Mar 20, 2018 | Geek Stuff, Piano, Piano Performance
This was the second of two pieces that I performed last Sunday at Pianovers 71 at the URA Centre. After performing Smashing Pumpkins’ “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”, I thought that I would fare a bit better on this piece. As my luck would have it, I...
Mar 17, 2018 | Piano, Piano Performance
Last Sunday, I had a double header of sorts. After missing out the previous week due to time constraints, I got the opportunity to perform two pieces. This was the first – “Bullet with Butterfly a Wings” by Smashing Pumpkins. My frustration about...
Mar 15, 2018 | Geek Stuff, Home video, Random Geekery, Random Musings
Here’s one from yesteryear. I dug these out of the vault, after having shot them over a decade ago. To cut a long story short, after graduating from University, I had gone through a phase where I had trained in martial arts. I had started with Tae Kwon Do. Along...
Mar 3, 2018 | Geek Stuff, Piano, Piano Performance, Video
I’d originally learned this piece 18 months ago and recorded it using a GoPro. There was nothing special about the production, with the GoPro’s on-body mic being used to capture the sound. Today evening, I decided to re-record this while feeding the audio...
Mar 3, 2018 | Geek Stuff, Piano, Piano Performance, Video
I’d figured this song out about a year ago, and then of course, chose not to document it or practise it. The result was that I had completely forgotten how to play it. A couple of weeks ago, I rolled the original track on my iPhone and listened carefully, I...
Feb 26, 2018 | Geek Stuff, Piano, Piano Performance, Video
This is an oldie… though to me, it’s just like yesterday. When Nirvana released this piece in 1991, it became the anthem for rebellion and teenage angst. The reality is that the title refers to the smell of a commercially sold deodorant. When I started...
Feb 16, 2018 | Geek Stuff, Piano, Piano Performance, Video
I fell in love with this tune when I heard it for the first time. I’d watched a version of the video on YouTube which has a series of time-lapse shorts brought together with overlaid lyrics that resulted in the song getting stuck in my head. I had to learn how...
Feb 12, 2018 | Life in Singapore, Random Geekery, Random Musings
This is all going to go to hell in a hand basket! Riding the bitcoin wave, there are bitcoin mining rigs being sold at Sim Lim Square, built from gaming machine components, for sums starting at $5,000. The Singapore authorities have already warned on the risks of...
Feb 11, 2018 | Life in Singapore, Piano, Piano Performance, Video
Piano Lovers Singapore (a.k.a. Pianovers) had convened at the Tanjong Pagar Centre on Sunday night on the 4th of February 2018 to unveil two new pianos. It was a bit of a paradox, given that one of them had a sticky A-flat key (which it took a 5-year old to point...
Feb 3, 2018 | Expat Living, Geek Stuff, Life in Singapore, Piano, Piano Performance, Video
I’ve had a desire to play the piano for a while. Having moved to Singapore and taken a couple of years to completely settle down, I find that I now have enough time to focus on practising. Last month, I discovered a local community group here in Singapore that...