The Booming Pipe Organ

Damn it Gwen, she had to be sick and not come. So i've to postpone my class performance for another week and that means 1 more week for 2 hours practice a day. Haix. I just want to get this thing out and over with.
Anyway, this morning, or rather yesterday morning, I went live on air on radio 938 live on campus together with a 100++ other students. The topic of the day was are JC courses still relevant in today's world and guess what, I saw the legendary Tony Buzan!!! INVENTOR OF MIND MAPS. He isn't a nerd like what i've thought him to be. He is actually is highly knowledgeable, well-read and funny guy. I felt the questions that the students asked were abit irrelevant to the question though. They were much more contented with directing questions at the MOE rep, asking her why contrasting subject, why study mother tongue and all those stuff. I felt it was irrelevant but I felt what the radio DJ, Ms Vanessa said was extremely true. Poly ppl tend to be quite sure about what they want in life whereas JC ppl are like in the midst of making up their minds and choose to learn everything for the time being. Mr Buzan's response to the need to study the contrasting subject was that we should polarize the arts and the sciences. If we separate them, then we are only learning half of what this world has to offer. Everything is interlink together, no subject is boring, its just the way they are presented that is boring. Then he quoted Da Vinci saying Its not about arts or sciences but rather the art of science and the science of art which is absolutely true. So i was really inspired by that quote for the rest of the day. I wished I could have a up close and personal session with him. It would be really cool to learn from him.
I really admire Ting Kai who already has his career planned out in front of him. After his NS, he is going to China to pursue music studies and stuff which is really great for him. Then he fell back onto me asking me what have I planned for myself. Well, I can't really go to a conservatory because I'm simply not good enough for one. I kinda regret those younger days where I should have devoted more time to the violin, get a better teacher, practise 3,4 hours a day when I had a time. Now when I hardly have anything then I try to practice 2 hours a day which is taking a toll on all my other subjects I'm taking. I told him I wanted to be a pop musician then he said pop musicians simply come and go. I thought about it deeply and felt yeah, that was true. Many people have come and gone, only unique ones like Jay Chou, Wang Li Hom are able to sustain themselves for a very long time. Maybe its their appealing aesthetics or their marvelous composition skills or their technical ability. What makes me unique then? How am I going to survive in that competitive Hollywood which is Taiwan??? I'll take things as they come and not think too much about the future. For now, I'm just going to focus on the violin. I finally revealed my dreams of playing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and Butterfly Lovers Concerto to Mrs Soh and classmates.. Well, I guess they must have thought:"Good luck to u man!" Oh well, life goes on. I dun have the gifts that Mel and Ting Kai have but I'll make to do with what I have. I want to express, but I can't... That is the greatest problem.
We borrowed some Mendelssohn trios and Schumann trios from the library so I'm going to try them out tomorrow. Haven't tried any Romantic pieces for a very long time though because my intonation is atrocious and terribly inaccurate so.... lets see how it does then...I want super fingers and control and tone balance!!!
The organ concert at night by Carol Williams where yet again the entire Music Class was unable to go due to Gwen's mysterious illness was okayish.. The modern pieces simply felt weird. In some of the pieces I felt the rhythm was somewhat out. Mrs Soh agreed. So I was like thinking how can this world class artist play out of rhythm. Its terrible. I guess most of us don't really understand organ music nor can we appreciate the sound. Mel was sleeping beside me!!! Stacy was looking nonchalant, kinda blank look. Ting Kai was giving a bewildered smile. I was expressionless. But the Pipe Organ, the King of Instruments is simply amazing. It practically can imitate the entire orchestra. There are some reedy sounds which imitate the oboe, some that imitate the clarinet, the bassoon, the lower basses, trumpets. Simply amazing the palette of tone colours and timbre that the organ can create. I realised today that the Esplanade actually has 2 organs. One up there on circle 1 level which we normally see and another is actually stored under the stage and can be connected electrically to the one up there so the organist can actually play on stage level which the sounds coming out from the pipes above. Carol Williams was commenting how great the Klais organ in Esplanade was. Upon taking a closer look at the organ, I realised it was a complicated instrument with all the knobs and keyboards. 4 limbs coordination. Just mind blowing. The traditional looking organ actually has a floppy disk drive which kills its traditional look. It looks like an electone upon close inspection.
Anyway, after the concert, the 4 of us gathered and walked around for a while. Apparently, the outdoor theater is under construction and the next gig at the temporary theater beside it started at 10pm, it was only 9pm so we turned back and made out separate ways home.
The END