I’m evicted from my
room. Right now I don’t care what our generation is hardwired to do. We’re
hardwired to be a wired generation, but what’s closer now is that the wiring in
my lights are not wired properly or something is faulty somewhere, and therefore
my room is in darkness. A screw loose, perhaps?
I can’t work in
darkness; it is the condition under which I sleep.
Doing work in the
kitchen is not a very viable solution. The first thing I did when I put my work
down on the table? Take out the ice cream tub.
Amidst this hectic
period of time, time itself is slowing down as I take everything step by step
(or try to). I fit everything nicely into my schedule. Then I throw some out or
compress them, as I take out time to do ‘useless’ stuff.
Like watching shows.
Watching ‘Dream High’ now. It’s like suddenly all my perceptions of music,
whatever kind, have been shifting and poked and threatened by this show, and
many other things. Our (you know who you are) 30 day song challenge. The sermon
today. Grappling with HMP and composition. The musical.
Dream high:
A K-drama
about a school that breeds Kpop stars, it shows both ugly sides of climbing the
ladder to stardom, and the beautiful side of how music can unite people with
differences. So, does music really transcend language and culture and genre?
What about the classical musician who harbors prejudices against pop music?
Loving one and hating the other… A true music lover can respect all kinds of
music. You may not like all, but don’t look down on certain kinds of music. Is that
it?
30 day song challenge/Today’s
sermon:
This touches on perceptions of Christian music, and the purpose of
these. When I started out on this challenge, I didn’t really know if we knew
what we were doing. Were we just going to let songs pop into our heads every
day for the next 30 days because we are on this challenge? Or will we think
about the lyrics, genuinely sing these songs to praise God, as a proclamation
of our love to Him, as teachings and reminders to our faith, as encouragement
to ourselves and others…? There are many kinds of Christian songs: songs that
praise God, songs that teach us, songs to comfort us. I think it is important
that the songs we sing or listen to don’t all revolve around the third kind,
not because it is bad in any way by itself, but if the proportion of it is in
excess, we lean to self-edification. It makes us think that we are the centre
of the world, we need to be comforted, God is at our beck and call, but the
fact is not. We need songs of truth, to tell us that He is sovereign, meaning
that He has His own plans, His reasons for doing things we may not be able to
comprehend. He is not obliged to do anything for us. But His grace and mercies
sustain us and give us strength. For we are weak, but He is strong.
HMP/Musical/etc.:
My
feelings toward HMP waver tremendously throughout the times. I started out
apprehensive, without confidence, almost reluctant, treading on unchartered
water, I didn’t know where I was going, what I was doing. Then I started to
work harder. Listening to the better players, I felt so incompetent, like I
would never reach their standard. I learnt how to critique music better, listen
to the technicalities and the musicality. Then, when I try too hard to
critique, no music sounded too good anymore. In HMP we have to do composition
sometimes, and occasionally I’m pleased with what I write and sometimes I just
want to crumple up the question paper. Today I came across a quote "Don't try to create and analyse and the same time. They are different processes." And realised that perhaps that is what I have been doing too much of. I composed and then try to analyse what chords I am using, then try to intentionally vary my chords to keep it from being too boring, but it never flows well enough. Who cares if my chord progression is a C Am F G?! It’s
a bit no creativity, but better than getting nothing ‘good enough’ for my brain
that is seeking complications. And now, with the musical, I get so caught up
with listening to all those crazy dissonances and modulations. Maybe you don’t
even know what I am talking about, but really, those music, shifts from one key
to the next like nobody’s business… In other words, it is always changing,
rapidly. Yet, in almost everything, you hear it: There, fragments of shan ge!
And that’s Ge Ming Song! And there it is, the motif from Sporting Life! There’s
consistency in every change. And now how do I do that in my music writing?
Music is this really awesome
and intriguing thing that God created. It covers so many aspects of everything
in the world, there’s the science, there’s the art. There’s the emotions, there’s
the logic. There’s that universal appeal, yet each one has their own styles and
preferences. Music is too huge to fit into my life. So, I’m glad to be a part
of it.
I would have liked to
end the post there and then but I’d just like to add that for those of us still
struggling with this musical, I hope none of us are still bitter about it.
True, we might not have supported the idea of it at all from the start, but we
have come to the point of no return, shall I say. Let’s just do our best and
make it our show, because so many people have been working hard for it whether
by choice or not, and let’s not let their efforts go to waste.
Have the patience to
accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and wisdom
to know the difference.