沁心之约

日期：2006年9月 9日（星期六）

时间：5 pm

地点：Siglap South CC Auditorium
6 Palm Road Singapore 456441

票价：$3

奔向那摆在前方的标竿

再过几个小时的主日，我的教会将庆祝教师节。屈指一算，我在儿童主日学侍奉已步入第四个年头了，有得着，也有疑惑。

对我而言，教导圣经是一项艰巨的任务。因为，教导的内容是上帝的话语，我总是小心翼翼地预备，除了每天祷告寻求上帝的带领、也努力阅读圣经与教师本。也因为自己手脚太慢的关系，一般上星期六要忙到凌晨两点多才能睡。但，星期日早晨的闹钟每每在四点就开始响起。接下来的我就在半梦半醒之了。

如何让孩子们在愉快的学习气氛中，明白神的话语，成长达到‘满有基督长成的身量’，可真不容易。如果，小朋友们的汉语能力不足，我不仅要明示作业的答案，还得写在白板给他们抄。相比之下，教道古筝弹奏容易多了，也更快能看得到果效。学生有没有学会，一听他弹就知道了。但，要测量儿童主日学生在生命的长进是很难得。而当他们开始吵闹、讲废话，杜撰圣经内容时，让人不灰心也难。

有一回，ZH的妹妹ZL在分享教导三岁孩童主日学的经验时，就透露，她常常会帮小朋友完成他们的作业（手工），为的只是让他们有一样东西可以带回家，使父母亲有机会去了解他们的孩子究竟学了什么。虽然，只有少数的父母亲会跟进，但为了这群少数，ZL还是甘心乐意地奉献。

回想起大学时代，教导欧洲音乐史的王老师也曾说过类似的话。印象中，他是退了休返聘的教授，家离学校很远，但还坚持骑自行车来授课。当时我们班有约四十位同学，因为种种原因，许多同学会逃课，上课的实际人数往往少过一半。再加上这门课是在饱食午餐后，这剩下的少过半的同学也难免昏昏欲睡。严重缺觉的我，也不例外。有一回，同学们，起哄不要上课时，王老师语重心长地告诉我们，就算只有一位学生，他也会为这位学生上课。自从听了王老师的这番话后，再累的我，也挺起腰板，再没有瞌睡过了。

所以，为了那摆在前方的标竿，继续努力吧！

感动的泉源

你说，你喜欢这个乐章，
而每当听到它时，
你的两眼就像是泪的泉、泪的河，

似乎，你从中感知了什么，
似乎，在你的心中，它已是自己的……

我的乐句里流淌着你无尽的思索，
我的生命中缭绕着你轻吟的歌，

原本坐在这里的有你，还有我，
可是你却去了遥远的天国……

剩下的，
唯有音乐能为我们继续诉说，
乐声未起，
我的胸中已是泪雨滂沱……

~赵季平

这是作曲家赵季平先生献給亡妻的乐曲《大漠孤烟直组曲 第四乐章：悼歌》的题词。欣赏这张专辑时，耳边围绕着的是凄美深情的旋律，眼帘出现的不仅是文字的旁述，还有指挥（即作曲家）所流露出的对爱妻的真挚情感和他渐红的眼眶……曲终，我的泪水再也忍不住、流了下来。

You said you liked this movement,
every time you heard it,
your eyes would overflow like a fountain, a river of tears.
It was as if you knew, or you felt what was coming;
it was as if deep inside you, it was already yours ......

The phrases in my music are flowing with your endless thoughts;
my life is encircled by wisps of your humming song.
Sitting here, there used to be you, there used to be me,
but now you’re gone, to heaven so faraway……

What is left, is only music that would say what we will;
even before the music rises, my heart is raining with tears……

The Desert Smoke Suite
(The Fourth Movement: Elegy–to my beloved wife)

Happiness is ......

One fine and sunny afternoon, before I hit 30 years old, I suddenly 悟道 and said to my mother: “妈妈，我老了。”

Then, my very worried mother exclaimed: “你老了，那我呢？”

I happily replied her: “你已经成精了！” i.e. 妖精, after going through that many experiences in life, one should get more and more ‘精明’.

After becoming "精" for a long time, one could attain "道" then proceed to become "仙". i.e. 仙逝
But sometimes the process can be shortened, or one can skip levels......

Although, this aging process is a must, most people do not or could not enjoy it. Whenever older folks get unhappy, I will cheer them up by sharing with them, if they are physically or mentally as good as the youngsters, then they are a ‘妖怪’, and I felt happier myself too.

Ringing the Welcome Call

This morning, while I was reading the article Unlocking the doors： In debate over new citizens, S'poreans welcome talent but worry about competition by Derrick A. Paulo, Mr. Er S. C.’s (local Chinese music instrumentalist) innovative commentary on Singapore's Chinese music developments “前人种树，外人乘凉”, came back to my mind.

Do you agree to Mr. Er's statement?

Am I Chinese?

Last Saturday, as usual, my alarm clocks started to ring from 6am. By 8am, I finally crawled out of bed. Thus, I must take a taxi to work. So, I hopped onto one, and said cheerfully: “Hello! Good morning! Going to Nanyang Girls’ High School at Linden Drive, by Marymount, Lornie, P.I.E. Eng Neo.”

After 10 min, the taxi uncle suddenly popped this question: “你是华人吗 (Are you a Chinese)?” I was stunned. For the first time of my life, I had to face this question. Usually people will ask if I came from China, which will make me rather...... I am definitely a Singaporean and want to remain a Singaporean. I paused a while before answering him: “我是 (I am)。”

Why? Since young, I know that I am ‘yellow’ and will turn ‘brown’ easily. Even if, I manage to keep myself away from the sun long enough, I will not be any fairer, and my skin will change to pale greenish yellow. But, right now it seems very ‘yellowish’ to me. My mother speculated that it was my rather Indian-ish bangle watch. My students said that because I never spoke to him in Mandarin. But, how to??? Our roads are all named in English. One of my very cute primary school students suggested: “Uncle 早安! 去南洋女中, 林顿开车, 走骂你猫, ......”

Whenever people ask me what dialect group do I belong to, I will answer: “Mandarin (华语人).” This is because I could neither speak nor understand my parents’ dialect (Teo Chew), and it does not bother me. Actually all dialects are like music to my ears. But, I am very troubled by this taxi uncle’s remark. My IC reflected that I am a Chinese. My genes showed that I am supposed to be a Chinese. Other than that, what makes me a Chinese? What am I supposed to do to become one? Speak Mandarin? Wear my very China costume?

The worst thing is that, I don’t know if I am upset to be mistaken or its implications that I am not a Chinese? Is being a Chinese so important to me?

If, I not a Chinese, what am I? Malay? Indian? Alien?

举一反三的笑果

Yesterday afternoon, my students and I were playing 《渔舟唱晚》. As usual, some of them will 谋杀 the notes by producing quavers (half beat) instead of crotchets (one beat). Towards the middle of the repertory, my brain processed a little faster than normal, before we played the repeat a certain segment, I shouted: “突慢!”And for that, we skipped a lot of bars. One fast learner happily said: “老师, 你谋杀了很多个小节!”. The whole class burst into laughter.

Last night, when I shared this with my brother, he said: “你的学生应该说：老师，你屠杀(massacre)了很多个音！”

Riddle of the Day

Today is a tiring day.

By 6 pm, after lots of 杀鸡、杀猪、杀鹅, suddenly I declared to the class that we will play my new game "Police and Criminal" next year, and every pair of eyes in the room brightened up.

In this game, students will take turns to become "police" to spot mistakes of their fellow classmates' playing, thus catch the evildoer. Then, the "criminal" will undergo 牢改, e.g. stay back for extra practices. Under this criminology, there are basically two definitions of "criminal"：

1）Rapist:

* 按音不准强奸人耳者。

2）Murderer:

* 白刀子进，红刀子出，直截了当地把原有X寿命的音符捅死，提前弹奏下一个音符的人。
* 下慢性毒药，越弹越快，使乐曲 prematurely 结束生命的人。

All of them agreed to the above, and here comes my riddle: "What role do I play in this game?"

Someone shouted: "The Judge!"
I answered: "Nope, the Judge is the Adjudicators for next year's SYF."

They started to crack their brains for the answer, after a long period of silence ......

I could not tolerate anymore, and said: "I'm the Victim!" :p

Let's play 看图说故事

NUS Centre for The Arts (CFA) has been organizing their Chinese Instrumental Examination since December 2004. This year's registration form page 5 (of 6) has two versions whereby picture 1 is the earlier one. Look at these two pictures carefully and you should be able to find some interesting stories to tell.

The Game of BALLS

I do not believe in punishing, scolding or nagging.

Thus, when the ‘sotong royal family’ (King, Queen, Prince and Princess) is insufficient to bestow upon my little darlings for their terrible FORGETFULNESS a new game was created to try to relief them of their blur syndrome. After becoming sotong king or queen and showing no sign of recovery, the king or queen will mutate and drop into the game of BALLS:

Level 1 SOTONG BALL

If his/her conditions were not improved or worsen, he/she will expand into a larger BALL which is

Level 2 OCTOPUS BALL

Followed by

Level 3 SQUID BALL

According to my primary school students, squid is larger than octopus, and then

Level 4 WHALE BALL

For some time we were trapped @ Whale Ball,

because we could not find another marine animal that is larger than whale to turn into a ball :P

Suddenly,

one fine sunny day,

an idea came to me,

the ultimate level…….

Level 5 MOTHBALLS

Why?

Though a mothball is very small, it is poisoning, inedible

=

the disease of forgetfulness can become an incurable terminal cancer.

Thank GOD, no Mothballs yet. I used to have one Whale Ball, few Octopus Balls, and many Sotong Balls. After much fun and laughter, the Whale Ball shrunk and was the good old Sotong Ball again. Although, their sotong-ness may not disappear totally, the children certainly have learnt their lesson.

养心诀

古人学琴志在修身养性。

在中国文化里，位列 “琴、棋、书、画”四艺之首的琴，指的是‘古琴’，而不是现在常见的‘筝’。在古代，筝是俗器，真正的雅器却是琴。但对我这个俗人而言，古琴的音质太低沉浑厚，幽静古朴的音乐流露的幽郁、遥远、枯寂，更是让人觉得高不可攀，深不可测，神秘得不得了。而最无奈的是，我不是知识分子，所以很难以与古琴产生共鸣。

古代的知识分子都学琴，许多历史名人也都擅鼓琴——如神农、伏羲、舜、钟仪、师曹、师襄、师旷、师涓、成连、伯牙、孔子、司马相如、赵飞燕、蔡邕、蔡文姬、嵇康、阮籍、白居易、董庭兰、薛易简、欧阳修、苏东坡、郭楚望、耶律楚材等，连清朝的皇帝康熙、雍正、乾隆都喜爱并擅弹琴以“绝尘俗”。

为什么学习古琴能提升个人的修养呢？

普遍上，人们的观念是：古琴的欣赏和认识不能只单一地从其音乐曲调去理解，应该综合地从多方面去理解，并在追求音乐意境与琴德的过程中达到“心净”的状态。但是，最值得我们思考的是古人的这种学习精神和其中所产生的结果。古人在强迫自己长年累月地去面对和学习古琴这种“难学、易忘、不中听”，“琴到无人听时工”的学问的过程中，自我控制的心理状态克制了原有“恶”，进而达到自娱娱人的境界，使整个生命系统得到了净化与升华。

今天，我们在学习谋一门功课的时候，我们是否以兴趣作为学习的开始，以快乐作为上课的过程，以无味作为学习的结束呢？明显的古人没有。因为“学习”是一种责任，是自己的，不是别人的。

方块的压缩与拼凑@解读最古老的汉字秘码

《红楼梦》第八十六回中贾宝玉所见到的天书般的琴谱，就是古琴世界独特的汉字秘码。

在一千五百年以前，古琴曲《碣石调幽兰》以详细的说明文记载了乐曲的弹奏法，形成了中国最早的曲谱与记谱法——“文字谱”。由于“文字谱”相当的繁琐，到了唐朝，曹柔根据文字谱简化、缩写，将形容演奏一个音的一段文字，减少其中各个汉字的笔画后组合而成一个字块的复合字，从而形成“减字谱”的雏形。到了明朝，完善与定型的减字谱才出现。直到现代，古琴的琴谱，都是运用这种独特的方式。

琴谱中的复合文字一般分上下两个部分。上部分的左侧标示左手按弦的手指、右侧标示所按的徽位，下部分标示右手的指法与弦序。如：

表示左手名指按第九徽，右手勾三弦。 这种谱式不仅记录了音高的细微差异，通过“手法”及不同“徽分”的标记可准确地记出种种不同的“音腔”，忠实地贮存了原有的音乐信息。古琴家选择的不记节拍和节奏的方式，就犹如中国国画家的留白，给演奏者留有想象与再创造的空间。而最主要只记指法动作的方式， 却让演奏者可以独立思考与学习、摆脱原有的师徒与世俗的关系，进入一个抽离的自我世界。所以，古琴家可以“隐”，进入深山去寻求一种理想、一种天人合一的境界、总是那么孤独、忧郁与脱俗

早晨的喜乐

感谢上帝

赐下

盛开的 花朵、

灿烂的 阳光、生命的 气息

和

愉悦 的心情。

城市中的仙人掌

这间商店坐落于北桥路的商业区内。

中国的奥运建设在规划及提升北京的同时，也拆除了无数个类似的铁质建筑。因为在北京，它们是违法的。这里的这间“Unique Singapore”是不会等人来拆的，它会自行流动到全岛的各个角落。能不能亲眼目睹这个Uniqueness 就要看各自的缘分了。

源自塔克拉玛干沙漠的一道彩虹

在青藏高原北部边缘、河西走廊的西端，四周均被塔克拉玛干沙漠所环绕的敦煌，是历史，也是一个梦。画在敦煌石窟中的奏乐飞天凭借飘逸的衣裙、飞舞的彩带而凌空翱翔，在茫茫大漠的怀抱中，绽放着绚丽的花朵。因为这个神仙天国，在 1958年，上海民族乐器一厂诞生了“敦煌”这个民族乐器的制造业品牌。

2006年7月27日，“敦煌”女神飞到了新加坡与马来西亚，成立了“敦煌音乐教室”，由上海民族乐器一厂厂长王国振先生颁发牌匾给新加坡的敦煌音乐与乐器企业以及马来西亚的南艺音乐艺术学院、曲艺音乐学院和上音音乐学院，从而建立了一个文化交流与资讯传播的平台，让华乐爱好者可以共同学习研究探讨演奏、教学以及乐器制作与改革等方面的心得。

未来的道路也许会崎岖难行，肩上的牌匾可能会愈行愈沉，但使命是神圣的。愿这份最初的热诚，变成坚强的意志，幻化为一道永恒的彩虹，指引着优美的敦煌飞天飘落到狮城，在交流、融合、探索与创新中，不断地带给人们欢乐与感动。