The title says it all. 
My True Love gave to me… …
12月24日2009年 — Seren 古心弦This was from an email forwarded from my mom-in-law.
===================================There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me.
What in the world do leaping lords, French hens,
swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won’t come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?
The 12 Days of Christmas Song
This week, I found out.
From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were
not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone
during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.
It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning
plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each
element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality
which the children could remember.
-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit–Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness,
Gentleness, and Self Control.
-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.
So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol…so pass it on if you wish.’
Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone
===================================
Wow, Interesting huh.
Merry Christmas to you. Love you all.
真是不顺利…… and I broke my camera today
12月23日2009年 — Seren 古心弦大家， 你们都知道我从2010年就要展现些音乐视频， 所以这个月有很多准备工作要做。
As you know, I intend to do some instrumental music videos for 2010. And that takes alot of work.
我一早就把头发弄起来，化了一点妆。
Earlier today, I hair-styled and put a little makeup on.
今天的天气也很不错，是个录影的好日子。
Natural light from today’s good weather would make it a great day for my video shoot.
不过，录着录着，邻居突然把音响系统开得好大声。
But while recording, my neighbour decided to blast his speakers. With TLC & Lady Gaga.
唉~算了自己弹得大声一点应该就行了吧……
Sigh~ Nevermind. I’ll just try to play my guzheng louder. It should record just fine.
可是那么大声的音乐，地板和墙壁都好像在振动。
The bass was really strong though, the floors were thumping and the walls were vibrating.
这种音乐，真的是让我开始头疼了……
The music was starting to make my head throb… …
就在我最心烦的时候，电话响了。
In the midst of my frustration, the phone rang.
我赶去接电话的时候，把相机撞倒了……
I rushed to the phone and knocked over my camera.
大事不好了……
Oh no… …
相机的开关好像有问题！！！？！
There seems to be something wrong with the camera’s lens movement and functions??!?!
可是……亲爱的相机，我不能没有你！！！！《心灵茶馆》需要你！
But my darling camera, I need you!!!! Spirit Teahouse needs you!!!
你已经跟了我那么久，我怎么能舍得你走？！
You’ve been my camera for so long, I can’t bear to let you go!
你是个旧模型旧型号，不知道修理人能不能救你？
You are an old model – I don’t know if the repairman can save you!
还有……就是……
And… … And… …
!!! 我没有钱了啦 !!!
I have NO MONEY FOR THIS!!!!!!
悲哀啊！
I am so… grieved…
* 12/24/09 中文改正：旧模型 -〉旧型号，谢谢 @santonin!
大家如果还有什么要改正的请告诉我。
When there are a lack of signs and marks in a score to indicate how a song should be played… …
12月10日2009年 — Seren 古心弦Amongst my haul of borrowed books from the library yesterday (libraries in NY are GREAT resources for people who cannot afford formal musical education – like me lol), here are two books I would like to mention.
Norman Carrell. (1967) BACH the Borrower. Great Britain: Novello & Company Ltd.
This book ‘Bach the Borrower’ was meant to be “controversial” as stated in its Foreword. Well it is interesting, but I wouldn’t really describe it to be a scandal. But I don’t think we could really blow the whistle and call foul on Bach because he managed to make each work “his own”. Especially when nowadays, “re-invention” and “innovation” are popular words.
Like how Jay Chou’s “Noctune 夜曲” reminds me of Sting’s “Shape of My Heart”, and the opening verse of JJ Lin’s “第几个一百天” reminds me of the first line from the chorus from A*Mei’s “听海 – Listen to the Ocean’s Cries”. But both 《夜曲》and《第几个一百天》are unique enough for Jay and JJ to call it their own, no crime there.
Bach was said to have borrowed his music from Vivaldi, Corelli, Dieupart… and he borrowed his own works alot too (Part 1 of the book was called “Self-Borrowings”, which has 16 chapters). And that’s cool with me too. I think rappers do that alot… one track might borrow a part or some lyrics from a track from their previous album, just to drum in their signature style.
So it’s not that bad. Bach’s music lives on hundreds and hundreds of years after he’s dead. 
Fritz Rothschild. (1966) Stress and Movement in the works of J.S. Bach. Great Britain: Novello & Company Ltd.
Now this one: ‘Stress and Movement in the works of J.S. Bach’ is even more interesting to me. Rothschild wrote that “The abscence of marks in Bach’s scores led nineteenth-century musicians to believe that Bach refrained from marking his compositions in order to give the player full freedom to choose tempo and accentuation. Editors made use of this assumed freedom with most peculiar results [...]”
To summarise this book, it says that Bach’s main accentuation is one kind – guter Taktteil, stress on the strong time-unit. I will keep it in mind. The rest of the book is an elaboration of that point, and I would give it a good read.
Keeping it in mind is one thing though…I am just so used to having my own interpretation for every song… lol
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