Rare Musical Genius
Below is the link to a video showing a very talented 3-year old little girl on the xylophone. She's someone to watch out for!
http://www.robpongi.com/pages/comboMOKINHI.html
Helen
Helen (middle) and friends
I received my British friend, Helen's email today, and it is great to receive her news after such a long time. She's a classical singer and has a very good voice, not to mention that she's a really nice lady too.
I remember meeting her the first time in 2000, and we had many fun sessions together, me on the piano, she, vocally, and we worked through many songs by composers such as Duparc, Schumann, Wagner, Gershwin and Reynaldo Hahn. As that period was just before the Lunar New Year, I invited her to our family reunion dinner. She gladly accepted and we all had a very enjoyable and memorable dinner. It was also her first reunion dinner with a chinese family, so that was very special for us all.
Later that same year, when I went to UK, she kindly invited me to stay over at her nice and cosy little appartment. She also took time off her busy schedule to show me around.
Helen came to Singapore again early last year and I invited her and her friend to my house for another family dinner. We also took some time off to work out more new songs together, which we hope to perform in a concert in the near future.
Helen, hope to see you sometime soon! :)
Another Day
I played for someone's exam this morning and his examiner was the famous London-based Malaysian pianist, Dennis Lee. What a small world! He's still the same soft-spoken, goody-goody guy.
After the exam, I met Corinna Chang, an established piano teacher and also Director of Klassique Music (www.klmusik.com.sg) , a music school at Balmoral Plaza. It was nice seeing her again, and she showed me her music school and we had a nice time catching up.
At 8pm, I had accompaniment with Li Mao at the conservatory, and as the building is huge and quiet at night, it was quite scary. I sort of miss the old interim building which is much smaller and cosier, but I like our new accompanist studio as it is much brighter (a whole wall of windows) than the old window-less one. Yanmin joined us later, and as I said in my earlier NZ posts, there're lots of laughter around these 2 jokers. The NZ days with them were really fun!
Time for bed. Will write again soon! Good night!
Goodbye, Cyst!
I finally went to a doctor to get rid of the irritating cyst on my left upper eyelid this morning. The cyst has shifted downwards to the edge of the eyelid and it cost me so much discomfort that I decided to bring forward my appointment for tomorrow evening to today. I don't think I could wait another day anymore.
The doctor said the cyst was infected, which explained the discomfort. She first injected anaesthetic to my eyelid, then she made a tiny cut to let out the pus. Then it was over in a few minutes.
Now, even though my eyelid is still a little swollen, I'm just glad to have gotten rid of the cyst. I pray hard that it won't return ever again!
From YST Conservatory To Esplanade Recital Studio
This afternoon, at 4pm, my sis and I attended the Director's Welcome Speech at the new conservatory's concert hall (above photo) to introduce newbies, current students and staff. It has a seating capacity of 650, and we're looking forward to performing there. As there're quite a number of newbies this semester, life at the conservatory looks set to become more and more interesting.
After that, my sis, Liu Jia and I skipped the reception and went up to our accompanist studio to look at the new arrangements and we're quite pleased with it. The only problem is the Steinway & Sons baby grand in our room. Someone "stole" the piano key lock, so there's a gaping hole on the piano, where the key lock used to be. Also, Singapore's main Steinway & Sons agent, Robert Piano's logo on the right hand side of the piano was also gone. Now in it's place, is a sticky mass of glue which was used to glue the logo to the piano.
Suan (in blue) and me with "our" Steinway piano.
We left at about 5.10pm as I have to be at the Esplanade Recital Studio for a 5.30pm rehearsal with Tee Khoon for the Singapore National Youth Orchestra chamber concert at 8pm. We would be playing Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 8 in G.
When we reached there, we saw many familiar faces, such as Hoe Kit, Ike, Alan, Nicholas, Yi Bin, Cheryl and Beatrice. A few of us did some catching-up while waiting for our turn to rehearse. Then we had our delicious roast chicken rice dinner, kindly provided by Mrs. Wong, the GM of SNYO.
Tee Khoon, me, Ike and Hoe Kit
The concert started at about 8.05pm and Tee Khoon and I played at about 8.20pm. We played through the whole sonata, and besides a few stupid slips on my part, it was otherwise very exciting and enjoyable. I guess the audience also liked it, judging by their immediate warm applause.
We both went back to our room and Beatrice came in a while later to chit-chat.
I left at about 9.15pm to pick up Suan at Paragon. There was a jam from the Esplanade all the way to Dhoby Ghaut, due to road works and also, people parking their cars by the road to watch the fireworks. I finally arrived at Paragon after 25mins, and it was another jam from Paragon to CTE on the way back home.
What an interesting day!
Shopping Sprees
Yesterday, I was in Jurong East to play for someone's exam, and as I was early, I did a little shopping and ended up buying 7 skirts for a total of $207. 2 of them are denim material. Another 2 are for my sis-in-law. It may be a little pricey, but the skirts are really comfortable, so it's worth the buy.
Today, which is also Singapore's National Day, I spent about one day shopping with my family and relatives. We ended up buying lots of clothes and some accessories, and we were all very pleased with what we've bought. It was really enjoyable!
Maybe we should plan another shopping spree soon! :P
Happy Birthday, Almond!
Today is Almond's birthday.
We were talking about his and Berry's birthdays a few days earlier, but unfortunately, no one remembered it today. It only occured to me that it's his special day only just now. I guess it must be due to what happened yesterday. Both he and Berry dugged holes in the garden, and were punished by my dad. So I guess no one was in the mood to remember it. Feeling guilty, I went up to Almond and sang him the "Happy Birthday" song. Both he and Berry looked at me with question-marks on their faces. Then I gave them some tidbits before locking them up for the night.
Almond, I promise we'll remember your birthday every year from now on, no matter what happens.
Happy Birthday! *muack!*
Learning To "Fly"
Day Shaan is learning to "fly".
Struggling to "take off".
Still stuck on the ground.
Gave up in the end.
Travel Bug
I spent much of today surfing the net for suitable photos for my new blogskin, and I chance upon a number of really wonderful photography websites with beautiful photos to match. I've added them to my photography links. Looking at those photos, especially the travel ones, make me want to chuck everything aside and just travel the world and take pictures. The more I look at the photos, the more I itch to visit those beautiful places. In my next life, if I'm not a musician, I will want to be a travel photographer or a travel host. It's just great being able to travel the world, looking at different cultures, trying out different cuisines and visiting exotic and scenic places. It's my perfect dream.
I shall make it a point to visit as many places as possible before my time runs out. Afterall, life is short so live it to the fullest.
Next Trip
This morning, Mei Yei came for lesson and instead, we chatted for about 2 hrs. She has just returned from Munich where she spent a month on a German-language scholarship. We exchanged our Munich-Christchurch experiences, and after hearing her interesting account, I couldn't wait to visit the country. We sort of agreed to visit parts of Germany and France together next June, and we plan to spend about a month on the trip. That'll mean we'll be out of touch with the piano for a month, so we plan to look for lodgings with pianos or near music shops. Can't afford to have rusty fingers when we get back.
Oooh! I can't wait!
Late Night Out
Last evening, after rehearsal, LM, LYM, LH and I had dumplings for dinner. LM did all the cooking for the dumpling fillings as well as her veggy soup, and I must say she's quite a good cook. The rest of us helped to wrap the dumplings and it made me feel like I was back in Paris again. During one lunar new year back then, my sis and I and a group of Taiwanese friends would gather in our hostel kitchen to make dumplings and Taiwanese onion pancakes.
We ate and chit-chatted, and after dinner, LH left first to meet a friend. LM, LYM and I then headed for Kbox in Clementi, where we sang till about 1am. As I was still having a little sore throat, I managed to sing only 3 songs. LM and LYM sang their hearts out, and I must say that they, especially LYM, have quite good voices.
By the time I reached home, it was almost 1.40am.
What a night!
Ho, Ho, Ho
I played for A's exam this afternoon, and her examiner looks like Santa Claus. He's rather big in size and he has a nice, bushy beard. His kind, fatherly face puts you at ease right away. He's also very friendly and appreciative. Won't it be nice if all examiners were like him? Then they'll make exams less stressful.
Helen (middle) and friends 
Suan (in blue) and me with "our" Steinway piano.
Day Shaan is learning to "fly".
Struggling to "take off".
Still stuck on the ground.
Gave up in the end.