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Monday 4 August 2008

VID: Feat. Owl

Well, my hope has come true. I hoped that the new labelling system will lead to new contents. And this is it!

Presenting... 周杰伦-青花瓷 feat. Owl!!! (Jay Chou - Blue Porcelain Vase).

Played on piano, using the original keys. For those who have never heard of the song before, you can find the original MTV here.

While you are listening, don't bother watching. Nothing nice to watch. Continue reading my post.



I am not a first-time play-by-ear pianist, but I wasn't a good one and tend to keep my abilities to myself. Recently, I polished my skills, sharpened my ears, flexed my fingers (or fluttered my feathers), and decided to try playing my favourite Jay Chou song by ear.

For those who don't know, playing by ear means playing a song not by reading from scores, sheets, books, etc, but by merely listening to the song beforehand.

Anyway, it took me hours of practice and improvising to gain enough confidence to er, face the music camera. I then took out my Nikon Coolpix, and started recording.

Practicing and performing - those produced very different feelings. My heart was thumping louder than the sound of the piano. OK, not literally. Why should I be so afraid of a camera? It doesn't have a brain, nor a heart, nor liver...

Anyway, this is my first "public" performance, excluding the many ABRSM piano/violin exams and also a catastrophic Chopin competition.

So, here it is, the final product after much practicing. I slipped during the bridge, but I hope it isn't that bad. I was in too much a hurry to re-record several times to get the perfect one. Hope you will enjoy it though. Please leave comment(s) about it.

I can sense my piano teacher leaving comments like "Curve your fingers!" "Louder melody!" "Sit further away from the piano!" "Your pedalling is terrible!" "Expressions!".

PS - I nearly forgot about Singapore's National Day! I will try play the National Anthem, "Majulah Singapura" this weekend. An early happy birthday to Singapore.

PPS (9.8.08) - Argh... The piano is occupied during the only time I'm free enough to play it! Looks like the Singapore National Anthem has to wait until next year... Dammit why do I have to make myself so busy until I only have 2 hours per week with the piano?

14 comments:

  1. Awesome~~~Wenqi, U're incredible~ :> Thanks for smsing me to come enjoy~~
    U roxx akakak

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  2. ooo pro pianist at work

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  3. too many noise~~~ XD u noe who am i ??? haha

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  4. haha, we have seen your video. ~June

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  5. hihi, haha, nice song, perfect pitch huh? OMG, I feel weird tagging on your blogXD

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  6. June,qiaofang:
    hey thanks a lot for dropping by. i really appreciate it. love ya!

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  7. too fast......n i feel that you dont have feeling.....is it ok....dont so care o...i just write what i feel lo......

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  8. it is true that i lack expressions (or what you call 'feel'). my rubato was not exaggerated enough, so are my dynamics. i knew this while i was playing, but was quite ok with it. the problem is everything (especially the dynamics) got dampened further due to the recording. the loud got softer, and the soft got louder. I guess the camera adjusts its microphone volume dynamically =(

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  9. LoL Wenqi... teach me play piano wei....

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  10. cool...waiting for your next "public" performance. cya.

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  11. amazing skill, nice song u chose

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  12. great to hear you still make effort in ur music study. now i at university malaysia sabah study marine science. actually i come across with this type of exam in my pop piano exam . If u want to improve somemore try to analyse more of pop music ,harmony study is important and some cadence always popular in the pop music and maybe u can try some improvisation training . hoho long time dint see u liao lo!o ya try to analyse the singer music score u will get something u want . kayao !

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  13. very huachi de YANN:
    heheh i knew i called the right guy when i asked you to visit my blog. thanks a lot for your advice! will practice more =D

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