playing stravinsky

Just some thoughts here.

Playing in The Soldier's Tale is really turning out to be quite an experience. For one, it's my first time playing under Mr Lim Yau. So far I've never even met him; only ever heard stories about how strict he was in YO and his fearsome reputation as a conductor. And being one of 7 players (and the most noob!) I think quite a bit of his attention has landed on me -.-

Of course it's been a challenge to meet the expectations and demands that he has, and in trying to meet them I've grown, musically and mentally. It takes some mental stamina to count the twisted rhythms that Stravinsky writes.

It's also an experience to see, first-hand, how a piece as complex as this is put together at rehearsals. At first I was just practising my part - little dismembered rhythmic or melodic motifs, sometimes just 3 or 4 notes repeated 30+ times - but then over the rehearsals I've grown quite a good sense of where and how I fit into the big picture; how, for instance, some of my notes fit in or trigger a dialogue with trombone, or how I double a bassoon line for a bar then start harmonising.

I've also realised just how vital a bass line can be. I literally set the pace for quite a few of the earlier movements, and everyone - even the conductor - follows. If the tempo's too slow, it gets sluggish, the momentum's lost, violin bows don't slice the strings just right and they end up hitting false notes or things like that; if it's too fast everyone's racing along, out of breath; if it's erratic, people seize onto tempi convenient for themselves (and different from everyone else) and the whole thing falls apart. That's a huge responsibility.

I think I've been extremely fortunate that everyone's been very patient, especially Mr Lim. And in terms of playing chamber music, I've probably learnt more from this piece than anything else.

Anyhow, it's shaping up to be an awesome concert.

George Lim does it again

Frolicking gymnasts' bare antics a real eyesore

I TOOK my preschool daughter to Bishan Sports Hall last Saturday morning for her weekly gymnastic training. There were women and children there for various activities. In their midst was a team of seven young men and their coach using the gymnastic equipment.

From the start of the team's routine, five young men were practically semi-nude. They were bare-chested and wore loosely fitted knee-length trunks that exposed their pelvic bones below the waistline. They strutted and pranced in their scant garments that covered only the anatomy between the lower waist and the kneecaps.

The team frolicked and tumbled in the hall, oblivious to the parents and children around them. I grimaced as they swung vigorously on the pommel horse, and risked slipping out of their loose trunks. Even worse, as they gripped the rings and the parallel bars, it did not take much gravity to expose their pubic area to the children. It was an eyesore to onlookers as the young men trampled on their modesty in public.

Bishan Sports Hall has been the de facto venue of the Singapore Open Gymnastics Championships for a number of years. It is also the proposed venue for the gymnastics competition events of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games 2010. It is the key gymnastic competition site for the Asian Youth Games.

I, therefore, urge the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports to do something about those who bare their torsos without any regard for other users. Perhaps, the authorities should impose a minimum dress code that ensures decency.

Sports that allow male athletes to train semi-nude are swimming, water polo, windsurfing and sumo wrestling. But gymnastics is a sport that requires proper leotards for women and body-fitting singlet and shorts or tights for men.

George Lim

ST Forum (Online), 29 June 09

Although I'm far from being gymnastically-inclined, obviously you need mobility to move or swing or jump or whatever it is these guys were doing. (I do know that much.) So what's George Lim's problem? It's a sports facility, obviously people aren't going to be in tuxedos. I'm quite sure no one else could be bothered; I mean, the weather's hot, your mind's focused on training, I'm sure they weren't gratuitously flashing, so who cares? He should call the police next time if he feels so offended (I'm sure they'll laugh him out of town). Or take his daughter to a posh air-conditioned kiddy gym.

And if you read his letter it becomes clear that he was observing them pretty darn closely. He describes these guys' pants in two different ways: "loosely fitted knee-length trunks that exposed their pelvic bones below the waistline"; "scant garments that covered only the anatomy between the lower waist and the kneecaps". He even describes how they "risked slipping out of their loose trunks" and how "it did not take much gravity to expose their pubic area".

I think he's got a vivid and disturbed imagination, his wife should be careful about letting him into areas where he can see young men, and the BG has a competitor (and possibly new ideas on where to stalk O.o)

This guy would obviously feel very much at home in Saudi Arabia or Iran. I wonder why ST even gratifies him by printing or posting up his crackpot letters. And I hope MCYS doesn't feel compelled to provide a reply.

I'm going to make a new label just for this sort of post. It's called Idiocy.

sneaking feeling

I have a sneaking feeling that the world economy works only because

1. everyone wants it to
2. it's way too complicated for anyone to work out why it shouldn't, actually - and/or to convince everyone else.

For instance, look at fractional reserve banking. The principle behind it is, say a bank gets a $100 deposit. It can then go and loan out a much larger amount, based on what percentage the central bank/financial regulators require it to keep in its vaults - the fractional reserve requirement; this is typically about 10-15% in most countries. The corollary of this is that when someone withdraws $100 out of a bank, the amount that the bank can loan out shrinks by far more than $100.

Imagine a day when everyone decides to take out their money (a run on the bank). The amount the bank can loan effectively shrinks to zero - although in practice the loans are more often left unrepaid, and the bank goes into insolvency instead. If everyone decided to take out all their money from every bank in the world, we would all be royally screwed.

And oh, foreign exchange. Transaction costs related to foreign exchange probably cost us something like 1-2% of global GDP. (I read that somewhere, just can't remember where exactly.) And besides, where's the logic when if Zimbabwe's government expands its money supply, the value of its currency collapses, whereas if the American government expands its money supply, everyone rushes to buy more US dollars? Other than the fact that US dollars are rather more attractive things than Zimbabwean dollars.

Okay enough ^^ when I think of more I'll let you know.

concert alert

Woohoo I was pleasantly surprised that Esplanade dumped an advert in my inbox plugging a concert that I'm playing in, myself. So here it is:

http://www.esplanade.com/edm/spectrum/soldier/

It's an exciting performance so do consider blowing 24 bucks on a ticket!

deep breath.

I've just finished the IPSC. It was 

- OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT -

but quite awesomely slack. (Haha adam ripped off your OSA thing.) As a measure of just how slack it was, I managed to finish reading Ulysses in those 7 days. Woohoo!

Now that I've finished Ulysses in 1 week, I think I'll be taking the next 1 year to understand it. It is awesome and mindtwisting. I didn't even realise Stephen Dedalus urinates and picks his nose in Chapter 3, until I read the notes.