tracyewong's Xanga

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 04:46:23 GMT

My first decent-sounding song is up online. Listen to it on:

reverbnation.com/tracywong

And please drop by my newly-renovated blog:

tracyewong.wordpress.com

Merry Christmas!

New Humble Abode

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:52:41 GMT

I've moved...

tracyewong.wordpress.com

See you there!

T

I am moving...

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 12:11:14 GMT

...very soon.

Stay tuned.

I know (part deux) & other reasons why I was M.I.A...

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:59:33 GMT

I fled the country for a week and didn't inform yous. No reason.

The week away made a lot of sense and allowed me to comprehend and appreciate issues I have taken for granted. It makes blogging about food and its indulgence seem trivial (I know, I am as surprised as you are).

The Young KL Singers represented Malaysia, and was one of the 5 teams competing in the 1st Asian Choir Games in Jakarta. There were supposedly 40 Indonesian teams, one Thai, one Korean, and no Singaporean teams. With every action there is an equal and opposite irritation. That said, it was a personally bittersweet experience... so let's lump it all together in my famous point form format (this time in pictures):

One stage, one music stand - a conductor's playground

Crunch time - singing a capella requires lots of pitch tweaking

I know... shameless

I'm ever thankful we obtained Silver. Everyone worked their lungs off and everyone's names should be on that screen. Suzie's included (font size: 1 million).

Such an amazing experience - receiving our award at the podium, looking out into the crowd, and seeing Malaysian flags flying everywhere. Priceless.

Dithyrambic Choir won the championship for Musica Contemporarea... and we're so proud of them!

I'm even more proud of our welcome-home committee! There was this banner, and cameras were clicking... macamla kita yang menang emas.

MOVE IT!

...and of course, there's The Boyfriend.

Thank you - Reen, Hilda, Carrie, Regina, and Li Sun for the pictures.

Yes, I know

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:09:22 GMT

I should update more often.

But maybe you should be teaching the kids that I do.

(now, I rarely term 'stupid' with 'kids'...but in this case, I make an exception)

Seriously... How stupid can a kid get? Seriously?!

Don't give me your child psychobable / nurturing / loving / anything politically correct statements.

Seriously!?!

You haven't encountered the spawn of evil until you've met these kids.

Singpiration

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 01:03:32 GMT

This month, the Young Choral Academy monthly recital will feature the advanced level members of the KL Children's Choir.

As part of their training in the KL Children's Choir, advanced level members Kathleen Roshene, Shalina Sivanendran, Samantha Yeap, Tengku Sheril Amirah, Keilly Lim, Daniel Anthony, and Darrel Chan are to present a short recital of songs to the public.

They will be "graduating" from the KL Children's Choir and are moving on to become an independent ensemble by themselves.

Each member will be performing three songs of their choice in this recital—songs ranging from various genres such as classical works to musicals to popular music.

It is a recital not to be missed so take note of the event details listed below!

Date: 27th October 2007

Time: 6pm

Venue: Young Choral Academy
114A, Jalan Burhanuddin Helmi,
Taman Tun Dr Ismail,
60000 Kuala Lumpur

Entry by minimum donation of RM10

The Pianist's Notes 2

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:05:54 GMT

Learning 4-part harmony writing is always the shits - there are so many rules to follow. Perhaps I'll make it simpler for my students by telling them:

Whenever you write a parallel fifth, Bach kills a kitten.

I should remind myself that too, I guess.

PopUn-pop quiz:
Which interval is also given the nickname Diabolus in Musica (the devil in music)?

No searching the internet.

from the notes of a person I find intriguing...

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 01:52:48 GMT

I applaud his ideas and values, and especially his bravery in this cut-throat world where singer-songwriters are easily condemned by critics who worship the gods of commercialism and modernity.

The on-going debate of... well many things, if you would take the short while to read...

From johnmayer.com/blog

"It's been a long time since the days of my playing small acoustic club dates, and though I'm more than happy (and extremely lucky) to be where I am these days, one thing I've missed is the creative spirit of working without a net. Some of my best songs were written because I had a show nearing and needed more original songs to take the place of covers. It was creation by way of necessity.

It's been my stance for years that I don't want to work out new songs on stage for fear of them getting out in their raw form. I've always believed that in music, the first impression is the most lasting, and I wanted to have the say as to when a song would be heard and in what incarnation.

I'm ready to change that stance now. I've realized that there's a new level of access into my life, one that I accept as a by-product of both lifestyle and technology. And if there's going to remain such a large window into my life off-stage, I feel like I need to open the window to my music equally as wide. I am still as devoted to music as I've ever been, and I won't let anything redefine that against my will.

I'm going to return to that firefight, taking small late night gigs around New York City and Los Angeles, writing songs and playing them when they're still fresh. The date of the gig is my self-imposed finish line and I will play a new song with each set I perform.

Last night I played a set at Mercury Lounge, where I tested a new song called "Let a Man Be Lost\u001d", and it was amazing to be back in that place of staring at my feet to read lyrics that I wrote that afternoon.

One of the side-effects of this process is that these works-in-progress will probably be available to you in one way or another. It's your decision to listen to them if you like but it's my decision to rework them, strip them down to just their title and re-write from the ground up, or just burn them down completely, never to play them again.

I'm also ready to accept the fact that some people will try and read into the lyrics and make gossip out of them, but I can't worry about that. Trying to avoid that would be the worst thing for my songwriting. I won't let the success I've had make me comfortable, or the media exposure make me fearful of expressing myself.

Stand-up comedians like Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld have it right. They get to the top with their act, only to deconstruct it and start from scratch in a brick basement. That's the only way I can see staying vital as a musician; picking fights with all the hundreds of excuses that curb creativity.

See you on the street. "

John

POSTED BY JOHN MAYER AT 03:34 PM FROM NEW YORK CITY

Christmas wish (slowly compiling a list here): if only I could pick his brain over some coffee.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:10:29 GMT

Friday 12^th October 2007

2AM

Wasabi-shaped hearts. Synchronized heart drawing in soy sauce.

All I can think about is how amazing The Boyfriend is.

Service at a restaurant in Megamall was beyond crap and my cranky level's on ultrahigh due to hunger.

He keeps my mind on other things.

Like wasabi-shaped hearts and synchronized heart drawing in soy sauce. Yeah, I know.

Talk about taking vacations.

We watched for thirty minutes at the contented patrons around us. Still no food.

We left restaurant with zero food in stomach as, somehow between our table and the kitchen, the order slip went awol. And we couldn’t tolerate that.

He bought us a little warm snack to keep us going til we ended up at our favourite local hunt.

I know, to you reading this, it seems like petty talk. The kind of post one would write just to fulfil the need to 'just blog'. But I'm not them. I post when needed, when an idea strikes close to home.

And tonight's little event went straight to the heart.

Tonight, just like every night since we got together, I sleep a deep sleep. I sigh a contented sigh. I am assured, over and over, that I am loved and well taken care of.

I love you.

The Pianist's Notes 1

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:25:54 GMT

I have always wanted to ask my lecturers: When, in the duration of a four-year tertiary music education, do you start teaching a student the idea of emotion and feeling?

The urge to question was always suppressed by the thought of potential humiliation through a Socratic-like process of interrogative questions.

Or potential bizarre occurrence called humour.

Very likely of musicians regardless of age or general consensus of one being known as Scary-Shark-Lecturer on campus. Knowing one mentor of mine, he would jokingly answer, "Oh didn't you notice those fliers at the entrance that says 'Emotion! Feeling! Please take one home'?"

I admit, my first encounter with Debussy's music was in second year. The highlight was me being encouraged to bring colour pencils to lessons and fill bars with different colours according to its varied sections. Despite all hardwork on my part and that of my mentor's, a flop it was. Theoretically, I understood impressionism. But I had difficulty translating that idea into sound, and realized that I failed to comprehend impressionism in the first place.

Two years down the road, another mentor suggested a Debussy for my graduation recital. I told him Debussy and I weren't fated, and that we had a bad history together. His reply - "Rubbish."

One day, we bumped into each other at the first floor vending machine. "I hear you practicing your brains out on that piece, day in, day out. Go rest. No practice tomorrow. Go enjoy the sun."

Now I was confuddled. How was I to produce maximum results when I am told to not practice a day before my lesson? I followed his orders anyhow.

I went in for lesson and was instructed to tell him about my day through Debussy. It was amazing, the experience.

Months later, we chatted again by the vending machine and I shared with him how something clicked and the music made better sense, and how amazing and beautiful my other pieces were. How did it happen to me, I asked.

"Awareness. It's like how, when my wife gave birth to my first child, I suddenly realise that there are so many prams in Sydney. It wasn't like there were less prams before, I merely did not notice them."

So perhaps, I was a late bloomer. To each their journey to emote.

I am going to have fun picking my mentors' brains the next time we meet.