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No Strings Attached-The Last Bow (Part 2)

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 I never put my heart really into practicing violin because of my parent’s expectations for me to be good by constant practice. They have to know that because of the kind of routinic schedule I had in high school, it leaves no room for me to practice at any given time I choose. If there is such, I usually spend it on purely rest.

    Though I am that way, i make sure that I know what I am playing. To do this, I would always memorize my pieces by simply reading the notes (basic notes for violin is usually easier than piano). It proved to be very substantial as I was able to put into heart my Suzuki pieces easier so the problem on playing properly is my main concern now.

   My instructor noticed my improvement and that’s what motivated me to continue staying in St. Cecilia much longer. It was because of this that I dropped everything attached to my name (except to TKD for which I tried to rejoin but something happened bad).

   Anyway, it seems that after being into violin for so long I finally ad the chance to prove my worth as a violinist when St. Cecilia had its Christmas recital for which Fred was also a part of (that was the time I invited people from II-MOF to come over and watch but none came). Almost there really but not quite yet.

   Next recital occured a few days after I graduated high school. PIeces I played were Andantino and Perpetual Motion in G Major.

Biggest jaw-dropper was my attempt to to continue to study violin while on my first year in college but my being a member of the CSB DebSoc makes it difficult for to committ to either one of them. So in favor of what wieghted the most to my heart, I chose to drop DebSoc and continue on with St. Cecilia.

My most recent recital was earlier last April where I played Etude and J.S. Bach’s Minuet 1 with piano acompaniment from Sir Jun, Fred’s teacher. And I got a plaque of recognition for being a part of St. Cecilia.

The thought of leaving resurfaced again sooner after. And after putting much thought into it, I decided that I should quit violin.

Quitting violin doesn’t mean that I’m going to completely let go of something that became a part of me for the past four years. It was because of he sense of fulfillment and achievement that I felt the moment something that I do got recognized by many.

I have to delay my announcement to my instructor who was there for me all these years because I will have another recital this June in QC. Sir Jomar was a great teacher, a good friend, and good to have conversations with. I shared to him all my thoughts about everything from school to family to anything out of the ordinary. So I owe him a lot so  will give my best so that all those years of hard work and sacrifice won’t put to waste.

I don’t have any regrets at all but praises that I was able to prove something for myself. To prove that I can stay on to one thing and practically love it in the process.

Napatunayan ko na sa sarili ko na mayroong bagay na talagang mapapnindigan ko sa ganoong katagal na panahon. Masakit man na iiwan ko na ito, ang mga alaala ay mananatiling magpapataba sa puso ko.

I will always have a special place for the violin. PEACE!

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No Strings Attached-The Last Bow (Part 1)

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    After close to four years, I have made what could one of the biggest decisions in my life: quitting violin. Yeah, seems so low and unworthy to be called as such but the truth is, this wasn’t the first time I decided to quit violin for good.

 

    It all started way back in July 2004, 2nd year high school. Ms. Mangali who used to be my music teacher in 1st year handed out flyers for those interested to join the St. Cecilia Music Studio. It offers lessons in voice, guitar, piano, and violin. I was rather intrigued by their violin lesson offer as unlike the rest, it is a very unconventional instrument at a time when the youth of today take interest in learning how to sing, to play the guitar, and of course to play the piano (a long tradition of piano tutoring have been passed down to us from my mom’s side of the family whose relatives were exposed to learning piano).

   At that time, my mom had me signed up for piano lessons without my permission which coincided with me joining the St. Cecilia Music Studio. I still remember my first session with my instructor, Sir Jomar. There was traffic on the way to school so I have to walk my way across Maysilo until I got to ride a tricycle in Tonsuya to take me straight to Bayan/San Agustin.

   I signed up for a group lesson and initially there were three of us. Ate Kristine Lacqueo of Batch 2006 and of course, the future guitarist of FOREPLAY, Kelvin. The two of them then were of a higher playing level as I was still new to violin, a neophyte. In third year, Kristine had to drop out citing problems with her inevitable thesis project for Ms. Flores’ Fundamentals of Research (for which I got an A- when I passed my thesis a year later). Keb, however, simply dropped himself out. So I was the only one left.

   Usual training starts with a warm-up by right-hand and arm in bowing position and trying to play out a string starting from the C-string, then D, then G, then E followed by set of “Hanon”-like fingering exercises called SEVCIK (I dread SEVCIK but it’s the only to correct my fingering especially the pinky). After that was WOLFAHRT, a training book for violin beginners where I play out a set of notes setted up as a musical piece. Last but not least is the playing of the Suzuki pieces where I played Sinichi Suzuki-modified versions of existing violin pieces.

   I always have the thought of leaving violin as early as the year I was starting out. But there were a lot of factors that affected my decision-making. Pressure from my parents is one, another is the fact that my parents invested a relatively pricey violin for me to enroll for this so I stayed on (so I put all my dread to piano which I continued until earlier last year).

It was kinda embarassing for me to have people know that I’m studying violin. It actually comes out in their minds that I’m good at it but it’s not as easy as i really seems. Take a look at the poor girl from Music Ministry who plays violin during masses, many students poked fun at her for playing poorly. The truth is, you can’t expect somebody like her, a young violinist to play ala Paganini right away. It takes years of practice to really master the art of violin.

   

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Reality and Dreams: Dream Party

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    I don’t know what was going on inside my head this morning…Earlier past midnight I already felt wasted caused by the events occured yesterday. The last thing I did before finally going to sleep is that I was listening to a live broadcast on DWRT-FM where a concert is being held somewhere at Eastwood and closing that event was Bamboo.

    When I finally got myself to sleep, I began having weird dream sequences. One dream that i ahd is that I was already awake and my dad kept on nagging me to go back to bed. At first I thought it was all real but what made the difference is that I somehow can’t move my body so I assume I was having one of THOSE dreams again.

    Second dream was that I thought I heard something that made our vehicle, a Toyota Revo, make :vroom: :vroom: and that someone opened our gate..weird. Just this morning when I was actually awake, a family friend was aksed b y my mom to bring her to one of her trips in Manila using our Toyota Revo.

    Third final dream sequence, I had a “hangover” of sorts as I saw myself partying with my former blockmates in DV1 partying right where it started…Eastwood. I was so asleep that I never noticed the light of day about to reach beyond my windows. the only concious thing I did while still asleep was turning off the electric fan as I was feeling shivers all over my body. Probably the reason for this was that I was using my CD player that can receive FM signals for the past half-hour or so before going to bed in the first place…

    Kuya started waking me up and without my knowledge took, once again, my earphones….Grrrr…

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The CSB Experience 2: Sleepy S.T.A.R. Week Friday

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10:00 am-Left home for Malabon

11:00 am-Violin lessons…Sevcik, Minuet 1, Etude

12:00 nn-Left for Monumento, picked up ID pictures in Araneta Square, rode LRT, listened to DWRT-FM 99.5 for Top20@12,

1:00 pm-Bought cheeseburger, bought cookies’n’cream shake in Deaf Caf, hanged out in MediaMax booth (Congrats to Kuya JV, our new president!), went to SDA Comlab 10th Floor

2:30 pm-Joseriz, wala si Sir, nagsubstitue, natulog ako, no ballpen

3:40 pm-Oralcom, nandun si miss, nagactivity, naglesson, naantok ako

4:40 pm-Umuwi…listened to Max Fm’s Early Returns

6:00 pm-Nasa bahay…nagbihis, bumilis ng coke at Sprite, Nanood ng TV, kumain ng toasted bread, natulog sa kuwarto

8 pm-Naggising, kumain ng dinner, niligpit ang kinainan

9pm-Nanood ng isang variety dare show sa KBS World

11 pm-ginagamit laptop ni Mommy!

 

Gud Night!

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High School Life oh My High School Life…Hay Lyf! [stolen from Robin]

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THINK BACK TO your 1st year in highschool.
Let’s see how much you remember and how much you regret.

What section were you?
Blessed Reginald

Who were your seatmates?
sa classroom:Ken, Iggi, Carmelo, Jason, Ria, Louie/Mary Louise, Raymond, Joan, iyung iba..di ko na maalala

Still remember your english teacher?
Mrs. Mendoza

What was your first class?
10-minute Homeroom

Who were your bestfriends?
Jeco, Raymond, Roswald, Von

Who was your crush back then?
Ayoko munang banggitin pero sa Blessed Mannes siya

Made friends to the higher years?
Yup

Had an admirer/s?
Parang…

How was your class schedule?
Hell’s worh of routinic classes, short lunch, short “recess”/snacktime

Made any enemies?
1st year…meron mga bullies imported from Grade Six. Most hated person: Carmelo, Most despised bullies: Iggi, Ken, Alvid, etc.

Who was your favorite teacher/s?
All except kay Mr. Sergote (Math kasi eh…nakakahilo pagturo niya)

What organization/s did you join?
The Arts Club

Back then, did you always buy your lunch?
No…My dad or our maid would cook lunch for me and placed it in a “sealable” tupper ware and wrapped it with used plastic bag.

Were you a party animal?

I’m too shy to do that…to geeky do that

Were you well known in your school?
Nung first year to third year: Walking kodigo and picture taker, Fourth year: Youtube sensation and Taekwondo phenomenone (During my last year in HS, my TKD team became prominent in sports events in Camanava).

Did you have close friends that were guys/girls?
Yes..Many usually geekier guys and meeker girls

SKIP CLASSES?
Weghh! Di no! Magagalit si God!

Can you sing the alma mater?
Yes

What was your favorite subject?
Araling Panlipunan (na-challenge nga lang sa Economics nug 4th year)

What was your school’s full name?
Saint James Academy of Malabon City

Where did you go most often during breaks?
Library…Canteen, Hallways, Roofdeck

If you could go back in time and do it all over, would you?
Yes…pero dapat mula pa sa pinaka-unang day ko sa SJA…July 1, 2002

What do you remember most about 1st year?
“Baby you’re my destiny…You and I will never be…”

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The CSB Experience 2: The Second Day (and the Shocking Thing of the Day!)

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    This time marks the return of a 9:40-11:10 morning class for me in the form of Oralcom Lab every Thursday. Then my first C-Break follows up in a duartion of an hour and 50 minutes. I decided to eat at the SDA Caf for lunch and later went to Room A1008 to do some photoshopping (which I wasn’t able to fnish on time because there is a succeeding class taking a supposedly freeslot-only A1008 later that afternoon).

    At 1pm, I have my first take on Cathwor. I’m classmates with some Philoma people like Bobby J, 2 from Filip13 in the form of Gino and Rej, a few from Comski like Kim, and of course DV1 guy Raymond in a shocking if not a very controversial hairdo…

    A second C-Break comes after, just an hour and half long so I passed the while away with some reading and browsing at the LRC back at Main.

    20 minutes before my next class would start, I went straight to Rm. M508. I hanged out just outside the room and suddenly came from nowhere is a very familiar face….Just guess who he/she is…..

    That person I just saw was with a group, probably a barkada of the person. They were also making “tambay” outside of a room fronting m508. When we were finally allowed to get inside the room, the barkada went at the very far right wing of the classroom. Along with us came my other classmates in Philien who were also making tambay somewhere out there.

    Okay…guess who’s my professor in Philien is…….:drumroll:……Miss Leo Astete of Comsk1x fame! Yahoo! So i know what to expect then heheheh.

    Okay, I’m uber jubilant now expecially that I’m classmates with the most unthinkable people that I could never had imagined being classmates with: Bianca King and Serena Dalrymple (Even if the former I’d only get to see once a week and the other twice)!

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The CSB Experience 2: The First Day

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     The first day of classes is the exact opposite of what I had last year: NOISY! Apart from the frosh people swarming the campus in circles, left-to-right, go-in-between; the Green Peppers welcmed the first day with a warm welcome cheer.

    My first class is HARTDS1, a three-hour class every Wednesday in SDA Bldg.. My prof there is nice but she musn’t be provoked by a noisy class. DV1 classmates are Inna, Gens, Nikko, Mikee, Carlo, and Gilbert plus some ex-classmates from PETRIID and COMSK2x . We were grouped into three and I ended up with Genesis and a Korean classmate named Hyun-Ho.

    C-Break came, and there goes a sense of dejavu: Frosh people crowding them in front of the LRC chatting with newly-met blockmates and everything.I spent my 2 and a half hour break sleeping inside a hut at Plaza V aka Bora. I left Main for SDA around quarter to 2.

    Next in line was JoseRiz and was surprised to see Tina (Tiz), Czarlene (Ciz), and Sheena plus Franzi (Frenzy).

    After that I hurriedly went down back in Main for Oralcom…2 ex-classmates from Filip are there: Ronald and Chona with Franzi, Tiz, Ciz, and Jiz (Jisney) plus Hoogie.

    Hoogie and I went to SDA for our last subject: Basicom (Mr. San Diego’s lessons relearned). Just as I was entering the elevator from the ground floor up, I didn’t seem to notice Hoogie and disappeared (He mwould reappear at around 6 pm).

    I opened the door of the classroom and the first person I saw (and she was looking at me) was none other than BIANCA KING!! AGHHH! AND I SEATED RIGHT NEXT TO HER!!

    To make the long story short: She, Hoogie and I formed a group for a 4-part project in Basicom! Cool! “Masipag ka ba?” “Medyo”

    Never mind if it was raining outside, never mind if from now on I’ll be paying my jeep fare expensive by 2 quarter pesos. For all I care, I have the best day ever!

   

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The Summer Experience: As Summer Ends, So Does Bmat2-x (Muntik nang ma-R!)

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    Thank goodness, after several weeks trying to learn topics from Simple Interest to Sinking Funds, I’d be able to finally give closure to BMAT2-x. But why oh why must I forgot all what I’ve learned in this very important finals test! If not for having half of the total number of items correct in the finals I wouldn’t have made a grade of 1 which is one point away from incurring an R (whcih means I failed and I have to repeat it, hence the “R”).

    At least that’s for BMAT2-x which makes up 70% of my grade. I got to know what my grade in Lab earlier, a 1 too (73 at least).

    Tomorrow is judgement day, be getting my course card to see if I make it…

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