Finale Performance

Lessons at Yu Neng Primary have come to a close. The children did a finale performance today in front of a large audience outside the library. Even though they were pretty nervous, they did a pretty good job of it handling the pressure of playing in front of a live audience.

So proud of them. Really thank the teachers for giving me this chance to teach them over the course of 10 weeks and really happy that the students have gained much insight into the world of Ukulele.

Hope I can be back again next year to teach these adorable children again. :)

A Rainy Wednesday

Hello all,

Was kinda free this morning, so I went to a shop selling birds to look.

Was thinking of getting a parrot to liven up things at home. Maybe can teach it to talk and sing.

Or maybe I can play the guitar, and it becomes the lead singer. So I don't have to look for a female vocalist anymore. heehee.

Having my Japanese students today. Anyone knows how to speak fluent Jap here? I can do a skill swap, I teach you how to play the Guitar, You teach me Japanese.

Have always found the language very interesting. Very refined.

Also saw an advertisement on Chinese calligraphy lessons. hmmmm, I did it when I was much younger, maybe I should pick up this hobby again.

Overall a relaxing morning, I should be busier, but here I am at the library typing this post. Anyway,

its good to relax once in a while, do something other than guitar/ukulele. Take a road trip, go smell some flowers. On a side note, I think orchids are beautiful. Easy to grow and the flowers bloom for a long long time. More trips to the garden please?

What's happening on a Monday.

Done with classes on this typical Monday.

Completed lessons with the Belgium lady.
It was fun teaching her, and for her age, she has learnt pretty fast and well. Overall I was very pleased with her performance.

Followed by lessons with the two French girls. I seem to be having a lot of French students lately.
J is getting to know me a lot better now, and with her new ukulele, she is progressing along fine. All I need are some French songs to learn so that I can teach her.

Her sister L is a cute chubby 4 year old who is bursting with energy and enthusiasm. I think she's a little afraid of me as she needed her mum with her during the lesson. Overall it went well..

On my own part, my preparation for my exams is picking up steam. Rondo is settling pretty well, just memorized the first two sections. Polacca as usual needs more time, but Im getting down to that.

Scales, I hate the word, but they must be done. I have been procrastinating for such a long long time but they have to be done.

Overall rating for today, a 7 out of 10. Good day!

End of a Long Tiring week

Its a Saturday and its been a long week.

N Primary has come to a close at last. 10 fruitful weeks of training, interacting with the kids and preparing for performance. It has been full of laughter and joy, with some tough moments in between, but overall, I am pretty satisfied.

On the private lesson side, Monday started out well, with my young Miss J getting her ukulele and jumping for Joy about it. Her sister too is joining in the action. Lesson went as planned.

Tuesday, Mr Co got his lesson alone with me as his cousin was not able to make it. Tried to play "say something"- the song is still ringing in my head. Lesson went well.

My Jap group on Wednesday was fun. the little boy can sing and play now, which is really good cos I only had him for three lessons. My little Jo boy was spot on as usual with his lessons, so it really felt good.

Well I end my Saturday on a high as I received a new group today.

Note to myself, Prepare the lesson well and the actual lesson will go smoothly.

Bye for now!

My Day in a Post

I messed up an interview today. Was not my usual self when i started playing. a strange queer kind of fear and apprehension crept over me as i played in front of them.

Why? I dont know. I havent played live auditions in a while. Having trouble sleeping at night.

Was i too tired? too caught up with certain issues that i seemed to "forget" the notes?

It was not a good interview and I knew i screwed up big time. Went home to sleep over it.

Woke up and just picked up the classical to play K3(Mozart).

With the metronome plugged in my ear, i realised my whole concept of the song was wrong from the start. It should have been much much faster. (Eh stupid, open your eyes, it says allegretto)

did it in double time and felt more satisfied. Checked youtube for versions of the song and voila, I was right! I was wrong from the start.

The past advice on using the metronome all the time has come back. Thank you to my former mentor.

A sage i call him :)

the F chord

I guess many of you will find it difficult to play this chord properly.

Wat with half barring the bottom two strings.

Just my two cents worth.

Hold a C chord, move your middle finger down a string( 3rd string 2nd fret)

Place your pinkie on the 4th string, 3rd fret, keeping your other two fingers in the C position, it's still an F.

Keep practising :)

10 crazy Girls

Finished my Ukulele class at CA today. :)

All smiles, laughter, and I was wearing my pseudo nerd specs, which always gives me luck and laughs. Do I actually look better with specs?

Anyway, It was a fun 4 weeks with them, do hope to see them again.

Crazy crazy class. Thank You CA for all the laughter and fun :)

Cheers!