Thursday, June 28, 2007.11:39 PM

Reeds n Stuff

A friend recommended me to this site for buying "you pi you qi" bassoon reed stuff!

(On Wishlist)

Now check THIS out. It is a 10-reed holder with a Hygrometer and Humidifier in it! Cooooooool......I'm gonna buy this lor - if I travel often with my bassoon. It's about $180 for this (reeds not included =)). This is SO going into my WishList. *Grin*

(Planning to buy)

(In my dreams)

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Sunday, June 24, 2007.1:14 AM

Back from the Adventures

Today finally marks the end of a 2-week long stint. Both concerts were so different...Play! was great fun and the FF was quite an unusual orchestra concert. I totally enjoyed doing Play! Hopefully we can do an anime one next yr!

That's us below at the Play! concert. (That was the matinee show. Audience was really dead and unhappening.) Photo: Courtesy of Jason (cheek's bro)


The Bassoons!!! Look at that Contra...My fingers are too short to play a contra comfortably. Any finger extension devices?





Kawaii Neh! ;)



Rehearsing and performing for FF kind of allowed me to experience what's it like to be a professional orchestral musician. Scary. Especially if you don't understand the conductor's style of conducting. Which is quite common...since we all have had different conductors leading us from time to time. And they all have their own quirkiness. But having worked with this C before, it was easier for me. We all know his "pattern" very well liao.

1. Belt up


2. Put on your crash helmet


3. Get ready for a ride on the Viking - Can never tell where you're going to crash into later.

Somehow, captain hook (he's from Peter Pan but nevermind lah) always manages to steer us up to shore alive but maybe not kicking...

I thought it was the graveyard that we were playing to. Audience was so DEAD. I think the loudest applause we got was for Across the Stars from Stars Wars Episode II lor. : I loved Abigail's powerful performance - packed with confidence and character. Lovely encore by her. :) Junhong's rendition of the Glazunov was so passionate. Well done! Choice for encore could be shorter and more engaging next time? Nonetheless a fantastic performance. Good luck for the violin competition!

*Got a end-of-concert-congratulatory-hug from C. HaHa. Really w..e..ir..d...*

Below: Junhong with the cute Zeh-Zehs and Uncle. :p

*Glee on our $$$ faces*

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Saturday, June 23, 2007.2:30 AM

Some quotes...

1. Never explain yourself. Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it.
   
2. A stranger stabs you in the front; a friend stabs you in the back; a boyfriend stabs you in the heart, but best friends only poke each other with straws.
   
3. Nobody is worth your tears, and the one who is won't make you cry.
   
4. Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
   
5. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. - 1 Corinthians 13:4
   
6. Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience. - Victoria Holt, writer

..............................................

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Friday, June 22, 2007.11:14 PM

Retirement?

SINGAPORE: The age when a person is allowed to withdraw the CPF Minimum Sum
could be raised from 62 to 65 in the near future. This is one suggestion by
Minister-in-charge of ageing issues, Mr Lim Boon Heng, who has just returned
from a study trip to Japan.

Under the law, CPF withdrawal is tied to the prevalent retirement age. So if the retirement age is raised, then the CPF drawdown age would be raised as well. In May, a tripartite committee studying the issue of employing older workers in an ageing workforce said hiring older
workers beyond the age of 62 would become part of Singapore's employment laws
within the next five years.

To cope with an ageing population, Japan and some European countries are already raising the age at which national pensions are paid out to 65 and beyond. By 2013, all Japanese will not be able to draw out their national pensions until they are 65.

Singapore may follow-suit, with its CPF system. That is because the average life expectancy of the elderly is now 82. So Singaporeans need to think about how to stretch their savings. Mr Lim
said: "I think it is quite reasonable to raise it to 65, if our objective is to raise the employment rate of this group of people, but I think we should do so cautiously. "So we should make employment happen. We should not leave people in a situation where they can't get a job and yet the minimum sum drawdown age is raised. So we must first make sure... that the employment rate [is] going up."

The government is already getting employers and employees to negotiate terms of
re-employment, once the worker hits the retirement age at 62. Extending this
retirement age is not a law yet, as the government first wants to explore what
types of issues will crop up and how they can be resolved.

In Japan, the reemployment law states that the employer is obliged to offer a job to someone who has reached the age of 60 until he is 65. But how this is done is open to discussion. For example, employers can pay the worker less, or arrange for another job for the worker. And the Japanese government is now thinking of raising the retirement age to beyond 70. It has even set a target of 90 per cent employment for those aged 60 to 65 by the year 2030.

Currently, 52.6 per cent of Japanese in this age group are employed. In Singapore, this figure is 41.9 per cent. During his study trip, Minister Lim also visited nursing homes and day care centres in Japan. Many of the elderly in these centres are subsidised by a long-term care insurance implemented by the state seven years ago. But since it kicked in, financial outlay grew from S$45 billion to S$87 billion last year.

So it is becoming clear to the Japanese that this is unsustainable. Mr Lim said such an example showed that the responsibility of caring for the old, should not rest on the state. "As the Japanese are realising, it is the family that should look after the old and it is the community that should support the family to look after the old. This is the lowest cost option for any society," said Mr Lim.

And to help families, Singapore could take a leaf from Japan's example, where there are courses for caregivers, who also have a support network. Mr Lim is also against giving state funding to these caregivers. In Japan, families cannot claim from the long-term care insurance when they stay home themselves to look after the elderly, but they can claim if they hire external help.

"This is a choice which people have to make based on their set of values. And the set of values that I would like to maintain and promote is that it is the duty of the family to look after its old. "Payment to family members breaks that link and I think it would cheapen the care that the family members give to their old if we equate that with payment," said Mr Lim.

Also, there is already the Eldershield plan, which allows the individual or his family to decide what to do with the payouts. As for singles, Mr Lim said there are provisions made for them, such as the building of studio apartments. But as far as possible, he wants to encourage even singles to live in their own homes, and better still with their families. - CNA/yy

*Quoted from Channelnewsasia.com

In the real world, poorly educated/uneducated old folks (above 50) have no jobs and have met with many interview rejections simply cos they're above 30s. What use is raising one's retirement age to 65 then? It does nothing for employer willingness to employ people above 40s. If we follow what Japan does, which is raising the minumum sum withdrawal age to match the retirement age (65), what will these old folks survive on? There's no such thing as a welfare system here lor. We know that we can't really depend on the young to support their parents...

So what do we do then? Increase the employability of folks 40 and above. How? Conduct courses for them...upgrading... Yes, yes...we've heard all these but how many have gained from it? Do these poorly/(un)educated folks know about these upgrading courses and how to sign up for it? There're tons of such courses you can provide - the list can go on and on. When they do graduate from these courses, can the agency guarantee them a job? No, I don't think so. Some simply have given up hope of finding employment. Rely on children? Oh yes, talk about the whole big issue of having your children give you allowances without a complain. GST rate is climbing lah, electricity bills getting ridiculous lah, cost of living is far exceeding the standard of living lah etc.

Say they are offered a job. But it's unsuitable. By that, I mean not having to work as a McDonald uncle/auntie - even then you need to know some english - or helping out at hawker stalls clearing tables. This applies to men especially. I don't think women would mind that much what kind of a job they do as long as it brings money home. I say we're quite practical creatures. :)

A question for the guys:
Would you men, assuming your degree can't fetch you anything better than a hawker stall assistant/supermarket trolley uncle job in 20yrs' time, rather be a househusband and get allowance from your working wife or accept the 'lowly' jobs (as how some see it)? - assuming your wife's still employed and you are childless.

Before you raise the minimum sum withdrawal age to 65, please think of how to make your citizens more employable from the perspective of an employer and how to successfully implement it.

Man...hopefully I'll live long enough to claim my minimum sum payout. MSW age might very well rise to 70 by my 40s... :

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Monday, June 18, 2007.11:03 PM

Play! photos

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Irritating choir guy

Cheek sent me some links to blog entries about Play! All are pleasant reviews, with some even managing to sneak some shots of us. However, there's one particular entry that irks me.

It seems like she memorised whatever happened in the concert, word for word...Frankly, I don't really agree that the choir was that fantastic. You may call me BIASED. But ever since that Friday morning, I developed a fresh new dislike for the choir members at Play!. This weirdo colleague ("Yan3 dao2") who works in my department and happens to be in the choir for Play! came up to me that morning...

Yandao: Hey! Is your orchestra new ah?
Me: Yes. It's newly set up. (smiles)
Yandao: Oh... No Wonder. Especially your organist. She cannot play her parts ah?
Me: Er. I think she's just nervous. The cameraman was zooming in on her fingers all the time lor. (I was getting irritated)
Yandao: Oh? What's her name?
Me: Dr. E.L.
Yandao: Like that can be doctor ah???
(At that instant, I wished I had concrete to fill up the potholes on his pockmarked face and that insensitive foul mouth of his)
Me: Uh...(I gave him a patronising smile and pretended to be busy to make him GO!)


Later, just before I went for lunch, he came over to my desk again. This time to ask me what time I'll leave for the concert hall later. I said, "Er. I'm not sure", looked back at my computer and fake busy. He lingered there for a moment...and trailed off like a wandering ghost. When it was time for me to leave the office, I packed my stuff gingerly so as not to cause a stir, gestured 'goodbyes' to my colleagues and made my burglar style escape. *Phew!*

This weirdo came to my desk again today asking me when the orchestra's performing again and then wished us all the best. HAH! Thanks alot for your well wishes. I'm so grateful that you kindly reserved your insensitive remarks for someone else. Maybe pockmarks are a way of punishing you, but apparently they don't seem like good deterrents in your case. Piles might work better? But ouch, I don't suppose I'm that evil enough to want that to happen to you...yet. That's how much I detest people like you. Don't ever be so critical of something which you aren't capable of doing better yourself, much less when you know nuts about it.

Oh something interesting about this weirdo. My Asst Mgr often hears him singing in the loo. And today when S & I went to the toilet as we knocked off, we came out hearing him croak from more than 5metres away inside the male toilet. Hmm...Tenor range. Now...Mr. Yandao aka Mr Weirdo has a new nickname.

Mr. Phantom of the Toilet (POTTer).

What hair-raising voice.

(NB. This is NOT a compliment, Mr. POTTer)

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Professional Orchestra?

Perhaps we should send some people back to primary school to teach them how to count...It's so embarrassing how you can call yourself a professionally trained musician like that. Or not even bothering to check on intonation when the unison lines are OUT OF TUNE. Esp. the winds in general. I simply didn't know what to say when friends told me that the viola and clarinet were grossly out of tune. (......)

I think the tubist has too much nutrition liao lar. He's almost always a semitone sharp! Sure get a loose jaw in no time if I have to keep flattening and sharpening to match the tubist/clarinetist. Sorry, my tubist friend, think solo career not feasible for your instrument wor. So, I guess you're stuck in orchestras leh. Bad luck.

Hmmm...many musicians barely bothered doing bits of sectionals. Something which would take up only a few mins of your bitching time...?

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Dancing Mad - Final Fantasy VI Trailer

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Final Fantasy VII Advent Children - One Winged Angel

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PLAY: One-Winged Angel (Chicagoland Pops Worldwide Premiere)

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Play! Mario Bros.Theme Stockholm

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PLAY! A Video Game Symphony - Stockholm

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Tuesday, June 5, 2007.10:43 AM

Ensemble Playing

Came across this Blog entry when I was doing research on Knowledge Management. The guy was using orchestra as an analogy in explaining some concepts.

"The leader of the orchestra isn't the conductor, it's the principal violin player. The conductor's there to set the right tempo and manage the interpretation of the piece the orchestra's playing."

The conductor, concert master and principal players need to provide the direction and coordination if their musicians have no clue at all. However, if the conductor doesn't even know that his musicians are not playing together and seem to collapse everytime a meter change occurs in a piece, is there anything left for the orchestra to do to save themselves? After all, you're the one waving the stick right?

Internal Pulse
If our musicians don't even try to keep an internal pulse, not even Herbert von Karajan can make us play together.

Communication
This requires the musicians to be receptive to comments and not act defensively in order to protect your own 'face'.

Listen
Ears are there for a purpose. Listen out for what other musicians are playing and what part do you play in it?

Teamwork
Do we even need more elaboration on this?

Finally, another great blog entry on knowledge management in orchestra playing - Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

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Stuffs

Attempting to edit/create blogskins...so wait patiently for a new look! --- Gotta read up on Html editing first! ;)

Very busy in the coming weeks and my schedule's such a mess.
I need a PDA!

Upcoming events:
Concert - 9 June
Games Concert - 15/16 June
Vln/Pno Concert - 23 June
Milk Run - 1 Jul
Genting trip...?
School - 13 Aug

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Friday, June 1, 2007.1:15 AM

Laozhabor's Rap （老查某饶舌歌）

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我的朋友 My Friends Kawanku (麻坡的華語麻坡 part II)

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Mahathir's speech

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