It's times like this that makes me wonder why I actually took building business so seriously. My ex-fellow singing instructor at a former music school, Nicole Lai passed away last week. The news totally shocked me. What makes it more shocking was that I still saw her quite a few times around The Art of Music this past year. She had succumbed to cancer. At a criminally young age of 34.
A really nice lady, Nicole never put on any airs and was always ready to help others around her. She was always cheerful and her energy spread to others. I have never seen her getting angry or whatsoever. The last performance I had with her was to sing Christmas carols to the old folks at this particular old folks' home in 2004.
Her passion for singing never fail to amaze me. She actually used her savings to cut an album a few months ago. Like i had always said... Go all out for your dreams. Maybe I know why now... I am chasing a dream. Building The Art of Music is my vision and dream. And I will not stop.
Thank you Nicole for all the help you have rendered me in the past. Thank you for showing me how much we all can believe and put into our dreams. Thank you for everything. I remember you. Rest in peace...
Andre Tan
Friday, September 12, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tingting's goodbye!
Dear AOMers and friends,
Thank you for welcoming me into AOM as a staff and a friend. Thank for for bearing with all my blur moments.
Andre: Thank you for bearing with me when I call regarding issues which I cannot solve. Thank you for bearing with my attitude when I am flustered. Thank you for giving me this chance to work with AOM and to know so many wonderful friends.
Shuying: Thank you for sharing my burden whenever I can't cope. You are always there to share and care, to help me get through each and every day, even if it wasn't totally work-related. You've been my greatest source of strength in this month of ups and downs. Thanks, I'm grateful for having a friend like you.
Tiffany: For turning up with your sunshine smile, your cheery voice and for just being around. You warm everyone's hearts just by being yourself! I hope you stay the happy and carefree spirit that you are for many many years to come.
Performing group: I am sorry for last night, when I was kanjiong and tired. But thank you so much for cooperating with me and for the patience given. Thank you for all the happiness you have given me in the short time that I got to spend with you. I feel warm and fuzzy inside... HAHA!
All other AOMers: I'll miss everyone. Thanks for being part of my experience. Keep up the great work and great performances!
Love,
The One and Only TR
Thank you for welcoming me into AOM as a staff and a friend. Thank for for bearing with all my blur moments.
Andre: Thank you for bearing with me when I call regarding issues which I cannot solve. Thank you for bearing with my attitude when I am flustered. Thank you for giving me this chance to work with AOM and to know so many wonderful friends.
Shuying: Thank you for sharing my burden whenever I can't cope. You are always there to share and care, to help me get through each and every day, even if it wasn't totally work-related. You've been my greatest source of strength in this month of ups and downs. Thanks, I'm grateful for having a friend like you.
Tiffany: For turning up with your sunshine smile, your cheery voice and for just being around. You warm everyone's hearts just by being yourself! I hope you stay the happy and carefree spirit that you are for many many years to come.
Performing group: I am sorry for last night, when I was kanjiong and tired. But thank you so much for cooperating with me and for the patience given. Thank you for all the happiness you have given me in the short time that I got to spend with you. I feel warm and fuzzy inside... HAHA!
All other AOMers: I'll miss everyone. Thanks for being part of my experience. Keep up the great work and great performances!
Love,
The One and Only TR
Monday, August 25, 2008
More music in the air!
And I am not talking about getai, hahahahha! I am talking about the students of The Art of Music, as well as our friends!
On 30th August, our friends' band Something Else will be performing at the Zoo. This young band includes our friends Spruce (soprano saxophone) and Brian (guitarist)! These boys will win your hearts with their sincerity and moving melodies! Let your imagination flourish as you indulge in their performance and let your troubles evaporate with every lingering note they play!
Next, on the 6th of September, the AOM Performing Group members will grace the occasion at East Coast Park! We will be setting up a booth for everyone to come by and get to know us better!!! From 12pm till 6pm, the AOMers will sing and play for all visitors. Now, what better way can you spend your Saturday than music by the sea, with the sun and breeze swirling in your hair? Get that sunkissed look, that healthy tan, those glowing cheeks, all while making new friends with The Art of Music!
So get your bums off that chair/couch/bed, put on comfortable shoes and come on over! We will be glad to see you! Bring your family members, your dogs, your boyfriends/girlfriends, best friends, schoolmates, CCA mates and well... in fact just bring along EVERYBODY! *Winks* See you there!!!
- Tingting
On 30th August, our friends' band Something Else will be performing at the Zoo. This young band includes our friends Spruce (soprano saxophone) and Brian (guitarist)! These boys will win your hearts with their sincerity and moving melodies! Let your imagination flourish as you indulge in their performance and let your troubles evaporate with every lingering note they play!
Next, on the 6th of September, the AOM Performing Group members will grace the occasion at East Coast Park! We will be setting up a booth for everyone to come by and get to know us better!!! From 12pm till 6pm, the AOMers will sing and play for all visitors. Now, what better way can you spend your Saturday than music by the sea, with the sun and breeze swirling in your hair? Get that sunkissed look, that healthy tan, those glowing cheeks, all while making new friends with The Art of Music!
So get your bums off that chair/couch/bed, put on comfortable shoes and come on over! We will be glad to see you! Bring your family members, your dogs, your boyfriends/girlfriends, best friends, schoolmates, CCA mates and well... in fact just bring along EVERYBODY! *Winks* See you there!!!
- Tingting
Labels:
aom,
band,
east coast park,
Music,
performing group,
singing,
the art of music,
zoo
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Piano lessons at The Art of Music!
Recently there have been quite a few requests for piano lessons at The Art of Music for both young and old! Hmmm, wonder why the sudden demand haha. (Personally, I think learning the piano is just as fun as the keyboard, but the keyboard allows me to tinkle around with sounds hahahha.) But piano is probably the most popular music instrument after the guitar, so if you master it, you can sit down at any piano, and tada!!! You're makin' music, baby!
I remember how, as a kid, I heard my mum telling me dad that she heard from friends this: playing piano allows a kid's fingers to be flexible and so might pick up typing on the computer faster. Now I have grown up and that is absolutely untrue, but I guess for piano enthusiasts, the piano has much more significance to them than a keyboard (both the tinkle-able one and the one with "Enter" haha).
I remember that as a child, I used to think that the piano keys looked like sponge cake fingers coated with black and white cream! Piano keys are always so fascinating to me. Small, plain and smooth looking, yet they produce such melodious sounds! The magic of the piano cannot be hidden from a child's senses, drawing it deeper and deeper into the wonderland of music and what it can do.
Now in my twenties and resigned to have been born lacking the play-instruments gene, I watch in envy at the people tinkling away effortlessly, expressing their emotions in a language unspoken and undissected by analyses. Pure, energetic, passionate, individualistic, serene, free, peaceful, and most importantly of all, true to oneself.
So come, discover the child in you and/or let your child discover his or her own road to wonderland through the ivory keys to the magical kingdom called Music. Unlock their potential, free their creativity, and you'll see then soar like white doves in the sky above - carefree, hopeful and proud of themselves.
-Tingting
I remember how, as a kid, I heard my mum telling me dad that she heard from friends this: playing piano allows a kid's fingers to be flexible and so might pick up typing on the computer faster. Now I have grown up and that is absolutely untrue, but I guess for piano enthusiasts, the piano has much more significance to them than a keyboard (both the tinkle-able one and the one with "Enter" haha).
I remember that as a child, I used to think that the piano keys looked like sponge cake fingers coated with black and white cream! Piano keys are always so fascinating to me. Small, plain and smooth looking, yet they produce such melodious sounds! The magic of the piano cannot be hidden from a child's senses, drawing it deeper and deeper into the wonderland of music and what it can do.
Now in my twenties and resigned to have been born lacking the play-instruments gene, I watch in envy at the people tinkling away effortlessly, expressing their emotions in a language unspoken and undissected by analyses. Pure, energetic, passionate, individualistic, serene, free, peaceful, and most importantly of all, true to oneself.
So come, discover the child in you and/or let your child discover his or her own road to wonderland through the ivory keys to the magical kingdom called Music. Unlock their potential, free their creativity, and you'll see then soar like white doves in the sky above - carefree, hopeful and proud of themselves.
-Tingting
Labels:
keyboard,
Music,
piano,
piano lessons,
the art of music
Friday, August 15, 2008
Mandy Moore's Wild Hope
Ok this is totally behind the times, people! I apologise for the really outdatedness of the following content but hey! I only just began blogging here and I deserve to be forgiven and hence am forgiven, savvy?
Mandy Moore's latest album Wild Hope is a must-buy for all girls out there! Not because its bubblegum girly pop [paiseh ah, Ms Moore has grown out of her pretty blonde Candy days already, you know]. On the contrary, Mandy Moore now graces her album cover as an ethereal looking country lass. Looking angelic in a frilly white dress and casually tousled caramel tresses, the talented songbird is accompanied by the bird of wisdom - an owl sculpture.
The combination of this sweet, pure country girl with the ambassador of wisdom is reflected in her songs. The hit single "Extraordinary" is perhaps one that Mandy identifies with most. Anyone who has known Mandy since she started out would know what I mean. She was ranked among Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and Christina Aguilera as one of the young rising blonde starlets, all pretty, sexy and girl-next-door. "Extraordinary" reflected how Mandy eventually drew out from the group, leaving the three bombshells to sizzle up the charts. The courageous Miss Moore ventured onto the big screen in A Walk To Remember, dyed her hair dark brown completed with a geeky shapeless haircut [and those obsolete bangs] for her role.
Next, Miss Moore chose the opposite road from her former chart rivals. She embarked on her own "Extraordinary" journey, turning to country folk and folk-rock instead of commercial music. Putting all her passion for singing and music into this new path, Mandy eventually released this album Wild Hope, showcasing a voice both endearingly gentle yet tinged with the maturity of a dignified lady.
"Extraordinary" is a chronology of Mandy's path from bubblegum pop princess to the ethereal country music fairy she is now. Singing of how "now I'm ready to be extraordinary", Mandy reveals how far she has come as a singer and as a woman, finally stepping out of the shadow of her former image and embracing herself as who she wants to be, and who she is proud to show the world of, and whom she would never change.
After several much publicised failed romances, Mandy's self awareness is reflected in her lyrics. The harshness of reality is not diluted by her sweet voice, but mellowed into melancholic acceptance. Like they said, a princess cannot find her prince before kissing the toad(s). Mandy's songs, rather than being cynical about love, discuss how love in its many ugly forms, can in fact bring out the strength in a girl and make her the woman she was meant to be. Love can fail, and your lover can leave, but you can stand up for yourself and say that "I will be ok, and in time you'll fade into the nothing that you are". Wise words indeed, for the reality of love is that it can fail, but self-love is the one kind of love that is impermeable and indestructable. A woman who loves herself for who she is will be a beautiful woman, for self-love is harder to achieve than love given by another.
Every girl should get a copy of this album. This is an album that is all about what it is like to be a girl in this world, to face failed love, to stand up again and be quietly confident that we are worthy of love and self-love, and someday we will receive our due recognition.
Love,
Tingting
Mandy Moore's latest album Wild Hope is a must-buy for all girls out there! Not because its bubblegum girly pop [paiseh ah, Ms Moore has grown out of her pretty blonde Candy days already, you know]. On the contrary, Mandy Moore now graces her album cover as an ethereal looking country lass. Looking angelic in a frilly white dress and casually tousled caramel tresses, the talented songbird is accompanied by the bird of wisdom - an owl sculpture.
The combination of this sweet, pure country girl with the ambassador of wisdom is reflected in her songs. The hit single "Extraordinary" is perhaps one that Mandy identifies with most. Anyone who has known Mandy since she started out would know what I mean. She was ranked among Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and Christina Aguilera as one of the young rising blonde starlets, all pretty, sexy and girl-next-door. "Extraordinary" reflected how Mandy eventually drew out from the group, leaving the three bombshells to sizzle up the charts. The courageous Miss Moore ventured onto the big screen in A Walk To Remember, dyed her hair dark brown completed with a geeky shapeless haircut [and those obsolete bangs] for her role.
Next, Miss Moore chose the opposite road from her former chart rivals. She embarked on her own "Extraordinary" journey, turning to country folk and folk-rock instead of commercial music. Putting all her passion for singing and music into this new path, Mandy eventually released this album Wild Hope, showcasing a voice both endearingly gentle yet tinged with the maturity of a dignified lady.
"Extraordinary" is a chronology of Mandy's path from bubblegum pop princess to the ethereal country music fairy she is now. Singing of how "now I'm ready to be extraordinary", Mandy reveals how far she has come as a singer and as a woman, finally stepping out of the shadow of her former image and embracing herself as who she wants to be, and who she is proud to show the world of, and whom she would never change.
After several much publicised failed romances, Mandy's self awareness is reflected in her lyrics. The harshness of reality is not diluted by her sweet voice, but mellowed into melancholic acceptance. Like they said, a princess cannot find her prince before kissing the toad(s). Mandy's songs, rather than being cynical about love, discuss how love in its many ugly forms, can in fact bring out the strength in a girl and make her the woman she was meant to be. Love can fail, and your lover can leave, but you can stand up for yourself and say that "I will be ok, and in time you'll fade into the nothing that you are". Wise words indeed, for the reality of love is that it can fail, but self-love is the one kind of love that is impermeable and indestructable. A woman who loves herself for who she is will be a beautiful woman, for self-love is harder to achieve than love given by another.
Every girl should get a copy of this album. This is an album that is all about what it is like to be a girl in this world, to face failed love, to stand up again and be quietly confident that we are worthy of love and self-love, and someday we will receive our due recognition.
Love,
Tingting
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