About Myself
This site was created in 1997 during my university years,
and I am glad that it has grown to this magnitude by now.
Of course, if could have been bigger, massive, technically-complex site,
but I probably would not have the time to update every
corner of the site and verify all the links.
Meet my dear hubby, want to know
his passion for
drums and harmonicas? But be prepared for even more
ramblings...
Work Experience
My Other Hobbies
Hello to everybody who visits this page, and listen to my
ramblings! You must be very curious about me. Why don't
you sign my guestbook, before you start finding out about my
life?
I worked as a clerk during my school holidays before, but I didn't like it. During the final
year of my university course, I worked at Singapore Airlines for my Industrial
Attachment on a database software for SATS catering. Now, I'm working in Creative Technology as a software
engineer. Most of my work revolve around writing software applications for the SoundBlaster series.
You must be kidding, I used to have hobbies until I started working. Now, if I have some
time and money, I will travel to other countries to learn about their culture. If not,
I think sitting in front of the TV can help to relieve the stress after each day of work.
Oh...I like Korean dramas too, interesting culture they have.
Music and Me
Since 4 years old, I've been dutifully sent for piano
lessons every week by my parents. I attained my ABRSM Piano Grade 7 during
Secondary 1. Well, that was the highest grade I achieved, because I failed the final
Grade 8 exams...partly because there wasn't a good learning environment
and I had a teacher that thought I was hopeless. Nevertheless, I continued
playing piano after lessons stopped, and had a fine time discovering
chords and playing songs by ear.
As I moved on to Junoir College, I joined the Chinese Orchestra, having in mind to learn the Er Hu (chinese violin with 2 strings), but had to take up Gu Zheng (chinese harp) lessons because the string section was full. After that year, the orchestra needed percussionists, so I joined the rest of the group playing gongs and cymbals. Well, I had a hard time catching up with playing in a group, but it was meaningful to me.
I bought my first guitar then, and learnt to played some chords and melodies, but the amount of flesh on my fingers wasn't enough for me to comfortably bar the whole fret, so the guitar has been lying around in one corner of my house since then. 1995, I bought my most coveted keyboard synthesizer. Yippee.
During the first year as an undergraduate, I tried a few sessions with the guitar ensemble, but later joined the chinese society's orchestra, because I can finally learn how to play the Er Hu. At the same time, I was the keyboardist for the hostel's rock band, mainly because I need to earn points for continuing my stay in the hostel. Second year in university, I gave up playing music to concentrate on my studies.
During my industrial attachment, one colleague offered to teach me how to play the chinese flute, and ever since, I have been playing the flute. :)
After graduation, I finally had rigourous training on music. It was tough to catch up with the rest with more than 6 years of ensemble playing, but nevertheless, I tried HARD. The NUS symphonic band was my home for 3 years, rehearsing about 7-10 hours a week. As I was re-learning my rhythm fundamentals through playing percussion, I was simultaneously attending flute classes to ensure I get the basics correct.
Other than the main conductors, I had the chance to play under other professional conductors during music workshops. As a percussionist, we had a fine tutor who is now a freelance percussionist for SSO, but had devoted 8 years previously to the orchestra. There were also several percussion workshops by Tama Goh, Ian Wright (from St Martins's in the Field), etc. Regarding the workshops, you can find more information from my hubby's website.
Back to my flute experience. I did try to join the flute section, and had a few sessions with the tutor, a previous principal flautist of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, I think. In that few lessons, he was strict but I learnt a lot. Sad to say, my lack of flute playing experience wasn't enough to sustain my presence in the flute section. I took the my grade 5 flute exams within 2 years, and passed with merit. Yeah! Now, I actively play in Kim Seng Wind Symphony, for as long as my music interest will last.