Saturday, May 31, 2008.

double edit: just listened to our recording of william tell and all i have to say: well done guys!

edit: I planned to acknowledge all non-current-RISE members in the next post, with other stuff, but due to Jerald's insistence, I shall acknowledge some really important guest players that I have interacted with (strangely, most from RI).

Besides the 1st one, in no order of merit:

JERALD HAN! (cause he's de facto SL, so he comes 1st)
PATRICK CHO!
JAMES ANDREW JR. GUNAWAN!
BENJAMIN NI!
KENNETH NG!
BERNARD YONG!
DAVID ZHAO YUE!

Thanks guys, for playing for RenaISsance 2008, and I promise you a treat. Seriously.
PS. Jerald don't ever bring that pack of cards when you get treated.
Quote David: These cards are from Jerald's house, what do you expect?

This post shall be the 1st of at least 2 posts, cause i dont think i can cover it all.

What can I say? The blood, the sweat (literally) and the tears, we've seen through them all.

Concert was great, mr. sze was looking REALLY happy after everything.

Some screwups did occur, like the early cello entry in magicfluteoverture, the piccolo screwup in fugue as well as us getting severely lost in 3/4 bar.

But ask me to relive the experience again, and I will.

I want to stand on stage again, pushing the grand into the hall. I want to stand on stage again, packing up the unused stands and chairs. I want to stand on stage again, to see the appluase and acknowledgments, especially from the seniors.

People from RISE (current) that I MUST thank:
Kai Cheng, for doing so much for the concert,
Shang Xuan, for the strings, the prog booklet and many more,
Zhao Kai, for scores, concert-day arrangements,
Ben Wee, for concert-day arrangement and 1st violin sectionals,
Jon Shin, for helping us in so many ways (like musically)

Sec 3s:
Ren Hao and Chentian, for being always with me even if your parents scold you,
Zhiyuan, Yihang, Shuhuan, Benn, Matthew Lo, Jon Chow, Minjian, Weng Hong, Yunfei, Daron and Adi, for your contributions to moving instruments safely to there and back (as well as night rhsls)
Ben Lee, for being ever-so-entertaining and a great concertmaster who saved me during the fugue 3/4 time

Sec 2s and Sec 1s who were overly-enthu in helping out. I'm glad the enthu spirit is still alive and running, and even when I leave it will be there for a long time.

And of course,
Mr. Sze (reasons can be left out).

Lee Foundation Theatre is a special place for me. It was the 1st time where I performed publicly (i.e. not on Raffles campus) and will be my last official time performing as a RISE member. When I played that D (last note of Britten), i played it with force, knowing that that will be the last note I play as an official RISE member in a concert.

Should I feel sad? I honestly don't know.

There's still camp to look forward to, and i promise that it will be spectacular, involving weird stuff (tekan) and other funny funny things. At least there's a last chance for me to do something to my 2nd home, a place I can go to have fun (like the spectacular 13 trick-win by weng hong and chentian)

Will talk more about other stuff in next post.

Labels: CCA

{ 1:28 AM }

Monday, May 19, 2008.

I had this piece quite some time ago in my iTunes but never bothered to listen to it. Only when i played it then i realised how wonderful a lot of music can really be.

I don't know whether this is indeed appropriate but i guess so.

"Nimrod" (Variation 9) from Elgar's "Enigma" Variations.

RIP, victims of the Sichuan earthquake and Cyclone Nargis.

Labels: Life

{ 9:02 PM }

At RI Open House:

Chentian receives SMS from Renhao.
SMS: "The stupid mrt security b***h thought that my viola is a bomb. And ask me to open and show her."

Gives new light to all the viola jokes around, like this one:

Q: Why do people tremble with fear when someone comes into a bank carrying a violin case?
A: They think he's carrying a machine gun and might be about to use it.
Q: Why do people tremble with fear when someone comes into a bank carrying a viola case?
A: They think he's carrying a viola and might be about to use it.

Enjoy: Viola jokes
More viola jokes
More more viola jokes

Labels: CCA

{ 12:22 PM }

Saturday, May 17, 2008.

Thursday, besides Bio FPS, was generally okay. Went window-cd-shopping at gramophone and HMV, seems like gramophone is stocking up on an RCA-france cheap label that i fancy. 2 cds of rvw's symphony 3-6 for <$30, when i have enough money to spend i might just buy it.

We had dinner (treated) by Mr. Ong, and so we bought chocolates in return for him. I mean, he's one of the only teachers that treats people to lunch/dinner and etc., and he teaches very interestingly as well (the only teacher that I know that talks about bio, physics, chinese, history, lit, ss and geog in a CHEM lesson).

Went for Prometheum 12, and was very entertaining. 1st half wasn't exactly tip-top, although 2nd half was highly entertaining, especially when one sees jerald han doing a solo. So cool right?

"Never let you down."

Friday was bad. I overslept past bishan MRT and woke up halfway between bishan and angmokio so i wasted quite a bit of time.

Rehearsal was fine, but there was somewhat of a highlight (or rather, lack of)

halfway through william tell...

Lights go off all of a sudden.

"William Tell" continues, then breaks down since no one can see anything.

As I/Kai Cheng check the lights, trombones start playing the theme of the finale of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony.

I laughed.

If you have ever heard that piece you will know why I laughed. How appropriate.

Today was quite fun. The mini-rhsl i had was quite fun and cool, except the place is quite ulu and i need to prac more.

Then was the RI Open House, where Zhiyuan was having conducting sectionals.

And then we decided to do random stuff including "improvisations on a theme of DSCH" and went crazy playing atonal music. We just went mad in front of the parents lar.

And now i dont feel so stressed anymore. besides concert.

Labels: Life

{ 9:05 PM }

Sunday, May 11, 2008.

Frankly speaking i don't know how i feel now. I feel like a bunch of rotten apples with tartar sauce all over them - that doesn't even make sense.

Perhaps the best way to tell how I feel is by reading Theophilus' essay. Guess that sums up how i feel.

Yet i feel so helpless.

心有余而力不足。

why is this world so cruel, i wonder.

Yet he is so strong-willed. When we went down to Assisi Room, it was him who greeted us, with a smile that reeked of tiredness, not the tears that I expected to see. He was forever resilient, never bending in, never caving in to the emotions. As I saw him chatting with his classmates, us (CCA mates), i couldn't help but wonder why I used to look at him differently then.

Strength is not determined by how many people one rugby-tackles, but rather by how one replies when rugby-tackled. And he has strength. Real strength.

Stay strong. We'll be with you, no matter what.

Labels: Life

{ 8:03 PM }