Vid: It's National Day Again... for Singapore

Singapore is celebrating its 44th anniversary from its divorce with Malaysia today. And because of that, I have a few gifts to share. To make up for all the bad things I've said about Singapore in my previous post.

1. A new Anthem

Last year, about this time, I put a video of me playing Majulah Singapura, Singapore's national anthem, up to Youtube. I wasn't totally satisfied with it, but it was the best I could do within the short time frame. This year, I had the opportunity to polish it, and produced a better version.

I know it isn't too different from last year's, but I hope you like it better anyway.

2. Score

Not the football type of score. I mean piano score. For Majulah Singapura.

Yes, you read right. While most Youtube pianists have refused to provide piano scores for their songs, I've broken the trend and hand-wrote two versions of piano scores for Majulah Singapura.

I wrote them using pencil, so it may be slightly harder to read, sorry about that.

For beginner pianists (below about, say, ABRSM Grade 5 standard), I have a simplified version here. It uses a different (albeit theoretically incorrect) time signature to make counting easier, simplified rhythms with omitted ornaments and lack hard-to-read chords. The downside is it doesn't sound as powerful as the other version, and certain syllables of the lyrics (like the 'ma' in 'Mari kita') are missing. Still, it should be great fun for the young pianists.

Right click on the pages and select "Save link as...".

For intermediate pianists (above ABRSM Grade 5), you can try this one, which is what I played in the Youtube video. To be honest I'm kinda satisfied with it.

Right click on the pages and select "Save link as...".

For the really advanced pianists (with ABRSM Grade 6/7/8 Theory experience), please promise to give me some feedback on the scores if you downloaded them.

I hope you find the scores useful. Don't keep your hopes too high though, I don't think I'll be doing this again for quite some time.



So once again, happy anniversary... for Singaporeans.

PS: I have a feeling I have to do something for Merdeka Day to even things up. Sigh. It's tough when your parents have different nationalities.