Monday, July 9, 2012
Stuffs of July
Went for ls prep camp last mon and tues. Haiz regret not gng for scamp or union camp now! Anw it's not like I expected a lot from this camp, but oh well. Hmm I don't think the total number of people could form one og, maybe can squeeze out a small one haha. But anw it was ok la, I especially like to travel arnd NUS at night haha, be it night games or bathing. Like to explore the dark side of my schools (which reminds me, I haven had a camp in tj yet! Overnight camp I mean) but oh well it's too late! Ok enough talking abt regrets, anw I'm the only ogl for my og, which has 10 ppl as of now. Gotta go think of ice-breakers to last for 3 hours!! Gosh. Anw must try for scamp or uc next year, at least once before I grad! Hopefully doesn't clash with internship or anything I'm gng to have then.
Have loads of things to do before gng for the camp: matric fair stuffs and other guitar stuffs (gonna take up the bulk of time), module planning (time to think of how to have enough time to overload and study and get my desired cap, and balancing all my other commitments), practising cowbell cos the 15 jul gig is coming soon (hopefully can fix my rhythm, don't wanna ruin everyone's playing cos of my lousy playing; I do want to try percussions in the future), ls camp stuffs like designing the og logo, thinking of cheers and ice breakers, blah blah (this the first time I've come across a camp that require the ogls to do so much, and thrs only 1 ogl per og). Tbh I feel inadequately prepared for this, I don't wanna appear flustered and end up giving the freshies a bad experience. There doesn't seem to be enough time to do an identity too, haiz I'll see what comes along. Damn, I should stop regretting my decisions and just pull through until the next time I need to make a decision agn, then I'll consider carefully. And stop being so easily influenced!!! Argh I hate this trait of me. So easily influenced. Regretted so many things because of this. ARGH!!!!!!!
Anw, away from sad things, there're my instruments! <3 Progressed to slurs in violin lesson today, I think I'm doing ok so far, but still far from expectations cos the sounds I produce are horrible and I wouldn't really consider them music. But hey, my fingerings are more accurate without looking! ^^ The sound from my teacher's violin and my violin are really miles apart. Looking forward to having my professional violin one day (but that's gng to be expensive so not in the near future I guess). No violin lesson next week, thankfully, cos I'll just break camp on sat and prolly gng to guitar aftwards (should I go? But I'll be tired and din really prac a lot lol), so thrs prolly not much time for me to prac my violin too. Switching frequency to guitar, I think I need to prac more and start to train my muscle memory, especially for WC, since it's mostly chords. And then thr's the comm piece, whr I'll be playing bass. Zomg! Bass!! Haha sommore nid to down tune guitar. Prolly cannt sightread alrdy haha. Sevilla is still giving me headaches, must quickly resolve before other songs come, and juniors come in. Oh ho! Matric fair! Haha kinda looking forward to it. Looking forward to welcome tea too, hehe. But not looking forward to bidding lol. I hope I get my psych mods, if not I will fight till the end for them!!!
Ok, better start using my time wisely now. No time to lose!!
Labels: guitar, holidays2012, School, violin
Sunday, July 1, 2012
It's July!
It's July already! My fingertips are hurting and peeling from sectionals haha. And it hurt so much when I tried to practice violin just now. So fast it's July already! Means matric fair is coming! Haha looking forward to meeting new juniors! And I'm kinda excited for the ls camp too hahaha.
Sectionals today, but started the day with assembling our road signs and ended up late for sectionals :x oops haha. Received new score WC today. So many chords!! Hahaha almost the entire score is chords la haha how to sightread. Progressed quite a lot for Sevilla haha, but I'm still lagging. And talking about lagging, I was lagging for the cowbells :( And went through Spring as an ensemble today, can't really hear myself, can only hear the altos. Lol, maybe cos I'm sitting next to them. Dunno to be sad or happy that I'm not in alto this sem. Haiz just can't help but think about this issue every now and then. Haiz. Hope it will go away soon and who knows, I may find greener pastures in prime lol.
After practice stayed back a little to do matric fair stuff. Poor B is sick, hope she gets well soon! And then went to eat dinner with pres and vice pres at utown italiano haha. I think utown italiano is a nicer name. Haha, anw, ordered some bolognese thing even though I don't like tomato. Turned out dry and tomato-ish, had a hard time trying to finish it up. Left most of the meat in the end and ate the pasta haha. Don't like the meat. Should have just ordered my pizza right. Next time I will do just that. Despite the pizza being more expensive than the pasta and to me the difference is not justified. But I should eat happily rite. After that went to order ice cream. Caramel! <3 So sweet but yet some parts taste/ smell plastic-y. Still prefer the caramel and biscuit or smth from HD. It shall be one of my motivation to work hard and earn more money. Haha.
Ok finished talking about today, oh no, it's "yesterday" already lol. First day of July will be spent on violin, packing and getting ready for ls prep camp. And sending the matric fair collaterals to the relevant ppl for their opinions. And thinking how to hand in the matric fair forms. And hoping I can prac my guitar a little before going off to camp. WC! Haha I love cats ^^ Meow!
Finally submitted the form to indicate my interest for an accommodation in school next AY. Was pondering whether I should stay in school, since I have violin now and I would be putting a lot of things on my plate. But it's a once in a lifetime experience that I once yearned so much for, despite being so expensive lol, and probably not worth it if I look at monetary terms. $2k for 1 sem! Plus travelling costs cos I have violin. Should I stop violin? But I don't want to put it off le. And sommore I want to overload, clear my mods so I can take psych minor. Plus that gem that I s/ued. And guitar pracs! And pub stuffs! Hahaha. I guess excellent time management is the answer. I'm not confident of that, I've been procrastinating lol. Well, no harm trying. We'll see if I manage to get in and what plans God has for me. I really hope to be able to get in! Preferred one pls. Haha.
Labels: guitar, holidays2012, School, violin
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
The weekend
Started my first sectionals with the primes last sat. So little ppl haha! And both the sls were not there. Well, I feel that the songs next sem are more difficult than the ones last sem, and if I were still in alto1 I would not be able to survive the auditions. That said, prime parts were not that easy too. Notes for Spring were ok for me to handle and for once I could sightread and play slowly with the rest! Haha very happy but I'm not that easily contented lol. Not for sightreading like that at least. My inability to count was actually the biggest problem, esp for Kiko, and that is the thing I'm gonna tackle when my sightreading improves a bit. Haiz. I think my phobia with reading music score is more of counting. Forever cant count :(
Kiko sounds like a nice beach song, reminds me of Lilo and Stitch, always have that image of L and S in my head whenever someone mentions Kiko haha. Sevilla was a killer! Goodness me. Still stuck at the first few bars of chords after so long!
Hmm I felt sectionals were a bit..... not as warm as a1 sectionals last sem. Cos I don't really know the others??? Hmm or maybe there were too little ppl? Or maybe we've just got the scores and just started looking at it properly (I didn't really prac a lot when the scores were put into dropbox :x) so thats why I feel this way? Maybe HS felt this way too so halfway through he asked us if we knew each other. Haha I mean I know who they are, like LK, SM and XZ, but don't really know them well. Hope I will have the opportunity to know them better as time goes by!
After sectionals was prac for 15 Jul's engagement. Was sitting one side at the back and felt so lonely cos everyone had guitars and I have nothing :( It got better after YJ came and M gt the wooden cowbells for me. Felt a bit sad when they were playing rainbow and I was just sitting and listening. I want to play too! Haha. But I know my own playing and don't want to throw face on stage with my bad playing. I was hoping to be able to play rainbow cos I miss alto haha, didn't know I will be so attached to alto, not sure if it's the people or the guitar, or probably it's the sound? So I was a bit sad and disappointed when CC told me no nid to play for rainbow. My last chance of playing with a1 this sem.... Haha, but anw, I wouldn't want to become the spotlight of attention for spoiling the song. So I'll just contend with being at one side and meanwhile, improve my playing!! So that I can survive prime and hopefully one day able to return to alto. I hope that I'll be able to be in alto for my last sem here. Gotta work towards that! And I wanted to try the guitarron too. Hahaha. Too ambitious?
After the prac went for dinner at Utown. Then went for ice cream at Holland V. I wanted to try the bubblegum ice cream actually. The one we ordered was so exp! $7.50 for one small bowl. It tasted like cookie dough mashed with some ice cream. Not bad but not worth it for $7.50. I'd rather eat at Haagen Dazs. Haha my caramel and cookie smth. Cant rmb the name. But I wasn't really in the mood for ice cream after that, plus I'm not even supposed to eat cold things cos it's the time of the month (ahem), so I didn't eat sommore. And to think I was the one who suggested eating ice cream! Totally forgot I was supposed to abstain from cold food. But luckily it didn't cause much discomfort for me after that :D
Talked a bit and I wanted to participate more in the convo, but I was getting tired and I couldn't catch most of the convo. Argh stupid ear, what's with this hearing prob? I think I must involve myself more else ppl might think I'm not interested, when I really am. Went home after that and I was very tired!
The next day met up with E and WK for a lunch to celebrate E's birthday. E was late haha, almost 2.30pm when we ordered. I was starving cos I didn't eat breakfast. The last time I met E was last year's Punggol outing. Ridiculous! How can good friends not meet for so long? I must make a mental note to organise more outings, hopefully one before sch starts, to sing! I must simply do away with this ridiculousity of not meeting my good friends for so long and only meet when there is a special occasion or smth.
Ended up playing with those catching plushies game after lunch cos there was nothing to do there, even the arcade's not appealing lol. Don't even have basketball dunking or air hockey, only got plenty of shooting and those buttons-with-a-joystick game machines. Usually I will google their proper names, but now I don't feel like bothering lol.
After that went home to prepare for violin lessons. I missed my buses (arghhhh) and ended up 15 mins late. So left 15 mins for the lesson and the teacher was nice to extend it for another 5 mins. Totally felt like a steam engine then, super angry and pissed inside, and I couldn't hide it on the outside. Could feel my fists clenching tightly on the case handle and feeling like I'm going to explode anytime if I still don't get to the school soon. Anw, they seemed nice to reserve the afternoon slot for me, so wef from July aka nxt week onwards, I'll be having my violin lessons in the afternoon. Yay! No more missing dinner time. I must plan properly so I won't miss my lunch time too. And argh, nid to prac more, totally embarrassed myself with the awful sounds I produced. On another note, I progressed to the 3rd finger! I must prac my instruments more, must not embarrass myself any further during lessons or feel like an outcast during guitar pracs.
Gonna go shopping to get ready for the ls prep camp next week. Gonna print docs before sectionals this sat. Seems like the prep camp might not be so much of a blast cos so little ppl. Haiz now I really regret not going for scamp or sow. Dammit. Keep making the wrong decisions. But hope that I'll be happier when sat arrives <3
And off to prepare matric fair stuffs and other pub stuffs. Feel really excited for matric fair. New juniors! Haha. I hope I'll be able to go everyday. I realise I do love my cca a lot. I'm gonna be so sad if I have to leave ;((((((((( And it's time to put down the past, and live in the present, cos soon, I'll no longer be the ps.
Oh man I really want to go camps now! Any camps for me to go?
Labels: guitar, holidays2012, SSB, violin
Monday, June 11, 2012
A short random post
Another violin lesson ystd! Started gng into the 2nd position on the fingerboard and my lousy sightreading was exposed! Argh no idea why I feel very nervous. Better tackle it before the other notes come in!
Accidentally fell aslp last night while doing proposal :x could be due to the flu medicine. Anw I feel better now, at least my nose is not blocked anymore. Yay! Ohh but still haven't finish proposal yet. New ideas, come to me!
To be honest I don't know what is the purpose of this post. Not much happening in my life now. Proposals, matric fair stuffs, practices. Then not much le. No violin lesson for the next week, now I'm still contemplating if I should change my lesson time :/
Labels: holidays2012, random, violin
Monday, June 4, 2012
3rd violin lesson! And other things in the week
This post is meant to be posted on 3/6/2012, but I forgot to post it before midnight lol.
Had my 3rd violin lesson today! WH had some issues with her teacher and she might not be continuing in the school :/ Well, I do have some issues of my own too, but not much major ones. Like changing time or day of lesson. My teacher has been good so far, and finally today I've started learning notes! No more the days of only being able to play on open strings! Haha, she helped me tape my violin with golden finger tape for positions 1 and 3. She said she'll give me a year before taking off the tape. Better start training my hearing! Oh and she kept correcting my right hand position lol, esp the little finger. Till now I still am not concretely sure about the correct position to hold the bow.
Oh and the teacher also said she is free on friday mornings from Aug onwards. Hope that my timetable will be able to accommodate that, hopefully friday's a free day for me!
Oh, had a meeting yesterday at cfa to discuss about naf. I was early ok! Haha shall try to keep that up. Oh yes it was pouring on that day! Super big rain, was fighting the rain to protect my precious laptop. After that was the SL crash course, I am no SL or ASL, but went because everyone else was going and I didn't have anything else on, it's useful too! Received 3 scores and looked through but couldn't figure out which one was the prime 1 parts lol. And it's so stressful to be a SL, gotta sacrifice practice during sectionals, must be able to keep time and listen for errors, must be able to teach and lead section members..... etc etc. I kept being reminded of hejing and how hard and headache it must be for her to have me in alto 1 lol. Gotta teach, guide and look after me who can't even read notes lol. Reminded of the time during music camp, it was the last sectionals I think, and she taught me one-on-one. Haha, glad that I'm not the ASL too, I don't think I can handle the job. Gotta take care of my own playing first before I can teach others. When I first got the score, I tried to read it, still very slow, but hey, so much better than how I was the same day one year ago. Still cannot sightread properly, sigh. And felt intimidated when everyone else was so pro, when in the end, almost everyone started playing guitars, and I couldn't cos I'll most probably be embarrassing myself. Can't deny the fact that my pride is rather strong lol.
There will be an engagement on 15 July and I'll be playing the cowbell. A bit glad that I'm not playing the guitar (to be honest I'm not confident of my playing, reminds me of what shu hann mentioned during the crash course), but I'm a bit worried about playing the cowbell cos I'm worried about my sense of rhythm, and I'm prolly the only one on the cowbell lol, so there's the pressure of playing "solo". And I'm very afraid of disappointing CC cos if I can't do it, he'll have to find someone else, like giving him more troubles lol. And then it would seem like I'm very useless lol, guitar cmi, percussion also cmi. Haha. Shu hann said smth like, one may not be the best player, but the most hardworking one. I shall try to be the hardworking one, need not be the most hardworking, but hardworking enough to reach the goals that I have set for myself. Shall start practising and trying out the scores to improve my sightreading. It is still the thing that I feel most embarrassed about, being unable to sightread fast.
Ok, so what's in store for the next few weeks?
Tmr will be meeting my partner to make the matric fair boards. And then should be free this week, haha then one day go eat ice cream, cos I got 8 coupons lol and they expire by 13 June! Shall try to get dad to bring us out to finish up the coupons. And then nothing much alrdy, tuesdays going to prac the cowbell, and then sectionals going to start in 19 days. And having violin lessons. My days will probably be filled with guitar and violin pracs, or doing guitar stuffs haha. Oh and maybe going for rag lol.
Time passes so fast, its June already! May 2012 is gone and will never come back :( Anw Hebe's concert is in 5 days! And only Cat 4 tickets are left! Wish her all the best for the concert! Although I can't go cos it's too exp. Maybe next time when I'm earning my own income (then I'll be learning the cello too hopefully!)
Labels: guitar, holidays2012, violin
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Updates from the past few days
Last week is quite a happening week, considering that I mostly
rot stay at home during the hols. Hey I'm not rotting ok! I have stuffs to do hehe, just maybe not as much as other more hapz ppl. I prolly din deserve my break now, cos today (or ystd, as it has become) the results just came out. And it was horrible. Ok maybe not that very horrible, cos I managed to get the exact same cap as last sem! Lol, don't know if it's a good or bad thing. Ever since A lvls I've been getting B average. Last last sem like this, this past sem also. Except for the extreme dip in CM1401 and this sem's GEM2900. Who said GEM2900 was easy huh!!! So far all my frens that I know of got the same result as me lol. And I got the same grade for CM1401 and GEM2900. So my grades are "doomed" to be all Bs, be it B+, B or B-, and then one D+. A good thing is that I can SU the gem, so my cap prolly has a chance to increase, but not a lot I guess. Argh that CM1401 cannot be SUed! But then I would have used up one of my SUs. So gotta be careful in module selection and mugging from now onwards.
How surprising pleased I was for LSM1202! I thought I screwed it up badly and would prolly end up with a C or D. Ok with LSM1104, my core, what can I say (dun get me wrong I like all my core mods). And the profs are quite nice to us alrdy I think haha. Prof Ip!!! :DD Then there's SSA1201, ok la haha. A bit uncertain for the essay part, but I thought I did quite gd, but I am quite contended, maybe with a + at the back would be better. A bit disappointed with LSM1103, but maybe cos it's open book so the bell curve may have a greater influence on the final grade. And the botany mcqs during finals arghhhhhh. Till now I still dunno what is neoteny (which came out in the prac exam). A google search suggested that it may linked to paedomorphism. Oh goodness!!! I know what is paedomorphism lol. Damn could have guessed the correct answer. Argh! Definitely not the frog, hope I din put yes for the frog (oh but its over:((((( ) Ok, I should snap out of this talking to myself thing cos it's all over and I can't change my results. Bad result for GEM2900, but sort of expected. Din even finish most of the paper, and whatever I wrote I was certain they are all gibberish and I would definitely get 0 for this mod. Maybe the CAs helped me a bit. Oh and the bell curve too. Just a bit sad that the MCs couldn't be counted towards graduation and this means I don't have a GEM! Means I gotta overload next sem most prolly (and I'm still thinking of taking a psych minor, afterall it's what I wanted for so long, to study psychology). I don't mind spending the rest of my UEs on psych mods, thrs nothing else I'm dying to take alrdy (other than psych, must at least take PL1101E and abnormal psych before I grad) -.- Even if it means having to overload and "waste" 6 of my UEs on a psych minor, I still feel strongly that it is the way to go. I have decided that either I'll try to do double major for psych and ls, or in the event I can't, I'll take either as a major and the other as a minor. I hope that I still can study psych in the future, like a Masters or smth, if I ever one day decide that I'm not cut to be a biologist and is simply misguided all these years into thinking I loved biology.
Okok stop all these serious thinking, this post is supposed to be light and relaxing before I turn in for the night. Had my violin lesson ystd (or more like the day before cos its tuesday now) and worked on switching the bow on different strings, up bows and down bows, bowing for different note values. Need to improve on my sightreading. I'm really glad I have a bit of experience reading music in guitar, if not I would be a total newbie with a phobia of reading notes and then I would progress really sloooooow. Well, I hope I can continue with violin and not have to disrupt it halfway cos I can't juggle between my commitments: guitar pracs, guitar comm, studies (might be overloading), violin, other commitments I might be taking up like tutoring my cousin and my sister more, or taking on tuition assignments. Really hope I can continue with learning violin cos I feel it would be a beneficial relationship in my learning of the guitar and the violin. I can apply what I have learnt in violin in guitar, I really hope my sightreading and theory will improve. Both are stringed instruments with the need to keep one's left hand nails short. Haha, I guess I have been affected ever since that day, the PDP exhibition for the J1s. I rmb I was sitting in the black box with other drama members, relaxing cos thr was no J1 in the black box, and then suddenly I heard string ensemble and guitar ensemble playing a tune tgt. I think it was a violin-guitar duet (I think!) and I fell in love with it! So nice! And then suddenly I wondered what am I doing in the black box instead of doing such cool stuffs like playing nice music. Ok, enough reminiscing, so I am indeed very happy that I'm on my way to become a violinist and guitarist. Esp since nus guitar has been so awesome haha.
Went on early Sat morning for meeting in cfa. Lasted till abt 4 smth, or 5 plus (I can't rmb), which resulted in us not having enough time to eat a proper dinner. Went to the venue hastily haha. Sungha Jung was amazing!! So cute! Haha, thanks to hanwen we were able to take pictures with him! So super cute, better looking than how he was in the youtube videos. Skinny legs! Preston Reed was cool with his techniques at playing the guitar, but I guess contemporary and popular pieces attracted the audience more than cool techniques but not very memorable and sound alike tunes. Both are unique and great guitarists in their own way though, to each his own! And the concert has certainly motivated me to up my guitar playing standards, esp I'm a senior now and cannot rely on other pro players to help cover up my mistakes anymore. Just some thoughts, couldn't get enough of Sungha's playing and I thought he was given a rather short time (maybe cos I gt a bit bored at Reed's segment, sry Reed) Haha but Reed was quite humorous and he came in a T-shirt and berms lol.
Last Wed went out with TJ clique to sing k at NTUA. Was feeling a bit fiesty and angry lol, prolly cos the time of the month is nearing. Got 3 (and a half) blisters after climbing up the hill, which added on to my angry mood lol. But was a fun day singing k, and I managed to pull off Zhang Shao Han's Bu Tong! Haha I can't hear how I really sounded, but I think I didn't go out of tune ba :/ Quite pleased with myself lol haha and actually this is the first time I went singing with TJ clique. First time singing Hebe's songs in public also lol (^^) After that went for dinner at Clementi mall ichiban! Ate a very salty chicken with egg. Very nice to go out with frens once in a long while! ^^ I think my angsty mood died down at the end of the day but it restarted on the train home agn lol.
Tuesday went for ls car wash. Washed 7 cars (6 actually cos the others were alrdy washing one car when we arrived) and got a horrible sunburn! >< Pain! I din realise I got sunburnt until the end of the day. Maybe the reflecting surface of the cars contributed to the horrible burn. Mainly on my arms and a bit on the legs. And I got distinct slipper marks now lol. Lucky I din wear watch if not I will get watch marks too lol. Must get sunblock for Sentosa!
Ok I think that's all for this long post about the past week. Project a little on the coming week.....
Will be SUing my gem ltr during the day, and meeting my partner online to do the marketing proposal for sem 1 concert. I need more bright ideas! Heh feel excited about the fb page! Erm... then I cannot think of anything else for the next week le. Maybe do MF stuffs?
Labels: guitar, holidays2012, School, violin
Sunday, May 20, 2012
First violin lesson!
Before I blog about my violin lesson today, I'll like to spend a paragraph on yesterday. Went to help out at the LSS booth at Science open house. Most memorable thing was that I was talking to ppl to call them join the camp, then I approached this group of 2 adults and a young girl. I couldn't figure out who was the one entering uni, so I asked and it was the girl. I rmbed thinking she seemed too young to be entering uni. Turned out she was only O lvl!! Haha, I excused myself and went away.
Back to topic, my long awaited violin lesson!! Haha, went in too early and ended up waiting. The lady at the counter led us up to the floor above and then led us to rooms at the 2 different ends of the block! Lol thought we will be tgt :( Anw, waited for 15 min before the previous student came out. My teacher was a filipina lady. Quite nice. The classroom was much larger than I expected. After I went in I got out my violin, then she told me abt parts of the violin and the bow.... then she taught me how to tune the violin on piano, tightening the bow (she didn't really tell me how much to tighten, just told me to maintain the natural curve of the bow, but the tightened bow doesn't really look naturally curved lol), and then how to hold the violin and the bow properly. Haha, the bow holding position is a bit awkward for me, as is the violin holding position. And then the part I was looking forward to! The bowing!! Haha. She told me to try bowing on the 4 different strings, A, D, G then E. Sound from the E string sounds weird to me haha. I think I like the A string best! :D
I was looking at the position of the bow on the string while the teacher was trying to maintain my elbow in that position, cos we're not supposed to move our elbow a lot, like gotta maintain it at the same level when bowing, like just the upper arm moves. I rmbed I couldn't see the D string properly cos from the angle that I was looking at the string, it just happened to fall outside of my glasses, or near the edge of my glasses, so I couldn't really see it properly and I was straining my eyes, felt a bit dizzy. The G string was quite low that I got a shock lol. Anyway I hit my violin when bowing the G string lol. And then my left arm hurt a lot cos it was doing nothing but supporting the violin (haven start on notes yet) so after a while it was aching. And I could feel my neck and back starting to ache too. Not forgetting the teacher keep correcting my grip on the bow cos my fingers, esp thumb and lil finger keeps tensing up haha and deviate from their correct positions (actually I'm not very sure, I should google it, as advised by my teacher).
The sound that I produced was generally ok, but after the teacher let go of guiding my bowing hand and left me to bow on my own, there were a few occasional screeches and scratchy sounds, she just told me to pull faster, and it worked! Haha, I guess I got tired after a while cos my eyes started to lose focus and I accidentally bowed 2 strings a few time :x Time flies, and cos I was the last student so she hastily packed up. I got her to teach me how to apply rosin to the bow before we started packing haha. After that went to meet WH, who was, to my surprise, already done and waiting for me downstairs. I bought a "A Tune A Day" as recommended by my teacher from the lady at the counter, who was also rushing to close for the day. $13! Haha I'm gng to see if I can use the book to prac my guitar.
Anyway, I was surprised she didn't put rosin on the bow before we began and what surprised me more was there was actually sound from the violin when we bowed it! Haha maybe I didn't tighten enough at home, so no nice sound. I was expecting a lot more from the teacher though, like the rosin thing, and she didn't told me to wipe my strings after playing (maybe cos it's time to close the place). Haha maybe I'm too worried about forming bad habits at the beginner's phase. But overall she's not bad la, and after hearing what WH said about her teacher (who also happened to be an FT), I think my teacher's not bad. Haha, furthermore it's only the first lesson, too early to judge also. So I'm looking forward to the next lesson and I'm gonna start practising (or trying out) on my violin tmr! ^^
So far only the travelling part is bothering me.
Labels: holidays2012, violin
Monday, May 7, 2012
A violin!
I've bought a violin! And signed up for lessons! Haha ok it's not a high end violin, just a beginner's, or maybe it could be a VSO, or maybe a little more than a VSO cos I thought it sounded ok. But haha, I love it cos it costs $200+ and it means another dream close to being fulfilled! ^^ Can't wait to try it, but I'm exhausted now from running all over the place today. Morning orientation meeting in sch, then go to PP, then go to kovan, and then to marina sq to buy the violin. Oh man, spent nearly $500 today on violin-related stuff! Going into extreme money saving mode. And there's still Arts Leaders Retreat tmr. So maybe I'll try out on the violin on wed? Looking fwd to the first lesson! ^^
Labels: holidays2012, violin
Monday, July 9, 2012
Stuffs of July
Went for ls prep camp last mon and tues. Haiz regret not gng for scamp or union camp now! Anw it's not like I expected a lot from this camp, but oh well. Hmm I don't think the total number of people could form one og, maybe can squeeze out a small one haha. But anw it was ok la, I especially like to travel arnd NUS at night haha, be it night games or bathing. Like to explore the dark side of my schools (which reminds me, I haven had a camp in tj yet! Overnight camp I mean) but oh well it's too late! Ok enough talking abt regrets, anw I'm the only ogl for my og, which has 10 ppl as of now. Gotta go think of ice-breakers to last for 3 hours!! Gosh. Anw must try for scamp or uc next year, at least once before I grad! Hopefully doesn't clash with internship or anything I'm gng to have then.
Have loads of things to do before gng for the camp: matric fair stuffs and other guitar stuffs (gonna take up the bulk of time), module planning (time to think of how to have enough time to overload and study and get my desired cap, and balancing all my other commitments), practising cowbell cos the 15 jul gig is coming soon (hopefully can fix my rhythm, don't wanna ruin everyone's playing cos of my lousy playing; I do want to try percussions in the future), ls camp stuffs like designing the og logo, thinking of cheers and ice breakers, blah blah (this the first time I've come across a camp that require the ogls to do so much, and thrs only 1 ogl per og). Tbh I feel inadequately prepared for this, I don't wanna appear flustered and end up giving the freshies a bad experience. There doesn't seem to be enough time to do an identity too, haiz I'll see what comes along. Damn, I should stop regretting my decisions and just pull through until the next time I need to make a decision agn, then I'll consider carefully. And stop being so easily influenced!!! Argh I hate this trait of me. So easily influenced. Regretted so many things because of this. ARGH!!!!!!!
Anw, away from sad things, there're my instruments! <3 Progressed to slurs in violin lesson today, I think I'm doing ok so far, but still far from expectations cos the sounds I produce are horrible and I wouldn't really consider them music. But hey, my fingerings are more accurate without looking! ^^ The sound from my teacher's violin and my violin are really miles apart. Looking forward to having my professional violin one day (but that's gng to be expensive so not in the near future I guess). No violin lesson next week, thankfully, cos I'll just break camp on sat and prolly gng to guitar aftwards (should I go? But I'll be tired and din really prac a lot lol), so thrs prolly not much time for me to prac my violin too. Switching frequency to guitar, I think I need to prac more and start to train my muscle memory, especially for WC, since it's mostly chords. And then thr's the comm piece, whr I'll be playing bass. Zomg! Bass!! Haha sommore nid to down tune guitar. Prolly cannt sightread alrdy haha. Sevilla is still giving me headaches, must quickly resolve before other songs come, and juniors come in. Oh ho! Matric fair! Haha kinda looking forward to it. Looking forward to welcome tea too, hehe. But not looking forward to bidding lol. I hope I get my psych mods, if not I will fight till the end for them!!!
Ok, better start using my time wisely now. No time to lose!!
Labels: guitar, holidays2012, School, violin
Sunday, July 1, 2012
It's July!
It's July already! My fingertips are hurting and peeling from sectionals haha. And it hurt so much when I tried to practice violin just now. So fast it's July already! Means matric fair is coming! Haha looking forward to meeting new juniors! And I'm kinda excited for the ls camp too hahaha.
Sectionals today, but started the day with assembling our road signs and ended up late for sectionals :x oops haha. Received new score WC today. So many chords!! Hahaha almost the entire score is chords la haha how to sightread. Progressed quite a lot for Sevilla haha, but I'm still lagging. And talking about lagging, I was lagging for the cowbells :( And went through Spring as an ensemble today, can't really hear myself, can only hear the altos. Lol, maybe cos I'm sitting next to them. Dunno to be sad or happy that I'm not in alto this sem. Haiz just can't help but think about this issue every now and then. Haiz. Hope it will go away soon and who knows, I may find greener pastures in prime lol.
After practice stayed back a little to do matric fair stuff. Poor B is sick, hope she gets well soon! And then went to eat dinner with pres and vice pres at utown italiano haha. I think utown italiano is a nicer name. Haha, anw, ordered some bolognese thing even though I don't like tomato. Turned out dry and tomato-ish, had a hard time trying to finish it up. Left most of the meat in the end and ate the pasta haha. Don't like the meat. Should have just ordered my pizza right. Next time I will do just that. Despite the pizza being more expensive than the pasta and to me the difference is not justified. But I should eat happily rite. After that went to order ice cream. Caramel! <3 So sweet but yet some parts taste/ smell plastic-y. Still prefer the caramel and biscuit or smth from HD. It shall be one of my motivation to work hard and earn more money. Haha.
Ok finished talking about today, oh no, it's "yesterday" already lol. First day of July will be spent on violin, packing and getting ready for ls prep camp. And sending the matric fair collaterals to the relevant ppl for their opinions. And thinking how to hand in the matric fair forms. And hoping I can prac my guitar a little before going off to camp. WC! Haha I love cats ^^ Meow!
Finally submitted the form to indicate my interest for an accommodation in school next AY. Was pondering whether I should stay in school, since I have violin now and I would be putting a lot of things on my plate. But it's a once in a lifetime experience that I once yearned so much for, despite being so expensive lol, and probably not worth it if I look at monetary terms. $2k for 1 sem! Plus travelling costs cos I have violin. Should I stop violin? But I don't want to put it off le. And sommore I want to overload, clear my mods so I can take psych minor. Plus that gem that I s/ued. And guitar pracs! And pub stuffs! Hahaha. I guess excellent time management is the answer. I'm not confident of that, I've been procrastinating lol. Well, no harm trying. We'll see if I manage to get in and what plans God has for me. I really hope to be able to get in! Preferred one pls. Haha.
Labels: guitar, holidays2012, School, violin
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
The weekend
Started my first sectionals with the primes last sat. So little ppl haha! And both the sls were not there. Well, I feel that the songs next sem are more difficult than the ones last sem, and if I were still in alto1 I would not be able to survive the auditions. That said, prime parts were not that easy too. Notes for Spring were ok for me to handle and for once I could sightread and play slowly with the rest! Haha very happy but I'm not that easily contented lol. Not for sightreading like that at least. My inability to count was actually the biggest problem, esp for Kiko, and that is the thing I'm gonna tackle when my sightreading improves a bit. Haiz. I think my phobia with reading music score is more of counting. Forever cant count :(
Kiko sounds like a nice beach song, reminds me of Lilo and Stitch, always have that image of L and S in my head whenever someone mentions Kiko haha. Sevilla was a killer! Goodness me. Still stuck at the first few bars of chords after so long!
Hmm I felt sectionals were a bit..... not as warm as a1 sectionals last sem. Cos I don't really know the others??? Hmm or maybe there were too little ppl? Or maybe we've just got the scores and just started looking at it properly (I didn't really prac a lot when the scores were put into dropbox :x) so thats why I feel this way? Maybe HS felt this way too so halfway through he asked us if we knew each other. Haha I mean I know who they are, like LK, SM and XZ, but don't really know them well. Hope I will have the opportunity to know them better as time goes by!
After sectionals was prac for 15 Jul's engagement. Was sitting one side at the back and felt so lonely cos everyone had guitars and I have nothing :( It got better after YJ came and M gt the wooden cowbells for me. Felt a bit sad when they were playing rainbow and I was just sitting and listening. I want to play too! Haha. But I know my own playing and don't want to throw face on stage with my bad playing. I was hoping to be able to play rainbow cos I miss alto haha, didn't know I will be so attached to alto, not sure if it's the people or the guitar, or probably it's the sound? So I was a bit sad and disappointed when CC told me no nid to play for rainbow. My last chance of playing with a1 this sem.... Haha, but anw, I wouldn't want to become the spotlight of attention for spoiling the song. So I'll just contend with being at one side and meanwhile, improve my playing!! So that I can survive prime and hopefully one day able to return to alto. I hope that I'll be able to be in alto for my last sem here. Gotta work towards that! And I wanted to try the guitarron too. Hahaha. Too ambitious?
After the prac went for dinner at Utown. Then went for ice cream at Holland V. I wanted to try the bubblegum ice cream actually. The one we ordered was so exp! $7.50 for one small bowl. It tasted like cookie dough mashed with some ice cream. Not bad but not worth it for $7.50. I'd rather eat at Haagen Dazs. Haha my caramel and cookie smth. Cant rmb the name. But I wasn't really in the mood for ice cream after that, plus I'm not even supposed to eat cold things cos it's the time of the month (ahem), so I didn't eat sommore. And to think I was the one who suggested eating ice cream! Totally forgot I was supposed to abstain from cold food. But luckily it didn't cause much discomfort for me after that :D
Talked a bit and I wanted to participate more in the convo, but I was getting tired and I couldn't catch most of the convo. Argh stupid ear, what's with this hearing prob? I think I must involve myself more else ppl might think I'm not interested, when I really am. Went home after that and I was very tired!
The next day met up with E and WK for a lunch to celebrate E's birthday. E was late haha, almost 2.30pm when we ordered. I was starving cos I didn't eat breakfast. The last time I met E was last year's Punggol outing. Ridiculous! How can good friends not meet for so long? I must make a mental note to organise more outings, hopefully one before sch starts, to sing! I must simply do away with this ridiculousity of not meeting my good friends for so long and only meet when there is a special occasion or smth.
Ended up playing with those catching plushies game after lunch cos there was nothing to do there, even the arcade's not appealing lol. Don't even have basketball dunking or air hockey, only got plenty of shooting and those buttons-with-a-joystick game machines. Usually I will google their proper names, but now I don't feel like bothering lol.
After that went home to prepare for violin lessons. I missed my buses (arghhhh) and ended up 15 mins late. So left 15 mins for the lesson and the teacher was nice to extend it for another 5 mins. Totally felt like a steam engine then, super angry and pissed inside, and I couldn't hide it on the outside. Could feel my fists clenching tightly on the case handle and feeling like I'm going to explode anytime if I still don't get to the school soon. Anw, they seemed nice to reserve the afternoon slot for me, so wef from July aka nxt week onwards, I'll be having my violin lessons in the afternoon. Yay! No more missing dinner time. I must plan properly so I won't miss my lunch time too. And argh, nid to prac more, totally embarrassed myself with the awful sounds I produced. On another note, I progressed to the 3rd finger! I must prac my instruments more, must not embarrass myself any further during lessons or feel like an outcast during guitar pracs.
Gonna go shopping to get ready for the ls prep camp next week. Gonna print docs before sectionals this sat. Seems like the prep camp might not be so much of a blast cos so little ppl. Haiz now I really regret not going for scamp or sow. Dammit. Keep making the wrong decisions. But hope that I'll be happier when sat arrives <3
And off to prepare matric fair stuffs and other pub stuffs. Feel really excited for matric fair. New juniors! Haha. I hope I'll be able to go everyday. I realise I do love my cca a lot. I'm gonna be so sad if I have to leave ;((((((((( And it's time to put down the past, and live in the present, cos soon, I'll no longer be the ps.
Oh man I really want to go camps now! Any camps for me to go?
Labels: guitar, holidays2012, SSB, violin
Monday, June 11, 2012
A short random post
Another violin lesson ystd! Started gng into the 2nd position on the fingerboard and my lousy sightreading was exposed! Argh no idea why I feel very nervous. Better tackle it before the other notes come in!
Accidentally fell aslp last night while doing proposal :x could be due to the flu medicine. Anw I feel better now, at least my nose is not blocked anymore. Yay! Ohh but still haven't finish proposal yet. New ideas, come to me!
To be honest I don't know what is the purpose of this post. Not much happening in my life now. Proposals, matric fair stuffs, practices. Then not much le. No violin lesson for the next week, now I'm still contemplating if I should change my lesson time :/
Labels: holidays2012, random, violin
Monday, June 4, 2012
3rd violin lesson! And other things in the week
This post is meant to be posted on 3/6/2012, but I forgot to post it before midnight lol.
Had my 3rd violin lesson today! WH had some issues with her teacher and she might not be continuing in the school :/ Well, I do have some issues of my own too, but not much major ones. Like changing time or day of lesson. My teacher has been good so far, and finally today I've started learning notes! No more the days of only being able to play on open strings! Haha, she helped me tape my violin with golden finger tape for positions 1 and 3. She said she'll give me a year before taking off the tape. Better start training my hearing! Oh and she kept correcting my right hand position lol, esp the little finger. Till now I still am not concretely sure about the correct position to hold the bow.
Oh and the teacher also said she is free on friday mornings from Aug onwards. Hope that my timetable will be able to accommodate that, hopefully friday's a free day for me!
Oh, had a meeting yesterday at cfa to discuss about naf. I was early ok! Haha shall try to keep that up. Oh yes it was pouring on that day! Super big rain, was fighting the rain to protect my precious laptop. After that was the SL crash course, I am no SL or ASL, but went because everyone else was going and I didn't have anything else on, it's useful too! Received 3 scores and looked through but couldn't figure out which one was the prime 1 parts lol. And it's so stressful to be a SL, gotta sacrifice practice during sectionals, must be able to keep time and listen for errors, must be able to teach and lead section members..... etc etc. I kept being reminded of hejing and how hard and headache it must be for her to have me in alto 1 lol. Gotta teach, guide and look after me who can't even read notes lol. Reminded of the time during music camp, it was the last sectionals I think, and she taught me one-on-one. Haha, glad that I'm not the ASL too, I don't think I can handle the job. Gotta take care of my own playing first before I can teach others. When I first got the score, I tried to read it, still very slow, but hey, so much better than how I was the same day one year ago. Still cannot sightread properly, sigh. And felt intimidated when everyone else was so pro, when in the end, almost everyone started playing guitars, and I couldn't cos I'll most probably be embarrassing myself. Can't deny the fact that my pride is rather strong lol.
There will be an engagement on 15 July and I'll be playing the cowbell. A bit glad that I'm not playing the guitar (to be honest I'm not confident of my playing, reminds me of what shu hann mentioned during the crash course), but I'm a bit worried about playing the cowbell cos I'm worried about my sense of rhythm, and I'm prolly the only one on the cowbell lol, so there's the pressure of playing "solo". And I'm very afraid of disappointing CC cos if I can't do it, he'll have to find someone else, like giving him more troubles lol. And then it would seem like I'm very useless lol, guitar cmi, percussion also cmi. Haha. Shu hann said smth like, one may not be the best player, but the most hardworking one. I shall try to be the hardworking one, need not be the most hardworking, but hardworking enough to reach the goals that I have set for myself. Shall start practising and trying out the scores to improve my sightreading. It is still the thing that I feel most embarrassed about, being unable to sightread fast.
Ok, so what's in store for the next few weeks?
Tmr will be meeting my partner to make the matric fair boards. And then should be free this week, haha then one day go eat ice cream, cos I got 8 coupons lol and they expire by 13 June! Shall try to get dad to bring us out to finish up the coupons. And then nothing much alrdy, tuesdays going to prac the cowbell, and then sectionals going to start in 19 days. And having violin lessons. My days will probably be filled with guitar and violin pracs, or doing guitar stuffs haha. Oh and maybe going for rag lol.
Time passes so fast, its June already! May 2012 is gone and will never come back :( Anw Hebe's concert is in 5 days! And only Cat 4 tickets are left! Wish her all the best for the concert! Although I can't go cos it's too exp. Maybe next time when I'm earning my own income (then I'll be learning the cello too hopefully!)
Labels: guitar, holidays2012, violin
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Updates from the past few days
Last week is quite a happening week, considering that I mostly
rot stay at home during the hols. Hey I'm not rotting ok! I have stuffs to do hehe, just maybe not as much as other more hapz ppl. I prolly din deserve my break now, cos today (or ystd, as it has become) the results just came out. And it was horrible. Ok maybe not that very horrible, cos I managed to get the exact same cap as last sem! Lol, don't know if it's a good or bad thing. Ever since A lvls I've been getting B average. Last last sem like this, this past sem also. Except for the extreme dip in CM1401 and this sem's GEM2900. Who said GEM2900 was easy huh!!! So far all my frens that I know of got the same result as me lol. And I got the same grade for CM1401 and GEM2900. So my grades are "doomed" to be all Bs, be it B+, B or B-, and then one D+. A good thing is that I can SU the gem, so my cap prolly has a chance to increase, but not a lot I guess. Argh that CM1401 cannot be SUed! But then I would have used up one of my SUs. So gotta be careful in module selection and mugging from now onwards.
How surprising pleased I was for LSM1202! I thought I screwed it up badly and would prolly end up with a C or D. Ok with LSM1104, my core, what can I say (dun get me wrong I like all my core mods). And the profs are quite nice to us alrdy I think haha. Prof Ip!!! :DD Then there's SSA1201, ok la haha. A bit uncertain for the essay part, but I thought I did quite gd, but I am quite contended, maybe with a + at the back would be better. A bit disappointed with LSM1103, but maybe cos it's open book so the bell curve may have a greater influence on the final grade. And the botany mcqs during finals arghhhhhh. Till now I still dunno what is neoteny (which came out in the prac exam). A google search suggested that it may linked to paedomorphism. Oh goodness!!! I know what is paedomorphism lol. Damn could have guessed the correct answer. Argh! Definitely not the frog, hope I din put yes for the frog (oh but its over:((((( ) Ok, I should snap out of this talking to myself thing cos it's all over and I can't change my results. Bad result for GEM2900, but sort of expected. Din even finish most of the paper, and whatever I wrote I was certain they are all gibberish and I would definitely get 0 for this mod. Maybe the CAs helped me a bit. Oh and the bell curve too. Just a bit sad that the MCs couldn't be counted towards graduation and this means I don't have a GEM! Means I gotta overload next sem most prolly (and I'm still thinking of taking a psych minor, afterall it's what I wanted for so long, to study psychology). I don't mind spending the rest of my UEs on psych mods, thrs nothing else I'm dying to take alrdy (other than psych, must at least take PL1101E and abnormal psych before I grad) -.- Even if it means having to overload and "waste" 6 of my UEs on a psych minor, I still feel strongly that it is the way to go. I have decided that either I'll try to do double major for psych and ls, or in the event I can't, I'll take either as a major and the other as a minor. I hope that I still can study psych in the future, like a Masters or smth, if I ever one day decide that I'm not cut to be a biologist and is simply misguided all these years into thinking I loved biology.
Okok stop all these serious thinking, this post is supposed to be light and relaxing before I turn in for the night. Had my violin lesson ystd (or more like the day before cos its tuesday now) and worked on switching the bow on different strings, up bows and down bows, bowing for different note values. Need to improve on my sightreading. I'm really glad I have a bit of experience reading music in guitar, if not I would be a total newbie with a phobia of reading notes and then I would progress really sloooooow. Well, I hope I can continue with violin and not have to disrupt it halfway cos I can't juggle between my commitments: guitar pracs, guitar comm, studies (might be overloading), violin, other commitments I might be taking up like tutoring my cousin and my sister more, or taking on tuition assignments. Really hope I can continue with learning violin cos I feel it would be a beneficial relationship in my learning of the guitar and the violin. I can apply what I have learnt in violin in guitar, I really hope my sightreading and theory will improve. Both are stringed instruments with the need to keep one's left hand nails short. Haha, I guess I have been affected ever since that day, the PDP exhibition for the J1s. I rmb I was sitting in the black box with other drama members, relaxing cos thr was no J1 in the black box, and then suddenly I heard string ensemble and guitar ensemble playing a tune tgt. I think it was a violin-guitar duet (I think!) and I fell in love with it! So nice! And then suddenly I wondered what am I doing in the black box instead of doing such cool stuffs like playing nice music. Ok, enough reminiscing, so I am indeed very happy that I'm on my way to become a violinist and guitarist. Esp since nus guitar has been so awesome haha.
Went on early Sat morning for meeting in cfa. Lasted till abt 4 smth, or 5 plus (I can't rmb), which resulted in us not having enough time to eat a proper dinner. Went to the venue hastily haha. Sungha Jung was amazing!! So cute! Haha, thanks to hanwen we were able to take pictures with him! So super cute, better looking than how he was in the youtube videos. Skinny legs! Preston Reed was cool with his techniques at playing the guitar, but I guess contemporary and popular pieces attracted the audience more than cool techniques but not very memorable and sound alike tunes. Both are unique and great guitarists in their own way though, to each his own! And the concert has certainly motivated me to up my guitar playing standards, esp I'm a senior now and cannot rely on other pro players to help cover up my mistakes anymore. Just some thoughts, couldn't get enough of Sungha's playing and I thought he was given a rather short time (maybe cos I gt a bit bored at Reed's segment, sry Reed) Haha but Reed was quite humorous and he came in a T-shirt and berms lol.
Last Wed went out with TJ clique to sing k at NTUA. Was feeling a bit fiesty and angry lol, prolly cos the time of the month is nearing. Got 3 (and a half) blisters after climbing up the hill, which added on to my angry mood lol. But was a fun day singing k, and I managed to pull off Zhang Shao Han's Bu Tong! Haha I can't hear how I really sounded, but I think I didn't go out of tune ba :/ Quite pleased with myself lol haha and actually this is the first time I went singing with TJ clique. First time singing Hebe's songs in public also lol (^^) After that went for dinner at Clementi mall ichiban! Ate a very salty chicken with egg. Very nice to go out with frens once in a long while! ^^ I think my angsty mood died down at the end of the day but it restarted on the train home agn lol.
Tuesday went for ls car wash. Washed 7 cars (6 actually cos the others were alrdy washing one car when we arrived) and got a horrible sunburn! >< Pain! I din realise I got sunburnt until the end of the day. Maybe the reflecting surface of the cars contributed to the horrible burn. Mainly on my arms and a bit on the legs. And I got distinct slipper marks now lol. Lucky I din wear watch if not I will get watch marks too lol. Must get sunblock for Sentosa!
Ok I think that's all for this long post about the past week. Project a little on the coming week.....
Will be SUing my gem ltr during the day, and meeting my partner online to do the marketing proposal for sem 1 concert. I need more bright ideas! Heh feel excited about the fb page! Erm... then I cannot think of anything else for the next week le. Maybe do MF stuffs?
Labels: guitar, holidays2012, School, violin
Sunday, May 20, 2012
First violin lesson!
Before I blog about my violin lesson today, I'll like to spend a paragraph on yesterday. Went to help out at the LSS booth at Science open house. Most memorable thing was that I was talking to ppl to call them join the camp, then I approached this group of 2 adults and a young girl. I couldn't figure out who was the one entering uni, so I asked and it was the girl. I rmbed thinking she seemed too young to be entering uni. Turned out she was only O lvl!! Haha, I excused myself and went away.
Back to topic, my long awaited violin lesson!! Haha, went in too early and ended up waiting. The lady at the counter led us up to the floor above and then led us to rooms at the 2 different ends of the block! Lol thought we will be tgt :( Anw, waited for 15 min before the previous student came out. My teacher was a filipina lady. Quite nice. The classroom was much larger than I expected. After I went in I got out my violin, then she told me abt parts of the violin and the bow.... then she taught me how to tune the violin on piano, tightening the bow (she didn't really tell me how much to tighten, just told me to maintain the natural curve of the bow, but the tightened bow doesn't really look naturally curved lol), and then how to hold the violin and the bow properly. Haha, the bow holding position is a bit awkward for me, as is the violin holding position. And then the part I was looking forward to! The bowing!! Haha. She told me to try bowing on the 4 different strings, A, D, G then E. Sound from the E string sounds weird to me haha. I think I like the A string best! :D
I was looking at the position of the bow on the string while the teacher was trying to maintain my elbow in that position, cos we're not supposed to move our elbow a lot, like gotta maintain it at the same level when bowing, like just the upper arm moves. I rmbed I couldn't see the D string properly cos from the angle that I was looking at the string, it just happened to fall outside of my glasses, or near the edge of my glasses, so I couldn't really see it properly and I was straining my eyes, felt a bit dizzy. The G string was quite low that I got a shock lol. Anyway I hit my violin when bowing the G string lol. And then my left arm hurt a lot cos it was doing nothing but supporting the violin (haven start on notes yet) so after a while it was aching. And I could feel my neck and back starting to ache too. Not forgetting the teacher keep correcting my grip on the bow cos my fingers, esp thumb and lil finger keeps tensing up haha and deviate from their correct positions (actually I'm not very sure, I should google it, as advised by my teacher).
The sound that I produced was generally ok, but after the teacher let go of guiding my bowing hand and left me to bow on my own, there were a few occasional screeches and scratchy sounds, she just told me to pull faster, and it worked! Haha, I guess I got tired after a while cos my eyes started to lose focus and I accidentally bowed 2 strings a few time :x Time flies, and cos I was the last student so she hastily packed up. I got her to teach me how to apply rosin to the bow before we started packing haha. After that went to meet WH, who was, to my surprise, already done and waiting for me downstairs. I bought a "A Tune A Day" as recommended by my teacher from the lady at the counter, who was also rushing to close for the day. $13! Haha I'm gng to see if I can use the book to prac my guitar.
Anyway, I was surprised she didn't put rosin on the bow before we began and what surprised me more was there was actually sound from the violin when we bowed it! Haha maybe I didn't tighten enough at home, so no nice sound. I was expecting a lot more from the teacher though, like the rosin thing, and she didn't told me to wipe my strings after playing (maybe cos it's time to close the place). Haha maybe I'm too worried about forming bad habits at the beginner's phase. But overall she's not bad la, and after hearing what WH said about her teacher (who also happened to be an FT), I think my teacher's not bad. Haha, furthermore it's only the first lesson, too early to judge also. So I'm looking forward to the next lesson and I'm gonna start practising (or trying out) on my violin tmr! ^^
So far only the travelling part is bothering me.
Labels: holidays2012, violin
Monday, May 7, 2012
A violin!
I've bought a violin! And signed up for lessons! Haha ok it's not a high end violin, just a beginner's, or maybe it could be a VSO, or maybe a little more than a VSO cos I thought it sounded ok. But haha, I love it cos it costs $200+ and it means another dream close to being fulfilled! ^^ Can't wait to try it, but I'm exhausted now from running all over the place today. Morning orientation meeting in sch, then go to PP, then go to kovan, and then to marina sq to buy the violin. Oh man, spent nearly $500 today on violin-related stuff! Going into extreme money saving mode. And there's still Arts Leaders Retreat tmr. So maybe I'll try out on the violin on wed? Looking fwd to the first lesson! ^^
Labels: holidays2012, violin
Site Mistress
About me
Hey! I'm 19 this year and currently in an important stage of my life. After thinking I decided to start this blog, to record down the ongoings of this stage in my life. For memory purpose, haha, when I'm old I'll be looking back at the posts here and laugh at how childish/ cry at how foolish I was. Yea, that's life.
To contact me you can leave a message at the tagboard >>>
Information correct as at 28/11/2011.
MyWishes
Santa's Job!
Why, good grades at exams of course!
Play in an orchestra <:D
Work in Cadbury! Haha!
Snow chocolates!!!
A more realistic one, to be able to keep in touch with all my friends.
And also, get better with the guitar ♥
Loves & Hates
What I Love X What I Hate
♥ Chocolates, of course! CBF!
X Cockroach lol
About This Site
The Site's History
I started blogging on
28/11/11, 12 midnight. I blog because I want to record this stage in life, and share my life with whoever's interested (aka
you who is reading this now ;D).
Since we're talking about history, we gotta have some dates:
28/11/11, 12+am : Birth of this blog!!
Credits
ThankYouSooMuch!
Layout done by, -xCherrie
Others: I HEART YOU
Coming up
Upcoming events/ activities!
Jul 2012
15: An engagement*
16: A case competition
20: Photocopy day
23: Decorating for MF
24 - 27: Matric Fair 2012*
Aug 2012
* Look forward to updates!
As the calendar fades
Past events
Aug 2011
09: NDP 2011
11: Start of school (A new chapter!)
Oct 2011
09: Guitarras Expresivas
Nov 2011
19 - 28: Sem 1 Finals
30: SSB Outing to Punggol #
Dec 2011
02: NDP11 YPC BBQ
05 - 10: Guitar camp #
11: 19 and unaccomplished night outing #
20: Release of Sem 1 Results
Jan 2012
04: Guitar chalet
05: Ikea trip
06: YPC lunch
07: Guitar prac
09: Start of school Sem 2
14: LPG2012 (Which I can't go)
23 - 24: CNY
Mar 2012
11: NAF12: Asian Waves #
13: Guitar Recording
24: Guitar AGM and Annual Dinner
28: Hall Application Results
Apr 2012
02: LSM1104 CA2
21 - 27: Sem 2 Finals
May 2012
07: Orientation meeting, going to see music school
08: Arts Leaders Retreat #
20: First violin lesson!! #
26: Sungha Jung and Preston Reed's concert #
28: Release of Sem 2 Results #
Jun 2012
12: Practising cowbell
21: Do matric fair publicity at partner's house
23: Start of sectionals #
24: Elva's birthday lunch #
30: Sectionals #
Jul 2012
02 - 03: LS Prep Camp #
10: Prac for cp #
12 - 14: LS Camp #
# Blog updated
