Happy 484th Birthday, Hometown

I'm listening to this unusually chill Indonesian jazz song on Friday night and I found out today, according to Indonesian time (June 22), is anniversary of the founding of Jakarta.

 


That's a coincidence right? Anyway, I think this song tries to depict Jakarta in a more romantic way (the way Paris is often associated as the city of romance) but it pays quite an inaccurate tribute to the city itself. Drinking champagne? That doesn't sound like what typical Jakarta people would do. Maybe only those Jakarta bourgeoisies people would do that. What about inhaling carbon monoxide from Metro Mini's exhaustion pipes, which is crucial but people don't give a shit about? And what about the facts that crossing pedestrians are barely visible to passing drivers? 

That sounds more like Jakarta.

So dear Mr. Jokowi, I have high hopes on you. You already make a good impression as a well-respected high figure with humble personality, so I hope that lives up to your duty as well as the governor of Jakarta :)

You are cordially invited...

...to the biggest most narcissistic event of the year

I'm just kidding

Well, yeah, this video essentially takes narcissism to the next level.

Yesterday, I was looking through a list of interesting flash websites to find one that's most fitting for my project. It wasn't until I found Museum of Me  out of all links, which is an interactive feature created by Intel in collaboration with Facebook. I actually figured out about this interactive app for quite a while. However, I just found myself mesmerized with it even more this time because these days because, art school life has affected me to appreciate exhibitions and museums. After seeing quite some art galleries and exhibitions, it's great to have one for my own that Intel has brought to life.

Scroll down for video.

Mellow oldies

First off, I just wanted to say... HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAP! Yes, today's my dad's birthday. Too bad I couldn't call to send my greetings directly to him. I'm all so occupied with midterms and I assume he's been busy too. Just today I'm so bored listening to mainstream songs, and even often one or two songs were over-played on the radio they make me sick and I'm currently taking a break from Kpop since there's nothing really new from it. Later on, I bumped into this new chocolate commercial starring the gorgeous Audrey Hepburn (thanks to the insanely realistic CGI effect). The background music was captivating that I found out that it was Moon River, from Ms. Hepburn's acknowledged movie no other than Breakfast at Tiffany's (I gotta watch that movie).

Jakarta Pt 6: Bring the noise!

Following my internship and some random activities during my 1 1/2 month of summer vacation in Indonesia, I've got a special project (not really) to work on. Actually it's my dad's but I'm there to aid him or in short, be some kind of his assistant. Besides, it's not just any project. Remember the previous post? It has something to do with this post's topic.

Sooo basically my dad helped this freshly established music club grow, along with my former homeroom teacher - Mr B - as the advisor. Thus dad constantly comes to coach every Wednesday during after school time. I was fortunate to attend the club meetings and witness all the fun to kill my boring afternoon.

Mr B and dad arranged the accompaniment using guitar


Rani the main vocalist


Tabitha had fun with the cajon


The multitalented Ambar demonstrated her ability on piano

I honestly felt so lame seeing these girls rocking the music. They've got some serious talents there for the world to see. When I visited them (as seen from the pictures), they were rehearsing for the upcoming school anniversary event. My dad and I helped them picking the suitable songs that we believed not just students, but teachers, adults, and other guests as well would enjoy.

The decision settled on doing the acoustic cover on Katy Perry's Firework and Ello's Buka Semangat Baru for the performance. Those songs coincidentally deliver similar message which is to cheer someone up.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

On Saturday the same week, I came to school right after attending a club reunion to observe the final rehearsal before the D-day.

Too bad I missed the rehearsal (cos I was late for an hour or so) but the gathering wasn't over not till we munched on the JCO donuts I brought for the girls and Mr B. Anyway the pictures above were taken by my dad who had been at school since the beginning of the rehearsal. I asked for the girls' progress and seemed everyone was ready for the D-day! Good to hear!

Recess time people!
To be honest I love these pictures below. They strongly show the hardwork expressed from the faces of these girls and how they finally got some time to relax. Even though I might not participate much and I was merely an audience, I truly appreciate the effort they've put for the performance. They deserve thumbs up for that!

Right after the recess, we all decided to go home since it was already dark. But we couldn't miss any single moment to take some more pictures!





This additional picture features Pak Pendi and Pak Aji who are also school staff, who apparently happened to be at school as well during that time :)



Sadly, I didn't get to meet the girls after this meeting. Last time I heard from Mr B that the girls were doing a great job on the school anniversary as expected, drawing the attention of not just school staff but the foundation members as well.

This means a bright future awaits for these talented girls!
Wishing all the best for the music club!

Stay tuned for the next post, cos I'm going to cover my Singapore vacay!

Jakarta Pt 5: School visit

Heya!!!
Finally I get to post something daily-related.
It's been a pain uploading all the pics, but it wasn't till I realized all the pics I've been uploading are HQ, forcing me to compress all files into smaller sizes.

On Friday a few weeks ago, I went to school to meet up with my dad who has an appointment with my former homeroom teacher - Mr B regarding the development of a new music club at school (too bad they established it right after I graduated).

Beforehand, my friend - Widya - and I did a little strolling around school grounds and reminisce our times. Pretty much like this. the school's been temporarily moved to a new location, since the old one where I used to attend was under reconstruction. But despite all of that, the whole school atmosphere still felt very familiar to me!

P.S: You might not find any pictures with me in it due to some bad-hair-day issue, except the last picture cos it looks much better than the rest.

Cafeteria. Barely changes.


The Locker remains the same. Unlike lockers in American school, my school's lockers are categorized into classes and teachers like to place exam results and graded assignments in there.


Some girls spotted doing some kind of after school activity.


MY. CLASS!
Too bad I couldn't get in. It's locked.


All classrooms are now unexceptionally equipped with an operating computer and infocus.
How awesome is that?


Widya poses as a civic education teacher. Yeah right.

Last but not least, I met up with my dad who was jamming with Mr B and some other teachers, like Mr Jemmy (who's singing below). Another friend of mine, Carmen, caught up with me and Widya and we all ended up singing to random songs that day! I was completely unprepared with the whole spontaneous jam session. I don't memorize most song lyrics and they only instinctively popped out of jam session. So I ended up looking up on my mobile's internet for lyrics. It loads darn slow. -_-

After the jam was over, my dad dropped me, Carmen, and Widya at PIM, where we strolled for a while before settling in Area 51 food court to have dinner.
So I decided to help myself with a bowl of Yoshinoya. It's quite a surprise itself that I finally got to taste this in Indonesia. I've always been wondering why Indonesians bother to form a really long line just to munch on this small-portioned beef bowl. It tastes good but it's not really my most favorite. I first recognized Yoshinoya back in US and the restaurant - I hate to say this - is only filled with a few people. Maybe that's because I live in a relatively small town with most people who are not fans of rice dishes.

(Image from http://sendokgarpu.com)

I gotta say this: Yoshinoya in Indonesia is darn good! It's actually as good as the one in US. Even better, Yoshinoya here has much cheaper price at the same portion as in US.
Before leaving, we took pictures using Carmen's iPad at...the toilet -_-

Oh dear chubby cheeks, please be thinner.
I'm going to love you even more if you do that ^^

Feel like crying again and again and again~

It's raining outside, and I'm basically stuck at home.
Geez people do really get busy approaching finals. This can be the most boring weekend, you can tell.

And this girl right here is always tempted to browse the internet instead of studying Arts 2F. I mean, the book is FREAKING ONLINE. Can't get myself to focus on that. Focus. FOCUS

Yet, I feel like crying right now.
2PM comes to Indonesia. Yes, Junsu, Chansung, Nichkhun, Wooyoung, Taecyeon, and Junho ARE in my country right now, and I believe they just finished performing for Blackberry Live and Rockin Concert. Can't imagine the whole euphoria and screaming fangirls. I want to be in te middle of the crowd and scream to the top of my lungs "OPPAAAAA SARAANGHAAEEEEE!!!!" like any other fangirls would do in the presence of their idols.

Why, why, why do all Korean artists must come to Indonesia AFTER I went to the US? Like SHINee and now, 2PM, next up, JYJ. Maybe after that, Super Junior.

Honestly, I'm not an avid 2PM fan or you may call as a 'Hottest' (the way you call a Super Junior fan an 'ELF'). But what makes me want to cry so much is the fact that my cousin and two of my friends (three of the people that I know) attended the concert. Yes, that cousin that introduced me to the Kpop in the very first place.

Now, some of the people I knew have already had their dreams come true to meet their idols, not only my friends and cousin who finally got to see 2PM or Super Junior or SHINee Live or even got to attend SM Town concert last year. Even my dad got to meet his own idol at last, who turns out to be David Foster. They even took a picture together. My friends got to attend Paramore concert in San Jose.

Question: When will my turn be??????

When will I get to decide whether my favorite idols do look as gorgeous as they look on the media?
When will I get to catch at least a glimpse of my favorite idols? Just a glimpse?
When will I lose my voice but it's worth it cos I get to attend my favorite idol's concert?

I was almost a step ahead before I got to fly to Los Angeles and meet up my whole group of Kpop idols at one place. But then...well, my dreams crumbled down with only one word: 'No'.

Oh but wait a minute....

I AM going to meet my idols a few months from now, aren't I?

AREN'T I??

It's confirmed!!
Yep, I'll be attending glee concert this upcoming May!!
Thanks to Elda and also some of her friends from choir group!!! Yayy
Finally my chance will arrive!! I don't care if it's not a Kpop concert but still I loveeeeeee Glee to bits and I won't miss a chance to catch them live this May 24, 2011 in San Jose HP Pavillion!!!!!

Lea Michelle, Cory Monteith, Matthew Morrison, Jane Lynch, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, Jenna Ushkowitz, Naya Rivera, Heather Morris, Kevin McHale, Jayma Mays...everyone wait for me!!!!!

But still...

SM ENTERTAINMENT, PLEASE BRING YOUR WHOLE ARTISTS OF AWESOMENESS BACK TO LA THIS YEAR. :3

Just like what Glee cover song...

Don't stop believing! :D

H-3: DJ, Put it back on!

Despite its title, this post has nothing to do with SNSD nor their song, Genie, at all. I just feel like entitling this post with a song lyric.
As I have mentioned days before in the previous posts, I was going to have a concert held at PIM 2.

Anyway, the concert went well.
There were some troubles approaching the D-day, that the concert was firstly to be held on Sunday, August 8, 2010 but my friend and I wouldn't be able to attend because I was leaving to the US and my friend would attend an Islamic boarding school. Actually, Sunday wasn't a bad choice for a concert to be held, because there would be bunch of people watching instead of being held in weekdays. But well, guess it's not our chance to have loads of audience. Better luck next time pals.

Even on the D-day, our teacher didn't come and we were extremely disappointed with his absence. He only sent us a text message to encourage us. Very much appreciated, sir *sarcastically*.
Before the performance, we had a quick last rehearsal in the electone classroom.

The song was Rondo Alla Turca and we were all dressed in yellow shirts instead of black elegant ones because:

1. It was a casual concert, open for public
   
2. We were the only teens, aka the oldest in the session. Wouldn't have we looked much much much older than the other casual-wearing kids if we had worn black, slightly formal elegant outfit?
   

After the performance, we took some backstage pictures...

This is the stage, after our performance.

Remember how I whined that the committee didn't pay us despite us helping them promote their products. I guess now I know the reason.

In the end, I figured out why they didn't pay us: because we were the only teens in the concert. Four of us were the only teens, the rest were kids. I mean, are there any people going to pay kids for performing??
I'm sure the kids won't understand either why they are paid to do something. And of course, the kids don't have any bank accounts yet, so the money eventually would be kept by their parents. Kids perform, parents got the advantage.

After the show, I was picked up by my dad and we had a quick dinner at Sushi Tei. He had some sort of yasai something. It's basically like a mixed fried veggies.

Tasted darn good. As for me, I had a tsukimi udon, which is a bowl of udon with half-fried egg on it.

So that's a wrap for today. I'm going to post the last part of Taiwan Trip pretty soon.

Six days and counting

It's Monday now. Six days to my departure.
Seems like I've been a blogging whore these days and I'm loving it. Just today, after two weeks of working part-time at a nearby English course, I'm able to live my life the way it used to be before the whole working part-time saga began.
So you can imagine waking up late in the afternoon, watching TV and movies all day. Haha, not that much though. But I did watch two dramas this afternoon, which started off with Nodame Cantabille (I never stop loving this hilarious drama) and continued with Oh! My Lady.

I've piled up some DVDs I'm planning to watch tonight, or maybe now after I'm posting this. No good western movies these days since I haven't bought anything new. So you can tell that now I've been really into Asian series or movies.

Surprisingly though, I became quite productive these days. Maybe not on photoshopping, but at least I spent a quality time doing something useful, like this...


It's lame I know. Windows Media Player is not my specialty.
My violin teacher composed this demo song as the background music for the upcoming concert. Love the beat though. Reminds me of those upbeat music at the nightclubs. Last time when we did the concert, we performed Canon in D in rock style.

Maybe this time we'll perform Rondo Alla Turca in an upbeat, disco-ish style? Who knows

Save your energy :)

Phiew, I'm currently taking a break from writing about my trip to Taiwan as you can see.
It's been a quite busy week for me, since now I'm taking two weeks of part time job at EF shortly after finishing all levels. Working was quite a normal experience to me especially in the very first days, but then I changed my mind as soon as I made friends at workplace :)
I find that working is a fun, extraordinary new thing for me!!

I got to learn lots of stuff I haven't done before. Thanks to EF staff, especially from Cinere for the guidance. I'm a rookie, haven't experienced much on this stuff. :)

s

This week, the promotion at the previous EF branch I worked in was over, and now it's time for another EF branch to begin their promotion week. This EF is much closer to my house and I've started working there since Monday.

Um, oh in case you're wondering, yes, I'm leaving for the US next week. Apparently my mom didn't approve my choosing to be enrolled at Binus International majoring in Art and Design. Apparently she has planned all the way to send me to US even before my acceptance in Binus. So, yeah, bye Binus.

Sad?
Well, in one side yes, sure. Will you feel sad to leave your hometown for months or maybe a year? Frankly I don't want to feel that way, even though maybe I'll experience that phase, but hopefully not that severe until I have to cry rolling on the floor *soap opera much?* -___-. I'll try to be excited as I can as my friend told me in Facebook. "Are you excited?"
I'm about to reply to her that "Yes, I have to be excited somehow!"

Everyone who have to leave their hometown to pursue a career somewhere else must at least experience this phase.

Plus,
SMTown artists will be coming to LA on September 4!
There will be SNSD, Kangta, BOA, SHINee, f(x), and even... *clears throats*

SUPER JUNIOR.

I've reserved a ticket but looking forward to paying it as soon as I arrived in the USA. Even though LA is considered near to my college town, Cupertino (near San Francisco), but the transportation is still highly needed. I'm still looking for the flight schedule, the hotel, and more important...a friend to accompany me all the way from Cupertino to Staples Center, the concert venue.

I don't want to put my hopes too high though. I'm thankful already that someone has offered me tickets and I've reserved one. But for now, I just want to think about college and settling down. I need time to adapt and get used to American culture, people, and surroundings. :)

There's something else that bothers my mind right now.
No, not about the college, not even about the SMTown Concert. Well, it's another concert. My concert, and it's coming ahead in like...A WEEK!!

Anyway, it's funny somehow when I speak about two different concerts at the same time to my dad (SMTown and my violin concert), these topics get a bit mixed up.

Rhondo Alla Turca has been a hella song for me. Nice song. I can play it a bit on the piano, but violin? Well...it's as difficult as the piano version. Hard to tell.

Another trouble that bothers me and maybe this isn't that necessary:
All musicians participating in the concert WON'T BE PAID.
Otherwise, us - musicians - have to pay a certain amount of money (considerably pricey for me) to pay for the production items, stuff like electricity, stage, consumption, etc.

I'm not being money oriented or anything.
I'm talking about the talent the institute uses. We're not doing any charities, in fact us - musicians - are offered to promote the music school. We help the music school to gain success and attract more people to sign up, at least we need something in return. It's like, you see that branded products hire musicians, actresses, or singers to help them promote their stuff, and in return, those artists do get something or paid, in this situation.

So please, music school, if you care about us, you'll give us something to us as a gratitude sign rather than ask us to spend more and more money for you.
It doesn't have to be money. But at least, don't ask us to pay if it's for nothing to be given to us.

Jam Session!

Before I continue with the posts about my last trip to Taiwan, I just thought I'd share these to you guys.

A day after my arrival from Taipei, I began to resume my postponed activities due to the trip. It felt good to finally be able to do things the way they were before I left for Taiwan, but at the same time, it felt really hollow by the fact that I had gotten used to habits and daily activities in Taiwan. It's like when you've gotten used to doing something and then you stopped it, you felt there was something missing.

Anyway, that Monday afternoon, I got a phone call from my violin teacher that told me he was going to invite me and my three fellow violinists (Azza, Nitikawa, and Nezika) for a jam session, also to practice Alla Turca for our upcoming concert on early August.

Look at our teacher. He looked at ease while playing with his violin. The ball of light effect hovering above him pretty much made an impression as if he was a maestro...
LOL, well, the fact is, he IS a maestro.

Haha, still, no progress on our Alla Turca. The song was simply fast paced, played in minor with many fingering positions.
Ugh. Gotta work hard on that.

Music, Inspiration, Me

"Pengen les piano lagi, supaya sering-sering dimarahin...karena semakin sering dimarahin, semakin banyak inspirasi yang muncul buat bikin novel tentang pianis yang karirnya jatuh bangun. Ayo kakak, marahin saya lagi."

Inspiration can come from anywhere
It can be from something that you're seeing
It can be from the place where you're currently stepping your feet in.
It can be from the talk you don't mean to listen to
It can be from a blast from the past
It can be from a dream or nightmare
It can be from your own experience
It can be from your own alternate life
It can be from your own wish
It can be from 'what ifs'
It can be from an inspiring quote

Truth is, you can find inspiration. It's everywhere around the corner. All you have to do is just find it, write it down, make it perfect, before it finally becomes a masterpiece.

Just want to share something, after posting that quote on Facebook, that I find inspiration from being yelled at quite often. So I have joined many, many piano lessons that I always find myself failing at. I've met many teachers, young, old and everyone of them treated me the same: that's because I can't read notes, ever since I was 4, the age I joined a piano lesson for the first time. That's why, I always hate piano lessons. Everytime I changed teachers, I always demanded them (yes, demand) that they would understand me and have an EXTREME PATIENCE so that they knew that I was not like any other kids, who could read notes in just quick glances and played the tunes accurately on the piano keys.

I just simply couldn't do that.

I was different, I realized that. Back when I was 4 and joined a children electone music course consisting up to four kids, including me and two of my cousins, I had some bumpy moments too. Surely, it hurts even more for you to be compared with someone else. And that's what happened to me. My cousin (one of them) was diligent and knew exactly how to steal the attention from the dear teacher. I was not blaming her.

She was a genius though. She was all sweet and had the kind of manner that teachers wouldn't dare to get angry at. Apart from that, she could read notes and applied them on keys accurately. So, after my teacher saw my cousin's playing and praised with all her might with a smile as wide as a crescent moon, she moved to my electone and I could see her expression utterly changed to a bitter look. I tried my best to convert those "hanging ants" on the music book to the piano keys. I did that slowly but didn't gain the teacher's liking.

Well, to tell the truth, I COULD read notes but I didn't understand much about music theory, about scales and what would they become if they were converted from G minor to F minor etc. I remembered playing Fur Elise for the first time after listening to my cousin playing that, and after I finished the song, I showed my playing to my teacher, which was responded badly, asking if I didn't read the piece. I said yes, and she was not satisfied with it, no matter I had tried to listen to the songs from the MP3 or from my cousin's playing.

That was when I realized that I had something in common with my dad, who apparently couldn't read notes as well nor mastered the whole music theory thingy. We were simply musicians who played by ear. Well, I'm not as expert as Nodame, who did the same thing. I was faaar below that. Nodame was a craze that her life completely revolved around music.

Back to the topic. Apart from all the yells from my teachers, I came to realization that those yells were not all worthless. In fact, if the teachers were before my sight by now, I would thank them and kiss their hands in gratitude (okay, not this much) that those yells that I had received for the past several years, had finally gained an advantage for me. Through all my rocky experience as a pianist, through the whole "READ THE BLOODY PIECE you idiot!" screams and yells, something small emerged from them:

An inspiration.

I may not be successful (bah, I never want to become a pianist, but I mostly gain fictional stories from an alternate universe/version of mine) and I know that I don't even deserve to write an autobiography just like my mom (she's not all successful nor famous, but she dares to write an autobiography published on a Chinese newspaper). From my failure as a pianist and thirteen years of learning piano (I still do play piano now), some 'what ifs' started to appear in my head.

What if I could prove my piano teachers that I could become a good, famous pianist one day without even reading the piece? Only through hearing?
What if my teachers were against me and decided to make me fail if I didn't intend to read notes?
What if my 'play by ear' method really worked and became just like Nodame?

Once again, I'd like to stress out that I never intended to become a pianist. The statement you read above is only a 'what if'. Those 'what ifs' gradually changed into inspiration to make a story, the development and the detailed versions if those 'what ifs'. I might unofficially fail in piano learning, but an alternate version of mine - let's call her 'She' - would never do. I have so many versions of myself: an artist, a pianist, a bathroom singer, a writer, a violinist, and lastly a dancer.

One of those versions, She-pianist, was one and the first of many versions of myself that was going to be immortalized in form of a story, whether it was going to be a novel, novella, novellette, or a short story. But for sure, She-pianist is ME in the alternate universe. She is the main protagonist, whose life is mostly based on my experiences as a failed pianist. But in the real life, I gave up, in the alternate universe (which is going to be made a fictional story), she never gives up and struggles until the world admits that a pianist can become widely known even though she doesn't know anything about music theory, but she knows music by heart and feeling. Okay, I'm not like that you know. Hehe

Back to real life, after settling from piano, I finally found my second home

Violin

Which I promise to dedicate much of my music life for it and even through violin, I found many friends that share the same interest in classical music (after all these years, I live in a community where largely people would think classical music is so old fashioned). But after the December 6 event, I feel like I finally find people to whom I can share my interests at, and to whom I can talk more about classical music without people around saying that my taste is lame. I'd also like to thank Sharon Corr for becoming my inspiration in violin. Ten years ago, after seeing her in a concert DVD, I told my dad that I wanted to hold a violin too, just like her.

However lately, after listening to piano concertos, my inspiration in making the She-pianist novel which once has faded (because I practically have quit piano and have also stopped getting yelled at) somehow arose. That's why the quote at the very top of the post represents my feeling now...

That from today, I want to continue pursuing my talent in piano.
I want to get back to my previous teacher.
To be yelled at AGAIN.
The more and often she yells at me.
The more this inspiration will arise.

Sounds like I'm using her for another purpose, not to develop my skills in my piano, but more in writing. Sorry, kak.

Oh and I promise kak, if you're tired of yelling at me again, I promise I'll learn more music theory. I'll learn how to convert G minor to F minor, how to do the freaking fingering, and such. Thank you.

P.S:
I can't directly show myself as a music lover at school, since my music teacher is hated by the entire students, and teachers too, and since his presence at school, music becomes very much disliked. If I show myself too much as someone who is dedicated in music, my friends will think I'm a follower of that freaking teacher. Get it?

(Sorry that this post is considerably plain without the text highlighting I like to do nowadays, lacking of colors this time. Hope you'll understand that this whole plain writing represents the content of this post)

So, it's (another) concert

I'm being laconic right now, especially when it comes to titles. So, yeah, it's a concert. After years of vacumming from music (especially concerts), I finally made my return yesterday, no longer with piano though, but with a different instrument, which is violin. The last time I performed was yeeeearrrs ago, so long that I barely remember when, but I do remember that it was a sudden performance yet probably the worst one because it was unrehearsed.

Well, let's talk a bit about this. At that moment, I was attending my cousins' concerts in Blok M Plaza (they were performing piano), and there I reunited with my old piano teacher, who came up to me, chatted a bit before offering me to give a performance to replace an absent performer, although I was currently not enrolled in the music school that held the concert. Of course, I was speechless, because I didn't do any rehearsals and worse, I couldn't think of a song. So my cousin just suggested that I should play something that I really mastered, so the only song I could think of was a children song (haha, quite ridiculous, I was a pre-teen back then. A pre-teen playing a children song *laughs maniacally*). Turned out it was the last performance of the day, with only a few people remaining on their seats, and I was wearing this messy casual outfit. So as you can guess, my performance back then was a TOTAL FAILURE.

But this year, with me coming up with a new instrument, which is violin, I'm glad that finally I'm able to make my return in music. The news came on September though. It was then Kak Wisnu (my violin teacher, who gave a surprising performance in my Sweet Seventeen, remember?) told me that Nuansa Music School at PIM 2, would be holding a concert at the end of November, performing Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel. At the moment, I was also currently practicing Canon with piano. So with the news of the concert, I was officially practicing Canon using two different instruments and quite different melodies as well (they're still Canon though, but violin and piano definitely have some different arrangements. What a hardwork, because I tried not to mix the melodies between violin and piano).

It took me quite a while to practice Canon by violin, since I'm not really used to read music notes especially by playing violin. Even I haven't finished the whole song when it came to a moment that I would be practicing along with the other two girls (who would participate as lead violinists, just like me). They are Azza and Niti. At first, I was a bit pessimistic knowing that they had - at least - completed the whole song, while I almost finished (still, you can say I was not finished yet). They must be pros! I thought

Apparently, turned out it was not at the end of the month, but early December, exactly on December 6. Since I was not able to read notes properly and playing violin at the same time, I decided to depend on my hearing instead. Thus, I finally completed the whole (actually playing violin by hearing was not a proper way, but I decided to do that because I had no choice otherwise I wouldn't have finished the whole song *grins widely*). Still, Niti and I had some problems in playing the reffrain part. As for Azza, since she's been playing violin since the first grade, she quickly mastered the whole song *looks at Azza in amazement*. Besides, Niti and Azza, around five young girls (younger than 12) would join as supporting violins, including Vashti, Azza's schoolmate.

The lead (yet rookie) violinists


Along with the band

Anyway, there's an interesting facts about the lead violinists (us). Three of us have things in common. We're currently in the final year of school (Azza is in the 9th grade, while Niti and I are in the 12th grade), we wear glasses, and we happen to be the only children in our families! Haha, what coincidences, right?

Anyway, week before the D-day, we gathered up again for the last yet a rehearsal along with the band. Oh, I haven't told you, have I? The performance would be like a rockestra (the combination between orchestra and rock), which of course, would feature drums, electric guitars, and a bass. It was going to be exciting! So that day, the rehearsal was divided into two sessions: In the first session, Azza, Niti, and I practiced along with the supporting violins (the younger girls), and then later in the evening, the younger girls went home and the three of us moved to the studio to begin our rehearsal with the band. Please do introduce Angga (electric guitar) and Bas (drum), and another boy who played bass whose name I barely remember, sorry, I wish I knew your name :(. The whole band arrangement was conducted by Kak Dani, who teaches bass guitar.

We were very eager in this rehearsal, realizing that this would be our first, only, and last rehearsal with the band. So we decided to practice a bit longer, though I was forced by my mom to go home due to the final exam in the next day.

On Friday, I was supposed to have my violin course exactly at 5, but it was slated at 8, since we would be having our practice again, yet it would be the last practice. It turned out the other members of the band, such as Angga, Bas, the bassist, and Aryo (who also plays electric guitar) were also there to have their rehearsal. So, why not having our band rehearsal again? Maybe this was for the last time.

The rehearsal ended at 9 o'clock, but that was not the end of our meeting because we ended that night by having random chit chat, with Kak Fabian (electone teacher), who shared his knowledge about music and also his vast knowledge about popular movies, comics, and other stories relating to music. I also couldn't believe that he - too - knows Nodame Cantabille!

On D-1, we had no rehearsals, so you can say that we basically practiced and did the finishing touch to make the song sound perfect by ourselves at home (even though Niti's and my reffrain still flawed so bad). We even referred the reffrain part as "Hell", or Niti had a funnier catchphrase, referring it as "A Bridge of Horse's Tail cut into 7 pieces" (in reference to what Quran's depicted about a bridge which is as thin as a single hair cut into 7 pieces over the hell. The Horse's Tail part refers to the violin's bow). *shudders*

The D-DAY.

The day we've been waiting (or not) for.

Niti called me that she had a regular course at 11, while Azza planned to go to PIM at 2. We would perform at 4.30 pm, anyway. I went to PIM 2 at 11.30, visited Niti who had been practicing Canon, especially the "Hell" part, for approximately an hour. Actually I went to PIM 2 that time to look for some outfit (we would be wearing black dress with black stocking). So I didn't bring my violin, but I thought, why didn't I visit Niti? So I did and turned out Kak Wisnu asked me to join in and practiced along with Niti as well, with me using his violin.

Since the practice was done at 12.15 pm (still three hours to performance), I offered Niti to come to my house just for a rest, but she said she would wait at the mall until Azza came at 2. But as we part ways, we continued texting.

After strolling around the mall, looking for some good black outfit, I didn't find proper one. So I went home (before that I had a lunch at the food court) and turned out my mom had a nice black dress for me to wear! I didn't stay long at home though, just did a bit make-up (forced by mom), dressing up, and watched a bit Behind the Scene of New Moon on E! Channel. Then I took off back to mall at 2.30 pm, and met Azza and Niti in Victoria Cafe.

At three, we were all told to gather at the backstage to do the violin tuning, did our last preparation, and members checking. Niti even got her chance to play the reffrain (since she still wasn't sure would do great on the reffrain) in a low volume. While I kept convincing myself and the others to stay confident and just give it all up to God for what would happen next. At least we hoped wouldn't be embarrassing, since a lot of audiences had taken their seats, and some visitors even had gathered around - from the 2nd floor to the rest of the floors - to see our performance.

Like pros tuning their violins

At the moment, we were also very worried that our violins' would produce clear sounds and would echo all over mall, since the microphones were sensitive (violinists were supposed to use small microphones attached to the violins rather named pick-up than microphones, but the pick-ups weren't available, microphones were the alternatives). It means, by using these sensitive microphones, if there was one tiny mistake, the whole mall would be able to hear it. There was a random moment where Vashti claimed that she spotted someone resembling Julia Roberts, and was quite certain the bule woman sitting on the front row was her. But of course, it was impossible to have Julia Roberts - unexposed to the media - at a mall in Jakarta.

IT'S SHOW TIME!!

The girls in action


Bas the drummer


Bring it on!


Different angle :)

Thank goodness, Kak Wisnu assured that to prevent any mistakes, then he would be conducting the orchestra (this only applied to the nervous younger girls as supporting violinists). Those girls took place in front of me while the lead violinists stood behind them. As the first performers, surely everyone was deeply nervous, but in the other side, we were excited too to see that there were lots (for real) of audience and visitors watching us. That automatically drove our convidence and I became even more eager.

The first part of the song went well, our violins were still heard as we played them quite loud and confidently (despite the small space on the stage bothered us so much that my bow even hit Azza many times, sorry, Azza, you're still awesome though ^_^). But the reffrain didn't quite work, as the electric guitar's sounds were mixed with the violins'. So I felt like my violin's voice sounded more like electric guitar's (that's because their sounds were much louder, not to mentioned mixed with the drum as well). But I was still trying to make eye contacts with the audience and my dad who was snapping pictures from the distance.

Even though I played the wrong tune, I thought, well, who cares? My violin's sound wasn't sounded loudly just like what we'd thought. The microphone wasn't sensitive as they said. But I continued playing eagerly, while looking at the sheet, in front of me, even though I knew I played the wrong tune. At least I still looked cool, and at least people would still think that I played the right tune. So it was all nothing but camouflage (Carissa, you're a genius *cough* But remember as they say, "Things are not like what they seem").

It went well though, and we received incredible applause from the audience. Thanks for everyone who's watched our performance!

We did quite a photo shoot at the backstage, where it started out that my dad snapped pictures of us, but then other people came around and started to snap our pictures like paparazzis. I have a feeling that they weren't just parents that snapped our pictures - probably some random audiences or visitors who found it quite rare to see girls dressed elegantly in black with their violins.

After performance


Violinists unite!


Along with Aryo and Angga


The girls and the tutor, Kak Wisnu

As the concert ended, we had to end our meeting that day. Azza, Niti, Vashti, and the others left. While my mom said that she still wanted to see the performance of Yamaha Boys (a group of boys playing electones and some other instruments. They're extremely talented in combining piano, clavinova, keyboard, xylophone, and tympani. While with number of instruments, there are only three of them! So you can imagine each boy running around from one instrument to another, but their performance was awesomeee!!).

Anyway, my dad told me that while Niti, Azza, Vashti, and I were on our way to the stage, some people were looking at us in (what my dad assumed) astonishment. Maybe they thought "Wow, these girls looking elegantly in black would be doing the show!" Even my dad heard a woman told her daughter "If you play violin, soon you will be just like those girls." Yup, "those girls" really refer to us. Err....compliments, anyone? I really, really, really, really am flattered, and as you can see my body starts to float in the air ('m flying! Haha, GR mode). Even Niti referred that violinists were considered as "sexy" performers. ^_^

Well, the story was soooo long but I had great time writing it.

From this...

Maybe we can be just like...

||
V



B O N D

some time in the future

^_^"