Scansion

Dear readers,

BACK AT LAST! a gushing trip this has been, and i must say that although the newspaper has been declined the exclusive rights to results, news can be found on scholarscup.org. Alternatively, you can ask tkwek himself for the outcome of the War of the Worlds. If you can find this mysterious character, that is.

Early this morning i found two neatly type-written pieces of work on my desk, sent in by DHL - We LIVE to deLIVEr. Apparently written by tkwek on his Korean odyssey, they shall now be published to cover his week-long break.

Updates about the trip - with prized photos (we hope) shall be up soon.

In the meantime,
(WSC private joke: Oh my tianz)

El Dorado.
The Straight Times Editor

First, the essay.

Soul Music

Now there happen to be certain words of the English tongue that sound like each other. Although their meanings are often drastically different, these words, when confused – especially by Asians like us who have a natural poor pronunciation – sometimes inject new definitions to random events, providing new insight to our lives.

A couple of days ago, at my weekly piano lesson, I came across one of these unpredictable occurrences that immediately set me thinking. My teacher – who, like many music teachers, prefer to refer to notes by their solfege names (popularized by Broadway musical ‘The Sound of Music’) – was just explaining to my non-pianistic mind the importance of pedal points.
“Hold on to the sol!” She admonished. “Hold on to the sol, then it’ll sound nice!”
My mind, which had switched to ‘afternoon nap’ mode, snapped awake at once. How true that was! “Hold on to the soul, then it’ll sound nice!”

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Recently a fellow musician remarked: “I think musicians are the most selfish people. When we play music, I think we enjoy it much more than the audience.”

Even though the above may be the sad truth for the larger half of us musicians who haven’t broken the watermark of the musical arena, I firmly believe that personal enjoyment is not, and should not, be the sole reason of why we do music. *(see footnote)

Just last week a post on my friend’s blog questioned the making of music just for the sake of monetary gain, and I sincerely doubt that as the nexus of musical development too.

So what is music for? And why do we, as musicians, go through decades of practice, enduring disappointment and countless failed performances to achieve something that we know can never be perfect?

The key purpose of music, I believe, is this – to hold on, tight, to the souls of our listeners, and through this, to tell them what we believe, what we love, and what we hope for. Musicians – indeed, all who appreciate music – are highly communicative people, but to spill our fantasies, grievances and philosophies to our listeners requires that we first fulfil the most important criteria of music-making: to touch hearts.

This is also why I personally believe that ‘music’, or thus-branded art forms, cannot be truly music if they do not captivate the hearts of audiences. Music that cannot be appreciated by its listeners cannot carry out its key purpose of telling or of showing what the musician knows, feels and thinks. Music that deafens rather than charms, music that disorients rather than counsels, music that repels rather than appeals is a disgrace to its name.

Therefore, though we live across nations, cultures and societies, the common goal of musicians is deceptively simple: to capture to souls of the listener, and to shout out, through melody and sweet harmony, rhyme and unique rhythm, who and what we are.

(footnote)

It’s true that most of the joy of music-making boils down to those quiet times. No matter how many concerts we give, how many recordings we make or how many competitions we win, it’s those hours sweating over a caprice, editing bowings on orchestra scores or putting in the bar numbers for a crucial rehearsal that few musicians would deny that they treasure most.

However, when it comes to what makes the mark of a professional musician, all the hours of practice still boils down to the crucial make-or-break moments where our playing is actually presented to an audience. It doesn’t matter if it’s a formal or informal occasion. Both the Paganini Competition and a simple Christmas party achieve the same effect – when one pulls together all his sweat and toil and throws it to the listener.

now here's the poem (:

SCANSION


As I re-read these oft-read lines,
Within the light of dark confines,
A metaphor here, a simile there,
And hyperbole fair beyond compare.

There leaps to mind the mise-en-scene,
Of castles tall, of mice and men,
A bugle calls – then peace, be still!
And dewdrops from the leaves distill.

The wind – it washes in the willows,
And ripples – they minuet in the shallows,
Huff and a puff, they tell the tales,
Of wars and worlds – and trees and dales.

Now it is a dark and stormy night,
The seven little dwarves by this affright,
They call to home, to mushroom pools,
To poisoned apples, to white toadstools.

It puzzles me now, does it puzzle you not –
How sea and sky are of paper begot?
How by a trick of rhyme and time
A picture shines, a church-bell chimes.

It puzzles me yet but fear not thou –
These words are to men a blessing now –
Though spilled by sages on pen and page –
They charm us now, e’en till this age.