Glimpse of New Town 2

Hello,
As promised, more pics from New Town! Hmm.. teachers actually look happy?
The teachers shown here are (Left to Right): myself, Choon Hon, Roy and Jeffrey. Guess who's the odd one out? I'm the only non-Geography teacher.

I want to use this post to also thank my NIE classmates from both my music and maths classes for showing their support! Maybe should take pictures of you all and post here also.

What's the Programme?

Hey 3's Company people, we need the full programme up on the webbie and in a copy-able form so that I can do proper advert and marketing for our recital!

Let's have your items please!

Tribute to Nice People

OK! Tribute to some nice people who came for my opera performance, Acis & Galatea, exactly one week ago:

Presenting...Mamee, Me and Dairdee...

...and...Yingning (the violinist of the LnL fame), Anthony, Me and Hong Yi!

Needless to say, all of them will be at Love and Live III - Three's Company!

Glimpse of New Town 1

Hello everyone,

This is Miss Lee and me in the staff room in New Town Sec. This was taken on the last day I was teaching there, which was near the end of July this year.

I'm very thankful to have a desk at such a wonderful location. Miss Lee used to sit right beside me. If its not for me, Yvonne could have moved to my desk much sooner, sorry!


New Towners visiting this blog please leave comments so that it'll be more fun leh.

Acis & Galatea: Damon

Finally, the first of my three concerts is DONE!

Strange things do happen.

I have two arias.
The one that I usually did better in ("Would you gain the tender creature") turned out worse...I forgot the words (but I guess it's not too obvious to the audience) and almost missed one entrance! I am glad "Shepherd, what art thou pursuing" went quite well!

Through the video recordings, I have clearly improved since a year back...BUT...


1. I moved too much (so much so that it is very difficult to take photos of me).2. I was so preoccupied with acting that I severely compromised my posture (lifted my head too much; leaned too much backward, etc.). In recitals where acting is not encouraged, I believe I am much more conscious of being in a correct posture.

...so...I had problems holding my phrases and so on and so forth...(It's hard enough that I am singing so high...now I make it harder for myself by being in a bad posture.)

All in all, a WONDERFUL learning experience!

...a timely LESSON...Love and Live III - Three's Company...will be great!

By Dover In Clementi

Hello everyone,
It seems like some of us are quite busy since there are fewer posts recently.

Anyway, I've sent out some SMSes to my ex-students from New Town Secondary School (yes, its by Dover in Clementi). So, look out for pics I took in New Town in the subsequent posts!

I want to use this post to wish all students in New Town all the best for their exams, especially students from 51 and 52 who're doing their 'O' Levels now.

Poster Draft 4

Hello again, this is the latest draft, after I found that the lighter coloured one is nicer and that we're having another musician joining us.

What you think?

All xxx pics finally in!

Poster Draft 3

Hello all, I've inverted the colour of the background and have made it greyscale as I think it may bring more attention to use bright coloured words against a dark background.

How?

Still waiting for Nich's dirty pic.

Poster Draft 2

Hi all, the latest draft of the poster. The pictures look alright I think. We just need Nich's xxx pictures that's all.

Any comments or any ideas?

Tentative Ticket (courtesy of Jia Hua who has problems posting)

What Yingning is Practising

This is a picture of my brother YingLiang sleeping. Little Bah Kuah is also sleeping with his face down and hands sticking out.

Do comment if this picture is entirely irrelevant or inappropriate.

Actually, besides the Brahms 3rd Sonata and Ysaye 4th Sonata, I am also working on the Beethoven Concerto. Which is really quite nice. I am hoping to put it up with piano accompaniment sometime next year.

Thanks to all too...

Well, i guess this shall be the first (blog) post of mahbadself...haha
First I would like to think Yingning for inviting me to play with him... haha when you're not even a full-time musician and gets invited to play for something like this u gotta be grateful... and also it has forced me to start practising again, otherwise every night after work i will cheong home and play sango 11 or C&C 3 or something.... this is where i found the joy of practising... so yeah thanks guys!!
And another big thanks goes out to Jia Hua for working so hard to organize this stuff... i know the logistics part is always very hard to take care of, and i'm sure you'll do a great job!
of course i have to thank Mr Heger as well... his coaching certainly has been enlightening!!

now thanks but no thanks... to my technician... who claims that he is going to repair my piano, took the entire internal assembly away for more than a week, and comes back un-repaired because he couldn't get the parts!! ARRGGHH.... my morale was damn low after he returned it un-repaired, as i thought i would be able to practise on something good for a change... well, guess gotta stick to the status quo :(

Alright, guys, no matter what, let's smash this!

Acis & Galatea (20 & 21 October 2007)

Hi everybody! I will take the chance to advertise the chamber opera that I am performing in, Handel's Acis and Galatea, this coming Sunday (21 Oct 07) 5pm at Singapore Art Museum Auditorium.


What is chamber opera? It is simply a small-scale opera in every sense of the adjective...shorter, performed in a small hall, limited staging, limited acting. Our Singapore Lyric Opera does BIG BIG BIG operas! Singapore hasn't seen much of chamber operas...so this is a niche operastudio is trying to fill!

I will be playing the role of Damon, Acis' sidekick...basically telling everybody what they ought to do. This will be my first operatic role! Though not a very comfortable one for me initially as Damon is cast as a tenor....when I am not really a tenor (maybe not yet?)...hmmm...not too sure what my fach really is...

Took me months' of work to be comfortable with the tessitura of the two arias that I am singing... Finally, I think everything is in place. And I am glad I took up this challenge, without which I won't have made audible improvement! If you are free, please do come! Contact me for tickets at rimb97@yahoo.com.sg.

But if you are tight on budget (this opera is $25 bucks!) or time, then I would prefer you come to Love & Live III, as my air-time in the recital is at least three times greater than in the opera.

Check it out at everyone's fave encyclopaedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acis_and_Galatea.

Yingning Returns

Hello everyone. This is Adeline and me somewhere in Napa Valley, California.
As you can see from the picture, she is the pink xmq while I am the blue xmq.
I must thank Clement for his enthusiasm in playing the Brahms with me. Of course, I am grateful to Mr Heger too, for his extremely helpful coaching.
I feel that this year is really going by so fast. 1st I was still in New Town Sec then now I am in NIE and this love and life concert will be coming. I often wonder what I've accomplished.
For those interested in finding out more about Carl Sagan: http://www.carlsagan.com/

Pix make blogs popular...

OK...we learnt last year that pictures make a blog exciting and popular....so, here's one...


...OK OK...did it work? maybe not...maybe the pic must show some porn star or some hot chick to attract attention...but no no...this is a clean blog...we don't want unsavory people using our blog for their own night-time entertainment...

but in any case...there ARE indeed two hot chicks in the pic!...and many hot dudes!

this pic was taken at last year's megahit "Live and Love Again"! we expect them to be yearning for more in "Love and Life 3: Three's Company" (not a hint...it's a shout!)...

Love and Life 3: Three's Company

It's been just decided that this year's concert name will be Love and Life 3: Three's Company. "3" because, obviously this is our third edition, and "Three's Company" because since the first Love and Life in 2005, three out-of-whack guys with TOTALLY different ideas about what this series should be are STILL here, going at it.

Of course, none of this is possible without the support of our collaborators over the years, and this year is no different. Thanks Nicholas and Clement! And in case you, the reader, haven't noticed - I'm not playing this year! Having a full-time job, with no place to practice means I don't have any time nor chance to put together anything at all. Plus the fact that I usually end up taking care of things on stage and off on the concert day, we've decided to let that be my main item this year hahaha

Wah...Esplanade Library not so big hor...

OK! I don't care where the others are...as I said about a year ago, I can make this my own personal blog! I hope I am interesting enough to keep the bloggie alive! Of course, our blog design can be improved...(we are very aware of that...)

Anyway, I borrowed my first scores from the Esplanade Library. Got what I wanted...the high voice score of Schumann Liederkreis op. 24! But...was kinda surprised at how small the library is...erm...I kinda expected more from a national arty-farty library. I can't help but compare it with the Chicago and Harvard collection of music scores that I totally love.

In any case, a good library is one where I can find what I want. So, I guess...for now...Esplanade Library fits the bill.

Where's everybody?

to esplanade library

ok...i am going to borrow my first scores from esplanade library on monday or tuesday to get the Schubert Liederkreis op. 24 score for höhe Stimme, which for the first two songs fits me better...failing which i will have to borrow from someone...whoever he/she may be...

Retrospection: To be Satisfied or Not

I am sure many of you have experienced the same issues with retrospection. When I listen to my old recordings, I can't believe I sang like that in the past and was actually satisfied with it. But, I guess, at any one point, when you don't know enough, you think that is good enough. But, no problems with that...imagine the converse: because you know so much, you are never satisfied...then...you must as well never perform.

So, now that I am committed to perform on 17 Nov, I believe by then I should (or rather, must) be satisfied (or more ideally, delighted) with my standard. To enable me to achieve that, I shall not be stupid enough to perform a song cycle again without adequate preparation (to my teacher, Thomas Manhart, that's at least a whole year..."we Germans show respect for song cycles"...). And, with my crazy fulltime (+ overtime) JTC work, Acis and Galatea, RWinds concert and my exam, so that I can assure that I can be at least satisfied with myself on 17 Nov, I shall:

1. cut down my performance time
2. not learn too many new songs
3. use the most appropriate key for my voice
4. learn the text and story so damn well!

...but of course I know when I look back at this episode next year, I will be far from satisfied...which is good news actually, because that means I will have made improvement over the next year!

More Info

here's more info from mahbadself...
Jia Hua i think there is a slight error here
Yingning will be accompanied by mahbadself... and QuanHui will be accompanied by Nicholas, not the other way around as you have posted
QuanHui and Nicholas, please contact mahbadself on MSN by wacky_jhawk@yahoo.com for the score of Liederkreis (yes Jia Hua you are NOT that rusty after all =P)
However for my score it seems to be transposed after all.
For the first 3 songs, the first song is in F-sharp minor, the second in G major (but it says originally in A major) and the third in E major... any problems with that? if there's a problem then better check out the originals...

What's in a name...

Okay, first off, we'll need to think of the name for this year's concert. I guess we don't necessarily need to include both "Love" and "Life", but definitely something that will tie the various threads in the programme together.

Off the top of our heads just now came:

1. Love and Laughter
2. LHLL?
3. Living in Love
4. Loving in Life
5. A Life without Love
6. Music Passion
7. Love Lost

Quan Hui: perhaps you can provide some background about selected songs?

Ying Ning: can relevant trivia about your pieces?

Nic and Clement: we'll wait for your ideas about your own items, okay?

Myself, I just flipped through my Emily Dickinson anthology, and came across this:

That I did always love
I bring thee Proof
That till I love
I never lived - Enough -

2007 Programme

Hi guys, welcome Nicholas and Clement to the Love and Life team!

We've just had our first meeting for this year and have come up with a rough sketch of the programme. Stay tuned for more exciting updates in the coming weeks as we work towards 17 November at YMS!

At present,

Ying Ning, accompanied by Nicholas

Brahms. 3rd Violin Sonata in D Minor (20 mins)
Ysaye (where does the umlaut go?). 4th Sonata, 1st and 3rd movements (10 mins)

Quan Hui, accompanied by Clement

4 Opera Arias from
Gounod. Faust
Verdi. Don Carlo
Mozart. Don Giovanni
Donizetti. Don Pasquale

Schumann. 1st 3 songs of Liederkreis (?) - sorry, my music history is a bit rusty!
Mendelssohn. 2 other songs.

Guys, it's up to you to update full details, okay?