I should stop complaining. I looked down at my posts and it is a long line of ravings. I'm worrying too much, or do I really have reason to worry?
The piano teaching rooms have this custom of knocking on the door at your lesson time, or else you won't get in.
So I knocked on the dot.
Waited 5 minutes.
No reply. Knock knock.
No reply again. 10 minutes now.
Contemplating of going home to practice instead of wasting time.
Knockknocknocknocknock!
Teacher pops his head out and says, 'Sorry, got caught up with something! Wait just one minute!'
And 10 minutes of a half hour lesson gone. XD
That's not all.
12:06amMabel
XD
This teacher of mine has the habit of walking around the room ,checking his emails, fiddling with stuff while I played.
So he told me that day to play my final prepared piece
So I played. Then he got up and started going about his business.
I couldn't see where he went, I just kept playing.
When I was done, I turned to him - he was at the window, scratching his underwear.
Ewww.
12:08amMabel
XD
Just the hem of it at the top of his jeans, but I still saw it!
He turned to me, blank face.
'What do you think?'
I took that as 'You really messed that one up.'
'I....... need to work on it, sir?'
'That was BRILLIANT!'
And I got the shock of my life. XD
12:10amMabel
He started ranting and ranting, 'That's really good! You surpassed my expectations of you! Yeah, it needs a little work, but you're already there!'
'Can I getcha mum's and dad's email? I gotta tell them how impressed I am of ya!'
And I'm o.o
12:11amMabel
XD
Weird, weird teacher.
So many moods and reactions in one class
Now he's toned down to being bored or being slightly pissed because I'm not improving on my hardhard homework. XD
And that piece of homework is !@%^& hard! Swear-worthy! Because this is even work that the other teachers don't DARE to do! How weird is that!
It's 'Giant Steps' by Coltrane. Arguably one of the ugliest, weirdest, and most technically challenging piece in jazz, it is now transcribed - chords only, not melody - in all 12 major keys and I'm whacked with the task of playing different chord types to all the keys. Not easy at all. It's a lot more brainwork than just playing 4 notes on the left hand and one easy note on the right. I'm dyiiing...
So that'll be another episode of me stabbing the weird teacher in the back with said musical-note-knives, and slicing my hands off with said knives and swearing off the piano. But, that's only in the mind theatre. No slicing of hands for me. Ever.
Andandand... andandand... I didn't celebrate any Halloween-ish stuff! Yay!
And I miss seafood. And sushi. And sashimi. And Crystal Jade. And Soup Restaurant. And Soup Spoon. And having favourite meals spread out before me. I shall pig out when I come back! >:D And drag Kevin along! :D
And I finally got rid of the problem of our dorm room smelling like food. Kat and I had been on an instant-ramen and cup-ramen phase, and our room kept smelling of food. Prior to that, we still ate stuff in the room and our third roommate, now moved out, remarked that our room smelt of food - many kinds of food at once. I looked for some odor-removal agent, and found a cheap kind that's like Hippo, but for odors. Seems to be working fine, even if it's a bit slow in taking effect.
OK, now I need to find time to move into the apartment for a weekend to try it out, get Internet to the apartment before that, and decide if I want to live there, or live in the dorms, or live like Jimmy. XD
Labels: Music, Rantings, The Academy
Surely Berklee must be right in accepting me, right?
Because things are so overwhelming, so many classes I'm struggling in. Natalie echoed the same sentiments as I do now: things here are INTENSE. And we're not joking at all.
I wonder if SP was partly to blame. Compared to Berklee, it's a walk in the park. The classes were no doubt longer, but the pace easier and the work and leniency simpler. And people graduate from there and go to work?! Without feeling the stress that I feel now as a Berklee student?! And I thought DMAT wouldn't degrade their work or course just to make the students pass. Now I think they did.
And I know, challenges are there to put us to the test and see if we make it, or we don't. I'm feeling like I'm losing my grip here. I'm the worst in Comping, even if it's at Level 2. With everyone spear-heading forward and me struggling to get everything into memory or paper, it's hard. And Ear Training 4 is just painful. It's fun, until the difficulty sets in. And the practice hours, I feel I'm not doing enough.
And the midterms are the week after next.
I'm trying my best not to cower and hide, but it hurts. I feel stressed - not by the workload, but by my falling grades, or average grades (It's Bs at the moment. I'm already scared.), and, worst of all, if my future here would be of worse things to come and I just collapse and die from the sheer difficulty of things.
I need a moment of peace. Thank goodness there are no classes till 4:30, and that's Jeff Covell. I don't want to think about it.
God, give me the strength to tide through this, to pick up and stop falling behind. Please.
Labels: Rantings, The Academy
GRAAAAAHHHH!!!!
This Jeff Covell is making my life a living hell!!!!!
Berklee is getting stressful. As Jo put it: Why do I have to take Gen Eds/Cores? Why so many of them? Can't I just take the stuff that applies to my major!?
Piano. It's a love-hate relationship. I'm content playing songs that I like on the piano, but forcing things down is hard, especially hard if the stress is placed on you with things like money and grades hanging on the line. I'm not exactly happy about it, but I can only buck up and do something about it.
I practised last night. It was fruitful.
I wanted to practise today, and clear forgot. >.< This is not a good start. Arguing that it was to do an assignment post may be a worthy argument, but I'd be going soft on myself. I can't afford that.
Harmony and Arranging are fine so far. Ear Training is hard! I'm minor-deaf. The lecturer says too that it's against us, that we only had 3 lessons to sit into it, then head straight to the deep-end about it. Some others can do it (Kath is very good at it), but some others (me) can't. Yet.
Stress. Stress. Stress.
Labels: Rantings
Classes so far are fine, with wonderful lecturers and some nice classmates whom I talk to. I still don't know about 95% of my classmates, but it's only the second week of classes.
Labels: The Academy
Heaven - Big Mama ft. MC Mong
Labels: Music
Berklee so far has been really interesting.
The first day of classes was a whirl of both familiarity and things new to me.
For instance...
- I never thought I'd be able to find the classes within the church nearby. Yes, some classrooms are in the church! Saint Cecilia is the namesake of the church, and she is the Saint of Music. :D
- Had japanese curry rice for lunch, and I emptied out what was left of last week's pocket money for it. It was cheap, actually. I just forgot to take stock of the pocket money for the week. XD Curry rice so good!
- I was still torn between using my Berklee planner and my current moleskine, until yesterday. I'll use the moleskine till it runs out of dates, then use the planner as it stretches all the way till summer.
- Harmony 3 was a shock. The professor revealed that we had a tight schedule of lessons to keep to, and flew right through the first half of Harmony 1. I was taking notes even though it was familiar territory. But he talks REALLY FAST!
- Ear Training was fun. With more people in class, you can hide and not worry if you're a few cents off. And I realize that I'm a 'Fixed-do' person, meaning that I can't resolve back to C if I'm in A major. I have to say A. So since the first homework of the day was to sing in 'Movable-do', I'm in serious trouble.
- Interactive music is SO FUN! A class where you can talk about GTA 4, LOZ, L4D, Diablo, WoW, and awesome games and not get into trouble. And game nights for assignments? YAY!
- I wonder if joining the BIRN was a good idea. I was interested in radio work, but now that I have the chance to do it and feel up to the task, I'm suddenly concerned about the time it will consume. Thinking about it.
And today, it's Arranging. And I need to go to the bookstore and get books. And also see if my BoA card gets in. And see if there is a package for me at the Mailroom. And do my homework.
School has started again!
Get a Student Advantage Card, and save on your day-to-day needs. :D
(I just want the $10 for each person who applies. Kekeke.)
Labels: The Academy
Wah.
Labels: Music, Rantings, The Academy
