“Good morning children,” Mr. Green said merrily to his class as he whooshed through the classroom door to teach his group of enthusiastic and bright-eyed group of twelve year olds.
“Good morning Mr. Green,” the school children all greeted back in unison, a chorus of measured voices honed by years of practice dating back since their preschool days.
“Today we’re going to learn simple maths,” Mr. Green enthused, his voice sounding slightly delirious. But then again, was it really a person that was delirious? After all, history is demonstrative that one single thing can be viewed in a number of different ways. For example, is a person a dictator or a liberator; hero or terrorist; social climber or just good at networking?
With an elegant swoosh of his right arm, Mr. Green picked up his wooden chalk-stick. The students giggled as the two-and-a-half-inch piece of chalk danced precariously on the end of the wooden chalk-stick, ready to fall off at any given moment should it choose to take advantage of an opportune moment to make its escape from its fate of scratching at the blackboard for a very long time.
“We’ve been having trouble grasping basic concepts lately, so after much consultation with esteemed innovators of alternative educative methodologies and ideologies, I have decided to create a hypothetical for yourselves to ponder, to make learning more relevant and thus more easily identifiable and understandable to yourself,” Mr. Green explained in his professorial tone. The students all nodded eagerly, waiting with anticipation to see what Mr. Green would say or do next. Mr. Greene was famously unpredictable and his classroom was renowned for his innovative and adventurous teaching methods.
With an exciting flourish of his swishy left arm, Mr. Green created an atmosphere of delectable mystery and intrigue. Lowering his voice to a grumbling baritone, he challenged the class, “What happens, when you combine the electronic talents of a beat-maker with the songwriting of a singer who isn’t afraid to sing like a girl?”
The children, although precocious, chose not to answer for despite their young age, they knew that this was not a real question but rather, a hypothetical question; a statement that is posed as a question but is one which the giver does not expect a response for the answer is so obvious that it goes without saying.
“You get sSalvia. An unconventional band that isn’t a real band in the conventional sense, but rather a collaboration between two minds with complementary abilities. Totally kick-ass.”
As the classroom waited with bated breath for an explanation, Mr. Green continued, “After months of working together, the members that comprise sSalvia have written many songs. The best five were chosen to become what would be then known as their first EP; a collection of five songs.”
“But Mr. Green,” Connie Cooper interjected, her right arm waving at impossible speeds through the air. With an encouraging nod from Mr. Green, Constantine Cooper continued, “After they have created these five songs, what happens next?”
“Excellent question Connie,” Mr. Green beamed for he was as sure as sure is himself of the pride he had for his students, the bright minds and leaders of tomorrow. “Does anyone here know the answer to Connie Cooper’s question?”
Before anyone else could answer, Mr. Greene continued, “After the team created their EP, what they needed to do next was to get their final mixes mastered. To make it more easily understood, mastering is the process music undergoes to make it sound even better. It’s like adding the final layer of polish to a wooden oak cabinet to make it gleam.”
Collectively, the class ooahed and aahed.
Pleased with the day’s progress and the obvious understanding that the bright students of class 5A displayed, Mr. Green pulled out a collection of Polaroids that he had taken that day of the mastering process. “Gather round children as I have a treat for you all. Here with me are the photos of the mastering process.”
With delighted squeaks and squeals, the entire class jumped out of their industry-approved, wooden seats and hurriedly gathered around Mr. Green’s desk. Mr. Green grinned in amusement for he usually only had one or two students at his desk at any given time, but this was a historical moment.
And this is what the children of classroom 5A saw:















The design for the booklet is complete now! 12 pages of individually created artworks for all you guys to peruse and enjoy — each page a secret hidden message and meaning. I feel like Superman.
The first draft of the final track lists to be included in to yet-to-be-titled album are as follows:



Summer is Officially Here!
Well unofficially here as I tend to group together springtime and summertime. Today was the first real day where I woke up (in new bedsheets heck yes!) and the sun was shining directly on my face. It was one of those rare moments where everything came together perfectly and I felt better knowing that I didn’t need to brush my hair as it doesn’t need it anymore given how short it is now.
The actual point of this update is that as this year winds down to a close and 2008 is just around the corner, there’s a lot of exciting new projects that are coming up, which I am involved in. The album will be officially finished after a long two-year recording process, and then I’ll be traveling, starting my second album, working with a few different organizations related to the album and public media, starting my very own talk show and organizing a few different off-shoot projects to keep myself busy and out of trouble. They certainly do call spring the season of new opportunities and sunshine so everyone hold your seats because I’m shifting from fourth to fifth gear!!
A quick apology to all those who left comments, I try to respond to them all everyday but lately there’s been a big rush of comments that I haven’t been able to keep up by myself. No matter as I sat down today and replied to each and everyone of the comments. Keep leaving them; I love reading and responding to your comments!
Finally as exams start in the next week for a lot of us (if they haven’t started already), I wish you all the best of luck. Keep hard at it and then enjoy the looooong holidays we all get after a long academic year (or half year for you guys who start your year in June/July).
Keep on truckin’!