year 2009 , should we happy or sad?

for some people they are happy with the new year ; but for some they are not quite happy for the year come...

year 2009:
1. for SPM"er" or PMR"er" this is the year to study, study, and study...there is insufficient of time to play or joke around if you want your result to be good...stress come...
2. for the elders the time that the death is near...(no offense)
3. for some girls :"aiya...i already old 1 year ,not beautiful already....T.T"

but for some they think that this is the turning point of thier fate, a new year ,a new life

for all people 2009 is the year where we are going to face the new challange in our life...not giving up while facing the challange, when you failed try more hard than before to beat down all the challanges in front of you...

HAPPY NEW YEAR(2009) TO ALL MY FRIENDS

*2009: Moo...i just a cow don't know what you all humans talking about...guess i will keep cewing my grass and pass my 4 chamber stomach...Moo....yummy...

Guess What I Found Out About MPO

I wrote classical concert reviews, and a weekly music column for the Sunday Star for 15 years (1980s through mid-1990s), and was active in Kuala Lumpur’s amateur music performing scene from the 1960s and 1970s, culminating my performing career as a professional flautist with the MetroManila Symphony Orchestra in the late 1970s, so I should be in a good position to comment about the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

I am one of those bitterly disappointed with the MPO. Setting up a professional orchestra in Kuala Lumpur was a great idea, and to start it off with almost 100 percent foreign players may have been acceptable (wags in KL called the MPO the Mostly Putih Orchestra), but a decade on, and still the orchestra is overwhelmingly foreign (though with more non-White players, the orchestra is still the Mostly Pendatang Orchestra), and not even a Malaysian conductor at the helm, is all together too much to bear.

A symphony orchestra, anywhere in the world, reflects city, and/or NATIONAL aspirations, and that means basing the orchestra on LOCAL talents.

It maybe true that Malaysian classical musicians are “not up to the standards” of a “world class” professional orchestra, but who are we kidding when we have a “Malaysian” Philharmonic which is most certainly NOT Malaysian. Call it the Petronas Philharmonic. But, not, surely, the Malaysian Philharmonic.

Money can always BUY the best the world can offer. If that is the philosophy of Petronas, the MPO’s hundreds of millions of dollars would have been better spent importing foreign politicians to give Malaysia a truly world-class parliament! But no right thinking person would ever dream of such an idiotic idea. We get the politicians that we have in Malaysia, the good, and the mostly terrible (just look at your live television to see how the YB, from both sides of the aisle, behave!)

But yet, Petronas thought it was doing right by “Malaysia” to buy a mostly foreign orchestra, which has remained mostly foreign for over a decade. Yes, I know that the orchestra has in recent years attempted to train a young Malaysian orchestra, organised competitions for local composers, and occasionally gives concerts at Old Folks Homes, but that hardly makes up for the obvious fact that what Malaysia needs, perhaps even wants, is a MALAYSIAN Philharmonic Orchestra, warts and all. And, as it grows in its technical and musical competence, so too will national pride in our truly Malaysian orchestra.

The smart thing for Petronas to have done was to have seeded a Malaysian orchestra with foreign players (for example, there is the National Symphony, or the Penang Symphony Orchestra which was actually quite good when I last reviewed them in Kuala Lumpur in the early 1990s), and in that way raise Malaysian performing standards. And, as the Malaysians players grew in the self-confidence as instrumentalists and interpreters of serious music, the contract of the foreign players would be allowed to lapse.

When I played professionally with the Metro Manila Symphony Orchestra, way back in the late 1970s, I was the ONLY non-Filipino in the orchestra! The orchestra had lost its star principal flautist to work overseas, and I had just arrived after having finished training with Emil Opava, principal flute of the Minnesota Orchestra, and came at the “right time” to fill an “urgent” need. And as soon (5 or 6 months)as the orchestra (whose patron was Mdm Imelda Marcos) found a suitable replacement, I took my leave, and headed to Northern Philippines where I was researching what Mdm Marcos’ husband, President Ferdinand Marcos, was doing to the tribal people in the Cordillera mountains!

This is what is meant by NATIONALISM in classical music, where the orchestras, conductors, local serious music composers, and the players themselves, are all imbued with a sense of national purpose, and destiny, and they collectively contribute to national cultural heritage and pride.

Unfortunately, almost none of the words I have just written above characterise the “Malaysian” Philharmonic Orchestra. It is almost a mercenary musical outfit where foreigners are paid huge salaries, to play mostly foreign music, to an audience comprising mainly foreigners (expatriates) and their Malaysian friends, and a few like yours truly who genuinely likes Western Classical Music and who has been involved in developing the scene from the 1960s when I first joined the Kuala Lumpur Symphony Orchestra, through the 1980s and 1990s writing for the Sunday Star, to the present when, at my age, I only occasionally pick up my instruments in a vain attempt to persuade my children to carry on the “family tradition.”

Make no mistake, the MPO is a good orchestra. It just simply is not a Malaysian orchestra, something we Malaysians can proudly call OUR VERY OWN.

It is NOT too late for Petronas to do the right thing.

First, appoint a Malaysian permanent conductor whose brief has to be to start replacing the foreign players with Malaysian musicians. I accept that the “high” standards the the MPO currently attains may fall (slightly), but that is the price we as a nation must be willing to pay to build up our own cultural resources which, in the not too distant future, will then put Malaysia on the world’s concert stages with an orchestra all Malaysians, and the rest of the world, will instantly recognize as being genuinely Malaysian.

Richard Dorall

Wind Orchestra Concert

Well i go there with Xin jian, Sook mei, and my brother(that irritates me alot).
the concert held at Dewan Besar IPDA, Jitra, Kedah. (24/12/2008)

i bought the ticket very earlier the concert is the combination of 2 schools, SMK Sultanah Asma and Nakamura Gakuen Girl's High School. the ticket cost RM25...the cheapest...well i wanna buy the VIP ticket but i know it is hard to find one and cost me alot(sure)...
(turn your head over to see the picture haha)
Based on what i heard...this Nakamura Wind Orchestra is a very famous concert band in japan.
they enter 25 competition and won 23 gold prizes. Asma invite them for 5 years already, and they appear themselves for the concert that night.

the band consist of all girls no boy....

by the time i reached there they were many people from around Malaysia. Xin jian told me that her cousin said they all come from Terrenganu by bus just to see this concert. axiousity feel my nerve as i entered the hall...
the hall was great compare to our schools one...is it air conditioned.
the time at the ticket says 8.00 p.m. but it is already 8.15 p.m. the concert haven't started yet...well we can not blame them because this is the Malaysian's culture...=.=


ok now the concert has start...the 1st thing is band tuning , it is quite good all instrument are nicly tune...i give 6/10 for the tuning then....Sing the National Anthem...and it is back with Asma band...wow....i say...it is very nice....compare to our schools one....one can feel the power of the band.

bla bla bla, bla bla bla....ok the MC call all audience to shut thier mouth up and close thier hand phones....but the stupid malay sitting at my back talking non-stop....i feel like want to punch his face...

after the Asma performance the Nakamura Girls go up the stage and prepare to perform
thier performance very nice but not fantastic...(well maybe i heard too much of great concert performance) by the way talking about japanese girls...i don't think i see pretty one all are just ok ok only...but got cute ones...all are short(as usual)...all speaks japanese(lol no need tell you all also know)...
and they got perform some koir songs too...wow thier voice no mic thier voice can covered up the whole hall...very nice....i love the koir songs i remember only 1 song, entitle "Cosmos", it is a flower thats always bloom in the spring only...this song is made to praise the beauty of young japanese girls nowadays....(but i do not think so=.=)



(carefully see the picture above got a few rolls of people standing infront singing)

they also got dance..but i do not take photo of them...because they dance are not nice=.=
well conclusion they have fun on the stage...the appaulse makes them more confident and happy...the music is good,nice but not fantastic i give the rating 7.3/10. but they wished them the best.

(see they lift thier instrument high up, well i kinda hate this part because some if you observe carefully the saxaphone lift too high and one of them thier blowing kinda get stuck abit i heard it...)
(the wave a word "NAKAMURA" but unluckily i take the photo abit slow thanks to my camera)

then the end ceremony it end with a nice National Anthem also=.=
well it now 11.15p.m very tired...they say the Nakamura Girls is goind for Langkawi for a nice rest after this concert...well if you want to meet them just go to Langkawi who knows maybe you just meet one of them haha...

ok about 11.40p.m. i arrived at home...well i was very hungry so i cook something then i eat then i sleep haha...thats the end of the day.

well hope that i would see them again...

To Stay SINGLE or To Have a PARTNER Better?

well nowadays in my school almost everyone want to find a partner for themselves...
but mostly end up with breaking up(no offence)...=.=
lets discuss about the advantages and disadvantages of having a partner & stay single

Single:
The Advantages
1. can see many sexy girls/handsome boys
2. can play/chat with boys/girls more...
3. no need to worried about partner
4. makes your life easier
5. wallet save=.=
6. have more freedom
7. having much more time
8. do anything you like...
9. say anything you like
10. some companies hire singles one
11. may not get AIDS, because do not get the chance to have sex

The disadvantages
1. you may lonely
2. limited joy(for some people)

To Have A Partner:
The advantages
1. you will be much more happier when you are with her/him
2. got people all always be with you no matter what happens(for true lovers only)
3. sharing opinion
4. giving opinion
5. learn to be more caring
6. learn to forgive people
7. can experience sex( before married or after married)
- knowing the specific structures of girls/boys
- know how to use pregnancy prevention(some)
8. and know more about girls/boys life styles

Theories of Couples:
date --> sex --> marry --> sex --> baby
date --> marry --> sex --> baby
date --> sex --> baby --> marry

For unusual cases
sex --> marry --> date --> sex -->baby
sex --> baby --> marry --> date
sex --> date --> marry --> sex --> baby

The Disadvantages
1. when couples fight each other the worst thing happen
2. break up easily
3. the is no forever love
4. if having sex, may cause AIDS(if no prevention)
5. not much freedom
6. can not see sexy girls or handsome boys
7. when your gf or bf is feeling down you must think a way to cheer him/her
8. no time to let yourself happy
9. all dates (her birthday, friends birthday, couples day etc....) must all REMEMBER...
10. where you go what are you doing all must report....(some)

so i better stay single haha...by the way i bet with Daniel saying that i will be single haha...

A Failure....

yesterday i phone her, i prepare everything all ready and the plan was carrying all nice....
chun siang help me to think what to speak to her...

then everything ready , and chun siang wished me luck...

ok get set...

and i phone her pressing every button of the phone number makes me more nervous....
tuuu~~~~tuuu~~~~

then she picked...

the sounds came out was very noisy..

i ask her where is she...she answer me she is at outside...
then i just say :"oh then never mine already"
i say good bye and close the phone...
she say if she is back she will miss call me...
but i wait from 9.30 to 10.30pm..
i couldn't wait any longer....
because i would afraid if i wake my parents and neighbors up...
so i sms her....saying i am very sorry....can not let her to hear my composition...
well then i study until 11.30pm then i sleep
what a failure...am i...i thought that...

plan everything all perfect already...but then haiz...
nothing to say....hope some day i can play piano for her...just hope that....that day will come...

Love

Love is Love....
it is pure....
like a child....
it makes some one ...
happy, cheerful, unstressed...
no Love human can not live...

but some

Love is sad
heart broken people see the world like almost gone...
Love is dark,
Love is just a Cheat for Cheaters, to Cheat someones feeling...
Love is just an effect of hormones reaction...

some

Love are weird...

when you try hard to get it, it just fly away...
when you try hard to forget it, it just appear everywhere...
when you sad, it makes you happy...
when you get it, it become like a torn, you need to release it...
when you get cold, it will warm you up...
when you are lonely, it fill you up...
when you are not prepare, it come...

So what is LOVE about?
It need sacrifices to get the Love you need...
Love needs believe,
neither a cheater nor a spammer would take it away...
Love is just beside you...
the thing you need is to feel it....
This is what Love it about...

camping memory

i think i have nothing to say and describe because it is too nice to describe lol...
next year i gonna participate again...they are going to to use the japan styles to bring out the whole camp, but some styles of this camp are remain like amazing race.....

i meet new friends from other states like Cameron, selangor , KL, kulim,penang,kedah=.=...

i miss them and i get alot of idea of composing thanks to them...
they ask why i am so "cold" in the camp...i dono why maybe that incident happen the past few month make me like this...or the diseases that attack my grandfather...

AMITHABA for my grandfather....he pass away....when i was in the camp T.T no chances to see him for the last time...very sad...

well i have just finish composing the melody part, where i kept my promise to my friends in the camp....

i miss someone in the camp very much, a girl of course=.=....
dono maybe i am in love with her or what...( by the way i do not pakto for the 1st time yet)=.=
but i think i stand no chance because we stay a long distance away....and if i am not wrong she have a boy friend....poor me guess that i am not the person who is getting girl friend/pakto...

well nvm i will become stronger, better, more determination than any of my friends....
and for all my friends lets us become the most "GENG" people on the earth...GO GO GO!!!!

Kulim Camp!!!!

yeah...still got 1 day i go to the camp.....yeah.....for my happiness in the camp.....boo for my leg to broke=.=...

because at that camp we will have to run the WHOLE KULIM AREA like searching for treasures(treasure hunt)...

and in the camp they will take us by bus go to a place where we can play water....haha...

and this camp is an international camp many peoples from kelantan,selangor,johor,melaka.......join this camp....such an unforgettable memory...knowing new friends from other state....

well dono this year what games they are going to play, but i pretty sure that the games they plan are very nice(they plan about half a year)...

by the way this is the 6th time this camp have been held...and every camp have their own stories...

this year story abit frigteening....ok well it says:

nowadays....robberies,muderers,thief......many cases involve teenages happens lately...and the organiser have invited 180 people to this camp....and slipt into 12 groups....they all stay in a abandoned school...but they do not know that they all have been curse by a wizard/witch...and they are all try to escape the curse and finding prove/evidence to the cases....while escaping and finding prove will they harm others? will they be sacrify? the ending in your HANDS!

well that story is written in chinese i just translate it...

well now packing the thing i need in the camp
they call us to bring a formal shirt and pants to the camp....dono what they want to do...i think mostly they are going to dance....dono dance what maybe tango? cha cha? latin?=.=

Beethoven Piano Sonata No.14 "Moonlight Sonata"

Beethoven’s “Moonlight sonata”, a name coined by German music critic Ludwig Rellstab after Beethoven’s death, is one of the most widely known classical music pieces, and has been since it was composed some 200 years ago.

But let us examine it more closely and look at the facts surrounding the piece, find past and future musical connections and, of course, compare and choose the best recordings of the sonata.

It is said that Beethoven was inspired to write the sonata while visiting Lake Balaton, located in Hungary.

The sonata, which is in three movements, as most sonatas of the classical period, is best known for the first movement, Adagio sostenuto (there are about 10 times as many recordings of it than there are of the whole piece).

The descending bass-line, characterising the introduction, sometimes called the Phrygian progression, (which it, strictly speaking, isn’t in this case, because it detours to subdominant f-sharp before reaching the target dominant g-sharp), had been used long before Beethoven:

And thus, borrowing the idea of this baroque rhetoric figure, Beethoven starts his Sonata.

But what really captured the public’s heart was the ever-imploring polyrhythmic motif making up the main theme:














Both the perpetual triplets and the polyrhythm were copied out of Mozart’s score – from the Commendatore’s death scene in ‘Don Giovanni’.

The unusual tonal progressions are what led Beethoven to title the sonata “Quasi una Fantasia”. Fantasia usually describes a free-form classical music piece.

The tonic major-to-minor progression, which initiates the modulation to the second subject, had frequently been used earlier by Mozart, and Beethoven just can’t resist:

There’s always been a discrepancy over the twelfth bar on whether to play the note c or b in the second triplet group:










But, in fact, there shouldn’t be a discrepancy, because, as per the counterpoint rules of the classical period, two separate voices mustn’t move in parallel octaves or fifths, unless one is doubling the other. Clearly, the middle triplet note is not doubling the (already-doubled) bass-line. And hence – c, and not b, should be played.

The first movement mostly adheres to the sonata form, but not without surprises. In the exposition, the second subject is not in the dominant key, as it usually is in classical sonata form, but instead sounds in B minor, which is not even a parallel key!




Towards the end of the first movement, the main motif is foretelling darker times ahead, moving into the left hand territory:


Moving forward, the second movement turns out to be a light-hearted exercise in classical harmony. Unfortunately, the main motif is hardly a melody, and, what’s more, it is repeated 20 times in the course of (fortunately, only) two minutes. Here are four of these (repetitions) from the opening:




The Trio is on par with the Allegretto. Two repeats of two eight-bar sequences. At least it’s contrasting. The Allegretto, as expected, is repeated da capo after the Trio.

(Excellent playing there by Daniel Barenboim in above examples.)

The third movement, a fierce fiery Presto in sonata form, starts with the same notes as the first movement, namely: c-sharp, g-sharp, c-sharp and e. Also, Beethoven adds an agitato instruction to the score. He then goes on to transform the original three-note motif into two lightning bolts, modifying the rhythmic pattern, with the second note on the weak beat, keeping the initial underlying harmonic structure the same.




Again, Beethoven eyes a motif by Mozart for the first part of the second subject, and...repeats it six times until it gets him somewhere. Mind you, he even grabs the ornaments along.


The exposition is repeated, traditionally. The development and recapitulation aren’t, and we will see why in a minute.

The development section starts off with the first subject arpeggios in tonic major, but quickly gives way to the cantabile theme from the second subject, which nicely relocates into the left hand, and off it goes, jumping down and down, until it arrives at the long dominant pedal point, predicting the reprise, just as it did in the first movement, albeit without the diminished seventh chords (Beethoven saves these for later).

We then get a reprise, which essentially duplicates the whole exposition section, except for the standard change of keys and a few minor alterations. And only afterwards comes the final ascent, one of the more effective ones from Beethoven – with two climax points, practically one after another.

At first there is an illusion that we are entering another development section. But here it becomes clear why only the exposition got a repeat: the whole second part – encompassing the development section, the full reprise and the elaborate ending – is twice as long as the exposition. But another important reason is that the climaxes would not have been successful the second time round.

Logically, the first climax is based on the first subject, while the more elaborate and emotional second climax develops on the second subject motif before rolling into triplet arpeggios – “down and up” several times – in Salieri’s style – up through a chromatic scale – trill! – descending again in a kind of improvisational figuration – and grinding to a halt: Adagio. Then... Tempo I più tranquillo, piano. The not-so-controversial-anymore pedal point returns for six bars, pianissimo. Then – Presto, forte – a final arpeggio ascent – sforzando – descent – and two blasts – fortissimo, senza Pedale.

Was it this that the first movement’s final bars prophesised?

(The unsurpassed Jenö Jandó in above examples.)

Recordings review

Playing this sonata may seem like an easy task for a professional pianist. But it isn’t. Firstly, there are literally hundreds of small directions in the score, some more controversial than others. Secondly, every pianist gives a personal rendition of each of the movements, almost always breaking at least some of the rules set by the composer.

So, what are we looking for in a recording? How do we choose the best ones?

Obviously, the technical aspects of the playing should be nothing less than perfect. But, first of all, we are looking for an interpretation, which is musical, in the full sense of the word. It must flow. It must sing. The three movements should be played in one breath.

Secondly, we expect well-chosen tempi, clear articulation that adheres to the score, proper use of the pedal, in line with the style of the late classical period.

Let’s begin with the first movement. The indicated tempo, Adagio, is one of the slowest existing tempo indications. Obviously, it should be slower than Andante.

In most recordings we hear a fairly moderate tempo. Example Evgeny Kissin

What is played by Pletnev, Arrau, Lupu, Rubinstein, Serkin is really moving into the Lento territory –

– while Jandó, Horowitz, Kempff, Schnabel play a bit faster than usual.


But, strictly speaking, the term Adagio refers to the tempo of the 1/4 notes (crotchets), and in that sense most pianist are within the relative limits. Perhaps only Schnabel’s is really too fast.

Technically, it turns out, most performers do not play the main motif correctly. They just don’t properly combine the triplets with the dotted quaver.

Only Barenboim, Kissin, Pletnev, Ashkenazy, Lupu and Rubinstein can be said to have a true polyrhythm.

Brendel, Kempff and Schnabel have really got it wrong.

Barenboim’s first movement is exemplary, being objective and at the same time very personal. Pletnev, Jandó, Ashkenazy, Arrau, Lupu and Gieseking have also put a lot of thought into their interpretations, with all having a good singing tone, emotions, dynamics and flow.

The middle section, with ascending and descending diminished seventh chords, should continue to be played in triplets. They needn’t be accented, but if there is a hint of it after all, it must not under any circumstances be in duplets! Unfortunately, we do hear that in recordings by Gilels, Brendel, Pollini, Serkin and Kempff.

In the second movement, all of Barenboim, Jandó, Kissin, Pletnev, Tomšič, Serkin, Lupu, Gieseking, Schnabel and Horowitz maintain a good balance between the dance-like mood, the singing upper melody and the playful staccato chords.

The Trio, which starts with three sforzandi and continues – after the repeat – in pianissimo, should be contrasting, not complementing the Allegretto, which starts and ends in piano. Well done Kissin, Jandó, Pletnev, Rubinstein and Horowitz.

There is only one perfect recording of the third movement, and it is by Jenö Jandó. The musicality as a whole, the interpretation, the technical aspects, the balance, the fine details – his playing has it all. You can practically hear Beethoven himself at the piano.

But while everyone is free to judge Jandó’s musicianship on their own, let us examine the technical side.

Beethoven knew exactly what he wanted, when he marked specifically the first note and the last three in each bar staccato, starting from the fifth bar of the second subject:

Why then are these markings ignored by all of Kissin, Gilels, Rubinstein, Pollini, Serkin, Horowitz, Kempff, Schnabel? How can you just play it all on pedal?it is just destroying the TRUE MEANING of the piece.








And this gets HOT when we talk about the final culmination point:









Staccato!

But Kissin’s playing is unique in its own way. His playing of this movement is one of the fastest available, and, while in other recordings the speed degrades the quality of the pianist’s playing and hence the overall delivery, the fact that Kissin has such fine control of his technique, combined with his remarkable musical insight, the result is an amazing performance, perfect in its own way, and astoundingly different from Jandó’s.

At one point he is full of fire, a moment later – he is in a different, distant a world. Listen to his absolutely unique interpretation of the development section:

Both Daniel Barenboim and Mikhail Pletnev offer their personal renditions of the movement, interesting in their own ways.

There are many wrong notes in other recordings, and they are the result of ‘missing’ the right ones, but it is difficult to explain why Barenboim plays a d-natural instead of e towards the end of the third bar in the A major connecting theme:

Strange also that he doesn’t repeat this the second time round.

But what is completely and totally unacceptable is forgetting that Beethoven compressed the same connecting theme in the recap. And Barenboim does just that – forgets:

And the deeper we dig into the recordings, the farther we find ourselves from the ideal and flawless performance.

And so, here are the top 10 recordings of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata:

1. Jenö Jandó

Bonus: equally outstanding renditions of No. 8 ‘Pathetique’ and No. 23 ‘Appassionata’ sonatas

2. Evgeny Kissin

Bonus: unparalleled performance of Franck’s “Prelude, Choral & Fugue”, Variations on a Theme of Paganini by Brahms

3. Daniel Barenboim

Bonus: Sonatas No. 21 ‘Waldstein’ and No. 23 ‘Appassionata’

4. Mikhail Pletnev

Bonus: Sonatas No. 21 ‘Waldstein’ and No. 23 ‘Appassionata’

5. Emil Gilels

Bonus: Sonatas No. 8 ‘Pathetique’ and No. 12

6. Vladimir Ashkenazy

Bonus: Sonatas No. 8 ‘Pathetique’ and No. 23 ‘Appassionata’

7. Radu Lupu

Bonus: 5 Piano Concerti, Sonatas No. 8, No. 21, Variations in C minor, Piano Quintet, 2 Rondi

8. Claudio Arrau

Bonus: Sonatas No. 8 ‘Pathetique’ and No. 23 ‘Appassionata’

9. Dubravka Tomšič

Bonus: Symphony No. 7, Overture to “Fidelio”

10. Alfred Brendel

Bonus: Sonatas No. 8 ‘Pathetique’ and No. 23 ‘Appassionata’

The Super Internet Data Based

The super internet data based is only for those who are really wanna get many many data and are interested in science,technology and many many stuff that are inside there...

if you can understand about 1/10 of the website you are a genius already....

but you have to have a password and a user id but i willing to give to those who are interested
Id: stupid
pass:youarestupid

the internet data based is at the link below.
enjoy.
The Super Internet Data Based

Mental Play(MP)

Many or most of the piano students will ask :"how to memorize a piece ? and how do concert pianist memorize a piece that played for an hour more without any mistake?"

The only way to memorize well is to learn Mental Play (MP). In fact, MP is the logical and ultimate goal of all these practice methods that we are discussing because technique alone will not enable you to perform flawlessly, musically, and without getting nervous.

There are at least five basic methods of memorizing; they are: (1) hand memory (audio/tactile), (2) music memory (aural), (3) photographic memory (visual), (4) keyboard memory/mental play (visual/tactile, brain), and (5) theoretical memory (brain). Practically everybody uses a combination of them. Most people rely mainly on one and use the others as supplementary help.

In this method, you learn to play the piano in your mind, away from the piano, complete with accurate fingering and your concept of how you want the music to sound. You can use keyboard memory or photographic memory for MP, but I recommend keyboard memory for beginners because it is more efficient; for advanced players, keyboard memory and photographic memory are the same, since if you can do one, the other follows naturally. Whenever you memorize a small section, close your eyes and see if you can play it in your mind. Once you have memorized an entire piece (HS), you should also be able to play that in your head. This is the time to analyze the structure of the music, how it is organized and how the themes develop as the music progresses. With practice, you will find that it requires only a small investment of time to acquire MP. Best of all, you will also discover that once solid MP is established, your memory is as good as it can get; you will have confidence that you will be able to play without mistakes, blackouts, etc., and will be able to concentrate on music. MP also helps technique; for example, it is much easier to play at a fast speed after you can mentally play it at that speed; very often, the inability to play fast originates in the brain. One benefit of MP is that you can practice it at any time, anywhere, and can greatly increase your effective practice time.

Memory is an associative process. Super memorizers (including some savants) and all concert pianists who can memorize hours of music depend on algorithms with which to associate their memory (whether they know it or not). Musicians are especially fortunate in this regard because music is just such an algorithm. Nonetheless, this "memory trick" of using music as an algorithm to memorize is seldom formally taught to music students; instead, they are often advised to keep repeating "until the music is in the hands", which is one of the worst methods of memory. A large component of your initial memory will be hand memory, which comes from repeated practice. The hand just goes on playing without your really remembering each note. Although we will discuss all the known types of memory below, we will start with analyzing hand memory first because historically, it was frequently thought of as the only and best method of memory although, in reality, it is the least important. "Hand memory" has at least two components: a reflex hand motion that comes from touching the keys and a reflex in the brain from the sound of the piano. Both serve as cues for your hand to move in a pre-programmed way. For simplicity, we will lump them together and call them hand memory. Hand memory is useful because it helps you to memorize at the same time that you practice the piece. In fact, everybody must practice common constructs, such as scales, arpeggios, Alberti accompaniments, etc., from hand memory so that your hands can play them automatically, without having to think about every note. Therefore, when you start to memorize a new piece, there is no need to consciously avoid hand memory. Once acquired, you will never lose hand memory, and we show below how to use it to recover from blackouts.

When we talk about hand memory, we usually mean HT memory. Because hand memory is acquired only after many repetitions, it is one of the most difficult memories to erase or change. This is one of the main reasons for HS(hand separate) practice -- to avoid acquiring incorrect HT habits that will be so difficult to change. HS memory is fundamentally different from HT memory. HS play is simpler and can be controlled directly from the brain. In HT memory, you need some kind of feedback in order to coordinate the hands (and probably the two halves of the brain) to the accuracy needed for music. Therefore, HS practice is the most effective method for avoiding the dependence on hand memory and repetition results in "hand memory" which is a false type of memory that can lead to many problems, such as blackouts( i already have this experience) . With MP, you associate the music in your mind with how you produce it at the piano. It is important to practice MP without playing the piano because you can acquire "sound memory" (just as you can acquire "hand memory") and use the sound of the piano as a crutch for recall, and sound memory can cause the same problems associated with hand memory.

Why are memory and MP so important? They not only solve the practical problems of technique and performance but also advance your musicianship and increase intelligence. Just as you can speed up a computer by adding memory, you can increase your effective intelligence by improving your memory. In fact, one of the first signs of mental deterioration, such as Alzheimer's, is loss of memory. It is now clear that many of those feats of great musicians such as Mozart were simple byproducts of strong MP, and that such skills can be learned.

The Practice Routine For Almost all Piano Students

Many students use the following practice routine:

1. First, practice scales or technical exercises until the fingers are limbered up. Continue this for 30 minutes or longer if you have time, to improve technique especially by using exercises such as the Hanon series.
2. Then take a new piece of music and slowly read it for a page or two, carefully playing both hands together, starting from the beginning. This slow play is repeated until it can be performed reasonably well and then it is gradually speeded up until the final speed is attained. A metronome might be used for this gradual speed-up.
3. At the end of a two hour practice, the fingers are flying, so the students can play as fast as they want and enjoy the experience before quitting. After all, they are tired of practicing so that they can relax, play their hearts out at full speed; this is the time to enjoy the music!
4. Once the piece can be played satisfactorily, memorize it and practice "until the music is in the hands". (v) On the day of the recital or lesson, practice the piece at correct speed (or faster!) as many times as possible in order to make sure that it is in top condition. This is the last chance; obviously, the more practice, the better.

EVERY STEP OF THIS PROCEDURE IS WRONG! The above will almost guarantee that the students will not progress beyond intermediate level even if they practice several hours daily. For example, this method tells the students nothing about what to do when they hit an impossible passage except to keep repeating, sometimes for a lifetime, with no clear idea of when or how the needed technique will be acquired. This method leaves the task of learning to play the piano completely to the student. Moreover, the music will come out flat during the recital and unexpected flubs will be almost unavoidable. You will understand all this as soon as you read about the more efficient methods described below.

Lack of progress is the main reason why so many students quit piano. Students, especially youngsters, are smart; why work like a slave and learn nothing? Reward the students and you will get more dedication than any teacher could want. You can be a doctor, scientist, lawyer, athlete, or anything you want, and still become a good pianist. This is because there are methods that let you acquire technique qickly, as we shall soon see.

Note that the above practice routine is an "intuitive" (or "instinctive") method. If a person of average intelligence were marooned on an island with just a piano and decided to practice, that person would most likely devise a practice method like the one above. That is, a teacher using this type of practice routine isn't teaching anything -- the method is intuitive. When I first started to compile the "correct learning procedures" of this book, I was struck most by how counter-intuitive many of them were. I will explain later why they are so counter-intuitive but this offers the best explanation for why so many teachers use the intuitive approach. These teachers never learned the correct methods and therefore gravitated naturally to the intuitive methods. The trouble with counter-intuitive methods is that they are harder to adopt than intuitive ones; your brain is constantly telling you that they are not right and to get back to the intuitive ones. This message from the brain can become irresistible just before a lesson or recital -- try telling (uninformed) students not to enjoy playing their finished pieces before quitting practice, or not to over-practice on recital day! It is not just the students or teachers. It is also any parents or friends with good intentions that influence the practice routines of young students. Parents who are not informed will always force their children to use the intuitive methods. This is one reason why good teachers always ask parents to accompany their children to the lessons. If the parents are not informed, there is a virtual guarantee that they will force the students to use methods that are in direct contradiction to the teacher's instructions.

Students who started with the correct methods from the beginning are the "apparently lucky" ones. However, they must be careful later in life if they weren't taught what the wrong methods are. Once they leave the teacher, they can stumble into the intuitive methods and have no idea why everything is suddenly falling apart. It's like a bear that had never seen a bear trap -- it gets caught every time. These "lucky" ones often can't teach either, because they may not know that many intuitive methods can lead to disaster. On the other hand, the apparently "unlucky" students who first learned the intuitive methods and then changed over to the better ones have some unexpected advantages. They know both the right and wrong methods and often make much better teachers. Therefore, although this book teaches the correct methods, it is just as important to know what NOT to do, and why. This is why the most frequently used wrong methods are extensively discussed here.

We describe the components of a proper practice routine in the following sections. They are presented in approximately the order in which a student might use them from start to finish of a new piece of music.

Fundamentals of Piano Practise

Teachers play a critical role in showing students how to play and practice musically. For example, most pieces of music begin and end with the same chord, a somewhat mysterious rule which is actually a result of basic chord progression rules. An understanding of chord progressions is very useful for memorizing. A musical phrase generally starts and ends with softer notes, with the louder ones in between; when in doubt, this is a good default principle. This may be one reason why so many compositions begin with a partial bar – the first beat usually carries the accent and is too loud. There are many books that discuss musical interpretation (Gieseking, Sandor), and we will encounter numerous pointers throughout this book.

Musical training is most rewarding for the very young. Most babies exposed frequently to perfectly tuned pianos will automatically develop perfect pitch -- this is nothing extra-ordinary. Nobody is born with perfect pitch, because it is a 100% learned skill (the exact frequencies of the musical scales are arbitrary human conventions -- there is no natural law that says that middle A should be 440 Hz, most orchestras tune to 442 Hz, and before it was standardized, it had a much larger range of allowable frequencies). If this perfect pitch is not maintained, it will be lost later in life. Piano training of young children can begin around the ages of three to four. Early exposure of youngsters (from birth) to classical music is beneficial because classical music has the highest musical content (complex logic) among all the different types of music. Some forms of contemporary music, by over-emphasizing certain narrow aspects, such as loudness or simplistic music structures that do not stimulate the brain, can detract from musical development by interfering with brain development.

Although you need to be musically gifted to compose music, the ability to play the piano is not that dependent on the musical brain. In fact, most of us are more musical than we give ourselves credit for and it is the lack of technique that limits our musical expression at the piano. We have all had the experience of listening to famous pianists and noticing that one is different from the other -- that is more musical sensitivity than we will ever need to start playing the piano. There is no need to practice eight hours a day; some famous pianists have recommended practice times of less than an hour. You can make progress practicing three or four times a week, one hour each.

Finally, total music education (scales, time signatures, ear training [including perfect pitch], dictation, theory, etc.) should be an integral part of learning to play the piano because each different thing you learn helps all the others. In the final analysis, a total music education is the only way to learn piano. Unfortunately, the majority of aspiring pianists do not have the resources or the time to follow such a path.

Statistically, students who excel in playing the piano almost always end up composing music of their own(like me haha). Studying music composition is not a prerequisite for composing. Some teachers frown on learning too much composition theory before starting to compose your own music because that can prevent you from developing your individual style.

The Great Interpretation - Karajan

Herbert Von Karajan was a was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor, one of the most renowned 20th-century conductors. His obituary in The New York Times described him as probably the world's best-known conductor and one of the most powerful figures in classical music.Karajan conducted the Berlin Philharmonic for thirty-five years(for his whole life).

He was a child prodigy in piano and he was encouraged to study conducting. Many people said that he had a special gift for extracting beautiful sounds from an orchestra.

Karajan was the recipient of many honours and awards. On 21st June 1978, he received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music from Oxford University.He was honored by the “Médaille de Vermeil” in Paris, the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, the Olympia Award of the Onassis Foundation in Athens and the UNESCO International Music Prize. He received two Gramophone awards for recordings of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony and the complete Parsifal recordings in 1981. In 2002, the Herbert Von Karajan Music Prize was founded in his honour; in 2003 Anne-Sophie Mutter who had made her debut with Karajan in 1977, became the first recipient of this award.

Herbert von Karajan was recently selected as a main motif for a high value collectors' coin: the 100th Birthday of Herbert von Karajan commemorative coin. The nine-sided silver coin, in the reverse, shows Karajan in one of his typically dynamic poses while conducting. In the background is the score of Beethoven’s Ninth.
ARGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i want this coin so badly but still can not buy it because 1st no credti card, 2nd dono where to buy it=.= argh!!!!

So please listen to his conducting on Beethoven Symphony No.9, i would it was fantasic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2AEaQJuKDY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSEqQsAXbJw&feature=related
please enjoy^-^

My Music Composition

Haha my second music composition in this year... look nice ?
take me about 1 month and a few days more to complete it...
the picture i scan above is just the introduction for the music only...
everyone says that it sounds great, grand, and sadness.
well this piece i use the key in C-minor as my maestro - Ludwig Van Beethoven
like it so much.
Joseph say it got the feeling of moonlight sonata,great i like his comment
hope 1 day he will be a great pianist...and i will get free entrance for his performance
hehehehe.....don't tell him this ar=.=

i get so many comments for my composition(bad and good ones)
the comments are:
1. great nice introduction
2. feels like the storms are coming
3. i feel loneliness, sadness
that the good comment

for the bad comment...
1.too much pedaling is used
2. the introduction is nothing special
3.it just like playing scales and appregios
4.and it sounds noisy

well for those who give comment (bad or good) i really appreciate it
because your comments can make me improve more in composing...
nvm although this piece is NOTHING SPECIAL(to the person who said it)
but can you composed it? can you composed it when you have no theory about composition?
by the way i tell you i just grade 3 and learn nothing about composition. How many people can compose thier own songs/music/piece in Alor Star?
i think got less then 7% knows=.=
why? because composing is not as easy as you think it was....
it need inspiration...idea...a strong composing theory...
but if you are Mozart ok nvm just write music out of your mind will do...
( that was what Mozart did)

So....for this piece i will keep it for the next 2 years coming for further modification...
until everyone says that is piece is amazing....i will stop modify it just like my maestro have done
He (Beethoven )keep his composition private and always modify it bar by bar until a final and great piece is done. no wonder his composition is so great.

Enzymes the "lock and key hypothesis"

1st I wanted to congratulate Malaysia Biology reference book (most of it) and text book for being so outdated...

1st what you know about enzyme?
you would have say like this : " enzymes are made up of proteins( tertiary structure) and are biomolecules that increase the rate of biochemical."
yes you are right...

but when i ask this question to my friends mostly their answer are perfectly wrong....=.="
here are my question
In the lock and key hypothesis model enzymes are key or lock and the substrate are lock or the key?
well their answer is enzymes are lock and the substrate is key....well that is totally wrong...
not their answers only but most of the Biology reference book and text book(malaysia) like Total Pro(Puan khoo use one), Sasbadi, Pelangi, and many many more...except for longman they do not say that enzyme are key or lock.

well let me prove that enzyme are not the lock.
first let us look at the general chracteristic of enzymes
thier chracteristic are:
1.they are very specific
2.are not use up/destroyed in the reaction
3.enzyme catalyse reversible reactions
4.many enzyme are only able to work under the presence of a coenzyme
5.they are sensitive to pH.

take a look on the general characteristic No.2 it says that enzymes are not use up or destroyed in the reaction, if all the conditions are normal to the enzymes.

ok look back to the lock and key model.
enzyme are lock. lock changes its shape when it is opened by a key right?
so we can't say that enzymes are lock because it DOES NOT SUIT ITS GENERAL CHRACTERISTIC.

and this lock and key model has proven inaccurate and the induced fit model is the most currently accepted enzyme-subtrate complex figure only.

so the conclusion is enzymes is key, substrate is the lock.

but 1 book i found that contains the correct answer , SAP
it stated that enzymes are key while the substrate are lock. thats right.

so why malaysia government don't want change the fact of this? do they do not know they are "planting" the wrong information/ideas/concept to the students?
hope that 1 day malaysia government will know that but i don't know when they are going to know it....