=762= Word: Personality Clash

Have you ever been in a situation when you just can’t seem to get along with someone?

It is quite a strange occurrence. They can be nice, friendly and as motivated, but somehow, you seem to clash with the person. How? Is it really just a difference in personality?

Perhaps I have been doing this making friends thing for a long while, I kinda expect a certain reaction for certain actions. Like if I make a joke, I expect either laughter or eyes rolling. I get absolutely stuck when someone just doesn’t react.

So can you imagine two people both expect their actions will get certain reactions, but neither gives such reactions. How awkward would it be.

How does one even approach such a problem?

Hopefully with time, things will resolve nicely.

-Kelvin-

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=761= Word: Musical Sense

Before I talk about musical sense, I just wanna say that it is pretty cool to have a group of people so passionate about music to gather together to strive for something bigger than ourselves. It was really really cool to hear different people interpret my song differently from what I intended. Giving my words and my melodies a different life.

Very thankful for this group of friends, may we strive for the best.

I was thinking recently that how good a drummer sounds depends on how good the band sounds. Something that sounds good on your own may not necessarily sound good in a band.

How does one get this musical sense to know what or what not to play?

This is as difficult a question to ask as “how to have better time?”

Such questions is beyond what to play as notes. Such questions has to deal with human practice.

I guess musical sense is honed by what you think is nice. You will have to judge for yourself what sounds good and what doesn’t.

I was very fortunate to have L in my early drumming years, having him as a benchmark really helped me to have a more refined sense of what is nice and what isn’t.

Such sense is not gained by playing more complicated things. It is gained by understanding music as a whole picture and understanding what you do to create that mood.

It is really important.

I hope my sense will get more and more refined with time!

-Kelvin-

=760= Word: Qualities of the Best Musician

I apologise for that depressing post, let me lighten up the mood for a dream ok? 🙂

Let me list down qualities of the best musician:

1. Listen more than they speak
2. Laugh together with each other at mistakes
3. Encouraging
4. Always prepare for a set
5. Have fun with band mates
6. Reacts to whatever little thing your band mates do
7. Brings fresh ideas to the floor
8. Always trying to push yourself to play something interesting
9. Meticulous at noticing details that people miss out
10. Disciplined during soundcheck

=759= Melancholic Reflections: More Questions

Sometimes you walk out of a class with more questions than answers.

The question was “how do you have better time?”

My teacher asked Macro or Micro.

Micro refers to note to note accuracy. For note to note accuracy, one has to be conscious of how even your hand is playing. To practice this, one has to hear the way certain note values should sound like and be playing with the same motion. Practicing with a off note click helps your brain to perceive evenness in timing as well.

Macro refers to keeping tempo over time. A gap click helps. It requires confidence, experience and judgement. Qualities that are really hard to teach.

I mean, how do you help someone with nerves? How do you help someone with stage fright? Distraction? Imagination? Assurance?

A good student is a person that realises how much he has to learn. It is an extremely humbling process, to start noticing weaknesses, to forfeit the stripes that you have earned through the years and just be willing to be corrected again and again until you are doing it right.

It is really frustrating because I have tried what was suggested. The next question is how long? When will I finally have good time?

Same goes for living. How does one train to live righteously? There is things to do and things not to do. After all these years, the issue that I face is that I am still not righteous. When will I be considered as righteous? When will I be considered as a good reliable man?

Why is it so much easier for other people? Why is it so hard for me o Lord?

I have never been the best musician, but I have tried my best to make up for it by being the most hardworking guy on the band. The amount of prep I do now is WAY more than I did when I was young and somehow, it is still not enough.

The pain of a musician, when will it stop?

Lord, help me.

-Kelvin-

=758= Word: Teachers

People need to remember that teachers are not your cheerleaders, they are not only there to tell you how great you are at things.

The role of a teacher is one that requires correction. One should really stop thinking that they know. Be humble to be willing to listen to learn. It definitely can be frustrating when you are not getting something, but correction is for a good reason. Don’t be so stubborn to think that there is no difference.

Imagine a teacher instructed you to draw a straight line. You try your very best to draw a straight line without your teacher instructing you how. You try with all your might to do it, but you couldn’t. Imagine your teacher trying to get your attention to stop you from doing so much extra work. All he needs to say is “use a ruler.”

Something as fundamental as drawing a line could have tools to help, just be humble to learn. Why think that you know?

It is quite sad.

-Kelvin-

=757= Word: Worth

I recently saw this meme. The meme was asking, “If you were to receive 14 million, but in return, never hear any song from Beyonce ever again, would you do it?”

The punch line was, “So I would receive 14M for my life now?”

Haha, well, I was thinking about it. What if I were to receive 14 million and in exchange never hear any song from my favourite artistes ever again? Will I do it?

I honestly have no idea. I honestly cannot imagine not listening to Mayday ever again. On the other hand, with 14 million, there is so much I could do. I could buy new equipment, I can set up a place and run my dream.

So it is only fair to ask, “what is the worth of music?”

How is it that a cd, worth $20, can be considered against 14 million?

A similar video had a person going around to dog owners asking if they would sell their dog for a sum of money. All of the owners rejected any offer. How can that be? A dog that you paid for a few thousands cannot even be compared to any amount offered?

Let us think of another scenario. Would you sell your own child for a billion dollars? Almost immediately many people would stop you and scold you for even suggesting to buy someone.

How can that be? A billion dollars. That is probably more than what you will ever earn in your lifetime, or probably several lifetimes. How is it that a human cannot even be compared to a billion dollars?

The reason is that it isn’t always about money is it?

Worth isn’t the monetary value that it is priced at. Worth is the value that you put into something.

How is it that God would give up divinity to come down and die for us? Divinity and power to create anything to create time, to know everything. How is it even possible to compare that power to the humans that he created?

Because you are worth it.

Because God put the value in you.

I am worth it because God loves me.

Oh how amazing love is.

Thank you for loving me O Lord.

-Kelvin-

=756= Word: Seriousness Vs Fun

Seriousness is not the absence of Fun.

Being serious about something doesn’t mean that it will not be fun. Being serious is respecting something or someone. For example, it is possible to have fun playing music, but the fun of it could come from respecting music enough to prepare as much as possible.

Knowing when to be serious and when to have fun is important too. I can play around all I want during rehearsal, but during the actual thing, there is a need to uphold standards.

When one is serious about something, they would put in more effort to achieve it. The more effort they put in, the more they would grow. I have grown to understand that action is just as important as intention.

I remember my first internship, I was in a new environment, I had no experience whatsoever. When all the guys started work, I was just standing around, not because I was lazy, but because I was scared I would spoil something. However, my supervisor pulled me aside to ask me if I wanted to learn. After that, I just did what I was told to do.

My intention was a good one, but my actions just showed that I was lazy.

Another example would be to be serious about a relationship. When you are serious about such a thing, you would try your very best to be the best person you can be. Is being serious worth it? Of course it is.

Discipline is so important. I think back to all my students. I have this girl, her parents were so hard on her, but as a result, she is the most polite most hardworking little girl I have ever met. She was taught to be serious when she learns and my am I impressed with her.

I have another student, often distracted, always felt bored because she had no idea what she was doing. She got bored and she wasn’t listening to instruction at all. At the end of the day, she did not learn a single thing from the session.

Just because something is hard and difficult to understand, doesn’t give you an excuse to be whiny and uninterested. Among my students, the hardest to teach were the students that thinks they know. Think that they know the best way for them to learn is. Think that they know that what I am telling them to do is ridiculous.

How does that make any sense? If you have no understanding of something, how do you know the best way to learn that something?

It is indeed difficult to make someone interested in something they are not. However, discipline shapes one to be humble and eventually gain so much more in the future.

Lord, help me to be patient. Help me teach better. Thank you Lord.

-Kelvin-