aka “Old pianists never die, they simply tinkle away”

I recently read Mary Schneider’s thought-provoking and witty article about trying to enjoy a nice dinner at a local Italian restaurant whilst being bombarded aurally by the howling of a band of minstrels.  Being a pianist myself, I totally sympathize and agree with her and so here begins my rant about musicians. Before I proceed please bear in mind that the following criteria applies to this post:

• I’m talking about live music in a nice restaurant (not coffee shops or pubs).
• If this post strikes a nerve in you, please forgive me. I’m not targeting anyone in particular. Honest.

I feel like I’ve been playing solo piano all my life. I actually started out my first gig at the Golden Sands Resort here in Penang, way back in 1982. I was out from the States for a Summer vacation and my father said he had secured a piano-playing job for me at the named resort. Seeing that he had paid for my air tickets, who was I to argue? So I did the gig, I loved it, and I learnt some useful stuff along the way. I’ve loved piano playing so much that since then until now (imitates a Clint Eastwood accent) “I work alone.” No singers, no violinists, no kazoo players, zilch.

I’ve stuck with these rules of etiquette when playing the piano in nice, posh restaurants.

• You are only the pianist, you are not the main attraction. The food and company is.
• Don’t stick out like a sore thumb. Blend in with the ambience of the establishment. Look at the customers. Are they talking softly? Then play softly. Don’t be an ignoramus and drown out their conversations.
• If you aren’t sure whether you’re playing at an ideal level, get your ass off the seat and ask. Customers are usually direct and they will tell you. Also observe their body language (an outlandish example is if you see someone covering his/her ears. That is a strong signal for you to clam up!) If you’re too shy, ask one of the staff (I am assuming that you get on well with the staff. They’re always downright honest about music levels).
• I’ve also learnt that it isn’t worth it to bang on the keys even when the restaurant is packed and the noise level has increased dramatically. Why? Because you won’t win. So why make a fool out of yourself?
• It’s good to lose yourself in the music while playing but don’t get so carried away that you’ve forgotten about the level of sound you’re producing.

Ah, you ask. What’s your pet peeve? You really want to know? It’s this—I absolutely hate it when I walk into a fine restaurant and the pianist or musician insists on stuffing his/her music down my throat, together with my food. BLECH!! And also this—if you need someone to tell you that your music is too loud, you’re not a professional at all, you’re simply a show-off. So there!

Let me conclude by telling you one of my favorite pianist jokes.

A man and his neighbor are talking. The neighbor asks, “So now your missus has taken up the clarinet instead of the piano? Is that better or worse?”

“Better,” the man replies. The neighbor is intrigued. “Why?”

“Because she can’t sing and play at the same time.”

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I thought it’d be nice for a change to share with you the fact that I have one of the nicest jobs in the world. If you’ve been following my blog you’d know that I play the piano at the E & O (Eastern and Oriental) Hotel here in Penang, Malaysia. What other job is there where you work for like four hours and with a dinner break in-between? I’ve met some wonderful people here, and they truly make the work experience worthwhile. Time flies when you’re having fun and geez, this is my sixth year at this hotel. A lot of staff have come and gone, but I’ll have to single out my long-time friend and boss, Michael Saxon, for believing in me and getting me started playing in this hotel way back in December 2004. Michael has now moved on to become Director of Hospitality and Lifestyle Division and CEO of the Delicious Group at E & O, so in a sense I’m still under his umbrella.

Anyway I snapped a few pictures of the bosses I now work under, so let me start with the big man himself.

Here I am with my present big boss and General Manager, Mr. Marco G. Battistotti. Mr. Battistotti keeps calling me Maestro and I only call him Boss (blush) Buona giornata, Sir. Grazie per essere come un boss gentili con me!

Next in line is my immediate superior, Mr. Rama, the Food and Beverage Director. Again, he’s such a nice boss and never seems to throw up too much of a fuss even though I hand him a wedding invite every month.

Last but not least here I am with the Restaurant Manager of the 1885 fine dining restaurant where I play the ivories. Yee Mei and the rest of the 1885 staff are wonderful (they made me come to work even though I was wasted, heh heh) I find that when you’re happy and cheerful and easy to get along with, people naturally respond in kind. I couldn’t ask for a better team of people to be with. Mr. Ijoy, don’t forget my crepe suzette!

And oopsie, I nearly forgot. Where would I be without my tip jar? A very very important piece of glass, yes sir. On some good nights I get tips and one of my few vices, Baileys Irish Cream liqueur—yummy!

All pictures were taken with my Canon PowerShot SX130 IS.

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It’s not every day someone wants to interview and film me at work. I was even more skeptical since today was April Fool’s Day. However, a few days ago I received a call from the hotel’s Public Relations Manager informing me that a Japanese TV crew wanted to interview me and do some filming of me playing. So off I went to the hotel and I met with Mr. Koji Yamaguchi, who is the director of Documentary Japan Inc. He doesn’t speak much English but luckily we had a capable translator in his crew (Miss Arai) and so we got down to work. They were very professional in their filming and very soon I was getting the hang of things. Unfortunately it will only be aired on the Japanese TV networks, but hey, I can’t complain. To be seen by a population of 127 million is pretty good in my book!

(Above) Mr. Yamaguchi seems pleased with the results.

I’m trying my best to look natural while the tapes are rolling.

Group photo with Mr. Yamaguchi and his affable crew. All pictures were taken with my Canon PowerShot SX130IS.

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I decided to embark on a project to photograph each and every one of my students recently. And this is one of the questions that never fails to annoy me—“How many students do you have?” I usually post a response like “Just enough to maintain my sanity and live a decent lifestyle.” Teaching is one of the most taxing professions that one can take up, especially when it’s on a one-to-one basis like what I’m doing. So here’s a photo collage of my current crop of students (at least the ones who were not camera-shy) All the pictures were shot with a Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D with either a Canon 50mm standard lens or a Canon 18-55mm IS zoom lens. Lighting used was bounced flash with a Canon 270EX Speedlite.

To all my students—thank you for letting me be your teacher, and for putting up with me as we embark on our musical journeys together.

Top row (L-R): Adriana, Anthea, Bao Xiu, Cassandra, Henry. Second row (L-R): Jason, Joshua, Kelvin, Poh Lin, Regina. Third row (L-R): Robin, Sabrina, Shih Yu, Shirlynn, Terence. Bottom row (L-R): Wei Yang, Wynn, Ying Xuan, Yu Xuan.

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Yes, it was a lovely day today. I reconnected with my bestest friend, and when I got home from work a student had emailed this to me. How could I not be glad?

Dear Philip,

Many thanks for your email of 12 Jan 11.  Funny it is not in my inbox, and it only came out, when I type your name in the search box, when all your email to me came out, only I saw it from there.  Computer is something I don’t understand how it works.

Thanks very much for your Reader’s Digest which I always enjoyed reading.  So glad you like the T-shirt.  However, I would like to thank you for your patience with me for the past few months (AUG-DEC).  You are a teacher who teaches with the heart, and serious with your teaching, making sure the student plays well.  I am glad to be under you.  I THANK GOD, that finally I have found the best teacher after all these years and I enjoyed every minute of your lessons

Have a nice week end and take care.  Regards,

Sabrina Oh

Sabrina has been learning piano with me since last August. She’s a conscientious student, and I was touched when she bought a T-shirt for me when she returned from her Canadian trip last month. It’s students like her that make this taxing job worthwhile.

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I came across this vid on YouTube a few days ago, listened to it, and it struck a chord deep within me. I was very moved by the song, the lyrics, and the pictures Rick Cooper (the composer from Mount Dora, FL) had put in the vid. I sent him a comment, saying that it was a “Fantastic song and wonderful pictures. Brings tears to my eyes.” I didn’t think about it after that.

However, I had a pleasant surprise because Rick emailed a reply to me and said how much he appreciated my comment. He had been watching some of my YouTube vids too, and he was impressed (Thanks, Rick!) And guess what—he asked me to record a solo piano version of the song above because he wanted to post an instrumental version on YouTube, and would I do it? Would I? Of course! Rick made me feel so honored because he could have asked just about anyone else to do it, but he asked me. Prior to this we didn’t know each other, but through the power of the Internet, and most importantly through the spirit of kindness, two people thousands of miles apart have been able to connect. By the way I rushed a piano solo version of the song to Rick and he loved it—I’m so glad! Here’s his email that he sent to everyone on his video distribution list:

The Spirit of Christmas, the Power of the Internet

Philip Yeoh is a pianist/entertainer, a piano teacher, and an author of an eBook on learning to play the piano. He lives in Penang, Malaysia. Until yesterday, I had never heard of Philip, and he had never heard of me.

In the spirit of the season, Philip was searching YouTube for Christmas songs and came across the video of “All I Want For Christmas (Is To Wrap My Arms Around You),” the Christmas song I co-wrote with John Schwab. Philip sent me a nice note on YouTube to let me know how much he loved the song and the video. I responded to his note and thanked him for his comments. I then checked out Philip’s YouTube channel and watched a video of Philip playing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” I then went to his website and read about his extensive musical background and training. He is very, very talented.

An idea came to mind, and I sent another note to Philip. I complimented him on his playing, and suggested that he consider one day playing an instrumental version of “All I Want For Christmas (Is To Wrap My Arms Around You), especially since he liked the song so much. Well, I’m sure you know where this is heading…

In the midst of the busy holiday season, work, teaching, marketing his eBook and so on, Philip took the time to record my song. It’s amazing to think that he had never heard the song until yesterday, and he had no sheet music or anything to guide him. In a few short hours, he took the guitar/vocal version and turned it into a beautiful instrumental piece on the piano.

So the power of the internet connected two people separated by thousands and thousands of miles, and the spirit of Christmas resulted in a wonderful recording of a Christmas song that otherwise would have never been.

I am attaching the song if you would like to listen to it. I will also be posting it on my website and Facebook. I am including below links to Philip’s website and a link to the YouTube video of “All I Want For Christmas (Is To Wrap My Arms Around You),” which is now over 13,000 views.

Thank you, Philip, and Merry Christmas to all!

Rick

Thank you, Rick, for allowing me to become a part of your heart-warming song.

EDIT: The story of how Rick and I met online is now on his website. Please check it out!

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Yes, it’s Anthea—one of my favorite students (she played Happy Birthday for me here) and now she’s doing a piece called Malaguena. She found this piece a little challenging at first but she stuck to it and now she can play both hands quite well. I seized the opportunity to record her on my Canon PowerShot SX130 IS and here’s the result. After experiencing the HD quality on this camera I’m not going back to normal 640 resolution again (sorry Crystal, heh heh)

Well done, Anthea. I’m proud of you and would like to thank her mom Josephine for permission to publish the video here.

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The auditions for season 3 were held on August 29 at the Yamaha center here and yours truly was again one of the judges. There were more entries this year so I was looking forward to it and hoping to see some new talents. However, to put it mildly, I was disappointed with what I heard and saw. I suppose I’m going to receive some flak for this but I’m going to be honest and try to offer some constructive criticism here.

Firstly, a lot of the contestants from the junior and senior sections suffered from nerves. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again—nothing destroys your playing faster than nerves. It’s easy for me to tell the contestants to relax and enjoy themselves; after all I’m not in the hot seat. But if you let your nerves overwhelm you, you’re in big trouble. Everybody experiences some nerves before a competition such as this, but you have to learn to keep it under control. I heard a lot of train wrecks where the tempi got faster and faster as their nervousness edged up; what a pity.

Secondly, some contestants decided to get creative and added in their vocal abilities for this competition. Bad move. As far as I’m concerned, this is Piano Idol. Moreover they didn’t think about the balance between their vocals and the piano (they sang without amplification so I could barely hear the vocals with the piano being played so loudly) You can’t just throw things into the pot like this and hope and pray it’ll work, it won’t! A good chef doesn’t do this, so why should you? And if you really want to sing, you should enter in the Ensemble category, where singing is permitted.

Thirdly, most of the contestants didn’t have a winning attitude. People, this is already season 3 and you don’t enter this competition just for the sake of entering. You need to motivate yourself to do the best you can, and you need to have that winning streak inside of you. Your teachers too, should help with this.

After saying all this, I was impressed with the performances in the Ensemble section. The contestants here were more at ease and I pretty much enjoyed judging them.

I dunno, perhaps it was my presence that made all the contestants go haywire. Well I have some good news for you—I won’t be judging the Finals on October 10, so there. If you’re one of the lucky ones who qualified for the Finals, you have one less thing to worry about!

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It has been a long time since I last posted a video here so I thought now would be an appropriate moment. This is the Prelude to Le Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel. I’d like to thank my wonderful friend Crystal for encouraging me to “get on with it.” Actually she wanted to see my fingers fly so Crystal, I hope you enjoy this video. And the same to all my other readers too.

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was a French composer who is perhaps best known for his orchestral work Bolero (it was featured in the 1979 movie 10 starring Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews, and Bo Derek. It was used for a lovemaking scene, *blush*) I’ve loved Ravel’s music since my days at the University of Arizona. Although his musical output wasn’t extensive (his complete piano works fill just two CD’s; his orchestral works three) nonetheless he wrote very captivating and original music. I remember my Orchestration professor telling me that Ravel ranks up in the top three of best classical orchestrators, the other two being Berlioz and Rimsky-Korsakov. So there you have it.

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Seeing as Valentine’s Day is drawing near, allow me to present this clip of yours truly playing Dream a little dream of me. The lyrics are displayed below. Songs like this one are all about romance—and I love it. Not the “let’s get the sex part going” kind of thing, nope. And a kiss is the most romantic thing between two lovers, period. Enjoy, and Happy Valentine’s Day.

Stars shining bright above you;
Night breezes seem to whisper “I love you.”
Birds singing in the sycamore tree.
Dream a little dream of me.

Say nighty-night and kiss me;
Just hold me tight and tell me you’ll miss me.
While I’m alone, blue as can be,
Dream a little dream of me.

Stars fading but I linger on, dear—
Still craving your kiss.
I’m longing to linger till dawn, dear,
Just saying this…

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you—
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you.
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
Dream a little dream of me.

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