Ok it seems like the fire on the forums has died down a little bit. That's great :D
So now I've 2 concerts to prepare for and so many homework piling up. Supposed to jog today but guess what, I didn't. Geez. NAPFA!!!
I managed to borrow the A clarinet today and I practiced it for 1 hour. Sound like shit ok. Then push until my abdomen area suan lah. I'll use a soft reed on this instrument and my Bb barrel. The chadash can go to my Bb for the time being :D So I practiced the allegro part so many times, and still got a lot of work to do. It's such an exposed part so I must play it well and shine on stage haha. But it should be fine for tomorrow's rehearsal.
We're finally going to smell the 1st movement of Windscapes on Wednesday's practice. Should go fine since it's a slow movement. Quite excited for it. I think our concert programme is quite good leh. But I won't release everything here lah. Or else damn spoiler for you who's coming to watch me... Ok watch us.
Actually I know my blog is being stalked by a lot of people. People from VJC... From VJCSB also... And more recently by people from other bands because they want to know how a VJCSB member feels after SYF. AND to hope that they can get our recording. But anyway, unless you are a friend of mine, find some other people.
So you want to know how I feel? I can tell you, SYF was great. Everything was pretty familiar other than the place we're performing and now that we don't have Mars bars to chew and swallow after tuning. This time I had Alpen, which is some god-like wholegrain energy bar which is damn tasty. Backstage we heard SAJC and they sound gooooood. I was fingering my notes with them and I unconsciously blew into my instrument. Oops. But anyway it was kind of a weird feeling to me. Because I know that I was so close to be sitting with them and performing with them. Haiyah weird feelings.
When I walked on-stage from backstage, it felt like I was walking into Carnegie Hall because of the colour of the lightings and the stage. Lol. Then played Overture 2. Was damn happy that I managed to get the texture that I wanted for figure F and sounded pretty in tune. Overture 2 was performed with a light heart for me because I like it a lot and it was such a joy playing it. Right after the set I just started thinking of the angsty-ness of Windscapes. It was damn exciting to perform it lah. Then during my rests I looked at the judges and I saw them flipping the pages everywhere (as expected!) which was pretty amusing. I know I know, I was supposed to focus but.. It was just too tempting to look at their reactions!! Yay throughout the piece I thought I performed well, just that I tongued the Bb during the solo too harshly and I almost cracked while holding my top G. But never crack lah which is a good thing.
After the performance I was very happy. There definitely was PERFORMANCE. Something that is beyond awards and medals. I've conquered Windscapes and I treasure it more than the medal. We could possibly have performed and interpreted Overture 2 the most wonderful way ever and the feeling is like you wanna fly to the sky like that. Light and float-ish feeling. Nice. Yes Overture 2 is the piece which so many of you described as 'the Disney piece'.
Then take pictures already.
I tell you, this picture is really nice lah haha!
This one's taken with Desmond who really really helped us a lot over the past 4 months. Wah scary leh. SYF preparation 4 months only ~_~
St pats section juniors + Bryan in SAJC. Couldn't find Crosby. It's a strange picture. I seem to really 'stand out' of the picture..
Secretly, I'm hoping that we'll make it to PN because I heard it's going to be held in Esplanade. Chances are high because we did something ground-breaking. But again, VJC played for the last PN... Brrr...
Hmm I realised I forgot to take picture with JiaHao lol. Oh well.
When Lawrence Seow said "Band number 14, Victoria Junior College. Gold (Fullstop)", I was quite at peace with myself. Afterall I told myself to focus on the performance factor when I started the preparation for SYF, because I always believe that in music, a good performance will always take care of things that follow after it. And I still believe so. Therefore, no emotional struggles inside and I was happy for the Band. There's more to awards in performances. There's more to music beyond SYF. Work for that. Good music is for life.
Alright I'm off to bed. Cheers everyone!
Yawn,
Sean
