RuminateReverberateResonate
||r e m i n i s c e s || r e n d e z v o u s || r a m i f i c a t i o n s || r e p a r t e e s ||

Sunday, January 14, 2007

-- Opened --

#-On2 On2!

Ooo On2 Salsa is really so much more fun than On1.

On Friday night, I danced with a lady from SanDiego, who dances On2. So since I didn't know how to do that, she taught me the steps. At first it was quite psycho-motor, which meant I kept going off-count for the entire song. But after listening to the rhythm abit more, I finally forced myself to step in between the beats and during the 2nd On2 song I tried, I managed to do it quite well for most of the song. Must be the rhythm sense and musical training kicking in.

So now, I can officially dance both On1 and On2.

The thing with On2 Salsa is that if you listen too strongly to the bass, you will have problems getting it, because your first steps are all done in between the bass notes. So in a sense, it requires a greater understanding of rhythm to really get into it. But it's so much fun!

My bro, Adam and I went for the Mosaic Jam at Esplanade today. I finally got an Esplanade pass for the Outdoor Theatre. That makes only the Theatre and Recital Studio left to collect. Christy Smith let me play his Double Bass, and we played the blues tune Soul Cowboy by Pat Metheny. I'd say it was quite good considering Shawn doesn't know the song at all, and I wasn't familiar with the head, but well it's blues, so how different can it be. And my solo was not bad, I actually managed, in 2 cycles, to fit remnants of Now's The Time and Blue Monk in it. Overall, I think it was not bad, we played quite well.

And Joanna Dong was there too! Singing for one number. So I danced with her at the back when the horns were jamming on Blue Monk. It must've been like at least 6 minutes because I ran out of ideas. But still it was fun, getting to do both dancing and playing. I have concluded that only when I can hear myself properly can I actually produce better solos. Usually during gigs where the sound system can't take my bass, I just can't seem to come up with good solos, but recently, when I used the PAS and during this Mosaic Jam I was actually able to hear myself clearly so I could focus on my solo.

After the jam we went to Harry's to have a drink, where I got to know Nielson, who sang What A Difference A Day Made during the jam. He has a beautiful voice, albeit really high, but too bad he doesn't have much stage presence and surely can't hold the crowd better than Joanna, even though I reckon his tone is rounder than hers. Joanna's namecard rocks man!

Too bad I have to go to camp tomorrow.

-- Closed --

------------------------------------------------------