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 YouTubers,
Let's Face this! We all complain even when we're pretty much blessed with everything we need.
I've received this email from Adam Khoo, a great person who taught me about Value Investing, yesterday afternoon and I wish to share the content with you guys here. The email hits me hard as a person who've already got everything and yet I still complain sometimes.
Overcoming Any Odds!
We have heard so many stories of people who were born with all
kinds of handicaps and despite all the odds stacked against them,
they managed to create a life most others can only dream about.
Yet, many, despite being born with all the money, advantages,
resources and opportunities choose to make nothing of themselves.
In fact, many of them end up destroying their lives.
Here are some examples.
Oprah Winfrey - Street urchin to talk show host extraordinary
What would you say of a child who was born to a single 13-year-old
mother who was struggling to survive on the streets? What would you
say if I told you that this child became the victim of multiple
physical and sexual abuses before the age of thirteen herself? She
later became pregnant and gave birth to a still-born baby.
She often got into trouble with the law before the age of fifteen.
You wouldn't bet too much hope on her future would you? What if I
told you that this person was Oprah Winfrey, one of the richest and
most successful women in the United States? And she is an
Afro-American as well.
Superman to Paraplegic...and now an Inspiration to all
Now, think of Christopher Reeve. Many of us remember Reeves as
invincible Superman. He not only had super strength but super
powers, he could literally fly. More than that, Christopher Reeve
had the fantastic physique to make the role he played to super
stardom, magical and believable.
Then, in 1994, a tragic horse riding accident left Reeve paralyzed
from the neck down for life! Initially, the meaning he attached to
the accident was that his life was over and that he would be a
burden to everyone.
Utterly depressed Reeve wanted his doctors to take him off life
support and allow him to die. It was his wife who asked him to give
himself (and his family) two years. If, at the end of the two
years, he felt the same way, they would find a way to let him go.
But as Reeve's rehabilitation began, surrounded by his very loving
and supportive family and friends, he started to attach a totally
different meaning to his disability. He began to see that he
(because of his fame) could become an inspiration and symbol to all
those who are suffering from various disabilities, and who have
lost hope.
The meaning he gave to his experience put him in a resourceful state.
As he continued to bear his massive disability stoically and
improve, bit by bit, he started to write what went to become a
best-selling book called 'Nothing is Impossible'.
Though imprisoned in his body, Reeve gave hundreds of moving
speeches and inspiring seminars; he even directed a movie and won
an academy award.
Millions around the world have been inspired by Reeve indomitable
spirit and he has raised millions through the Christopher Reeve
foundation.
Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope
Heard of Terry Fox, Canadian marathon runner? Well, at 18 Terry was
diagnosed with cancer and had to have his right leg amputated.
Most people would see this as a tragedy and never, in their
wildest dreams, would they see themselves running. Not Terry Fox.
This courageous man decided that he would use this experience to
raise money for cancer research and make a difference to all cancer
sufferers. So, despite having only one leg, Terry started to run
across Canada to raise a million dollars.
Sadly, half way through his journey, Terry contracted another
cancer, this time in his lungs. He was forced to stop his run and
died on June 28, 1981. However, because of the inspiration that his
courage had created, he raised over US$24 million for his cause.
Today, over $330 million has been raised around the world through
the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope.
In all of our lives, there will always come a time when things seem
unfair, that no matter how hard we work for something, we did not
get what we believed we deserved. It may even be a terrible tragedy.
Many people allow events such as these to destroy their
self-esteem, their faith and belief about themselves and the
essential goodness of others.
They allow these events to cripple them forever in taking action.
But there are always others who use what appeared to be negative
events/happenings to grow stronger, wiser and more powerful.
Let's all Learn From Them.
Our Future Is Determined By The Actions We Take (Or Don't Take) Today!!
If You're Feeling Down, Trashed, Devastated or Whatever Shit, just Ignite the Light In Yourself. Everyone Can Shine! Trust Me!
Warmest Regards,
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
Merry Christmas everyone!!!
I just wanna start my day off writing something good here for everyone. I'll be heading out in a few minutes.
Notice the notes below? It may look simple for most of you here. But, to me, it's slightly above simple, I would say, averagely tough. It takes me sometime to coordinate my fingers on the piano to the key and to realize that there's actually a sharp over there. The "Rests" kills me.
On the other hand, if I've heard this song, I should be able to do better than this piece. Improvisation you call it. I call it, to feel the song and to reproduce it to how it sounds to my ears. I'm not sure about this one though, I can't even read the first bar of it. I believe most of you can, almost immediately. I believe that I won't even play this piece by ear. Looks like a death march to me. Anyway, let's forget the notes for a while. My tutorials on this website is written in a way that you figure out the Melody yourself, but for the Accompaniment, you train yourself to listen to the bass of any songs that you're listening too. The best way to play by ear is to find the Bass first. The Bass, is The Base, The Fundamental. The reason is, like drum beat, the bass controls the rhythm and tempo of the music. Once you get the Bass, you'll get the feel of the music. Take some time to practice the bass first for every song that you start playing with ear with. The chords written on my website will help you with figuring out the bass. But it helps a lot if you look at the video while reading the tutorials. After some time, you won't need my tutorials anymore because you'll automatically figure out what to listen to when you listen to music. After you've got the bass, listen to the background music. Most of the background are repetitive, which is kinda like the core of the song. You'll hear it over and over again. Now that you've got your Bass and Background. It's time to listen to the Melody (Lyrics). Be familiar with the lyrics because at times the singer sings them at a synchopated beat (their own timing) I'm not so sure if I got the terms correct. Your style of playing depends on yourself. You'll improve on feedbacks over time. That's all for Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone!! Happy New Year in anticipation!!! Warmest Regards, Ray Mak http://www.youtube.com/makhonkit
Yo YouTubers / Visitors / Friends,
I just want to share with you a little about myself and how I motivate myself to face all the challenges I'm facing in life, college, business, and whatever I do. I mean, life's full of obstacles that we'll be facing everyday, and it's not like there'll always be somebody beside you to motivate and cheer you up.
You control your own remote control (That's what many people like to say). Which is very true. I'd say, you control your destiny. Certain things happen the way they happen because of your own actions and reactions.
Personally I'm a Dreamer. I Dream at night and I Dream in the Day as well. My night dreams are weird. If you're someone who's quite artistic and creative, it's normal that your dreams are weird and bizarre in comparison to those who're logic and realistic. I'm a little bit of both, Hybrid.
My Day Dreams are part of my Life. When I'm working and facing challenges in my business. I always visualize that I'm already very successful. Ie. In business, if I'm about to close a deal, I'll visualize from the time the deal is made to the time the deal is closed, to the time I reap my rewards. At the same time, I do my best, and strive for the best and prepared for the worst.
True experience : - Two years ago, when I was back in Boston, in my friend, Alex Lu's house, we were in our pyjamas looking at David Sides and Timothy Delagetto. That was the point of time I visualize myself as David Sides. That feeling, was as great as what I'm feeling today. Actually today I feel better than what I used to feel during my internal day dream.
Today, I set clear goals for myself. I work towards it. Though with a little procrastination here and there. I still work hard on it. Those two pictures above reflects my Dream. The top picture is my year 2013 Calendar. The subsequent picture is me in a Fortune like Magazine. The picture below is my workstation.
Anyway, thank you very much for your continuous support dear YouTubers, Visitors, and Friends. I'll still continue to entertain and teach you guys in spite of my busy schedules.
Sincerely yours,
Ray Mak
http://www.youtube.com/makhonkit Below are 2 books that has become part of my LifeThis is one of the books I read that helps me a lot in my YouTube journey. It's right beside my bed, I highly recommend that you read it too.This is the book I grew up reading
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,
I know many of you are here simply because you want to learn to play by ear. I'm learning that too, myself, as well as from all other nice people on YouTube, one baby step at a time.
There are a few things that I want you guys to understand before you start to learn how to play by ear, so that it's easier for you. These are the few important things that you need to master before you start.
1. Feel The Music - Playing By Ear requires you to Play By Heart. Feel the Mood of the Music especially. It's not about how well you can play the piano or what kinda classical skills you have. My classical skill is almost baby's level in spite of the years of music training. Ask me to play a classical song with sheets in front of me, you'll laugh like there's no tomorrow. Feeling the Music is about how you deliver the music to your very own ears as well as others'. If you can feel the music well, you can even play extremely well with simple octave chords.
2. Learn your Basics - Fundamental knowledge is very important. For example, I don't know anything about guitar, including how to even hold it, can I play guitar by ear? No! Learn the basics first! You need to understand your notes well on the piano, then only you can start to make use of them.
3. Understand your Piano - It doesn't matter you're playing white or black key. When it comes to play by ear, they are all the same. However, like I've mentioned above. You need to know your basics, as in, know your notes well. Just play whatever sounds right to your ears. Take feedback positively.
If you want to know more about the fundamental techniques. Just refer to the previous postings that I've posted on the Tutorial Page. They'll be great help!
Anyway, I wish you all the Best!! Thank you for your support on YouTube. Please "Like" two of my Fan Pages below created by my Fans who turned into Good Friends. I hope I can be your friends too. Seriously!
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
Yo My Malaysian YouTubers! Check this guy out! His name is Ben Bradshaw. He teaches us Malaysians the widely used American Slang using our own language, Bahasa Malaysia. Isn't that cool!??! I think it's pretty sick (in a good way)! Please do check him out! and Subscribe! http://www.youtube.com/BenBradshaw1PS : Gigi Putih means White Teeth More tutorials coming up soon! Warmest Regards, Ray Mak
 The Investment with the Highest ROI is Financial Education Dear Visitors / YouTubers, As a Finance person, I look at the return on Investment for almost every business related or other important decisions that I make in life. As mentioned in my previous post, recommended by my friend's father, my friend Roger and I had taken a night out a couple weeks ago to attend an introductory session of Adam Khoo's Wealth Academy Investor Course. We signed up immediately. That was one of the most valuable decisions that I have made in life. As important as how I've started YouTube with you guys in heart. The short three-day course has changed my life in leveraging the way I look at Finance, Investments, and Business to a whole new level. Graduated with Honors in Finance and Operations Management from a very well known business school in the United States, I thought my Financial decisions are superior than average Joe. There was an investment game during the class and I've put myself into shame with my own greed. I was able to give others good advice during the trading sessions, but myself, I did not stick to my own advice because I thought I could simply outperform others by making great killings with my so-called 'trading skills'. In the end, I was only able to beat those who merely put their money in fixed deposits by a little. Fortunately, it was only a game. In real life, I'm rather conservative. Anyway, from this course, I've learnt how to properly manage my own finances, make decisions on investment based on available information, read financial statements in a very different way from what I've learnt from business schools, and most importantly, my MINDSET. In addition to that, Adam Khoo's partner Jack Wong, has also generously shared with us on how to study the market based on available news, trading, and its benefits, as well as hedging against losses with options and so much more! Jack Wong is also known as Greeksman (Which I believe using Greeks which provide a way to measure the sensitivity of an option's price to quantifiable factors), specializes in Trading Derivatives and Forex. He's also a very well known tax lawyers in Singapore and a Certified Accountant. Now who said Lawyers and Accountants can't Trade? If you know me in person you'll know that I'm naturally an optimistic person, but in the past couple months, I was not as lucky as there were many bad things happened to me all because of the decisions that I've made. I've lost my confidence and turned rather pessimistic, which do affect my mood the people around me. The amount of energy and enthusiasm of everyone in the course has helped bring back my old self. The Investment with the Highest ROI is Financial EducationHere are some links to Adam Khoo's website that I wish to share with you. I'm sharing this because I strongly believe that this course or perhaps similar courses like this will help change your life. http://www.adam-khoo.com/http://www.akltg.com/http://www.wealthacademyinvestor.com/I've you're living within the region of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Take Action! If you don't invest in yourself, no one will. Warmest Regards, Ray Mak
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