant that your fingernails are to be kept clipped and maintained short.

But does this mean that pianists/keyboardists can’t have manicured fingers? nopes! my love for manicures and pedicures that bloomed in the later years of my life (not that i’m very old ^^) has led me to search for ways for me to satisfy both my role as a pianist / keyboardist and that ‘inner desire’ for beautiful and healthier nails.

The Classic Manicure

The most basic form, which includes trimming of cuticles, treatment to rehydrate the skin and cuticle, skin exfoliation to remove dead cells, and massaging of your hands and legs with cream which moisturises the skin and improves blood circulation, rejuvenating the skin. 4 coats are applied: base coat, 2 coats of paint, top coat. Although some may choose to apply nail polish themselves at home, it is unlikely that one will spend the same amount of time going through all the treatments and steps undertaken by a professional manicurist, and taking additional care to apply the polish evenly on their nails. Besides, most professional manicures would last up to 3 weeks, while pedicures can last from 5-7 weeks. Hence, i feel that manicures (and pedicures) are a great way for ladies and women out there to pamper themselves, and relax.

The classic manicure is great for all nail lengths, be it short or long, and most nail salons would have a wide spectrum of colors ranging from the safe girly pink to loud striking colors like highlighter yellow and lime green. For starters, this would be a good choice.

The French Manicure

French manicures are characterised by their light pink / beige base paint, with a strip of white highlight at the tip of the nails. It looks similar to the way our natural nails look, and has a classy, yet simple feel to it. The French manicure has also evolved over the years, and you can choose any combination of colors for the base and the french tip. Below are some other variations of the french manicure:

For those who are more adventurous / wild, you may choose to go for the reverse french manicure, where the inner half moon is been highlighted, and darker colors are used for a more exotic look.

A downside to french manicures would be that they usually look good on longer nails, which tends to make pianists / keyboardists frustrated while playing. A compromise would be to go for the square filed nails which, from personal experience, doesnt seem to grow as fast as the round filed nails, and hence, allows you to have a bit more length in your nails and yet able to play the piano comfortably with your fingertips.

Manicure Designs

For those who prefer to further personalise their nails, they may choose to go for manicure designs, a combination of painting and adding jewels etc to create, well, a design! The overall effect is conditioned upon the skill of your manicurist. Most nail salons would have booklets of desgins for you to choose from, but having said this, my manicurist did share with me that they are able to do any design as long as you bring a picture of the design that you want on your nails (charges will be based on the complexity of the picture, and the number of colors used). As with all manicures, you are able to choose all the colors being used for your manicure, and you can also request to add additional things (eg. polka dots, hearts, stars) or remove stuff from the design.

Paint designs

Jewels and add ons

The add ons kind allow for more variety and looks better, but a down side is the add ons may drop if you are not careful with your fingers / nails. Once, a jewel from my friend’s manicure dropped into our soup bowl, and we ended up spending ages fishing for the missing jewel. I do prefer to go for the painted on designs because they’re much more convenient (compared to the add ons kind where you’ll have to be very careful with your fingers) and are more interesting than the usual classic manicure / french manicure. I’ve tried the add on design manicure once (refer to the picture below for the design) and swore never to do it again because of the following reasons:

1. terribly hard to maintain
2. doesn’t look good once the jewels / add ons start falling out (there’ll be visible holes in your manicure)
3. you can’t play the piano properly with such nails
4. the nails just feels like a hindrance to your daily activities

But i guess for those who do not engage in much hand / fingers involvement activities, perhaps the add on design manicures would be a good choice, as it gives an added dimension to the nail art.

For those who prefer to have nails that last longer, you may speak to the manicurist about getting gel nails which are glued on to your natural nails and last very long (approximately 2 months), and can be filed to your desired length. I haven’t tried this option before, although many of my friends have tried it. But the effect looks really pretty and you wouldn’t have to deal with paint coming off the nails for a long period of time, which means easy maintenance, and top quality (beautiful looking) nails.

Lastly, before i end this post, here is a note to pianists and keyboardists who are looking at beautifying your nails. Do note that the extra coats of paint on your nails may impede your piano playing to a certain extent (eg. extra resistance when you’re doing glissandos, because you use your nails to slide against the keys of the piano / keyboard), and playing the piano / keyboard with your manicured fingers may cause your manicure to last a shorter period of time.

I would recommend going for the classic manicure and asking the manicurist to clip your nails shorter (they usually prefer leaving more nail length for their customer, because it seems that longer nail length has been equated to greater beauty), which would allow your manicure to last for a period of about 3 weeks – 1 month.  Then you could move on to more daring colors, the French Manicure, or painted designs manicure, if you are alright with such a compromise between the amount of beautification done to your nails, and the ability to play the piano/keyboard.

Have fun!