EchoMusic Student Gathering...

Last Saturday we (EchoMusic) had our student gathering at the Singapore Arts Museum. It was the longest gathering we've ever had... but it was good and still enjoyable :) It was great to see the students prepare themselves and give their all to their performances. It was heart-warming and inspiring! Great! Everyone did well :) And I felt like a PROUD PARENT. Haha... I was so proud of all my students! Weelin, Adeline, Lixian and Markolele! All of you did well...

I love to teach and the joy of teaching comes when your student improves. Be it in small steps or in a big leap. I have some students who have been with me for over 2years, they are those who've followed through almost since the time I started. Its a blessing to be able to teach... and I sure hope that I bring joy and teach well in my lessons :)

Photos below...


"Old time" students and more like friends now... Zhang Yan and Lixian :)


Weelin and I... Great job for the night! :)


Lix and I... What happened to "掌心"???? But a fabulous job on "你快乐所以我快乐"


The best friends in action! Yan and Lix :) Cheers to your friendship!


Markolele... I still think you did well for your performance! :)


Adeline and I... its great to see how she has improved :)

Also for the night, it was the night that officially marked the end of the 1st Star Program. They have come a long way. After a whole year of training, practicing, exposure, performing... etc etc. And I have been involved in many ways. In fact, I was a 1/2 star program student? Ha... Many memories and left and I have known so many of them :) All the best to all, pursue your dreams and keep the passion alive! Its been great knowing all of you and spending the times together :)


A group pic together! :)

Also that Sunday, after WTC's performance, I had supper... with Jake and Minhui. So it was the 3 of us. A first and a different combi. Ha... so weird...


At Macau Cafe...

-LeB-

English Tuition...

there are times where I do not know whether to laugh or cry...

its when... your student reads "ordinary" as "original", thus the sentence becomes somewhat... "Her wish was to be an ORIGINAL girl..."

and when asked what is "breadwinner"... the student's reply is... "BEST BREAD!"; indeed, he has an understanding of the 2 words... Applause for that, but its wrong!!! And when I explain that it means earning money or income, he says..."oh, selling bread to earn money". Great... Now, how did the word breadwinner come along?

-LeB-

Jehovah Jireh, God our provider...

This is a thanks-giving post... Today Caleb is in a thanking mood... I thank God for...

Providing me with jobs for an income! In the last 2 weeks and past few days, I got...

-1 new keyboard student
-A new keyboard class of 4 students starting in May! Woohoo! Haha...
-A soon-to-be classical piano student (thanks to KP for the recommendation! It really was a surprise...)
-A new tuition kid!

God really provides... Just when I was looking for more assignments for more income. Although the doors for relief teaching did not open, I didn't expect all these to come :) Praise the Lord!

I also thank God for..

-Shufen's marked improvement in her health. I really really thank God and praise Him! :)
-Dan Fung getting 2nd in his school's Betty Idol... Haha!
-Simon and Meilian's gig at C-Nai Cafe, East Coast

I feel happy for my friends and the people around me :)

I thank God I can play the piano and some cello...

-LeB-

T'ang Quartet ft. Albert Tiu + catch up session...

Met Xingyu up for a concert by T'ang Quartet with special guest Albert Tiu. This was the first time I heard T'ang Quartet playing more "listenable" pieces, and also the first listening to Albert Tiu. The concert was good! Very enjoyable... the 2nd half was much more enjoyable! I think the piano did spice up things a little :) But I thought the T'ang Quartet did an amazing job... I was wowed at the very first note! They certainly live up to their reputation :)

Before the show we had a fabulous dinner at Ichiban, great food! And after the concert, we headed to the HK cafe at Marina Sq. I didn't expect that we would just talk and talk till we lost track of time. I certainly didn't plan to head back after 12midnight. Besides, I wasn't driving which meant more COST! But I guess, good time spent together is always worth the value. I really had a great time catching up with Xingyu today and we talked about almost everything under the sun. Thank God for this friend whom I met in an interesting way? Haha... But I guess its also the common interests that we have that keeps us in contact :)

No photos taken but I've got a photo we took 3years back! Its been 3years now... time flies...


Haha... Taken with a polaroid :)

Have a great and fruitful holiday girl!

-LeB-

my latest CD purchases...

Over the last 1-2 months, I have bought about 5 CDs, ranging from Cantonese Pop, Jazz albums, instrumentals, a Christian album... etc... 2 of the albums I bought stood out. Eric Kwok's Leet Collection and Eason Chan's (陈奕迅) H3M, which actually means hak hau hak mien; direct translation is black mouth, black face. H3M is what they call his line up of musicians touring with him. Interesting! Haha...

Cantonese Pop is very much more interesting to me compared to the current Chinese songs. To me, they are more daring, more creative and adventurous in trying out different styles and genres, especially Eason Chan. I took notice of the songwriter/arranger/producer Eric Kwok from his famous numbers such as 幸福摩天轮 - Eason, 伤逝 - Sally Yeh, 华丽邂逅 - Joey Yung. He has adopted his very own style to the usage of notes in his compositions, and that to me is very interesting... I like his songs too... It was also through the album that I realised he composed a song by Sandy Lam that I like very much! Talented guy he is...

So Eason Chan released his latest full cantonese album. Honestly, I love his cantonese songs better, much better I think. It was thrilled to know he had an album out. I was out with Sun Quan when I decided to get his album. Sun Quan saw the album cover and said, "Who's this? Robinson Crusoe?" wahhahah! I replied, "Yah, yah"... well, as if I know how Robinson Crusoe looks like! Anyway, who is RC? I flipped through the lyric book hoping to find Eric Kwok's work in this album, but... nope. However, I got to say that this album is terrific! I played the CD on my car and through the first 4 albums, ALL the songs were nice! Refreshing ideas, nice hooks to the song, great arrangement and of course, splendid vocals by Eason himself. It reminded me of the time Danick, Minny and I went to watch his concert. It was ... REALLY GOOD. No doubt one of the best singers in the Chinese industry. 2 thumbs up for Eason Chan and his new album. Also, kudos to all the musicians involved in the album. Loving it and listening to it through and through.

From H3M, no.1 on my list is... Allegro, Opus 3.3 a.m. (with a tinge of Mika-ness in the song... its a very refreshing song that gets you on your toes!)

no.2 of my recommendation is... 于心有鬼 (a slow number with a nice hook, the kind that I like)

no.3 ... Life Goes On (a swingy feel with that some kinda hook that gets me)

no.4 ... 七百年后 （I think this is the hit song on the album, however, I think I prefer the not-so-commercial stuff)

anyway, all tracks are good! get the album man!

it seems fun to be a CD critic...

Good music must be shared and appreciated!

-LeB-

Faith in God...

Life is never easy but this road has been made possible with the help of God. I have faith in God, in a true and living, almighty God. Often we are busy with our own lives that we forget the Kingdom of God. It is in times like this that God pulls everyone back on track, test our faith and gives us reminders...

I want to put ALL my faith in God and trust Him like never before and PRAY, PRAY, PRAY...

Lord, let Your Will be done and not ours... We are praying, we are interceding...

-LeB-

some updates... a super duper long weekend...

these days, blogging hasn't been a frequent thing to do... I just had a super packed and busy extended weekend together with Good Friday... Busy-ness started with thursday night! I was out with Minny and Markolele again at a comfy HK cafe in Marina Sq, I think we wanted to leave at latest 1am? Ended up, we left at 3am... But, good time spent together with friends is always worth it! :)

Friday morning... 9am, I was supposed to be in church for a rehearsal, but... I was late!!! Ended up reaching at 10am. Sorry dudes, should have been there earlier... 10am-1plus, prayer walk... Continued with lunch and hanging out. Then it was lesson with Dan and E. at 4.30pm, after which, we had BBQ at my estate for the night. Tired, tired... I tried to learn 2-3 songs needed for WTC' performance but I was too tired. Yawnz...

Saturday. I had wanted to wake up earlier to learn more songs. But... I failed :( Slept in till 10plus and had to get ready to head down to Echo for practice and lessons. Was at Echo till 8pm then headed down to Global Sounds for dinner and watched a little of Neo, Audrey and Sem's performance. Not bad, not bad, I did enjoy the performance :) Had to leave earlier to go back to finish up the remaining songs to learn.

Sunday. I reached church at 8.30am in the morning! For once, I wasn't late! Haha, I'm so proud of myself. Rehearsed for a short skit and worship practice for SR's easter program. I was... dead beat by then! But I just had to go through it. Thank God that I still had energy... Lasted throughout the easter program and had lunch with my church friends and went down to east coast for baptism + rollar-blading! Rollar-blading was fun! I miss it... :) Hopefully, I can get to do it more often! Also, it was good cause I got to know the younger youths (primarily the secondary school kids) much better. I think even seeing them weeks after weeks in church, I have never talked to some before. But I did this time round! :) After everything, I had to leave for WTC!

I leave east coast and took a cab to WTC. I stammered really badly on trying to tell the cab driver where's my destination. And the cab driver turned back and asked me in a crude manner, "Whats wrong b*lls??" and started laughing, he also said some crude things which really... not worth mentioning. I had wished that he could just stop talking but he couldn't! Arggh! I wanted rest man! Ironically, I told him I was at east coast with my church friends and he said he's a Christian too, a Catholic and started talking to me about God. Err...

Finally reached WTC and at my first performance with Xinyi and Shaotian. For the first time, I had to play 3 birthday songs for the slot and play "song dedications"... It was... challenging! After the performance, I went to eat supper with Wangdajie (Minny) and finally headed home at 12am...

The weekend felt like a 12hit combo! Good thing I do not have to suffer Monday blues and I could sleep in for the morning. :) Its time to get recharged and busy again!

Thank God for everything! :)

-LeB-

planning for the future...

at 2am in the morning, Caleb is planning for the future...

I just made a call to Berklee to find out about some stuff. I also managed to find out what went wrong with my audition. It was good that I could find out what went wrong... cause... I'm dying to know! What the guy over the phone said was that... Nothing really major or drastic went wrong with my audition, I have got some good technique, musicianship... but it was that this semester, the applicants were too strong. Its really time to work harder and harder if I really want to make it there...

I also checked if I had to wait a year before reapplying... and the answer is yes. :( Sadly... However, I could do the 12 week summer program next year (May) which could credit into a 1st semester in Berklee... That sounds like a plan. :) then... to reapply into college again and get it! I really want to go Berklee, study music and do my best in music.

my thoughts after 14hrs since the release of results:

-I am feeling MUCH better now :) yeah. and I know that God certainly has plans to prosper me, bigger and better plans for me. I have to trust in Him... and find comfort in Him! :) I ever thought how would I react if I really didn't get in... would I blame God? and I am glad that I am not blaming God! yeah! in fact, I still thank Him :) God is good ALL the time.

-now that I am not going over... I can attend my brother's wedding (which is a big thing and that I would have to miss it if I was accepted!) and I can attend Matz & Isaiah's, Joyce's ... and others?

-its time for me to be DISCIPLINED. I think God is probably speaking to me on that aspect. Life has been quite a bed of roses, and I thank God for it... but I must not get complacent! Time to step out of my comfort zone, do more things and starting earning more income! Should be going back to relief teaching...

-not going over means I have another 1 year learning the cello as well. Which is a good thing cause I think I've got a really good and nice cello teacher and I enjoy lessons with him. And the cello is something I would like to continue with even if I do go overseas :)

-from now till then, I have exactly 1 year or more... and I better improve musically and in my piano. Also, I believe God has His timing and I am looking out for what God has in stored for me this year and in Singapore :)

and lastly, I really thank God for wonderful parents, a very supportive elder brother, a very close and still adorable younger brother. I thank God that they understand what I really love, appreciate and want to do in life :) my mum told me, "its ok, just try again next year" and my dad said, "how about going to the music college in KL, or Australia?" I am really really grateful and thankful that they don't pressurize me to do something that I do not like or to be more so-called-useful. There wasn't even a word of reprimand. I cherish my family very much :) love them lots... thank God, thank God.

Also, I thank all my friends for all the encouragement. Thanks, thanks and more thanks :)

I really do hope I can do it!

striving towards a much more disciplined life... praise the Lord!

-LeB-