Playing Piano at Campus Centre

Throughout the years 2003 and 2004, I spent some time releasing steam in one of the five piano rooms in Campus Centre underground. Clostrophobia appropraitely describes the rooms, as many would find the idea of playing music in such small, enclosed and poorly lit rooms to be anything but pleasant. For me, it was paradise away secluded from the rest of the uni hustle-bustle just a floor above.

At the onset of the new discovery, I played really junk C-Am-F-G stuff. As I progressed, I felt the freedom of using other chord progressions. As a result, came the tunes that foreran my favourite composition, Meet at Basil's. There I also wrote Down Mornington and some other bits and pieces of music that came after.

In 2004, I was resolved to at least play a song of respectable difficulty. Mind you that in my ABRSM grade 5, I was 2 marks to not passing and that was me 13 years ago. However, I could still scrape a lil by reading notes really really slowly. Hence I needed a whole lot of time to read, and even more to practice over and over for any song. It was that time that I found this magical piece called "Joy" originally by Bach, adapted by George Winston. I learned it as much as I could for a coupla months but as the exams crept closer that June, I stopped. Strange, at first I stumbled accross the song at Borders, and couldn't really bear to purchase George Winston's CD for $30. So everytime Oaky and I went to Borders, I would look it up, listen to it (only the first 30 seconds of the song could be heard), until one day the shelf was cleaned of the CD. Somehow, I couldn't proceed as I couldn't possibly play anything that I haven't heard before.




I remember this picture because of the solace and peace I got from just an hour of running my fingers on the piano keyboard, however crude they may sound to an outsider. To me, it gave me an empty avenue to shout out my sorrows and play out my life's C-Am-F-G drama.

A few weeks ago, Oaky (who's already been back in Singapore a few weeks ahead of me), asked Zac to bring back a gift. It was George Winston's "December" CD which featured "Joy". Thanks sweetie :)