The Music Teacher?

Hi, this is Adeline and myself in Salvador, Brazil.
Normally when I show my students this picture, I will point out 3 things:
1. the cobble-stone streets,
2. the short and quaint buildings,
3. the small balconies on the buildings.
I will then ask why the streets and buildings are like that (because of colonisation) and what kind of feeling they give (definitely different from Singapore). Ultimately, it'll all lead to Samba music.
And I still have a 2500 word essay due next Monday which I am still deciding on what to write.

gone for a while...now back!

just came back from beijing...will post some photos and post-concert comments in a bit...oh gosh...seemed like a long time ago!

catcha later!

How Ironic....

I don't know, i just feel it was kinda ironic
I was the one who told Yingning to enjoy himself when performing. Sometimes i just feel that he is too preoccupied with "playing it well" to enjoy himself...
but today what happened was entirely opposite! Yingning was obviously enjoying himself on stage and he was playing so beautifully, while i got ... well, kinda stressed out and i screwed up on a few occasions... so i obviously don't practise what i preach
sorry Yingning, i should've done a better job, but hey, at least we held it together right? :P

Comments, Thoughts and Opinions

Hi everyone, thank you for your support! Do leave comments on anything- your thoughts, opinions or suggestions. Thanks.

Beach in Brazil

Hello, this is a picture of Yee San (left) and Adeline (right), taken in Rio de Janiero in Brazil. Look at how beautiful the beach below is.
The little pxmq!

Who You Will See At The Concert

Hi, another picture to draw the crowd. (Yes, its meant as a joke, haha)

Linkin Park Live in Singapore

Hi everyone, this is a picture which I took in Linkin Park's concert here in Singapore on this Tuesday night. It was in Indoor Stadium.
The concert was supposed to start at 8pm but it started only slightly past 9pm. The crowd went absolutely wild once it started. 2 words to describe the whole concert right from the beginning till the very end: 'powerful' and 'electrifying'.
There were certainly lots to learn from this concert.

Run Through Last Saturday 3pm

Hello everyone, this is a picture of our run through last sat at my place. Sorry it doesn't have everyone inside, but this is the picture with the most people inside.
I wonder if this picture can help us attract a bigger audience...

nobody tok rite?

nobody tok i tok? tok wat also dunno.

at least, ppl cum visit, got new things to see lar...i think my frens here all busy practisin...i also practise wat...but still can blog lor....

anyway, i m still working v hard on singing....i hope i won't disappoint u audience! (if i do, at the most u eat more food lor.....)

i tink i shall take more leave from work to meditate over the songs......hope customers and bosses dun comprain....heee....

so boliao..........bak to translatin bella sicome....

(my 1st time in some sort of singlish on this blog!...i think...)

Mr Heger, Clement and Me

Hi,
This is a picture of (left to right) me, Clement Huang and Mr Heger. This was just taken today after our run through of the Brahms 3rd violin sonata at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory.
Clement played really well today. I was so impressed that it was really distracting my playing. Mr Heger was all praises. Well done Clement!
Mr Heger has also told us he'll be attending our concert. Hmm.. seems like I'll need to try playing better.
We're so sorry for delaying Xuan Rong's lesson time. She was also the one who helped us take this picture. Thanks!

Status Update: Voice

Ever since Acis and Galatea just two weeks ago, I feel like I have mastered a little bit more of my voice...I think I sound better now...so, my vocal condition can be said to be fine.

I am almost done with full memorization of the opera segment, but halfway through for the Lieder segment. But my memory should be able to help me finish the job in about two days.

As for the interpretation and the finer details, trust that they will be well-honed by 17 Nov! =)

Oh man...I am forever working on a tight schedule...no worries...as long as I make it...

I WILL!

Quan Hui's Bio

Quan Hui first ventured into classical singing five years ago. He has studied with William Lim and Reuben Lai in Singapore, Pamela Turner of West Australian Opera, and Russell Smythe of the Royal College of Music, London. In the U.S., Quan Hui was under Bruce Tammen's tutelage in his three undergraduate years studying economics at the University of Chicago. Subsequently, while pursuing his Master’s degree in Regional Studies – East Asia in his one year at Harvard, he continued to study voice with James McDonald and Mark Pearson of New England Conservatory. Quan Hui held his first solo 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 solo recital Vocal Crossroads at Harvard in May 2006. Back in Singapore for good, he sung in his third solo recital Live and Love Again in August 2006. He performed in his first opera production, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, singing the role of Damon just a month ago. He currently studies with Thomas Manhart. In addition to singing, Quan Hui plays the piano and conducts RWinds, a symphonic band composed of alumni of the three Raffles bands.

Yingning's Bio

Hello, this is my bio and yes, it would be boring. So... I've included another not so boring picture of myself and some of the other younger and wonderful colleagues from New Town Sec. (Left to right: Pearl, Yvonne, me, Chiu Shuan and JieLing.) If you are smart enough, you'll see that it was Racial Harmony Day!

My bio:

Low YingNing studied the violin first with Mr Lee Yuk Chuan then with Mr Jiri Heger. He did ‘O’ and ‘A’ level music and went on to study violin performance and electrical engineering in University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where he studied the violin under Jiang Danwen and Sibbi Bernhardsson. He is currently undergoing teacher training in National Institute of Education and also teaches the violin privately. Besides music, Yingning’s other interest lies in travelling, especially with pxmq.
Yingning would like to thank Mr Heger for his help in the preparation for this concert.

Johannes Brahms

Hi, anticipating how boring program notes can be, I've included a less boring picture from New Town Sec with some of the Sec 5 students this year. (Left to Right: Kaiyun, Joanne, me, Melissa, Charis and Yulin) Yes, it was Racial Harmony Day.

Program notes for Brahms:

Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108

I: Allegro
II: Adagio
III: Un poco presto e con sentimento
IV: Presto agitato

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) is probably well known for destroying many of his own compositions in his lifetime due to his intense self-criticism. Genres to which Beethoven had significantly contributed especially caused Brahms to doubt his own abilities. It was not until 1879, with 2 symphonies and the Violin Concerto under his belt, that he felt confident enough to publish a violin sonata.
The 3^rd violin sonata, composed between 1886 and 1888, is the last sonata Brahms composed for the violin. That its technical difficulties should not be underestimated was brought home to the composer himself and to Joachim at a concert in Berlin in October 1892, when they decided to play the piece without first rehearsing it beforehand, only to come to grief in the final movement.

Eugene Ysaye

Hi, the program notes for Eugene Ysaye (hope not too boring):

Sonata for Solo Violin, Op. 27 No. 4 in E minor

I: Allemande
III: Finale

Eugene Ysaye (1858-1931) was born in Belgium into a musical family where it was taken for granted that the son should inherit his father’s instrument. He studied the violin with Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski in Brussels and was named the ‘ultimate violinist’ by his contemporaries having fused the brilliance and elegance of the French school, as exemplified by Sarasate, with a musical approach that was as laudably honest and dedicated as that of the German school headed by Joachim.
The Six Sonates pour violon Seul Op. 27 were published in 1924 and were composed long after Ysaye’s performing days were over. The idea of writing these sonatas was originally inspired when Ysaye heard a performance by Szigeti of one of the Bach solo sonatas. Lamenting the paucity of works composed for solo violin, he then shut himself away in the study of his seaside villa, emerging triumphantly some 24 hours later clutching detailed sketches of these 6 solo sonatas. It remains his only composition receiving any attention today.
Each of the 6 solo sonatas are dedicated to one of his friends – all of whom were celebrated violinists – and were cleverly designed to reflect the individual temperaments, strengths, even idiosyncrasies, of their dedicatees. Ysaye’s own favourite was the 4^th sonata which he dedicated to Fritz Kreisler. It perfectly embraces the charm and rhythmic incisiveness that were the very essence of this peerless Viennese player.

The PROGRAMME for Love and Live III - Three's Company

I. ROBERT SCHUMANN - Selections from Liederkreis, op. 24
Morgens steh' ich auf
Es treibt mich hin
Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen
Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden
Lai Quan Hui, voice
Nicholas Loh, piano

II. JOHANNES BRAHMS - Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor
Low Ying Ning, violin
Clement Huang, piano

~ intermission ~

III. EUGENE YSAYE - Violin Sonata No. 4 in E minor, 1st & 3rd movements
Low Ying Ning, violin

IV. KARL PILSS - Trumpet Sonata
Low Jia Hua, trumpet
Cheng Shih-Wei, piano

V. OPERA SELECTIONS
Wolfgang Mozart
Deh vieni alla finestra, from "Don Giovanni"
Gaetano Donizetti
Bella siccome un angelo, from "Don Pasquale"
Charles Gounod
Avant de quitter ces lieux, from "Faust"
Giuseppe Verdi
Per me giunto, from "Don Carlo"
Lai Quan Hui, voice
Nicholas Loh, piano

Where is Yingning?

A big hello from the citizens on my brother's bed. They've since moved up to mine!
I am sorry that the pxmq is facing with some trouble with her research right now... I have prepared a list of solutions which, however, can only be delivered when I go over:
- Seaweed egg-drop soup
- Help to read up on all the biology text books
- Buy shoes(?)
- Boil water
- Give a big bo-bo and another one after that
I would also like to congratulate Chong Kian and Faith for their upcoming wedding. I hope our quartet will play well for the wedding.