relate to nothing...: January 2013

Tuesday, 29 January 2013

你是谁

每个人也许都曾在某个时刻乞求过什么，这个可怕的循环并不是个恶意的恶作剧，它恰恰是因为这些乞求而被制造出来的施舍游戏。人生的际遇充满了偶然性，每一条岔路都是一次性的选择而无回头的可能，自以为走上错路的你并不知道下个路口是否有真正重要的东西正在等待你。一叶障目是无法站在上帝视角的你我不能回避的命运，我们看见的永远只是一个复杂多面体投影在墙壁上的影子，无法进行阶跃的你我不会知道那些隐藏在历史角落的细节。刚爬上更高楼层的你在回头看路上的曲曲回回时，可能会发现正是过去的每一步，才铸就了现在的自己。

Monday, 28 January 2013

The Art of Acapella

Around November last year I auditioned for and joined my uni's Acapella group. We get together twice a week to sing a wide repertoire of songs (just not choral/classical). Most of the time we sing old classics like Bon Iver and Simon & Garfunkel. Yesterday our Acapella group took part in the London Acapella Festival from 10am-7pm, and intensively participated in workshops designed to better our vocal skills. There is no way anyway can give you a satisfactory set of tips to better your voice in hour long sessions when they have no idea what kind of voice you have, but they did provide us a good summary.

There was one workshop on music arrangement which I found particularly inspiring. The speaker was Christopher Diaz of the podcast Mouth Off, who gave us a very refreshing approach to music arranging. Rather than thinking of scores and notes etc, he advised us to arrange based on feelings. Depending on where we are, what we are feeling prior to writing, what we FEEL like getting out of the original track, we will all produce very different interpretations.

For anyone wanting to do arranging, a basic understanding of music theory is crucial. This automatically implies that the main difference of what makes a good arrangement and a rubbish one does not lie in how deep your knowledge of chordal progressions and triads are, but of how capable you are of delivering a feeling. I'm pretty sure I have written on this very blog in the past that music is an art form, and if it evokes your senses, then it is a successful piece of art. And there was Diaz on the stage, saying exactly what I believed in. He told us, who cares what methods you used to arrange the track. At the end of the day if your listeners like what you did, you did well and your method was a good one.

His particular method was listening to the song over and over, and jotting down the main lyrics/bass lines he wants to pick out from the original. From there he would think about the lifespan of the song, ie techniques the singer could use to bring out the places that need accentuating. When I heard this it really rang a bell because when I make remixes, this is exactly the way I go about doing it. I listen to the original track and pick out bits I want to expand on and bits I want to give a different feel to. In our acapella rehearsals we sing to each other and work out the best ways to deliver the songs together. Everything is trial and error, but at the end, it always works out.

In the talk he also emphasised the importance of singers singing together in acapella groups. Not just singing together but a real tacit understanding of each other, where we know when to start and stop singing just by looking at each other, when to control our vocal projection to compliment the others' voices. There's a lot of science behind singing in unison, for example on average a person's breath lasts around the same time, and so if we sing a note, naturally the dynamics will vary the same way for different people, and when we sing together we should sense when we are all going to finish that note, even without looking at each other.

I first knew about acapella through DBSK when I was around 14, I was just blown away by their acapella version of Whatever They Say:

I was so impressed by how they enunciated the words in exactly the same way, making sure their dictation emphasised the same words with the same level of impact. It's clear that their vocal bond does not only come from practising together, but years of living and understanding each other to know how to sing as a group, and not as a soloist. I watched interviews of them discussing each others' voices, and at the time I didn't think much but now I am even more impressed how much each member knows about the other members voices. From my experience singing with others it's not easy to give all rounded judgments on what you know about voices that are not yours.

Acapella singing is to me the most natural art form. Every person is born with a voice, and fron the moment we were born we used that voice. Possibilities are limitless and you could do so many wonderful things with it. People began singing together ever since civilisation began, and now we have perfected the craft so well it's created the world of Acapella. Some groups blow our minds with technique, eg pretending to be musical instruments as Cluster did in their version of Jingle Bells:

Nothing from what you just heard was made by an actual instrument. It is 100% entirely vocals.

While this sort of thing is amazing, I still think real talent of a group lies in the unison of their voices. When you hear a collective voice that rise and fall together as one, whose singers speak and breathe together down to the last syllabic detail, you can tell straight away whether the singers understand each other well. Whilst it's important to pick singers whose voices SOUND well together, it is ever more crucial to make sure the singers BLEND well together. Successful groups will know how to fit in with each others voices instinctively, and the sound they create is just sensational.

Listen to the way they begin and end the notes so precisely in unison. It feels like one person is singing the song.

After the long day we all chatted for ages and talked about new ways to rehearse. In some ways I'm glad we are becoming so comfortable with each other. I think it's the only way we can understand each other's singing voices: by understanding each other first.

Sunday, 27 January 2013

i Collection AW12

I'm back after a longgggg hiatus to bring you this post.

Recently I've started a new blog, which I use as a microblog/longer version of twitter where I jot down my thoughts and store all my polaroid pics so I won't have to keep them on my phone.

Originally the plan was that I would write into it for a while, and once I think it is reasonably sustained then I'll tell you guys about it. But since the start of this year my life has been so packed full of uni work and internship hunting mania, naturally most of my posts on the new blog are way too personal and diary like, which right now I want to just keep to myself as a side project. I've decided that I still like posting long posts (which frankly probably no one reads) on this blog so that my readers get a better insight into the things I'm into and don't have to feel weirded out by my massive hormonal mood swings.

I do realise I need to finish off my Japan photo diaries (which after 2 years if still no where near complete!), which I will definitely once I sort my life out with this term's work. But today, I'll treat you guys with this amazing Japanese brand I discovered a week ago.

IKUMI is a Japanese model (runway+gyaru mag), photographer, artist, illustrator, traveller, blogger and more recently a fashion designer. Who also happens to have the hottest boyfriend in the world of modelling AND happens to look like a blonde mythical goddess.

I was so impressed by the simplicity of her concept behind her AW12 collection that now I'm beginning to follow her activities a lot.

Imagine waking up on Sunday and you feel lazy. You take a shower, towel dry your hair and sit in your PJs, fresh faced and tired. A group of friends call you out for a free lunch in a posh cafe and you're dying to go, but can't be asked to do your hair or choose an outfit because it's Sunday and you'd rather be at home drinking hot chocolate.

So in that case, why do we HAVE to do our hair, wear makeup, or even choose an outfit?

Ikumi designed a whole wardrobe of pajama/casual/homewear fusion garments with an exceptional selection of materials. I'm no expert in fashion, but I see the loose silhouettes and it makes me want to BELIEVE in comfort and the fact that we can be stylist and be in utmost comfort. She designs them in a way that still makes her outfits edgy and wearable on the streets, but the people who turn back to look at you will be admiring the excellence of your attire rather than laughing at you because you look like you're still in your PJs.

She opted for flat shoes and fur boots, long cardigans in various pastel toothpaste colours, the craziest pants which look too comfy to even be pants, and cotton blazers with hoods. Not to mention the little details she adds in like her monster drawings printed as a motif onto the lining fabric.

Have a look at the AW12 collection:

I ADORE how the models were styled, with their towel dried hair bronze eye shadows and neutral lips. It's like a model-off-duty look which I'm completely enthralled with at the moment.

Even the catwalk is made of white carpet. The models must have LOVED walking on that and strutting their stuff without the thought of falling over, which portrays more confidence in themselves and I think the positive vibe reflects onto the garments. Overall it was a very well crafted show. The music is sensational as well.