Received my examiner's report today. It sounds quite good.
"Good balancing of texture and clarity in initiative ideas. You understand and convey structure."
omg that was the best thing I've seen in a report ><
Friday, September 11, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Valentina Lisitsa
Found a GREAT pianist on YouTube! Flawless technique, strong, delicate playing and clear in structure expression! (:
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Bored. So I shall update the blog
Teacher's Day performance went well. First time in my life someone is asking me, "hey what was that piece you all played?" Gary's right. We should play more crowd pleasers.
Erps. Outing at Plaza Sing...instead of watching a movie we went to Times to read books -.- Wilfred, Zhi Chao and I had a recipe memorizing contest. Hao Meng and Cheng Teng searched for books to find out how to attract girls. Erps.
My brother is leaving for UK tonight. Parent's going to accompany him. Lonely ):
Right. Back to mugging
Teacher's Day performance went well. First time in my life someone is asking me, "hey what was that piece you all played?" Gary's right. We should play more crowd pleasers.
Erps. Outing at Plaza Sing...instead of watching a movie we went to Times to read books -.- Wilfred, Zhi Chao and I had a recipe memorizing contest. Hao Meng and Cheng Teng searched for books to find out how to attract girls. Erps.
My brother is leaving for UK tonight. Parent's going to accompany him. Lonely ):
Right. Back to mugging
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
I hate exams more than ever. It drains the passion for music if one is not careful throughout the preparation for the big day.
I'm still relieved to discover that thinking about and drowning myself in the music helped distract me from the stressful aura of the small examination room.
Free at last! What shall I do next?
I'm still relieved to discover that thinking about and drowning myself in the music helped distract me from the stressful aura of the small examination room.
Free at last! What shall I do next?
Monday, July 6, 2009
Perception
After reading through many articles I finally understood what is "interpretation" of music
The fundamental goal about interpretation is knowing the difference in presentation from other performances, as well as grabbing the attention of the audience in a personal style.
Hence music interpretation always start with the question, "how should my style grab the attention of my audience?" It's easy, just ask any attention seeker individuals (I know quite a few) and they'd tell you the easiest way to captivate someone is called pattern interrupt. (Note: Interrupting a pattern doesn't mean breaking one's tailpiece (like this) in a performance, although it works to a certain extent if you are Bashmet.)
Making a pattern sets mental framework in the listener, when he organizes the data he receives. As more music pours in, there are bound to be places which doesn't fit into this mental framework, like a sudden forzando or harmonic dissonances in weird places. When something like this can't fit into his mental framework, he tends to search, in his mind, another framework where everything fits, and this action of finding another framework draws his attention to the music.
To summarize: We pay more attention to something irregular. The more we change our framework, the more attention it commands.
So how could we apply this to interpretation? Attention seeking is ironic: more attention is drawn when there's a greater degree of change, and a smoother transition in the change at the same time. There are many ways to grab attention by interrupting pattern, and there are many more ways to smoothen the bridge between the transitions to maintain the attention throughout. Employing these different methods gives a different texture to the music, and creating a different type of framework for the audience.
Interpretation is basically to determine the where and how this attention should be drawn.
I know it's more difficult than it sounds. Thanks to Lee Humphries though.
The fundamental goal about interpretation is knowing the difference in presentation from other performances, as well as grabbing the attention of the audience in a personal style.
Hence music interpretation always start with the question, "how should my style grab the attention of my audience?" It's easy, just ask any attention seeker individuals (I know quite a few) and they'd tell you the easiest way to captivate someone is called pattern interrupt. (Note: Interrupting a pattern doesn't mean breaking one's tailpiece (like this) in a performance, although it works to a certain extent if you are Bashmet.)
Making a pattern sets mental framework in the listener, when he organizes the data he receives. As more music pours in, there are bound to be places which doesn't fit into this mental framework, like a sudden forzando or harmonic dissonances in weird places. When something like this can't fit into his mental framework, he tends to search, in his mind, another framework where everything fits, and this action of finding another framework draws his attention to the music.
To summarize: We pay more attention to something irregular. The more we change our framework, the more attention it commands.
So how could we apply this to interpretation? Attention seeking is ironic: more attention is drawn when there's a greater degree of change, and a smoother transition in the change at the same time. There are many ways to grab attention by interrupting pattern, and there are many more ways to smoothen the bridge between the transitions to maintain the attention throughout. Employing these different methods gives a different texture to the music, and creating a different type of framework for the audience.
Interpretation is basically to determine the where and how this attention should be drawn.
I know it's more difficult than it sounds. Thanks to Lee Humphries though.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
1) Record
2) Play a wrong note
3) Stop recording
4) Delete recording
5) Repeat from step 1
It's so easy to forget that consistency is the very foundation of music performance. Who cares about interpretation when I can't even play the notes correctly without any errors?
That's me. Full of musical ideas, but lack the basic skills to express them
2) Play a wrong note
3) Stop recording
4) Delete recording
5) Repeat from step 1
It's so easy to forget that consistency is the very foundation of music performance. Who cares about interpretation when I can't even play the notes correctly without any errors?
That's me. Full of musical ideas, but lack the basic skills to express them
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