i smiled today at 7:56 PM


Not many people, especially those who study music with me, or learn singing from me, would know that I come from a very electone background.

My earliest years of learning music was from the Electone. And what is an Electone?

Electone is the trademark used for electronic organs produced by Yamaha.
Check out the famous wiki.

And here's the thing. I hardly know anyone now who plays the Electone, even in college where I am surrounded by all sorts of musicians. I do know a few, but really, there aren't that many. I know many people, however, who used to learn how to play organ, and dropped it. They stoped learning it because they felt the organ was a silly instrument that was boring and couldn't teach them anything.

I beg to differ.

You see, I owe my musicianship and much of my talent today to the Electone. Without having gone through all those years of music training under the Yamaha syllabus, I would be a lousy musician today.

For those who aren't familiar with Electone, here's how it has helped me become a really strong musician today.

The Electone can produce and synthesize tons of music instruments. Every one of the orchestra instrument is in the Electone. And you get all the weird electronic sounds too. And you also get all sorts of percussions. And... well, you even get helicopter sounds, bird sounds, you name it, you got it. And because it works with MIDI, the possibilities are endless.

And because of this simple reason, the Electone has helped me develop a good understanding of the many instruments of the orchestra. When we play the flute sound for example, we don't just press the keyboard and play anything we want. We control our touch, our pressure on the keys, and every thing we do must ensure we imitate the way a real flute player would play. This means as Electone players, we were made to understand how each instrument is played in real, and how we must ensure our playing on the Electone reflects that. This has helped me in my theory exams, and my orchestration projects. I suppose composers and music arrangers would benefit from all this as well. Many piano majors I know do not understand how much knowledge the Electone can provide when it comes to knowing the instruments better.

The Electone also needs to be programmed. We need to sequence the sounds. This means, when you listen to a song, you hear the sounds change, the drums get more aggressive, the orchestra coming in stronger later on, and different instruments come in at different parts of the song. An Electone player would have to "imagine" in his mind how he would want his song to sound like, programme it, choose what sounds and instruments he wants, and work along with his ideas. This has helped me in arranging music, instrumental music actually. It has helped me understand modern music more when I listen to songs on the radio, for example. My musical sense improved because the Electone helped me understand the role of the different instruments when playing music.

To play the Electone, we use both hands, both feet, our knees, and well, those are the main things. Coordination is crucial. While many people, especially pianists, dislike the Electone because they say the left hand is sort of useless and stagnant, this is not always true. The left hand supports with chords usually, but does much more than that. In fact, many classical songs have been arranged for the Electone. I used to play many great classical songs on the Electone, and the left hand was running up and down most of the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH41YmcW8-k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rE0ta3HyKg&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK7kTYFints&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXHjQFZj4co&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X65isbWcbTQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AGVBk9fzAI

And also because Electone players use a lot of chords in their playing, I became very familiar with the use of chords. I knew very well how all the chords were structured, what they sounded like, and how to use them. I can say that many musicians I know do not understand the use of chords, and how they progress in a song. The Electone helped me understand harmony well. I can hear a song and be able to tell instantly what chords are being used. I can listen to a song maybe once or twice, and accompany you on the piano while you sing, simply because I am familiar with how the chords work. This is a skill that has been useful to me, even as a classical singer. Learning music theory was easy when it came to harmony, because the Electone gave me a solid foundation.

I think that it would be wrong to compare the piano with the Electone. Many people do that, sadly. They are both totally different. It would be wrong for a pianist to say the Electone is stupid, because many pianists I know don't even know how to play a GMaj7 chord and they are Grade 8 piano students. In my opinion, I feel it would be ideal for a pianist to have some knowledge in Electone, and get the best of both worlds. Then, they'd know not just how to play their classical pieces, but also play modern songs well.


i smiled today at 7:09 PM


How much do you know about your country, Malaysia?

Click me.


i smiled today at 6:16 PM


It has been a while since I last wrote something here.

Don't worry. To make up for it, you will be seeing quite a few new posts here. Relax.

Life has been.... how shall I put it.... fun? he past week has been simply full of excitement.

School started. That's honestly very exciting. I miss going to classes. I miss listening to lectures. I miss assignments. The holiday was too long. Although if they let us have another 4-month break I wouldn't reject the offer.

It sounds like the coming semester will be busy for us final year students. But if we weren't busy this semester, what would we be doing in college anyway?

JJ Pianoforte had its Year-End Concert. I was proud of my students who performed. They impressed me a lot. They did great and I think they enjoyed the experience singing on stage. We teachers had the chance to perform - Music Thru Time.... We did music from Baroque to the modern era. I sang Josh Groban's You Raise Me Up and I think it went rather well. The concert went moe or less as expected, except for the lighting technician who came an hour late. I was in the control room during the hole concert, in charge of the slide projection and the lightings. Anyway, worse things could have happened.

I've got one of my students, Rachel Jonas-King, entering the MYOF singing competition in a few weeks. She'll be singing Mozart's Or Sai Chi L'onore. I am hoping that she will have fun in the competition and do her best no matter what happens.

For the past few weeks I have been thinking back about how I learned music since my very first lesson. Seeing the students at JJ Pianoforte made me start thinking about how my music education was. That of course will be another blog entry.

It seems that some people whom I've never met before recognize me from reading my blog here. It has happened a few times lately. The latest was at Cempaka school during the concert. It is fun meeting people this way.

I have been to several auditions lately. I've been selected for one of the roles in an upcoming feature film. I am not sure what it is exactly but I guess it should be good. Not sur if I am going to accept it but I will decide after the meeting with the producer and director. I was also shortlisted to be the host of a new show on Astro. The show will be shot in Australia, which will be fun for sure. I am glad I got shortlisted. Now I am just waiting to see if they have made their decision.

I am moving out of my current room in Singapore. Have found a room at Sin Ming Avenue, around Bishan area (if you are familiar with Singapore's geography). It's not very near school, but at least there's a bus that brings me close enough to it. There's this huge cupboard/wardrobe thing in the new room. It huge. Seriously, it is HUGE. There are two single beds, which means that I can alternate beds, or just choose which side of the room I feel like sleeping on that night. That'll be fun, choosing which bed. Then I can say "I woke up on the wrong side of the room today" when I'm in a bad mood. There's also air-con in the room, which is great after living in a room without air-con the past year here in Singapore. There's also wireless Internet, which is also GREAT since for the pat fear, I've had to walk to McDonald's from my flat, every night, to go online to do my work. There's also cable TV, which isn't such a big deal since I don't watch much TV. But maybe I don't watch much TV because there isn't cable. Maybe now I will start watching more. Anyway, won't be much of a difference. My house mates are all working people. On of them is from Melbourne, a hotel manager at Mandarin Hotel. The other is an F&B supervisor at Ritz Carlton. And another lady is a beauty consultant. In my opinion, these are useful people to know ;-)

The weather lately has been making be get tired really quickly, and plus from all the exhaustion lately, it's no wonder that I am feeling so lifeless. But that should change. It will change. I just need to rest and then I'll be back on my two feet pretty soon.

And that's it for now. Stay tuned.


i smiled today at 4:53 PM



School has started, officially. It is the last year of college for me... for now... maybe... who knows!

Yesterday was the first day of school. Orientation Week is what they called this entire week. Which means, I spend most of my time at home, cleaning up my room (moving out from current one), sleeping, or just walking around the city. Orientation Week's fun, just nothing much to do.


What's exciting, is that we are finally on our new City Campus over at 1 McNally Street. From the outside, it looks mysterious - all black, but not the boring kind of black. The structure itself symbolizes elements and aspects of geology.

Inside, it is beautiful. Windy, cooling, and confusing (1st day, so I got lost easily). Many people couldn't locate the washrooms, which made it funny, because the girls just rushed into the guy's washroom (emergency!) and vice versa. Serious.

But the building, seriously, is gorgeous. It is perfect. Every room has its own purpose. Where there's no air-con, there are fans (along the corridors and walkways).

Lecturers have what they now call 'pod desks', meaning they can work from anywhere, as long as they are logged on to the net with their oh-so-nice Apple laptops. They are mobile and can be at any location, and still be working.


Apart from that, my classes this time are quite exciting. But I don't feel like elaborating on that.

I was chosen student rep for the final year classical music students. With power comes great responsibility. (I just felt like saying that).

I have so much to say, but I am terribly busy doing something else for JJ Pianoforte Music Centre's upcoming concert. That is taking up a lot of my time. A lot!




i smiled today at 1:23 AM


I have been Simpsonized. Don't I look cute?

D'oh!


i smiled today at 2:05 AM


Updates?

My beautiful 4-month long summer vacation is coming to an end very soon. One more week and I am off to a whole new semester again, and entering my final year of college before finally getting my BA (Hons) in music.

**

Teaching singing, still fun. I love it. Got a student of mine entering the upcoming MYOF competition. If she wins any award there, it'll surely boost up my confidence. And hers as well.

**

Prep for the student concert going well. Everyone is excited for the concert. It looks like it will be great. Good performances and a good looking emcee ;-)

**

Watched The Simpsons movie. One word - genius. Another word - perfect. Watch it. Many times. No regrets.

**

Finally went to Sentosa Island (Singapore). Fabulous place. Lots to see, lots to do. Beach, Underwater World, Dolphin show, Luge (find out yourself!), suspended bridge, oh just go there one day yourself. Nice place to be. I will be signing up to be a member and hang out there more often, to study with the sea breeze blowing in my face.

**

I bought latest issue of KLUE magazine. Nothing big, but that's what I did today. Also bought a book by Darlene Zscech.

**

I bought Dunkin Donuts today too. Didn't eat them. Bought to give people. I feel like Santa Claus. Minus the tummy.

**

I'm in the Merdeka mood. Oh, Singapore's national day, 9th August. I saw their National Day Parade rehearsal. Malaysia should learn from them. Seriously. Ours is so boring. Singapore's celebration is like.... a rock concert.

**

Now I lost my Merdeka mood thinking of that!

**

I am now officially addicted to a new series - 24. Got the whole DVD set from season one to six. Marathon. Must finish before school starts (virtually impossible). So addictive. I even had dreams that I was a Federal Agent in one of the scenes catching the bad guys. Yes, it is that bad.

**

Met up with some long lost friends - Mek, Lizard, Peter Moo, Francesca, and their gang of animals. Met up in Wong Kok, then headed to Starbucks to try out their new food before it gets sold out to public. So fun. The new line-up of Starbucks food is simply todiefor. And I got to eat i before anyone else. OK, never mind. I am just being silly.

**

I have been eating too much lately. Terrible. Life must change once school starts again. Gym. Diet. And more sleep.




Oh sleep.

I need that now. Bye.

No, must watch one episode of 24.

Maybe two episodes.

Three.

Good night!