Tuesday, July 14, 2009
contemplations. / 5:24 PM
No rowdy comebacks no hoopla.
The cold silent square of my room the last solace I defend as I fight for the right to think in solitude.
The pressures of the outside knock constantly.
My abilities fall short of the solutions time and again.
I do not control how life unfolds.
I do not control how the lives of others play themselves out,
nor the resulting needs of their hearts.
What can I give?
How may I split myself up further to satisfy all of you?
Where then do I find answers when I can strive no further?
There is no comfort.
There is only temporal rest.
Lying here I ask myself...
am I really as strong as all of you think?
The cold silent square of my room the last solace I defend as I fight for the right to think in solitude.
The pressures of the outside knock constantly.
My abilities fall short of the solutions time and again.
I do not control how life unfolds.
I do not control how the lives of others play themselves out,
nor the resulting needs of their hearts.
What can I give?
How may I split myself up further to satisfy all of you?
Where then do I find answers when I can strive no further?
There is no comfort.
There is only temporal rest.
Lying here I ask myself...
am I really as strong as all of you think?
Thursday, November 06, 2008
making history. / 12:12 PM
So I know it's been awhile.
And I know probably more than half my entries begin with that statement.
But what a semester this has been so far!
In case any of you were living under a rock some place and did not know,
the United States of America now has a new President.
Yesterday was the official voting day and all the polls were collated
and around 11pm last night it was clear that the Blue Party had won.
Yes Barack Obama is in the White House.
The first African-American president of USA will be sworn into office on Jan 20th.
Despite the fact that I'm not American,
it's pretty amazing to be part of this historical event right in the heart of New York City.
The people were cheering and screaming (with joy) on the streets till 4 in the morning
last night, and though it prevented me a good night's rest it made me feel like something
important had just happened, and more great and world-changing things are about to
happen, not just in America but all around the world.
In any case, forgive me political pseudo-American musings...
I know I haven't updated at all in the past 6 months or so but it's kind of pointless
trying to report on everything I've done since I've last posted anyway.
I'd get bored and so would you.
My summer was great. Fantastic. Had a great time.
My semester so far has been pretty hectic but filled with great new repertoire
and lots of exciting new things.
I'll fill in more on those things later.
But for now as usual I have some nice photos to share.
Jonathan, Bert, Leta and I recently went out for dinner to this restaurant in the heart
of Harlem for some good Ol' Southern cuisine.
Loads of fried chicken and ribs and potatoes in every form... with a little coldslaw on the side.
You can already guess it was Albert's idea.
Always ready for a little Soul Food.
Here's a snap of us.
And here's another one with Jon and Bert.
Get a load of Bert's emerged cheekbones.
They always deserve special mention.
Anyway I've just finished Mid-terms and I'm gearing up for some recitals and
concerts coming up soon at the end of the year but I'm looking forward to
that Thanksgiving break coming up end of the month.
If any of you guys are coming to New York give me a shout.
I'll leave you with a picture of 2 dogs I met on the way walking back home along Broadway
from a lesson with my coach.
They were the cutest puppies I've seen in awhile mostly because they reminded me
of my baby Shiro back home.
I miss my animals.
Aren't they something?
Too cute.
I'll check back again soon.
Promise!!!
And I know probably more than half my entries begin with that statement.
But what a semester this has been so far!
In case any of you were living under a rock some place and did not know,
the United States of America now has a new President.
Yesterday was the official voting day and all the polls were collated
and around 11pm last night it was clear that the Blue Party had won.
Yes Barack Obama is in the White House.
The first African-American president of USA will be sworn into office on Jan 20th.
Despite the fact that I'm not American,
it's pretty amazing to be part of this historical event right in the heart of New York City.
The people were cheering and screaming (with joy) on the streets till 4 in the morning
last night, and though it prevented me a good night's rest it made me feel like something
important had just happened, and more great and world-changing things are about to
happen, not just in America but all around the world.
In any case, forgive me political pseudo-American musings...
I know I haven't updated at all in the past 6 months or so but it's kind of pointless
trying to report on everything I've done since I've last posted anyway.
I'd get bored and so would you.
My summer was great. Fantastic. Had a great time.
My semester so far has been pretty hectic but filled with great new repertoire
and lots of exciting new things.
I'll fill in more on those things later.
But for now as usual I have some nice photos to share.
Jonathan, Bert, Leta and I recently went out for dinner to this restaurant in the heart
of Harlem for some good Ol' Southern cuisine.
Loads of fried chicken and ribs and potatoes in every form... with a little coldslaw on the side.
You can already guess it was Albert's idea.
Always ready for a little Soul Food.
Here's a snap of us.
And here's another one with Jon and Bert.
Get a load of Bert's emerged cheekbones.
They always deserve special mention.
Anyway I've just finished Mid-terms and I'm gearing up for some recitals and
concerts coming up soon at the end of the year but I'm looking forward to
that Thanksgiving break coming up end of the month.
If any of you guys are coming to New York give me a shout.
I'll leave you with a picture of 2 dogs I met on the way walking back home along Broadway
from a lesson with my coach.
They were the cutest puppies I've seen in awhile mostly because they reminded me
of my baby Shiro back home.
I miss my animals.
Aren't they something?
Too cute.
I'll check back again soon.
Promise!!!
Monday, April 21, 2008
il recital. / 12:01 PM
To kick off the mad 5 week rush to the end of the semester was
last week's Manhattan School of Music Freshman Voice Spring Recital.
It was an exciting night to say the least, there was an unspoken anticipation
to see how much everyone had grown vocally and musically over the last
semester since the last recital.
You can imagine the pressure on all the performers that night.
The full house consisted of not only family and friends, but also voice
students from other years and other schools, voice teachers and various other
coaches and musicians. Basically, unlike in the recitals I used to do in Singapore,
if you messed up your piece, everyone would know.
Well almost everyone anyway.
(Here's a shot of some of us preparing back-stage before going on to sing.)
But what a night it was!
From Handel to Strauss, Purcell to Mozart, Schubert to Verdi, the music took
over and the energy buzzing throughout the concert was infectious and engaging.
Little foul-ups were quickly forgiven and the applause was ever-encouraging.
One after another the Freshman came forth to put their best foot forward,
accompanied splendidly by two brilliant pianists who each shared half of the
repertoire of the 40 singers that night, all under the watchful eye of
Maitland Peters, Chairman and solid rock of the MSM Voice faculty.
I sang Io Conosco Un Giardino from the opera Maristella by Giuseppe Pietri.
I was rather happy with the performance.
Of course on hindsight there are always things to improve on in any performance
but this has been another stepping stone for me and I thank God for it.
I did a little cheeky introduction at the beginning to break the ice with the audience,
but really more to calm myself from all the nervous waiting and excitement.
I believe there is a recording and video of the performance floating around
somewhere, but just as long as it does not appear on Youtube I'm fine.
When all was said and sang we all came back on stage to give a final bow to
thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
Gotta love those parents that initiated that.
A natural progression from here would be to start talking about the
after-party which involved great food and somebody's birthday but
I'll save that for another post and instead upload more pictures from
right after the concert when you know, people feel the need to take many
pictures of each other in pairs and in big groups for sentimental reasons.
Here goes.
You can tell who the singers in this photograph are.
It was supposed to be a shot of me with Nakyung, the soprano next to me
but more Koreans swarmed in and this hybrid half-hearted group shot was the result.
Organization people please!
Here's a shot with one of my best friends at MSM, Yeonji, also a Korean soprano.
Here's a random shout-out to all those Facebook stalking bros out there...
You know this is your moment right now coming alive on my blog.
Yes Enoch you.
Here are more Asian singers.
Nothing much to say here...
The Soprano on in the red Chinese thing is from Hong Kong
and she actually sang a Chinese folk song at the recital.
Wow... doubt I'd ever want to do that though.
Here's my favourite picture from the night.
We look like a bunch of Koreans, only I'm not Korean at all...
although I can speak a little bit of Korean now... maybe after 4 years here
I'll be fluent in Korean without taking any classes.
Seems to be more effective than the Italian class I'm taking now anyhow.
Alright I'm off to class!
I shall update more soon.
Ciao guys.
last week's Manhattan School of Music Freshman Voice Spring Recital.
It was an exciting night to say the least, there was an unspoken anticipation
to see how much everyone had grown vocally and musically over the last
semester since the last recital.
You can imagine the pressure on all the performers that night.
The full house consisted of not only family and friends, but also voice
students from other years and other schools, voice teachers and various other
coaches and musicians. Basically, unlike in the recitals I used to do in Singapore,
if you messed up your piece, everyone would know.
Well almost everyone anyway.
(Here's a shot of some of us preparing back-stage before going on to sing.)
But what a night it was!
From Handel to Strauss, Purcell to Mozart, Schubert to Verdi, the music took
over and the energy buzzing throughout the concert was infectious and engaging.
Little foul-ups were quickly forgiven and the applause was ever-encouraging.
One after another the Freshman came forth to put their best foot forward,
accompanied splendidly by two brilliant pianists who each shared half of the
repertoire of the 40 singers that night, all under the watchful eye of
Maitland Peters, Chairman and solid rock of the MSM Voice faculty.
I sang Io Conosco Un Giardino from the opera Maristella by Giuseppe Pietri.
I was rather happy with the performance.
Of course on hindsight there are always things to improve on in any performance
but this has been another stepping stone for me and I thank God for it.
I did a little cheeky introduction at the beginning to break the ice with the audience,
but really more to calm myself from all the nervous waiting and excitement.
I believe there is a recording and video of the performance floating around
somewhere, but just as long as it does not appear on Youtube I'm fine.
When all was said and sang we all came back on stage to give a final bow to
thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
Gotta love those parents that initiated that.
A natural progression from here would be to start talking about the
after-party which involved great food and somebody's birthday but
I'll save that for another post and instead upload more pictures from
right after the concert when you know, people feel the need to take many
pictures of each other in pairs and in big groups for sentimental reasons.
Here goes.
You can tell who the singers in this photograph are.
It was supposed to be a shot of me with Nakyung, the soprano next to me
but more Koreans swarmed in and this hybrid half-hearted group shot was the result.
Organization people please!
Here's a shot with one of my best friends at MSM, Yeonji, also a Korean soprano.
Here's a random shout-out to all those Facebook stalking bros out there...
You know this is your moment right now coming alive on my blog.
Yes Enoch you.
Here are more Asian singers.
Nothing much to say here...
The Soprano on in the red Chinese thing is from Hong Kong
and she actually sang a Chinese folk song at the recital.
Wow... doubt I'd ever want to do that though.
Here's my favourite picture from the night.
We look like a bunch of Koreans, only I'm not Korean at all...
although I can speak a little bit of Korean now... maybe after 4 years here
I'll be fluent in Korean without taking any classes.
Seems to be more effective than the Italian class I'm taking now anyhow.
Alright I'm off to class!
I shall update more soon.
Ciao guys.
Friday, April 11, 2008
home love. / 9:31 AM
It has been an interesting few weeks.
As much as I would like to sit around and pretend that I am in fact living
an immeasurably perfect life here in New York, I haven't... (well not completely)
and on top of that I have been experiencing what some might think of as
somewhat of a slump in my first year here.
I couldn't really put a finger on what has caused this but there's no mistaking that
I have been feeling tired and unmotivated about school and almost everything
in general and besides the music I do with my teacher and the singing.
Now if you consider that due to Spring Break and scheduling
and the fact that my teacher was moving to New York from Santa Fe and couldn't
teach me for awhile, you start to get the picture of how bored and lost I was.
Practicing was frustrating because I had no lessons to make sure I was on
the right track with certain vocal and musical issues, and I found myself depressed
with my "progress" after some practices. Going to school and going to the gym
to work out my frustrations seemed monotonous and almost robotic.
I finally had a lesson last week which uplifted my spirits considerably but alas
I fell sick last weekend and lost my voice.
Monday was my Italian Diction final project presentation and I had to sing my aria.
I freaked out.
I basically spent Sunday in bed or in my room inhaling water and peeing
so I could at least get some voice back by the next day.
It was like BMT in the army all over again.
Clear piss yes gentlemen? Remember those days?
Yes gross I know.
Okay before you freak out and think I'm dropping out of school I still did well for almost
all of my mid-term examinations, so here comes the back-breaker.
I got my Italian language Mid-term paper back and my score had worsened
considerably compared to last semester.
To add salt to the wound my professor asked me if I was alright and told me
that I was not doing so well for Italian this semester. That woke me up.
I will confess Italian is my least favorite subject and that I remember being too
unmotivated to study for it with the usual Asian vigor this time around.
I have thus shook off the layer of dust that had settled on my resolve
and am once again going to give this all I've got.
So then I realized that I might be slightly home-sick.
Not in the oh-I-miss-my-dog/cat/friends/mum/dad/food kind of way (even though I do)
but in the sense that I have been away from my familiar "home" for 7 months trying
to do my best in a place where there seems to be a hidden demand for you to
prove yourself in all that you do, and basically my tires were flat.
Coming to the realization of what was happening to me helped me take steps to
jump start my engine again.
It helps that the voice is back again. Thank God.
My freshman voice recital for this semester is next Tuesday and I wanna sing
well for that one for sure.
Something nice just came in the mail.
My parents occasionally send me little boxes of amazing goodies from home
in a very sweet effort to appease their imagination that I miss snacks from Singapore.
Haha... ok maybe I do a little but some of the things they send me I don't even
eat because I don't want to endanger my throat. Things like dried cuttlefish etc.
(Ok I still eat them but not that much! I share a lot with others who don't need their voice.)
BUT there is something which I love and I can't thank them enough for sending
these to me. In the box, together with early birthday cards, chocolates, more cuttlefish,
potpourri (Mum wth?), there came gorgeous and delightful Kuay Lapis!
Look at that beauty!
And I got 2 blocks of these.
This is the one with prunes in it and I think the other is Vanilla or something.
I can't wait!
Of course I won't swallow both all by myself and put on 200 pounds but I will
relish every single bite with much zeal.
So after all that venting just want to say that I think I will be fine as long as I
focus on what I need to do here and enjoy all my work (including Italian),
and not think so much about going home or about being tired.
So with renewed strength and constant prayer I say "bring it on!"
God is good eh?
Kuay Lapis also not bad lah.
(Had to end this entry in Singlish for dramatic effect.)
Drop a tag if you visit!
As much as I would like to sit around and pretend that I am in fact living
an immeasurably perfect life here in New York, I haven't... (well not completely)
and on top of that I have been experiencing what some might think of as
somewhat of a slump in my first year here.
I couldn't really put a finger on what has caused this but there's no mistaking that
I have been feeling tired and unmotivated about school and almost everything
in general and besides the music I do with my teacher and the singing.
Now if you consider that due to Spring Break and scheduling
and the fact that my teacher was moving to New York from Santa Fe and couldn't
teach me for awhile, you start to get the picture of how bored and lost I was.
Practicing was frustrating because I had no lessons to make sure I was on
the right track with certain vocal and musical issues, and I found myself depressed
with my "progress" after some practices. Going to school and going to the gym
to work out my frustrations seemed monotonous and almost robotic.
I finally had a lesson last week which uplifted my spirits considerably but alas
I fell sick last weekend and lost my voice.
Monday was my Italian Diction final project presentation and I had to sing my aria.
I freaked out.
I basically spent Sunday in bed or in my room inhaling water and peeing
so I could at least get some voice back by the next day.
It was like BMT in the army all over again.
Clear piss yes gentlemen? Remember those days?
Yes gross I know.
Okay before you freak out and think I'm dropping out of school I still did well for almost
all of my mid-term examinations, so here comes the back-breaker.
I got my Italian language Mid-term paper back and my score had worsened
considerably compared to last semester.
To add salt to the wound my professor asked me if I was alright and told me
that I was not doing so well for Italian this semester. That woke me up.
I will confess Italian is my least favorite subject and that I remember being too
unmotivated to study for it with the usual Asian vigor this time around.
I have thus shook off the layer of dust that had settled on my resolve
and am once again going to give this all I've got.
So then I realized that I might be slightly home-sick.
Not in the oh-I-miss-my-dog/cat/friends/mum/dad/food kind of way (even though I do)
but in the sense that I have been away from my familiar "home" for 7 months trying
to do my best in a place where there seems to be a hidden demand for you to
prove yourself in all that you do, and basically my tires were flat.
Coming to the realization of what was happening to me helped me take steps to
jump start my engine again.
It helps that the voice is back again. Thank God.
My freshman voice recital for this semester is next Tuesday and I wanna sing
well for that one for sure.
Something nice just came in the mail.
My parents occasionally send me little boxes of amazing goodies from home
in a very sweet effort to appease their imagination that I miss snacks from Singapore.
Haha... ok maybe I do a little but some of the things they send me I don't even
eat because I don't want to endanger my throat. Things like dried cuttlefish etc.
(Ok I still eat them but not that much! I share a lot with others who don't need their voice.)
BUT there is something which I love and I can't thank them enough for sending
these to me. In the box, together with early birthday cards, chocolates, more cuttlefish,
potpourri (Mum wth?), there came gorgeous and delightful Kuay Lapis!
Look at that beauty!
And I got 2 blocks of these.
This is the one with prunes in it and I think the other is Vanilla or something.
I can't wait!
Of course I won't swallow both all by myself and put on 200 pounds but I will
relish every single bite with much zeal.
So after all that venting just want to say that I think I will be fine as long as I
focus on what I need to do here and enjoy all my work (including Italian),
and not think so much about going home or about being tired.
So with renewed strength and constant prayer I say "bring it on!"
God is good eh?
Kuay Lapis also not bad lah.
(Had to end this entry in Singlish for dramatic effect.)
Drop a tag if you visit!
Sunday, April 06, 2008
queen of soul. / 10:53 AM
It was a night of soul if ever there was one here in New York City...
soul with an abundance of glitter and black chiffon no less.
Yes when Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul enters the stage,
she does so with aplomb and a grace fitting of her royal title.
Radio City Music Hall in itself was a sight to behold.
I was shocked and delighted at the immensity of the place...
take a look for yourself. The theatre sits approximately 6000 people.
It was so large I could not capture it in it's entirety with my little camera.
Compared to the Metropolitan Opera which sits about 3,800 and
Singapore's puny Esplanade at 1600, I'd say Radio City Music Hall is pretty
much one of the biggest and most exciting show venues in the world!
(One day... one day...)
Anyway here's a shot of me sitting at our front row seats on the balcony.
It was a night of exhilarating music meant to be enjoyed by Berty and me
but poor Bert forgot and ran off to Maine to have lobsters with his other buds!
Therefore poor unfortunate me had to find a pretty girl to accompany me
to the concert. Look what you did Bert. Shame on you.
Anyway, Aretha sang her hits like "Respect" and "Don't Play That Song For Me"
which I really liked, and of course all 6000 people were up on their feet dancing.
We could literally feel the entire balcony shaking under the weight of everyone
getting their groove on. Needless to say we were almost the only Asians there but we got
up on our feet anyway. I also liked her jazz performances of "My Funny Valentine"
by Rodgers and Hart and "Moody's Mood For Love". Precious.
Ali-Ollie Woodson, the former lead singer of The Temptations was her guest
star and he came and sang a few gospel tunes with her.
Cissy Houston, Whitney Housten's mother was singing backing vocals
for her and so was the man who sang backing vocals with Luther Vandross
(bless his soul) back when he was still around to bless us with his voice.
Other stand-outs she sang were "Chain of Fools" obviously, and "Ain't No Way".
I particularly liked it when Aretha actually got down at the piano and played
while singing for us. She is one talented mama I must say.
She did that for the encore too, singing "Easter Parade" by Irving Berlin,
a serene and resolute end to an amazing evening of voice and song.
Here she is ladies and gentlemen, Aretha Franklin.
And here's a close-up just for you Berty because you weren't there.
Can you say: "Ooooooohh Yeeeeaaaahhh!!!!"
You know what I'm talking about!
Hahaha.
Some final Radio City photos to round of this bit of the post about the concert.
You know, this is what living in New York City is all about...
getting to watch these living legends perform and soak it all in.
I recently also watched this very famous conductor come do a conducting
master-class at my school. His name is Kurt Mazur and he was the
director of the New York Philharmonic orchestra from 1991 to 2002 and he's
still going strong at 80+ years old. Imagine a 60 year career as a professional
conductor. His experience and musicality is so profound and exquisite.
The conductors taking the master-class conducted the pieces performed
in the concert and were pretty good, all being already professional in their
own right. But when Maestro Mazur took the stage to conduct, the MSM orchestra
was just transformed as if by magic. He conducted the Hungarian Dance No.1
by Brahms and by special encore, the 3rd movement of Dvorak's Symphony no. 8
and totally brought the piece to another level. It was pretty well conducted before
by the other young conductor but this was something else.
If I were to ever live 80 years, I pray that perhaps one day I shall have a taste of
making music at such a level as this.
In any case, I know I said I'd post about Japanese desserts but I decided not to.
I had breakfast recently at this 70s-80s inspired restaurant called Vinyl and the food
was taking a little too long to arrive for my liking....
As you can probably tell... I do not like waiting too long to be served.
Everyone knows how grumpy I get when starved for too long...
I start eating everything in sight! Cups, tables, waitresses, children,
you name it I would probably eat it.
Alright I confess that entire last rubbish paragraph was made up simply
so I had a reasonable build-up towards posting this stupid photograph
which I spent too much time on (15 minutes) to not post on here.
6 weeks to my return to Singapore.
I can't say I'm not at least a little excited to see everyone again.
Can't wait to jump in on the AEWF music and of course the Winterreise
which I'm performing in June. Make sure you all come watch that recital!
Meanwhile my first exam is next week and the following week will be my
recital, and the stress only grows even more from there as more and
more important things arrive and rear their ugly heads.
I will return with more updates and perhaps some random musings.
Thanks for reading if you did and tag to say hi ok?
Arrivederci!
David Charles Tay