Today's a public holiday

It is a public holiday today, in Singapore. If you were to ask what's the occasion, it is Deepavali (Festival of Light) today.

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A good day to catch the Singapore Biennale 2006

Folks in Singapore, you will miss a lot if you were to miss the Singapore Biennale 2006 (SB2006). This is my opinion. After visiting a few of the SB2006 sites, I find myself getting more interested and intrigued by the various contemporary artworks that address the Biennale's theme of Belief. Many of the works from the SB2006 got me to start thinking of issues that I had used to take for granted. I also find myself being exposed to perspectives different from mine. These, I find, stimulating for the mind. Experiencing diversity is fun.

In the morning, I went for one of the Walking Art Trail Tours: Stairway to Heaven. This trail takes one to the following SB2006 sites: SMU, Maghain Aboth Synagogue, Church of Sts Peter & Paul, Sculpture Square, Sri Krishnan Temple, Kwan Im Temple. I particularly like Yayoi Kusama's Ladder to Heaven. I find the ideas behind it and the method used to achieve the ideas to be fascinating.

In the afternoon, I headed for the Tanglin Camp via the free SB2006 shuttle bus. I have heard many people giving good reviews of the SB2006 site at Tanglin Camp. Emily went there sometime ago, and she gave fairly positive feedback on it.

I had a pleasant surprise when I was at Tanglin Camp. I was about to show my SB2006 admission ticket to the personnel there when they told me that it is a public holiday and that the admission to the site is free!

I heard from the news on TV that admission to SB2006 sites will be free again on the upcoming public holiday. Folks, maybe you may wish to bring some elements of art into your life the upcoming public holiday, i.e. 24 Oct 2006. It is rare to be treated to so many quality works of art within a single period, and SB2006 will be ending in 12 Nov 2006.

I am pleased to say that I have bought myself a copy of the SB2006 short guide today. This short guide contains a lot of useful information about the participating artists and artworks of this Biennale. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wishes to venture to the SB2006 sites and to gain a slightly better appreciation to the works. The best part is that one gets to choose the colour of the cover that one prefers for the short guide. Doesn't it represent that one can be free (at least to some extent) to choose one's beliefs?

For readers who are patient, I shall blog about today's trips to the SB2006 in detail some time later. Meantime, please check out the Singapore Biennale 2006 website for more information: http://www.singaporebiennale.org

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Practising Keyper's Romance and Rondo

I took some time out today to practise Keyper's Romance and Rondo. More so, I have spent much time practising Keyper's Romance (the first movement). I did practise Rondo (the second movement), but I focused on trying to familiarise myself with where all the harmonics required for this movement are. The more I play it, the more I like Keyper's Romance and Rondo.

I think it will sound more interesting if I were to play it with the piano accompaniment. Anyway, for now, I shall concentrate on getting the double bass parts to sound nice first.

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Meantime, have a good weekend.