masterwordsmith-unplugged

When my older boy was back in Penang, I wanted to jam with him and Nick from the moment he stepped into the house. But alas, the young master wanted to spend time in his room with his brother and just 'lepak' with nothing to do with music during the first few hours.

Finally, on Thursday he promised to jam with us on Friday morning so we fixed our session at 1p.m. but only started at 1.15 and ended at 2 p.m. and left the house at 2.10 p.m. We did not expect the traffic to be so  heavy and pessimistic me was quite sure he would miss his bus. Hence, I insisted he called the Aeroline office to ask them to wait for him.  Yours truly figured the number would be printed on the ticket and hurray...indeed it was!

Calmly, he requested for the bus driver to kindly wait for him as we were only 2 minutes away from the stop. The counter staff who answered the call in KL was most helpful and promised to pass the message to the Penang office. Well, we made it on time and he reached the station at 2.30p.m. sharp and of course I got an earful for wanting to jam "The Moon Represents My Heart", the last song.

Of course in a stressful ambiance with both my boys saying, "No need already, mom...Let's go" and my firm "It's ok we will make it cos I am driving :-), we ended up doing a hilariously insane recording because:

• I suddenly realized with the first few notes that Nick was right - the new piano desperately needed to be tuned so I faltered from the sound of the yukky off notes in the third second of the recording...
• I forgot the lyrics to the second verse after the first minute and most of the chorus and had to ad lib
• I was carried away with my vocal improvisation and change in rhythmic tempo after 1:50 that I just had to improvise on the spot and after the 2:30 point. 
• I really did not know where we were as everyone was improvising on their own and no one was playing the melody!!! :-)

At 2:44 I was giving instructions in musical style :-) !

At 2:57 Nick exclaimed: COCKROACH when he saw one creepy crawlie coming out of the bathroom....and then you can listen to how I responded :-) at 3:02.

Despite all the hiccups, cockroach and all, we had a great time!

Jon was on the guitar, Nick on the violin and yours truly on the piano and vocals. No notes or books, just creativity and grooving together.  It's not a fantastic piece as we just ran through the piece to 'goreng' for the fun of playing together and had a harrowing time thereafter getting Jon to the bus station on time. Never again will I ask for a jam session before leaving.

To be honest, it was a very safe way to ensure I would not cry when driving to Queensbay to drop him.

Whatever the case, I am very proud of my boys and that my husband and I have given them what we ourselves could not have - formal music education, instruments etc to compliment what the Almighty has given them -the precious gift of musical talent. I never had piano lessons...I play by ear and three of us are alike - same DNA in that when we compose - it is all in the head...we hear it and play it out. Words cannot describe how I feel when the whole family is together, especially when we play music together. The feeling of the strong connection is indescribable!

Here it is..have a good laugh. We did. All for the love and enjoyment of making our own brand of music. I have put together pics that showcase the boys' musical journey... The third photo is typical of what happens when he reaches Penang.

CLICK HERE for the video.

To redeem myself, here's an old recording of The Moon Represents My Heart recorded some time ago.

CLICK HERE to view.

Have a lovely week ahead. As for me, after going through many albums of photos, I MISS MY SON very much and hope that one day, he will either come home to work in Penang or we will move to KL.