About playing keyboard: a tutorial for life
Gue seneng main keyboard dan seneng belajar untuk bisa maen lebih bagus lagi dan lebih seneng karena ada orang yang mau membayar gue untuk melakukan itu. «Talking about an ideal job». Gue paling seneng kalo permainan keyboard gue bisa dinikmati oleh orang lain dan bisa mengajak orang untuk bernyanyi. «That's a simple idea of happiness for me.
Selain itu yang bikin gue seneng maen keyboard adalah gue jadi sering diundang ke acara-acara penting atau nggak penting yang menyediakan BANYAK makanan. «Yet another simple idea of happiness.». Emang kadang-kadang gue suka lupa makan kalo lagi maen bahkan orang-orang suka jadi khawatir ngeliat gue maen abis-abisan tanpa makan. Bahkan makanan, kue ato minuman mesti dianterin ke gue, soalnya gue suka sok males ngambil sendiri. «Abisnya lagi asyik maen nih. Tanggung». Tapi sering juga gue memanfaatkan break dengan sebaik-baiknya. Pas gue emang gilirannya gue nggak perlu maen dulu, kelilinglah gue mencari best spots on the table.
«Mode changed».
Playing keyboard in special occassions like family gathering, reunion, birthday party, halal bihalal, and new year party has taught me some important values of life.
I learn how to play keyboard better. I never have a piano teacher to teach how to play keyboard methodically. I learn by myself. I practise a lot by myself. That's why I consider playing in public as my exam. Not likely a recital, but a place where I can show how much I've learnt. The audience is my jury. If they're happy, I pass. If not, I fail. Because I love to see other people happy this way, I teach myself new songs and techniques like fingering, chord progression, and stuffs. I love to learn new songs, i.e. songs that people might request in the next party or songs that might suit the theme of the party.
Playing other's request needs great patience. Nice people are okay whenever I turn down their request because I cannot play it. But I don't only meet nice people. I often meet people who straightforwardly state their mind in some cruel words. I just smile innocently, praying deep down inside that they might want to request a song that I can play; that way I can redeem my "fault". My best line in this situation is "Sorry, but I'm awful at playing that. You know that my bad performance is not suitable for your lovely voice". There it is. I praise a little. As long as the praise sounds sincere, it works all the time.
There are also times when people ask me to play some songs that are against my playing mood or some songs I've played so many times that I began to despise any single tone of them. A sample situation: Too many people ask for dangdut in a party. I've played some and I slowly began to get bored playing dangdut songs. I like dangdut as well other genres of music. But too much of it can't be good for my brain. For me, dangdut is just for fun. I'm not a hardcore dangdut lover. In situations like this, I simply shift the genre to old Malay style to calm the audience down and feed their need for kendang beat and in the same time save myself from playing dangdut too much. From Malay style, I could switch the mood into a soft pop song or piano style. You see, this way I can both spoil the audience ear with my repertoire of various genres and avoid myself from playing only one genre which could kill me eventually.
Here's another thing. Whenever I play the keyboard to accompany someone singing, I should picture myself as a band or ochestra or quartet or OM (orkes melayu) or a latin combo or a piano player who's mission is to make the singer sound better. I should elaborate my play and her voice to create a harmony and an enjoyable performance. If her voice is bad, I should make it okay. If it's already good, I should make it fabulous. If she's out of tune, I should tune myself to suit her voice. If she's off beat (ahead or late), I should set a matching tempo eventhough it's not the suggested tempo. I sometimes act as a vocal instructor, whispering suggestions to people to repeat certain verse, to follow the tempo, and to take a higher or lower tune. It's fun. Nice people usually understand that I actually do that to make their performace better. Briefly, I learn to save other's face in public. «I learn to be a Japanese!»
Analyzing people's request could be a psychological experiment that I carry out in a non-boring way. A song that someone's singing can tell you a something about his preference in music or his current mood. But someone's favorite song could tell you a lot about his life. «Telling my whole life with his words. Killing me softly with his song.» An affirmed love of wife to her husband, a masquerade played by a couple, or a never ending love story is expressed subtly with someone's choice of song.
My mom loves Aku Makin Cinta by Vina Panduwinata and it surely tells me a lot about her love life with my dad. Once I accompanied a 80-year-old lady singing My Way by Frank Sinatra. «I love to remember it». She was amazing. Despite her age, she still sounded beautiful as she sang the whole song with perfect tune and words. I could easily relate the lyric with her amazing life. I don't know her well but I'm sure 80 years is a long time for anybody and with her way, she managed to survive.
I'm not telling that I'm the best keyboard player there is. I still have to a learn a lot. My left hand's technique is terrible and my right hand's technique is quite basic. I need some more time to improve my perfomance. «Any piano teacher could teach a 25-year old for a low per-hour rate?».
Next posting:My Other Idea of Happiness
Selain itu yang bikin gue seneng maen keyboard adalah gue jadi sering diundang ke acara-acara penting atau nggak penting yang menyediakan BANYAK makanan. «Yet another simple idea of happiness.». Emang kadang-kadang gue suka lupa makan kalo lagi maen bahkan orang-orang suka jadi khawatir ngeliat gue maen abis-abisan tanpa makan. Bahkan makanan, kue ato minuman mesti dianterin ke gue, soalnya gue suka sok males ngambil sendiri. «Abisnya lagi asyik maen nih. Tanggung». Tapi sering juga gue memanfaatkan break dengan sebaik-baiknya. Pas gue emang gilirannya gue nggak perlu maen dulu, kelilinglah gue mencari best spots on the table.
«Mode changed».
Playing keyboard in special occassions like family gathering, reunion, birthday party, halal bihalal, and new year party has taught me some important values of life.
I learn how to play keyboard better. I never have a piano teacher to teach how to play keyboard methodically. I learn by myself. I practise a lot by myself. That's why I consider playing in public as my exam. Not likely a recital, but a place where I can show how much I've learnt. The audience is my jury. If they're happy, I pass. If not, I fail. Because I love to see other people happy this way, I teach myself new songs and techniques like fingering, chord progression, and stuffs. I love to learn new songs, i.e. songs that people might request in the next party or songs that might suit the theme of the party.
Playing other's request needs great patience. Nice people are okay whenever I turn down their request because I cannot play it. But I don't only meet nice people. I often meet people who straightforwardly state their mind in some cruel words. I just smile innocently, praying deep down inside that they might want to request a song that I can play; that way I can redeem my "fault". My best line in this situation is "Sorry, but I'm awful at playing that. You know that my bad performance is not suitable for your lovely voice". There it is. I praise a little. As long as the praise sounds sincere, it works all the time.
There are also times when people ask me to play some songs that are against my playing mood or some songs I've played so many times that I began to despise any single tone of them. A sample situation: Too many people ask for dangdut in a party. I've played some and I slowly began to get bored playing dangdut songs. I like dangdut as well other genres of music. But too much of it can't be good for my brain. For me, dangdut is just for fun. I'm not a hardcore dangdut lover. In situations like this, I simply shift the genre to old Malay style to calm the audience down and feed their need for kendang beat and in the same time save myself from playing dangdut too much. From Malay style, I could switch the mood into a soft pop song or piano style. You see, this way I can both spoil the audience ear with my repertoire of various genres and avoid myself from playing only one genre which could kill me eventually.
Here's another thing. Whenever I play the keyboard to accompany someone singing, I should picture myself as a band or ochestra or quartet or OM (orkes melayu) or a latin combo or a piano player who's mission is to make the singer sound better. I should elaborate my play and her voice to create a harmony and an enjoyable performance. If her voice is bad, I should make it okay. If it's already good, I should make it fabulous. If she's out of tune, I should tune myself to suit her voice. If she's off beat (ahead or late), I should set a matching tempo eventhough it's not the suggested tempo. I sometimes act as a vocal instructor, whispering suggestions to people to repeat certain verse, to follow the tempo, and to take a higher or lower tune. It's fun. Nice people usually understand that I actually do that to make their performace better. Briefly, I learn to save other's face in public. «I learn to be a Japanese!»
Analyzing people's request could be a psychological experiment that I carry out in a non-boring way. A song that someone's singing can tell you a something about his preference in music or his current mood. But someone's favorite song could tell you a lot about his life. «Telling my whole life with his words. Killing me softly with his song.» An affirmed love of wife to her husband, a masquerade played by a couple, or a never ending love story is expressed subtly with someone's choice of song.
My mom loves Aku Makin Cinta by Vina Panduwinata and it surely tells me a lot about her love life with my dad. Once I accompanied a 80-year-old lady singing My Way by Frank Sinatra. «I love to remember it». She was amazing. Despite her age, she still sounded beautiful as she sang the whole song with perfect tune and words. I could easily relate the lyric with her amazing life. I don't know her well but I'm sure 80 years is a long time for anybody and with her way, she managed to survive.
I'm not telling that I'm the best keyboard player there is. I still have to a learn a lot. My left hand's technique is terrible and my right hand's technique is quite basic. I need some more time to improve my perfomance. «Any piano teacher could teach a 25-year old for a low per-hour rate?».
Next posting:My Other Idea of Happiness
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