Post 124 Audience clapping
Audience clapping is a sign of appreciation and encouragement for speakers, musicians, dancers, stage performers, sportsmen, athletes, or field games players. However I wish to comment on audience clapping at concerts given by musicians like pianists, violinists, and also by orchestras.
When a pianist is playing a concerto and in between movements, some audience may think it has ended and starts to clap as if they are attending a pop concert. This is lacking in etiquette and perhaps just ignorance on the part of first time goers to such concert. Their clapping at the wrong time reflects their shallow knowledge in music appreciation. Obviously that would have spoilt the enjoyment of educated audience who know not to clap during a pause between movements.
Music appreciation on classical pieces involves the understanding of the composers, their background and style of plays. Classical symphonies of Mozart, Beethoven and other great composers generally have four movements. The clapping of hands in between movements is therefore uncalled for.
Music is appreciated for the joy it brings to us.
27 December 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Needs and wants
Post 123 “Let your needs not be in want, and your wants not be in need”
My first lesson on needs and wants in basic economics has given me a lasting impression. Clothing, food, shelter, and transportation are our needs while goods and services are wants that we wish for but can do without. One may settle for ordinary clothes instead of the designed and the branded ones; for simple food instead of sumptuous meals; for a roof over one’s head without asking for a mansion; and for a reliable transportation rather than cars that cost more than an ordinary house.
One’s appetite for needs and wants decides one’s happiness index, especially when one tries to keep up with the Joneses. When one uses one’s richer neighbour as a benchmark for social status or the accumulation of material wealth, one is deemed to have manifested one’s inferiority complex. A Chinese saying has it that when one compares oneself with another person, one will die of anger. It is better for one to live a life based on one’s resources in accordance with the proverb of cutting one’s coat to suit one’s cloth.
There are other things that one can happily pursue in life: reading, writing, listening to music, sports, and other lifelong learning activities. They are ‘needs’ necessary to make one’s life fulfilling, and ‘wants’ that are easily available.
“Let your needs not be in want, and your wants not be in need” – Ho Nee Yong
20 December 2011
My first lesson on needs and wants in basic economics has given me a lasting impression. Clothing, food, shelter, and transportation are our needs while goods and services are wants that we wish for but can do without. One may settle for ordinary clothes instead of the designed and the branded ones; for simple food instead of sumptuous meals; for a roof over one’s head without asking for a mansion; and for a reliable transportation rather than cars that cost more than an ordinary house.
One’s appetite for needs and wants decides one’s happiness index, especially when one tries to keep up with the Joneses. When one uses one’s richer neighbour as a benchmark for social status or the accumulation of material wealth, one is deemed to have manifested one’s inferiority complex. A Chinese saying has it that when one compares oneself with another person, one will die of anger. It is better for one to live a life based on one’s resources in accordance with the proverb of cutting one’s coat to suit one’s cloth.
There are other things that one can happily pursue in life: reading, writing, listening to music, sports, and other lifelong learning activities. They are ‘needs’ necessary to make one’s life fulfilling, and ‘wants’ that are easily available.
“Let your needs not be in want, and your wants not be in need” – Ho Nee Yong
20 December 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Hunger is the best sauce!
Post 122 Hunger breeds discontent
I asked my Malaysian friend who has been staying overseas for 40 years to comment on Western and Oriental food. He says that both types of food have their own merits and he likes both. To him he loves Western food, like meat pies, steak, Cornish pasties, ham, sausages, fish & chips, steaks, mushrooms, bake beans, bacon and omelette which are all relatively cheap in Germany. However he says that Oriental food has more variety and he misses Satay, Curry, and Rendang very much. He also loves buffet lunch and dinner in Malaysia where he can have all the varieties of food at one sitting.
It is noted that charges for buffet meals have gone up significantly due to global food shortage. While in Buenos Aires In the early 1990s, my friend took me to a Chinese restaurant for a buffet dinner. The restaurant owner was from Shanghai China. We only paid USD7.00 per person to eat all that we could from more than a hundred dishes served. However there was an extra charge for bottled water. As some cuisines were a bit salty, diners could not help but had to fork out another USD2.00 or 3.00 to pay for the water. The owner was shrewd by not charging higher to include free drinks. He played on the psychology of customers who were attracted by low charges.
The rich and the famous may compare notes on their experiences on expensive food and drink; while the abject poor worry about their next meal. However when one is hungry, every food will be fine. Hunger is the best sauce!
As hunger breeds discontent, leaders know that hungry people do not listen to their political reasoning.
13 December 2011
I asked my Malaysian friend who has been staying overseas for 40 years to comment on Western and Oriental food. He says that both types of food have their own merits and he likes both. To him he loves Western food, like meat pies, steak, Cornish pasties, ham, sausages, fish & chips, steaks, mushrooms, bake beans, bacon and omelette which are all relatively cheap in Germany. However he says that Oriental food has more variety and he misses Satay, Curry, and Rendang very much. He also loves buffet lunch and dinner in Malaysia where he can have all the varieties of food at one sitting.
It is noted that charges for buffet meals have gone up significantly due to global food shortage. While in Buenos Aires In the early 1990s, my friend took me to a Chinese restaurant for a buffet dinner. The restaurant owner was from Shanghai China. We only paid USD7.00 per person to eat all that we could from more than a hundred dishes served. However there was an extra charge for bottled water. As some cuisines were a bit salty, diners could not help but had to fork out another USD2.00 or 3.00 to pay for the water. The owner was shrewd by not charging higher to include free drinks. He played on the psychology of customers who were attracted by low charges.
The rich and the famous may compare notes on their experiences on expensive food and drink; while the abject poor worry about their next meal. However when one is hungry, every food will be fine. Hunger is the best sauce!
As hunger breeds discontent, leaders know that hungry people do not listen to their political reasoning.
13 December 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Music prodigies
Post 121 Talents to be admired
In September 2010, I received an email from a friend in Germany who told me about a recording he made at home from VTV4,Vietnam. In Germany he is able to watch TV programmes from any country he wants. In the email were photographs of young participants taken from the DVD he had made out of the recording. My friend, who is very knowledgeable and appreciative of classical music, hits, folk songs and oldies, said that many would not have expected this to have happened in a Third world country.
It was a very impressive piano contest organised by Dang Thai Son, the Vietnamese famous pianist who won the Chopin International Piano Contest in 1980. The contest was for whiz kids or prodigies from Asia like China, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, and Indonesia. It was won by the Japanese Kuroki Yukini, 6 years old, playing Chopin Variations on a German Air in E Major.
I have always admired the musical talents of violinists, pianists and the like. How
could they remember the musical scores so well and play so expressively with agility. Indeed virtuosos who are music smart are extremely sensitive to pitch, rhythm, tone or melody of various forms. The young pianists gathered in Vietnam were real prodigies.
Anything that is beautiful, in any form, will be appreciated. Einstein, the scientist, played the violin with such passion that one of his female audience gushed that, ‘he had the kind of male beauty that could cause havoc.”
6 December 2011
In September 2010, I received an email from a friend in Germany who told me about a recording he made at home from VTV4,Vietnam. In Germany he is able to watch TV programmes from any country he wants. In the email were photographs of young participants taken from the DVD he had made out of the recording. My friend, who is very knowledgeable and appreciative of classical music, hits, folk songs and oldies, said that many would not have expected this to have happened in a Third world country.
It was a very impressive piano contest organised by Dang Thai Son, the Vietnamese famous pianist who won the Chopin International Piano Contest in 1980. The contest was for whiz kids or prodigies from Asia like China, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, and Indonesia. It was won by the Japanese Kuroki Yukini, 6 years old, playing Chopin Variations on a German Air in E Major.
I have always admired the musical talents of violinists, pianists and the like. How
could they remember the musical scores so well and play so expressively with agility. Indeed virtuosos who are music smart are extremely sensitive to pitch, rhythm, tone or melody of various forms. The young pianists gathered in Vietnam were real prodigies.
Anything that is beautiful, in any form, will be appreciated. Einstein, the scientist, played the violin with such passion that one of his female audience gushed that, ‘he had the kind of male beauty that could cause havoc.”
6 December 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
“More is thy due than more than all can pay “
Post 120 Eternally grateful
"More is thy due than more than all can pay" is taken from Macbeth, a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide or the killing of King Duncan, and its aftermath. This is a favourite metaphor of a close relative of mine who studied this during his literature class in a secondary school in the early 1960s. Each time he said to his young listeners, they would automatically ask him to repeat and explain the metaphor. He would then tell them that he owed them too much and that not all combined could pay for it. A person is eternally grateful to the one who has helped him when "more is thy due than more than all can pay".
In a materialistic world, people tend to be more individualistic and less grateful to those who have rendered them help. Some may even go to the extent of returning good for evil. In a society where there is moral disorder, a person who remembers and knows how to repay his benefactors is to be commended. As for children what is of paramount importance is that they should not forsake their parents who are old and weak. What goes around comes around. Children will naturally be old parents one day. How they treat their parents will be how their own children will treat them.
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
29 November 2011
"More is thy due than more than all can pay" is taken from Macbeth, a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide or the killing of King Duncan, and its aftermath. This is a favourite metaphor of a close relative of mine who studied this during his literature class in a secondary school in the early 1960s. Each time he said to his young listeners, they would automatically ask him to repeat and explain the metaphor. He would then tell them that he owed them too much and that not all combined could pay for it. A person is eternally grateful to the one who has helped him when "more is thy due than more than all can pay".
In a materialistic world, people tend to be more individualistic and less grateful to those who have rendered them help. Some may even go to the extent of returning good for evil. In a society where there is moral disorder, a person who remembers and knows how to repay his benefactors is to be commended. As for children what is of paramount importance is that they should not forsake their parents who are old and weak. What goes around comes around. Children will naturally be old parents one day. How they treat their parents will be how their own children will treat them.
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
29 November 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
It is time to take it slow
Post 119 Senior Citizens
My 70- year-old friend told me that he was in a great deal of pain again when he hurt his muscle in his back a few days ago. As compared to the previous injury, it was really bad this time. He had just put some fruits in the refrigerator, closed the door and turned to walk away when a crippling pain shot right across his lower back. Every step he took after that was agony. He jokingly said that the incident was the joy of old age, never a moment without some ailments tailing. Throughout the night he had to keep a hot water bottle on the affected area to ease the stabbing pain. This is all too familiar to senior citizens who are prone to injury.
As a senior citizen myself, I have learnt to take things at a slower pace. I have scaled down the number of things to be done each day so that I need not have to rush to finish the work. There is no point rushing for time and risk falling. Senior citizens must avoid slip and fall injuries at all cost. I have seen a few seniors who fell and fractured their brittle bones and had to be sidelined for active life.
Let the young ones do the running!
22 November 2011
My 70- year-old friend told me that he was in a great deal of pain again when he hurt his muscle in his back a few days ago. As compared to the previous injury, it was really bad this time. He had just put some fruits in the refrigerator, closed the door and turned to walk away when a crippling pain shot right across his lower back. Every step he took after that was agony. He jokingly said that the incident was the joy of old age, never a moment without some ailments tailing. Throughout the night he had to keep a hot water bottle on the affected area to ease the stabbing pain. This is all too familiar to senior citizens who are prone to injury.
As a senior citizen myself, I have learnt to take things at a slower pace. I have scaled down the number of things to be done each day so that I need not have to rush to finish the work. There is no point rushing for time and risk falling. Senior citizens must avoid slip and fall injuries at all cost. I have seen a few seniors who fell and fractured their brittle bones and had to be sidelined for active life.
Let the young ones do the running!
22 November 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Two great pioneer climbers
Post 118 One can be what one wants to be
In 1962 which is almost fifty years ago, I sat for a national examination. In the English language paper was a passage on two pioneer climbers, of which candidates were required to do a summary of it. I liked what I was reading and was impressed by these extraordinary nature lovers: Sir Edmund Hillary, a mountain climber from New Zealand and his Nepalese Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.
They were the first humans to reach the highest point on Earth: the summit of Mount Everest in the Himalayas on 29 May 1953. Indeed they are classic examples of people with intra-personal intelligence. They knew what they wanted in life and strived to achieve their goals regardless of obstacles.
I was to be pleasantly surprised many years later to read of another feat by the sons of the great climbers. The son of Sir Edmund Hillary, Peter, also successfully scaled the summit for the first time in 1990. In April 2003, Peter and Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son of Tenzing, climbed Everest as part of a 50th anniversary celebration. Undoubtedly both of them, together with their fathers, belong to the same category of people who are self-smart.
I took part in the Annual Penang Hill Climb Competition of my former school, Chung Ling High School in 1959 when I was in Form One. The school doctor examined me after I had completed a 400-metre run together with potential participants, and said I could give it a try. I reached the top of the hill just before the prize giving ceremony was to be held.
15 November 2011
In 1962 which is almost fifty years ago, I sat for a national examination. In the English language paper was a passage on two pioneer climbers, of which candidates were required to do a summary of it. I liked what I was reading and was impressed by these extraordinary nature lovers: Sir Edmund Hillary, a mountain climber from New Zealand and his Nepalese Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.
They were the first humans to reach the highest point on Earth: the summit of Mount Everest in the Himalayas on 29 May 1953. Indeed they are classic examples of people with intra-personal intelligence. They knew what they wanted in life and strived to achieve their goals regardless of obstacles.
I was to be pleasantly surprised many years later to read of another feat by the sons of the great climbers. The son of Sir Edmund Hillary, Peter, also successfully scaled the summit for the first time in 1990. In April 2003, Peter and Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son of Tenzing, climbed Everest as part of a 50th anniversary celebration. Undoubtedly both of them, together with their fathers, belong to the same category of people who are self-smart.
I took part in the Annual Penang Hill Climb Competition of my former school, Chung Ling High School in 1959 when I was in Form One. The school doctor examined me after I had completed a 400-metre run together with potential participants, and said I could give it a try. I reached the top of the hill just before the prize giving ceremony was to be held.
15 November 2011
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