| Saturday, 12 May 2007 |
| 3 days (part3) |
10/05/07
I woke up at the unearthly hour of 0600 again. This time, it was so that I could go down to the Singapore Conference Hall to get tickets for the Singapore Youth Festival Central Judging for Chinese Orchestras from Junior Colleges.
I've been pretty hyped up for this year's SYF, even more so compared to the years where I was actually competing in. Been looking forward to it since the end of Pros really, and the couple of times where I've went back to listen to the Juniors' practice sessions.
I must say I was quite worried because in the last practice session that I attended, they weren't spectacular. But Alex told me that they improved tremendously over the past few days, and that they were definitely of 'Gold with Honours' standard now.
So I was quite excited about their performance.
I reached the SCH at around 8, after hitching a ride with my Dad. It was a rather frosty journey because he was still mad at me. But anyway, he dropped me off at Aljunied MRT near his office, and I took the train down to Tanjong Pagar. Received a couple of rather distraught messages from Alice saying that there was no one there.
Turns out that they were only distributing tickets at 0830 in the morning, so naturally most people were going to turn up at around that time.
Ended up waiting for people to arrived. Quite a number of supporters from my batch and senior batches turned up. And then we went in at around 0845 or so, to watch the whole tedious proceedings.
The most difficult thing about sitting through an SYF central judging is the fact that you have so many schools, playing the same set piece over and over again. I mean, its okay if the set piece is nice, or if the schools are able to perform the set piece well...
But very often, you get a set piece that isn't erm... fit for human appreciation, or schools that aren't of a sufficient standard to perform a rather challenging set piece. This year's set piece was rather nice, and a piece I was quite familiar with considering the fact that I'd been back for so many practice sessions. But sad to say, it was a very challenging piece to perform, and *cough* most schools were lacking in skill to perform it.
So after awhile, I found myself hopelessly exasperated over the lack of standard and couldn't help but day dream. Geraldine, who sat beside me, was trying to overwrite her instincts to micturate, despite having a full bladder that probably reached the level of her umbilicus and all.
But due to the fact that they juniors had a balloted slot in the late morning, we didn't really have much of a choice. We had to sit through a mind numbling amount of schools' performances before they performed.
I was very nervous for them. I was so distracted by my heart beat (that sounded strangely magnified during the set piece) that I didn't really pay attention to their performance. But listening to the recordings now, I must say they executed it well. A little mistakes here and there but that's entirely normal in SYF performances. I think their set piece was the best among the schools I heard that day, and I say this not out of biasness but based on what I know about Chinese Orchestra music.
But their set piece wasn't what impressed me. It was their choice piece - by then, I had managed to calm myself down and was able to truly appreciate it.
It was fantastic. I think it was so much better than my own batch's performance, and that it was on par to the performance my seniors executed to clinch the champion spot in 2003.
It was very well executed, very well expressed. They did everything perfectly. It was very inspiring to see them excel on stage. I felt an upsurge of emotion during their song, something which hasn't happened to me at a concert for a very long time. And they did what my seniors managed to do 4 years ago - to not just perform a piece, but to make inspiring music.
There was such a marked difference in the kind of music the Juniors produced compared to the rest of the schools, so much so that there was a subtle difference in the way the audience reacted.
It was quite amusing, because we were sitting in front of a row of TJC seniors. They kept expressing awe about our juniors' performance, and we couldn't help but over hear some of their conversation - "This is what is called 'Gold with First Class Honours'!", "Their pieces were so well executed! They sound so different form the rest of the schools! They are literally of a different level compared to all of the rest!", "This is why HCCO is the front runner of JC COs."
Geraldine's friend who was in NJ and also present at the judging messaged her, telling her that 'HCCO come here and spoil market one! If you guys don't get GWH, the judges ought to go and die!'
So it was quite amazing to see other school's seniors singing our juniors' praises. We were all so proud of them.
In the end, the juniors did it. They got the Gold with Honours. Kinda expected really. Haha.
But I felt that even if some freak accident happened and they didn't get the Honours, I would still feel proud of them, because their performance was just so inspiring. The passion for Chinese Orchestral music that has been lying dormant in my heart has been reawakened by their performance, which is a feat that no one has been able to do over the pass 3 years. Kudos to them.
Congratulations kiddos!
ARGH. Shit. Its 1128 and I'm supposed to meet the class guys for Dim Sum buffet at 1230. And I haven't showered yet. And I still have lots to blog about... cause my day hasn't ended. I'll just continue later.Labels: CO, flashback, music |
posted by voldemort33 @ 10:56  |
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