:: My Foray into Music ::
As some of you may know, I've always been rather mad about music.
As a fewer number of you would know, I also play the pipa and the guitar. Strange considering that I'm really "english speaking" and hardly understand anything my pipa teacher (with no small amount of exasperation), teaches me the concepts.
It is to no small irony that my maternal grandpa was an erhu maestro himself (and also used to tinker with the pipa and liu qing) apparently.
Needless to say, Mom claims all credit for contributing to that portion of my genes. Well, all I can say is that I'm thankful she has and yes, credit does go to her for having been so supportive in my endeavours into music. Incidentally, she plays slow rock on the guitar.
I recently made some improvements into a particular technique to create the tremelo effect. I must say that it's still not perfect but at least the sounds (as each of my five fingers hit the strings) are uniform and no longer erratic.
Anyway, here are some pictures for those who don't know what on earth the pipa is (No, Christine, it is not a "chinese banjo". That would be the "zhong ruan").
My pipa (at a funny angle)
My Pipa as it is commonly seen (pls excuse the background mess)
Vibrant Dance of the Golden Snake (which has been giving me grief for the past 3 weeks and more to come!)
I dare say that this is only a grade 2 song but it is a very technical piece, which involves a lot of "jumping" (fast hand movements on the many frets) and different playing techniques from the right hand (difficult sequencing of chord strumming with tremelos). It doesn't help that this is a Chinese New Year song that is played too quickly (in my opinion).
As you can see, I have been mutilating my score with high-lights and stupid phrases like "Notice Fingering!!!". I would have put more rude words down to scold myself, only that my teacher also looks at the same score over my shoulder when she's giving me instructions. As it is, she scolds me for being too hard on myself, so I think she won't be happy if I put down "Wo Shi Yi Ge Ben Dan!" on the score.
*SOB*