I have an almost 8 years old black Samick guitar which costed about $200 (8years ago).
This year, I actually spent $50 repairing and refurnishing it (its still black in colour though). Before I did that, it has to be "beaten into the cold palace" (打入冷宫).
The action of the guitar was too high, and the 1st string will get stuck at the fretboard producing 'tink tink tink' sound. Also, there were some scratches here and there on the body. The inside was full of dust and dirt.
After spending the $50, it looked much better and cleaner. The action was lower, and there wasn't anymore 'tink tink tink' sound. Most importantly, it was great to play on!
Yesterday, I bought an expensive packet of strings that says 'Extra Life'. It is supposed to be able to last longer than normal strings. I've never tried it before cos I've never bought any strings that costs more than S$10. I also bought a bottle of string cleaner and conditioner. Hopefully with the two powers combined, the strings will last even longer and sound even better.
After saying so much, there are two things which I just want to share.
1) It is important to maintain your musical instrument.
Your guitar (or keyboard or flute or saxophone ...) feels good if it is well maintained. There's "life" in the instrument. The guitar is, afterall, made of wood. The better it is taken care of, the better it feels. As it is being used more often, the better seasoned the instrument will be. (It is same for brass instruments.)
I have another guitar at home which I've not touched for eons. It sounds really bad and I suspect that it is corroding through time. Sorry to that guitar!
2) The better maintained your instrument is, the better your skills can be.
After I changed the strings on my guitar and conditioned the strings, I felt GREAT playing on it. I hope it isn't a psychological thing. Actually I don't think it is. Good guitars actually make you feel more like playing it. (Again, it applies to ALL other musical instruments.)
I have a friend whose guitar is a Baby Taylor. Every time I play on it, I just feel so inspired to write a song. Seriously, its EVERY TIME. He takes good care of the guitar and of course that guitar is a moderately high end guitar, so naturally (I think) the guitar feels good about itself (healthy self-image!!!)
There was one day that I went to check out Maton guitars with another friend. The guitars are REALLY expensive! Nevertheless, I tried on it. WoOOSH!!! It was fantastic! Superb! Beautiful! Wonderful! Come on, face it! You know what's good stuff the moment your hands touch it. You don't even need to think twice.
Get what I mean? I simply love Maton.
But, I would not neglect my Mr. Black (or 小黑). Without Mr. B, my life would never be as interesting as now.
In response to the article "Sing Singapore" by Tan Shzr Ee dated on Thursday, Nov 23, 2006 in the Life! section of Straits Times, I think that music is indeed none other than just MUSIC.
"Let tomorrow be the test of courage, cross-cultural understanding and ethical responsibility. Because it's not about writing "Singapore-styled" or "Nanyang-inspired" music, or being Singaporean or South-east Asian, but being a good - and culturally-responsible - composer." (Excerpt from the above mentioned article.)
I've never thought so much about it before I read that.
Why this topic? Ok. There was this Singapore Chinese Orchestra competition some months ago, that has the topic of something like "to come out with something in the great 'Nanyang' tradition". And the interesting thing was that there was only one (out of the 13) finalists was a Singaporean. So controversy arose.
The question is "Was there not enough talent in Singapore that only one musician had managed to enter the finals?"
Perhaps we should consider the number of Singaporean participants in this competition. If there is a substantial number of Singaporeans who took part, then at least Singaporeans bother to write something about their homeland, although the results showed that they aren't as good as others. But isn't that also a way of learning? That is a way in which we can grow up and be better.
In fact, I would be happy to see that foreigners even bother to write something about Singapore. If there's no value in a certain thing, no one would be bothered by that at all.
Indeed, having a theme in a composing competition may have caused a little confusion in understanding the essence of music composition. Music is an innocent entity that man has perverted. Whether you are writing about your own country or others' country, music is music. Why put music into a box labeled "Culture" or "Ethnicity"?
Because music existed for the benefit of man (and woman), let's be open-minded about it and help one another to unleash the musical potential within them.
In case you are wondering if this is a Christian music blog, you are only partially correct.
This blog is not just for Christian music. This is for any kinds of music. This is where I write ABOUT music, anything about music.
I personally like pop and slow rock music the best. The rest are just nice to listen to.
Pop music essentially means popular music. So it is the kind of music that is popular. Everybody listens to it. It has emerged from just some melody to more interesting accompaniments such as electronic music. It also includes music like Jay Chou's and F.I.R. (For your information, I'm more chinese pop savvy).
If you are trying to write a song, know who your target audience is. That is very important. There are many nice songs not published because they have no commercial value. These songs are personal songs. They may be songs that are written for close friends, family members or just songs that are written during a surge of emotions. These songs are valuable to a personal extent.
Commercialised songs are songs of value to the public. They can be advertisement songs, songs that popular artistes sing, original sound tracks, children's songs or even national songs. Why are these type of songs of value to the public? It is because these categories of songs create something through the listeners' ears.
That 'something' could be an emotion, a thought, an idea, a solution, a vision, an image.
Hence the difference between "Personal Songs" and "Commercial Songs" is that the former comes out of personal preference and the latter comes out of benefitting others.
Do not be mistaken. "Personal Songs" can be of value to the public too. There are also many songs in the market that are written out of personal experiences, thoughts and emotions. Because of those experiences, listeners who may be having similar experiences can relate to the song. So it is also beneficial to others.
I have written many songs in the past 6 years or so. The two songs that I posted in the previous entries are not songs that are of commercial value. Those are just songs that I wrote when I was very inspired to write. The melodies are unique in a very personal way. Not everybody (including my friends) may accept/agree with those melodies, but I liked them because they are part of my experience (with regards to what I was thinking and feeling at the point I wrote the songs).
There are many songs in my library which has melodies but no lyrics. Those are melodies that may have some commercial value. Keep a look out for them in my future entries!
If you want to learn how to play the guitar, look for me! If you have a guitar, but have no idea how it works, look for me!
I'm extending my services to all people out there who do not know how to play the guitar, but would really like to experience the joy of playing a guitar!
Just drop a comment under this entry and leave your name and email! I will get back to you with more details!
Ms. Loke graduated with a BSc. (Pharm) and Dip. in Gemmology (UK). She had been teaching gemmology since 2010 and had co-founded The Gem Museum, Singapore. The Gem Museum is the first and most comprehensive gems and minerals museum in Singapore open to the public. In 2021, she was licensed as a financial planner and is now on her way to acquiring the Associate Estate Planning Practitioner (AEPP) Certification.
Her vision is to be the go-to person for families and businesses that believe in creating wealth for generations.
To contact Sarah for a chit-chat session, email her at huiying@gem.com.sg or WhatsApp +65 97324091.
