My Family @ the Reception!

We thought it would be nice to have a reception to thank all of you for your kind presence. Hope all of you enjoyed the food! Here's my family!
A wonderful lot! They have silently borne the unimaginable torture of my singing night-in night-out. And that's extremely commendable already!...not forgetting the healthy drinks that mamee made, the errands that dairdee ran and the flowers that chieh-chieh bought!!! and of course, E.T., for being as crazy as ever!!! A peerless combination!

QH's Thoughts on Live and Love Again

I knew it would be over soon.

I am happy I went through all these...organizing all these recitals and making myself go through them all. On hindsight...a worthwhile experience. If I had nothing to work for, my singing would have stagnated and all my money (eh...lessons are damn expensive!) and effort over the past four years would have gone to...waste...(I believe this principle applies to most people!)

I started out my German set shaky...maybe because it's the very first song...and also because the first two German songs were soft and slow. It's much harder to begin with soft and slow songs because they just require so much energy, so much focus, so much control, so much flow. But I am glad I did because now I would have had the experience of having done so. How can anyone calls oneself a singer when one can only have as one's first song a loud one!? By the time I reached Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen, I felt great...very lively...a nice and comfortable song to sing...and...in fact, the only song in the entire evening that fits my natural voice range most ideally!

When I returned backstage, I was contented with my German set (I always had an affinity to German songs!) and the butterflies all left my tummy. But then as Ying Ning played with such flourished and the intermission passed, I grew more nervous. But I knew it would all be fine since I would take out my score onto the stage!

Songs of Travel started fine. I told myself to focus on the story. Story! Story! Story! First three songs went fine. I enjoyed Let Beauty Awake among all three. Leslie liked that best too. Someone on the net also remarked that that song was the gem among all the nine songs in the cycle. Then came...Youth and Love. That's when I began to look at the score for the first time. Not such a good idea. I lost track of the story and just began to think about the notes and the rhythm...BAD BAD BAD...it's all over when anyone starts to do that! It's all about the music! About the STORY! But it's not all that bad...I think most people could not tell...but I could and that's all that matters. The root of the problem is that I was not familiar and hence not confident enough of the song in the first place. The next song, In Dreams, was better but the score was still in front of me...so I couldn't trust myself enough to know the lyrics and rhythm well enough. Again, the story was lost. The rest of the cycle was enjoyable and I did not refer to the score at all. But then someone asked me why I still flipped the pages of the score. That is because I still wanted some assurance in case I forgot my words!

Now I know: throw away the scores and get onto the damned stage. Strangely, Live and Love Again was the first time I ever performed with a score in front of me. A bad experiment musically. But a good experiment too: at least now I know never to do that again! =) On another positive note, I think this recital is to date my best one, in terms of vocal timbre, vocal control, composure, music and story-telling. Of course, I still have a long way to go and I will go work on it!

Live and Love Again certainly has provided me with much experience and helped me understand myself more. And I hope I did tell you a very good story about love and life that very afternoon!

If you have any feedback, thoughts or anything at all about our individual performances or the concert in general, please please please let us know! We would really like to hear from you!

Thank you all for coming! =)

E.T. and his brothers at Live and Love Again!

E.T.'s "fake" korkor, Gabriel Ho Jimin, feeding him food at the after-concert tea reception! How sweet!

Fantastic HOT XXX CONCERT PIX!!!

...by our official photographer, Mr. James Chan Lianghong!...

at http://www.data1ore.com/ (click on Live and Love Again)!

We thank him for the FANTASTIC HOT XXX PIX!!!

SO EXCITING!

so exciting! it's over! i will talk more later!

Hi. I would like to thank everyone who attended the concert this afternoon. I though the concert went quite well.
However, I'm just a bit sad that the pxmq had to sleep so late... Oh dear.
My dad has made a DVD recording of most of the concert. I'll be reproducing copies of it over the course of this coming week. Those who miss the concert may drop me a message to request for a copy of this recording =) I will then decide whether to give you a copy or not.
Well, I'll be posting even more thoughts about the concert soon......

THE CONCERT IS TOMORROW!

It's so exciting! It's great! We can't wait to share our music with all of you!

In appreciation, we have provided some small tea reception after the concert! Come and join us!

See you tomorrow!

Sim Keng Boon

Sim Keng Boon started learning the piano at 7 and attained a LTCL in Piano Performance at 16. He made his concerto debut with Grieg’s Piano Concerto, and read Music and Mathematics at the University of Birmingham where he majored in piano performance and graduated with 1^st class honours. Keng Boon furthered his piano studies with Jonathan French at the Birmingham Conservatoire, and performed Rachmaninov’s 2^nd Piano Concerto with the University of Birmingham Orchestra. In Singapore, he has performed in various events including SSO’s annual Piano Marathon. He teaches music at Yishun JC, and is under the guidance of internationally renowned pianist Tedd Joselson. Keng Boon will be having his debut piano recital on 16^th and 17^th of September 2006 at Alliance Francaise.

Seow Aik Keong

A pupil of Ms Lim Tshui Fang, Aik Keong won several prizes in the Intermediate, Senior and Open categories of the National Music competitions. He represented Singapore to participate in the Pan Pacific Advanced Piano School Camp once in 1995 as an oboist and again in 1998 as a pianist for the Advanced Piano School Camp in Sydney, Australia. He was selected twice to perform for the President of the Republic of Singapore, first in 1996 in a shared recital, and again in 1999 as a soloist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for the President’s Charity. In his first year of study in RJC, he appeared as a soloist twice, first as an oboist in a Handel’s oboe concerto and second time as one of the pianists in Le Carnaval de animaux. In his second year, he re-orchestrated the RJC anthem, was the Music Director of Raffles Symphonic Band, obtained an ‘S’ Paper distinction in Music and won the prestigious Creative Arts Awards. Aik Keong studied the piano with Professor Patsy Toh from the Royal Academy of Music while completing his music education (Honours and Masters) in King’s College London. Apart from being the principal oboist in the College orchestra, the Music Director of the Kings College London Wind Band, he also had the honour to perform as a soloist with the University Orchestra.

Pianists Galore: Seow Aik Keong & Sim Keng Boon

Hi everybody,

We would like to inform you that one of our original pianists, Beatrice Lin, is unfortunately and quite untimely down with chicken pox. We wish her all the best in her recovery.

Her replacement will be Seow Aik Keong and Sim Keng Boon! Here are the bios of our two newest members in the Love and Life family in the following two posts.

YingNing's Bio!!!

Low YingNing graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 2004 with degrees in electrical engineering and violin performance. While in Illinois, he studied the violin with Jiang Danwen and Sibbi Bernhardson. In Singapore, YingNing still seeks the guidance of Mr Heger and has taken lessons from Yew Shan. His other music training includes obtaining an ATCL in piano and having done ‘A’level music.

Currently, YingNing teaches music and mathematics in New Town Secondary School. He also teaches violin privately. Besides music, YingNing also enjoys traveling, especially with Adeline.

Quan Hui's Bio

Quan Hui started his music education with piano, obtaining an ATCL in piano performance. In his teens, he picked up the trombone and then led the Raffles Junior College Symphonic Band to top honours in the All-American Music Festival in Orlando, Florida in 1999, inspiring the judges to create an Outstanding Student Conductor award just for him. Subsequently, he decided to venture into singing, beginning his first classical voice lessons four years ago. Still a young singer, he has studied with William Lim and Reuben Lai of Singapore Lyric Opera, Pamela Turner of West Australian Opera, Russell Smythe of the Royal College of Music, London. In the U.S., Quan Hui was under Bruce Tammen's tutelage in his three years at the University of Chicago. Subsequently, while pursuing his Master’s degree in his one year at Harvard, he continued to study voice with James McDonald and Mark Pearson of New England Conservatory. Thus far, Quan Hui has participated in four vocal showcases in Chicago, before singing his first recital Love and Life – A Musical Journey in Singapore in August 2005. Bidding farewell to his four years in the U.S., he held a second recital Vocal Crossroads at Harvard in May 2006. Live and Love Again marks his third recital in his very short singing "career" and he hopes to share what he has learnt over the past four years with you today.

4 Reasons Why I am MIA

i hv been missin in action...cuz i hv been...

1. ...talkin so much and so loudly (cuz it's noisy) last thu, fri and sat evening until my voice got really really tired...

2. ...figurin out which key suits me the best in songs of travel...go ask beatrice how fickle i m...not me really, but my voice...OK! i hv decided: just one semitone up!

3. ...busy wif all other things...like makin my new (quite expensive) suit (which won't b used for de concert), like playin soccer (actually, tryin to) after months of absence, like tryin to play de freakin trombone until my lips r all busted (despite de pseudo-alexander technique dat i claim to b possibly experimentin [much qualification in dis statement...hehe...])...

4. ...watchin cool liverpool beat de hell outta arrogant chelsea (actually watchin my 1st full-length soccer match in a decade!...erm...apart from some 10 mins of recuperation towards de end...)

not much time left...but i will make it...i know it...YAY!

The Little Ducky and a FREE Concert on Wed

Hi,

This is the little Ducky. He may look a bit sad, but actually he's very happy! He is a good friend of the Little Babo. He thinks of the pxmq very often, just like what the bxmq does all the time.

I have a free concert coming up this Wednesday (tomorrow) in NUS LT13 at 7:30pm. For more details:

http://www.nus.edu/cfa/aug_2006.html

I just started work yesterday and it was really really very tiring. I am teaching maths and music in New Town Sec. I would like to thank Mr Ho for providing me with a comprehensive and helpful orientation of the school. Also, my fellow music teacher Yvonne, who made me feel much more comfortable in school as well as other fellow teachers/HODs/Staff like Miss Ng, Ms Chan, Siti, Alfred, Mr Malik, ChiuShuan, Miss Lee, Pearl, Roy, David, Helen, Barnabas, Mrs Goh, Mr Colin Koh and Mr Poon. Thanks!

Oh dear.. I feel like I'm down with flu/cold which I thought I fended off on Monday. I'll just think of my dear little Adeline.

Football Bulletin: FA Community Shield

LIVERPOOL 2 CHELSEA 1

How Could I Not Practise the Violin?

Hi,

Yes, I don't practise the violin the whole day. Besides explaining why I'm not exactly really good at the instrument, it's also why I manage to kill so many bad robots in the virtual world.

This is a picture of my brother (behind) and I (in front) playing the computer game 'Fantastic 4'. Its one of the few pc games available now which can allow 2 players to play on the same comp at the same time! Plus, there are just tonnes of enemies to trash! Also, it's really not that hard to lose.

Oh dear... Beatrice might be thinking 'why isn't yingning practising when he actually still reads the notes wrongly in his Grieg Sonata?'. OK, I promise I'll practise seriously tomorrow. I also promise my little xxpxmq that I'll not forget to call/ delay calling her because of computer playing. I'll also sy her and bb her more.

Program Notes for Grieg 1st Violin Sonata

Sonata no. 1 in F major, op. 8

Edvard Grieg was born on 15 June 1843 in Bergen, Norway. He is perhaps best known for his piano concerto, orchestral suites and numerous piano lyric pieces. His 3^rd violin sonata is also a favorite work among violinists. However, it will not be performed here. In contrast, the 1^st violin sonata, which will be played, is less well known and performed less frequently. When describing his 3 violin sonatas, the composer remarked: “The First is naïve, reflecting many antecedents; the Second national and the Third reveals wider horizons”.

Grieg’s 1^st sonata was written while he was living in Rungsted, Denmark, in the summer of 1865 – a period which he later described as “a happy time of triumph and accomplishment”. It contains many attractive melodies, most memorable of which would be the opening of the 2^nd movement, characteristically Norwegian folk. The middle Trio section of this same movement evokes the springar of the Hardanger fiddle (Norwegian folk violin), with the use of open string drones. Though not as nationalistic as his 2^nd violin sonata, the 1^st was claimed to be the first “Norwegian” violin sonata for the use of these folk features.

Grieg was devoted to the idea of expressing a Norwegian voice in his music, and created a unique and individual style through his expressive lyricism and pronounced nationalism. Other personal touches in this sonata include the two mysteriously out-of-key minor chords which begin the 1^st movement, and the Andante minor-key transformation of the opening theme which precedes the development section and returns to end the movement.

Programme Order

Telemann

Selections from 12 Heroic Marches
La Majeste
La Grace
La Vaillance

Jia Hua, trumpet
Shi Mei, piano

Schubert

Der Neugierige
Am Meer

Schumann

Ich grolle nicht
Wenn ich in deine Augen seh'
Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen

Quan Hui, voice
Aik Keong, piano

Grieg

Violin Sonata in F

Ying Ning, violin
Keng Boon, piano

** Intermission **

Joaquin Nin

"1830" Variations

Shi Mei, piano

Grieg

Last Spring
So lokka me over den myra

Jia Hua, trumpet
Shi Mei, piano

Vaughan-Williams

Songs of Travel

Quan Hui, voice
Aik Keong, piano

Special Ensemble Item prepared by Yuan Peiying

my (almost) confirmed repertoire...

1st Half
Franz Schubert Heidenröslein
Franz Schubert Der Neugierige
Franz Schubert Am Meer
Robert Schumann Wenn ich in deine Augen seh'
Robert Schumann Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen

The above set of 5 songs revolves around love and evil women...*chuckles*

2nd Half
Ralph Vaughan-Williams Songs of Travel (cycle of 9 songs)

This song-cycle talks about a vagabond and his pursuit of life and love. It will be transposed a tone up to better suit my voice range (thanks to Mr Reuben Lai for his suggestion).

as requested by Jia Hua...my 1st half repertoire...

Franz Schubert Der Neugierige
Franz Schubert Am Meer

Robert Schumann Wenn ich in deine Augen seh'
Robert Schumann one more to be confirmed

sorry ppl out there...prob not doin Erlkönig as stated in de poster...still thinkin abt Heidenröslein...

if only i could be half as successful as him...

quiz: anyone knows who they are?

Programme Notes

I did a little bit of research on Oskar Lindberg and Telemann last Thursday afternoon.

Is everyone working on your programme notes??

Another Trumpet Update

Things are slowly falling into place on the trumpet side. Up till now, I've been focusing on the Grieg songs and the Lindberg, and going through the Telemann in my head.

As I've mentioned before, all of these are arrangements from pieces originally meant for different mediums, so I don't actually have "trumpet"-published music to work from, with the exception of the Telemann.

I'm reading the Grieg's Last Spring off the voice-piano score, and another piece I've decided to throw in, So lokka me over den myra, off the piano part. The Lindberg exists as a handwritten transcription of the melody, while I still have to clean up the midi version of it, so that it is actually readable on the piano staves. In any case, I've decided that it makes most sense to perform from memory, so that one can focus on the musical atmosphere instead of being guided onstage by the printed score. Of course, this is easiest for me to say, as I probably have the least number of notes to play among all the performers!

Shimei just performed her Spitze concert tonight (Bravo! to all performers by the way), so I'm hoping to kidnap her soon to read through the music. Also tonight, I received the piccolo trumpet I'm borrowing from one of my teachers, Yap Thien Soo, so I can start physically working up the Telemann. Heartfelt thanks to Mr Yap!

More updates as and when they occur!

Thomas Quasthoff....

...says that, one should take risks during performances. And plenty of them too. It's the excitement of performing, and I'm sure we all like that kind of feeling. That's why we are doing what we are doing now! This man is fantastic. Although I can't remember every single word from his (one! unfortunately!) masterclass that I attended, he was really inspiring, and to me, a true great artist. It was interesting seeing how he worked with cellists during the session, and how much many string players don't know about the similarities between their instruments and the way they play, as compared to the voice. On top of that, he's a really humourous fellow as well. He liked to use examples of little children to add pictorial images to musicians' emotions, for instance, to imagine your child was running towards you, flying to give you a big, warm hug. Also, examples of nature, like, flowers popping up everywhere (something like beavers popping up from holes in the ground or something...)....

Little Fozzy Bear!

Hi,
Here is the picture of the little Fozzy Bear. He wears a little helicopter cap and guess what.. he's also a supporter of our concert!

Besides this upcoming Live and Love Again concert, I'll actually be putting up another one in NUS. However, this is a free concert and it'll be entirely Mozart.
It'll be on 16 Aug, 7:30pm, LT13 NUS.
More details (& 1 pic of us): http://www.nus.edu/cfa/aug_2006.html

I would also like to thank Mr Heger for giving me a lesson yesterday evening, where he provided valuable insights to the musical interpretation of the 1st Grieg violin sonata. He gave me many ideas which I'll put to use. He also lent me a recording of Oscar Schumsky playing all 3 of Grieg's sonata on Biddulph, a very rare recording by Singapore's standards.

Lastly, I want to assure my dear little Adeline that she's the one that I love and the one I'd want to bao-bao now!

you won't see me like this during Live and Love Again...

The Little Ba Kua

Hi, this is a picture of the Little Ba Kua. He is thus named because he's flat and made of pork!

I would like to thank some of my colleagues who have shown their support for our concert. Since I will be ORDing next Tuesday, their support is quite a special farewell gift for me.

Of course, whatever kind of support would not be as meaningful if the audience does not gain anything from the experience of the concert. Well, I promise a good show and hope that they'll enjoy it.

especially for my colleagues...

u know...i m de only fella out of de 5 of us dat is actually full-time working (ok...yingning will b teachin soon)...and...

i m proud to say i m workin in JTC corp!

here's some education for u guys out dere...JTC corp is nt jurong town corporation...yes, it was jurong town corporation...now, "JTC" is not meant to stand for anything!...it's plain n simple JTC corp! so pls get it straight!

i must say my colleagues in JTC corp is a wonderful lot...giving me lots of food all day long n makin me fatter n fatter (but thk gdness it's nt heaty; if nt, my voice - how?)...eh, dey r not wonderful cuz of de food, k? but dey r very frenly, very fun, very "a**tie" (ok...for some of dem...=p)...haha!

i m writin all dese now cuz i know many of dem wld b (or at least i hope!) lookin at dis post when i officially advert dis blog n my concert to dem tmr!!! nope...but i m damn serious...dey r great ppl!...if u dun blieve, join JTC corp to find out!

eh...n dey r very sporting leh, regardless of age!...check out de comments of the blog entry "One of Little Babo's Friends"! Check it out!!!

k...i was tinkin of puttin up an old pic of mine for de benefit of my colleagues...but too bad stupid blogger.com once again fouled me up...so next time lar...

ok...for de rest of u non-colleagues out dere...u must b wonderin wat dis post has gotta do wif de mission of dis blog (which is actually at de top of de page if u hvn't already realized...)? lemme tell u...
de take-home point is:

"full-time non-musicians can be nite-time/wkend musicians"
(erm...at least when there's no OT)

ok...so live out your passions! good nite!

E.T. peeks out...

ok...babo babo babo...E.T. peeks out of the bag n wonders wat the commotion's all abt...

E.T. the official mascot is back!

One of Little Babo's Friends!

Dear all,

This is Little Kermity the Frog. He is one of Little Babo's friends and is also a supporter of our concert. He is also very happy.

He likes to just sit around on the bed doing nothing much.

I just started advertising my concert in my office in MINDEF. The response is quite encouraging. Some of my colleagues have also promised to help promote this blog!!

Hope they never bluff me...

Practice Thoughts

Been really busy in school, helping with the move into the new building, and juggling that with practicing and helping another friend set up a business. But I find that such situations actually help you focus your mind, and you stop doing the unnecessary things, and instead concentrate your energies on what needs to be done, and how to accomplish it in the best way, so that you don't have to waste time back-tracking and cleaning up work.

Practicing is like that too. If you're pressed for time to practice, you're forced to practice what you really need to, and not indulge in pointless playing that feels like you're working very hard. You can still experiment and learn, but you quickly learn to not play things for the sake of playing them, but instead work on your fundamentals in the most efficient way possible, so that you ensure that you can play whatever you need to, and not have to work up to it each time.

And because playing an instrument is such a mental endeavour, one realises that you have to know and feel the music before you even touch your instrument. Otherwise, you'd always be at the mercy of your instrumental characteristics or technical limitations. By sometimes deliberately not allowing yourself to practice, or putting yourself in risky situations, you learn to accomplish a lot more without spending more time than you really need to on the instrument. It's not a matter of training your body to survive the music, but of not letting your body get in the way of it, and that, is more mental that anything else.