“Trolling” the Trolls 2: One Suggestion on How to Overpower the Trolls

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?

“Reality” Shows and Creativity

I’m a composer. It is expected that I be creative and that I love creativity, no matter what form it may show up. Creativity is evident in a lot of things, and new media is no exception. Part of that new media so to speak are those TV programs we now call “reality” shows. As much as these kinds of shows push their way to greatly exaggerate or distort reality (just like professional wrestling), I would be first to admit that there are certain “reality” shows that I like watching. However, for a “reality” show to become interesting to me, it has to show people being very creative and expressing themselves through actual skill and talent. Therefore, in terms of these kinds of shows, you won’t expect me to watch “Survivor”, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”, “The Hills”, “Teen Moms”, or anything like that.

As I said, I appreciate a series that really highlights creativity. Some of my favorites are ones that involve food. As a composer and musician, I like trying to gain insight into how they work their creativity into something that couldn’t be preserved in their actual physical forms. Shows like “Top Chef”, “Cupcake Wars”, and “Cake Boss” are some of those shows that spark interest in me. These chefs are really dedicated to their art despite full knowledge that their creations will eventually end up in someone’s gut (and septic tank) after a few hours. Since food involves the senses, whenever I watch these kinds of shows, I try my best to see (or hear) what their equivalents might be in sound. If I take that approach, then perhaps I could mirror what I learn from these culinary shows from a gustatory aspect to an auditory aspect. I aspire to make music that is excellent and more than satisfying, something you would always come back for more. It’s kind of like having a comforting home-cooked meal or some haute cuisine.

I also tend to take that kind of approach when watching something like “Project Runway.” I certainly am not a fashionable person, but I can readily appreciate how designers would craft wonderful creations out of fabric. It’s kind of like how a composer would build a piece out of plucked strings, struck objects , and blown tubes. The kind of ethic and creative insight behind such endeavors deserve to be commended.

The thing is that these sorts of “reality” shows have a very interesting visual element to it. The question now is would a thing like “Top Composer” work well on network TV? I’m guessing that it wouldn’t work well. I mean that as much as you’d love people scream their soul out on “American Idol” or “The Voice”, I doubt that watching a composer scribble notes or record so many takes of a few bars of music on a DAW to be an exciting prospect. Would it be exciting to watch someone like John Williams, Philip Glass, or Randy Newman as head judge giving out a challenge such as, “You need to write and record a 12-bar blues combined with 20th-century serialism using a maximum instrumentation of 16-14-12-10-8 plus rock band,” to composers like myself. I mean your ordinary viewer would have a hard time understanding that, so it wouldn’t really fly as far as something like Top Chef. But who am I to say that? After all, I’m not some network executive like Chuck Lorre who could predict what show concept can become a hit.

P.S. If Bravo TV comes up with something like “Top Composer”, I would watch it. I might even try to audition for it.

Dealing with the Six-String Bass Guitar

The electric bass guitar certainly has a very interesting history. If it were a person, you would know that one of its ancestors was the orchestral double bass and from the other side is the electric guitar. Most people would know a bass guitar to be a four-stringed instrument, but as bass players wanted to extend the range of their instruments, instruments with more than four strings have been developed, the five-stringed version with the low B being very popular. However, I have chosen to go one string further with a six-string bass.

I started playing a four-string bass when I was a teen and then I went up to five, and then more recently the six-string bass. While there are those who hate the six-string bass by being too much to handle, I personally love the instruments flexibility and range. I’m assuming people didn’t realize that the six-string bass was supposed to make people’s lives easier. If you’re surprised that I’m saying that, try playing a two-octave arpeggio over a four string. I’m quite sure that it’s a stretch. On a six-string bass, you can play the same arpeggio over just a span of six frets. If I use the four-string technique on the six-string, I could cover three octaves.

The way I chose my tuning is a matter of convenience. For a while I was playing my six-string bass in the standard fashion: all fourths from B to C. It was wonderful at first. But being a guitarist as well, the C at the 1st string can sometimes be off putting. I could manage with that C well, but I wanted my guitar technique to translate into my bass playing. This is why I decided to tune my bass like a baritone guitar (an octave lower of course) and so the tuning is (from 6th to 1st string) is B, E, A, D, F#, B. It’s a step higher than the Guitarron Mexicano. The great thing about this tuning is that I could use my guitar techniques, one of the most important is the CAGED system. I could also use certain techniques I’ve learned from fingerstyle guitar i.e. classical/flamenco-style tremolo, barre chords, etc. Rather than putting energy into learning techniques specific to the standard six-string bass tuning, I’d like to concentrate more on writing and making music and so the baritone guitar tuning helps a lot by saving up my neurons for something else. It’s just more efficient for me that way.

Given the size of the neck, the six-string bass guitar can be unwieldy. Thus I am not surprised why John Myung wants his six-string bass guitar to have a neck width comparable to just a five-string. At this point, I really can’t have a choice on that matter. It’s rather difficult to find a six-string bass guitar in the Philippines unless you have one crafted for yourself, so I’m very fortunate to have found one at a budget price. All in all, the six-string bass guitar has been of great help for my music.

Piano Testing with Romantic and Impressionist Music

During the last quarter of 2012, I finally was able to get the old piano I grew up with reconditioned and tuned. So, here are some videos of me testing it out. These videos were shot using my iPad.

The first clip here features my attempts at Frederic Chopin’s Etude Numbers 1 and 12 from Opus 10:

 

 

The second clip is features Claude Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1:

 

The last clip is a crack at Claude Debussy’s Reflets Dans L’Eau from Images Book 1 with an improvisation added as an intro. Of all the pieces I play on the piano, this is probably my favorite:

 

 

My sister and I grew up on this piano, and so it holds a lot of memories. It’s a good thing that I didn’t have this piano traded in for another. To my ears, it sounds fantastic whenever I’m playing it. However, it does have that effect where it doesn’t sound as well as I would like it to be when recorded. Every time I record this piano, it doesn’t sound like how I’m hearing it when playing. Perhaps I’m fooling myself to thinking how fantastic it sounds every time I play, much in the same way that any person would love his or her own voice when one is singing in the shower. At the very least I don’t despise the sound when it’s recorded (I can’t say the same thing for my vocals, the timbre of which I’m not fond of).

I could say that my technician really did a good job restoring a once-neglected piano. This actually reminds me that I need to call him up again for this piano’s supposedly biannual tuning and maintenance requirements. On that note, with regard to tuning, I would really appreciate it if anyone could point me to where I can purchase a piano tuning wrench and a set of mutes locally. It’s best if I can tune the piano myself rather than hiring a technician to do it. Given the way I batter the piano almost every day, I do need my own piano tuning kit.

Perhaps when I feel like it I might post more recent clips of me playing the piano. I hope you all enjoy this one.

The Philippines: Still Poor After 26 Years Post-EDSA Revolution

I was nearing 6 years of age when strongman Ferdinand Marcos was forced to fly in exile after only somewhere around 2% to 3% of the Filipino population went to the streets for the so-called EDSA Revolution. Though young, I was already aware that such an event had big promises of change and social upheaval, the start of a society where every Filipino was equal in rights and privileges. After 27 years since that fated day, that promise remains to be fulfilled.

I remember all those years growing up how my parents were able to work hard and see the fruits of their labor blossoming to provide me and my sister the kind of middle class living that majority of Filipinos could only dream of having. One has to understand that while middle class style of living is pretty much standard in developed nations like Australia (where a number of my relatives live), in the Philippines it is rather exceptional. It is worth noting that despite the levels of success my parents were able to reach, as the years after the EDSA Revolution continued to progress, it became more and more difficult for my folks to be able to earn money from their garments manufacturing business. With changing economic forces around the world and antiquated local economic policies, my father’s employers suddenly closed shop, leaving him deprived of his retirement benefits. This also brought about the loss of my mother’s subcontracting business. Coupled with conniving and dishonest people that surrounded my parents like vultures, the years post-EDSA did not provide the kind of environment that would have allowed middle class people like themselves to prosper. I could imagine how much worse it would be for people who didn’t have much.

What does that story about my parents have to do with EDSA? A lot. Apparently, the greater freedom that EDSA was able to deliver provided a recipe for disaster to Filipino society. It only made means for the rich to get richer, the poor to get poorer, and the middle class to be strained close to poverty. Honest small business owners like my parents had to deal with red tape and inefficiency of government services as the BIR continued on their efforts to bleed them dry. All of this was happening while we keep hearing of corruption by post EDSA Revolution leaders, doing nothing with all their power and wealth to delude the ignorant masses to further enrich themselves. Now, I don’t really have to specify details about this. It’s pretty obvious how the Philippines is performing nowadays despite all that EDSA history.

It’s easy to blame the country’s leaders for the government’s shortcomings and failure to provide an environment that stimulates growth and creativity. However, are only the leaders to blame? The matter of fact is that Filipino culture is the culprit. Filipino culture is mired with impunity, mediocrity, and anti-intellectualism  brought about by the “pwede-na” (that’ll do) and “bahala-na” (come what may) philosophy that is so pervasive in society. It appears that every neighbor of the Philippines continues to grow leaps and bounds while Filipinos keep on holding to unsubstantiated “Pinoy Pride” whenever individuals like Manny Pacquiao or Jessica Sanchez garner accolades for their INDIVIDUAL achievements that have NOTHING to do with being Filipino. While competence in other countries lead to success, patronage politics and other underhanded tactics remain key determinants for success in the Philippines. Such cultural traits continue to be present despite the 27 years that Filipinos have been celebrating EDSA, hardly the mark of an advanced society.

I’m not at all surprised that some discerning individuals think of the EDSA Revolution as a joke because it was unable to deliver it’s promises of a society where everybody had equal access to opportunities. It has become such a joke that emotionally-driven Pinoys tend to hit the streets every time they feel angst about something (EDSA 2, 3, etc.). I was gullible enough to be dragged to EDSA part 2 (2001) only to realize that upon arrival it was nothing more than a stupid street party pretending to promote a just cause.

No matter how many times the Philippines changes its leaders, it will always be the same until culture changes. It is only until Filipino culture embraces competence as the standard will we see people with track records of excellence hold important seats in government. When Filipinos start thinking critically will we see the kind of changes we long for.

Surely we Filipinos now enjoy the freedom it had delivered, but that undisciplined freedom is what keeps the Philippines in its current sorry state. This freedom we now enjoy has led to chaos that had deprived many Filipinos of a decent standard of living. Ask the people in the slums eating “pagpag” if they can feel the benefits of EDSA. While they might give trivial and safe answers because of how they have been misled, they will always feel that misery for their sorry state. Such widespread misery is enough to convince me that there is no change after EDSA.

Manuel L. Quezon once duped the Filipinos into believing that they are ready to rule by arrogantly saying, “I would rather have a country run like hell by Filipinos than a country run like heaven by the Americans, because however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it.” Bad (the absence of good) will always be bad, Mr. Quezon! I’d rather have heaven any time rather than your hell! Labeling “hell” as Filipino doesn’t make it any better. The absence of good can NEVER be delightful in any way. Making changes without any progress is useless effort. You can also add to that the fact that change can be for the worse. Look at EDSA. It’s legacy is still keeping the Philippines poor 26 years onwards.

The Kurzweil PC88: My Present-Day Gig Instrument

Today I’d like to talk about my present band practice and gig instrument, the Kurzweil PC88 Performance Controller Keyboard. Why would I do so? Because I like this instrument very much, plain and simple. For any of you out there looking for a review of this fine instrument, read on.

Before I discuss the ins and outs of this instrument, I’d like to tell a brief history about how I stumbled across this “portable” stage piano and eventually became its owner. I was looking for a portable 88-key replacement for a Yamaha SY-77 I had sold a few years back. In July 2012, I browsed through the Philmusic classifieds and found a seller who was selling a PC88. The price seemed reasonable, and then I thought to myself I could use something a bit similar to Jordan Rudess’s Kurzweil K2600. To cut the long story short, I bought it and have been using it since then.

The Kurzweil PC88 was exactly what I was looking for, a keyboard with a pianistic range and some very good sounds. My favorite patches in it are “Classical Piano”, “Suitcase E. Piano”, a number of organ sounds and the “Slow Digital Pad”. In my mind, these sounds should serve as my bread and butter presets. My particular unit is the “MX” variety so it also has a general MIDI bank and a generous 64-note polyphony. Because it’s not a synth, its selection of sounds is limited but it has powerful layering capabilities via the “MIDI Setup” mode where you can layer four sounds, each of which has its individual volume slider. In a limited way, you can create some fantastic patches with real-time control over each sound. Whether I’m playing progressive rock, praise and worship music, or jazz, I can pretty much cover good ground.

I’m not really doing multitrack orchestral stuff with it so 64 notes is pretty generous for my purpose. The feel or touch of its key bed is definitely weighted, similar to the feel of a Yamaha grand I had used about 4 years ago in a company Christmas party, but has a bit of a springy bounce that you will never find in an acoustic piano. How would I know? It’s because it feels very different from the acoustic upright piano I use at home. The rugged metal casing provides me with confidence that it would withstand the rigors of playing out.

As much as I love this instrument, it is not without its faults. I bought this particular PC88 used, and so some of the lead weights were loose. I had to hire a technician to have all the weights of the key bed fixed with a stronger adhesive. My technician said that the original adhesive used doesn’t hold up well to tropical weather, and that’s why they would become loose as the instrument ages. Given the fact that it’s not a synth, I could not use the sort of analog-ish lead sounds I enjoyed in my former Yamaha SY-77, and so I have to stick to organ or piano sounds for my leads.  Lastly, the PC88 is heavy! You will not enjoy climbing up stairs lugging this keyboard on your own. When I set this up in the church (UCCP-MCCD) where I occasionally play, I usually have to ask for assistance from friend and bandmate Pastor Chaz to carry it inside the church. Yes, Kurzweil didn’t lie when it said that the PC88 was portable. They forgot to write down a caveat that it’s only portable if you have a car, if a buddy to help you carry it, or strength comparable to a well-trained athlete. If you plan on carrying it around while commuting, I’d probably laugh at you.

So, in summary, other than the initial key bed lead weight issue, the lack of decent synth lead sounds, and the weight of the instrument, the Kurzweil PC88 is a great piano analog and an impressive MIDI controller.

How I Almost Got Scammed

About two weeks ago, in my thirst for higher education, knowledge, and credentials, I almost got scammed by an organization miles away from where I am. It’s a good thing that I had the presence of mine to have become alerted by what you would call “red flags” that would indicate a diploma mill. I thank God for having given me enough wisdom not to be ensnared by the Atlantic International University.

For those who know me, I only had private lessons as my formal training in music (piano and guitar), and everything else I know I have learned on my own through stacks of music textbooks, the times I sneaked into a music conservatory library, stacks of sheet music, numerous recordings, concert attendances, band experience, and experimentation. Such effort has led me to become the freelancing professional that I am now. However, I wanted to take this to a more advanced level, and so for years I had searched for ways where I can manage to get a conservatory-equivalent education while keeping up with the demands of daily life. Unfortunately for me, I stumbled across Atlantic International University. It was a regrettable experience to have crossed paths with them.

I made an inquiry about their online degree program in music via email. I never expected to get such a fast reply. I even received a phone call regarding getting admitted into their university. The admissions department of AIU called me up late night for an interview. What happened next made me suspicious about the organization. They said they were a university based in Hawaii.

I shot straight to the point and asked about fees, scholarships, and financial assistance. Ms. Meyers positively responded that they had a partial scholarship. What shocked me was the fact that they wanted me to either pay the program fee in full or go under a financing plan that required me to pay an enrollment/reservation fee within 24 hours to make sure that I can avail a scholarship of $1,500. They seem to be very hungry for money if they wanted me to pay immediately without any sort of competence testing for a scholarship or a more rigorous interview process.

I looked at their website and they are not accredited. I tried to see if they had a curriculum structure similar to what I see in reputable schools like Berklee; they had none. I did some more digging and I found out the sad truth: Atlantic International University is a diploma mill according to a variety of sources I have read. Its astonishing to see how easily I have been approved for a scholarship. Add to that the fact that the “university” is nudging me to pay them $150 within 24 hours sounds fishy.

To cut the long story short, I sent AIU an email stating that I wasn’t interested anymore.

If you stumble across Atlantic International University, FLEE IMMEDIATELY! You’ve been warned.

There are many times when we can get caught up in many things that we want along with the excitement that various prospects bring. Such elation can lead to rash decisions that we more than likely to regret some time later. It pays well to pause, step back, and then make a logical evaluation of things before making a decision. Most important of all is a prayer to God before making a decision. Proverbs 14:15 (KJV) says, “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.” On a later chapter, Proverbs 21:5 (Again KJV) states that “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.” We ought not to be hasty or be swayed by emotion; otherwise, we fall, and falling hurts really bad.

The Church Pianist Experience versus the Prog Rock/Jazz Keyboardist

Last New Year’s Eve was very memorable for me. It was one of those rare occasions that happens a few years or so when a church requires a pianist. It’s another case of a regular pianist/organist becoming unavailable and I’m asked to fill in. It’s no accident that such times happen, and I do think it is God speaking through those people to call me up and help in their worship service. Therefore, December 31, 2012 became the second time that I was able to perform some music at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines – Makati Church of Christ Disciples (UCCP-MCCD for short). This piece is actually for people who are interested or called into becoming a church organist or pianist, and I would like to share what little experience I have in this field.

First, I’d like to provide a little disclaimer: I am not an authority on being a church pianist or organist. I have much more experience as a keyboardist/pianist in a progressive rock band than a pianist/organist for a typical Christian worship service that favors hymns from centuries past. There are many similarities yet there are notable differences.

1. First obvious similarity is the instrument. ‘Nuff said.
2. Second similarity is the need for repertoire knowledge and technical keyboard skills. Just like playing in a progressive rock or a worship band, you need to have some good chops because hymns are not easy to play. The ability to sight read is also a necessity because unless you have impeccable memory you only have a few hours to practice and get your repertoire for the service at a considerable level.
3. Third similarity is the the need for improvisation. In certain sections of the worship service, the need to improvise becomes apparent such during certain sections for prayer, offertories on occasion, etc.
4. The last one and most important similarity is the need for synchronicity between pianist and choir/congregation. In a worship service, almost everybody will sing, and the church congregation is always an active participant in the music making experience. Just like the prog rock or jazz keyboardist, a church pianist must be able to play in sync with the congregation’s flow and momentum.

When I say playing in sync with the congregation’s flow and momentum, I mean to say that a pianist should have the attitude that the congregation would become a band or ensemble member and that the pianist will treat the congregation as such. This goes both ways:  Sometimes, a church pianist will dictate the tempo and overall mood of the piece/hymn through his playing (unless the choir conductor takes charge of that). There are also times when the pianist has to adjust his playing in accordance to how a congregation would typically sing. One example I can think of is this: There are congregations that are used to singing a hymn in a particular key other than it was originally written. A church pianist must be able to transpose such hymns on the fly. A church pianist would have an easier time playing a hymn as written when a congregation consists mostly of members with some form of musical training. In cases where a congregation has little or no training at all, a pianist must be prepared to adjust accordingly. The worst experience I had regarding this was a congregation that tends to sing hymns in different keys after each stanza. Whew! That was challenging.

Now, let’s take a look into some differences between being a church pianist and a prog rock or jazz keyboardist:

1. The instrument: A church pianist playing in a service where old-style 16th- to 18th-century hymns are in order only has a piano and/or an organ. Prog rock and jazz tends to be free and experimental, and therefore they can call upon a wide array of sounds as their instruments can call up. Keyboardists in a contemporary worship band have the same options as guys who play in prog rock bands.
2. Repertoire: Church pianists would typically play the classic hymns. Prog rock keyboardists go anywhere from renaissance-era music to contemporary.
3. Improvisation: While church pianists have the need to be able to improvise, their improvisations cannot be indulgent! No shred piano for me while in a church service. When I function as a church pianist, I can’t play blindingly fast and aggressive a la Franz Liszt. Prog rock and jazz keyboardists can be all over the place and blaze away with solos that rival Spinal Tap proportions.

Being a church pianist is an exercise in restraint and control. While I am required to have some considerable chops and precision, you need to be able to hold back and only play what is necessary. You can improvise but you cannot chop up your keyboard like Keith Emerson stabbing his L-100 Hammond organ. Such control is VERY important because the goal of being that sort of musician is to facilitate the congregation to focus on God through music and not focus on the musician.

Here’s some advice for aspiring church pianists and organists:

Learn the material: Get into the habit of sight reading hymnals every day. Make it a goal to commit to memory popular hymns like “Amazing Grace”, “How Great Thou Art”, etc. even if you can manage to play the melody at minimum.

Learn how to improvise: Improvisation helps in many ways. First, you can compose some lovely pieces on the fly and on the spot for sections of the worship service like the prelude/postlude, prayer time, offertory, etc. Second, given the fact that playing all four voices of hymns can be difficult to manage at times (e.g. intervals that go up to the 12th and 13th, unless you have really huge hands like Rachmaninoff!), being able to improvise an accompaniment based on the melody of the hymn is VERY important.

Brush up on music theory and ear training: This helps prepare you for improvisation, which is essentially an application of both disciplines.

The most important thing to take note of is pray to thank the Lord for such an opportunity to serve. Thank the Lord for allowing you to become an instrument for his glory. Also ask the Lord for necessary strength for the task. All that preparation will always fall short without the strength of God.

My pastor friends tell me that that particular instance of being a church pianist/accompanist is God’s calling. I have no doubt that in that particular day, God led me to that path in order to serve. However, I still don’t know if God would want me to go towards that direction in the long run. What I am certain is that that it’s one sign that the Lord has called me to be involved in a very musical life. I’d like to emphasize once more that it is not out of my own strength and skill that has made me capable. It’s only through the Lord that I gain the confidence go ahead and be a church pianist, even it if it’s just for one particular day. This experience always reminds me of Philippians 4:13 which says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Dealing with Negative Feedback

This week started well but was suddenly book ended with some negative feedback from a client who was a bit difficult to work with. The problem all started when this person, about a month or two ago, all of the sudden hired me on oDesk to sing on a couple of songs. This was surprising for me because I never thought of myself as a great singer nor have I ever advertised myself to be one on oDesk. However, I once worked with him as a composer to write some big band music. He was happy with that one and was rather pleased with the demo vocals in that piece; it must have been the reason why he hired me again. After toiling over songs that were very difficult to sing and trying my best to deliver what he wanted, he decided to trash my feedback score.

It would be fair for him to give me a 1 out of 5 score based on the quality of the actual vocals. Again, I’ve never seen myself as a great singer, and this contract was initiated by the client. I did not actively apply for this job. I even went out of my way to sing harmonies and even fake female vocals to give him a good idea of how his song/s would go. After doing all of this work, this is where things began spiraling down.

The songs were awful and his instructions were equally difficult as well. He asked me to sing without vibrato. It felt very unnatural! When I delivered the rest of my recordings to him, he went ballistic as to how they were so unusable. He also went on to complain about how fake the female vocals were. First off, the contract didn’t specify that I hire a separate female singer, and the fake female vocals I used were intended to just give him ideas. He could have cut them out in the mix if he wanted to. If he wanted a really good female singer, he should have asked me in the first place and gave me a more reasonable budget to work with. Once we had cleared the air about it, I even offered to make the necessary revisions and ramped up my offer by stating that I would even hire singers for him if he were so unhappy with the recordings. But he said that he was pressed for time and he’ll just use the crappy mockup recordings I sent him.

I will not dispute his quality concerns. What I would dispute, however, is my score with regard to communicating and cooperating with him. I tried my hardest to please him and to try and get what he wanted. I even made offers to make any number of revisions if needed. I also have qualms about my rating for deadlines: I was able to submit recordings on time! I sent him a message that I’m disputing the score he gave me; I do not expect a change given how much of an asshole that person is.

So, what have I learned from this experience? A lot of things. Flattering as it may that I never applied for any of his jobs on oDesk and that he actively sought me out, I will never accept any singing jobs from him again. If he still wants to do so, I’ll just hire a bunch of singers to do the grunt work. It was a humbling experience as well. I’m very happy that a majority of the people I worked with gave me glowing reviews. This client even gave me top scores for writing a big band tune. This job was, unfortunately, the exception, a stain on my oDesk record. I suppose I should just stick to composing, being an instrumentalist and performing music transcription. Maybe it’s high time to forget about singing except perhaps for personal and educational purposes. This is further reinforcing the fact that I should seek out a dedicated lead singer for my band (that is if the band would come to life this 2013).

Life has its ups and downs, and this is one of those down moments. The important thing is that I have enough strength to take the lessons learned and become a better person as a result of them.

The Year That Was 2012

How would I sum up the year 2012? I would say that it was blessed and fulfilling. A lot of things have happened this year, and I could go on to say that this was one of the most musically fulfilling years I have experienced in my life. More than that, I would go further in saying that I really am happy that this year will come to a close with a bang.

The year 2012 started to be a very challenging time for my small family of three. My wife was unemployed and freelance projects for me were slim. We were feeling somewhat desperate as it seemed like it would be a financially difficult year for us. However, I’m very happy and thankful that despite all that difficulty, God still provided adequately. We had no debts and we still were able to manage living a rather comfortable lifestyle albeit rather slim pickings. It was also this year that I decided to go work in music full time, and I’m happy that somehow my decision is paying off.

Blessings came in gradually this year. This started off with getting some funding to upgrade my home studio. Around the middle of this year, my wife also finally landed the job of her dreams: a stint as an operations manager in Accenture. I was able to play once more with the band of my youth (the formerly named Jacob’s Ladder) and got involved in some more music projects as well like a string of guitar tab transcription projects for GuitarZoom as well as some music composition and sound design projects on the side.

This year had its bittersweet moments as well. I was experiencing what I believe to be bouts of depression during this last quarter of 2012, October to be particular. My beloved cat Scheherazade gave birth to three healthy babies in June but then passed away 3 months later. Although it was a great learning experience, writing music for a7records turned out to be a bad financial decision. such things caused me to feel a lot of self-doubt and I questioned my competence as a parent, as a husband, as a musician along with everything else. God never left me though and gave me the strength to carry on.

I do think that the Lord had reserved the best for last in 2012. I was suddenly tapped to be the pianist for UCCP-MCD’s New Year’s Eve worship service! I was so surprised when I got a call from my dear friends, Pastors Chaz and Xiaui Romero, when they had indicated that they were in dire need of a pianist since their regular accompanist was unavailable. My pastor friends were telling me that the sudden unavailability of their regular pianist was no accident; it did seem like God wanted me to be there to play some music for the congregation. Over the past few days, I was not feeling confident about being up to the task but I did prepare to be at my very best. To cut the long story short, I was able to play through the entire 2-hour service. I would go to claim that it was not out of my own power and ability that I was playing. I feel certain that it was God that was utilizing my personal playing style to deliver music so that the worship service would be a success, the same way He did guide my band through last October’s fundraising concert. According to Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” By my own power, I will not be capable of anything, but it is He alone who has saved me from sin and gave me strength this day to share my faith through music.

In conclusion, I’m very thankful to The Lord for the year 2012. It was indeed a very good and prosperous year. I look forward to see what God has in store for me, my family, my band, and with all the other people in my life this 2013.

Happy New Year dear readers and I hope that next year would be a blessed one for you as well.