Review: Buried Treasures

Went for this concert on Friday, just to hear Shostakovich's violin concerto. We should have looked carefully and noticed that the concerto only starts after the interval, and should have went for dinner instead of going in on time. My goodness, Schumann is really insipid in some ways. Nice motifs here and there, but the whole piece hardly qualifies as a symphony. Seems to me like he treated the orchestra as a string ensemble, and uses the other parts of the orchestra sparingly in unimaginative ways.

And then, Shostakovich was next. From the first few bars, I decided that I like Ivanov's playing, strong notes with secure intonation that was well projected. His phrasing and cadence was good as he went through the piece, and at the end of it, I have to say that I couldn't expect anything more in terms of interpretative intelligence. His virtuosity showed in the fast movements, very strong technique that carried off the cadenze very well, and the last movement too.

I was transfixed as I watched the concert, stiff and straight as he captured my attention entirely for the 40 minutes. I thought it will be hard for me to accept anything other than Oistrakh's archetypical recording, but I am mightily pleased with this too! He topped it off with Ysaye's Les Furies, showing off his technical skills again.

I look forward to more concert like this! The next one by Leonidas Kavakos promises to be equally spectacular too!

Cycling on roads

Thoughts on the recent road cyclign debate

• Motorists are supposed to overtake or give way to slow moving traffic, so what's the argument about? It is legal for a bicycle to take up a whole lane. And if they don't, it is because they act out of courtesy, allowing cars to overtake them without having to change lane. That should not be seen as a fault that makes cars want to swerve out!
• Motorists often misjudge our speed - we can go much faster than we seem. So don't try to do that right turn when you see us coming from a distance. We can't stop as easily as them too; trying to stop probably results in as much accidents as collisions themselves, though with less serious consequences.
  
• There's so many insane drivers on the road, catch them all first before talking about rule-breaking cyclists. Just as there are reckless cyclists, there are also (much more) reckless drivers.
  
• Cyclists on pedestrain walk ways should push or quietly pedal behind pedestrians. They have no right to get them to give way just because they have a bell. Pedestrains should exercise their right not to give way!
• The road tax excuse for getting bikes off roads is damn stupid, if drivers have some sense they should stop invoking this lame reason.
• Cycling groups are a little dangerous in my opinion, but it's just an impression. If they want to cut across 3 lanes, they should be a tight group, not a train.
• The government should stop giving lame excuses and start building those bike lanes. Developed countries with a huge load of cars have bike lanes too.
  
• I beat red lights only when I'm going straight along T-Junctions, and that's because I don't hog a lane.
  

Actually, despite commuting to work everyday, I have very little unpleasant experiences with motorists. I like to think that's because I've experience in knowing what I should do and what other motorists are thinking, and react accordingly to give everyone their space.

Reading fads

It's interesting to see students following certain trends in their reading choices, blindly subscribing to the bookshops' marketing promotions. First there was the Harry Potter series, then the Vampire trilogy (the one which made vampirism really attractive and sexy), and also there's the Endearing Animal stories (Which spawned off from Marley & Me).

I think Harry Potter's pretty ok probably (I never read a word of it though), and the vampire stories at least teaches them courage in tackling thick volumes. I'm very much disturbed by the most recent reading fad though, which I called the Depraved Adult literature. Those which promises stories of various forms of child abuse in all their sordid details. What a disgusting choice of book for leisure reading! Not something I'll recommend 13 year olds to read, and my sec 1 kids do read them ok.

Now if only the booksellers go back to promoting the classics in a similar fashion, I'm sure children will end up being more literate and intelligent by reading the good stuff instead.

Misused terms

Unleash potential
Potential is an ambiguous word that is hard to define in concrete terms. It is 'latent' ability that may or may not manifest. So it is debatable whether a certain potential exists in a certain person ; barring physical and mental deficiencies, we can all potentially break any record! The pairing of potential with 'unleash' assumes firstly the existence of potential, and that it is 'leashed' some how (by what?).

If the term refers to the breaking down of boundaries that might hinder the manifestation of potential, it is too vague because it presupposes the presence of both. In any case, it is a hideous term - you unleash animals, not ideas. Nurturing talents sounds better, or if you want it the bombastic way, actualising talents.

Strategic thrusts
Continuing the theme of violence, measures and objectives must be strategically 'thrusted' into the system, probably to jolt it alive (in pain). Why can't they use 'organisational goals' or something else equally bombastic if they so wish? Another hideous term...

Grow students
Students grow by themselves, we don't need to feed them fertilisers or water them. The person who thought of this term must be a biology teacher.

World class (anything)
Singapore favourite term, which refers to being among the best in anything. Usually refers to indicators of economic status like airports, ports, education system etc. But no one ever presses the relevant organisation of the benchmark of 'world class'! And why not try to be world class in something that money can't buy, like world class service or world class sports achievements or world class civil society?

My new class

I had the fortune of being assigned as the form teacher for the first express class for the sec 1 level this year - I think the management finally realised that I'm best suited to teaching high ability learners. Which is not to say that I didn't enjoy teaching the second last class last year and the year before, but I think the management is not convinced that my methods will develop their language skills rather than confusing them.

The first class is quite noisy when they are relaxed around me actually, which my students always do. They will raise quick suggestions all over, and counter-suggestions will come from other parts of the classroom without my intervention. They perpetually remind me of the hundred and one forms that they are supposed to hand up to me and the stuff that i'm supposed to collect from them. a third of the class shot up their hands in the air when I asked if anyone's willing to try be the class chairperson and vice-chairperson. And amazingly, when the classroom is empty in between lessons, they are all in their seats and eerily quiet. The last one is really a winning quality that will no doubt score points with the school management.

Ahh...life is gonna be good. I am going to try revolutionary ideas to make my form class a real home for them this year, and it is good to know so early on that I have an appreciative group. Maybe they will be my best teaching class ever. Perhaps they might even be the class to hold me back in this school for another 2 years.

A new start

Someone remarked about why I stopped blogging, and I don't really know why too. It's seems as if the impulse to blog interesting thoughts just stopped acting up on me nowadays. Perhaps I'm just content to let things happen without contemplating too much, perhaps I was too busy at work or on holiday, or maybe I just stopped thinking, full stop. Which is which? I really don't know.

So anyway, it's the dreaded start to school again. Actually, I don't really feel it's dreadful la. I regret the end of the holidays that's for sure, but then school isn't that bad at all for me this year. I've done a lot of preparatory work, beginning of school is quite slack, I'm the form teacher of the best class in the level, and as usual, my healthy optimism for the future kicks in (before it gets destroyed in mid-term).

It's nice to go back and see the kids I taught last year now supposedly more mature. They are really conscious of their new status in school, and truly behave accordingly without any prompting. And I was thinking that it's so nice to see some of the angelic kids, and that sustains my motivation to continue teaching. But in no way am I inclined to have kids of my own, still!

So, a brand new year with a new class, and I'm going to kickstart my plan of moulding them into the best class of the level in spirits and character. Let's see what happens!