Play It Again, Sam

There are 3 musical instruments that I once told myself that I had to master by the end of my life.

The keyboard, the guitar and the saxophone.

With God's grace I was born into a family with a solid interest in music and a great sense of rhythm, so I was sent to learn the piano at the age of 4 in Yamaha and barely scrapped through Grade 8 theory and practical just before my O levels. 12 years of nearly daily practice. But sadly, learning classical music destroyed completely any interest in the keyboard. To know that I could read notes and play sheet music almost perfectly (with a ton of practice day and night of course) yet could not produce the type of music I wanted was a devastating blow. I even grew to hate the piano and the rigors, rules of "music" as they called it. By Secondary 2 I had reach the peak of desperation for an outlet to produce my own music, and I turned to the guitar.

Learning the guitar was fairly easy to me given my background in music theory and the amount of exposure I got as a guitarist in the worship team in church. It was a breath of fresh air as I suddenly could sing and play music together; almost any pop song was in reach as I belted out my own favorite songs during my free time.

The saxophone, the sexiest melodic instrument in my opinion (specifically the alto and soprano sax, not the tenor, sorry Ilango lol) is still waiting for me to earn my first few months of salary to buy a second-hand one through E-bay. That can wait, given that I was 2/3 through my wish by the age of 15 and I'm still below 25.

However, recently my dad has decided to make good his promise to sell off that rusting, out-of-tune piano in the house. He did say that he might get a digital keyboard to replace it, one of the things on Andrew's wishlist for sure, but to be honest I'm going to miss the old, upright piano. After all, I spent the most time with it by far, though I haven't really touched it since I finished Grade 8.

The nostalgia, combined with the huge amount of free time (and very little money to go out and spend) has pushed me back to the keyboard this holiday. For one, I've realized that I'm not a real musician, at least on the piano, just a player. Given that the piano is still the hot favorite among Singaporean parents for their kids to develop an interest in music, this country is filled with plenty of piano players in the country, but no real musicians. A pity, if you ask me. The ability to improvise, play by ear, comping and singing at the same time via keyboard, is still seen as a magical gift even among members of church worship bands.

Well, now that I'm free, maybe it's time to experiment a little bit more with improvising on the keyboard. Maybe jump into deep waters by playing as a keyboardist for youth service, given that my church is seriously short of keyboardists anyway, and Andrew is getting really tired. Even if he wasn't, he'll be going to Australia to study soon, so someone will have to replace him anyway, even if inadequately.


Back to the keyboards I guess. Time to resurrect the musician and put to rest once and for all the dull, rigid piano player within. Blues, Jazz, Gospel and Salsa piano, here I come!





A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. -Abraham H. Maslow

Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I will sing to the Lord, I will sing; I will make music to the Lord, the God of Israel. -Deborah (Judges 5:3)