I dunno wad i think of co nowadays, esp with the seniors all gone. Less laughter, less improvement, blah blah... I mean, for the past 3 years it has always been kee hong teaching the rest of us. It was also him that got us to take kao ji n we all got a tong guo. And he's wad grade? Diploma. Astonishingly impressive. Seniors gone and i'm now the one teaching. And wads my grade? 7. Utterly pathetic. Ok, my whining isn't exactly making much sense, but still. It's like going to war in my pyjamas. I'm not yet prepared to teach anyone. To add on, they are mostly ppl who are clueless about yangqin. Ya, they were all in co. But all percussionists. I was crapping to xu about them developing in wad are good at instead of being a mix-here-mix-there, not-here-nor-there person like me and she was like, "No they all must take kao ji this year." Which brings me to where i am now.

Teaching them the basics, thrust them the score and leaving the rest to learn by themselves is the ideal situation i've always fascinated. But oh no, they cant even get them right, after umpteen times. "Yong4 shou3 wan4...", "yao4 you3 tan2 xing4...", "da4 sheng1 yi4 dian3...wo3 ting1 bu2 dao4..." the only time i use chinese outside the classroom. And to get them to do it and knowing why they have to do it, i often have to launch this couple of min worth of explanation. They usually nod their heads, say they understand, and go back to their old ways. At this point of time i really feel like smacking their heads together and ask, "What exactly do u understand??" Being patient is never one of my strong points, but tolerance without making a sound is. Ha, they jus have to wait until i am fuckingly pissed off one day. So much for "Teach less, learn more". If i teach them less i doubt anything would penetrate through their skull.

Listening to "ta3 ji2 ke1 de4 jie2 ri4", a.k.a our si4 cong2 zou4, only makes me feel more sore. They will have to learn this song by the end of the year and no one has the scores for 1st, 2nd and 3rd part. Brilliant. 1st part isnt much of a problem as i already memorised it. As for the 2nd and 3rd part, well, guess who is the one that listens to the recording and figure out what notes to play? Oh no, i dun have a flair for distinguishing diff parts like darren does. And considering all parts are yangqin, it isnt that chicken to tell what belongs to what. I am so completely useless for not being able to do that.

Yes, so im to teach them the "agaration-ed" scores i wrote and pray feverishly that they are somewhat close to the real thing. Alongside with their shou3 wan4s, ying1 liang4, dong4 zuo4 n not to use their fingers. It makes me wonder and admire how kee hong manages to put up with all of us. Oh yes, i definitely appreciate my seniors more now.