The past few weeks of September have been very interesting.
Last Monday, I completed my second day of school. I’m currently pursuing an M.A. in music education (applied music emphasis, piano) at the PWU School of Music. So far, so good it’s been very good. Despite experiencing anxiety (and messing up big time) when I played for the first time in front of my piano professor, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. This is because my second day with her was fruitful. I got my assigned work (scales from C to E, some Czerny, Beethoven, Bartok, and Tcherepin) and, more importantly, I learned aspects of my technique that need work, something that I probably won’t be able to observe on my own. I think I’m in good hands since my piano teacher is the romantic period piano expert at the UP College of Music. With enough effort on my part, I guess there’s a lot of things I can learn from her. She says my legato playing, fingering and pedaling can still improve. I just hope that I can play my assigned pieces at a respectable level come Monday. Time to go back to the woodshed I guess.
Fortunately, I’m still working with Steve Nixon as his music transcriber. Working with him is a great opportunity to improve my understanding of what jazz is. Seems like I’m getting some jazz education with Steve while I go improve my classical at PWU. Tomorrow, I’ll be submitting a jazz scale guide.
I also managed to finish the “Eucharistia” songbook for Barbie Dumlao and Springs Foundation, Inc. It’s always a pleasure working with them.
I’m waiting for new assignments from GuitarZoom. I just finished working on “Real World Soloing” and that one turned out to be good as well.
The highlight of last month is probably the concert entitled “Musicalitea in Unity”. It was a concert organized by the UCCP-LCSMC Liturgy and Music committee. It was held last 09/28/2013 at the PCU Auditorium. I performed an original composition called “Promises” for solo piano as part of my set. Prior to that, I performed an old favorite, “Hesus”, with Pastor Chaz Romero on guitar and Chay Innocentes on vocals. It was very fruitful. I felt very honored and happy as well afterwards as Rev. Leo Eva Rempola, virtuoso pianist extraordinaire, asked for a sheet music copy of “Promises” after hearing me perform it. Like most of what I hear from my performances, I don’t impress myself. Matter of fact is that I could probably improve my performance next time. Nevertheless, I’m happy enough that I plan to share recordings of the concert via Soundcloud, so watch out for those.
Until next time, please stay glued to this page. Thank you and God bless!
Just this afternoon, I saw this post by a pastor/apologist, one of the people I have tagged as a friend on Facebook. He was condemning this particular bit of news about a family praying for the success of a family member who was about to take the UPCAT. For the uninitiated, the UPCAT is the annual admission exam to the University of the Philippines. With all good intentions noted, it does look like a really good picture. They all look like they were deep in prayer with sincere intentions. This slice of life was even covered by GMA News as a featured post in their Facebook page. Many people responded well to such a public demonstration of faith.
If you read Matthew 6, however, The Lord doesn’t seem to have a good opinion about such a practice. Matthew 6:5-6 quotes Jesus as saying,
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
This is pretty much self explanatory, an imperative that even a grade schooler would have no difficulty understanding. Pray in secret and perform your good deeds in secret, doing it all for the glory of God. I’m not surprised when my pastor/apologist friend at FB condemned that picture to which I had responded with a comment that it seemed like this family has either never read or have never been taught or have ignored this particular bible verse.
After a few hours, another person, most likely another pastor as well, retorted with the comment that we should have left them alone rather than post a comment. I believe the exact comment was, “Let them pray! They did not do that to impress you.”
Perhaps that the family was praying with all sincerity. The second pastor understood that, hence his condemnation of the comment I posted as well as pastor/apologist’s shouting rant that is so much against such public displays of faith. After all, I do think that many of those who pray in public settings have it in their hearts to communicate with God and surrender themselves to him. However, does sincerity make an act correct? I don’t think so. To be technical about it, I wasn’t really stopping anybody from praying in public, but that doesn’t change my opinion that it is a practice that is contrary to what is proper prayer according to the words of The Lord himself.
The problem with sincerity and intention is that it is mired by our imperfections as human beings. It is possible for me (and everybody else) to be convinced and be so sincere and true about what I believe when in fact what I believe could be wrong. If I base it on postmodern morality, it wouldn’t go anywhere since postmodern thought rests on a relativistic philosophy where my perspective could be right or wrong on a case to case basis. However, such philosophy is fundamentally flawed given the fact that it could not point to a standard of morality. If I base my conclusion on the Blble, I get something that is an absolute standard of morality. It would then go back to the skeptic regress of why believe in the Bible. To be brief about it, I would choose to believe what the Bible says because it has proven what it claims to be for ages, the Word of God (proving why it is so merits another long discussion that many apologists have settled over the years).
So what does that discourse have to do my comments about public prayer and the response to my comment about it? Well, it is true that I should perhaps leave such people alone out of respect for their free will. However. It doesn’t mean that I should change my mind about the fact that it is a practice that is condemned by Jesus himself. I may be mocked for seeming to look like a dilettante in a small theological discourse involving two pastors, both of which have graduated from prestigious seminaries. However, God’s word remains to be true. No matter how much you try to support public prayer as a valid expression of faith, the Bible says the opposite. I remember one led in our church remarking that you should just keep it between you and God rather than perform an outward display of it in a space outside of church (an essential definition of what public js). You may receive your reward of public adulation from man, but God himself said it was such a thing that he would not listen to. Even of you say I should shut it rather than voice out my opinion, it doesn’t change the fact that it is wrong to pray in public because more likely than not, it tends to glorify the self rather than God.
I haven’t written for so long that it feels like this blog has become “dusty” and “moldy”. Apparently, I do have a lot of things to write about. I was so entangled with a lot of things that it’s only at this moment of time that I was able to write.
To list them all down, here are some significant things that have happened since the last entry:
1. A trip to Anawangin Cove.
2. A surprise birthday bash from the UCCP-MCCD Ministry.
3. Conducting a private crash course in music theory, composition and songwriting for a musically inclined Court of Appeals associate justice and his sons.
4. My first time preaching a sermon.
5. The formation of a new band.
Of course, there are other things that are bound to happen over the next few weeks, and I do hope I get the time to write about the stuff I’ve mentioned along with others in a timely fashion. So, I guess it’s time for me to return to finishing sheet music for an upcoming GuitarZoom course. I feel as though Dan’s already breathing down my neck.
*UPDATE: As of 6/19/2013, transcriptions for “Essential Techniques for Guitar” by Steve Stine have been completed. The course will be available in the market really soon.
In the Philippines, one of the latest products being peddled on TV is the new Axe Apollo body spray. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not reviewing the body spray. I could care less with all that machismo and chauvinism that is so appealing to many men in Filipino society. The reason why I’m talking about this is because of the fact that the said TV ad sums up the value system of contemporary society: image over substance.
The gist of the TV ad is this: Some hero-type fireman hunk rescues this pretty lady from a blazing inferno. Instead of the usual gratitude that such an act would merit, we then find out that the woman runs toward this guy wearing a space suit in the middle of the city.
Now, here’s some food for thought. What is it exactly that this silly astronaut suited guy (we don’t even know if he’s a real astronaut!) do to get that shallow woman running after him? Unless astronaut guy was married to that shallow girl, I can’t see any reason why this whore would run up to him. What he just did was perform that slow cliche walk and look “cool”. What a load of crap! Is that how you’re supposed to be thankful to the person who has saved your life? The shallowness of it all is sickening!
This TV ad teaches a fact in postmodern society: Image is more valuable than talent or character. They say, “To see is to believe,” even if it does not have any substance. This is what, unfortunately, TV is trying to teach children today: looking “good” or “hot” or “cool”, whatever it may be, is more important than your skills, talents and character. It is the complete opposite of what the Lord values. Once more, this TV ad reinforces the fact that man looks outward rather than inward.
The passage in 1 Samuel 16:7 reads, “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” How I hope that people would keep such words to heart and reject man’s empty value system based on superficiality.
I grew up as a fan of metal. I should be because I started out playing in a band that covered Metallica. Naturally, therefore, I would love thrash metal. Heck, I still do. Of all the Big Four thrash bands, Megadeth was up on my list simply because I think their musicianship was the most superb of them all. My favorite Megadeth album is “Rust in Peace”. Fast forward 2013, they released this:
Hmm, okay. I wouldn’t call this thrash metal. It’s some kind of hard rock that is more akin to a Mr. Big hit than a thrash metal anthem like Slayer’s “Angel of Death” (by the way, RIP Jeff Hannemann). I have seen how some fans have started to hate Megadeth because the band has the desire to expand its fanbase (and perhaps earn a lot of money in the process). Who could blame them? They got families to feed, bills to pay, etc. They do this for a living. This has to be respected rather than bash Megadeth for seemingly selling out.
I couldn’t really stand how narrow-minded or close-minded rabid thrash metal fans can be at times. Can’t we respect the band for trying out something else? I mean they’re artists. You can’t expect an artist to put out something like “Rust in Peace” every year or so. That’s the kind of thing that kills innovation.
So, for fans who are disappointed with Megadeth’s direction, please shut up. You’re not doing anything good. Hey, I would agree that this new Megadeth song isn’t really something that I’d be crazy about but you have to respect the fact that they’re living up to their name as ARTISTS and not mere parrots that repeat the same thing over time without meaning.
1. Be a member of the oligarchy or a political dynasty. If you’re Filipino, you already know the names. Chances of winning with this method is very high. The Aquinos, the Marcoses, and the Estradas are some of the names that come to mind.
2. Make a name for yourself in showbiz and be involved in a lot of publicity (positive or negative doesn’t matter). In the Philippines, politics is the next step in the career path of has-been actors and actresses. The odds of winning range from about 50% to near 100% with this tactic. The most successful example is Joseph Estrada.
3. Attend the Philippine Military Academy, launch a coup d’etat, surrender to the government, obtain amnesty, and then campaign for a senate seat. You gain a good chance of winning with this tactic not because of perceived competence but of notoriety and the ability to pull people towards a “cause” of some sort. Classic example is Honasan but the latest example is Trillanes.
4. Be the leader of an activist group. Perhaps this provides about a 50/50 chance of winning. It doesn’t really matter what cause you are pushing as long as you are noisy and you complain a lot on national TV. The commies come to mind.
5. Have loads and loads of money to spare. This tactic is very useful for converting voters from opposing camps to your side. This tactic can greatly improve the odds of winning because of the greedy nature of the Pinoy voter. A common tactic amongst political aspirants, almost everybody running for office uses this tactic.
6. Have actual competence and a proven track record in public service. This tactic does not guarantee a win. Dick Gordon is one of those rare individuals who can win an election because of this.
So, as you can see, because of the damaged society that is the Philippines, the described tactics, with the exception of #6, can guarantee a seat in government. A government seat in the Philippines is considered to be a mountain of gold. No wonder why there are many Pinoys who groom themselves and their children for public office, despite the fact that competence is not amongst their list of “redeemable” qualities. I have to recognize the fact that these politicians have a degree of intelligence in that they exactly know how to manipulate the Filipino into getting them elected.
And so, you can expect to see another three years of mediocrity, nothingness, and chaos after May 13, where people follow the lives of politicians as if they were watching their mind-numbing soap operas.
It’s was the first Saturday of the year that I had formally worked with both the choir and worship band of UCCP-Makati Church of Christ Disciples. It was tough and challenging yet at the same very fulfilling. I have seen the logistical challenges that I would face should I try to unite both choir and worship band. The task seems daunting but I hope for the best. I am really hoping that I’m being of any help to that rather small community of believers.
Just this morning was the time that I would call testing the waters. Although I had played with the worship band a couple of times, it was the first time I would be at my most active. I was directing the band while playing lead guitar. I played with the church’s regular pianist and choir conductor through a number of songs. I was trying very hard to demonstrate that there need not be a divide between a traditional piano-and-choir-group and a contemporary worship band. In my mind it should just be a single worship group that is engaged throughout the worship service. Next Saturday I will be hauling again a number of items from my home studio to the church, teach music theory and instrument technique in the afternoon, rehearse with both choir and worship band.
As things go at this time, it seems that the worship band isn’t ready yet for the rather technical aspects of playing the kind of music featured in the anthem section of the worship service. I aspire to be able to pass down whatever skills I have to the band and the choir so that every musical aspect of the service could be covered by both as a single unit. It doesn’t have to matter whether they are singing traditional hymns or covering the kind of stuff that Don Moen and Ron Kenoly would play. I am optimistic that this will happen given training and patience.
Like my studio persona, I am a teacher, equipment technician, musician, and music director rolled into one package. It’s tough work where I do not expect any remuneration of sort. What lies ahead of me are more challenges from both a personal and professional perspective. Why would I be crazy enough to put out such effort every week? It’s because I am answering the call of The Lord. I have no other justification for it. God has called me to use my skills for his purpose. I will abide by what I believe is my calling and purpose in life. So it has begun, my life as a volunteer music worker.
I own a number of keyboard instruments, one of these is a beloved old, locally made upright piano left to my care by my mom. She bought it for my sister around 1987 and it has been in a state of deterioration until 2012 when I had decided to have the piano reconditioned. After having it reconditioned, it became our keyboard practice instrument. From October to April, the piano’s tuning drifted to a about 50 cents lower than what it should be. My good friend, Kuya Cesar Wycoco, recommended that I call and hire master piano technician, Leonardo Wayan a.k.a. Kuya Nards, to get it into shape.
In contrast to the somewhat reserved and sophisticated Kuya Cesar, Kuya Nards had an air of flamboyance and an astounding level of confidence surrounding him. This is because he really knew his stuff well. He was loud but very entertaining while he worked. He had warned me that given the quality of the upright piano I have (which is somewhat mediocre given its built and post-flooded state), that it would be a challenge getting it to equal temperament at A = 440 Hz. However, he had managed to get it to that tuning, and so the piano sounded wonderful afterwards.
The good thing about hiring Mr. Wayan was that he really knew pianos. He did not mince his words when he said that he was surprised that the piano was already reconditioned when he first saw it. Believe me, it was far worse before he had touched the piano. At the very least, the money I spent last 2012 for piano repairs had at least turned the piano into something workable. Mr. Wayan, being seasoned piano technician for many hotels around the metro, claimed he could have done a much better job at reconditioning the piano than the people I had previously hired.
I got more than a bang for my buck by hiring Kuya Nards. He was a thousand pesos cheaper than the guys who worked on my piano before, he offered me amazing piano tips, was very honest in his dealings, and he even went on to provide a tuning wrench for free.
As part of a self-maintenance plan, he left me a 6-mm square socket wrench and some “Shoes Glue” so that I can perform tuning myself. This morning, I found myself tuning the piano because the upper register had drifted to a few cents lower. My suspicions were confirmed when I measured the tuning of A4 against a chromatic tuner and it registered around 432 Hz. I decided then to tune the piano to A = 442 Hz to solve the problem.
I used the socket wrench that Kuya Nards gave me to do most of the work. Because I didn’t have any rubber mutes, I used a thumb pick fixed to my right index finger to pluck each individual string as I tuned. I started out with A4 and then tuned A5 based on my 442-Hz A4, and then tuned an octave’s worth of keys based on the sound of 4ths and 5ths. Afterwards I tuned the rest of the keys.
I am quite happy with what I was able to accomplish. Maybe in a few more weeks of hammering away at the keys, it’s gonna drift lower again, so I expect to tune the piano again myself about two weeks from now. Maybe I might ask Kuya Nards to take me in as an apprentice. Hmm, now that’s a thought worth considering. Maybe afterwards I might offer a piano tuning service. But perhaps not at this time. If I gain more experience tuning pianos, then I might consider doing that professionally. Kuya Nards said that typically hotels would commission guys like him to get a piano tuned every week, so I’m not at all surprised that I had to tune the piano myself today.
If you’d like to get in touch with Kuya Nards to get your piano back into shape, leave a message in the comments section, and I’ll send you a private message regarding his contact details.
If you have read my previous post, Trolling the Trolls, you may then define troll as a critic who has the objective of putting someone down with words yet has no capability of demonstrating skill necessary for improvement. One way of dealing with such lowlifes is to overpower them. We all know that the troll’s only objective is to make themselves feel better by bashing other people’s accomplishments (especially when they have nothing of worth to show). Here’s another way of dealing with them.
Now, I don’t advocate impulsively bashing the troll back since the troll would get the kind of attention he/she wants. Since a troll is a fool, it is best to either ignore them or answer their opinions in a logical fashion that will destroy their arguments. However, Mike Johnston has another idea.
Mike Johnston has posted what he calls “The Most Important Video I have Ever Uploaded”. It probably is one of the best suggestions out there to overpower the negative impact of trolls:
Even musicians can be guilty of being trolls. If you’re one of them, please stop. Your not helping anybody. Why don’t you offer positive comments or constructive criticism instead?
A huge part of being a musician is the fact that one would always be under some sort of criticism. I know for one thing that I am not exempt from that. There will always be people who will hate you for no reason at all. You would be thankful for a few who would actually give out criticism because they care and they want you to improve. Unfortunately most of these people who are called “trolls” on the Internet really have nothing good to say. They only care about bashing or slandering you with words. If you think about it, it just shows how insecure they really are about themselves and they try to find self-worth in trying to hurt other people with words. If you ask me, that’s a truly miserable experience.
Whenever I watch videos of people playing their beloved instruments on YouTube, most of them would leave the comments section open for the public to use. Occasionally, you will see people posting positive, heartwarming comments, something that would give you the drive to continue on doing what you love. Most, however, would try and put you down. Many times I have been at the receiving end of such things. Back in the days when I had limited equipment (from 2003 to 2009, I produced music with a Pentium III PC and a consumer-level sound card!), I get comments like my music is overblown, too long, poor production values, overly ambitious, pretentious, etc. Some were even cruel enough to suggest that I forget music altogether and take up something like tennis! Now, how are those comments of any help might I ask? They aren’t. They just exist to hurt you.
So, how do you respond to such things. Never give up! Take all of those things as a challenge. All my life I have had to face critics ranging from my own parents to some stranger who knows nothing about my life and my passion for music. I had moments when I cried because of such painful words. Still to this day, I have to deal with how low my self-esteem has become because of mere words. The thing is that critics will not go away. They will always be there. It is best that you take those comments into consideration and take them as pointers for improvement. While we recognize the fact that the impulse to feel angry or sad will always be there after a critic attacks harshly, it is best to always use your cognitive faculties to look at the criticism from an objective standpoint.
Back in the days when I just used a Pentium III to experiment with sound and produce my music (I still have those albums in this website where I made use of such equipment), I felt deeply hurt when critics attacked the quality of my recordings and the quality of my voice. But then again, after all that emotion had passed, I evaluated myself. I realized the fact that I didn’t have the right equipment; it’s something that I had to accept. I also realized that I needed to read and learn more about the various facets of music production i.e. using EQ, effects, mixing, etc. Looking back, I’m glad that I risked putting my music out for the world to listen to; otherwise I wouldn’t have learned. Fast forward to the present day, I am at the very least scraping some of my living expenses from a variety of musical activities. Given my age now, I think I would have been worse off had I followed the troll’s advice of going for something like tennis! At least music gave me something to hope for that is achievable. If I tried tennis with my present weight and bad knees, I would be laughable.
To anyone reading this who has been shot down by any troll’s words, here’s what you can do:
1. Allow your emotions to be felt but control how you respond to them. It’s all right to feel sad, angry, bitter. You really can’t help it. It’s natural to feel that way. But then, make use of those emotions to drive your creativity. Maybe you can write a song about it or do some other thing. Express that emotion in some positive way. It wouldn’t really help at all if you try and kill the troll. That wouldn’t be of benefit at all.
2. Study the critic’s words. In certain instances, criticism has some kind of basis. Try and figure out why it was said in the first place. Maybe there really is something there you can use to improve. I for one had to swallow my pride and see if there really is anything in there for me to consider. Discard the bad, take note of the good.
3. Accept the fact that you cannot make everybody happy. Despite any measure to improve, you will always be under attack by some critic or two. The Canadian band Rush exemplifies this fact by continuing to create their brand of music, despite being ignored for years by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and attacks by famed critics like Robert Christgau.
4. Continue on working towards your goals. Never give up. At the very least, your creativity will bring forth achievements that will be gratifying to yourself and to others. Hey, at the very least there still will be one or more people who would like your work. For someone like me, it’s enough drive to for me to continue. Even if nobody would like what I put out, I’ll still try because eventually my persistence and hard work will pay off.
As a consolation, try this out. Look up a video on YouTube of any musician performing. Many times you will find trolls posting harsh comments. Try clicking on their profiles and see if they themselves have put out any smidgen of creativity like an original song or a performance. Many times, you will find that they really don’t have anything to demonstrate except for their harsh words. You will see how empty such people really are.
Here you will see Japanese guitarist Akira Wada testing out the amp. You will see here comments by this guy saying, “oh god,stop it! he plays like a 12 year old student..,”and this guy saying, “I had to watch again OMG he is playing like a 13 year old in a guitar store.Perhaps it’s to sophisticated for me to understand.It made me chuckle, for whats it’s worth.” The funny thing is that these people have the balls to post such comments when they themselves have nothing to show. All words people! Can they demonstrate how a mature man should play guitar. It’s best for them to shut up because if you inspect their YouTube profiles I don’t see any videos of them playing like Steve Vai or Allan Holdsworth or Eric Clapton even. It just demonstrates how fools use empty words. I remember reading Proverbs 15 when dealing with unqualified people who speak empty words. Verse 2 reads, “The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.” Seems to me that there are two kinds of critics, the “wise” ones who actually know what they are talking about (useful for learning) and the fools a.k.a. trolls who could not demonstrate what they are saying and only mean to hurt people.
For those trolls out there, I challenge you. Is this a guy who plays like a 12-year old?
If you could play better than this, I MIGHT listen to you. Otherwise, you aren’t worth my time.
As Jean Sibelius once said, “Pay no attention to what the critics say. Remember, a statue has never been set up in honor of a critic!” It has the similar tone of Proverbs 12:16 which reads, “A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.” I remember Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland insulting Dream Theater. Did Dream Theater paid attention to his attention-grabbing antics? He was simply ignored.
