Monday, May 17, 2010
Post mortem :)
Lol, i don't think that we will need to post mortem for Atempo XX seeing how successful it was. Anyway,here will be my version of what happened on that day,12th May itself.
Well,even though we get to skip all our lessons that day, morning assembly was compulsory for all of us:( which meant that we were unable to come to school half an hour later :(( However, on hindsight, this was actually quite a good move as it would have meant that everyone will be on time for our final rehearsal at 830.
Well,our final rehearsal actually breezed past us pretty quickly and we just did a run-through for most songs. Hence, Mr Oura released us pretty early for lunch, at around 1030, which is about an entire hour earlier than what we have expected. S0,we used the extra time to get a full band picture, with Patrick as our photographer.
Anyways,the guys in my batch then went to camwhore with Jerald's camera. Unsurprisingly, Daniel was the main star/attraction/centre in every picture!Anyway,we had a pretty quick lunch,then went to help the percussion move their instruments down to the foyer where the "lorry with driver" lorry was there to load them on. In between,i received my section gift from my juniors. It turned out to be this inflatable large sword which was personalised with their own handwriting. Words can't describe the gratitude that I felt at that time. They also bought me a box of Merci chocolates. So Sweet!!
And so, we made our way to VCH. It was there where disaster struck as we realised that the power cable for the electric piano was left in the RI bandroom. So James took a cab back to retrieve it, before more troubles start. So we began our dress rehearsal. Hmm,nothing much to comment on really as it was pretty smooth. And so, our final practice session ended and we break for dinner.
I must say,after having experienced the dinner that Chamber, as well as the dinner for Limelight last year, provided for us, the dinner this time seemed to be a marked improvement! So kudos to Weiqi and Huijun for finding such a good vendor:) So after dinner, we took more pictures, including bimbo section pictures and a 1/3 batch picture. Perhaps my greatest regret that night was that we did not manage to take a batch picture together :(
And so the concert started,exactly at 7:30 pm. My last concert for RJCSB. (Below will be some of my comments on our pieces, and as always, they might be abit different from how others felt about them)
Army of the Nile:
It was actually one of my least favourite pieces of the repetoire that evening as i did not have the original score with me. To make matters worse, the conductor's score was a condensed one, meaning that i have no idea what my exact notes were. So i have to feel my way through this piece by sheer memory and luck and hope that my 5C1 note is actually correct. On the whole however,i felt that this piece was done rather decently and was a pretty good opener for the concert.
Nightflight to Paris
Hmm, this was actually quite a fun piece for me, as the notes were pretty simple and the rhythm was rather basic. The can-can part is actually pretty fun for the performers (i think), but you can probably feel the exasperation and boredom of the audience towards the end as the main melody was repeated 4 times. Pretty tiring piece though, but i think that the band has managed to perform this piece pretty well.
Asuka
The piece where the 'u' is supposed to be silent when pronouncing the name of the song. This was actually the piece where the band had some problems with earlier on, e.g. the coordination of the different instruments earlier on, the trombone soli just before the end of the second music et cetera. Well, we did manage to play it pretty nicely on the concert day itself so i will say that its a job well done!
Cinq Preludes
Ahhhh, a pretty nice piece by Debussy. Well, not everyone can appreciate this piece, obviously, and i will think that a significant portion of the audience would have fallen asleep during this piece. Technically, this was not the most difficult piece of our repetoire, but it was certainly the most challenging in terms of musicality. Like what Mr Oura said, the band has to give its full concentration to this piece throughout the entire music in order to play it well. While I felt that we played this piece better during our rehearsals than during the concert, it was still a pretty commendable effort by the band.
Northern Motherland - A Tribute to All Living Things
While it was a last-minute introduction to our repetoire, replacing Slavia, as one of our main pieces, nobody in the band was complaining about it XD. I think that the band immediately took to when we were given the scores, partially because the melodies were pretty heart-warming and nice. My only grouch about this piece was that the whole band was practically blasting their way through the piece, something that I am sure we need to improve on. Otherwise, this was probably our best piece of the concert :)
Boys of Wexford
HMM, okay, i shall admit that i didnt really practise this piece much with my section, given that there are other more important parts that need immediate attention. But i do think that the section has managed to play this piece quite decently, and so has the band. Definitely not the best way we have played it, but it wasn't too bad.
Warabe-uta fantasy
Heh, possibly one of my most, if not the most, feared pieces throughout the concert. The solo wasn't a classical one, meaning that it doesnt really require one to play it loudly, or with much virtuoso (be it slowly with expression or with quickness to show of your slide skills), but perhaps thats why it is SO hard to get it! Up till today, i still have no idea how it is supposed to be played. And my poor (?) tuning didn't really help smoothe my nerves leading up to the concert. But i thought i managed to play it quite well, not really my best effort though, and yeahh, i was pretty pleased with it. I thought that the whole band did pretty okay with this piece too, though dynamics could be more controlled. Ah well.
Swing low sweet chariot
Heh, it's daniel's piece! I thought that this piece, together with Arabesque and Cinq Preludes, really showcased Daniel as he was at the forefront of these pieces. What made this piece special was that we played UNDER him, and not WITH him. Okay, there were some screw-ups at the start, but it was a sign of strength and maturity that we managed to get the song back on track and not just fall apart, which was pretty possible. Weiqi played her solo well and perhaps that gave confidence to us to play this song well too!
Arabesque
Daniel showcase part 3! Hmm, his solo was fantastic, to say the least. But perhaps we could have played this piece with more finesse rather than just blasting our way through (given that we have like 3 more pieces left to go). The blasting and brassy sound just dunt seem to go well with this piece,hmm.
Joh Hisashi
The first part of this song is REALLY VERY VERY CUTE <3.>
Samba Express
PENULTIMATE PIECE! And i think we managed to do it really well. Okay, im not talking about the technical parts and whatnot, but more about the ability to make the audience high and cheerful! And yes, we managed to do it really well. No complaints whatsoever with this piece, though Quan Hui might probably say that it is too loud for his likeing :) not surprising though.
Takarajima
If there's ever one piece i might miss playing with RJCSB, it's likely to be takarajima. It has become sort of like a staple for every Atempo and im sure it will continue to be, just like Army of the Nile which will soon become a staple. Mr Oura managed to get the audience to become EVEN more high, if thats possible, and it was a really wonderful atmosphere. Dunt even think i have heard or been part of an audience that is SOOO loud. But its nice(:
David said 6:07 PM<3
Monday, May 10, 2010
A Tempo XX
Okay, so atempo XX will be happening in 2 days time and, after 2 hours on that day, it will be all over. Atempo XX will probably be the last time all the J2s will be playing together, at least till after our A levels. But even then, not all of us will join Rwinds,so yeah, i guess that it is probably true that this will be the last time i am playing with rjcsb'10. Of course, this might very well be the last time i will be playing with rjcsb'11 too (barring some miracle that i may play for SIBF), but the feelings are just not there.
What do i have to say of my batch? There are some whom i have known for the past 6 years, others whom i have only known for the past 2 years; there are some whom i have spoken to alot of times, others whom i have perhaps spoken to less than 5 times. Perhaps benni is right, our batch just isn't as bonded as the batch of rjcsb'11. Is it because we did not go through Play! like the J1s did? Or is it because we have barricaded ourselves in our own comfort zone, refusing to step out to know new people, people from other sections, people from other schools? Perhaps for some of us, these 2 years are seen as a waste of time, where we view each practice with apprehension and not with joy and anticipation. No matter what, these 2 years have perhaps passed pretty quickly and here we are now, with our last concert in 2 days, knowing jolly well that after wednesday, we may never meet again, may never play together again. What i do hope is that we will not just view this concert as just another concert that we have performed for the past 6 years. This is definitely a special concert, held in a special concert hall. While VCH may not have the splendor or glamour of Esplanade, it is where most of us have had our very first major concert. It is where tears are shed, hugs are made, joyous moments are remembered, but most importantly, where beautiful music is played. For us, this is OUR concert, the one which will define our time in RJCSB, and possibly our times in RI/RGS. So i do hope that we will be able to enjoy it as much as possible and remember this for this will be our moment for evermore.
What do i have to say to my juniors?All i want to say is that you guys have proven yourselves to be a capable and bonded batch, as seen from your great success in Play'10! So i do hope that you guys can be inspired from this concert,your very 1st major concert with RJCSB, to create more great music with Mr Oura and with RJCSB, and hopefully, make SYF'11 a joyous and memorable event in your lives. So, Atempo XX is coming. What you want out of it will be what you get out of it
David said 6:22 PM<3
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Atempo XX
6 days, lets go:)
David said 4:37 PM<3