Positif Minda

Anak saya sudah mula berjinak-jinak dengan gitar. Umurnya sekarang 9 tahun. Saya dulu umur 15 tahun baru pegang gitar. Saya seronok juga jika ada anak-anak yang akan ikut jejak saya untuk jadi pemuzik, cuma jangan jadi pemuzik folk macam saya sudahlah..ha ha..

Saya rasa anak saya ni, kalau saya ajar dia betul-betul, dia boleh pergi jauh sebab salah satunya dia cepat faham apa yang diajar, cuma jangan sekerat jalan sudahlah. Apapun saya tak kisahlah sangat. Ibunya akan tekankan kepada pelajaran, itu saya fahamlah. Cumanya ‘muzik’ juga boleh kita jadikan sebagai satu kerjaya juga. Kita perlu berfikiran terbuka dalam hal ini, sebab kita sedang berada di abad ke-21. Kita bukan lagi di zaman nenek moyang kita yang terlalu bergantung kepada ‘gomen’ dan duit pencen. Hari ini suasana sudah berubah, musim pun berubah.

Dalam hal ini saya lebih salute kepada bangsa Cina khususnya. Kisahnya ada saya ceritakan dulu, yakni rakan sekolah saya berbangsa Cina. Saya dalam kelas 3A3, dia dalam kelas 3A9. Maknanya dari segi akademik memang gelaplah masa depan dia kalau kita fikir dari segi logiknya. Saya pun tak rapatlah dengan rakan Cina saya ni, cuma saya suka perhatikan cara dia menangani hidup. Balik saja dari sekolah dia akan bekerja sebagai pembantu foreman di bengkel motosikal. Itulah yang dilakukannya setiap hari. Saya pula habis sekolah banyak aktiviti sekolahlah, bersukan dan aktiviti buang masa pun ada juga.

Apabila keputusan SRP diumumkan, saya lulus tapi rakan sekolah saya yang berbangsa Cina ni tadi gagal. Dia pun sudah tahu dia tak akan berjaya di dalam pelajarannya. Dia terus bekerja sepenuh masa di bengkel motosikal.

2 tahun berlalu saya masih bersekolah sepertimana biasalah. Rakan sekolah saya yang berbangsa Cina ni tadi sudahpun membuka bengkel motornya sendiri dan sudah berkereta besar.

Dari situ saya mula berfikir bukan dengan kepandaian akademik saja kita boleh berjaya dalam hidup. Apa juga kerja, jika kita usahakan dengan ikhlas insyaallah akan ada jalannya di situ.

Apabila saya bekerja di Yamaha Music pun banyak contoh yang kita boleh jadikan rujukan di situ. 95% yang belajar musik di Yamaha music school adalah berbangsa Cina. Mereka belajar dari umur 5 tahun. Salah satu sebabnya mereka mampu membelanjakan sejumlah wang untuk kos pembelajaran musik anak-anak mereka. Sehinggalah sampai di satu level dan jika mereka lulus dalam grade tertentu, pelajar-pelajar yang lulus ni tadi akan di ambil sebagai tenaga pengajar di Yamaha Musik. Maknanya dari situ pelaburan mereka bukanlah sesuatu yang merugikan. Dan gaji sebaga pengajar di Yamaha Musik juga boleh mencecah ke 5k.

Itulah, dalam gitar contohnya. Jika kita belajar secara formal di Yamaha Musik, kita akan menduduki peperiksaan untuk dinaikkan grade pembelajaran kita. Kalau di Yamaha, gradenya bermula dari 11 atau 12. Pencapaiannya dari atas ke bawah. Maknanya kalau kita boleh lulus sampai grade 6, kita sudah layak menjadi tenaga pengajar di Yamaha Musik. Pun ada masa depan juga.

Jadi nasihat saya jika anak-anak kita berbakat dalam apa juga bidang tak kiralah muzik atau bidang lain sekalipun, berikanlah dorongan dan semangat untuk mereka. Insyaallah akan ada jalannya di situ.

Percayalah, di zaman ini kreativiti dan pengalaman itu lebih bernilai dari sekeping sijil. Semasa saya busking di KL Sentral seorang pemuda umur awal 20an pernah mendekati saya bertanyakan untuk berapa lama kita boleh pandai dalam bermain gitar. Katanya dia nak jadi macam saya, menjadi street musician. Dia lulusan engineering dari institut pengajian tinggi. Malangnya masih mencari-cari peluang pekerjaan. Semasa dia datang berjumpa saya katanya dia baru selesai satu sesi temuduga untuk jawatan sebagai ‘pengawal keselamatan’.

Bagi saya senang saja, kalau ada anak-anak saya yang mahu jadi pemuzik, mereka perlu berusaha ke arah itu dan saya akan bagi sokongan sampai mereka berjaya. Dalam masa yang sama akademik janganlah kita tinggalkan pulak. Dalam bab itu saya tahu isteri saya lebih tegas dari saya.,ha ha ha. Apapun dia mahu anak-anaknya berjaya di dalam pelajaran.

Kita perlu berfikiran terbuka dalam banyak hal yang melibatkan hiduo kita hari ini. Yang saya semakin faham setiap ibubapa itu akan berhabisan duit untuk sekolah anak-anak mereka demi masa depan yang cemerlang. Belanja untuk persekolahan anak-anak semakin mahal dan ianya bisnes yang sangat menguntungkan gomen sebenarnya. Untuk satu subjek contohnya ada 3-4 jenis buku latihan yang perlu kita sediakan. Itu baru satu subjek. Peralatan sekolah juga semakin mahal. Semuanya mahal-mahal belaka. Semakin naik kelas, semakin naiklah kosnya dan kitapun semakin pening kepalalah fikir macamana nak cari duit sebab duit bukannya datang dari langit.

Hakikatnya bukan semua kita akan menjadi doktor, engineer atau lawyer mahupun akauntan. Ada yang menjadi polis, askar, tukang kebun, peon, pemuzik, penyanyi, pelukis, perompak, pencuri dan macam-macam lagilah. Bukankah itu adalah kepelbagaian watak kita di dunia ini?

Let it grow- Clapton

Standing at the crossroads
trying to read the signs
To tell me which way I should
go to find the answer
And all the time I know

Plant your love and let it grow.

Let it grow
let it grow

Let it blossom
let it flow

In the sun
the rain
the snow

Love is lovely
let it grow.

Looking for a reason
to check out of my mind

Playing hard to get a
friend that I can count on

When there’s nothing left to show

Plant yout love and let it grow.

Let it grow
let it grow

Let it blossom
let it flow

In the sun
the rain
the snow

Love is lovely
let it grow.

This video chronicles an intensely creative and difficult time in the life of Eric Clapton, one of the most influential guitarists in history. By 1969 Eric was tired of being a superstar, and decided to step into the background for a time, touring as a sideman with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends.
Clapton became close friends with Delaney Bramlett, who encouraged him in his singing and writing. Using the Bramletts’ backing group and an all-star cast of session players (including Leon Russell and Stephen Stills), Clapton recorded his first solo album during two brief tour hiatuses, fittingly named Eric Clapton. Delaney Bramlett co-wrote six of the songs with Clapton, and Bonnie Bramlett co-wrote “Let It Rain”. Clapton went with Delaney and Bonnie from the stage to the studio with the Dominos to record George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass in spring 1970. During this busy period, Clapton also recorded with other artists including Dr. John, Leon Russell, Plastic Ono Band, Billy Preston and Ringo Starr.
Taking over Delaney & Bonnie’s rhythm section—Bobby Whitlock (keyboards, vocals), Carl Radle (bass) and Jim Gordon (drums), Clapton formed a new band which was intended to counteract the “star” cult that had grown up around him and show that he could be a member of an ensemble. The band was called “Eric Clapton and Friends” at first, and the name “Derek and the Dominos” was an accident, which occurred when the band’s provisional name of “Eric and the Dynamos” was misread.
Clapton’s close friendship with George Harrison had brought him into contact with Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd, with whom he became deeply infatuated. When she spurned his advances, Clapton’s unrequited affections prompted most of the material for the Dominos’ album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.
Working at Criteria Studios in Miami with Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd, the band began recording. Dowd—who was also producing the Allmans—invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami. The two guitarists met first on-stage, then played all night in the studio and became friends.The album was heavily blues-influenced and featured a combination of the twin guitars of Allman and Clapton, with Allman’s incendiary slide-guitar a key ingredient of the sound. Many critics would later notice that Clapton played best when in a band composed of dual guitars; working with another guitarist kept him from getting “sloppy and lazy and this was undeniably the case with Duane Allman.” It showcased some of Clapton’s strongest material to date, as well as arguably some of his best guitar playing.
Tragedy dogged the group throughout its brief career. During the sessions, Clapton was devastated by news of the death of Jimi Hendrix; eight days previously the band had cut a blistering version of “Little Wing” as a tribute to him which was added to the album. On 17 September 1970, one day before Hendrix’s death, Clapton had purchased a left-handed Stratocaster that he had planned to give to Hendrix as a birthday gift. Adding to Clapton’s woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm reviews upon release. The shaken group undertook a U.S. tour without Allman, who had returned to the Allman Brothers Band. Despite Clapton’s later admission that the tour took place amidst a veritable blizzard of drugs and alcohol, it resulted in surprisingly strong live shows. Then Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident on October 29, 1971.
Clapton’s career successes in the 1970s were in stark contrast to his personal life, which was troubled by romantic longings and drug and alcohol addiction. In addition to his (temporarily) unrequited and intense attraction to Pattie Boyd, he withdrew from recording and touring to isolation in his Surrey, England residence. There he nursed his heroin addiction, resulting in a career hiatus interrupted only by the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971 (where he passed out on stage, was revived, and continued the show). In January 1973, The Who’s Pete Townshend organised a comeback concert for Clapton at London’s Rainbow Theatre aptly titled the “Rainbow Concert” to help Clapton kick his addiction.
In 1974, now partnered with Pattie (they would not actually marry until 1979) and no longer using heroin (although starting to drink heavily), Clapton put together a more low-key touring band that included Radle, Miami guitarist George Terry, keyboardist Dick Sims, drummer Jamie Oldaker and vocalists Yvonne Elliman and Marcy Levy. With this band Clapton recorded 461 Ocean Boulevard, an album with an emphasis on more compact songs and fewer guitar solos; the cover-version of “I Shot The Sheriff” was Clapton’s first #1 hit and was important in bringing reggae and the music of Bob Marley to a wider audience. The excellent “Let It Grow” was widely compared to “Stairway To Heaven”, with Clapton later saying he had been inspired by it (or borrowed from it)…