taylor swift

True story. I flew from USA to Hong Kong for a day just to see a friend and Taylor Swift.

daft punk

I was in awe when I found this illustration. New art meets retro.

in the heart of london

After watching a video of Mumford & Sons at the 2011 Grammy’s, I thought of creating this. Literally, a 1 minute quick photoshop. I love London and I thought of the initials Marks & Spencers. Then Mumford & Sons. This may be one of my brilliant ideas in my nocturnal, half conscious state.

talking about music

Every morning, I find myself dreading to go to physiology. I don’t want to be there. Dave is speaking English, but physiology is a foreign language to me. However, this morning I walked into the room and unexpectedly, he started talking about a musician. He said the following statement, “there is no Beethoven reflex.” I’ve never thought about this before. Even if you can play Fur Elise, there is no button or wiring for Fur Elise. By practicing, you can only become better. You can play a Beethoven song after practicing. Dave mentioned a Chinese artist who said when your brush breaks and bleed, you break and bleed as well. The idea is becoming one. You become one with your brush or your instrument. I experienced a thought I’ve known before. I am one with my guitar. The guitar has become a part of me. Then we went into talking about radio waves. The best comment yet, “Led Zeppelin is in the room.”

I am a music snob. When someone tells me they just discovered Mumford & Sons, I tell them they are way behind times.

I’ve been studying World Music today with two other friends. They think studying music isn’t real and more of a joke. My favourite classes have been Survey of Jazz and now World Music. Studying music is real to me. Listening to music I usually wouldn’t listen to has opened worlds to me. I am in the biology field. I don’t know what I am doing there along with all the pre-meds and hopeful to-be doctors. I’ve noticed there is a trend with everyone deeply concentrated on going to medical school and only medical school. It’s disappointing for me to be surrounded in these waters where nobody cares about music.

I have a friend who thinks happiness is being with a significant other. I am single, but I like the way I am. I like my independence. Why would I ever want to be a damsel in distress? Music is my happiness.

being a music teacher

I’ve learned that some guitar teachers are alike. We will play in front of other people and to our students, but we don’t particularly like to. Jared, the owner of DMM asked me to play something on my guitar. I tensed up and nervously played for him. He admitted he doesn’t like playing in front of others. Then I thought of how my previous guitar teacher, Jeremy wrote in an e-mail saying he didn’t play for his students enough. Now that it’s out in the open, I’m happy to know that other guitar teachers also don’t like playing for an audience.

I was having a conversation with Jared and Tina. I like being in a community of other music teachers. I like this exchange of information between musicians. Jared was surprised that I use a guitar pick on my classical guitar and I mostly use finger style when I’m in an open tuning. Tina and I talked about studio time and the challenges within staying under time limits. I like having these music conversations between music teachers.

In a biology TA meeting, Dave, my biology professor once said how he doesn’t believe in the word ‘teaching’. Teachers don’t really teach. Teachers are more of a guide to discovery and this has become my belief as well. I have learned more from students than what they have probably learned from me. Before teaching each lesson, I go over areas I’ve learned before and other areas I’m not familiar with. Every time a student asks me questions, a familiar idea turns into a new perspective I’ve never thought of before. I’m learning about different styles of music. I’m adjusting to the fact that not everyone listens to the same music as me. I know nothing about reggae and now it’s time to learn more than ‘Three Little Birds’ and Bob Marley.  To ‘teach’ is to learn more than I had ever expected.

I’ve thought about how music teachers can become psychologists or therapists in the same way bartenders are psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists. The personality of a music teacher has everything to do with setting the environment and mood for students. Weekly updates and checking in with how students are doing is similar to counseling sessions. I’ve thought about how Jeremy was my mentor in music, as well as my mentor in life. He would simply ask me big questions about life and what I want to do in the future. I’ve never known the answers and I still don’t know, but I told him my dreams that I’ve never told anyone else. Now that I’m a music teacher, I think my piano student sees me as their guidance in their work career and life in general. Looking a year back, I think of how the tables have turned and I’m now experiencing the other side. I’m still a student, but now I look through the glass as a teacher role.

pure bliss: listen to william fitzsimmons

William Fitzsimmons – Gold In The Shadow by nettwerkmusicgroup

I can’t wait for his new album Gold In the Shadow. Visit his website here.

facebook archives the music I like.

free form

My love for the guitar is like my love for snowboarding. Guitar and snowboarding are on two separate ends of a broad spectrum. One is a musical instrument and the act of playing music, while the other is an extreme winter sport; both are similar in free form expressions. With playing guitar and snowboarding, there are rules but not a strict guideline to follow by. There are no limits, no right or wrongs. There’s shredding on steel strings and then there’s shredding on snow. The motions of playing guitar and snowboarding are both loose and laid back. Free form expression is individualistic and varies for each guitar player and snowboarder. Free form allows every guitar player and snowboarder to have a unique style. Free form is the drive for creativity, thinking and seeing beyond great heights.

Learning to play the guitar and learning to snowboard has been life changing. I’m in another world, another dimension, another place and another atmosphere every time I pick up my guitar or I’m up in the mountains. I forget about the world I live in and I listen to the music. I listen to silence. I find solitude and understanding. Guitar and snowboarding is what I live for and that’s real living.

guitar lessons

Contact me if you’re in the Salt Lake City, Utah area for lessons!

talk of the week

News about the release of Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars have been spreading like a wildfire. Brooke Fraser, Cary Brothers, Taylor Swift, David Archuleta and several musicians I follow on Twitter have mentioned The Civil Wars. Within a few minutes later, I previewed and downloaded Barton Hollow. Since then, The Civil Wars have been on replay. One of my favourite songs is Poison & Wine, haunting yet mesmerizingly beautiful. The lyrics amplify the contradictions of love and the condition of one’s heart. Joy Williams and John Paul White form one intricately intertwined and alluringly talented duo.