Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
:)
I was walking home tonight, and it was pretty late, so when I saw a (presumably) homeless guy at the street corner calling things out to random people, I considered taking a different route. But as soon as this thought crossed my mind, he made eye contact with me and went, "Hello! Happy Valentine's Day!" and walked in my direction. He looked so cheerful that I laughed and went, "Happy Valentine's Day!" back. He looked in his thirties or forties, a mid-height black guy who reminded me of Jamie Foxx in The Soloist. He held a cup with a long-stemmed red flower inside, and after I replied, he smiled at me and said, "Here, this is for you!" and handed me the flower. After his insistences, I took it and thanked him, and then as I walked away, he called after me, "Have a great night!"
It was a completely random act of kindness, and I smiled all the way home.
It was a completely random act of kindness, and I smiled all the way home.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Szigeti
I had so many things I wanted to write about in here...but I'm in the middle of a massive marathon of homework catch-up (expected, I suppose, at 9pm on a Sunday night), and this is all I can manage for now.
From an article written by violinist Arnold Steinhardt about his teacher Joseph Szigeti:
How seriously Szigeti took our lessons was evidenced by his greetings as we arrived for our lessons each day, such as "I have been thinking about your phrasing in the Bartok Rhapsody, Arnold, and want to advise a new tack" or "Oswald, I could not sleep all night as a result of the fingering you took in the Brahms concerto." ...There were often rustlings outside my window while I practiced, and later came comments during my lessons about things I had not yet played for him. Finally I saw him under my window in the shadows during a break in my work on Paganini's 24th Caprice. Realizing that he had been spotted, he stepped into the light, and without apology, spoke his mind: "Arnold, try a more reasonable bowing in the first variation!"
HAHAHAHA. And:
He had always been a letter writer, and I was privileged to receive them from time to time informing me of his work and keeping tabs on me as well. For example on July 25, 1963, he wrote in part: "Dear Arnold, Your Mozart A Major Concerto was broadcast by Brussels and I was very happy about your stylish playing! The fermata after the initial Adagio was a little short and I found there was too little caesura before the second theme and the cadenza seemed a little affected (like some parts of your Havanaise!), Cadenza 2nd movement a little too gypsy-like and in alla Turca not enough appoggiatura and end of III mov. Too much Ritard. But the whole was a proud performance."
Hahahahaha...I laughed a lot when I read that. How cute.
From an article written by violinist Arnold Steinhardt about his teacher Joseph Szigeti:
How seriously Szigeti took our lessons was evidenced by his greetings as we arrived for our lessons each day, such as "I have been thinking about your phrasing in the Bartok Rhapsody, Arnold, and want to advise a new tack" or "Oswald, I could not sleep all night as a result of the fingering you took in the Brahms concerto." ...There were often rustlings outside my window while I practiced, and later came comments during my lessons about things I had not yet played for him. Finally I saw him under my window in the shadows during a break in my work on Paganini's 24th Caprice. Realizing that he had been spotted, he stepped into the light, and without apology, spoke his mind: "Arnold, try a more reasonable bowing in the first variation!"
HAHAHAHA. And:
He had always been a letter writer, and I was privileged to receive them from time to time informing me of his work and keeping tabs on me as well. For example on July 25, 1963, he wrote in part: "Dear Arnold, Your Mozart A Major Concerto was broadcast by Brussels and I was very happy about your stylish playing! The fermata after the initial Adagio was a little short and I found there was too little caesura before the second theme and the cadenza seemed a little affected (like some parts of your Havanaise!), Cadenza 2nd movement a little too gypsy-like and in alla Turca not enough appoggiatura and end of III mov. Too much Ritard. But the whole was a proud performance."
Hahahahaha...I laughed a lot when I read that. How cute.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Happy Birthday, Schubert :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJTzRwtdUDY
DIE SCHÖNE MÜLLERIN, D. 795 (1823)
trans. Philipp O. Naegele
18. DRY FLOWERS
You little flowers all,
That she gave me,
You should be laid
With me into my grave.
How you all look
At me in pain,
As if you knew
How I would fare?
You little flowers all,
How wilted, how pale?
You little flowers all,
Whereof so moist?
Ah, tears do not make
The green of May,
Nor dead love
Bloom again.
And spring will come,
And winter will pass,
And little flowers will
Arise in the grass.
And little flowers will lie
In my grave,
The little flowers all,
That she gave me.
And when she walks
Past the hillock on by
And thinks in her heart:
He meant it true!
Then, little flowers all,
Come out, come out!
May is come,
Winter is done.
DIE SCHÖNE MÜLLERIN, D. 795 (1823)
trans. Philipp O. Naegele
18. DRY FLOWERS
You little flowers all,
That she gave me,
You should be laid
With me into my grave.
How you all look
At me in pain,
As if you knew
How I would fare?
You little flowers all,
How wilted, how pale?
You little flowers all,
Whereof so moist?
Ah, tears do not make
The green of May,
Nor dead love
Bloom again.
And spring will come,
And winter will pass,
And little flowers will
Arise in the grass.
And little flowers will lie
In my grave,
The little flowers all,
That she gave me.
And when she walks
Past the hillock on by
And thinks in her heart:
He meant it true!
Then, little flowers all,
Come out, come out!
May is come,
Winter is done.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
World of Music
http://blog.ted.com/2008/04/15/machover_ellsey/
I was watching this video and thinking about how cool/different the world would be if every educated person learned how to make music, the same way we learn to read, solve basic math, and speak a language. What if we could all make music as easily and naturally as we talk? How much more would we be able to find out about one another's personalities?
When you reach a certain level of music-making, you reach a level of ability to express. The more skilled you are at your art, the more capable you are to show yourself and say what you mean, to have that unique sound that characterizes you (and vice versa). That's why musicians at the beginning level (a horde of little kids playing Suzuki, middle school orchestra students etc.) generally all sound quite similar to an unbiased ear, while musicians at the highest level (Kreisler, Wunderlich, DuPre) are much more distinguishable. But, you don't have to be Heifetz or Casals to reveal a little bit of yourself through music-making. It's reasonable that the more you master your technique and gain control over your body/instrument, the more you're able to make creative decisions through the music, but if you have a strong enough personality, it should and will shine through, whether you've been playing an instrument for three days or three decades.
All this seems like a given--we know it already. But I never saw a better example of this fact (that music unmasks aspects of a particular human's psyche that cannot be expressed through any other means) than in the above video. The man at the end suffers from brain damage, and it is clear that his capability to express himself is extremely limited. However, through the music he made, the audience (and I) could begin to discern really intimate details about him. The happy bursts of energy, the fluctuation in texture and dynamic, the pitches and rhythms...I can't describe in words exactly what I know about him now, but I can certainly say that I am closer to him after hearing his music.
Of course it also works the same way, in reverse--the more trained of an ear you have, the more you will be able to discern someone's inner workings through their music.
So my daydream is, what would happen if everyone in the world could effectively/constantly express themselves through music? If we all went about our everyday lives singing or playing the flute or strumming a guitar or something, as frequently as we communicate through speech and actions? How much more would we know about one another? Wouldn't it make it that much easier to find your friends, soul mates, and those with whom you would NOT get along? Imagine walking into a classroom full of strangers on your first day at a new school. Everywhere are unfamiliar faces, and you want to figure out who's who. In our current world, we observe people's facial expressions, the way they present themselves, their clothes/accessories, how they interact with others. But in this fictional music world of mine, everyone would be making some sort of music whenever they had something to say. So instead of observing their appearances, you would listen to their songs. One kid is making the smoothest, silkiest sound on his clarinet--he knows how to charm the ladies. A girl in front row is playing her viola louder than everyone else--she has a big ego, let's avoid her. The small skinny boy at the back taps a pair of hand drums with his eyes closed, devising creative rhythms--he's intelligent but laid back. Guy in the corner playing Dvorak cello concerto second theme with the longest lines and seamless vibrato--instant crush.
Because it's easier (not easy, but easier) to fake who you are through the clothes you wear, the mannerisms you adopt, the timbre of your voice, the way you do your hair. But it's difficult, if not nearly impossible, to fake who you are through music. Music is, in some ways, the clearest, most shamelessly honest mirror one can hold up to his self.
I was watching this video and thinking about how cool/different the world would be if every educated person learned how to make music, the same way we learn to read, solve basic math, and speak a language. What if we could all make music as easily and naturally as we talk? How much more would we be able to find out about one another's personalities?
When you reach a certain level of music-making, you reach a level of ability to express. The more skilled you are at your art, the more capable you are to show yourself and say what you mean, to have that unique sound that characterizes you (and vice versa). That's why musicians at the beginning level (a horde of little kids playing Suzuki, middle school orchestra students etc.) generally all sound quite similar to an unbiased ear, while musicians at the highest level (Kreisler, Wunderlich, DuPre) are much more distinguishable. But, you don't have to be Heifetz or Casals to reveal a little bit of yourself through music-making. It's reasonable that the more you master your technique and gain control over your body/instrument, the more you're able to make creative decisions through the music, but if you have a strong enough personality, it should and will shine through, whether you've been playing an instrument for three days or three decades.
All this seems like a given--we know it already. But I never saw a better example of this fact (that music unmasks aspects of a particular human's psyche that cannot be expressed through any other means) than in the above video. The man at the end suffers from brain damage, and it is clear that his capability to express himself is extremely limited. However, through the music he made, the audience (and I) could begin to discern really intimate details about him. The happy bursts of energy, the fluctuation in texture and dynamic, the pitches and rhythms...I can't describe in words exactly what I know about him now, but I can certainly say that I am closer to him after hearing his music.
Of course it also works the same way, in reverse--the more trained of an ear you have, the more you will be able to discern someone's inner workings through their music.
So my daydream is, what would happen if everyone in the world could effectively/constantly express themselves through music? If we all went about our everyday lives singing or playing the flute or strumming a guitar or something, as frequently as we communicate through speech and actions? How much more would we know about one another? Wouldn't it make it that much easier to find your friends, soul mates, and those with whom you would NOT get along? Imagine walking into a classroom full of strangers on your first day at a new school. Everywhere are unfamiliar faces, and you want to figure out who's who. In our current world, we observe people's facial expressions, the way they present themselves, their clothes/accessories, how they interact with others. But in this fictional music world of mine, everyone would be making some sort of music whenever they had something to say. So instead of observing their appearances, you would listen to their songs. One kid is making the smoothest, silkiest sound on his clarinet--he knows how to charm the ladies. A girl in front row is playing her viola louder than everyone else--she has a big ego, let's avoid her. The small skinny boy at the back taps a pair of hand drums with his eyes closed, devising creative rhythms--he's intelligent but laid back. Guy in the corner playing Dvorak cello concerto second theme with the longest lines and seamless vibrato--instant crush.
Because it's easier (not easy, but easier) to fake who you are through the clothes you wear, the mannerisms you adopt, the timbre of your voice, the way you do your hair. But it's difficult, if not nearly impossible, to fake who you are through music. Music is, in some ways, the clearest, most shamelessly honest mirror one can hold up to his self.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Listening
Thanks to various circumstances in the course of my life, I have mastered the ability to block out all noises around me in the physical world and get completely and irrevocably lost in my own head. Once, in my sophomore history class, I actually fell asleep and had an engaging dream about the first movement of Dvorak's American quartet (second theme)...and I "woke up" to find that my eyes were open the whole time. After this discovery, I spent many an hour in Econ class perfecting my newfound skill...it takes time and practice, but if I so wish, I now can close my mind to my surroundings and transport myself to Jenniferland. I used to think this was really fun and useful--and it is, because let's say you're in a mind-numbingly useless lecture...well, if you can block it out, you can then proceed to think about and deal with more pressing/interesting issues in your head. But, it's getting to the point where "Brain to Jenniferland" is my default mode when I enter class. Without realizing it, I'll sit down, get out my books/pen etc. and BAM 45 minutes later I jerk to my senses, discussion topics (none of which I can recall or understand) whizzing around my ears, impossible for me to grasp.
Come to think of it, this may be a reason memorization is usually my biggest worry in music. I get lost in a distracting whirl of thoughts, music-related or not, and muscle memory can only take me so far.
On the one hand, it's my own restless brain--too lazy to concentrate on things that don't interest me--causing me to gradually shorten my attention span. BUT on the other hand, while cleaning out my room on the last day of break, I re-unearthed an evaluation report from Challenger preschool days. Going through my preschool binder always makes me laugh really hard. There are the hilarious self-portraits (all of which display me in purple clothes) and even more hilarious short stories (most of which feature as protagonist a bunny, creatively named Bunny). And then the evaluations, which are quite revealing. For all the math and verbal stuff, like Arithmetic, Sentence Construction, Reading Skills etc. there are a string of 99th percentiles, and at first I was quite proud, like "Hey, not bad, little Jennifer was actually a pretty smart kid!" But then I keep looking down, and there, next to Listening, is a very sad-looking 53. (Social Interaction was not much higher.)
So...maybe I was this way all along.
Come to think of it, this may be a reason memorization is usually my biggest worry in music. I get lost in a distracting whirl of thoughts, music-related or not, and muscle memory can only take me so far.
On the one hand, it's my own restless brain--too lazy to concentrate on things that don't interest me--causing me to gradually shorten my attention span. BUT on the other hand, while cleaning out my room on the last day of break, I re-unearthed an evaluation report from Challenger preschool days. Going through my preschool binder always makes me laugh really hard. There are the hilarious self-portraits (all of which display me in purple clothes) and even more hilarious short stories (most of which feature as protagonist a bunny, creatively named Bunny). And then the evaluations, which are quite revealing. For all the math and verbal stuff, like Arithmetic, Sentence Construction, Reading Skills etc. there are a string of 99th percentiles, and at first I was quite proud, like "Hey, not bad, little Jennifer was actually a pretty smart kid!" But then I keep looking down, and there, next to Listening, is a very sad-looking 53. (Social Interaction was not much higher.)
So...maybe I was this way all along.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Skype
My sister has been sleeping over for the past couple days, while my mom stays in a hotel a few blocks away (they both came to visit me in Boston!). Every night, my sister hogs the internet to Skype with her various guy friends (cute for the first 5 minutes, but now it's just annoying), and sometimes my mom pops on Skype from her hotel room to bother us.
[12/16/2010 11:14:24 PM] Sefen.Hsu: HELLO!!
[12/16/2010 11:14:42 PM] Sefen.Hsu: DID YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH??
[12/16/2010 11:14:46 PM] Julianne Wey: .....uh hi mom
[12/16/2010 11:14:49 PM] Julianne Wey: YEAH.
[12/16/2010 11:14:59 PM] Julianne Wey: DID YOU??
[12/16/2010 11:15:20 PM] Sefen.Hsu: NOT YET, EATING BLUEBERRIES
[12/16/2010 11:15:31 PM] Sefen.Hsu: CHECKING EMAILS
[12/16/2010 11:15:40 PM] Sefen.Hsu: DID YOU CHECK YOU EMAIL
[12/16/2010 11:15:44 PM] Julianne Wey: uh no?
[12/16/2010 11:15:45 PM] Julianne Wey: LOL
[12/16/2010 11:16:24 PM] Sefen.Hsu: ok
[12/16/2010 11:16:29 PM] Sefen.Hsu: do stay up
[12/16/2010 11:16:33 PM] Julianne Wey: do stay up?
[12/16/2010 11:16:41 PM] Sefen.Hsu: don't
[12/16/2010 11:16:45 PM] Julianne Wey: right ok!
[12/16/2010 11:16:47 PM] Julianne Wey: hahaha
[12/16/2010 11:17:17 PM] Sefen.Hsu: i am tired, going shower and sleep
[12/16/2010 11:17:27 PM] Sefen.Hsu: you make your bed
[12/16/2010 11:17:42 PM] Sefen.Hsu: and DON'T STAY UP TOO LATE!!!
[12/16/2010 11:18:25 PM] Sefen.Hsu: bye :)
Parents and online chatting = one of my favorite combinations
So much has been happening in the past week, and the craze is still in full swing, so more later...just had to post that, because it's too hilarious.
[12/16/2010 11:14:24 PM] Sefen.Hsu: HELLO!!
[12/16/2010 11:14:42 PM] Sefen.Hsu: DID YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH??
[12/16/2010 11:14:46 PM] Julianne Wey: .....uh hi mom
[12/16/2010 11:14:49 PM] Julianne Wey: YEAH.
[12/16/2010 11:14:59 PM] Julianne Wey: DID YOU??
[12/16/2010 11:15:20 PM] Sefen.Hsu: NOT YET, EATING BLUEBERRIES
[12/16/2010 11:15:31 PM] Sefen.Hsu: CHECKING EMAILS
[12/16/2010 11:15:40 PM] Sefen.Hsu: DID YOU CHECK YOU EMAIL
[12/16/2010 11:15:44 PM] Julianne Wey: uh no?
[12/16/2010 11:15:45 PM] Julianne Wey: LOL
[12/16/2010 11:16:24 PM] Sefen.Hsu: ok
[12/16/2010 11:16:29 PM] Sefen.Hsu: do stay up
[12/16/2010 11:16:33 PM] Julianne Wey: do stay up?
[12/16/2010 11:16:41 PM] Sefen.Hsu: don't
[12/16/2010 11:16:45 PM] Julianne Wey: right ok!
[12/16/2010 11:16:47 PM] Julianne Wey: hahaha
[12/16/2010 11:17:17 PM] Sefen.Hsu: i am tired, going shower and sleep
[12/16/2010 11:17:27 PM] Sefen.Hsu: you make your bed
[12/16/2010 11:17:42 PM] Sefen.Hsu: and DON'T STAY UP TOO LATE!!!
[12/16/2010 11:18:25 PM] Sefen.Hsu: bye :)
Parents and online chatting = one of my favorite combinations
So much has been happening in the past week, and the craze is still in full swing, so more later...just had to post that, because it's too hilarious.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
If You're a (Good) Pianist
Top 3 pieces for solo piano that will win a girl (or at least this particular girl)'s heart:
1) Liszt Un Sospiro
2) Schubert Op. 90 No. 3
And of course,
3) Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118 No. 2
Close Runner-up:
Chopin Nocturne Op. 9 No. 3
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Thanksgiving in Pictures
First store we visit. :)
At what's got to be the largest Toys 'R Us in the world...yes, they have a ferris wheel. There was an hour-long wait to ride it.
Thanksgiving dinner, courtesy of Trader Joe's and H's cooking skills! Not pictured: pumpkin pie and beautiful omelets that were devoured so quickly by some very intensely ravenous people that I was unable to get my camera in time.
Opening wine by grinding the cork into bits with a spoon--revolutionary!
Black Friday shopping at the world's largest Macy's. Most crowded store I've ever been in, but Victoria's Secret was a close second. What were all the men doing in there? As S proclaimed loudly, "All these husbands and boyfriends just need to go away so we can shop."
Mary Poppins on Broadway. Very cheesy, and the movie is way better, but it was fun.
Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart, at the Met. Seriously, only opera and opera alone can manage to be so ridiculously funny and incredibly beautiful all at once.
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