Da Capo 2009

Back to the beginning again, how nostalgic. 1 year ago, I was new to NUSWS and performing for the last with Mr Tan on the very stage (fine, it was on the opposite side). But now back there, same concert series, different (slightly) people and different, but equally awesome, conductor.

Great bunch of sectionmates as usual, and kudos to all the year 1s! Weilian, huikoon, xueqi, chenghuat, chuanxin, xiuyu, kheenguen, yingrui, zhengyi, ian, yaju, lisu, jinxun, francis, huili, haoyi, marie, enghong. So many birthday celebrations, colour/clothing coordination (or not), sectionals, crapping sessions, photo-taking together.

This was not as tiring as InTempo, but still challenging enough to make me feel pretty tired, though not completely drained.

Curtain Up: Pretty good considering the drills we had for it. Was my least favourite piece initially but rapidly grew to become top favourite. heheh
Yamato: Was totally shiok. I think it was definitely the best we have played.
Phantom of the Opera: Sounded pretty good, though certain tunings could have been better. But it was definitely better than beautiful sunday’s rendition. And the harp solo was BLISS (love my seat next to her….)
Symphonic Dances: Most-rehearsed piece. But was worth it I suppose. We didn’t do everything that we were told to, but it sounded decent enough. I still prefer the orchestral version because the strings do a better job with the different textures I suppose.
An American in Paris: Played this since May, so I guess it was good. Staccatos weren’t perfect, but if fanella and ji go away thinking about french cafes and parisan men, I think we succeeded. haha
In the Miller Mood: I really hated this piece initially, cos I can’t swing. But now, it’s really easy once you get the groove. And it’s a real crowd-pleaser. haha
Princess Mononoke: All-time favourite band piece. We did do it justice and I think tuning was much better than during certain other times. So at least I can watch another Hayao Miyazaki film without feeling guilty.
Tintin: Sounded nice! And we didn’t screw up too many parts!
Tsubasa O Kudasai: Haha the voices were quite convincing according to the two choristers so I suppose the sectionals on them weren’t wasted! haha.
Hootenanny: The gay piece according to Emily. Well, it was uncontrolled, but if the audience liked it, who cares!
76 trombones: Embochures totally gone by then, but again, its encore so heck lah! haha

Thought it was a pretty good concert overall.

Though next time I need to make sure my concert goodies are more presentable. Biscotti was not quite thin enough, so erm paiseh. Next time when I can slice thinner and get a more consistent texture, then I’ll bring some over to the kukumalus ok? haha. Just need to reduce baking powder and practice slicing thinner.

And thanks to all who came! My two dear kukumalus, Lynette (yes, your first concert, but glad its mine and u enjoyed it!!), Sophia (yay!), Jingying, Tengwen, Xianwei etc etc. The concert wouldn’t have been as good without the audience!

Till InTempo!

The Butterfly Lovers

After a whole weekend of reading 2 chapters of the Oxford History of Islam and becoming almost totally zombified, went for the Mus’Art’s concert on Sunday evening, and luckily I did so. Fine, didn’t have good companions apart from my dad who kept criticizing the contemporary stuff they were playing till  I just gave up and let him continue rambling to himself. But still, I think listening to a concert helps me to rmb things that are better in life than itself presently.

The Elgin Sound
Quite short really. But it was nice as an opening piece, and had some interesting layers of music coming together.

Atmospheres
Easily my favourite piece of the night and my dad’s worse piece. Had some very intricate harmonies throughout and the holding chords were tough to tune I felt. Could have been better, but now I see why it’s the test piece for WMC. Indeed very challenging in terms of musicality and techniques (especially listening and tuning).

The Butterfly Lovers: For Erhu and Wind Band
Choice piece for WMC that was wonderfully rendered I felt. Much better than choice piece anyhow. Goose-pimple raising and I’m quite pleasantly surprised that the erhu felt natural with the wind band. I guess perhaps cos she didn’t really play tgt with them, so not much worry of being drowned out (although my dad saw it as Western inaptness of using the erhu without giving her substantial melodies). But the melancholy touch of the shrieks and lamentations of the erhu went well with the progression of the piece.

Rhapsody for Euphonium and Concert band
What can I say? Great soloist with good projection. And the acoustics of VCH totally worked to bring out the solo.

Arirang: A traditional Korean folksong
Well, new arrangement, that would have been better minus the dramatic story. I liked the polyphonic part where bits and pieces were stitched tgt. Can’t help but compare this with the classic Variations on a Korean folksong in which case I would say the latter was more distinct in playing around with the tune. Though this version managed to fuse the different variation better… hmmz…

A Story of Stars
Interesting programme music, though I don’t quite get the philosophic tiger part. Haha

The Year of the Dragon
Great display of the technical virtuosity of band and being the last piece, they gave it their all!

I felt that the guest conductor Bram Versteegen was a little drama with his conducting. HUGE hand actions, which I felt a little distracting. Maybe cos he’s tall and big, but could have done with lesser.

All the best to Mus’Art for WMC later this year!!

InTempo 09

WOOT!

Ok, this week has been a really hectic one. From preparation for HY2241 debate and the actual one on Thurs (which Group 2 incidentally…WON!), to the consecutive two days of 8am class, to the Humour Presentation on Wed morning which I think I screwed up big time but who cares, to the 10am-11pm Thursday to InTempo 2009 tonight.

It has been really really great working with this bunch of clarinet folks, even though there are so many of them, here goes: Ian, ChuanXin, Hui Koon, Patrick, Cheng Huat, Xiu Yu, Ruixiang, Khee Nguen, Xueqi, Benjamin, Huili, Jinxun, Cloud, Francis, Xianwei, Christy, Julia, Marie, Wilson, Zixian, Teng Wen, Joel. InTempo 09 is one of the more taxing repertoire that I have played, even the 75-min long symphony by Derek Bourgeois wasn’t that taxing on my tongue and lips I felt. It wasn’t perfect, but that’s what makes it memorable I guess.

UCC is quite big backstage and has a really high ceiling but very echo-y. Worst than VCH I felt. But I kinda liked the fact that it had dressing rooms (something I don’t get in VCH) and handicapped toilets (I don’t get at SCH). And at least I hear myself, unlike at RP’s TRCC. Sadly I lost my leather cap there…I traced all my steps but I just don’t find it anywhere. Sobs. I will have to try to see if they sell just the cap and not the ligature.

Nevertheless, here’s a breakdown of what I felt about tonight’s repertoire:

Chorale and Shaker Dance: haha, started with this, as two years and two months ago in SCH where I ended my playing till after the A levels…It was all right I guess, no wrong entries or anything, but could have had better tuning

Puszta: I liked this piece, really. But sadly I felt it was the worst-played piece. Wrong entrances (cos of failure to see the repeat signs and 2nd time house) that marred it. Even sundari could tell we played extra notes. Sad… But last mvt was nice!

Hymn to the Infinite Sky: Shall be perfectly honest here; I gabra-ed all the running notes. haha. But I think it had a lot of heart and soul. Though tuning and volume sometimes a little loud.

Vesuvius: Focus really made a great difference! It was not as bad as it sounded at times at CFA and we all came in and ended together. The light effects were distracting sometimes, but I think it awed the audience, which is the entire goal right? haha!

Amazonia: Haha. Yeah, I know Ashley said he thinks their batch played it better. GWH mah, of course. But I think we gave it our best shot and it was nice. Compared with the 1st time we sounded when we played it, I think Amazonia tonight sounded more like the rainforests in South America.

Pinocchio: My aunt commented that Ian looked like Pinocchio, but never mind. haha. At least Christy and my triplets were in time now. haha. Had to stretch my neck to see beyond jinxun’s head to see Ian’s conducting. Programme music that sounded good.

Fantasy Variations: Once again, played it 2yrs+2mths ago. But this time felt a little more confident (numbers have a certain correlation I guess) and yep, as what jy said, the clarinet soli was much faster. I think it could have been better, but I’m happy. Teng Wen’s elephant contra-alto solo was really solid!!! Only sad part was someone clapped (and inspired half the audience to) in the middle. Singaporean audiences… ARGH.

Light Calvary Overture: The major tonguing exercise. SUPERBLY tiring. But I think we pulled it off great. We conquered the 3 flats soldiers-reminiscing-part!!! haha. And the tonguings were not bad I felt. At least we didn’t all breathe at the same spot.

Encore (Instant Concert): Again, played it as encore 2yrs+2mths ago. But damn shiok man. I think all dynamics and control went out of the window. Haha. After the tonguing drills of light calvary, it was like chiong ah! haha. Still felt Joe’s “ugh” at etude had more gusto. haha.

Here I end InTempo 09. Looking forward to Beautiful Sunday and DaCapo 09. Before that, I’ll have to figure out how to chiong my endless essays and mug for exams. Hmm…

*edit*

Just to add on, since I first posted it late ard 11pm, so my brain was both too high on the concert and too slow to think through the post.

Thanks to the leaving exco who handled everything well, from the beautiful posters to the musical aspects and to the ticketing. I tried my best to sell 12 tickets, but obviously my best was not good enough. Nevertheless, we shall get out of UCC someday to esplanade!

Thanks to Prof Ho, for making this concert very very special with songs that are technically demanding but enjoyable to the audience I felt. And of course his wit and humour.

Thanks to Percussion section who let me crash in their dressing room since clarinet section’s was downstairs. Had loads of amusement over the men’s obsession with suits. haha.

Once again, Clarinet section rocks! haha. I think we are easily the biggest section in the entire band (any surprises with 23 of us?) haha. So it was really nice to get so many food (marie, huilin+ian, tengwen+xianwei) and to get the nametag from huikoon. To quote from julia, it’s like back to pri sch!! I mean the name tag was just cool. Like pri sch monitress tag and sec sch’s name tag. haha. Just simply hilarious.

Thanks to all those who came to support me. My mum, my aunt, my cousin, JingYing and friend (Angela?Angeline? paiseh, didn’t quite catch it. Was great catching up with you! Must meet up for lunch during the long hols), Ji Hyun and Karin (haha, thanks for the chocs and giraffe. And Karin, you’re great too!), Tze Ning (I really didn’t expect the flower, but thanks for coming!),  Ray Chuan and Navin (may the two of you get what you want for uni application. NUS Med ain’t that bad either. Maybe I’ll get to see you do your MBBS. Promise I’ll help you out if I’m your assigned patient. haha. And perhaps philo ain’t good as a major, but it’d always be there as an interest/hobby ), Huang Yun and friend (so sorry I didn’t get to see you and find out how you felt about the concert. Another time then! But thanks for coming!!! I’m really very happy!). Plus all the other seniors I saw around, Ashley (thanks for the chocs), Craig, and many more that I bumped into. Hopefully they join band next sem!

And before I drifted off to sleep (it was quite difficult when you’re feeling so high), I was thinking of gatherings I needed to organise when the hols hit.

1. Sec sch friends including lynette seet, rachel, sze and the kukumalus.
2. Cyberart groupmates since Leonard went to Haeboks instead of UCC last night and then texted me to ask if I got other gd makan place to recommend for our next outing.
3. Let’s have a NJC Quadri-generational Clarinet Section Gathering! On or not Jingying? Ashley can settle our seniors then our generation very small, quite easy, and can ask the juniors to get their juniors. Haha.
4. UWC writing mod Korean food outing at Haebok (wah, this one has been postponed so many times that I really hope I can call them all back during the hols)
5. Evolution mod Korean food @Haeboks again (this time with lynette (again), lynne, dawn (again) and whoever else who wants to come)

Sigh. So many plans, but better do my essay before I have no plans left at all lah. Karbish.

Oh yeah, and one good thing is that I found my cap already! It was trapped in the netting under my wheelchair. But I think it was too dark backstage ytd for me to notice it despite me looking down obscenely to try to figure out if there was anything under my butt. haha.

I’m Leaving On a Jet Plane…

Ok lah, its a Boeing 747. haha.

Yep, I’m on my first trip since 10. Believe or not.

Have taken so many precautions that I think the people at the airport are going to be wondering why the heck I’m bring the whole leg backslap. *Fervently touches wood*

Will be buying back souvenirs for all you people reading here (zero?) haha. To end off, here’s a video of a marching band version of wicked! Sounds quite nice! Now, if only they had a nicer video quality so I can make out the formations… I always found marching bands really amazin (cos I don’t march) because they can play without having someone there to conduct them! I mean what an amazing sense of pulse and coordination they must attain!

Kennesaw Mountain Marching Band – Wicked – Atlanta BOA Performance

Updates

Went for the LA Phil closing concert of the Sun Festival. It was quite good, and the pianist was absolutely breathtaking. Though Tschaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is a  little overplayed in my opinion, it was nevertheless very enjoyable and it helped me relax a little. Yefim Bronfman displayed great technique without being overly dramatic like some others I have seen. Firebird was a little too heavy for a 2nd-half piece but it did display the virtuostic talents of the players. Esa-Pekka Salonen’s animated conducting skills brought the concert to a fulfilling end, finishing the concert and the Festival with a lovely flourish. But I think I was mentally drained so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have if I weren’t grappling with 3 essays. heheh.

Life’s been quite fun and varied.

Volunteering at reception at some AWWA caregivers event, rushing in tgt to grab food, crapping with suk mun and valerie, sitting at the reception counter and being asked by tourists who can’t speak english Where is chomp chomp, and wedding guests Is this the wedding? (Hello, do ppl at the counters of weddings wear an oversized AWWA T-shirt and jeans?)

Rushing out essays after essays. Which is why I kind of surprised myself when I could come up with intellectual sounding GP answers when my junior asked me about last year’s questions. Why couldn’t I come up with them when I was doing it??? Never mind. The most memorable essay in this semester has to be the Waiting For the Barbarians Lit essay, because I did it solely on the basis that since everyone else is doing Tempest. But it’s really crappy and I have to hand it in by 12pm tmr and I don’t feel like doing a major revamp. It could have very well been a history/GP essay, but I have to quote from the weird text so I can’t write as I wish. Oh well. I’m feeling a little barbaric at this point of time, if one could only define what barbaric is.

I kind of miss band and having something else in my life other than school work. Sigh.