I had been very much looking forward to the evening yesterday. It was Wild Empire's Concert. And I recalled that I had 3 friends there: Ek Ngee, Zion, and Shan Yu. Though I did not realise until later, that I know Jason Yeoh from MI, and Ms Ong, who auditioned me previously in her acapella workshop @ TP. I realise that Ms Ong was also the conductor for NYJC... The threads of human relationships strewn around me.

It was an excellent performance that surpassed my expectations. It was my first time hearing them though. If thinking in terms of entertainment, it was very entertaining, with their acapella Christmas Carol session most refreshing with their upbeat clapping, movement and choreography. Definitely the work of Ms Ong, and maybe Ek Ngee.

I went with GK, and for most part of the show, he appeared unimpressed. He was impatient, so to speak. He wasn't in the mood, I thought. He wasn't even willing to enjoy / listen and criticise. I was only capable of the former, and not constructive critiscism. I think my listening is quite flawed. Why? The seasoned listeners come up with comments I did not expect (e.g. sopranos were out of breath because they sounded thin). But to me, it was all really fault-picking. Like pitching problems.. Nothing can be perfect. What is more important, would be that singers came up with a creative/ faithful rendition of the original music piece composed.

Try as I may. I did not hear any significant mistakes to compromise the quality of the songs. The context of some being sacred pieces me and GK obviously didn't enjoy.. But what can I say. Choir came from the church.

Some of the last chords signalling the end of the song sound really pleasant, and after that, I cannot remember the body of the song, or the content which was sung. I cannot make out the words in Loch Lomond, or that I wasn't paying attention.

In summary, this was what he said to me, "watching concert in the past had a lot of meaning. Now... no meaning."

Some Art News

Was shopping with my mum @ Raffles City, when I came across this Art Gallery which hosts asian artwork. Sculptures and paintings mostly. This dark skinned lady that showed us around the gallery and explained to us patiently, was real nice.

http://odetoart.com/

***

I feel the impulse to acquire this book.

PRACTICAL AIM (excerpt)
"After great pain, what would the body
learn that it does not already know

of relief? When that fire-truck has raged
past, what do I rediscover about silence

except that I would always miss it?
Do trees mind if it is the same wind

that passes through their heads everyday? ..." (Wong, 2006)

Reference:

Wong, C.. (2006). Like a Seed with a Singular Purpose. Singapore: FirstFruits. Retrieved 30 December 2006 from http://www.cyrilwong.com/Htms/seed.htm

no one to turn to

I decided to go back to TP choir in order "to promote" the concert.
OK. Well it didn't go according to my plan.

Sometimes I feel no connection at all to the current members there. Perhaps I got too pessimistic, too emotional and silent at the end of the practice. (Digressing: HOWEVER HOWEVER, I am not a quiet person - in contrast, my friends I dined with at lunch even felt I was too talkative)

Anyway, left my peeps at TP Choir soon enough with a disappearing act. Hope I won't need to do that too often. I was too disoriented and emo. =( They were singing ok, given their few numbers. I felt a sense of disorientation when the pitching problems present themselves in the face. And ok then, here's a snippet from Wei Min: "you all sound too choral.." bleh, I forgot. TP Choir aka acapella group.

Negative sentiments aside, I felt hope in every one of the members present there. I can't believe WM was there either. She is definitely a great help, given her experience and musicality. What help can I offer besides my voice, when the guru is around?

They take breaks too often I believe, often due to lack of discipline, or direction from a disciplined leader (a choral director can provide). This is most unfortunate. I wish that a godsend might help keep their numbers from dwindling further.

WM played the piano, some Chopin piece I believe, in a way that made me feel that pianists are able to channel their thoughts and express themselves, through their hands and fingers. Like she always plays the punchline when she's tired out. I suspect it was her music that made me emo. Did it have the same effect on others?

I will be back again on thursday to find I'm not too emo again.

***

CYRIL WONG - recognised local poet

Cyril Wong is the name of the Singaporean poet featured on the SPicy section of the Mediacorp Arts Central, weekly 30 min Arts entertainment guide, Front. He labelled Front as a 'bimbotic' show. Which goes to show I'm not too far above the intel level of bimbos. -.-

Anyway. He turns out to have performed with a Singapore small choir group, THE SINGERS, which have attained international acclaim just recently... hmm. interesting. What's more interesting is his works of literature that have managed to make breakthrough globally.. Definitely keeping my eye out on those titles.

Choir Concert @ Esplanade

Concert Title
A Musical Journey

Concert Information
Baroque, Renaissance, Gregorian, Avant Garde - each of them represents a different musical period, a different musical influence.

Join The South West CDC Vocal Consort on A Musical Journey to rediscover the choral works of each musical era. Under the guidance of renowned choral director, Mr Nelson Kwei, the choir will be presenting pieces by Franz Joseph Haydn, John Rutter, Anton Bruckner, Mihiyo Mamiya, etc. Under the influence of each musical period, these composers have penned choral pieces unique to each musical period and in doing so, helped further shaped each period.

Experience for yourself the defining choral style of each musical period and bring home with you a deep appreciation of the different choral styles.

This concert will be held at Esplanade Concert Hall on 28th January, 2007, Sunday, 7.30pm. The guest choir for this concert is the National University of Singapore (NUS) Choir.

This event will be graced by Dr. Amy Khor Lean Suan, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Water Resources, and Mayor of the South West District.

Ticket Information
Tickets are priced at $26, $23, $19 and $17 (excluding SISTIC charges) and are available now at all SISTIC outlets, SISTIC Hotline: (65) 6348 5555

You can also purchase your ticket electronically through SISTIC website: http://www.sistic.com.sg/cms/events/index.html?content=635

Alternatively, you can order your ticket through (me!!) any choir member of The South West CDC Vocal Consort.

Awkward

Just some musings..

It feels so awkward, singing in a room and picking out friendstrangers. Strangers in a sense that might have the potential to become best friends. And now Friends amongst strangers. We sang out the lyrics in the song, "Distant Land", though it was about the reunification of East and West Germany - start with me and you. Do we practise what we preach?

I think I am choosy over my friends. They must satisfy a personal criteria of having personal habits that I can accept. This kind of 'personal selection'. But if everyone were friends, how would the world around us function? And what kind of person would I be if I had all the friends under the sun. Would I be still the same person, with my unique habits and talents, or subjected to social homogeneity... etc.

But in a typical Singapore social setting like this, we adhere firmly to the norms of our culture. No one is loud. No one dares to stand out and rebel, for fear of being cast-aside, fear of being ridiculed.

Rant aside. I was facing a girl directly across the room, using her as a focal point of interest whenever my eyes strayed from the conductor. Yes. (what's her name?) Because she was pretty, so I also wonder if I stared too many times. Of course, attractiveness catches your eyes - but I know it's rude. The thing is, I am sorry in the possible event that my candid gazing might make her uncomfortable. But where else, what else should I do, but let my eyes wander, instead of staring at the floor, fixed on the conductor, or eyes closed?

Let your eyes wander.. Why not just keep them under control! XD

The Time Machine

Welcome to my new blog, The Time Machine (as of 14 December). Good name? Am I aspiring to be French? =)

Feel free to leave your comments on any of the previous posts, on the current ones. If you're ready to leave, check out the links on my sidebar.

***
Rotten Tomatoes. Provides a compilation of reviews by many movie critics. Never watch a lousy movie again!

Cosmic variance. An excellent blog by physicists. Digging into the archives, here's a good read on a movie review on "Mr and Mrs Smith".

http://cosmicvariance.com/2005/07/19/brad-and-angelina/

NCBI Science Primer. Provides good background information on Biology.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/About/primer/

The New World; New times too

Movie: I got this Movie "The New World" on DVD, reserving it for a time to watch with friends. So, who's interested? I don't mind borrowing it to any movie lover. So, if you're interested, organise a get-together sometime and we can watch it together. =)

Music: Been listening to Queen, Jazz (Diana Krall, Hirai Ken), Bach. Been trying to memorise songs for the upcoming concert in January. The Observatory is the local band making music that currently captures my ears.

Books: Hunters of DUNE, which my brother bought me for my birthday this year. *Sigh* not getting any younger anymore.

TV: I was watching the Princess Hours, because I got addicted to their jokes after a long day's work.

Work (project): takes up 90% of my time. Yes, it is addictive to think about the latest discoveries in research and their implications for the human universe. Man, I love this work.

Unfulfilled dreams:
1) buy an acoustic guitar for playing real songs and compose.
2) become a research scientist and know what-the-hell everyone in the room is talking about.
3) enlarge my pool of close friends.

Bach and Genetics

Bach's music pieces feel just like looking at the genome assemblies (sufficient to relate to looking at a single chromosome) under the UCSC Genome Browser, each a melodic sequence of complexity, strewn with repetitive elements, and signposts indicating ends of musical phrases. Each musical phrase itself is anagolous to a gene coded by a sequence of different frequency notes. It is beautiful in its complexity, and something to be studied in all its detail.

Thoughts run through my head: whether or not this is by any chance, God's creation, it is wonderful. It prods human imagination to interpret each of these sequences and the observable trends (e.g. the polymorphisms). It would take many human lifetimes to unravel the mysteries behind the human genome sequence. Just like unravelling the art that J.S. Bach created centuries ago.

Played on Piano by Andras Schiff - English Suite No.6 in D minor, BWV 811: I. Prélude (moonlite/desolation, chaos).

In brackets, contain the visual imagery I perceive in the piece. Basically, darkness dominates as painted by the minor key. It really resembles the famed movement in Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Chaos breaks out after the first 2.20 mins. Then come the punch-in-the-face resolution, the final chord.

But that can be said for many of Bach's pieces.

A Daydream

"I've never looked back since."

What a nice ending to a chapter of a story. It suggests the protagonist doesn't regret his current course in life. But...
.
.
.

That is probably not the case. Healthy our neurons are, we are haunted by memories of the past. It is quite inevitable for me to look back. Then I realise how much I missed those times. It was strange enchantment bestowed upon me 2 years ago, the "Voyage of Songs" in Genting. How time has preserved those memories to a dreamlike state.

A flood of memories...

When - please - no - not back to work... Reality comes back and kicks you in the face. How I wish it doesn't have to be that way all the time. I wish I won't need to compartmentalise my brain for interacting with friends and work.