Almost a 2-month absence...

…from this blog. Actually from all blogs. Except Tumblr and Twitter, of course. Though.. I don’t tweet much these few days.

BTW. My Twitter Bio now reads like this :

Positive pessimist. Curious. Sophomore. Struggling with Math problems and Programming assignments in university. Currently obsessed with Ohno Satoshi & Arashi.

Anyway. Instead of me asking my piano teacher to skip to Grade 4, she had asked me first few weeks ago. I was elated of course but I didn’t show my enthusiasm… she wanted me to think first then tell her next week (but she totally forgotten about it). Then.. in yesterday’s piano class, she mentioned about it again. I suspect she has similar thoughts with me though… I think I should really do well for the G3 pieces first before moving on to G4’s pieces… And she gave me another hard (4 sharps with 4-in-1 notes *if you get what I mean*) piano piece to practise my sight-reading skills. I am not good at sight-reading but in the last exam (G2), when I practise sight-reading, I kind of have the feeling that I can do that well. Kind of.

Also, few weeks ago… I had some kind of vacation from piano practice (busy watching Arashi in my room). Sounds bad, you think? No, not really. The funny thing that happened was like me eating Kit Kat chocolate bar. I LOVE Kit Kat but I seldom eat them because… I want to preserve that feeling of longing to eat one. I think the same thing happened to the practice. When I play, I realised how I miss the sound of the piano… as if they are a new sound to me, I got excited and was a bit more confident to play. The result was odd but good.

I used to always play Demi Lovato and Jonas Brothers songs on the piano. Their songs are usually in keys with mostly sharps… Now that I’ve found a new love in Arashi’s leader, Ohno Satoshi… it’s pretty much Arashi songs only these days. Haha… Their songs are more varied though, keys with flats & sharps here and there…

I’m still scared of flats. And staccatos.

truth

I love playing Arashi’s “truth” on the piano. Wish I can match the speed of the song… (try playing while listening to the song)..

Suge.

Bad Day & Arashi

Bad day. Lame meeting. Stupid people. No-brainers.

At home : Found new Arashi songs to play on the piano. Back to happy mode. Thanks to my recent crushing on Ohno *swoons*. Arashi piano sheets galore.

“Music is the best!”   *Kaibutsu-kun style*

Piano Class [3-Oct-2010]

Saiaku da.

Kept playing the "Pump and Circumstance" song. Didn't practise much. & couldn't get it right at all. 

Grrrhrh.

Piano class [26-Sept-2010]

No more Clementi Sonatine op. 36. Haha. 

Oh, well. I'll continue practising the songbook at home anyway. Such fun! I hope one day I'll memorise the whole opus number. I actually found Sonatine op. 37 too (haven't look for op. 38), looks a bit more complicated.. I like the 2nd movement!

Ms C lend me  her marches collection book for me to make another copy. She asked me to pick out a song - & I was happy to pick out Mozart's "Turkish March".. reminds me of Nodame a lot. It's only the alla turca part though. Oh. And it's simplified too. Then she picked out another march song - Elgar's "Pump and Circumstance" no. 1 (not sure which part of it). Heard of it being played by a senpai (one grade older than me) at the next room. Heh. I didn't expect to get the song for homework this week!

If feels like it's "the test" again. This time I must prove to myself that I'm capable of vast improvement.

Fighting! 

Scales and more scales.

It's back to the basic practice - Scales! Arpeggios! Broken Chords! & also the Junior Hanon book!

I need to brush up my techniques in piano, especially the fingering part. I wish to play with more speed so that I can play fast songs better!

Oh yeah. Updated my Twitter bio again to reflect my Nodame love : 

Positive pessimist. Curious. Sophomore. Struggling with Math problems and Programming assignments in university. Currently obsessed with Nodame Cantabile.

Deeply in Love with Nodame Cantabile

Finished reading the [online] manga. Now I wish to own the manga - both english and japanese version - and everything related to Nodame Cantabile. 

Huh. I was depressed for a few days after I finished reading Chapter 136. Now I want to watch the anime version!

 I really, really, really love the story!!!!! 

When I miss reading/watching it, I go to the piano and play something. It helps. Just like how Nodame went off sniffing Chiaki's unwashed clothes. You know what, that isn't strange! Definitely not Nodame alone's strangeness. When I was little, my mum gave me my dad's unwashed clothes when he wasn't at home for days (church-related work). Seeing it in Nodame Cantabile brought back a bit those memories...

Focus Focus.

Hisashiburi desu.

I'm in holiday mode at this moment. Two weeks!!! Woooo~~!!!!!

For my free time, this time I want to try a new method in learning to play a new song. It's not exactly new though... only I never thought of using it to my advantage before. Anyway. I want to pick a song and then focus fully on perfecting that one song only. The song I have in mind is Utada Hikaru's "Flavor of Life" (teehee... all because I rewatched the HanaDan drama & movie).... or Arashi's "Love so Sweet"/"One Love". 

It's a pity to hear Vox is closing down 'cos I was just starting to get used to that site... anyway.. I guess Typepad isn't bad too. I'm just looking for a site where I can blog about my piano learning journey, it would be more texts than photos... hehe. One more thing. I just received a new Dell netbook for my birthday last Sept 1st. I have evil thoughts (muahahah).. not really evil... just that I want to start writing short stories and fan fictions, and the netbook is a good reason to do that. I have easy access to word-processing programs! (not to mention the the long battery life - I like! )

I love piano.

It's not good to study or practise according to your current mood (so selfish, isn't it?) but it feels like the right thing to do at this moment. 

Ahhhh. Mid-term exams in the following weeks... but I will not abandon you again, my piano. 

I'll try.  

Sigh. Halting Practice.

The tiring new semester has put a stall on my piano practice. I didn't expect this to happen. Just as I get home, all I can think of is sleeping... I play the piano just to forget anything stressful (ah... I'm abusing the piano!!!).

[more...]

ABRSM G2 result.

I took the ABRSM's piano practical exam for Grade 2 in June. Got the result last Sunday.

Result!

2 more marks, I could get distinction... My piano teacher was a bit pissed off by that fact (the problem was with the scales part). XD

For me, I'm glad... (Totemo yokatta desu!!!)

A Wannabe.

Sophomore. Pianist wannabe. Positive pessimist with hopes. Currently struggling with Math problems and Programming assignments in university.

That's my updated Twitter Bio. Been longing to update to something more current. This time I added "Pianist wannabe." In my opinion, although I can play the piano, it's still early to call myself a pianist. There are so many things that a pianist usually do that I can't do yet. I don't have their kind of confidence. 

It's a blessing to be able to pursue my study in music now even though I'm a full-time university student. I've been selfish and demanding (living off-campus since the 1st semester) to make this arrangement work. So that I'll have access to the upright piano at home 24-7. I study Maths during Weekdays and then Music during weekends. 

It's a life-long journey.

If...

Back to campus - Semester 3!

Nothing much happened lately... though... 

I find myself struggling to play with more speed... It's making me crazy & I keep asking myself "Why can't I do that????"  *sigh* 

And then... there's another thing that suddenly appeared.. Improvement or just an odd thing? I don't know yet. It's like this. When I play a piece, I realise that I'm trying to match the sound with the sound in my head. Sometimes I ended up just pressing whichever key I thought sounds like it... Sure, I make many mistakes, but I think it's good for me to develop a confidence during playing.

Oh, yeah.. A week before Semester 3 started, I read a post by a newly enrolled university-mate. She's majoring in music (piano). It made me thought of my own future. What if I didn't stop learning to play the piano 12 years ago? Will I be heading to the music field too? Will I aim to become a professional pianist? Though... there's many factors to be taken in account too actually... 12 years ago, my family wouldn't afford buying an upright piano... To be frank, I was afraid of my piano teacher at that time. BUT. Even with all those factors... if I made it through... I wonder...

How would that musical future look like?

Songs I Never Knew

These past few days, I had discovered many new (for me) inspiring songs. Mostly instrumental. Okay. All instrumental. Haha. I believe I would discover more in the future... this inspired-like feeling seems so new to me that I can't wait to see to which direction it will bring me to musically.

Oh, yeah. I also finally found two answers to some of my "Whose song was that?" questions. There's so many popular piano instrumental songs out there (hard to search a song online if you only know the melody and not the name of the song and the artist who played it), I thought it was amazing that the answers came to me when I wasn't seeking them.  ^_^

Anyway. The songs are : Richard Clayderman's "Ballade Pour Adeline" (which I found out later was originally composed by Paul de Senneville) & Frank Mill's "Music Box Dancer". I've always heard the former song since I was little. But last year, something brought it back to mind (with bits of my childhood memories). I heard of it played by my music school's principal when she was demonstrating to a customer. It was night. I was so surprised when she started playing with a fortissimo, but that might be because of the acoustic of the show room. 

Richard Clayderman - Ballade pour Adeline

Music Box Dancer - Frank Mills

  

I will learn to play those songs on the piano. I WILL. 

(I found the piano scores for "Ballade pour Adeline" here & "Music Box Dancer" here. Big thanks to these piano sheets that are available online.... =P)

Dispirited.

I tried on a very difficult piece (I think it's a greek song) yesterday. Chords-like, 3-in-1-press notes... My head spun like crazy. How could someone play this so expertly? How could I tackle this? It's the first time I heard of that song, so the melody was still unfamiliar to me thus making it harder to play. 

To be honest, I was a bit afraid that this is one of "those" pieces. You know, the pieces piano teachers ask you to play to see if you have improved or not. I think I had several of those pieces before, & unfortunately I didn't pass all of them. 

Haven't practice much since yesterday... I feel lost.

Gosh. Distracted.

My other problem with doing constant practice is "new songs". I'm so easy at being attracted to some songs I just listened to & desperately wants to play them on the piano. I would google for the piano sheets. Most of the time I will find it. I would then concentrate on the song - only happens when the piano score I found for it isn't too hard for me. Few days later, I may or may not lose interest & abandon the song entirely. Haha. I don't even bother perfecting after I could play it. 

Sigh.

Jumping from songs to songs isn't really "healthy", right? One should finish what one has started.... 

BIG SIGH.

A Bit Lazy.

Played too much "The Sims 3" & "Farm Frenzy 3".... XD

Computer games aside... Did some practice for Clementi Sonatina Op. 36, No. 4... & also played Switchfoot's "The Best Yet" songbook. I'm always 

keen to sing along whenever I play Switchfoot songs on the piano. 

I almost forgot about  Nicholas Teo's "Xiao Wu Gui". I found the piano score from this pianofiles user few weeks ago. I was so delighted even though the score is in D♭ Major. Haha... I don't know how to handle so many flats yet...but I love that song! I believe that I would conquer the flats in the end (I managed with 5 sharps from Horsegirl15's transcriptions of songs from "Camp Rock", "This is Me" & "Gotta Find You").

I CAN DO THIS!!!!

So Many 'Wants', Too Little Time.

Gosh. 

My list of "Songs I want to play on the piano" just get longer with Demi Lovato's "Back Around". Whoa. That song is on repeat at this moment. Wish I could play it violently on the piano. I mean wow... I would forget all my "burdens & sorrows" if I can play just like that.

Fast, but not like that.

Piano class! Yay, good start since my G2 exam finished! 

Started playing Clementi Op.36 songbook in class... but my teacher chose no.4 (which I'm kind of scared of 'cos it looks hard). Oh, well. I guess it's time to push myself to "perfection". I meant "perfect" from the practising kind of sense. You know what, since I picked up piano again two years ago, I have yet play a piece without blemishes (excluding my ever not-consistent exam pieces) here & there. 

The thing with difficult pieces is they really, really, really look DIFFICULT... BUT when you tackle it with patience & diligence, they don't look difficult anymore. All of a sudden, they will look achievable and friendly. After you're convinced that you CAN play the piece, you have to take time to practise. Like they always say, "Practice makes perfect!". 

My biggest problem is the practice part. But that's about to change. 

I hope. 

Sick.

Didn't do much practice these few days. Did some "Junior Hanon" (my sister's book) practice though. I find it helpful because I have a bad sense of piano fingering. It's like warm-ups one do before they start jogging or playing any sports.

Odd question but : Do you play the piano the piano when you have the flu? I think it's kind of unhygienic to play while you rub your nose or cover your mouth (cough, sneeze).... hehe. Same as you use the computer keyboard. 

One thing for sure, having hand sanitizer(s) around the house will help prevent the germs from spreading. 

[Note-to-self : Must buy more. Must wear more often.]


Tomorrow is another day for piano class. Sigh.

Get It Right.

Did some Clementi today.. didn't remember which one. I'm starting to think that I should play/practise more seriously as in playing a passage repeatedly until I get it right. Like... really, really, really get it right. No room for mistakes to happen. 

& of course.. with all the FUN I can spare from playing Sims 3's latest expansion pack. XD

Note-to-self : Please practise more often. You can do it. You CAN DO IT.

I tried.

A blackout occurred a couple hours ago. So the piano is the only entertainment left in the dark. I didn't care if it's too late to play something on the piano. I needed something to distract me from doing nothing.

Too dark to see the notes on my Clementi piano book. Even with some candles lighted already, it was just too dark.

I thought of transcribing the theme song of TV2's "Si Capik" (random thing)... but I don't know the song that well to be able to find the melody. So I ended up with Harlem Yu's "Qing Fei De Yi". It had been a while, but that is one of my favourite chinese song... I think I can remember some part of it. 

I did managed to play the beginning a little. A little only. 

And then my mum asked me to stop playing. 

Oh, well. 

Still a long, long, long way to go. 

I do believe that I will be able to play songs as soon as I heard it on TV etc in the future.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.