Do you watch Korean dramas? Well, if you do, you would probably know this series called Descendants Of The Sun. It's very popular when it was first aired in 2016. But what I really like about this show is actually the songs. One of my favourite song from this show is Always sung by Yoon Mi-rae.
Below is a Youtube video of the song as originally sung by Yoon Mi-rae with some scenes from the show.
I thought this song would sound pretty nice on the piano, so I decided to try playing it. After a few attempts, I went ahead to record the full song and below is the result!
My playing is not perfect, and I don't think I can make it perfect anyway. But I hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed playing it! :)
If you like, follow me on Soundcloud to listen to more songs! Thank you!
It's the theme song for the popular Chinese horror fantasy drama "Wu Xin : The Monster Killer" (or Wu Xin Fa Shi 无心法师). Composed by Alfred Hui for HK TVB, this song had played in my mind so many times that I have lost count!
If you had watched the series, you would understand the title of this song. If you have not, it would be quite difficult to explain it. Well, it's not too late - you can still catch it online but make it fast, as I heard that the sequel to this 20-episode drama will be coming soon later this year.
This song is the Cantonese version specifically for HK TVB, not the original Chinese theme song. Watch the video below to listen to the song.
I am so looking forward to watch the sequel! I hope that it will be as good and enjoyable as the first one. So, before Wu Xin : The Monster Killer 2 makes its appearance, I guess I had better record my own piano version to this beautiful song.
My playing was not perfect - there were a few errors and notes slips here and there - but I was too lazy to do another recording. So, here it is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed playing it. And feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what you think! Oh, and if you like, do follow me on Soundcloud :)
Sometimes, you hear a song and you like it but you don't know who sing it. With apps like Shazam, this is no longer a problem. You can identify a song and its singer with a click of a button.
However, in my case, my phone ran out of battery and I could not use Shazam to identify this particular song. Although I have heard the Chinese song many times in the past, I could not remember where I heard it before. If you are wondering why I did not use Shazam when I heard the song in the past, that's simply because the app did not exist yet.
So what did I do? I played by ear a short extract of the song on piano, recorded it and put it on Instagram then asked if anyone knows what song and who the singer is. And that's how I came to know the name of this song. It's called Tao Tai (which means Elimination in English), originally sung by Eason Chan, a popular Hong Kong singer and composed by Jay Chou, a famous singer and songwriter from Taiwan.
A follower on Instagram then told me he had the score to this song and offered it to me. That helped a lot! But as usual, I never follow note-for-note from a score. I always prefer to improvise and make the song a little bit different.
So here's the complete recording of the song. Have a listen and let me know what you think in the comments! Thanks :)
If you like, follow me on Soundcloud so that you can listen to my future uploads.
Merry Christmas everyone!! Even though it's a bit late to wish Merry Christmas, it's better late than never right? Anyway, I'm still in Chrismassy mood and will remain in this state till the end of the year.
Over here in Malaysia, it never snows. But it has been raining quite a lot lately. The rain gave me some inspiration when I sat down to play on my piano. I made a recording of my impromptu playing and here is the result. I'm naming it "The Morning After". After Christmas Day, that is.
Have a listen. Try to listen in a quiet environment as this piano piece is soothing and relaxing and will not work in a noisy place. Alternatively, listen using your ear phone for best sound quality. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed playing it! :)
Note : This recording and work is copyrighted. All Rights Reserved.
Someone played a short five-note melody on the piano and asked me to develop that short melody into a full-fledged song that lasts about 3 minutes. I decided to take up the challenge. Luckily, the five-note melody which is made up of the notes F, A, C, D and B flat was pretty melodious to begin with. Lol.
So here is the result. The song starts with the first five notes that were suggested to me and I continued from there. As it is a spontaneous playing without any preparation or correction, expect some errors and not so smooth execution. Hope you enjoy my song which I shall just call "The Five-Note Melody" :)
Do let me know what you think of this song by leaving a comment here. And if you like, follow me on SoundCloud for my future performances.
Note: This recording and work is copyrighted. All Rights Reserved.
Cafe hopping is a trend in Malaysia nowadays especially amongst hipsters and young people. It simply means going from one cafe to another - practically trying out every cafe in town!
Is it any wonder that cafes are mushrooming everywhere to cater to these weird habits of young Malaysians? Even the not so young people are catching the cafe hopping fever. I would be lying if I were to tell you that I do not cafe hop. I do, but I don't do the extreme, that is, visiting several cafes in a day. I did that once though with a group of friends and it was fun! We visited 7 different cafes in a single day! Crazy! Not to be repeated any time soon!
I guess if you were to visit one cafe a day, you could still be considered cafe hopping. It's just that you hop from one cafe to another but on different days! Usually, I prefer to spend a few hours in one cafe to make my money worth it LOL! What about you?
Anyway, whether you cafe hop or not, I have decided to compose a song about cafe hopping! Am I the first person in the world to write a song on cafe hopping? I think so and I hope so too. Haha! I am not sure that when you listen to this song, you will be able to imagine yourself hopping from one cafe to another.
If you do, great. If not, then just enjoy the music! :)
Note : This work and recording is copyrighted. All Rights Reserved.
So I could not sleep. Must be the piccolo latte I had earlier in the evening. It's 2am in the morning and I decided to play the piano. Luckily my neighbours did not ring my doorbell or called the police. LOL!
Anyway, while playing randomly, a tune suddenly came into my mind. I quickly took out my old iPhone and did a quick recording before I forgot the tune. Here's the recording with all the slips and errors.
I am calling this new song "ONCE UPON A TIME". Not sure why, but this is the title that resonates with me, or rather with the song. Hope you like it! And do follow me on SoundCloud.com if you want to listen to my other songs. Enjoy :)
Note: This work and recording is copyrighted. All Rights Reserved.
The other day I was lazily playing on my piano when out of the blue, this tune came into my mind. Very quickly, I took out my iPhone and recorded my impromptu composition.
I was glad I managed to play the whole song without making too many mistakes. The first attempt is always the best for me. Usually, when I try to play and record a second time, it would somehow not sound as good.
This song makes me feel I am by the seaside watching the waves lapping on the shore while the sun is setting over the horizon. I am not sure if it gives you the same feeling. Perhaps it will evoke a different ambience and mood for you.
Do have a listen and let me know what images you have in your mind while listening to it. Enjoy! :)
Note: This work and recording is copyrighted. All Rights Reserved.
If you enjoy this song and would like to listen to my other piano compositions, you are welcome to follow me on Soundcloud.
I have been busy and neglected my blog for the past two weeks. So today I am going to do a very short post. In fact, it's going to be a post about my new piano composition which I recorded yesterday.
The title of this new composition is "One Sweet Day". If it sounds familiar, that's because it's the title of the hit song by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men back in the 90's. Though I borrowed the title, the tune is completely different and is based on what I felt at the time of writing.
Hope you enjoy listening to it and do leave some comments if you like! :)
Note : This work and recording is copyrighted. All rights reserved.
Lately, I have been following a Chinese drama called "The Empress Of China" (Wu Ze Tian) starring Fan Bingbing as the lead actress.
This historical drama, produced by Fan Bingbing herself, boasts a budget close to US$50 million, making it the most expensive TV series in Chinese history. One of the attractions of this drama is the lavish costumes worn by the actresses in the show. Unfortunately, the costumes were deemed too revealing by China's censorship authorities and many scenes were edited to show less cleavage.
Despite the censorship regulations, the series still enjoy high ratings in China. I guess the censorship has in a way hyped up the show even more. When Hong Kong's TVB station aired the show dubbed entirely in Cantonese, they employed additional CGI measures to play safe. And that's the version I am watching now on Astro - the 'very clean' TVB Cantonese version.
I guess Fan Bingbing must be very disappointed because according to reports, she actually went through a lot of hardships wearing those elaborate costumes!
Story-wise, I am not sure if the show sticks closely to the historical facts - I have a feeling it does not, but then again, I am not very well versed in the life of Wu Ze Tian, the only female Chinese emperor in history.
Besides the story, the acting and the costumes, I found myself drawn to the music, especially the theme song of the show. There are two theme songs - the China version and the Hong Kong version. The theme song in China is called Wu Zi Bei sung by Jane Zhang, with music written by Aarif Rahman, one of the lead actors in the show.
And then there is also the opening song in the China version called Qian Qiu sung by famous singer Sun Nan.
However, since I am watching the Hong Kong version, I am only familiar with the Cantonese theme song called Queen sung by Joey Yung. This theme song is also treated as the opening song for the show.
Queen is such a beautiful song that I fell in love with it at the first hearing! And since I get to listen to it every time I watch the show, naturally I began to hum it and soon found myself playing it on the piano.
And so, here is my piano version of The Empress Of China theme song. Please excuse my mistakes and slips, which inevitably occurred as I did not really practise before I made this recording. Enjoy! :)
I decided to take a short break from my usual travel blogging posts and do something different today. Yes, I am going to play a song made famous by Celine Dion. It's called "My Heart Will Go On" from the Titanic movie soundtrack.
Composed by James Horner, this beautiful song became a chart topper worldwide back in the late 90's and won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was also one of the best selling singles in history and became one of Celine Dion's biggest hits.
However, this song was played to death by radio stations everywhere and many people eventually got tired of it. In fact, Kate Winslet, the lead actress in the movie, was quite fed up with it and even mentioned at one point that the song made her feel like 'throwing up'!
Personally, I love this song a lot and never really get tired of it even after so many years. Well, maybe I would get sick of it if I were to play it every single day. LOL! Honestly, I have actually forgotten how the tune sounds like after so long so I had to listen to the original song again before attempting to play it on the piano.
I hope you like my piano version of the song, although I must admit I made a lot of mistakes - but I was just too lazy to re-record. So there, just click on the button, pretend you didn't hear any mistakes and enjoy! Haha! Oh, I also hope you notice I made some improvisations to the song towards the end.
I thought I would like to share my new piano composition about my Christmas memories in KL. This is not your typical joyful Christmas song - it's kind of a little sad, though not really sad as it's Christmas time! Just some memories and sometimes memories can be a bit sad, that's all.
Enjoy! Hope you like it! :)
Note : This recording is copyrighted. All Rights Reserved.
I did not have the time to come out with a new post today so I decided to share my latest piano composition with my readers.
And the title of the song? It's called Untitled.
Why Untitled? Well, that's because I could not think of a title for my song! Haha! Maybe you can help me name this song after listening to it. Do tell me what this song reminds you of.
Go ahead. Click the Play button and enjoy!
Note: This work and recording is copyrighted. All Rights Reserved.
My Hanoi trip posts will resume next week. Meantime, Happy Friday and have a good weekend, everyone! :)
The rain had begun to fall again after a long dry spell. In fact, it has been raining daily since the start of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival last week.
Hopefully the rain will help fill up the Sungai Selangor Dam which was reported to have reached the critical level a month ago. I am keeping my fingers crossed although I heard that the rain did not fall over the dam area.
Took the above photo from inside my car during the rain
With the daily rain, the temperature had also dropped to a more comfortable level. I always love the refreshing smell of the air after a heavy downpour. So yes, I admit I love the rain. And if you are one of those few people who dislike the rain, maybe you should learn how to enjoy the rain.
Anyway, what I would really like to share with you today is a piano piece I composed a few days ago while it was raining lightly outside. Many things inspire me to come up with a song, and rain is one of them. As such, I have named this song 'Raindrops'.
Note : This work and recording is copyrighted. All rights reserved.
Now sit down, relax and press Play.
Can you hear the raindrops? : )
To celebrate Malaysia's 57th Merdeka (Independence) Day this August 31st, I have composed a song on my piano dedicated to my beloved country.
I decided to title it "My Beloved Malaysia". Have a listen, shall we? Hope you like it! :)
Note : This recording and work is copyrighted. All Rights Reserved.
Did you know that Malaysia achieved independence in the year 1957, which was exactly 57 years ago? So the number 5757 will hold a special meaning to all Malaysians this year.
The theme for this year's celebration is "Malaysia Where Love Grows". Seeing that we are currently experiencing so many disharmonies in terms of race, religion and politics, the theme sounds a little unreal. However, I really hope Malaysia is a country where love grows and grows. That will be just too beautiful and awesome!
Sometimes I like to daydream, and at other times, I love to reminisce about the past.
Do you reminisce about the good old days too? Well, I do indulge in this habit, though not excessively, and I don't know if it's healthy. But I don't think there's anything wrong as long as you don't indulge too much, right?
As they say, the present is what really matters. The past is gone, and the future has yet to arrive. But what you do now will determine your future. So yes, the present is most important. But there's no harm in going back into the past once in a while and reminisce about some of the memorable events that happened to you.
And while you are reminiscing, perhaps you want some music to accompany you. Well, I have composed just one song on the piano for this purpose. I titled it Reminisce. And I composed it while reminiscing about my childhood days! If you listen to the song carefully, you will hear that not everything that I thought about were happy thoughts. Some were sad, but they were all part of my memories which I treasure.
To appreciate this song, you will need to choose a quiet time, away from all the noise, away from work stress, away from the TV and radio, and even from Facebook or Twitter. You need to just close your eyes, relax, and immerse yourself in the song. I hope in this way, you will find it a beautiful experience.
Thank you so much for listening. I had a great time composing it, and I really have no idea where I got the inspiration from - perhaps it was God that brought the music to me - for this I am very grateful. Happy listening and do leave a comment if you like it :)
Note : This work and recording is copyrighted. All rights reserved.
It's a beautiful Sunday! I woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside my garden. When I looked out of my window, I saw the blue, blue sky and the verdant green lawns.
Somehow, I knew it's going to be a happy Sunday. I could feel it in my heart. And it inspired me to go to the piano and compose this song.
It's gonna be an ultra short post today as all I wanna do is to share this composition of mine with you all, and get on with my beautiful Sunday. Happy listening. Hope you like it! : )
Note : This work and recording is copyrighted. All rights reserved.
It was a sad day for Malaysians and the whole world when it was announced on Monday night that Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 which had been missing for more than two weeks had crashed into the Indian Ocean leaving no survivors.
This conclusion was based not on hard evidence - in fact, the plane or its wreckage had not been found so far - but on analysis of satellite data by a British company and an aviation investigation agency. Obviously, this had provoked much frustration and skepticism.
I feel so sorry for the families and relatives of the passengers and crew on board this fateful flight. After waiting for more than two weeks hoping against hope for some good news, this was what they got. It was heart breaking.
With no physical evidence of the plane, it would be hard for those affected to find real closure. To the Chinese (two thirds of the passengers were Chinese citizens), the possibility of not finding the bodies would be unthinkable as their burial and funeral traditions would be disrupted.
Anyway, I would like to dedicate a song in memory of the passengers and crew of flight MH370. Although I have named the song "In Memory Of MH370", this does not mean that I have stopped hoping for a miracle as I do not think we can assume "beyond reasonable doubt" that the plane had crashed into the Indian Ocean and that there were no survivors - although I must admit chances of them surviving were getting slimmer with each passing day.
This song is also dedicated to all those who are working hard to locate the plane. May the plane be found soon and the black box retrieved so that there will be closure to this horrible incident and so that one of the world's most puzzling aviation mysteries is solved at last.
Note : This work and recording is copyrighted. All rights reserved.
Today is the last day of 2013. Tomorrow is a brand new year. A brand new beginning.
2013 had given me many memories and if there's any good time to reminisce the past 12 months, the time is now. However, they are mostly private memories so I won't be sharing them here.
Thinking about the past 12 months have somehow triggered the musical sense in me and once again, I had composed a new piano song which I shall call "Memories Of 2013". Have a listen yes? : )
Meantime, here's a short poem just for you….
To all my readers and blogger friends from far and near, There will be no more Santa and no more reindeer, It's a bit sad as I bid farewell to the Christmas cheer, But as the year draws to a close I want to make this clear, Thank you for reading my blog all these years, Although my travel stories may not be as entertaining as Britney Spears, And my ghost stories may not make you shiver in fear, I do appreciate all your comments that appear here, And so as the sun sets and the end of the year draws near, I would like to wish every single one of you a Very Happy New Year!
Today I would like to introduce my brand new piano composition which I actually recorded on my iPhone last month. I call this song "A Relaxing Afternoon At Gurney Drive".
The Gurney Drive I'm referring to is the one in Penang, not the one in Singapore. Haha! If you don't know, I visited Penang more than 3 months ago (how time flies!) and have not even started blogging about it yet!
Well, I have to finish up my Hong Kong posts (which I did!) and my Bangkok posts (still ongoing) before I can blog about my Penang trip. You can read a preview of my Penang trip HERE. But for now, let me bring you to Gurney Drive in Penang - not physically, but musically LOL!
Judging from the title of this song, I'm sure you are expecting a song that is relaxing and calming, like how I felt when I was walking along the seaside promenade of Gurney Drive one afternoon. It was actually the very last day of my Penang trip and the sky was especially cloudy and overcast. I even thought it would rain, but luckily it didn't.
Instead, I had an enjoyable stroll looking at the sea, with the breeze blowing and the ocean waves crashing onto shore. In a somewhat hypnotic state of mind, a tune suddenly emerged. I found myself singing the tune and quickly recorded my own singing on my iPhone.
You know, when a tune comes into mind, you have to quickly record it or it will be gone forever. That's always the case with me. Inspiration comes at the most unusual time and that's why I am so thankful to have my iPhone with me at all times! Luckily, no one saw me singing into my phone. Haha!
Anyway, when I returned from Penang, I forgot all about it until one fine day (which was a month ago), I accidentally played back my recording. It was then that I attempted to play the tune on my piano and THIS is the result. Click and listen yes? : )
Note : This work and recording is copyrighted. All Rights Reserved.
Because it's played spontaneously with no preparation beforehand, I made a glaring mistake on the 49th second. Sorry about that. The melody and the chord were simply wrong there but I just did not feel like doing another recording to correct it. Somehow, first recordings are always the best and sound the least forced.
Someone told me it sounded almost Richard Clayderman-ish. I don't mean that I played as well as him, but the music sounded like his type of music. What do you think?
If you enjoy, do listen to it again. And while you are at it, continue to see the remaining photos I took along Gurney Drive below.
The Evergreen Laurel Hotel where I stayed.
Really overcast sky. I was taking a huge risk of getting drenched. But this is the kind of weather I like!
That's a catchy slogan! Bali Hai's "If It Swims We Have It". Nice.
The brand new Gurney Paragon mall.
Tall and I suppose, expensive condos?
The trendy G Hotel - maybe I will stay here next time!
Did you know that Gurney Drive was a victim of the 2004 tsunami? Heard many cars parked along the road were washed away!
If you like my 'A Relaxing Afternoon At Gurney Drive' song, perhaps you would like to listen to my other compositions as well? Check them out by clicking on the links below.
