Saturday, April 29, 2006
jingle bell
bleh the jingle wasnt good at all. despite whatever comforting encouragement you guys tried to give us, we as performers knew what level of quality that was with resepct to what we should have been able to deliver. and it's really quite disappointing cos we actually sounded good the afternoon before and the morning right before assembly. this is exactly the negative kind of intrinsic reward we should not be getting. we should have left that podium proud of ourselves, of our hard work paying off, and happy with the sound we created.
we had progressed from where we started and we were happy with our sound and we knew it. but that failed to come out at that oh so critical minute. and that's that cos there's no turning back of time. that's performing arts for you. no one actually sees the hours of practice you put in. what you give on stage is what people hear. stage pressure is a horrible lethal enemy of ours and we have to be prepared for it. we dun have the luxury of freaking out at the fact that 889 pairs of eys are on you, or making eyes at the cute guy sitting in the fifth row. i guess toh will cover all of this, i hope we can give in our concert as good as what we give in our best combined pracs.
i was horribly out of tune even tho my bass accompaniment was so easy and i'm really sorry, but there's no use saying tt cos it's unforgivable and there's no excuse. not even the excuse of nervousness, not after being in rv so long. but in that minute, i couldnt think of wad i was singing. nuh uh, my mind was a blank. and there's nothing i can say really, i just screwed up. and there's no turning back. guess i shouldnt sing in the 2nd jingle if there's one.
apparently, we were too soft, we should have stood closer to the mike. maybe we were scared of it? lol. well anyway, gjob weisong on your VP, it saved us; and i guess the objective of getting the school's attention was achieved. even though we ourselves know that it was far far below the point that we as a group have worked at and arrived at together.
p.s. i think u should replace all the 'we's with 'i' cos i dun have the right to speak for the whole grp but i'm too lazy to edit thru my whole post so oh well...
posted by drareg at 10:21 PM
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The grandfather speaks...
*coughs* *coughs*
hmmz, the family tree's kinda cool. haha. just that i'm too old there and too lonely. haha. somebody accompany me!! haha, whee!
when the night has come.. and ya craving for music.. blah blah blah. haiz. brings back bad memories. jingle.. hahaz. should have done better but oh well. its over.
Task 1: MomentumTopic: Maintaining the momentum of productive and excellent choral rehearsal
Reasons for choice of topic:
We're from choir. duh. and we all love and the blend, the overtone and our fellow choristers!
Feasibility of topic:
very feasible. within our capacity. tremendous potential. therefore feasible.
Manageability of topic:
less than 2 weeks to concert. approx 1 month to trip.
Suggestions to maintain the momentum:
-Sing more, listen more, look more (Study less, learn more) i.e. keep practicing, sensitize your hearing and focus during practice =)
-Memorise scores fully & tactifully
lolz. this pw proposal will probably receive a fail grade =) dunno why i wrote this but well haha
till then, cyaz =)
posted by chinny at 9:19 PM
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If I could catch a rainbow
Dear chorale =)
Some of you mentioned that you liked the poem...So i went to find the full version of it. The one that I read that day was a half-memorised n half-selfwritten one, so this is yep.the original, so i think. yeps =)
Dedicated to all of you, from welfare! =))
If I Could Catch a Rainbowby Sandra Lewis Pringle
From Sandra's book Sing Loudly as Lions Roar. If I could catch a rainbow, I would do it, just for you,
And, share with you, its beauty, on the days you're feeling
blue.
If I could, I would build a
mountain, you could call your very own.
A place to find serenity, a place just to be alone.
If I could, I would take your troubles, and toss them into the
sea.
But, all these things, I'm finding, are impossible for me.
I cannot build a mountain, or catch a rainbow fair;
but,
let me be, what I know best,
A Friend, who's always there.
I promise to defend you, should the occasion ever rise,
And, I promise to wipe away the tears,
which might stream from your weeping eyes.
Let me be the trusted Friend, the one that you know best.
I will never leave you, on that, you can surely rest.
Love you all! *muahhh* -avonne
posted by ennova at 5:29 PM
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Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Sing me to heaven
SING ME TO HEAVEN POSTERheya people =) found this site online and thought you guys might like to read more about the song we are singing! =) Also since it is our concert title =) yups. Go read how the song touched peoples' hearts and how it begin.Longer post later ya.its lit lesson now.hehe...
whee this is an edit! its 2.03am now.doing pi.haha.hmm.music com came out today.
quote from chinee 2 zhaofeng: i think ** is your type.
bjorn: if you sit at this table (aw n nf) you can start doing your homework.Cos you'll be bright =)
some random thing. went to lovecalculator.com one day and tried close to 20 diff matchmakings in chorale, mostly j1. highest i think was yk and adr - 94% i think? ahha. much to sasa's delight xP
heya all...take care of yourselves kay? don't fall sick! please please. Jiayou for score internalizing *nods* <3 you! =))
posted by ennova at 9:57 AM
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Monday, April 24, 2006
finally
ooh hello people!! guess who's here!! hahaha finally joined the blog.
happy bday gerard ((:
it's 12:14am and i'm dying from pi.
two and a half weeks to concert.
two more spas.
jiayou pple (:
posted by nikki at 12:14 AM
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Sunday, April 23, 2006
happy bdae
hurray i'm 17. cheers.
posted by drareg at 11:59 PM
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ahem ahem.
okay. since chin ee thinks i should blog here i shall. i think the ticketing schedule is messed up okay. i mean, just cuz i'm running for pres doesn't mean i have to pull 4 shifts! i am so not the free-est person around in chorale rarrr. okay fine so maybe i just might be. but seriously. can't the other mr wong pull like. 6 shrifts or something. he's running for 5 posts ><" haha. okay i'm just ranting here.
posted by ^^" peregrine at 9:59 PM
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Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Preparing for the concert...
heys ... just wanna contribute an entry here...
hmms concert is coming up in less than a month's time. How did you guys find recent practices? I don't know, because I haven't turned up for at least 3 practices (on MC). But based on the previous time I heard the choir, I think we're making several improvements along the way, and it's certainly encouraging =] Keep going, guys!
For basses, we had a surprise sectional on Monday (17/4 - Oh Yikai's Bdae! :P) It was conducted by Jeff, and he spot-checked each of us of our singing abilities, and how much work we have put in for the concert (such as memory work and note accuracy). Since that's the most recent choir-related session I have attended, I'll just reflect on it here:
When memorising the score,
- Read vertically.
(1) Know what are the parts that come in before you do, and know what they're singing at that moment. Let others do the counting for you, it'll be easier.
(2) What happens if your mind just blank out, or you get thrown off by other parts? You need to learn how and where to recover! (perhaps by listening to other parts and then try to come in at appropriate places) This is important in the song "Karimatanu", esp the last few pages where we start our messy canon!
- Dynamics are often not in place. We have to show contrast between different dynamic levels, so that the song is richer in content and colour. Dynamics also help in expression, which is especially important in the song "Sing me to Heaven" (rather than the notes accuracy) So, please memorise dynamics too, and apply them!
- Take note of phrasings, and places where we're not supposed to breathe. General rule of thumb: Don't breathe at barlines! And other obvious places.
Anyone can just feel free to add onto the list :)
Another thing I learnt from the sectional is that, even though each of us may have individually very strong voices and singing abilities, it doesn't mean we'll sound good when we come together. It's an Ensemble problem. We should not be self-centered and just know and sing our parts, as if we were soloists. We need to learn how to coordinate and tune with other choristers, in order to sound good as a whole. This may not be very obvious when we sing in the choir, but try singing in octets! You'll get what I mean.
So point being, during this period of time, let's just listen more to other people and help around should we discover any tuning (or other) problems. They need to be fixed early, if not it's difficult to resolve when it becomes auto-pilot or a habit thing! It's about working TOGETHER, and sounding good TOGETHER, not trying to show how good you are individually, and criticise others. Agree?
Okay... that's all for reflections. Really hope to make the concert a huge success! Good job to people who designed advert posters! Weeheex I made one too, here it is:
So rmb to spread word about our concert, sell tickets, and work hard for the concert!! =D
posted by s0ngster at 8:14 PM
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Friday, April 14, 2006
ahem.
haha. avonne i think "pull me closer to you" sounds awfully suggestive. okay anyway.
i think we j1s should do something more rather than just blog here and then have our dinners all the regular people. i think we should involve more people. like organise outings or stuff and include the j2s. since in essence we have about a month left with them only and i don't think we're really close to them either. so yeah that's just my suggestion.
um. nothing much to say really. just for all the tourgoers we need to
JIAYOU and seriously start practicing our competition repretoire (is that spelt correctly? hmm.) cuz i think we've touched the songs like. once or twice only (excluding pamugun) and so we're really quite um. not there. and we have less than 2 mths. left so yep.
posted by ^^" peregrine at 12:39 AM
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Wednesday, April 12, 2006
single lineup!
for record sake i shall talk about
chorale prac today! finally, no more opening ceremony prac =) whee =) even thou blasting was abit fun at times xP haha... well. today we stood in a single line and basically did kallang waves with our bodies/heads and looked erm. to heaven.haha xD
we sang1) jaakobin-remb to turn left/right and let sound travel past you!
-last bar: sing louder so that zf won't stick out :)
2) karimantanu kuicha-memorize so tt we can
clap and
stomp our feet at the right times! =) yay so fun
3) sing me to heaven-God-duuh
-pull '
me' closer to you
any more stuff to add? you guys can just edit the entry ( can rite?) and add stuff so that we can
remember/
recall,
refer and erm
rehearse! yea =)
really =) for better singing
results! (hopefully)
anyway, I'd like to blog more but i shouldnt take up too much space, so yeps! =) cya guys on sat! (tourgrppeople)
posted by ennova at 11:09 PM
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Monday, April 10, 2006
nothing beats us
heyaz.. finally got the invite from gerard hahaha =) to state the known fact.. chorale has ultra cool enthu ppl!!! hehe.. always enjoy singing during practs and stuff and i know our concert is gonna be a BLAST! hahah... hope the audience will reach beyond heaven hahahah... apologies for the lameness lolz.. its the effects of too much hw. Look forward to knowing u guyz even better =p.. cya peeps..
posted by sandradee at 5:19 PM
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ladeedum
What type of Fae are you?it's a wonderful no-school monday, and i have just spent 9am-4.30pm playing 7 dota matches in a row o.O i'm kinda zombiefied now. *squints* ok i shld go do hw. *_*
posted by drareg at 4:50 PM
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Quotes! (some of those i found online)
Regard your voice as capital in the bank. Sing on your interest and your voice will last.
(Lauritz Melchior)
Love is the harmony of two souls singing together.
(Gregory JP Godek)
Music is the greatest communication in the world. Even if people don't understand the language that you're singing in, they still know good music when they hear it.
(Lou Rawls)
The only thing better than singing is more singing.
(Ella Fitzgerald)
posted by ennova at 1:30 PM
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Friday, April 07, 2006
j1 power!
To start off this post, i have a confession to make.
I actually had no intention of joining chorale in jc. I dint really enjoy sec 3 & 4 in rv. i dunno y, i just started finding it a chore, dreading going for practices, ponning them for insignificant excuses. I was, and prob am still, i know, one of the lousiest singers in choir. I still cant get my technique right, and it's quite sad. And then most of my frenz, got into comm. So i like felt left out. I still rmbr adrian scolding me during last yr camp for not surrendering my hp. Heh if u're reading this now adrian, i'm sorry. There's nothing i can say now that shouldnt have already been said a year ago, but anyway, i'm sorry. Back to the point, nearing the end of sec 4, i decided i wasnt as passionate about chorale as all the other pros were, and i wanted to join another cca for a change in environment.
But anyway, here i am in chorale after all (: nvm wad happened in between. maybe i needed a familiar secure cca. maybe i cmi all e stuff i tried for =p but the point is, i'm really really happy that i'm in chorale now. i feel so lucky that of all the paths the river of life could have flowed down, i actually got chorale. and ironically enough, it's prob e best thing that has happened to me in jc so far. my class and og were both quite sad at the start of the year, and life in rj before my eyes at that time appeared to be dreary afternoons spent mugging in the library. but NO, chorale proved that happening stuff do happen in rj too =D
My first point is that chorale pple r just so coolios! the j1s seem so bonded and so warm and friendly (and that's really smth to be treasured), and it's prob going to improve even more on e trip yay. chorale pple r funkae and great to hang out with! and it's not just one person ok. everyone's so nice! i feel so at home... even adrian seems nicer to me now ^_^ uh, yay! *hugs adrian* whoops, hope nikki doesnt visit here =p speaking of which, both of them are still on pending invite list. I shall go invite them again. Back to my point, i'm still pleasantly shocked at how much chorale rocks. I can forsee it going to be the biggest involvement i have in jc life, and i'll be closer to it than say, my class for eg. But chinny's in both! so that's double closeness *wide grin*
My second point is that i seem to enjoy chorale music a lot more. maybe we do nicer songs now. maybe girls sound nicer as trebles. maybe the balance here is better. maybe i improved somewhat (gasp!). maybe i missed chorale during eoy hols. but anyway, i dun fall asleep during combined pracs anymore (what an achievement), and i love listening to the sound chorale makes. it's just, i dunno, so fulfilling. i should prob stop rambling, but i think i cant imagine rj life without chorale *dramatic sob*
Anyway, chorale bonding today was awesome! i'll have gd memories of SR1 now. so fun =D we played pepsi cola and 'who, what, huh?' and other lame games. and everyone was having such a great time. there were j2s too! soon we'll be one big happy family yay (but i need to go start rmbring all the j2's names lol ><). chorale brightens up my day. i've gotten over my horrible horrible chem spa =D i hope chorale will remain this cheerful forever. and i think whao should write a book on Shopping yepyep.
Random point #1: zhizhong told me and gengrui some cat high traditions i nv knew were actually only done in cat high oO and i can rmbr some parts of e sch song haha. altho, i only memorized e words, i dunno e meaning...
Random point #2: i think common topics help in chorale bonding! like chorale dota gang. woot! quite cool, cos i used to get pwnzed last yr in 4R matches since i'm relatively noob, but here in chorale my ego is appeased *sighs happily* and catholic pple unite! oooo dint know there were so many of us hehe. i feel even more family warmth now. amen.
Random point #3: happy last day of your 16th year avonne! (:
-rard-
posted by drareg at 11:47 PM
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Tuesday, April 04, 2006
9.5 x 2 = 19
Bleh, i really dun see why we need 19 whole hours of rehearsals. It just sounds so ridiculous. We prob dun even need the practice. I can just see us sitting on the risers slacking. While at the same time, out classmates attend possibly-crucial lessons which we're missing. I dun look forward to making up for two practicals. NINETEEN hours, if i might reilliterate this point. But i do suppose PM Lee deserves a certain amount of grandeur and preparation =.= i doubt any other minister would have all this fuss. but well, that's how it works.
I still dun understand what one can spend 19 hours doing. Logistical dry runs? I have no idea. Certainly nothing to do with chorale. Prob only 10% of the time will be spent on singing-related stuff. Maybe the conductor will ask chorale to take a 3-hr break while she 'settles some issues' with the band for eg. Chorale doesnt even need that much prac, it's not a hard piece. I can see us ending up stoning and socializing. Not that i dun enjoy slacking. But i dun see why it should be at the expense of our lessons. (initial ending time for thu was 11am and an excellent opputunity to dota with chinny and co. is but a minor point =p) maybe i shall bring hw there to do. maybe that will bring the productivity level to positive. just maybe. gasp.
i think i sound angry =) i blame my fatigue. lectures are going at an extremely fast pace, and i cant keep up. this makes me annoyed. i dun like not understanding stuff. i seem to be dead beat everyday. i have lotsa work to do, but i'm too tired to do them. i think i spend my free time sleeping. *must get used to jc pace* ok it's almost 12 now, and i shall abandon my hw to go sleep. just like what chinny did. and the SC is always right. chinny plz pon chorale on thu and fri, so i can follow u too =p
-yawnz-
--rard--
p.s. the GMT timezone is wrong. we live in singapore. to make it easier, gimme admin priv plz av, so i can make some essential html changes. on a further note, i like my post titles, and i want them to be seen =p ok wdv, nitez!
posted by drareg at 11:52 PM
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whee!!
whee!!
Chorale blog! yay. haha. where are all the bloggers.. haha. this is like my one of the rare rare times i actually blog.. cos i dun have a blog. haha.
lolz. opening ceremony prac for soooooo long.. miss so many lectures, tutorials, practicals and what more... lets see.. yea.. TIME!!... sitting down on the tiers to stone considered part of the music i guess.. not trying to say anything but then. yea. could have been better planned and organised.. dun need so many hours la.. wed, thurs, fri, sat.. that's not how a performing arts should operate. so yea. hopefully all things go well. finish everything on wed and then sing on sat and yea, the cycle should stop. taking way too long.. we need a change.. maybe they really got important stuff to brief us..
yea, chorale have been quite exciting.. new songs to learn, not really new but then as in have to learn the parts. so much fun interacting.. =P with all the crazy, hyper, fun-loving people :D yea. and with all the shopping going on.. its like hahahaz.. yea. drinks food. applying law of consumer theory.. hahaz. demand & supply. haha. doesn't simply the situation tho.. haha. just gets complicated.. with even more theories coming out, especially from whao.. its going to be so intense and exciting and complicated. lolz. i guess its part of growing up in this environment. learning to understand yourself, know what you want, being more senstive, standing by your own principles. blah blah blah.. with all the push and pull factors going around, there's probabaly going to be acceleration and momentum.. haha.. all in all i think, just be positive, smile, dun take things too hard. should be fine la. and all should come naturally :D
note: if you dun understand the shopping bit, its okay =P
and yea i think we should try to at least maintain the blog. keep blogging. and keep it alive! i guess we need some more publicity huh :P *hints at av*
yea, maybe we should eat out together more frequently :P always the same few, yea.
feeling tired after a short nap.. lolz.. need to go back to sleep.. this is one of my worst weeks.. but i'll be positive about it :D
cheers.
chin ee
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While singing itself is good, the real reward comes to those who sing, feel and think with others.
~*~
posted by chinny at 10:42 PM
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Sunday, April 02, 2006
ding dinga ding
oO the chorale blog is up and ready to be spammed yay! haha thx whoever did it =D tho it does look a weetle bitty blank hmm. but it's better than nothing i guess (: anyways, u can link the following pple's blogs...
avonne @ http://www.avolution9489.blogspot.com/
adrian @ http://scatteredstarlight.blogspot.com/
gerard @ http://drareg89.blogspot.com
wenhao @ http://www.starrk.blogspot.com/
songhua @ http://s0ngster.ebloggy.com/
yepyep that's the only blogs i know of so far. anyways, i cant really think of much to write right now, so i guess i better get back to doing my PW report.
p.s. there appears to be a problem with <$BlogDateHeaderDate$> uhoh =p
cheers!
-gerard
posted by drareg at 3:28 PM
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