MusICian

YES. i’m now officially a graduate from NUS!! just recieved my results for the semester, for my remaining 3 modules; not too bad, considering i’ve spent most of my time teaching instead of learning. so NUS is finally over for me, and i can now proudly declare that i have a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and Social Science, Majoring in English Language! heehee.

and i would really like to thank a few of my friends who made this otherwise gruelling road way easier for me: Claudia, for your help throughout almost all my semesters, Carmen, for helping me pull through that final and arguably toughest semester for me (i thought i’d fail), Mandy for working out problems together in the earlier stages where i was rather lost, Phoebe for the readings for XD 2201, Cloud and Zong Geng for always helping me submit stuff! haha. thank you all, and i wish that you guys will enjoy your graduation too

so… what’s next?

i’m continuing my career in band directing, while at the same time, i’ll be looking at a part time job (probably in a school, in the mornings) that involves the field of my study. so probably, i’d be an English teacher somewhere, and i’ll still be teaching band somewhere. haha. talking about band teaching…

the sec 4s from NCWO just played their last official performance with us yesterday. their commitment with NCWO is now officially over. not a very emotional affair, but i found myself at a loss of words yesterday. i feel quite close to this batch, probably because of SYF, and also Con Fuoco, where we really worked towards common goals and things like that. just like to tell you, whoever is reading this, that i have really enjoyed working with you guys, and that you guys have been great leaders! and i really wish you all the best for your future endeavours

and thank you for the 7th Night of July. you guys made my conducting for that piece memorable; i felt myself being touched by the sincerity of the music! thank you for responding to me, and thank you for playing 4 years of great music! i hope that as you move on to a new begining, music will always follow you, and that your passion to be good musicians never die!

so… what’s next? haha. the future! full of anticipation. it’s a new begining!

it’s over!

and 4 years ago, i thought i had played my very last concert with SAF Central Band, involving Dr Hardy Mertens that time as guest conductor. that was really memorable, and i played my heart out on the bass clarinet under his baton (hand, i mean. he doesn’t use a baton) that night, knowing that i won’t sit with them as a musician again unless i sign on that cursed dotted line.

this time, i played as a guest player from Mus’art Wind Orchestra, in a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between SAF Bands, Mus’art Wind Orchestra and Dr Hardy Mertens. an exciting concert involving 2 upcoming composers/conductors doing their masters in music! under their ‘hands’ we played 3 pieces for each of them; an original arrangement of an existing piece, an original composition and one of Hardy Mertens’ piece. earlier on, they came to Mus’art and also had a session with us. and i had the opportunity to conduct one of their original compositions! and i learnt stuff about the piece from the composer himself. hee. anyway, this time they had a real professional band under their hands for their assessment! rare opportunity man!

Giuliano Moser was first, doing his arrangement of Piece Heroique, his composition The Snow Queen, and then Winanga-Li by Hardy Mertens. then Franco Pufilito (i hope i got it right) came up with his arrangement of Fugue II, his composition Naos, and then Prayer by Hardy Mertens. it was quite an exciting concert given that we played in a new auditorium (Republic Polytechnic Cultural Centre) and, probably the first time in central band history, we played to a half empty hall! must’ve been the location; woodlands wasn’t exactly an accessible place.

once again i was seated with them, playing with them. but i feel completely different, because my batch people weren’t there anymore, and i basically didn’t have a lot of people to talk to. not that i used to have a lot of topics with them, but at least we could’ve talked about happenings in camp! but ok, some of my old friends there still remember me and we still had some friendly exchanges. and staff cheng kim is still as caring to us as ever. haha. many many new people, many old people still around. interesting feeling!

anyway, i’m glad the concert’s over, as my entire embouchure was giving way because of excessive playing/practising. yes, believe it or not, i played too much. i think it’s the switching between Bb and bass clarinet that did the harm. but ok, i still managed to get a good tone out of both, and i’m rather satisfied with that!

the most interesting highlight of the concert came during Prayer. in my entire 11 years of playing in concerts, i have never had a fire alarm go off in the middle of a piece. not even in rehearsals! but today, it happened during a short interval in the rehearsal, and also in the actual performance itself! we were at the end of figure 26 in Prayer when suddenly the fire alarm rang. in the middle of a concert, for goodness sake. and we knew that irritating voice would boom over the speakers, telling us to remain calm while they assess the situation. and sure enough, the irritating voice came on, but luckily for Franco (he was conducting Prayer), the voice came on just as he cut off the end of figure 26! in the end, after some commotion and the silencing of the fire alarm, we started again from figure 27. our bass clarinet soli!!! anyway, it’s still the funniest thing i’ve ever encountered during a concert. it shall be one of my grandfather stories next time ;P

poor Franco. but i guess for him it was still quite a success! no major mistakes for Prayer, and also his pieces.

proud to say that i had a fruitful week! but i really missed sweetie a lot and i hope this 1 1/2 weeks can pass by very quickly so that i can see her again! but of course, i hope that she’s enjoying her exchange program in China

i’ll stay strong! NC prize giving day coming up next

yeah, finally i update. haha. about 9 days after my last posting, here i am, at 2:35am in front of my laggy lappy, blogging. the past 9 days have been rather busy for me; going all over the place to look up on flights and booking them, going all over the place to look up on accomodation and booking them, teaching the band kids, my private student’s lessons, and loads of shopping (which i ended up buying very few things). and some cases of insomnia.

sweetie flew to china! she messaged me at 4plus in the afternoon saying she’s reached kunming. and seems like she’s enjoying herself! happy to hear that; you won’t wanna go overseas to suffer, right? haha. anyway i won’t see her for the next 2 weeks. do i feel lonely? well, yes and no. yes because she’s not around, no one to ’smiley’ me the whole day (no one can smile like she does). no because i’ll be terribly busy myself, having a big concert coming up this week and loads to prepare for next week! i definitely miss her, but i’ll definitely cope too

SAF central band concert coming up this sunday! quite excited, not prepared, rather rusty, but still full of anticipation. haha. i could still play most of Prayer! and many of them still remember me. didn’t have a lot to say, though, since it’s been 4 years since i really talked to most of them. nevertheless, it’s been really nice practising with them once again, and this time with stanley at first clarinet. i have to find a way to match their intonation! both stanley and benjamin (1st clarinets) are using LeBlanc Opus II clarinets, i’m using Buffet RC Prestige. very different lah! btw, the new camp is really very nice; just a tad too far from any form of civilisation -.-

nick just had his birthday party! quite a big affair for him at glass house, where he recieved his first baton and had to blow the candle out on the cake from where he was standing (on the chair, haha). looking at the parties, gatherings etc. i start to think about how i have seemed to grow further away from my friends; i was never the typical uni student, enjoying campus life, hating exams, having fun with friends. maybe that’s also why i don’t feel like i’m part of that big family. i spent most of my past 6 semesters away from school for a large variety of reasons; the most recent being the start of my band teaching life. when people meet up for mugging, dinner, coffee, sports and other stuff, i was rushing to work, or rushing back to school for band practice. yes, i’d probably spent more time in band than at school! nevertheless, i had to see through my uni education, without a big group of friends surrounding me.

i guess that makes me myself. sometimes i do envy the friends around me; never lacking in surprise birthday parties, eating outs, fun and laughter. and that makes me wonder if i was actually forced to go through society early. not that that makes my friends less mature; i never thought that way. but i guess i envy too much.

and there’s one thing i’ve always found interesting: why do people assume that if a friend is attached, then he/she will never be free? or he/she will never need a friend for that matter?

well, these are some things that i can never understand! but whatever the case, i sincerely wish all my friends happiness; there’s nothing more rewarding than to see the happy smiles on your friends’ faces, and to know that they are truly happy with their lives! like nick was during his birthday celebration

and with that, Nick, i wish you a truly happy 25th birthday!!

last night, sweetie and i were deeply enchanted by the voices of the phantom of the opera’s cast; and also very deeply enchanted by the orchestra playing underneath the stage! christine didn’t sing as well as we liked, but raoul and the phantom especially were great! superbly done, well worth the $78! well if you’re wondering why it’s $78, it’s $70 plus $2 sistic charge and $6 for foldable binoculars. haha. we were seated rather far away you know.

very very very good, if you haven’t watched it, do go grab tickets now!! if it’s not too late already, that is. the show ends its run in singapore on 20th may, if i’m not wrong. do catch it! it will enchant the living daylights out of you

hope sweetie enjoyed her advance birthday celebration

fengshan practices are resuming as of tmr! finally! other than having no income whatsoever, it’s even worse to spend a few weeks without band practices! well, i did attend mus’art practices, but limited ones as i had to prepare for my papers, and also prepare for phantom. haha. so anyway, i digressed, fengshan practices are resuming, and from what i heard, we might need to throw in saturday rehearsals as well. that’s cool! keeps me busy, and keeps income coming in. it’s important, cos i’ll be spending most of my ‘family property’ (direct translation from chinese) on the trip! haha.

and of course there’s the SAF Central Band concert, 20th May at Republic Polytechnic Auditorium. and surprisingly, i was thrown the 1st clarinet scores, other than the bass clarinet parts for Prayer and Winanga-Li. must be stanley lah… sabo only… anyway, i look forward to the practices; can finally chat with a few people i haven’t seen in a million years!

NCHS speech day coming up right after that. i’ll be packed when sweetie’s in china! haha.

alright, gotta go prepare, warm up a bit. re-taking my diploma sight-reading component later! stressed… >.<

wish me luck!!

ok, i know, i am a lazy bum. i finished all my exams in NUS as of 30th april and i was quite free, but i didn’t update my blog. haha. laziness got the better of me! but hey, i deserve to be lazy now, ok? i really worked my ass off for the past 1 1/2 years or so. proud of that!

SYF saga over, uni exams over, what’s next? still scouting for a school. won’t be easy taking over anyone, or even taking a brand new band, but one has got to start somewhere! and i’m sure it’ll be a wonderful experience! i’m quite eager to start my career; and at the same time perhaps get a job as part-time teacher in a govt school. but of course, the teaching part will definitely have to wait… get back from italy first

ah yes! italy! the flight has more or less been confirmed; we’re flying there on 27th june, landing on 28th at milan. and because i’ll be extending my trip i’ll fly back later on 14th july, instead of 7th, and from stockholm instead of milan. much travelling to be done! considering we’ll probably be done at milan by 6th july or so, then we’ll take the next week to travel up to sweden! and, i’m so excited, we’ll most probably pass by germany!!! better start practising my german again. haha. Tut mir leid, wie spat ist es? wahaha…

looking forward, looking forward. played my first soccer game in like 3 months, and realised that i couldn’t run much without panting real bad! had a sumptuous dinner at manhattan fish market just now with the NUSWS peeps, gonna spend a day of research with sweetie tmr, then gonna buy our bags! sat’s for spiderman 3 and trip itinerary discussion, sunday’s for mus’art and PHANTOM!!! and monday’s my dip ABRSM re-take (stressed), then tuesday… haha, no plans yet! probably do some arrangement for clarinet quartet/quintet, try to arrange some pieces for band!

sweetie’s gonna go china for 2 weeks on 15th may

gonna play a concert with SAF Central Band on 20th may! playing bass clarinet and maybe Bb clarinet for the concert, gonna play Prayer and Winanga-Li, and some other pieces that we haven’t seen yet. exciting! never expect that i’d go back to SAF Central Band as a guest player; will be fun seeing the familiar guys again

alrighty, gonna sleep. loads to do tmr!

ok, i’m finally blogging. yes, i was lazy! but i deserved to be lazy, after a few months of madness. i’m sure most ppl know why i say this!

alright, exams are officially over (as of 30/4/2007) and in about a month’s time i’ll know if i do get to graduate this semester. well, to be honest, i’m not confident of failing any module, so i guess i should be fine! the funny thing though is that i’m gonna miss my commencement, since the italy trip is gonna stretch all the way till 14th july. even if i don’t extend the trip, i’d be coming back on either 7th or 8th, and those are the commencement ceremony dates for the FASS ppl! so… unless i go straight to NUS after i get out of the airport…

alright, this feels like clearing leave during my NS days. no need to go back to camp until i collect my pink IC. same thing, no need to go back to NUS till i go collect my degree scroll. funny feeling! because i feel neither here nor there; perhaps during my final few semesters, school wasn’t that big a part of my life.

sharks, i just screwed up a packet of instant mashed potatoes… now it’s more like potato soup =.-

italy trip’s gonna be interesting, and so will the trip extension. we’re gonna return from stockholm! that’s pretty far away from italy leh… but better than not extending. stupid airlines… so anyway, stockholm, sweden. that means we’d probably have to pass through germany (yay!!!) and austria. ok maybe not austria. but well. still gonna travel quite far. and of course we must have the time to travel! if not we’d just be taking a slow trip up to sweden from italy and won’t enjoy the sights much

one thing for sure: i’m gonna love this trip! gonna travel with huili and the hai sing alumni family; daniel, xinhui, erina, cedric. cool!!!

BUT. i’d probably have to prepare more money lah. haha.

read a few blogs and i must say, i’m rather surprised, appalled, comforted and yet disappointed at the same time. firstly, banditz blog. i felt that whoever came in to tag wasn’t friendly at all, and his/her sniggering remarks left many members cursing in his wake. this showed me that they were united against an outside source, but at the same time, showed me that they weren’t calm enough dealing with this situation. i can’t blame them though; the tagger really did provoke them. but i guess we do have to learn not to be provoked. in this way, the provoker will waste his/her time and energy.

but well, good that you guys stand up for yourselves! but next time do it in a more civilised manner

saw another disturbing post. about P, L and A. first of all, i was shocked to see it. then i was immensely disappointed. because after all these things, i really didn’t expect someone to blog this kinda thing, and especially not from someone like him/her. P did many things for you guys, things that you cannot see or hear, but things that i’m sure you can feel. L wasn’t the only person who sacrificed. nothing would have worked out if not for P. instead of giving some amount of trust like P and L gave him/her, there was suspicion. and about something that A said too. how funny… why couldn’t it be that P lied to A? and for that matter, P will NOT lie to NCWO.

i’m disappointed because he/she is bringing people to the wrong direction. what are lies? lies are some utterances that you percieve not to be true. one thing for sure, life isn’t as straightforward as we all think. to survive in the band scene you cannot say the wrong things, despite your own opinions. that’s why i decided to keep my mouth shut at appropriate times. don’t think P had much of a choice, though. P is more involved in the band scene than you can ever imagine.

i’m disappointed. after a number of occassions, and i thought i’d see a change. i tried to guide you. but i can’t help it if you think P and L are trying to decieve you and the rest. such strong words; decieve, fool, ‘motivate’. if P and L do not care, they would have left. because it wasn’t easy with NC and it was never meant to be easy. and surprisingly things are not made better by things like these. L’s mistake, perhaps; L was too trusting? L’s hurt, that’s for sure.

if only… we would all look within ourselves, and put ourselves to the test. instead of looking at others and always seeing the negative side of things. that’s how i hung on to the belief; does it matter what other schools have got? we did our best, we definitely gave our all. i know i did. i know many of you did. but if we didn’t, are we in the position to criticise others? or judge others for that matter? a true musician and a true band member would really reflect on that. and not just blaming the world for things that don’t go right.

ok, i’m sorry if i spoilt some moods. i just had to say these things; don’t want to see anyone else heading the wrong direction. if you don’t like it, i’d not say another word; if you don’t like it, i’ll give up my job. but don’t do this kinda things anymore. for your own sake.

don’t bite the hand that has been feeding you.