~dIaNa's BLOG~ » Music

Clogged up thoughts

dlin — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:51:24 +0000

As my fingers dance on the piano, the thoughts in my head are set free. This might seem weird to you, but this is why I want to write about it. Don’t you ever have a time when you’re just thinking about random things? I’m pretty sure you do. Every single time I’m playing piano, I am always thinking. Thinking about my friends. Thinking about tomorrow. Thinking about my family. Thinking about school. Thinking about the unsolved mysteries of life. Thinking about… ANYTHING, EVERYTHING. It seems to me that all of my clogged up thoughts are released while I’m playing music. It’s almost like I’m daydreaming while playing the piano. Of course when I’m learning or practicing a new song, I am focused. But most of the times when I’m there, I play music that I know by heart (which is probably why I haven’t finished the new song I started learning a long time ago). When I think about it, I’m always thinking. Well of course, you always have to be thinking about something. Usually when you’re in class, you’re thinking. But that’s a different kind of thinking. It’s the brain-exploding thinking that has to do with math, science, literature, english, or us history. As some of you might now, I space out a lot. Many times you will see me just staring at something. But when someone says “I’m thinking”, what do you think they’re thinking about? Are they thinking of a solution? Are they thinking about someone? Are they thinking about something you can do to kill time? There are so many questions that can come to your head when you ask yourself about thinking. I’ve probably used the word “think”, “thinking”, and “thoughts” a million times already. But what is your definition of thinking? When I think while I play the piano, very random thoughts come to my mind. It seems that the thoughts are like a slide show, one by one coming and going. It’s just like a collection of thoughts that escapes and runs wildly. I’ve found it very hard to control these thoughts. But there’s many kinds of thoughts u see. When you are thinking hard, you can be trying to solve a math problem or trying to answer an essay. There are other times when you are just thinking about someone, a situation, or an event. It’s complicated if you think too much about this topic. I’m getting my brain all confused with all the thoughts in my head now. I want to write about something, but something else gets in the way and I end up confused. I hope you understood what I was trying to say. I tend to be quite confusing sometimes. It seems to me that it’s hard for me to write out EVERYTHING I’m thinking about. It’s hard to get all my ideas and organize it onto a simple blank piece of word document/blog. Its difficult to write exactly what I’m trying to say because sometimes what I write just doesn’t make sense. I hope by time, I get better at expressing my thoughts by writing. I wonder if any of you out there have this problem. Maybe it’s only me.

Mystical Instrument

dlin — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:42:36 +0000

The harp, the harp played by angels floating on soft, white clouds, is a majestic instrument. I have always wanted to play the harp for various reasons. The harp itself is a wonderful and antique instrument. What makes the harp so fascinating and appealing is the sound it produces. Another aspect is the complex and unique shape of the harp. Uniqueness gets a lot more attention than unoriginality. Well, with no doubt, the harp is a very unique instrument, which called my attention. Unlike all other stringed instruments (guitars, violins, cellos), its strings are perpendicular (not parallel) to the soundboard, or sound hole. In contrast of its complexity, the harp is made up of three main parts:

The Soundboard/Soundbox (body or resonator)
The Neck
The Strings

There are many types of harps, which come in different shapes, sizes, and colors. The most modern is the pedal or concert harp. This is the harp that I would love to play. I liked this one the most because of its shape. The soundboard is made out of Sitka spruce, which is the the same wood from piano soundboards. To make this kind of harp, several kinds of woods are necessary. These woods include willow, birch, pine, spruce, and maple. Not only are there a variety of woods, there are many metals too, which include brass, bronze, gold, and steel. The strings can be made out of nylon, gut, wire, or silk. Typically, there are forty-seven strings in a concert harp. These are some components that make the harp so intricate. As I am writing this entry, I am researching some information about harps to learn as much as I possibly can. This information is interesting to know, although it is not very useful to me right now. I learned that each string represents a white key on the piano. Then I wondered: what about the black key on the piano? What represents that? Well, I discovered that harpists use the pedal to play an “accidental”, which is the black key on the piano. Learning this information encouraged me to want to play the harp. The reason for this is because the harp is similar to the piano, in spite of all the different characteristics. Since I know how to read music, playing the harp would be slightly easier for me. Also, while playing the piano, my fingers are very relaxed, enabling me to fluently move them. To play the harp, your fingers have to be agile and well-coordinated. I am always amazed when I watch harpists smoothly dance their fingers on the strings, creating a beautiful high quality note. Similar to the piano, you don’t only play one note at a time. Sometimes, you have to play a lot of notes at the same time to make a harmony. Therefore, harpists pluck many strings at the same time, which seems very complicated. But when I think about it, playing the piano is very complicated too. The reason it doesn’t seem so complicated is because I have been playing the piano for a long time and I am used to it. So I guess if I start playing the harp, with no doubt, it will be hard. But after a while I don’t think it would be so hard. I am very eager to play the harp, but this is not something that falls into the place of “I want, and I get”. First of all, if I start taking lessons, wouldn’t it be reasonable to have to own a harp? You have to practice to get better, therefore, if I don’t have a harp, I wouldn’t be able to practice. Moreover, the harp is not a very common and popular instrument, unlike the guitar and piano. I am hoping that in the future, I will be able to experience the feeling of playing the harp.

Back in time.

dlin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:41:28 +0000

Over these past few days, I have been so BORED. We had one week off, which this holiday here in Costa Rica is called Semana Santa. Anyways, I couldn’t find anything to do so I was looking through my stuff. I found my old packets from the academy I used to go to. There were eight in total. I remember I hated those things sometimes. When I was small, the songs in them were hard for me and they were so boring, mainly because they were childish. I was looking through the pages and it brought back many memories like my teacher, who is now in the United States of America, and my classmates. In this instant I am thinking about them because they have been part of my growth of knowledge in music. I don’t know what they are up to right now and I really wonder. So that day I found the packets, and I started playing some songs. While playing some songs, I clearly remembered a few song for some reason. Maybe because it was my favorite song (out of all of the ones in the packet), it took me a long time to play the song perfectly, or it was just really funny. Just by looking through a bunch of music and playing some of them, time went by fast. I actually wasn’t bored that day. These are some songs I have played after finishing all those packets (in order of when I played it):

Beauty and the Beast (keep in mind that this was my first song after I finished the packet, which was a long time ago )
The Entertainer – Scott Joplin
Fur Elise – Kinsky-Halm (It’s a CLASSIC)
A Whole New World from “Aladdin” – Alan Menken
Sonatine Op.55, No.2 – Fr.Kuhlau
Couleur Tendresse – Paul de Senneville and Oliver Toussaint
Boogie on Down – John Brimhall
Ballade Pour Adeline – Paul de Senneville (Love this song; simple, but good)
The Little Negro – Claude Debussy
Gavotte in D – Francois Joseph Gossec
Coup de Coeur – Paul de Senneville
Tomorrow from “Annie” – Charles Strouse
The Beautiful Blue Danube – Johan Strauss
Valse Op.69, No.2 – Frederic Chopin
Minuet – Luigi Boccherini
Through the Kaleidoscope – Steven Cravis *MY FAVORITE SONG*
Cascada – Alejandro Arguello C. (composed by my teacher that went to the states)
Marriago D’amour – Paul de Senneville and Oliver Toussaint
Rondo Opus 51, Nr. 120. Tori no Uta – Air
Hammock in the Philippines – Steven Cravis (If you want to check out the music sheet, click here)
Houki Boshi – Bleach
Clair de Lune – Claude de Debussy

As you can see I have played many songs over these past years. I really like songs composed by Paul de Senneville. They are really calm, relaxing, and some are romantic. Steven Cravis is another composer, whose songs are beautiful. I realized that I don’t really like to play classical music that much, it is usually harder. I prefer popular and anime. My goal is to replay all of these songs. If not, at least play the melody fluently. I have been playing some songs fluently, but they are not complete yet.

Black & White

dlin — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:43:35 +0000

The piano is a wonderful instrument. Sure, it might be complicated, but once you get the hang of it, the feeling of playing it is AMAZING. I started playing the piano since I was four years old. I went to an academy in Escazu, which was shut down a few years ago. There, I had two different teachers. Sometimes, the classes would be fun to go to and sometimes I would fall asleep. But to know how to play an instrument is amazing. You have more ways to express your feelings, therefore by playing the piano, I have freedom of expression. All of my feelings-happiness, annoyance, madness, or sadness-are expressed through my piano. It’s something I enjoy a lot. The piano, by far, is the hardest instrument I have played. You have to have good hand coordination because both your left and right hands are playing different notes. Not only playing it is hard, you should have to know how to read music. Some people don’t have to read the music, they just play by ear. That, in my opinion, is amazing. I can’t play just by hearing notes, I have to read the notes. I like to play all kinds of music, but the two main kinds I play are classical and popular music. Mainly, I play the piano as a hobby, but it is also good for my future. Knowing an instrument can help you later on in life because you can earn money by teaching or just playing it for people. I am not planning to teach piano in the future, but if I need to, by all means, I would. There are many benefits from playing piano. I love playing the piano and I will never want to forget the feeling.