Archive for lesson to me

Wu-Huu 2008

April 19, 2008 · Filed under events & gigs, lesson to me · Tagged ,

I’m arriving late and couldnt believe my eyes. We always talk 400 sumthing crowd, and here there are, (every type of person u can think of). There’s a cute boy with slightly advanced hairstyle, school children (hopefully they’re from secondary school), and even parents who seemed like dragged down by their children wanting to watch Hujan.

We’re simply not used to it. After a few rounds finding Yun and Qiela Rainbow, briefed by Izham I managed to sit down. There are people everywhere, and looked like they couldnt wait any longer. “Cheer up!” I mumbled. “Ramai sial….!”  Jemek wit his disbelief face. He had been always so critical but positive minded. I can only grinned. We have approximately 37 sale booths and another 7 exhibition booths, so mathemathically it goes down to the power of network promotions. What makes it sweeter, the event is not in KL! I couldn’t think any of event not funded by well-published company, doing indie gig and art of this magnitude.

I hope everyone had a good day. I miscalculated the manpower tshirt. I end up giving an XXL Jebon an M tshirt! No wonder he’s so angry. =) He’s the hero of the day from my point of view dealing the stage flow and equipments while the imported bodyguard, Mr. Najib takes care of the security.

There are point for myself to remember tho:

1. No more sleeping ‘keru’. Every crew should have jobs.

2. Entrance to after-barricade area should be monitored closely. The stage is somehow crowded with assholes, in shape of cameraman and groupies.

3. Is there any ‘bomoh hujan’ u know?

4. Technical (plus one person - connecting stage and mixer tent). Security (if only we have 5 more Mr. Najib)

5. Soundman is experimenting on the day. I cant hear the tops, the sub woofer is ok. Will be alright if the band are all guest band!

Owh. btw. Retrodelic plays a beatles tune. Followed by Dewi and I was born to love you. We wanted to do some experiments so we played Rockstar Inc with Askar on vocal. I dont know but i think the crowd remember it and hopefully it’s a good sign.

Right before coming on stage my hp is nowhere to be found. That stupid asshole also give some msg to my contacts. May he live long enough!

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as if in a dream

February 25, 2008 · Filed under it's just bluffs, lesson to me

i opened my eyes, hearing in from afar, while collecting my scattered wits. it is my name, coming out from strange people.i mean stranger. strange voice. i looked around only to realize that i in unfamiliar places. dark night, unimaginable territory.

how odd it can be. i wake up only to find out i’m half covered in mud near a highway. ‘this can’t be it’. and it followed by, ‘damn, pure damn’.

and finally i spot spill of blood close to me. making smooth chores of lines to the end of the roadways and sand (i supposed) which i currently sit on. it’s my blood. i slowly regained consciousness. i’m not waking up from a bad dream. it’s really happening.

i can do scanning now. ‘damn it’, was i all i can say, for one last time. it’s the picture of my crashed-to-the-limit car that grab me.it’s within 10 metres away.looked like i got an instant punishment. the car’s in awful lot. the sides (i mean both sides) had totally cracked in. the rear looked like it’s smashed up to be halfway in. and the rear glass window, which is the only way i can be here, out of the car, scattered. shiny little pieces of glass. this is when i felt raw, unease strain at my knee. it’s blood there, too. and i must have been dragged on most part of the time end up in current place; on my two legs. this will leave an awful reminder in form of scars. which is what i hate most.

i didnt bother the pain, and the people staring at me. i hear them murmuring, and i dont give a shit;get up on my foot and began tracking my things from the car.the first one is my timberland bag.which carry most of my valuables.and second one is my wallet, which separately found at the backseat.maybe the effect of momentum.

one caring guy approaches me, as if it was his bussiness (which turns out it is), ‘jgn buang masa,adik.kita terus ke hospital.yang lain kitorang uruskan’. i dont know why. i followed in agreement.sit on the backseat of his red toyota moving slowly fled from the scene. the peoples, other peoples; looked like they’re scared.while i’m actually cursing why this could have been happened.

at the toll gate to get off the highway. i heard the generous guy said, ‘cepat sikit, teruk ni’; he was not talking to me. i have this illusions, and dizzy. i couldnt see more as the black faze filled up my head. i was unconscious.

p/s: this was around march 2006, when i’m doing practical at J&J.huge thing happen which much changed me in many ways of thinking.i owe big thanks to the generous brother.and to my family and close friends.

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7 Practical Way to Practice

July 27, 2006 · Filed under lesson to me, ruang rindu

Hi,

You scream out loud how important is it to practice. My friend tells me that he practiced 17 hours a day.(so when do you sleep, and go to toilet?) He has a guitar right in his toilet so practicing is still on when he go for the ultimate call.

Other friend, tells me getting itchy hand give you the sign you have enough practice. Take a look on what experts says…

The quality of your practice is much more important than the quantity. The old saying “practice makes perfect” is only true if the practice itself is perfect. Here are 7 tips to help make your practice more effective and efficient.

Practice motions slowly

The muscular memory of our bodies allows us to physically carry out patterns of motion with little or no conscious involvement. Examples of muscular memory include walking, riding a bicycle, typing, and of course playing a musical instrument.

In order to develop this memory, the muscles require training in the form of repeated conscious guidance from the mind. First the mind must learn the pattern. Then the mind must “teach” the pattern to the muscles.

The mind initially must control all the motions of the muscles. The more controlled and precise the motions, the more quickly the muscles will develop muscle memory.

Slow practice also allows the mind to teach “antagonistic muscles” to relax. Antagonistic muscles are those that move in opposite directions. By relaxing antagonistic muscles you can reduce tension and facilitate faster and easier performance and avoid potential injury.

Practice in small cells

A “practice cell” is simply a finite series of motions. Musical cells can correspond to anything from a few notes to an entire work. When practicing, it is important to practice small cells of just a few notes. Practicing small cells limits the amount of information the muscles have to learn at one time. It also facilitates the mind’s focus and concentration.

Link the end of one cell to the beginning of the next

To help the muscles develop a sense of continuum throughout the piece of music, the last motion in a cell should be the first motion of the following cell.

Practice each cell in bursts

Once the muscles have learned a pattern, they will be capable of executing it without conscious control. Initiate the pattern through a conscious command and allow the muscles to execute it in a burst.

Don’t practice mistakes

For every repetition required to learn a pattern of motion, it takes 7 times the number of repetitions to change the pattern. If in the course of your practice you make an error, stop. Review in your mind the pattern. And further reduce the speed of your motions.

Pause between repetitions

When dealing with repetitive activities, the mind is better able to focus when the repetitions are broken up by short pauses. After two or three repetitions, pause for about 30 seconds to regain focus.

Take frequent breaks and don’t “over-practice”

B.F. Skinner and other experts have found that the mind’s ability to learn drops significantly after prolonged intense concentration. Research shows that studying too long (i.e. more than four hours) can deplete chemicals in the brain necessary for learning. Therefore, it is best to take frequent breaks (a 5 minute break about every 20-25 minutes) and practice no more than 4 hours consecutively.

By applying these techniques, you can dramatically improve the quality of your practice. You’ll be able to use your time more efficiently and increase the effectiveness of your practice.

extracted from: Kevin Sinclair

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Journey to first photoshop gig design for musician part I

July 17, 2006 · Filed under events & gigs, it's just bluffs, lesson to me

Hi,

Weeks ago i got myself a copy of Photoshop 7.0. I would reccomend them to you guys. It’s simple yet powerful. Don’t limit yourself saying it’s a hard stuff. Consider the benefits; you would know how to make your own demo album cover, adding your other value aside your technical musical prowess, and it’s quite fun too.

There are 3 steps to be a good designer. Remember; imagination and inspire are the key to mind blowing design. Haven’t got anything within those two, like me? Don’t worry, I still believe we can be a good designer. Haha.

1. Start a habit of taking every picture/design that catch your eye and save them in your secret folder subfolder of your bands stuff, heck! Eg; my music pics (concerning you are a musician, of course)

Don’t know how? ok it’s hard so follow me. Point your pointer to the design of metallica wallpaper you like and carefully right click. Choose save picture as/save image as (in mozilla). Phew.

2. Now consider you have a bunch of pictures under your music pics folder and you want to try something fun. Choose simple design and start to analyze how the pic turnout like that.

This is the most important rule, you don’t have to be a designer from the beginning, but be a copycat. Why would i said that? If you can copy what you like in your reference wallpaper, you stand a bright way to make your own design with the same concept. Being a copycat first, you will know what skills you need to have in order to come out with such a design.

Regularly, you would want to know what are the functions of the tools. Google all your question. Note about tools; there are alternate tool for most tool. Right click at the tool and you’ll see alternate tool for every function. Left click to pick the tool to use. Basic tool is move tool (to move tool) and rectangle marque tool (the name’s suck but it is simply used to select a fraction and/or an object).

3. Now you’re able to apply what you know how, come to design a good design and call it your own design. That’s the hardest part. Starting from a scratch. But, don’t worry my fellow friends, it isn’t as hard as yngwie malmsteen’s solo.

Firstly open all basic picture you want to have in your design. Eg, guitars and basses for background, chains for side decorations and etc.

Note; when you want to make your own design that doesn’t mean you would have to take your own image via camera or pathetically draw them. Don’t my friend. You can use your image from previous bank or use google images to search for any images you want. It is really helpful. Some images from the net are not copyrighted but can’t be used other than personal reason. Beware!

Open them all at once so you can cut using marque tool and paste to project file.

next part, i will share some basic setting for dummy like us in order for me to finished up my gig flyer design. to be continued…

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