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1997 - towards the end of the year

a brand new 5 piece wine red drum set emerges in the building of bukit panjang gospel chapel... along with a brand new keyboard and an acoustic guitar at a corner of the hall. the english assembly of bpgc has bought them...



Sier suggested that Benjamin, Hueyfen, himself and simin come together to start a band for the chinese side.

Robert and I, then young teenagers, age 13 and 14, tagged along with no skills.. excited abt the whole idea of a band in a church where a piano and church organ were the only instruments in the church back then.

Sier started at the drumset because of his secondary school band experience. Benjamin plays the guitar. Huey fen at piano, no bassist, Robert bought a couple of tambourines and percussion instrument and sat beside the drumset playing along with the team,



while i came down week after week, just sitting around the corner, watching them play..

until one week where i felt so left out, i just went to one corner and cried... i asked God to teach me something so that i can serve Him..

He answered



I went for guitar and Benjamin offered to teach me...

my previous pastor, pastor David lent me his classical guitar to learn

soon i was playing the classical guitar in the background, with Benjamin's acoustic guitar plugged in, during the wednesday service for Chinese construction workers in church...

my dad finally agreed to buy me a guitar.. i bought a yamaha classical guitar from luthermusic...

it became one of my most treasured possesion...

soon.. i got the chance to play the plugged in acoustic guitar along with the band.. the steel strings hurt my fingers real bad when i started playing the folk guit...

Sier left for NS and Robert took up drums..



1998

Sindric, the band leader of the English Assembly, came along and told us our band needs a bassist... so i picked up the basic bass techniques and began to play the bass and benjamin still on the guitar, huey on keys, robert on drums and simin singing backup or leading worship once in a while..

it was a period of ups and downs..

i remembered robert and i discovered a drum key around the set and tried to tune the drums, thinking tighter means higher pitch, with no concern of proper technique...

we screwed up the drum tuning and the english assembly guys were quite unhappy about it cos they need to retune everything.. haha

robert's drumming was stagnant and he began to play real loud and it became quite annoying sometimes.. i remembered a couple of times where i had to tell him in an annoyed tone to keep it down... of cos.. sparked some unhappiness, which were resolved after that...

i began to try playing the drumset whenever i had the chance.. but normally Robert would be playing and i had to sneak in to play when he's taking a break at the toilet or after service..

got to know the church's caretaker and where the keys were, and got to know which windows around the church can be opened..haha..

so whenever i m free.. i would just pop into the church thru the windows or just calling the caretaker to open up the church where i will just whack away and try to play around with the set.. of cos i got my fair share of scoldings from the secretary for not booking the church and climbing in thru the windows...



1999, 2000

an eventful period...

benjamin and huey got together and broke off after sometime...

friendships were strained and benjamin left the church for some time...

we were without a guitarist and i began to play more bass till i became quite bored with the bass guitar...

and of cos, i was dealt with a big blow because i've always looked up to benjamin as a big brother in church...

he's my "shi fu" who taught me guitar... i was very sad when such a thing happened...

New creation's musicians came to bpgc to conduct a clinic for both the chinese and english assembly bands...

my temper was quite bad back then... i have very high standards for the musicians which resulted in many of them fearing me, especially the younger ones.. but ya... over these years.. God has shown me the correct attitude towards worship... and yup... i thank Him for changing me..

Over these 2 years, my guitar improved alot by God's grace...

Robert began coming to church less and less often... younger keyboardists were raised...



thus, i moved to the drumset



the english assembly changed the whole set of cymbals and added an extra tom..

i was still climbing into church once in a while to practise whenever i can... or i will linger around after service to play around till everyone have left...



2001 till today

got exposed to more drumming and hardware...got real serious to focus on drums..

benedict taught me drum tuning and even printed drum tuning technique which he got off the web for me (i still have the exact copy he gave me and it still is a treasured resource i have)

started playing acoustic guitar for english assembly's heart rock sunday held on 1st sunday of every month... thus i got the chance to watch and learn from benedict.. i would ask him tonnes of questions about drumming... haha

Chang bin came along and learnt bass... weiyan learnt guitar... i m still sitting happily at the drum set..

benedict and i changed the drumheads together... my first hands on to proper drum tuning...

i began to learn more about wood type... different brands of drumsets.. and pedals...etc...

purchased WAC's drumset along with pastor Stephen and Sier... first time playing Sabian cymbals

moved on to WAC in 2003... still very much into drumming and equipments...

took up role of music ministry i.c.

----------------------



as i reflect upon how the Lord has led me over these years in ministry...

its really amazing how much God have helped me to learn..

over 5 years... i got to know music which i have absolutely no idea i would be involved in when i was young (except when my mum got me to violin lessons when i was in primary school for 2 months before she stopped my lessons for being lazy and not practising)



still learning much along the way ahead... still depending on God

cos it's Him who provided and started me off,

it's Him who gave me these gifts in music to serve...

even though i practise alot and sometimes neglected God, He reminded me that all i have is from Him..

yes.. all the we have... comes from God...



its just this one desire i have, God

is to offer this gift, which You've given me, to You Lord

for Your kingdom, for Your purpose

though many times i may stray away from the focus, i pray that You will set me on the right track..



this is my testimony on how God has led me through all these years...

yes.. of cos its not into precise details of the many events God has used to nurture me...

of cos.. i will give thanks to Him all of my days for the amazing grace He has shown me

tmr's leaders retreat in JB...



do pray for journey mercy as well as for the retreat itself..

pray that God will watch over all the sessions as we seek God for His direction for W.A.C.



Pastor Tim and the adult leaders

as well as Sabrina, Arlene, Tina, Reginald and myself



we'll be back on Sat noon..

those who will be down for music prac will most likely see a very tired WSL and drummer there.. haha.. :)



everyone else do take care too! :) God bless!

Cnet Networks Asia Pacific Pte Ltd

8 Shenton Way #15-02

Temasek Tower

Singapore 068811



this is the place where i m going to spend my next 2 months...

yea.. i've been posted to Cnet for my attachment...

10th Nov to 31st Dec



i hope that i won't have much IT related stuff to do there..give me some coffee powder and papers to photocopy instead.. hahaha...

argg... seems like i've to go shopping for more formal attire

presentation was good today..

good till my tutor requested that we have to come back next wed and do it again so that she can record it down on video tape...

-_-"



have to wear formal to school again...

and i have no lessons next wed...



our preparations are like shit and we didn't think our presentation was any good..

why us? the previous group's skit was even better...

the only consolation is that prob i will score well in this I.S. module... haha



i'm @home now..(duh)

yvonne cant make it as she's got to work OT...paul has cell.. shuhei cant book out..

left me and andrew so we decided to call it off..

wondering what is becoming of Operation Philip...

i m beginning to ask if i m the only one left bearing this burden to reach out and evangelise, be it with/without music.

am i dependant on the others in the band?

ya.. it's quite disheartening to see Sier in such a sorry state, but i guess he really needs time...



is the devil pulling some tricks from his sleeves?

if he is... we must stop it..









m i better off alone fighting this war for Christ? why not? and why yes? :(







so many questions... so few answers

do pray for operation philip...

i dunno... prob i might be the only candle burning at this moment...i really pray not...

if God would, i pray that He will personally light up all our candles once again...

we need to re-capture and keep the flame in order to spread it

ah pek suggested to pastor that we dont need drum shield...

he say with correct positioning, an extra thick carpet beneath the drumset, some carpet or cloth on the wall behind should be alright...

in fact, pastor said i still can whack louder than what i did for the first week (he wasnt around last week)..haha...but it was quite loud already rite?

so listen up drummers... no shield... work on your strokes and dynamics.. :)



btw the new speakers are here... the current speakers will be used as monitors...

ah pek will be down at 2pm this sat to setup with the logistic guys and do sound balancing as well as equipment positioning...

he's the pro... haha

i finally get to see ah pek play...

blew me away

blew me away

blew me away



well... one of city harvest's drummers took lessons from him before

wonder what are his rates.. must be pretty steep...



oh i moved the splash to below my lead crash... right beside the hi hats...

so much more accessible when i want to add accents when playing the hats...

gee... really gian to get another splash... 8" or 10"

pek's trojan brilliant splash sounds good man... bright and nice.. heard it today....

btw i just realised today that trojan cymbals are made by ah pek...

that guy really drum freak....



today's prac was raw and loud...

i think the keyboardists really poor thing...

cant hear themselves... did i play too loud too? :P

to listen out to each other... gee.. think it has become something i say ever so often... heh heh :P

andrew got the amp finally...

$700.. right on the dot of the budget... though pastor asked "why so expensive?".. but well... he's relieved since i told him it's on the budget... haha

well... it's a pretty good amp.. at least i hope.. have not heard it yet...



wayne will be on acoustic while andrew on electric.. we'll see how it goes...

rock on dudes! but keep it cool.. the amp heats up pretty much i read... :P



ah pek will be down for music practice this sat..

wonder if he will strut his stuff after checking out the system and decide on the shielding/monitoring we need...

i dare say this guy is one of Singapore's finest drummers

he's endorses Meinl cymbals

berklee grad... o_O



arg... another weekend of soft drum playing... no shield yet.. hope it comes next week

gotto watch my touches... still using sticks but gonna control

last week ivy and lil played louder than me... believe it? haha :P

though i can play louder when the shield comes but i think this is a lesson that with/without shield... must remember control in my playing... in order to have good dynamics..





oh ya

vertical horizon's ed toth is real solid.... i thought his drumming is simple but i was all wrong...

was listening to their pretty old live album... that guy showed some great solid grooves and nice/suitable fills...

the guitars sound good too... good band

oh ya... carter beauford of dave matthews band once sessioned for VH in one of their earlier albums..

carter's style is well... way out of my reach man... haha

i accidentally hit my hand on the edge of the drawer yesterday.... some skin is scrapped out and it feels like an open wound which is taking quite some time to heal... (well.. it is.. doh...hahah)

disgusting man...

its about half a cm long...

it hurts a little when i bathe... and when i apply gel on my hair (i m using liquid gel)... i have to make sure that it doesnt touch my wound...

ouch

at least it does not hurt when i m practising my rudiments...



oh ya... i just emailed the drummers abt the gladstone technique couple days back...

guess that's pretty intermediate stuff... from what i read from ah pek's post in singapore drummers circle forum..

but it's good to develop that kind of strokes...

it's somehow similar to free stroke but concept slightly different (i have been teaching the younger drummers some basics of free strokes.. yep.. but i m still working on it personally)...

gee... but well... even simple strokes can take a long time to master... correct techinique and discipline...

there's really too many things to learn in drumming...

too many...

ah pek mentioned something in the forum :



For me personally, I've been teaching all my students and friends the basic technique for years, that is the finger technique and some whipping technique.

I believe we drummers should learn how to lay an infectious groove and apply simple but 'meaningful' fills/rudiments.



how true!



i read up vic firth's history (btw he's not just a pair of sticks, he's a drummer)...

there's one which mentioned he played with Steve Gadd for one particular show... vic firth on percussions, gadd on the set..

during the rehearsals... steve played normal jazz beats (boom chik boom chik)...

vic firth was like thinking to himself..."oh man.. those kids who come to listen to steve gadd will be so disappointed"

then on the day of the show... they ran thru once before the show and steve began to play more...

on the show itself... steve gadd really showed his stuffs...

vic firth then realised steve gadd was actually listening to how he was playing the percussions and thinking of how to fit in for him...



yeah man... this is another thing lacking of me (and i believe for many musicians)... getting caught up with your instrument that you don't listen much to the your band mates...

band play is not just about timing... yes.. timing is important..

but it is also important to...



listening out to each other...

coming in at the right time and sit back at the right time



---



yup

still on my java codes... still stuck with the GUI...

time to punch in some more codes...

guess i will be in school till late tmr nite...

oh my.. i've blogged too much...

argg.. back to my codes...

i was crossing the road heading towards the interchange...

and i saw my bus...

made a mad dash and the driver close the door and was about to drive off...



an uncle from the next queue waved frantically for the driver to stop...

i got on the bus... smiled and said thank you to the driver..

tapped my card and smiled through the window at the uncle who waved down the bus for me...



isn't it great to have some considerate people around some times?

bus drivers who speed off at every stop and jam brake at the next even though the distance between 2 stops is 100 - 200 metres...

or rather.. they jam break everytime they need to stop...

i know most buses are mercedes but u dont have to drive like you are on F1...

for goodness sake, they are bus stops... not pit stops!



...



or inconsiderate ppl who do not seem to notice the yellow indicating stripes on the floor to the MRT doors opening indicating to let passengers alight first....

i have thought of walking like a sumo wrestler in big wide strides out of the MRT door straight in the face of those who are obviously inconsiderate....

i had a terribly hard time not hitting hard on the drum.... had to control my strokes..

alright lah.. today isnt that bad...

initially i put a cloth to muffle the sound of the snare...

after the 1st 2 songs i had enuff of that muffled sound and pulled down that cloth...

yes.. if u noticed...the snare sounded so sweet after that (starting from trading my sorrows onwards)... haha



pastor is going to get drum shield and monitors

probably as soon as possible...

i was on my way home on bus 180 just now...

there's this freaky guy who played jay chou's "an jing" on his polyphonic phone and started singing...

ok... he sang once... still it was freaky to me

then he replayed the ringtone and start singing in his disgusting voice again for a 2nd time....



omg....



i can't believe it

prob he's been ditched or something... maybe lah i dunno..hahaa...and he's a well dressed guy... 20s?



my hair began to stand after he sang for sometime that i immediately plugged in my MD....

...

freaky