Dear YouTubers, Friends, and Visitors,This is my good friend Yu Quan. He plays the piano too. In spite of his young age, he is very talented. Therefore, I've decided to trick him and brutally force him into showing his talent on YouTube, as well as to grow with YouTube. We're from the same music school in Malaysia, Pianoforte School of Music, just different generation, different styles, different exposures, different (SIZEs).With his amazing skills and unsurpassed passion for music, I believe he is going to be great on YouTube.Please support his efforts by subscribing to him. PS : If you have SUBSCRIBED to him. Please leave a nice message on his channel, and show him some LOVE. You'll be very amazed when you find yourself on my website. You're gonna get yourself some good loyal subscribers and friends.Just click on the blue links to visit his channel and immediately Subscribe to him, including the one in this sentence.
My Eyes are on you... (I'm Watching you)Sincerely,Ray Mak
Dear Visitors / YouTubers / Friends, etc.
Have you guys ever seen Sheet Music of Popular Songs or Hits? If you've ever seen them. You'll notice those chords written above the Melody of the music that you're playing even though there's already a Left Hand Bass notes provided. I don't really know what's the actual function of those chords, but to me, it's something that you can use to improvise, just like the tutorials that I've written for you.
There are a few thousand people who reads my tutorial everyday and I would say it's like a 80/20 rule, where only 20% of the hardworking individuals that actually take effort to study the tutorials made it and are currently playing much better than myself. While 80% of the rest make excuses which prevents them to learn to play by ear.
Myself, I'm involved in an extremely tough business where I make my own schedules and I do my own hard work. With my own schedules, I can always make my own excuses not to wake up early, not to meet my clients, to rest, to sleep, to procrastinate, to slack, to play some games, and many more fun things that I can do. But I did not, because I understand one important fact of life. If you don't put effort, great effort to take action, you'll get nothing. Making an excuse is extremely easy, but to put effort into taking action, it's a mental challenge.
If you really want to play by ear, rather than sticking to those notes which looks like worms from far (at least to me, they look like worms), I strongly urge you to take your time to understand my tutorials and ultimately come out with your own style. Hundreds are able to do it since I launched my website, I want you to be among them too if you're reading this.
I look forward to hearing from you guys. Special thanks to those who have sent me videos of themselves playing. I've subscribed to all of you and will continue to support you guys.
Warmest Regards,
Ray Mak
http://www.youtube.com/makhonkit
Lately, I've been frequently returning to my Alma Mater, Pianoforte School of Music of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to help out a little (as if I'm of any help at all, LoLz) in the preparation of the fourth Musical concert known as Concert Just For You 4 which will be held at The Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur City Center on December 18th 2010.
Of course, going back to my Alma Mater brings back a lot of good memories of my friendship with my friends whom I grew up together with since I was a 6-year old kid. My first step in this weird little place was about a week or two prior to January 27th 1991, my official joined date. I was a cry baby who hated the touch of an actual piano because I only had a small little Yamaha keyboard back then. Music sucked, especially theory. Though it was just a once a week thing, I love going home. My brother and I were lazy to practice and slacked our homework. Fingering was... as bad as now, and of course we'll get hit gently by pencils and rulers (Literally Gently). Subsequently, we were noisy kids too.
Anyway, we both managed to crawl and slack our way all the way to the end of Grade 8, by hook or by crook. With some Distinctions of course, actually almost full Distinctions (Proud!). We had a private teacher back home as well coz we were that lazy, only teachers can make us practice. Anyway, I started to hate sight reading when my eye sight worsened at mere age of 10. I kept that a secret from everyone including my father, until my eye sight got so bad (-3) that I couldn't read anything on the blackboard in my school. I had to pull the skin beside my eye so that my eyelid pushes my eyeballs to a shape where I can see a little. (The Asian Eyes) By the time I got my glasses, I already started to play by ear. With such thick glasses, music notes looked like little dots to me and I became more and more dependent and cassettes (before CD was introduced) and CDs for my exam pieces. Together with some sight reading, memorizing, and CD, I could pass my pieces for ABRSM. But when it comes to Sight Reading, all I heard was the longest "Sigh" I've ever heard in my entire life, coming from the examiner behind my piano bench. I was just lucky I passed.
Anyway, a lot happened during my time in Pianoforte ie concerts, practices, friendship, laughter, anger, etc. etc. Those were superb experiences which I will remember for the rest of my life. Those were part of the crucial experiences which forms who I am today.
For those who'll be hanging around KLCC on December 18th, you'll probably see a glimpse of me some time at somewhere. Just look for a fat average Joe looking person. =p
The Fourth Concert Just For You of Pianoforte marks the 21st year of the Music School. I'm one of the Pioneers. The kids there now are A LOT better than me. Trust me!
PS : (If any of you suspect that your vision has worsened, please consult your optician as soon as possible. Delays will only worsen it. Don't try to pull your eye lids back (Asian Eyes) because it doesn't really help)
Dear YouTubers, This is my friend, Siavash, from Iran. I love meeting people from YouTube. Meeting your friends on YouTube can make you feel like you're actually dreaming because all these while, you might be seeing them in videos, but when you see them in person, it's kinda hard to believe. Anyway, I just brought Siavash yesterday to the most prestigious Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra with special VVIP seat. I'm sure that's an unforgettable experience!
Check out his YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/anonymous01010101So far I've met many people whom I met from YouTube. Of course, meeting people from the internet can be quite risky at times. But after some time, especially on YouTube where you can see them move to judge their characters via motion pictures, it's kinda alright. Facebook alone would be risky! How many of you would like to meet Ryan Higa? =p Warmest Regards, Ray Mak
 I'm working hard!!! Dear YouTubers / Visitors,
Really sorry I've been slow in playing your covers lately because I've been very busy with my career at the moment. It's my other passion. Check out my personal blog, Bizarre!, right next to this, Music page, above. I've included 2 videos of my work for you if you're interested to see. It' just me doing my job.
As for YouTube, I work very hard for you guys too, for free. Just to keep you entertained! I hope you can help share my videos. That would be great help that goes a long way!!!
All the best to all of you.
Warmest regards,
Ray Mak
Dear Visitors / YouTubers,
First of all, thank you very much for your support all these while. As you can see from my style, skills, variations, improvisation, dynamics, and writing, I am not a professional pianist, in fact, not even a good one. I gotta say that I'm one of those who stun my examiners or listeners during all sight reading sessions. They'll be literally, WTF MAN!?
With only the basics that I've acquired from my music school as well as my private tutor, I play the piano as a hobby and eventually started to record them on YouTube so that I can keep a memory lane of that I have played before. Like most people, I tend to forget the songs that I play if I do not play them often. Unexpectedly, of course, I'm blessed to have your views and support.
But, I still do need your help.
Unlike YoonHa, Sunny, David Sides, Will, and many more who are actually full time professional musicians who are able to market themselves by performing in various events and locations, I'm a full time Real Estate Negotiator who's always on the road servicing my clients. I barely have 30 minutes a week on the piano, even less to share my songs on the internet. If I'm lucky, I can pump out two songs for you within that time frame. If not, even none.
I only need a little help from you. I hope you can share some of your favorite piano covers by me on your Facebook. That will go a very long way in supporting me.
I thank you very much in anticipation for your help.
Warmest regards,
Ray Mak
Dear YouTubers / Visitors,
Thanks for your support all these while. For your Listening Pleasure as well as Safety from viruses, I've invested in the best software in the market just to extract mp3 in their purest form and highest quality straight from their sources, my High Definition Videos.
Quality of music is my number 1 priority and that's why I've invested in the best video camera Stereo Microphone imported all the way from Down Under, Australia, just for you guys. On top of that, I'm also using a state of the art HD video camera, so that you can see my fingers clearly and without much frame skipping as my videos are running at 60 frames per second, faster than all your eyes combined to capture. Albeit a bit on the soft side, my mp3s are extracted at Highest Quality Constant Bit Rate 320kbps Studio 48khz. Despite some noise from my house environment, I live in the center of the city, the quality should blow you away.
Safety is another priority. There are many spammers on my comments section asking you guys to rip Mp3 directly from my YouTube videos. Some if not all of those are virus sites. If you actually just visit it, your computer's a goner. It will automatically start spamming others and you'll eventually lose control over your YouTube accounts, Facebook as well as personal emails. If you happen to buy anything with your credit card, prepare for an unpleasant surprise. Subsequently, even if you happen to visit a non virus site, the maximum quality you can extract from those sites are 128kbps poor quality YouTube compressed audio files. Enjoy!
To get my Music on your Ipods or Mp3 players, simply Right Click and Download. To enjoy my music to the fullest, use high quality speakers preferably Surround Sound Speakers or high quality headphones with deep bass.
Well, I've given my utmost effort and investments to provide you with the best. All that I wish from you in return is to simply spread my music around.
Via Facebook, YouTube, Liking Them, Commenting on Them, Twitter, MySpace. Anything will do.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Warmest Regards,
Ray Mak
Dear YouTubers,
I've been going through a lot lately. I can say, quite a lot of things that made me feel stressed out and disappointed and mostly due to my own acts and the little wrong decisions that I have made in life. In some ways, some of these things have been adversely affecting my relationship as well. I have been brought up different, exposed to different cultures, and I do look at things from very different perspectives compared to others. It feels like I've been always going against the stream, choosing different paths, and ultimately, I do express myself in a different way which is very against the typical conservative Asian culture. That is how American speaks and I'm not in America.
PS : How do I even enter America Got Talent when I'm 8,776 miles from Los Angeles and 9,399 miles from New York City!?
As for my career, I made myself unemployed since the closure of an unsuccessful limited liability business that my friends and I founded. I wish to return to employment immediately, but I do need to take a serious look into the companies that I will be joining because I know that I tend to be very, if not too, passionate towards groups or companies that I attach to. In short, deeply attached.
I wish for a change. Seriously! Which means going against core values, in some of the things that I believe and know I should change.
Just when I needed some words of wisdom the most, this message was the top message waiting for me in my YouTube Inbox.
"From lots of your fans Dear makhonkit
as you can tell by the comments the people who watch your videos love the music. several people say they learnt to play piano simply because of you. so me and some others decided that the best and most practical way to thank you for keeping us happy with your music, we would send round a letter and get at least 20 people who love your music to sign it and send it back. thank you so much for your music.
signed: loopymoocow, justjess090, jonoave, jemimasixpence, hannibeat, killcool, rayzor46, bigbill, splintcellzora, hugenintendofan, shellyshocker, beardoish, smokerboy27, collin93, massa1990, maiisiie, cemflash1, flattyflatflat, trasknari, XpatriotsterreritoryX. there are many more but eventuly the letters title got way to long. thanks again for the music! =)"
Here's my personal reply, thank you very much my friends. I'm so speechless that I don't even know how to react to your message. But I know for sure that your messages made me happier than even if all my music combined to keep you guys happy.
Sincerely yours,
Ray Mak
Please Read For Your BenefitDear YouTubers,
PLEASE READ
I notice there lots of people posting Spams on my YouTube videos and these messages are definitely not written by human, but rather Bots. Perhaps these are victims of Viruses which generates links to Websites that infects computers with Bots using their YouTube Accounts to post more Links whenever they view other people's videos.
I strongly recommend that you do not visit those websites ie they recommend a website that converts videos into mp3 or other downloads. Some of these websites may work, but most of them are just Viruses which will cause you to send more of similar links. Moreover, your personal details including your email passwords, credit card informations, Facebook account and so on will be at risk of identity theft. Please do becareful.
If you really want mp3 of my Covers, just download them for FREE on this website in each of the tutorials that I've written. If you want sheets, there are links on my website which links to sheets, although not written by me, but will be great help for your own improvisation and creativity on the songs that you intend to learn. The mp3s that I've posted on my website are Studio Quality 320kbps mp3s converted directly from its original source of FULL HD 1080 videos with minimal losses. I've recently made an investment of the best audio software to rip those mp3 out from my original videos. Even if you visit those websites which attempt to convert mp3s from my videos, the quality will definitely suck. Although I have not converted all my songs into that kind of quality yet, but I'll be doing them in batch so that you all can enjoy ONLY THE BEST from me!
Warmest Regards,
Ray Mak
Dear YouTubers,
I know a lot of you guys turn OFF annotations when you're viewing your videos. Annotations are actually an important medium of communcation between video producers and their audiences. Especially musicians, where we rarely speak in our videos.
Or perhaps Shy people like me.... (cough cough)
I would like you to turn ON your annotations, at least when viewing my videos. There are some important things that I mention in some of my annotations so that I don't have to repeat myself. Though I don't mind repeating myself once in a while, repeating myself to hundreds if not thousands of comments and messages from my viewers can be a very time consuming.
Subsequently, my annotations' like my Blog. You'll kinda get the idea of what I'm gonna play next or whose request I'm gonna do first from there. Even some personal motivational messages.
Last but not least, I hope you guys respond or comment on my videos according to my annotations. Our discussions will be much more relevant and informative that way.
Warmest Regards,
Ray Mak
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