so many things has happened, good things mostly. i've more or less abandoned this site. probably becos i've been in a fairly good mood of late.

i got a new phone, a nokia e63, so did jie. sugar got an e75, donan's still using his faithful e51 got himself a new e75. we've been officially been E-series(ed).

my eldest gave birth to my niece, Claudia Ellis Gaw. She's the new princess of the family now. though she's not old enough to understand who i am to her, but i'm pretty sure she'll be loved and doted. and she started a new generation in my family. i'm pleased, and she's blessed.

i'm feeling nostalgic.

I never wanted to be like that.

I wanted to be open to life,
and fearless,
and not always thinking three steps ahead,
and consequences,
and what would people say
and what would my friends think.

It seems like I've missed a whole chunk of my life
to reasons and logic,
the best part is that I'm not always reasonable or at all logical.

I guess this is what people call as
"Growing Up".

I've grown.
At least a little,
and still has a lot to grow.

It's just that sometimes I wish
to be able to stop growing,
and escape into the past just for a little while.

Somehow, the chances of being able to do so
is getting lesser as the days go by.

Even when I'm heavily intoxicated.

I'm surprised though,
by how many people out there can do just that.
They stop growing.

Can anybody figure out which brand or model these beautiful instruments are? For those who doesn't even know what instrument these are, they are cornets, not trumpets. Younger kids, or maybe even older ones do not exactly know the differences between the trumpet and the cornet. They all would just think that the cornet's a shorter trumpet, or the other way round. I get all happy and excited learning and understanding the differences, so much that it makes me look like the specked nerd sitting at the very front that understands how algebra works. I've known all these a very long time ago, and I've been hiding them in order to fit in better, and not be called weird. Now, I just want to embrace myself with these knowledge I've collected throughout the years. I am happy doing it. = )


For those whom are more inclined, here's something not as easy. What are these? and what's the differences between these and cornets / trumpets?

I'm glad that everyone's so involved and active in the making of what's coming. It might not yet be the beginning, but it's a start for sure. times has changed, and we are changing with time. I'm excited. And through this planning of things, I realized that I'm not weird feeling grounded, that there are others who would see things the way I see them. And with this itself, it takes away a huge amount of load from me. I feel at ease.

Sentosa yesterday with the good people from school was nice. Dampened moods stayed only as long as the passing rain. Even with that, we actually made the best out of it, and visited the Underwater World. The price of admission stopped us from getting in, but there were some free views of giant stingrays and turtles outside. It was funny, lol. Now I have blusher that's gonna stay on my face for a while, and some sore shoulders. But it was worth it.

Going back to school to return some music, borrow some books, and photocopy a load of other music. Who says life gets boring when the holidays are here?

4-valved baritone, is it even a necessity for it?

Vincent, a classmate, told me that he wants to get a second-hand baritone. I recommended him a few stores and brands that I happen to chance upon and presumably better than others. Then he came back to me and told me that he was actually looking for a 4-valved baritone, preferably one with a compensating system. He uses a Besson Prestige euphonium, I don't blame him for being used to a 4th valve with extra tubes to compensate the intonation issues of the lower harmonic series on the instrument.

I searched for one locally and internationally, and to only realize that a 4-valved baritone is not exactly the commonest of all instruments, and let alone say one with a compensating system. I can only think of 2 brands that does it. That got me thinking why. I came up with these possible reasons:

- a baritone is an instruments used mainly for brass bands, and brass bands are mainly seen in UK, not exactly common in other states. And the UK baritones and those from the US are not the same. If we're to get a real baritone, it'll probably be referred to those from UK.

- a 4th valve is mainly used to play notes of the lower range, like the valve on a trombone. The bore size of a baritone is relatively smaller than that of a euphonium and bass trombone, if there is a need for a low baritone voice, either one of the 2 larger bore sized instrument would gladly do the job.

- and even if the baritone plays that low, the overtones would easily be cover by the larger and conical bore instrument sitting just next to it, namely the euphonium, or the trombone that has the bell facing forward.

- The trombone, baritone, and euphonium should have the same length when uncoiled. But the trombone having lesser turns and crooks makes playing the low registers easier and nicer. the much larger and conical bore of the euphonium would naturally be free-er blowing than a comparably 4-valved baritone.

With these understandings, Vincent was convinced to save up the money and go for a 3 valved baritone and learn to lip down for low F's and E's. That's not my point of these entry though. I just want to keep a log of my thoughts and perhaps one day, I might realize more stuffs reading them again. Well, that's what a blog is for, isn't it?



(L-R) 3-valve, 3-valve compensating, 4-valve, 4-valve compensating

something good is coming into the scene, and i can't wait for it.