Louisiana!!!

My secretary wrote this. The grammar is kinda bad, but I'm not gonna fix it.


so i went to this competition. it was a pretty big deal, i was representing america. and china because i'm chinese. but america because i live here. and there were all these crazy good pianists. and they were intimidating, because their whole life is piano. but i held my own, because i'm ree lu. anyway, i had some ridiculously hard pieces and i sounded pretty good, if i do say so myself. and it was so much fun, and i learned so much, and i was sad to come home. but tosha really missed me, so i guess i had to come home at some point, because that girl is crazy. oh and i looked really handsome in my suit. and that's pretty much it. yay louisianna!


now go eat some rice.
Ray

Liszt's Mazeppa

Shout out to Adam Kim who absolutely blew me away with this piece at the Louisiana International Piano Competition. Ridiculously amazing. The melodies were gorgeous. The runs were dynamite. I have never seen someone with so much power and control over the piano. Hats off to you man.

Enjoy!

Ray

I'M GOING BACK TO THE HOMELAND!!!!!!

Oh baby! China baby China! Food. FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh and I get to see my dad and my family. Miss and love them a lot. Here's a good Asian song.

I'm going home!!!! Love ya guys!!!! Gonna miss ya!!!! (Well not really for most of you)

Oh and another song.

Currently my favorite song. I plan on listening to once a day and you all should to. But for me, it'll remind me of this one person. :)

See ya later people! Take care!

Ray

Rebecca Black's Friday

It's FRIDAY!!!!!!! Mwahahaha. I, I, I, so excited. I so excited. Anyways, I decided to switch from classical music for once and go with a pop song.

The main problem is that because I listen to so much classical music, I don't really know very much popular music. There were a few that really intrigued me but I decided against using them. Tried Baby for a bit but I couldn't take any more when Bieber rolled the strike. Pokerface would have been good but Lady Gag's numerous costume changes kinda freaked me out. Thought I'd try Teenage Dream but  Perry's voice bugs me. Didn't feel like doing rock or alternative music (my kind of modern music) so after much thought I consulted the oracle (Yon Soo) and she suggested that I do my post on Friday.

Music videos are extremely important to modern-day artists. They provide sort of an appeal to the artist and have a wide reaching effect among the rest of us humans. The images in the video often times connect with the lyrics and help us feel more connected to the artist. In today's post I will not only comment on the music, but I will also comment on the music and imagery.

Poor Rebecca....... You can run but you can't hide. Deleting your video isn't gonna stop the dislikes, it isn't gonna stop the haters. Might as well embrace them.

Right from the beginning, she builds up into Friday by uh, giving us very exciting details of each day of the week. Pretty decent beat and synthesizer whatever it is. And she looks like the witch of the waste from Howl's Moving Castle in those penciled in drawings.

Sunday: STUDY STUDY STUDY. Asian mom: that should be every day.
Monday: Test. No wonder she was studying like crazy on Sunday. I'm pretty sure she failed anyway.
Tuesday: More homework. Well, duh. Isn't it a given that you get homework everyday?
Wednesday: Music practice? HAHAHAHA well from this video, doesn't seem like practice helps her.
Thursday: Essay done. I'm pretty sure she procrastinated all week.
Friday: Starts at 12:00 am. I think that was about the time when Hagrid knocked down Harry's door.

Wow she wakes up. At least look like you were just asleep. And gosh her voice sounds like she just woke up. But it sounds like that the entire video.

You gotta go downstairs. How........ informative. We now know that your house has an upstairs.

Cereal...... sounds interesting. What kind? Captain Crunch? Corn flakes? What kind of milk? 2%? Skim? DETAILS! I WANT DETAILS! And now that beat is getting annoying.

Time is ticking on and on. YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME RIGHT?!?!?!? Of course it is. It's not like you're Sonic the Hedgehog and you can do Time Stop. Bwahaha time is ticking on and on. No time isn't ticking on and on. Keep telling yourself that.

Back in my day, there was no sign "Bus Stop" at the bus stop. There was..... an invisible sign that said "Bus Stop."

Now you see your friends. THEN WHY DID YOU GO TO THE BUS STOP IF YOUR FRIENDS WERE COMING TO GET YOU? And your driver is like 13 and the two kids in the back are standing up. How smart. Guess what? Car crashes and you are all dead. Maybe not Rebecca Black. She's starting to seem so bad in this song that she's probably bad enough to have a few Horcruxes lying around.

DON'T GO THERE REBECCA! THE GUY WAVING YOU OVER IS TRYING TO SEDUCE YOU!!!! Oh and which seat should you take? You should take the one seat that isn't occupied. Duh. Well, there is always the trunk. Suits you better anyways.

That girl doing the waves in the front must be really bored. To be honest, I would be too. But I would be asleep. And now that I think about it, this beat is terrible.

Oooooo the driver looks like he's doing drugs.

Yeah. So here's what I don't get. She said that she's looking forward to the weekend when it will be REALLY fun. So why are you so excited about Friday? You still have school. You will continue to live in agony knowing that the weekend is so near and yet so far. Americans are just too optimistic.

Wow. Are you guys really dumb enough to be standing back there on a highway? How is it that all three of them aren't blondes? Your friend is on your right. No she's some random girl you picked out on the street to try to make your pathetic video look just a tiny bit better.

The next two lines are just pure stupidity. You aren't sitting. You're standing. Which seat should you take? The one you're already in? Man, she makes these questions sound so difficult and profound. Yeah, profound for a two year old.

2:01 Just hurry up and walk inside already.

Yesterday was Thursday. I think I already know that. Yup, today is Friday. Good to know. I sometimes forget what day of the week it is you know.

Tomorrow is Saturday. And Sunday comes after that. And Monday comes after that. And Tuesday comes after that. Seriously, Rebecca, you don't have anything else to say in the little time you have left in the video? I want details about the party! Beer? Drugs? Games? Details, girl, details. I mean, your predictions on the order of the days is profound but the only thing that interests me is the party.

What the heck is this dude doing in the video? Let me tell you something. It's all about Rebecca, not you. We love Rebecca Black. I appreciate her for what she's done. Wasting 4 minutes of my life. So stay out of the video dude.

Okay I can't listen to this anymore. I feel dumber just listening to it. I'm not kidding, I have a huge headache right now.

I hope you have been enlightened and now hate this song. Go eat some rice.

Ray

Joe Hisaishi's Merry Go Round from Howl's Moving Castle

I don't care what you try to sell me, or if you think I'm crazy. But this man alone (though not the only reason) puts Studio Ghibli above Disney. Music is by far one of the most important components of movies. Sure, Under the Sea is a catchy tune, but don't try and tell me that it is better than THIS. No, Hate me all you want, but here's the truth. Disney songs have no life, no deep meanings. They are sparse, simple, and quite frankly, boring. And how do they think they make up for it? They add lyrics, which is really quite pitiful. The music for movies such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle In the Sky, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, and Spirited Away, are quite the opposite. Theses songs are rich and majestic. Beautiful and moving. Masterful and complex. Everything that Disney songs are not.

Howl's Moving Castle. Just an amazing movie. Though not as heralded as Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle certainly ranks among the best. A captivating storyline, vivid imagery, fitting and trancing music make Howl's Moving Castle a masterpiece. The video below is a live performance of "Merry Go Round" with an orchestra and Joe Hisaishi himself.

First off, man, what I would given to have been in Hisaishi's shoes. Playing the piano and conducting just a masterful and breathtaking song would be an incredible experience. Throughout this video, you can just tell how passionate Hisaishi is about his music. He wills every phrase, every note, into its own unique purpose, own meaning. The way he divides the melodies up, the way he weaves voices together is like that of a master, a true musician.

Piano solo at the opening, introducing the main theme. Just love this theme. Gorgeous and moving. Strings join in then followed by an oboe solo which leads into the waltz.

Really cool how he has each of the different instruments have the melody without making it sound like Bolero. He has a lot of fun countermelodies and ornaments that weave in and out of the melodies that adds flavor to the waltz. Love the flute decorations.

Man look at 2:00. I've never seen such great passion about music.

Just beautiful. Words can't describe how magnificent this piece is. Just listen and enjoy.

I hope that you have been enlightened and now love this song.


Now go eat some rice and watch Howl's Moving Castle.


Ray
 

Balakirev's Islamey

So I decided to do a piece by a fairly unknown composer. Though well known during his day, Mily Balakirev has basically faded into obscurity. Pretty much his Islamey is only played because it is considered one of the hardest and most taxing piece in piano literature. A fast and powerful piece. 26 pages in about 8 min? So yeah, it's an impressive piece that some pros like to play. However, critics don't really like this piece, mainly because of its inability to develop. It doesn't ever really expand on the main theme, doesn't really develop a nice melody. One of my friends personally thinks that Balakirev only wrote the piece because he wanted to be the composer of the hardest piece in the world.

Interesting note: Balakirev was part of group known as "The Five," which consisted of the brightest musicians (except for Tchaikovsky) in Russia at the time. Their attitudes are completely different than of that today. Back in the day, musicians were always sharing musical ideas. Everyone was copying Paganini, Liszt borrowed from Schubert, etc. These days, for obvious reasons, composers don't share ideas at all. Well, I wish I could have lived back in the day, when fame, money weren't all that important to them.

 

Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow. Absolutely ridiculous. He plays this piece so darn fast. Realize that pretty much this entire piece is made up of chords on every single note. Basically the music is 4 part harmony on speed. Double thirds, double fourths, double octaves, you have them all.  

Basically the opening establishes the main theme of the entire piece. You'll probably recognize it if you hang around Jae Cho too much because for a while, that was all he would whistle. It also sets the precedent of an imitation, with the first loud, second soft. Notice that for a lot of the time, Balakirev does not decrescendo to the end of the phrase. He goes against convention and crescendos into the phrase.

Nice melody and theme at 2:00. Too bad it's so short though. Love the little flourishes that decorates the melody when it goes up into the higher registers. Love how the melody just grows, develops into huge sweeps and flourishes in the right hand, with the melody in the left hand.

After that, more of just the same old stuff. Power, speed. A bit of development at 4:25. Goes back to a previous theme at 5:00. Does the same thing again at 5:45. 

6:00 to the end is just glorious. Sweeps and flourishes are all over the keyboard. Dynamic, Strong, quick, just amazing. Difficult to imagine that anyone can play this piece. 

Hope you've been enlightened.

Now go eat some rice.

Ray

Mozart Symphony #40 in G Minor, 1st movement, K 550

Yeah, sure we all like to bash on Mozart sometimes. My favorite ones I like to say are, "He's too cheery!" "He always makes me feel like I'm on pot!" Though Mozart in my opinion is probably the most overrated composer, he is second to none in terms of his ingenuity and talent. He could write symphonies in weeks, sonatas in days. His ability to sprout out melodies was was just ridiculous. He was the classical period. His songs were just always flowing, melodious, and this is clearly demonstrated in his most famous symphony, symphony number 40.

First note of the melody is E-flat! Then it's D! Then it's D again! Yeah, I'll stop now. At the beginning, it seems as if the two phrases are questioning and answering each other. Then then the motiff is taken a half step down. Well, what else can I really say about the piece? There's an exposition, development, recapitulation. Typical of all pieces during this time to be written in sonata allegro form.

The piece is just so fascinating. It's so cool how all the instruments that just play back to each other. Winds, individual strings, it's just so awesome. Plus, it has some awesome horn parts in it.

Not gonna say anything else about the piece. Just enjoy it because this guy was a genius! We never really fully appreciate them.

Now eat some rice.

Ray