The PowerPoint sides, audio-visual clips, handouts, reading lists and other necessary materials of the course are now available for university lecturers to download. The whole package is also accessible to the general public and thus those who would like to learn at home may use these on-line materials.
The construction team of the database has again commissioned me to make a video course for this package. How encouraging it is. I shall be very busy this summer.
I went to Holiday KTV with three research assistants yesterday morning at seven o'clock, and we stayed there until two o'clock in the afternoon. No joking. We had been singing for seven hours.
It's absolutely great value for money; it cost only NTD 341 (roughly just more than USD 10.00) each person.
A 'KTV' is a type of karaoke establishment which consists of several individual rooms equipped with karaoke machines and audio-visual systems to be rented out for time periods.
Whereas in the West, speaking from my own experience in Britain, people who enjoy singing in public usually use karaoke equipment at restaurants, pubs or other similar venues, in some Asian countries, such as Taiwan, China and Japan, apart from such places, people may go to KTV to sing in a cosier, private atmosphere.
Right, but what does KTV have to do with karaoke? I've done some research and drawn an inference.
MTV = Music TeleVision (originally referring to music video but later on the term for establishments with rooms to hire for watching videos)
KTV = Karaoke TeleVision = Karaoke + MTV
I think this is how the term KTV came into being.
Just like 'google', originally a noun but now a verb, 'K' becomes a verb in Taiwan and 'to K songs' simply means to go singing in a KTV. Thus, we had been K-ing songs yesterday for seven hours from morning to afternoon—what a luxury start of a day.
My teaching, as well as research, assistant, Jing-Ting was born 24 years ago today.
Therefore, I am writing to wish him a very happy birthday and hope everything goes well with him in the coming 365 days until the 25th anniversary of his birth, on which I shall wish him another wish.
The picture was taken on the last day of 2009, when we had a New Year's Eve party in the Graduate Institute of Musicology, for which the dress code was 'creatively ugly' (You can see in the photo below how 'ugly' I was).
It's really a pleasure to have such an assistant, from whom I've also learnt a lot.
Sometimes I even find my own reflection in him—perseverance with what should be properly explored and learnt, fastidiousness about accuracy and detail, and the belief that everything has its place in a divinely designed way (actually our own way) which could not be questioned.
Although sometimes perseverance and fastidiousness are both just another form of stubbornness, with such determination we keep the standard and quality.
Anyhow, as he is learning to sing a flamenco alegrías, with great 'perseverance', on his 24th birthday I send him my best wishes, Feliz Compleaños!
Yesterday was mother's day and Fanne's own first mother's day. We celebrated it by working overtime at home while Ronne was having a siesta—Fanne prepared the budget and strategic plans for the next five years for her business, whereas I worked on a paper which I should have submitted a century ago.
We also shared a cup of coffee, but she gobbled down a custard before she remembered to spare a bite for me. There was nothing else for this special day. However, she received something as a special gift from me: three days out of town on business while I look after the baby.
I don't think it is a tough task to take care of a child on oneself for just three days, as there are so many single-parents who have to rely on themselves for several years.
I have to feed Ronne once in the morning before we take a taxi to the baby school. He then stays at school all day while I preach to students. We taxi home in the early evening. The first thing back home is to bathe him and feed him. Then I cook dinner for myself while Ronne has a nap. After bedtime feeding is done before eleven o'clock, I can call it a day.
Hence, if a single-parent can care for one or more children without the assistance of the other biological parent in the home, then I can't find any reason for which I can't look after the baby when Fanne's is out of town for three days.
My son Ronne turns two months old today and he has managed to sleep through the night for several days. He goes to bed at 22.00 and wakes up at 06.00 next day, which means a full night of uninterrupted sleep for Fanne and me.
For newborns, sleep during the early months occurs around the clock and the sleep-wake cycle interacts with the need to be fed, changed and nurtured.
and
By six months of age, nighttime feedings are usually not necessary and many infants sleep through the night; 70-80 percent will do so by nine months of age.
Hence, I believe Ronne is a bit ahead of the timetable, which is a bit weird.
As the saying goes, 'like father, like son'; I am a weirdo, so is Ronne. However, I somehow believe it may have something to do with the Arabic music I have been playing throughout Fanne's pregnancy, labour and delivery, and since Ronne's birth.
Perhaps there is certain mysterious power in Arabo-Andalusian classical music, which imbues peace and tranquility from all around our home.
Nevertheless, it is really unusual that a two-month-old baby sleeps through the night without the need to be fed before the dawn.
(Father and son, both asleep, just like how the father would fall asleep anytime, anywhere)
Yesterday afternoon, in business hours, my teaching assistant and I went to Café Bastille, a bistro which serves food and a wide range of Belgium beer, near National Taiwan Normal University. Certainly we were there for a bottle (unfortunately not a 'pint', as beer is not sold in pints in Taiwan); however, we were actually on a mission (i.e. serious business) and thus we deserved a bottle.
Look at the painting behind us. Not clear enough? Then look at the one below.
In order to have a good start and grab students' attention right away, I always show a painting that carries some 'music' (music instruments, most of the time) every week at the beginning of my 'Musical Cultures Around the Globe' class.
The artwork for the this week's course 'Europe' is The Peasant Dance by the famous Netherlandish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel, in which it requires some efforts to discover the 'music'—a bagpipe at the centre left on the canvas. This Flemish bagpipe, called doedelzak or pijpzak in Dutch, has two single-reed drones which face directly up when played.
Still not clear enough? Then look at the bottle of Brugel Amber Ale on which is the male character who plays the bagpipe in Brugel's painting.
I just want to emphasise to the students that there are indeed various types of bagpipes in Europe and the Scottish great Highland bagpipe, to which most people are familiar, is just one of them.Therefore, we went to Café Bastille to take a photo for us and the replica painting, as well as to have some ale so that we can take away the bottle and show it in class.
What a good afternoon—working while making merry in business hours.
(Obviously you've learnt when to look into the lens.)
Holding a baby is a delightful, as well as delicate, job. Because a newborn baby's neck muscles are quite weak and hence has little control over the head, when holding an infant, it is of utmost importance to support the head and neck at all times to prevent the head from flopping back.
While many people would not try to hold a young baby, some do enjoy having an infant in their arms. However, those who want to start a family will have to do it sooner or later, and what's more, they will have to bathe their newborns as well (another tough but enjoyable task).
Some of my colleagues came to visit Fanne and Ronne last Saturday and certainly they all had to perform a ritual, from which one would hardly escape when paying a visit to a newborn baby—holing the infant. Thus, the two parents and three guests had their photos shot as a memento of this event.
Whether single or in a relationship or married, as none of our visitors has already started a family, last Saturday's visit was absolutely a good exercise for them.
So, who would make a good parent?
(Lucy, single, a member in my database construction team, who started working in 'my' office even before I started)
(Jing-Ting, in a relationship, my teaching assistant, who was awarded Distinguished Teaching Assistant for two terms in a row)
(Carla, married, a former member in my database construction team, who still works in the same office with me)
In celebration of my 35th birthday, last night, on my birthday eve, May and I went to Riverside Live House (河岸留言西門紅樓展演館), where the young Taiwan aboriginal singer Leo Chen (陳永龍) and the indie rock group Clippers Band (夾子電動大樂隊) had two gigs in a row.
It was a very enjoyable night. However, I'm not going to comment here on the two delightful performances, but instead I would like to highlight a Japanese song which Leo Chen presented to end his session in the first half.
Leo just released his first Mandarin album Come Rain or Shine (日光 雨中), a collection of classic songs written by Li Tai-Hsiang (李泰祥), a well-respected composer in Taiwan. As 'Farewell' (告別) is the lead track in this album, Leo had a theme of 'Farewell' at last night's performance and sang, apart from several pieces from the album, some more songs about valediction.
It was 'A Thousand Winds' (千の風になって) that captured my ears. The song derived from the well-known bereavement poem 'Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep', which is usually read at funerals or memorial services, and sometimes carved on tombstones.
The verse was translated into Japanese, set to music and first performed by a Japanese novelist, Arai Man (新井 満).
Last year, I gave May, as a birthday present, the single album of 'A Thousand Winds' by the Japanese tenor Akikawa Masafumi (秋川 雅史), which once reached No.1 on Oricon Singles Weekly Ranking (オリコンチャート) in 2007 and has since sold more than one million copies in Japan.
This year May invited me, also as a birthday present, to a gig, where Leo Chen delivered 'A Thousand Winds'. Neither of us expected this song in the programme.
It is absolutely a beautiful song although weird is the word I could say for this coincidence.
Finally, I can make sense of what seemed to be unexplainable to me in the past. When you have a baby:
If you happen to have a digital camera, the number of the photos you would take for your child within a month will probably far exceed that of the images you have captured for yourself in the first half of your life.
If you happen to maintain a blog, it will become an online album for the photos you would take for your child.
Therefore, I hereby upload more photos of my beloved son.
(Who do you resemble, Wei or Fanne?)
(That would be a very sound sleep)
(Hey laddie, don't be startled, as you are learning to recognise your long-haired and goateed father.)
I still remember that British media outlets would usually have a break from their daily business of delivering hard news and turn to pull some hoaxes on their readers or viewers on April Fool's Day. When British people find odd news stories or nonsensical adverts, they would probably take such items as the sign of the arrival of April Fool's Day.
In comparison to Britons, Taiwanese people seems to be far less enthusiastic about April Fool's Day pranks. What's worse, some people would even take offence when receiving text message jokes.
Vibo Telecom, a 3G mobile service provider in Taiwan, sent such a text message to all its customers:
Because of poor air quality, you are advised to throw it on the floor should your mobile receive no signal or not stay connected. Just throw harder, and several times later, the mobile will resume its normal function Happy April Fool's Day!
Some of Vibo's users who have long been annoyed by poor signal reception were absolutely furious at this 'joke'. One lady almost banged her mobile on the floor before reading carefully to the last few words.
I suppose before making a joke, the administration should evaluate if the company's service is up to certain standard and therefore appropriate to joke with.
In Britain long established companies produce hoax advert in the broadsheet press to offer the general public good laughter on the 1st of April every year. For example, visit BMW Education website in the UK to see some good April Fool's ads. I don't think BMW would have such a tradition if their cars stall all the time.
I regard myself as a musicologist, and probably a musician as well, just awarded a doctorate in popular music and currently a postdoctoral fellow and adjunct assistant professor of musicology at National Taiwan University. I hate hot weather and prefer reasonably cold climate, and that's why I once fled from Taiwan to Scotland. Unfortunately, I'm in Taiwan tortured by the heat at the moment.
