[. music .]

once a month, my family would go to rogers video to rent a 7day rental movie. usually, my sister and i would select the movie. this time our mom got to pick and she chose a film by Wes Craven titled "Music of the Heart". both of my parents have a fond of music and are musically talented themselves. infact, part of how they met was through music. back in HK, my dad conducted the church choir and my mom accompanied as the pianist. now in TO, if you ask any of my church friends about my parents... they would probably say - he's the tenor you can hear singing above everyone's voices during service; she's the one playing on the piano or the organ. so in conclusion, it's not a surprise that my family ended up watching a movie about music.

Music of the Heart

is based on the life story of Roberta Guaspari (played by the wonderful Meryl Streep). she is a well trained professional violinist who finds herself abandoned by her husband and struggling to feed her family of two young boys. she meets an old friend who connects her to a teaching job at a public school located in a tough inner-city neighborhood. the story develops into different issues she had to confront - student's behaviors, racial discrimination from parents, skepticism from other teachers within the school, student's personal family problems, her own personal family problems... but the hardest challenge was the dilenma of not being able to educate students in music after 10 years of teaching due to lack of funding from the school board. through support from parents, students, the school faculty, and famous violinists, Roberta was able to prepare a benefit concert that raised money to support the music program for over 2 years.

i'm a sucker for sentimental movies. but the biggest thing that hit me after watching this movie was the passion in music and the appreciation for it. i miss the days where i was instructed and pushed to make music but also enjoyed the outcome. at certain points in my life i fell in love with different types of music (j)-pop, slow jams, rock, classical, country, R&B and contemporary Christian worship songs. for some odd reason i'm asking myself what happened to me & music? i have no clue, i'm guessing it's just another one of those transitions?

to end off this post, i would like to give a tribute to the people who gave me musical training... or at least all the ones i can remember lol: thanks

my parents - not sure what they did to me lol
friend's bird - i learned how to whistle from it. serious!
Mr. Michael - good old elementary songs
Mr. Jackson - taught the recorder
Mr. Albert!!! **my fav** - the best strings teacher in junior high!!! he never performed w/o his red scarf lol. classes were full of storytelling and showing films (... educational r rated ones too...) lol. we played music as well and we were good. so many memories!! =)
Ms. Hanley - highschool strings. loved that piece about war of 1812
Mr. Walter - highschool vocals. got to sing some solo parts and loved the musicals.
Mr. Moyer - highschool guitar. helped out with the j-pop singers... don't remember what the group was called lol
Ms. Pang - my talented piano teacher
Mrs. Gaskin - junior church choir conductor. helped me train my voice.
Mr. Yip - loud percussion instruments
Mr. Yoon & Mr. Lum - gave me opportunities to use my vocal and rusty piano skills at church... and the attempt on drums



yeah, *nsync baby!!! ... i use to know the dance moves to tearin' up my heart lol