Life with the Two Crazy Dogs

I know, I know, I have not been updating my blog for the longest time. I apologize for that.

I have been working on my school assignments almost every night. The thing is I have to read other blogs first before I start on my assignments. This week’s was the third week. The instructor is a blast. He keeps telling us he is a “middle age white dude” whose son calls him a jackass. I am glad he has such great sense of humor. This weeks class was full of profanities. That’s my kind of instructor. We were having discussions on stuff and social values like why do people buy a big ass SUV like a GMV Yukon when they know it a gas guzzler; why does IPod always refers to teenagers and young adults; what is the wave about the flat screen TV that fills up the entire wall of the basement.

Besides working on my school assignments – read chapter after chapters, I started on my piano practicing and studying on my theory. I am so use to the ABRSM music terms, I have to learn the American ones now. For example, a semibreve is term as whole note; a minim is half note, and a crotchet is quarter note. My ai-yah brother sent me books on music theory (American version) which helped tremendously as I was going to the internet to search for them.

In addition to these books he sent me, he sent me Bela Bartok’s Mikrokosmos. Bartok was a Hungarian piano teacher. According to ai-aiah brother, Bartok invented a unique piano teaching method called “Mikrokosmos” which is being used today by some teachers. There are a total of 153 pieces (from grade 1 to grade 6). Many teachers don’t like to use the Mikrokosmos piano teaching method because the pieces are not tuneful so the students will lose their interest very quickly. Which is precisely the reason why Bartok invented this piano teaching method. He believed that learning the piano is just like learning to read or write in any language. Learning to play the piano is also a science. If you want to master reading and playing (and ultimately composing music), you must not rely on your ear to tell you whether what you’re playing is right or wrong.

So here I am trying to figure out Bartok’s brilliant invention on top my school stuff, run, piano and watch my evening shows – 24, CSI, ER and now Survivor.