Fantasy On A Theme...

...by Samuel Barber.

That was my first performance, ever, with an ensemble. It's slightly sad, if you consider the fact that I've been a music apprentice for 9 years. It's slightly insane, if you consider the fact that I was given 3 days' notice and no full rehearsals.

Let's rewind a bit. The Carine SHS mid-year concert was held last Friday and Saturday, as part of the school music programme and also to raise some funds. And raise some funds it did!

The dough from Friday night

The people who collected the dough and did odd jobs on Friday night (Person #5 was behind the camera)

Friday was the Juniors' night and I went to watch my brother play. Was gonna get some good photos too, but... I was still collecting dough when the Junior Band started. There, hard proof that money has detrimental effects. Another Proof Of Detrimentalness is the Black Fingers Syndrome after long periods of handling money at a cashier. I haven't contracted the disease myself, but it was a topic of discussion earlier this morning and I take my friends' word for it.

The rest of the night passed quite unincidentally... there were some rather awesome performances, but that's expected. ;-) The Seniors' Night (Saturday), on the other hand, was plagued with falling objects. During the Senior Band's first appearance, a loud crash from the back of the stage marked an accident from the percussionists. As the Orchestra came on, a certain Double Bassist signalled his presence by sending his (rather large) bow to the floor. Back in the rehearsal room, a wall was banged rather hard.

What happens when shock waves are sent along a wall which bears a framed photo

Back to the performance I was talking about. The Senior Band was up first, oh joy... Blind panic ensuds! It was like... like reliving all the memories of going to lessons after a without practice! Aah! My teacher's gonna kill me! The audience is gonna think I suck! They...... hold on, they have no idea what the song sounds like. I can play wrong notes and they wouldn't know. Mwahahaha!

Well, ok, the above scenario didn't actually happen. Sure, I was nervous, but it was more of a "Meh, whatever..." feeling. The years of making a fool out of myself in school and at BB, the Si Kebayan* trip, and all the ngenjenning** practice must have done something to me: I'm not that badly affected by stagefright anymore, even when I was about to perform, for the first time, for a song I had never even heard before! =P

So, all panic aside, I proceeded to enjoy my first view from within the collection of band players and instruments. Sitting next to a French horn was an... ear-catching... experience. ^_^ The following photos aren't of the best quality, but I rushed because I didn't know how much time I had left before the curtains opened. The audience probably wouldn't be too impressed by a flashy light show by a camera-wielding monkey on stage.

The conductor in front

The percussionists behind me

The brass section to my left

The saxophonists to my right
EDIT 29/6/06: The 2nd person from the right is Kimmi, our beloved MC who did a vocal solo with the Jazz Band and was ticked off because I did not mention her in my post.

There you have it, a view of the band through the eyes of a sakai***. PRET-ty amazing huh? This sakai sat there for the first song, Tempest Rising, then made his way to the piano for his debut appearance in Fantasy on a Theme by Samuel Barber. The introduction went well (except mybe it was a tad bit soft), and then there was a long resting period for the piano. Thus, the problem was revealed: I tried counting my way through the silent bars but the speed changes threw me off. Uh-oh.

What happens when a performer doesn't know when to enter? Well... one thing he can do is to pretend to know what he's doing. My part was only simple accompaniment in repetitive style, so I dared to play what I THOUGHT was the correct part for the ending 'solo'. Turned out that it WASN'T the correct part and I added an extra bar when we were supposed to stop, but meh. It sounded suitable enough. ^_^ I have learnt something new, however: Performance without prior full rehearsal or prior experience in improvisation will result in grey hairs and possible heart failure.

After that fiasco though, I was free to enjoy the rest of the performances. Here are a few more photos...

Guitar ensemble

Orchestra

Clarinet ensemble

Musical theatre. Oh wait, this wasn't one of the items. Whoopsie!

I'll upload more photos to http://spaces.msn.com/axfangli/ ...soon. ^_^

* Si Kebayan - The title of the drama in which Sze Howe was transformed into a girl.
** ngenjen v. Talking crap in a believable and authoritative manner.
*** sakai n. An easily-awed person with no knowledge of the world around him.

Opening Ceremony

Alrighty, Magickfreak... here is the ceremony you so passionately insisted upon. Let me summon my limited salesperson persona. *ahem*

"Come one, come all to our grand opening! Step into a world where emotions are surmounted beyond the verbal realm. Open your heart and let your expressions fly free..."

Yea, the 'grand opening' comes after my 1st post. I guess time CAN go backwards... ;-)

It's taken a fair bit of thinking, but I have reached the decision to move on from my Hi5, deviantART and MSN Space. They're simply not versatile enough, not to mention that Hi5 is too inaccessible and that MSN's layout limitations are plain appalling. Yes, I can be picky. Get over it.

Thus here I am, fiddling with the Blogger account that I actually set up in May 2005. Will this help me transcend language itself? Only time will tell...

The Fourth Dimension

Time is a fickle thing. The changes it brings can be utterly unexpected and unpredictable... within as little as a year, I've seen both dramatic and subtle changes in people and relationships. I'm know that this phenomenon isn't all that uncommon, but it's still interesting (and sometimes disturbing) to watch. Don't you just wish you knew what makes people tick? I sure do.

Anyway, it's that time of the half-year again when people breathe a sigh of relief to mark the end of exams. Well, that was last week. This week, some are breathing sighs of relief knowing that their academic lives are not doomed, while some others are less... delighted. I'm just grateful to be able to place myself in the former category.

Strangely enough, my physics paper fared better than either of my maths papers (gasp! =P) English on the other hand, is a totally different story. To think that I had made a firm resolution to NOT take up the subject upon coming to Australia... Thank you, Mr Young, for sending me into Panic Mode during our interview. If you hadn't suggested that I do History, I would never had abandoned my well-constructed plan and taken your next offer (which was Physics). Hmm, I'm even considering the possibility of doing something engineering-related in university. Yet another example of changes in time... (Too bad I had to abandon my childhood plans of becoming a private eye too! ;-D)

Speaking of which, I have only 3 months left before having to fill out a uni application form. And I still have no idea on what specific course to do. Help! ...I suppose we can always resort to good old coin-flipping... =P

Gee, university. That's a scary thought: I'll be ejected from high school for good in less than half a year. I sure will miss these days...

...but the fourth dimension only flows in one direction. Or does it...?