P/S: i used about 3 days to write this post, splitting into like 1 hour a day (slow partly due to the stupid Telecommunication Company Broadband Provider of the year, between those days when i re-log in to admin, the post was always truncated, but this time smooth sailing, i wrote every thing into WORD every time… hahaha.. 

You can read:

Part I here

Part II here

Finally, the long awaited Part III is here, you guys know what? Before I start the talking on the final part of the show, let me tell you why those Boyz every day also “pressure” me putting up this part soonest, because I found out two of the Boyz have girl friends liao, and they must be waiting to “show off” their photos and news to their friend…

“Wei, Ah Ling ah … go Uglymen.net see my photo la”…

Hmm… but that's not a bad idea too, helping to promote this site. So, I have decided to make this post the longest of the series and put in MANY photos. Enjoy!

“Wei, Hui See ah Hui See…. come see my photo la….”

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So, after Qi Sheng's nice rendition of I'm Angry minus the screwed up short solo, the stage went on with heavier stuff and gained momentum to the climax of the night. Next on stage was Seow Lim Seng with another version of Amani.

Song: Amani
Guitar / Vocal ~ Seow Lim Seng
Guitar / Vocal ~ Ong Chong Leng
Bass ~ Hooi
Drum ~ Chun Wei

After the show, Lim Seng was very motivated in forming his own band, I am very happy for him as he felt the “syok-ness” of jamming for the first time after playing guitar for awhile. I would say my plan worked out well in converting this recital into jam sessions. Students got first hand experience playing in a band on stage, and they coundt tell you more how excited they were that night.

Song: Enter Sandman
Guitar ~ Khor Teng Chuan
Bass ~ Hooi
Vocal ~ me
Drum ~ Chun Wei

Hahaha….  let me tell you guys a secret, about 40 minutes after the show ended, i received some sms from few female students (name off coure wont tell you), telling me Ah Chuan is very cool, they like to watch him play and started to “siao” him liao…. kekeke…. Ok, back to the playing, I would rate highly on his playing, esp with the band, with so less time to prepare and even a few last-minute alterations to the song, the lad played well to the end without major mistake… The secret of playing well and receiving sms from girls ~ He wore Uglymen T shirt. Did you see it? kekekeke…

Song: Glamorous Sky
Guitar ~ Ung Chuin Ling
Vocal ~ Leong Khim Yun
Bass ~ me
Drum ~ Suan

Another Japanese song for the night. This time, a normally quiet Chuin Ling played to a rousy crowd (thanks to friends from Convent I guess), she played energetically and the solo part also went on well. Very good effort, but only if she could play every song like that, then she will be even better. On the down side, as i took over the bass for this song, i only realized how poor the bass amp sounded and i almost did not hear what i was playing. If i am not wrong, Chuin Ling's guitar got some last minute problem and had to use the studio guitar, cant remember what was the problem though. Good point she got used to the studio guitar. Well….. tang tang tang….. and now, the wait until neck also long liao, every day also kacao me post la 333445667888, the UGLYBOYZ!

Song: Ai De Chu Ti Yan / Bu Zai You Yi / Do Mi Do
Guitar / Vocal ~ Bak Pao Tan Chin Sing
Guitar / Vocal ~ Ma Chun Min
Bass ~ Kiam Hoo Mok Kai Jiun
Drum ~ Kiwi Ng Kae Vin

UglyBoyz performed for the first time since turning Uglybo4Z February 2007. New member Ma Chun Min surprised every one by singing with feel and full of stage etnic, though he blew the whole 1st verse of Ai De Chu Ti Yan. Cant blame him though as he is very new in playing guitar or singing, not to mention performing for the very first time. Bak Pao was always cool and i thought some jokes did not work out well, he has to get back to the drawing table and post mortem on what went wrong. Credits to him as he sang the whole first song after Chun Min hardly could sing it though he was the lead singer on that number. Kiam Hoo's timing is still at worrying level and i will still find ways to improve his sense of time. Overall a good performance. Kiwi was as shy as usual, i think this can actually affect the band, as he did not “release” his feeling and emotion, it would have blended with the other members really well. Some times, i think he “holds back” in performances which is not a good thing. First, when you are not totally relax and expressing yourself, you refrain, as you refrain, your playing may just stuck half way, or lack dynamic and sense of momentum.

ok ok, more photos of UGLYBO4Z:

 

well, once again, i would like to thank:

~all my lovely students who put up a great show
~Chun Wei on drums
~Suan on drums
~Hooi on bass and vocal
~Khim Yun on vocals and taking most of the photos
~Everyone attended the show
~The convent girls who screamed like My Chemical Romance was there…

*some peep into what will be coming from me in the next few weeks. post will be limited after this one, i am doing a major revamp on my lesson syllabus, reconstructing the whole course, adding and deleting many songs, which will take at least a month; do some recordings; reluctantly do lots of studying; in between, i try to post on “Smells like TEAM Spirit”, “M1 Custom Guitar”, and maybe the long gone “Day Out With Becky and Pei Yu in Taiwan”.

View Part 1 Here

Then… it was time for Hell Yeah! for part 2 of the show.

Objective of part 2 was really simple, let the students who worked so hard, yet havent got a chance to jam with a band, to perform with a full backing band on stage. I am sure everyone enjoyed to the fullest. let me introduce you the bands as reviews follow. I'll keep this post really short as i am in rush to send a pc

Amani
Lim Ming Le ~ Guitar
Ong Chong Leng ~ Vocal / Guitar
Metal ~ Bass
Chun Wei ~ Drum

Ming Le was doing fine except the long except in middle part where his fingers just couldnt keep up with the speed of the band Good attemp though. Chong Leng was very relax and played averagely.. P/S: Ming Le was the coolest of all performers that night as every one kept asking me when was their turn, how long to go blah blah…. and Ming Le sat alone enjoying other performance like he wasnt there to perform at all…

Robots R Us

Tan Chin Sing ~ Guitar / Backing Vocal
Metal ~ Bass
Suan ~ Drum

What can I say, it was me being substituted, Chin Sing played better than i expected and he backed ah hooi's vocal all the way, that wasnt in the plan at all. It was like seeing myself playing guitar there and backing hooi in one of Uglymen's show. No doubt the best performer for the night, in terms of playability and performance. Chin Sing,  just keep eating your food more, put on weight and you will be me one day, probably you can take my place too if i were to play or Hai Lang same day with Uglymen's show…heheh..

I Am Angry
Chan Qi Sheng ~ Guitar
Metal ~ Bass
me ~ vocal
Suan ~ Drum

Here come's gnap's cute boy… keke… he was obviously nervous but tried to look cool and steady. He played quite well, nice and did the gimmick of biting strings in the midst of the long solo section. What went wrong was, at the middle section, I intentionally walked over behind him and wanted to rock with him (see photo), he screwed that section big time… hahaha… very funny, good entertainment though…. still feeling funny when i recall now… kakakak…

opps, times up, looks like i have to again, split this title into part III in the near future… sorry Boyz, i know u guys checking the website for updates on your photos and performance every day. I will post soon la…

bai bai…

It was a great night to be remembered, the night turned out to be more successful than what i have expected. However, success does not come overnight as every one knows, and before i get in depth with the show, let me share with you how hard the preparation had been before the actual day. 

The show was actually in plan only after the grueling trip to Taiwan early April. We were like having just 1 month to prepare. So I actually asked my students who wanted to perform in the show, with some exceptions on those who i already included them for a compulsory performance. It ended up like 20 students from the total lot. The time slot for all were to be too long and i have to omit some less-effective performers for future shows.

After finalizing the line-up, i had huge headache

 of getting everyone to rehaerse and practise together. Because, half of the show would be in band form. For the passed years, I have been doing minus one tracks (blieve me, it made you rooted to the computer chair for weeks), I hate MIDI tracks on live performance, not to say they are not good, eh… simply because they are ~ extremely not good. Yes, they do make a good teaching aid and learning tool in music education, but when it comes to live performance, it sucks. So, I am stupid enough to make real-audio backing tracks for my students..eh… say, a song might eat up about a week of my time. Laying the drum tracks, playing the bass, input the guitar, colour the songs with keyboards, sing some backing vocals, balance, mix down and blah blah…. But they (the students) really enjoy playing with real audio tracks! That made them feel good. Though I still consider myself to be stupid wasting so much time on recording the backing. Probably I'll do everything with MIDI for the next in-takes of students and never tell them about real audio backings, then I will have more time to watch MU kick Chelsea's butt. ha~ ha~

So, after recording 4 backing tracks for the show, I had another idea, find some session players to jam with my students, DONE! no more backing tracks, and it will bring a whole new experience for my students who were never in a band. So, without hesitating, i picked up my phone and called two members from the famous band called Uglymen (they are famous, but just incase you dont know them), I called the drummer ~ Tai Suan, and the bassist ~ Metal Sow, to helped out on a few songs. And to make things more interesting, i invited a friend Chun Wei (Puma) to play drums on 3 other songs, and my sweet friend Khim Yun to help out vocals in a Japanese number. DONE!

Let's take a photo with all the session players… where is hooi??

Now, came the biggest problem, how were my students gonna jam with the sessionist. Uglymen are always in Penang, Chun Wei hangs around SP and Alor Star, and most of the students couldnt come out to jam after 9pm. Damn it, let's call the show students jam session. Considering they will be jamming with a BAND (note the capital BAND, to them, who had never played in a band, jamming with a band is a real big thing, like the first time i found out a condom is not a bubble gum about 20 years back). So, i expect some mistakes if not major tragedy during the show (ha~ that din happen yesterday!)

So, back to square one, i did actually again, did a backing track, albeit  much simpler ones for the lads to practise alone at home before playing with the band. We did have a one time practise less than 24 hours before the show, like each student playing 2 times with the band the day before.

Mean while, on my side. I always like to take opportunity to experiment new things or introduce some new presentations in a show. Thus, appointing myself as the MC of the show. We have a few really good MCs around like Daniel Kuilan and Kang, but i opted for the mikes as I wanted to try out some silly if not stupid things. Two days before the show, i actually went online for the whole night til 6 am in the morning, in search for one-liner comedies, watch how MCs or artitses present themselve on stage, like in the Grammy Awards, talk shows… I watched those clips till tears flowing out from my eyes and that's when i notice it was already 6am. The best thing i learnt from the online research was using material enhancers, ya, writing some wordings on a piece of paper, and show it to the crowd, and see how they re-act. I was kind off like hey… will that work? What if you show the paper and nobody reacts? Then you are a dead moron man. Uh… i dont care, so i started to write some wordings on a paper jut 4 hours before the show… i wrote “Please Clap”, “Louder Louder”, “Say Shit“, “Scream”, “She is HOT“, “I think he is GAY“, “He is Single”….. Theses papers were to be shown when a performer is in the midst of his performance. Thank God that worked so great, many thanks to the audience!! 

Apart from displaying paper writings. Another important element i found in making an effective and entertaining presentation is: slow down your speech when you are moving into some thing stupid, and lower your tone, like eh… try reading this line: “I love kids, this is a general statement, but if you are into specifics, then you are into trouble.. “I — like — 12 — year — olds…”

Most of the students were very excited to perform on this never-done before format of the show. Some were very excited, eh maybe nervous, kept calling my cel for the whole evening before the show, some were cracking their heads on what to wear during the show.What i liked so much about them was.. they treated the show so seriously, and they really enjoyed it to the fullest! Some put decent make-ups, invited their pals along. Seriously, without their presence, the show wouldnt have been so great as most of the screams came from them…

Once again, here are the performers, in exact order of the show, and some of my thoughts on their showing:

The show was divided into two sections, Solo Performances and Band Jam Sessions.

Solo Performances:

1) Edward Lim (Pop Piano ~ To Be With You)
I have taught Edward since two years ago, he was eh… slimmer last time, I think he's catching up with me now…hoho… thats not a good thing. On performance wise, he was cool and always confident of what he was playing. Note that he played without looking at the score. I love that kid! (See i say in general, not love the 10-year-olds)

“Up Town Girl… she's been living in the…”

“She's been living in the oopsss… “Hey guitar, where you goin?”

2) Eddy Chua (Electric Guitar / Singing ~ Uptown Girl)
Eddy is one of the coolest, and one of the most entertaining that night, I think he made a name for himself too! When I first started to teach him approx 1 year ago, he was eh… opposite of hardworking, absent from classes. But he is now totally different, from late 2006, he changed dramatically, trying to nail down the things I taught and this time round, he sings and play the guitar at the same time. Notice from the pics, he did not put up a strap (could you explain that Eddy?) He gave a very good explaination, that was intentionally for cemedy effect. His guitar slipped off, almost dropping to the ground half way in his performance, and he somehow was in time to grab it quickly, to the amuse of the crowd, everyone claps and screams. Next time you can consider going up without a belt?? Nice work Eddy.

3) Lim Hui Fenn (Electric Guitar / Singing ~ Suteki)
Hui Fenn is another good example of students maturing with music. She had gone through a lot of hardship in playing music, heavily opposed by parents, finding time to practise. But finally, I am so happy for her, because yesterday, she sang her favourite song and soloing ..eh… she actually screwed up the solo… but we enjoyed it a lot. Cos as i said, we were not looking for perfection, all of us came here to have fun, we were not playing in a competition, you wont get shot like in Virginia Tech if you make mistakes.

4) Afina (Pop Piano ~ Romance D Amour)
Afina needs more practise, eh…. and constant lesson attendance. She loves music and piano a lot, this i could see, and she is joining her school enssemble. She has the passion, but the effort she's putting in at the moment cant really take her to the stage where she is dreaming of. Work on it Afina. Afina was allocated the 2nd slot but she failed to reach here promptly. This problem has been around for quite some time….

5) Muhd Taufik (Pop Piano ~ Miraii)
Taufik, another long-time student here… I think this is the 4th year, and he had performed about 4 times already. The best was back in June 2006. This year, he chose to play a Japanese number as he is currently so into Anime and Japanese stuff. In fact, out of the 15 performers tonight, we got 4 performing Japanese songs. Taufik never fail to impress and again, he played smoothly most parts with eh… burp…. minor hiccups in the middle section. I like the expression on his face though. You know what, he aint this huge too when he started the piano class… “i will follow you my teacher…”

6) Elaine Wee (Pop Piano ~ 老鼠爱大米)
Elaine is 13 years old, joining piano lessons for the 4th month now. Her main objective of learning the piano is to be able to play nice songs for her family, how sweet. I accompanied her on guitar to cover some chordings as she is still in the midst of learning chord patterns. One thing I like about her is there was no hesitation when i asked her whether she wanted to give a try on stage. She stopped half way through the song but kept calm and found the way back into the song. We are proud of you Elaine. Thanks for your performance.

7) Woon Zuyi (Pop Piano ~ Canon in D)
Zuyi is a talented lad who also plays the druns besides piano. He joined the pop piano course after quiting classical piano as he thought classical was way too boring for his liking. I played guitar and harmonised some parts in the song, and created a flowing part like the piano and guitar were chasing each other. I thought he played well, the culprit was me, as i am tired after running the show and teaching since early morning on Sunday. Zuyi is so calm that he actually strecthed out his foot and relaxed on the piano base wood. Zuyi shares some common interests with me, he supports MU, he says Chelsea sucks, and yes, he is wearing MU red jersey.

Chan Qi Sheng (Pop Piano ~ Kiroro)
Qi Sheng is another passionate music student who actually put high expectations on himself. Some times, a little impatient in achieving his goals. He is hardworking though and very determined to be at the top in the future. He is so in love with his music that he always ask me, “michael, you think i still can learn music here after form 5?” “michael, you think by year end i can play this song oready ah?” “michael you think…”… well, as u know my name is michael, not st michael. About his performance on this song, i was a little surprise he slipped up at the intro as he was doing fine every time in studio. That shows playing in front of a crowd is really different, i wish there were more shows for students to play….. if i had the energy

Phew! End of Part 1 on The Solo Section, coming up soon will be Part 2 ~ Band Jam Sessions…  Hell Yeah!!

P/S: All Photos by Khim Yun except 1st photo, as she was in the pic