raffles chorale

pretty woman walking down the street

2008-12-07T19:01:00.001+08:00

happy birthday chrisssss! :D

okay im about to have dinner so i cant bear to put up the closeup shot HAHA. maybe i'll post again later.
ask gerald (or me) online if you want the picture, it's really HAWT :D

birthday photos from eons ago!

2008-12-02T19:01:00.012+08:00

YAY happy birthday friends!

2008-11-29T10:52:00.005+08:00

HAPPY belated BIRTHDAY CAT :DDD

HAHA may you become more kinky as you mature and may all your princeS flock towards you! WE LOVE YOU CAT!! :DDD

2008-10-24T22:46:00.005+08:00

happy birthday geof!! check out those sexy legs and big doe eyes :D
i've been waiting all year to post these photos la, hahaha

okay i think joelle will post the real birthday photos ermm after As.
STUDY HARD FRIENDS! <3

2008-09-20T21:29:00.003+08:00

happy birthday suet!

2008-09-19T19:15:00.006+08:00

val the super hardworking haha

joseph caught committing adultery!! guess who?

waiting for neoprints (if you squint you might see kialiang's horror on his maiden neoprint voyage haha)

yay and happy birthday yongfeng :D

joseph's birthday!

2008-08-27T21:56:00.002+08:00

photos

2008-07-29T21:19:00.003+08:00

Caroling practice last year!

MEP room prac!

Auditions

Studying in school, skygazing and laughing with/at kialiang

Lastly, playground and..

the attack of Joash!

(:

2008-06-26T22:50:00.004+08:00

YAY this is going to take years to upload but omg so exciting, this is my first time posting. i think geof is so funny LOL and chorale pple can dance NOT BAD!

yay okay enjoy :DDD such talents are not to be wasted!

(ahh damn irritating, this is really taking years to process)

2008-06-15T23:11:00.006+08:00

Hello everyone geof here. This is my first post here! And i bring videos! guaranteed to irritate the hell out of some people hahaha.

Mr toh teaching sops how to fetch water for SANCTAMARIAAA

Sops doing sanctamariaaa

Chris and Gen serenading/communicating to each other with pokpok

Hmm.. choir blues anyone?

HEEEEE bye :D

trip quotes

2008-06-15T00:43:00.001+08:00

"come on julian, let's do it" - cat
"i think kiapig is trying to hit on me" - joseph

now, post photos!

concert quotes!

2008-05-08T22:51:00.001+08:00

go away, your body is damn hot! gerald to julian
lie down, bennett.. charmaine to bennett

We did it!

2008-05-07T00:25:00.001+08:00

Omg guys. I'd just like to say that i think all of you out there are just wonderful and I think we all should be proud of ourselves that we pulled off such a difficult concert, and pulled it off well. It's been a tiring 4 months but I think everyone will agree that every ounce of effort we put in was worth it, and i'm really very proud of everyone, of chorale. Thank you =)

HEY RAFFLES CHORALE!!

2008-05-05T22:14:00.003+08:00

i love you, i really do.

quote of the day

2008-05-03T23:46:00.000+08:00

"Wow! Julian's so hot" - Chris

quotes of the day! + photos haha

2008-04-27T15:39:00.010+08:00

"i don't want to see geoffrey wearing anything around his waist!" kialiang, on buying jazz concert presents

"wow there's enough space behind the piano; i think i'm going to take off my pants now!" bennett, after charmaine took off her skirt

----------

happy birthday to bennett and julian!

sops in the secret toilet :D :D

2nd Quote of the day!

2008-04-21T23:16:00.001+08:00

'My ass already quite big lor,' Gerald, on his blazer size.

quote of the day

2008-04-21T22:25:00.001+08:00

"He wants to do me!" gerald, on julian

2008-04-19T18:50:00.003+08:00

Happy birthday Clara!

*making a wish*

That's bennett's hand.. i think

YAY! Four birthday photos in total!

Yep.. and here are 2 photos that I forgot to post the other time..

Ok.. I am a blogspot noob and can't rotate this photo.
Guess who? XD

Suet! Aren't you glad that you decided to change your bag?

Choir posters (:

2008-04-17T22:41:00.002+08:00

yayy pretty posters. been googling for choir symbols/designs haha (: Cant wait to hear you all sing man. Been praying daily for you all to not fall sick and that your voices will be preserved and that the sound will near perfection! :D *grins*

quote of the day

2008-04-14T21:24:00.002+08:00

"You and me, let's do it baby!" isaac to kialiang

Photos!

2008-04-10T21:05:00.004+08:00

Yay.. photos from looooong ago! haha.. Finally got round to putting them up cuz Fried's birthday photos are in my phone and I really should post it before say.. four months after his actual birthday *cough* Haha!

[edit] Whoops.. Internet died on me before I could post photos.. No idea how this got posted >< Anyway.. Photos![/edit]

Happy Birthday fried!

Fried trying to act tall

Hahahahaha..

Studying in Antartica.

Angst butterfly from camp!

BWAHAHAHAHA.. XD

Buying carolling shawls!

Yay.. Okay. Dont exactly remember what happened.. but the cover(?) of the grand piano in LT2 flew off.

Quan's drawing of kialiang.

Mugging! (last year) Haha. Suet looks scary! Anyway.. we were both amused cuz our table was supremely messy.. but the guys' table was super neat.

2008-04-04T23:36:00.000+08:00

Super late? Happy super belated birthday!!

2008-03-29T23:32:00.008+08:00

hello i bring a few photos!

(LATE) MARCH BABIES:

happy birthday quan huiyi (and royce)!

happy birthday chunling!

plus,
two photos from J1 practice (:

ATTENTION J1s: if you want to linked, please leave your blog urls in the tagboard thank you! :D
[edit] if you don't have posting access to chorale blog, tag also please! [/edit]

2008-03-03T21:37:00.002+08:00

hey, here are some nice recordings of the songs in our repertoire :)

pokpok

ave maria (bruckner)

ave maris stella (kverno)

wade in de water

an irish blessing

2008-03-02T12:36:00.002+08:00

Hello to seniors and whoever else reads this blog. Our concert is on.....

6th May 2008
Tuesday (not Wed as the website says)
7.30pm
Esplanade Concert Hall

Tickets can be booked through sistic at this address: Boo!

Yay omgosh damn exciting. =D

a capella (:

2008-02-29T21:48:00.002+08:00

Swingle singers! Ancient but niceee.

Flight of the bumblebee a capella
-actually swingles have a version too. can go youtube watch.

ahh. i miss you guyssss. and i miss singing. okay so whats new right. since us j3s all say the same thing. Looking forward to concert. do tell me when the date is yea. (: (: take care, j2s dont stress for ct1, and God bless!

more photos

2008-02-23T21:39:00.009+08:00

happy birthday jac!

bennett and julian give a rousing lunchtime concert after practice.

the audience is enthralled.

this is sophie the puppy! sophie was the recepient of many coos today, haha.

group shot with sophie!
.. sophie is clearly distracted by the guys. no one quite understands why HAHA

photos from camp prep!

2008-02-06T14:10:00.000+08:00

hello! haha okay i come with offerings of a few photos from camp prep :D :D

(if your glass is some laupok you know who to hunt down..)

humphwee demostrates his singing prowess

here in raffles chorale, we try not to discriminate against the vertically challenged :D

yay rainbow angst, with wenny's pretty butterfly.

oh and i just found this in my phone - severely overdue birthday photo for lois!

happy er 4-month anniversary of your 17th birthday lois! HAHA :D

yay if anyone has photos from camp please post okay! thank you.
anyway i know this has been said already but nevermind i say again! i think camp (last school camp for j2s you know! ><) turned out very nicely, and for me personally, it was a really wonderful experience putting the camp together (:

so yeah! thank you to all the camp subcomms! and thank you to all the new members of chorale for being so enthu and nice, hope everybody enjoyed themselves at camp la (:

and now i'll just end off by saying,
WELCOME TO RAFFLES CHORALE :D :D
hope we have a wonderful happy year ahead!

happy cny everybody! haha hope you get lots of angbaos if you celebrate cny. see you guys in school next week! <3

words ending with (SING)

2008-01-18T21:23:00.000+08:00

hey (SING)ers (: here's 785 words ending with sing for you guys to read, learn and choose for msn nicks! whee so fun. haha. miss u guys! <3

2008-01-05T17:58:00.001+08:00

We are Woot.

2007-12-30T14:05:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone! Art work by Tan Wen-Yi scanned in long ago but i forgot to upload it haha. Anyway, here's wishing everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope 2008 brings great things for chorale and all of us =D

SATB

2007-11-27T16:02:00.000+08:00

posted this before i believe, but i colour-coded it this time for people to read more easily. (: haha. take the time read if you havent before!

In any chorus, there are four voice parts: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Sometimes these are divided into first and second within each part, prompting endless jokes about first and second basses. There are also various other parts such as baritone, countertenor, contralto, mezzo soprano, etc., but these are mostly used by people who are either soloists, or belong to some excessively hotshot classical a cappella group (this applies especially to countertenors), or are trying to make excuses for not really fitting into any of the regular voice parts, so we will ignore them for now. Each voice part sings in a different range, and each one has a very different personality. You may ask, "Why should singing different notes make people act differently?", and indeed this is a mysterious question and has not been adequately studied, especially since scientists who study musicians tend to be musicians themselves and have all the peculiar complxes that go with being tenors, french horn players, timpanists, or whatever. However,this is beside the point; the fact remains that the four voice parts can be easily distinguished, and I will now explain how...

The SOPRANOS are the ones who sing the highest, and because of this they think they rule the world. They have longer hair, fancier jewellery, and swishier skirts than anyone else, and they consider themselves insulted if they are not allowed to go at least to a high F in every movement of any given piece. When they reach the high notes, they hold them for at least half again as long as the composer and/or conductor requires, and then complain that their throats are killing them and that the composer and conductor are sadists. Sopranos have varied attitudes toward the other sections of the chorus, though they consider all of them inferior. Altos are to sopranos rather like second violins to first violins - nice to harmonise with, but not really necessary. All sopranos have a secret feeling that the altos could drop out and the piece would sound essentially the same, and they don't understand why anybody would sing in that range in the first place - it's so boring. Tenors, on the other hand, can be very nice to have around; besides their flirtation possibilities (it is a well-known fact that sopranos never flirt with basses), sopranos like to sing duets with tenors because all the tenors are doing is working very hard to sing in a low-to-medium soprano range, while the sopranos are up there in the stratosphere showing off. To sopranos, basses are the scum of the earth - they sing too damn loud, are useless to tune because they're down in that low, low range - and there has to be something wrong with anyone who sings in the F clef, anyway.

Top Ten Reasons for Being a Soprano:
1. The rest of the choir exists just to make you look good.
2. You can entertain your friends by breaking their wineglasses.
3. Can you name an opera where an alto got the man?
4. When sopranos want to sing in the shower, they know the tune.
5. It's not like you are ever going to sing the alto part by accident.
6. Great costumes - like the hat with the horns on it.
7. How many world famous altos can you name?
8. When the fat lady sings, she's usually singing soprano.
9. When you get tired of singing the tune, you can sing the descant.
10. You can sing along with Michael Jackson.

The ALTOS are the salt of the earth - in their opinion, at least. Altos are unassuming people, who would wear jeans to concerts if they were llowed to.Altos are in a unique position in the chorus in that they are unable to complain about having to sing either very high or very low, and they know that all the other sections think their parts are pitifully easy. But the altos know otherwise. They know that while the sopranos are screeching way on a high A, they are being forced to sing elaborate passages full of harps and flats and tricks of rhythm, and nobody is noticing because the sopranos are singing too loud (and the basses usually are too). Altos get a deep,secret pleasure out of conspiring together to tune the sopranos flat. Altos have an innate distrust of tenors, because the tenors sing in almost the same range and think they sound better. They like the basses, and enjoy singing duets with them - the basses just sound like a rumble anyway, and it's the only time the altos can really be heard. Altos' other complaint is that there are always too many of them and so they never get to sing really loud.

Top Ten Reasons for Being an Alto:
1. You get really good at singing E flat.
2. You get to sing the same note for 12 consecutive measures.
3. You don't really need to warm up to sing 12 consecutive bars of E-flat.
4. If the choir really stinks, it's unlikely the altos will be blamed.
5. You have lots of time to chat during soprano solos.
6. You get to pretend that you are better than the sopranos, because everybody knows that women only sing soprano so they don't have to learn to read music.
7. You can sometimes find part time work singing tenor.
8. Altos get all the great intervals.
9. When the sopranos are holding some outrageously high note at the end of a song, the altos always get the last words.
10. When the altos miss a note, nobody gets hurt.

The TENORS are spoiled. That's all there is to it. For one thing, there are never enough of them, and choir directors would rather sell their souls than let a halfway decent tenor quit, while they're always ready to unload a few altos at half price. And then, for some reason, the few tenors are always really good - it's one of those annoying facts of life. So it's no wonder that tenors always get swollen heads - after all, who else can make sopranos swoon? The one thing that can make tenors insecure is the accusation (usually by the basses) that anyone singing that high couldn't possibly be a real man.. In their usual perverse fashion, the tenors never acknowledge this, but just complain louder about the composer being a sadist and making them sing so damn high. Tenors have a love-hate relationship with the conductor, too, because the conductor is always telling them to sing louder because there are so few of them. No conductor in recorded history has ever asked for less tenor in a forte passage. Tenors feel threatened in some way by all the other sections - the sopranos because they can hit those incredibly high notes; the altos because they have no trouble singing the notes the tenors kill themselves for; and the basses because, although they can't sing anything above an E, they sing it loud enough to drown the tenors out. Of course, the tenors would rather die than admit any of this. It is a little-known fact that tenors move their eyebrows more than anyone else while singing.

Top Ten Reasons for Being a Tenor:
1. Tenors get high - without drugs.
2. Name a musical where the bass got the girl.
3. You can show the sopranos how it SHOULD be sung.
4. Did you ever hear of anyone paying $1000 for a ticket to see 'The three Basses?'
5. Who needs brains when you've got resonance?
6. Tenors never have to waste time looking through the self-improvement section of the bookstore.
7. You get to sing along with John Denver singing "Aye Calypso."
8. When you get really good at falsetto, you can make tons of money doing voice-overs for cartoon characters.
9. Gregorian chant was practically invented for tenors. Nobody invented a genre for basses.
10. You can entertain your friends by impersonating Julia Child.

The BASSES sing the lowest of anybody. This basically explains everything. They are stolid, dependable people, and have more facial hair than anybody else. The basses feel perpetually unappreciated, but they have a deep conviction that they are actually the most important part (a view endorsed by musicologists, but certainly not by sopranos or tenors), despite the fact that they have the most boring part of anybody and often sing the same note(or in endless fifths) for an entire page. They compensate for this by singing as loudly as they can get away with - most basses are tuba players at heart. Basses are the only section that can regularly complain about how low their part is, and they make horrible faces when trying to hit very low notes. Basses are charitable people, but their charity does not extend so far as tenors, whom they consider effete poseurs. Basses hate tuning the tenors more than almost anything else. Basses like altos - except when they have duets and the altos get the good part. As for the sopranos, they are simply in an alternate universe which the basses don't understand at all. They can't imagine why anybody would ever want to sing that high and sound that bad when they make mistakes. When a bass makes a mistake, the other three parts will cover him, and he can continue on his merry way, knowing that sometime, somehow, he will end.

Top Ten Reasons for Being a Bass:
1. You don't have to tighten your shorts to reach your note.
2. You don't have to worry about a woman stealing your job.
3. Or a preadolescent boy stealing your job.
4. Action heroes are always basses. That is - if they ever sang, they would sing bass.
5. You get great memorable lyrics like bop, bop, bop, bop.
6.If the singing job doesn't work out, there's always broadcasting.
7. You never need to learn to read the treble clef.
8. If you get a cold, so what.
9. For fun, you can sing at the bottom of your range and fool people into thinking there's an earthquake.
10. If you belch while you're singing, the audience just thinks it is part of the score.

sentosa!

2007-10-21T18:45:00.000+08:00

playing captain's ball; kia tries the "hug ball and act dead" technique

kialiang the mermaid

the mermaid returns to the sea

having fun in the water

bennett with cool hair!

bennett with cooler hair

wet pple group photo!

happy birthday geoffrey!

joseph complaining about his hurt fingernail

2007-10-11T20:22:00.001+08:00

Us at open house! Good job everyone thanks for putting all that effort to make the open house a super duper success. =)

Shy Sopranos who don't want to get photographed. Guess who????

Camwhore altos who, uh, want to get photographed! Don't need to guess who ^.^

Go J2s! Mug hard! It'll be over in about, oh, 1.5 months? (okay no one slap me) Bye!!! =D

pro a cappella

2007-09-25T23:33:00.000+08:00

hope everyone's doing well for promos (j1s) or prelims (j2s), here's some videos to relax :)

In case you're so stressed you forgot your ABCs...
Alphabet Song - Bobby McFerrin (the granddaddy of a cappella)

Swedish A Cappella (The Real Group)

Gota

It Don't Mean A Thing - check out the pro bass :)

Finnish A Cappella (Rajaton)

Christmas Song in Finnish!

Butterfly - super nice song!

A Cappella Propaganda

emo A Cappella

Happy A Cappella :)

A Cappella Rock

White Room - The Bobs

Vintage A Cappella

I've Got Rhythm - Fred

Jazz A Cappella

Take Five - Bolyki Brothers

Round Midnight - Bobby McFerrin

more music

2007-09-24T00:23:00.000+08:00

dissect bobby mcferrin

AC rock silhouettes

honda advert choir

Nintendo a capella medley

a capella rehabilitation

this is performing.

2007-09-19T15:10:00.000+08:00

sacred music

REAL lion king singing.

bohemian

a capella hall of fame.

baby blues in relation

2007-09-16T00:28:00.000+08:00

dedicated to good kows (:

this kinda reminded me of hmm. someone. haha ;)

song medley...

hidden auditions...when we first discovered we could sing!

hey guys. miss you all <3 hope j1s are being onZ about promos
and j2s hanging on tight!
much love, as always.

national day pics

2007-08-19T15:25:00.000+08:00

farewell

2007-08-18T23:25:00.000+08:00

if suet can cook, so can you!

1st guests of honour to arrive (fashionably late)

inside chris' mansion

bennett trying to keep dry

wenhao getting splashed

the minions of the pool trying to drag people into the watery depths to join their army...

everyone dressed!

a special moment that will always be hammered deeply in their minds

tenor present

alto present

thanks to all the j1s and j2s for a great farewell!

Val's birthday pic.

2007-08-11T21:16:00.000+08:00

Took this photo long time ago during Val's birthday! HAPPY SUPER DUPER BELATED BIRTHDAY VALL!!

adventures in choraleland, part one

2007-08-02T22:48:00.000+08:00

making cards upstairs..

kialiang gets a chocolate phone..

and geof puts on even more weight.

yay

2007-07-24T23:38:00.000+08:00

from sop sectionals, with love :D

birthday!!!

2007-07-05T19:36:00.000+08:00

yay happy birthday gen and joelle!

(ivan gives weird smile)

gen receives her earring shirt with delight (:

joseph's smile overpowers the camera's inability to focus

dingading

2007-07-05T00:13:00.000+08:00

various peoples stare intelligently at calculator for two minutes plus

yepp.

post cts (:

2007-07-01T22:56:00.000+08:00

heyos people (: how are you guys faring after the cts? go listen to these guys. (:

ahh..so cute.like 10 yrs old haahaha xD so fun.

choir cip

2007-06-23T11:13:00.000+08:00

((:

Chorale Withdrawal Symptoms

2007-06-21T00:02:00.000+08:00

all who have say AYE.

inspiration for cts!

2007-06-20T00:21:00.000+08:00

to inspire you for your cts 07-- look upon the golden man. behold!

yo people (: jiayou jiayou! half a week left (: happy mugging, enjoy ur notes and take care! <33 much love. dunt stress alrights? God bless (:

Happy Birthday Jing Zhong!

2007-06-11T22:07:00.000+08:00

chalett

2007-06-05T14:58:00.000+08:00

wheeeheehee chalet photos!

photo update! (:

2007-05-30T01:17:00.000+08:00

more a capella~

2007-05-19T22:45:00.001+08:00

check it out..
http://curiousattacks.googlepages.com/
"They are a group of classical-trained singers who take our art really quite seriously. They are a Singaporean vocal group that likes to relook the way vocal groups do things. They comprise of 4 singers: Yap Shing Min (Soprano), Phua Ee Kia (Alto), Leslie Tay (Tenor), Ng Tian Hui (Bass) have sung their way through most of Choral Singapore, having variously sung with exemplary choirs such as the Singapore Youth Choir, Singapore Lyric Opera, Philharmonic Chamber Choir (Singapore) and The Singers. The group's aims are singing, to have fun singing and to share the joy of singing !"

dearest loveliest j1s

2007-05-19T14:19:00.000+08:00

We trust that your love for chorale and each other overcomes anything. Keep on supporting one another and love each other kay? Don't be discouraged by interviews/elections-- the year and next holds much ahead! Jiayous!
& your seniors love you all. *hugs*

pweety pweety =DD

2007-05-13T11:33:00.000+08:00

heh pictures pictures!!
(sorry some so big lazy to resize o.O)

prettiest section ever =p=p ALTOS!!

much love =DD

heh den i promised punch photos ^^

heh loves punch ^^

exco 2007!!

yupyup that's all. hope you guys are doing alright
loves! (:

one week to go!

2007-05-01T22:09:00.000+08:00

Hey people, 加油 kay!

EVERYONE takeMOREcare of YOURself, yourSECTIONmates, yourSLs,
sleepMORE!
eatWELL,
stayHEALTHY, physically, mentally, emotionally & spiritually!
most of all don't give up. keep on singing, and keep on loving what you do.
*hugs* <3 much love from welfairy.

And to j2s who remb siangee,
siangee --ตี๋น้อย Project Cat Jaga says:
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!
siangee --ตี๋น้อย Project Cat Jaga says:
and send my regards to the chorale!
siangee --ตี๋น้อย Project Cat Jaga says:
have lots of fun and really enjoy the music
siangee --ตี๋น้อย Project Cat Jaga says:
!!!

2007-04-30T20:56:00.000+08:00

Cjc blog
heys people. you can go see see if you all like.
they've got songs on their blog too, so you can download, like verbum!and the songs they're singing for syf. *nods*

aiyoh

2007-04-23T23:50:00.000+08:00

sorry for bumping all the nice pictures down, refer down there for proper photos, haha..!

concert photos!

2007-04-22T16:10:00.000+08:00

hey people i owe much much photos. pass me thumbdrives or cds and ill burn/ save kay? (: anyway some concert photos for you guys.

chinee and geoff - see height difference xP

wong wong staring at you x)

sorry got no punch/alto pix kay. you guys dint ask me to use my camera, so ask nikki to post! haha x)

2007-04-13T21:09:00.000+08:00

The reflectors and the stage are all painted and ready, all we need to do now is just to fill the lt with music and make all the work we've put in worthwhile.

born to sing.

its april

2007-04-05T06:00:00.000+08:00

pretty board! which could have been out longer had tickets not been sold out so fast! haha. so heres a picture for you to keep x)

3 of the March babies (:

seesawrawr.

2007-03-31T19:51:00.000+08:00

oldold photos

brrr.

more carpentry

2007-03-26T17:11:00.000+08:00

more photos of us working on the reflector =)

version one of the reflector (which was too bulky and heavy)

avonne being evil

result of not using enough glue

ivan testing out the reflector

forcing kia to eat

completed reflector!

ivan trying to look cool

kia looking hot

...and a random pic i did with tricia's drawing!

carpentry

2007-03-25T23:46:00.000+08:00

work on the REFLECTOR!
see the manly choir boys at work (: hahahha

acting as woodweights- so that the glue will stick the wood together

see geoffrey saw

2007-03-17T20:30:00.001+08:00

photos from today's j1-only prac!

geoffrey conducting

pple singing during break

kia and bennett

adrian

sops

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeyongfeng/tags/raffleschorale/

chorale mascot

2007-03-07T23:35:00.000+08:00

lol the proud masterpieces of artist tricia tan

chinese indian malay

2007-03-04T21:00:00.000+08:00

song without words! (:
can refer to the board and write your lyrics.haha..

anyway thought id share some quotes on music with you guys (:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul.
And sings the tune
Without the words,
and never stops at all.
-Emily Dickinson
US poet (1830 - 1886)

Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here!
-J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 1997

I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.
-George Eliot
English novelist (1819 - 1880)

Music is a discipline, and a mistress of order and good manners, she makes the people milder and gentler, more moral and more reasonable.
-Martin Luther

My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.
-Martin Luther

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes
US author & physician (1809 - 1894)

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
-Aldous Huxley, "Music at Night", 1931
English critic & novelist (1894 - 1963)

A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
-H. L. Mencken
US editor (1880 - 1956)

take 5!

2007-02-25T20:30:00.000+08:00

more pics of weisong at take 5!

take 5

2007-02-25T17:11:00.000+08:00

wooh way to go weisong! xD

group photos from camp (: etc

2007-02-19T17:18:00.000+08:00

Darling tutu-kuehs! (TWO) <3
didnt get to spend much time with them during camp cos was running arnd and what nots. but they are still darlings nonetheless (:

Sops on zf's bday <3

Block house 2007!
j1s forming foundation;
j2s as shelter over them (:

since i havent yet sent fotos to everyone,
have decided to put up the group ones first.

but this is an exception--
valerie's forfeit: give wenhao a dustbin for him to toss away all his troubles (:

just want to say happy chinese new year to all!!
chorale is love.
<3
God bless you guys & gals with an enriching year ahead...though filled with the ups and downs, remb that no one's perfect, and that everything, no matter good or bad to you, happens for a reason *nods*
love you all loads....much much much love (:

photos update

2007-02-17T22:22:00.000+08:00

boss and bossess (:

happy bdae whao!

whao

chinny

trish

looking sick after jameson spun me round and round...and round, on the err round thing =\

talking (:

high up in e air

everyone yay!

Random photos again! (:

2007-02-13T00:07:00.000+08:00

this picture speaks for itself -- joash (:

this is how the boss gets high ;)

aces workout with royce the instructor ;)

YES!! i called your name first! woohooo!

uno-tower of pisa

tower of stylo-foam (:

beware the ivan! ROARRRRR

such a drama!

hellos people! hope to show u guys pictures of camp...in the event that i cant...i'll prob burn and send, or make a ppt and load up to yahoogroups...but that will take place erm when i haf time! yupyup (:

randomness -

2007-02-12T21:02:00.000+08:00

who write one ah..?

playground fun

reliving childhood..

bennett and co at camp

chill and makan

Birthdays for feb (:

2007-02-11T00:19:00.000+08:00

Just for you all's information (:

February

5- Tiffany
7- Joash
10- Wen Hao
11- Valentino
14- Zhao Feng
16- Chang Qing
20- Clarissa, Jacqueline
26- Yi Hui

made a list of all the birthdays.will load up to the yahoo groups i think.(: yups!

Chorale Camp!

2007-02-04T21:07:00.000+08:00

YOOO GUYS!! songhua here... wahahahaha haven't blogged for a LONG LONG time... wanna blog about the chorale camp!

The camp was kinda special for me, as it was like an orientation camp for me to get back into the chorale family again, after MIA-ing for the past 6 months. I wanna commend on our dear J1 juniors! They're a bunch of cute and fun kiaz manx! =DD It's great to have you guys as juniors!! erms sidenote: if you guys see me around in school, but i didn't wave to you, it's not because i dao u!! wahahaha it's becuz i'm really slow in remembering new faces and your names....i'll try my best k!! i'll certainly respond if you wave to me, wahahahha!=p

Eh it was a pity I couldn't stay throughout the camp, I missed all the station games and the Special Night! :(( but the icebreakers and the night trail are already very enjoyable =D I'm a proud member of GROUP ~~SEX~~ SIX!! We started off well with icebreakers, and I think the corniest game we played was the Pepsi Cola. wahahhahahaha!! It was like one of my best childhood games, but now that we played it, I was really sucky at it larhs... wahahaha but heck it's very fun larhs! =D

I liked the Night Trail! Although it played within the school, but it was kinda tiring, cuz the sch is really huge!! Bleah but our group is a bunch of fit people, we ran from one place to another to race against other teams, and ward off from the waterguns =p We managed to find the clues at a fast speed, and were also commended for keeping our "Group Flag" clean without resorting to underhand violent means =)) Yay good job!! I felt very satisfied after completing the night trail =D

Hmmm yeah hope someone from my group carries on writing what happened for Day 2! Group 6 rocks manx!! =D

6-xy (read: sexy) people: clarissa.joelle.ruth (MIA).suetping.tiger.geoffrey.joash (MIA).royce.songhua (taking the pic!)

Oops only had this "group photo" in my handphone, and it isn't the complete group in the pic. Hope our dear camera-woman Clarissa post more pics later on!!! hehs =D

yeps overall, chorale camp was fun!! Great job, comm! And *pats* to everyone who made it fun fun, esp our darling juniors!=DD woohoo!

amazing

2007-02-04T15:47:00.000+08:00

[we were born to sing]

hey guys! haha i think this is like totally the first time i'm posting here, but well.
i just wanna say thanks to everyone for the wonderful camp

to the j1s, you guys were just awesome! in every single way possible. your enthusiasm and EXTREME CUTENESS and loveableness just rocked and i think camp wouldn't have been so great without all of you so really, thank you, and we all really love yall!! haha that's why i branded all of you with nikki loves you =p

to the j2s, i think you guys were great too, thanks to all the wonderful group leaders, matt (HOOLIDOLIES!!), weisong, gerard, gengrui, trisha, chenyun. you guys did a superb superb job leading your groups and keeping them together (: to the rest, i could really see your love for choir, especially for all the times yall spent coming down for the combined item prac and everything. you guys rock!

to the comm, what would camp have been without you guys. really.
whao and jina: thank you our dear bosses, for running the show, for making sure everything goes according to plan, for keeping things in order. it was a really good effort and we all really thank you for it.

zhaofeng and sandra: oops i missed the icebreakers, but i know that the teams really enjoyed it too, so yeah job well done (: it really was a good start for the camp!

huilin: oh man what would i have done without you for night hunt. haha. thank you for all your support and for writing clues and enduring my extreme highs and lows. ((:

avonne, jingzhong and clar: the afternoon games were really good, i think the teams really enjoyed themselves, thank you for all the planning, and for being so versatile and optimistic despite having to give up your urban hike. everything still worked out in the end!

chinee, adrian and ruth: i already told you guys this, but i seriously was very impressed with special night. the effort you guys put in was just...well, let's just say i really peifu yall, and special night was really really really x100000 special. the stars and lights were SO PRETTY and i know it wasn't that easy to do, and the food setup and everything was just great. the food was yummyyummyyummy and the yusheng and sparkling juice was really good. haha.

so yeah. thanks guys. camp wouldn't have been camp without all of you ((: loves!!

2007-02-01T22:06:00.000+08:00

pizza lovers

magic sticks!

assorted biscuits =)

assorted hair accessories =\

playground dinner!

j8 carpark ^^

painting

2007-01-29T23:13:00.000+08:00

master artist adrian showing off his powerful strokes

ruth hard at work putting in all her force

the slackers who futilely try to hide their identity

PROFILE photos up!

2007-01-28T15:57:00.000+08:00

*what-e-ver* will be, will be (:

hey people just to let you guys know that ive finally loaded up the section photos under profile! took me like 2 hrs -.-''
anw, tag ur emails/email me your emails @ appleav@gmail.com so i can add you as a blogger to chorale blog (:
--really really hope this blog can be put to better use this year! YEAH! (:

PS. j1 trigger-happy-kias, do contribute your photos too! bring camera to chorale (:

photos - christmas 2006

2007-01-22T01:21:00.000+08:00

4 different angles of homojaleh xP

wenhao korkor! (: -chinee & huilin
(oh dear whats the darling boy's name?)

lipstick marks upon whaos face ;)
artist:shaun liu

happy (finally) 17th birthday weisong!

pass the parcel - adr brushing weisong's teeth! XD
remb to ask weisong to flash a grin for you =D
songhua, chinee & gengrui looking on

ruth, wenhao, gengrui, yechao, weisong, nikki, huilin, zhaofeng(with his still long hair) & jz @ bbq pit!

~songhua, yikai

ruth & wenhao having a chicken-wing-cooking-competition!
nikki judge, maybe? not sure..

kat,jz,nikki,ruth,jina,huilin (:

okay its 143am and id better stop posting photos.
have more photos, duh.
have not added any j3 photos yet.
any requests? anyway...when im free ask me for photos, yea? (:
and to j1s who are reading this..if you like taking photos, feel free! (:

photos (: bubble tea galore

2007-01-22T01:11:00.000+08:00

jz's blue coral milk tea. matches ruth's bag perfectly ;)

chinee, weisong, joseph. and 2 people in the background xP -cl.kl.

ruth, jz, zf, matt

huilin sipping happily

wow we're j2s!

2007-01-14T12:32:00.000+08:00

the choir seems so big now that the j1 intake has joined us. haha woah basses are overwhelming now. and tenors increased by 100% heh. somehow i dun feel j2 =p and it's not as if these juniors need much teaching. they're definitely technically more sound than our batch. anyways, hello to christopher from my junior class! ^^

pictures of lunch after sat prac (:

jingzhong clar av

adrian jingzhong

chinny whao trish

christmas!! (:

2006-12-24T15:21:00.000+08:00

heLLo dArlings!!!
BLESSED CHRISTMAS 2006 TO ALL OF YOU (:

Its truly been an exciting, memorable and meaningful year with everyone.
i promise a longer post soon with more photos yea?

meanwhile take care, enjoy ur week! and see you all at
Ruth's place on 27th!!!!!!
Rembr to bring a gift for exchange (:
And any food you'd like to share (: wheeee

<3 much love, av

photos! (:

2006-10-15T21:14:00.000+08:00

jus creating a post so i can put photos here! yea mann..

see zhaofeng's happy face? (: whee! haha

got the guys to pose for this! (: tired of candid shots! haha x) nice rite?

pay nikki! (: hahahaha x)

i jus found this picture nice (: hehe..so ya! so affectionate rite (:

whao say CHEESE!! (literally)

this is a super nice picture taken at chijmes!

darling zf n jz! (: haha. so sweet rite this pic (:

girls girls! haha (:

okok enough photos. ive been blogging since afternoon lol! anyone want photos pls come find me. esp if its like random and expected and candid lol! x) kay then. you can save the photos on your comp.

love ya'all!

Vienna Boys' Choir

2006-09-30T13:55:00.000+08:00

Anyone interested? should we go together to watch?
Does anyone know whats the cheapest we can get the tickets at?

Vienna Boys' Choir
Event Dates: 7th Oct / 8th Oct 2006
Time of Event: 7.30pm
Venue: Esplanade, Concert Hall

Ticketing (excluding booking fee of $1/$2)
$35, $45, $60, $75, $95
Duration: Approx 1 hr 50 mins
Interval: Approx 20 mins
Language: English
There's a 10% discount for Group purchase of minimum >10 tickets / Students

hello darlings!

2006-09-30T12:41:00.000+08:00

Click on this link to

Listen to the SINGING horses!

heyhey!
miss you guys loads!
cant wait to see everyone again (:
ooh whee!
anyway; ive added in the b'days for oct-dec for both j1s & j2s.
so- if your birthday falls in one of those months,
or you do know of someone else whom ive missed, do tag to complain!
and it'll be edited xD

click on the picture to enlarge and read the comic (:
its called 'Somewhere over the asteroids";
a spoof of somewhere over the rainbow haha.

how about the big friendly SingSong xD

and if you still have not clicked on the link to the singing horses, do so now! its really cool 4 part singing horses (: hahaah...and you can stop and start them as and when you like (: really nice!

So long - Farewell - Auf wiedersehen - Good bye

2006-08-09T20:31:00.000+08:00

To feel: what a waste, what a pity, if only people could be brought together.

"It was an offering; to combine, to create...an offering for the sake of offering perhaps...(a) gift"

Farewell party.

Thank you list:

Zheng Yuan: for getting the lovely presents on behalf of all the sops and staying back late so many days to do filming
Yi Hui: for protecting us against evil mosquitoes which are apparently the culprits of the most number of human deaths caused by animals
Sandra: for bringing and playing the beautiful violin, and for helping with the little poem
Chang Qing: for putting aside her dignity a little while to scream for us, albeit silently, for the video
Avonne: for coordinating the video stuff, helping with food stuff, writing and reading poem thing, and staying perpetually in the kitchen to clear up our rubbish
Yu Chao: for liking my happy pig!
Nikki: for pampering us with so much tasty food, residing with Avonne at the back to clear up rubbish and the nice handwriting
Jina: for bringing so much food; for the little sweet speech and for coordinating the whole farewell
Clarissa: for turning up even after getting devastated by her practical exam, bringing chocolates and planning for games that got cancelled twice
Audrey: for looking like a cute little fruit!
Debbie: for consenting to bimboise herself for the chorale cause of making a video
Marie: for being herself and making people smile..or cringe
Hui Lin: for preparing all the cards and getting us together to write those very many messages
Ruth: for working with Nikki on the brownies and preparing stuff
Wei Song: for being such a Tohish Mr Toh!
Geng Rui: for spending so much time on the video, even going down all the way to VCH
Chin Ee: for being such a nice SC, for arranging the farewell song, for getting us the chalet in the first place!, and for the many strange ideas
Matthias: for the super smooth jelly
Adrian: for all the time, stress, and angst!! spent on the video - getting us together, carrying equipment etc etc etc.
Wen Hao: for the weird speeches and weird ideas; and for coordinating the whole farewell
Gerard: for being such a climby thing and for coming earlier to help out with décor
Chen Yun: for being so entertaining and for acting in the film
Jing Zhong: for baking gift cookies/brownies/brown things with Clarissa and I and preparing stuff for gifts
Yi Kai: for being his queer self and acting his queer self in the video
Me!: for blowing up a big ballon three times fatter than I am two times (numbers!), even though it burst before many got to see it cause someone tried to wax its rubber smooth skin
All the J1s who, while unable to go for the farewell, still believe in us
All the J2s and teachers!
and the 100 chickens (assuming each had exactly two wings), who, in their martyrdom sacrificed themselves needlessly for ungrateful us

"...robes of sound from the street, sunny, with hot breath, whispering, blowing out the blinds."

a gift...

okay.

2006-08-05T22:27:00.000+08:00

well well. in the spirit of lit week (which has just ended for all you ppl living under rocks out there), i shall post a poem ^.^

i think it's quite an interesting poem actually, that i got for prac crit sometime in term 1.

Love
The difficult part of love
Is being selfish enough,
Is having the blind persistence
To upset someone's existence
Just for your own sake-
What cheek it must take.

And then the unselfish side-
Who can be justified
Putting someone else first,
So that you come off worst?
My life is for me:
As well deny gravity.

Yet, vicious or virtuous,
Love still suits most of us;
Only the bleeder who
Can't manage either view
Is ever wholly rebuffed-
And he can get stuffed.

Philip Larkin (1922 - 1985)

LIT WEEEEEEEEEEK!!

2006-07-31T21:23:00.000+08:00

Hahahahahahahahahaha!
Lit week!! - time for all the lit students play! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee (k) (Lit)!!
Hehe - went to maths lecture today and read jabberwocky.
quote from Mr Ng: "Wonderful, wonderful!...and they all did not understand a thing!!...Ok I did manage to spot a few DIM beginnings of understanding scattered amongst some faces."

hAHAHAQHAHAHA!!
So completely evil!
Hehe - Shall visit more lectures and make fun of more people. Ooooooo and the best thing is - they actually applaud me for my efforts. How touching.

Well, it's for purposes of education now am I not right?

And what's he then that says I play the villain?
When (these words are) free I give and honest, - Iago,Othello

Ok, anyway, - met Clarissa at Japanese booth today. There were little fish (for sale presumably) swimming most happily (personification) in some pink plastic thing (alliteration)

Disturbing comment from her: Ooo - fish,fish, fish; (then with fingers going through the motions of pinching) - SQUISH, SQUISH, SQUISH!!!

Sing a song of six pence a pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty black birds. Baked in a pie!!

Tumtum Tree!!

Everyone remember to bring your unsold CDs tmr and pass to Ms Tan personally or else!!....they'd be considered SOLD! and you'll have to pay for them!!

Wednesday there's practice - REMEMBER!!

fish, fish, fish
SQUISH,SQUISH,SQUISH
merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream...

PEOPLE WHERE ARE YOU! =(

2006-07-17T21:28:00.000+08:00

wahh. so sad. no one blogs here anymore that i have to DOUBLE POST?! that's pathetic =(
anyway i have decided to share some music poems here with you all-- wonder who'll appreciate them. ah, anyway =)

Music By Walter De La Mare (1873-1956)
When music sounds, gone is the earth I know,
And all her lovely things even lovelier grow;
Her flowers in vision flame, her forest trees
Lift burdened branches, stilled with ecstasies.

When music sounds, out of the water rise
Naiads whose beauty dims my waking eyes,
Rapt in strange dreams burns each enchanted face,
With solemn echoing stirs their dwelling-place.

When music sounds, all that I was I am
Ere to this haunt of brooding dust I came;
And from Time's woods break into distant song
The swift-winged hours, as I hasten along.

Music is By William Parker
Music is the abysmal rainbow that bridges endless galaxies. It is the waterfall flowing through the desert, the mother, the offspring, the ointment, the foot and hand of the wind. All of nature is music: the many colored skies, space and planets.

Music is every wondrous canyon in a miracle’s dream. Music is evolution, the seed of change. Music existed and exists with or without human beings.

No race invented music.

Music is a form of energy, like the sun. Music is the voice through which spirits speak, using a language that is beyond words, a music that is beyond notes. Music informs us with a reality that is scented with the eternal. Music is the tireless swan knitting landscapes of hope. Music is the cry of life and death at birth and conception, the heart beat, the pulse, the healer and the healed, the color portrait, the magical stone and the magical mists living side by side. Music is the chirping of birds; is the grass beneath the cracked shells.

Music is dance and the dancer. It is poetry and the poet. Music is all children. Music is hot cornbread. Music is the kindness one finds in a crayon drawing. Music is wood touching word. Imagine a doorbell made of light. Imagine the house that we would enter if we rang that bell.

Music is the rhythm of butterflies. Music is hungry stomachs being filled. Music is justice. Music is blue water, blue whales, and blue cornmeal.

Music passes through some while others reject the image. The best music teacher is an oak tree. Music cannot be taught. Music is alive. Music is a pasture of yellow grass 6-foot tall.

Music tolls from the earth and lands on the sky of another universe. Music is drone over the Ganges.

Music is a snowflake floating on the ocean.

Music is silence. There is no music in capitalism and imperialism. Music is the answer and the question. Particles of music cannot be measured by scientific instruments. Music vibrates. Not all music vibrates at the same rate. Music is radiant. The blessing, the understanding, the fundamental eye revealing the surrender in the realm of brightness. Music sometimes manifests itself as sound.

Music’s only wish is the well-being of all human beings. Music exists to feed the spirit. Music is no war, not ever, for any reason.

Music is the fertilizer and the seed. Every second we live, music is dying for us. Music will save the day. Music must save the day. Music is the mother to the motherless, father to the fatherless. Music is home to the homeless. Dance music, wedding music, funeral music, march music, waltz music, wood music, steel music, voice music, tree music, ocean music, soil music, baking bread music, pastoral music, union music, trance music, religious music, perpendicular music, circle music, square music, Zion music, Shinto music, Buddha music, Islamic music, Hindu music, Winti music, music for Damballah, Erzulie, Ogun, Ghede, Asacca music for Quetzalcoatl, for the Adena Hopewell, music for the Red Paint people, music to make the moon laugh and cause the sun to turn blue. Music is the incubation of joy. A symbol of music is Kokopelli, the hump-back flute player...

Through music life is altered. This energy, if visible, might resemble bands of light stretched across fields of flowing ash going past layers of infinite habitation. The cry of praise, the memory, the entrance to the fire, oupas chanting. The effect pulls on gravity.

Music is the lasting response, the elixir. Music is nothing; music is everything. There is more music in a baby’s smile than in a thousand symphony orchestras. Music lives in the flute mountains that are made of melted diamonds. We drink them. Our eyes sparkle like petals of a black rose. Music to plant beans, to plant corn. Music the burning throne, the prodigal daughter, and rain cloud over the profound branches.

William Parker is one of the leading bass players, composers and group leaders in jazz and free music today. He can be heard on CD’s with his groups "In Order to Survive" and "Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra", and on dozens of CD’s with other musicians. "Music Is" is taken from Sound Journal a collection of writings by William Parker. He lives in New York City.

This article was published in New Renaissance, Volume 9, No. 1, issue 27 and this page was posted on the web on August 18, 1999.

Remembered Music by James Russel Lowell
Thick-Rushing, like an ocean
Of bison the far prairie shaking,
The notes crowd heavily and fast
As surfs, one plunging while the last
Draws seaweed from its foamy breaking.

Or in low murmurs they began,
Rising and rising momently,
As o'er a harp Eolian
A fitful breeze, until they ran
Up to a sudden ecstasy.

And them, like minute-drop of rain
Ringing in water silverly,
They lingering dropped and dropped again,
Till it was almost like a pain
To listen when the next would be.

HAHA. am i killing the non lit people with too many words? I'm sorry xP ahha..but jus wanted to let you guys have something to read. anyway...don't be too sad or disappointed over your CT results, kay? jiayou for term 3 n muggin! miss you guys rahh. well. 26th'll be our sing-sch-song prac =) ahhaha...oh wells. jiayou TO J2s, ESPECIALLY!! =)) love you guys =)

Songs INFO!! =)

2006-06-15T04:13:00.000+08:00

Hey people, thought you guys would like to know more about the songs we put in so much effort for! hope you take the time to go read the stuff kay...took me effort to research =)) love u guys! =)

On the Miyako Islands, there is a group dance called Kuicha. The term kuicha refers to songs sung with the harmony of voices from a large group of people. This dance is performed to ensure a bountiful harvest, to pray for rain, at housewarming parties and banquets. Kuicha is performed by groups of men, groups of women and groups composed of both men and women. In whatever form it is danced, a circle of dancers is formed and with half the group alternating singing duties, they clap hands and stamp their feet or wave their hands over their heads, dancing exuberantly with their whole bodies.
--found this excerpt online heh..

Libera Me is a part of the Requiem Mass of the Roman Catholic Church, as such it is in Latin. These are the lyrics.

Libera Me
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna
in die illa tremenda
quando coeli movendi sunt et terra,
dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem.

Tremens factus sum ego et timeo,
dum discussion venerit atque venture ira:
quando coeli movendi sunt et terra.

English Translation:
Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death
on that awful day
when the heavens and earth shall be shaken
and you shall come to judge the world by fire.

I am seized with fear and trembling
until the trial is at hand and the wrath to come:
when the heavens and earth shall be shaken.

"Verbum Supernum Prodiens"
The first line of two hymns celebrating respectively the Nativity of Christ and the Institution of the Holy Eucharist. The hymnologist Daniel remarks on the obvious relation between the Nativity and the Eucharist "by which through all ages the Word made Flesh will dwell among us" as justifying the similar forms of the two hymns (Thesaurus, I, 254).

The Nativity Hymn
In its unrevised form the second line was: "A Patre olim exiens". The correctors of the Breviary under Urban VIII changed it into its present Breviary form: "E Patris aeterni sinu". Sometimes ascribed to St. Ambrose or to St. Gregory the Great, its authorship is unknown. Mone supposed it to be of the second half of the fifth century; but although Advent may possibly date back that far, the hymn is probably much later. From the tenth century it has been the usual hymn for Matins, although given in a few manuscripts to Lauds. Originally the hymn was rhymed throughout in couplets (with one exception). The revision under Urban VIII left not a single strophe unchanged, in the removal of its many unclassical prosodic features.

Exultate justi, in Domino
Hans Leo Hassler (1562-1612)

hear 1 version: http://www.sfbach.org/tracks/ceremonies3.mp3
heard 2nd: http://www.marquette.edu/chorus/sounds/exultate.mp3

Original Text
Exultate justi, in Domino;
rectos decet collaudatio.
Confitemini Domino in cithara;
in psalterio decem chordarum, psallite illi.
Cantate ei canticum novum;
bene psallite ei in voci feratione.
Quia rectum est verbum Domini,
et omnia opera ejus in fide.
Diligit misericordiam et judicium,
misericordia Domini, plena est terra.

English Translation
Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous
for the upright is worthy of praise.
Sing praises to the Lord with harp,
with a psalter of ten strings.
Sing to him a new song,
Sing praises to him with a loud voice.
For the word of the Lord is right,
and his works are done in truth.
He loves righteousness and judgement,
the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Watch a filipino choir perform iddem dem malida(filipino chorale piece)
at Singapore Kallang Theatre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8QdPx0bKIs

and btw, i found this ancient RJ Chorale website.
Do we have a current one? xP
http://www.geocities.com/rjchorale/rjchorale.html

Ramblerambleramble!

2006-06-14T23:25:00.000+08:00

Woke up at four pm today, which yes is just plain piggish. It was weird not panicking because I was late and had a breakfast deadline to meet (my first thought was '4pm here = 10 am there... what, so late?'), and even weirder to look over at the opposite bed half-expecting Kat to be sleeping there. And it was downright unsettling to move around the house so leisurely - I kept having this feeling that I was supposed to be doing something, to be running around, to be studying scores and practising techniques... I must have checked the clock the most number of times I have ever done before in any given day. Excepting this past week or so. :x

Went around in a semi-real world after that. I'd find something interesting, think of something to share, and half-turn to find someone to point it out to, but only see my sister looking at me weirdly. I'd hear voices coming from outside the house, and look over expecting to see my room-neighbours Weili or Changqing, but find my actual neighbours instead, running off without a backward glance or an acknowledging beam. I'd see the sun curling warm through the window glass onto a chair and reach for my camera , only to remember that my dad took it this morning. I'd sit around expecting to hear little novas of familiar voices, of sound and song, and get silence instead. I'd get the urge to play bridge, and realize - horror of horrors - no one else in my family knows how to play. xp And I'd pick my clothes from the wardrobe and find it unusual I'm not bending to rummage through my suitcase. >_<

IT'S MAKING MY BRAIN GO FUNNY.

It's weird to not be seeing everyone on a regular basis, to not be able to grab someone and chat randomly, to not annoy people with my trigger-happy moments. To not have people around to watch, talk to, listen to. My pictures are for the times after the trip - I have a very bad memory, so I need reminders. I like candid shots because they're more real, and capture more of the moments that I want to remember - sorry, though, to anyone who was annoyed. Like Avonne. I did try to keep your face out of it after, though, so no worries! :D Hopefully. If you do appear I'll just not pass around the picture, unless it's really nice and you look your absolutely lovely self in it.

I didn't really get to know anyone on the tour... I got closer to some, maybe, but I didn't really get to know anyone. Like I know I can talk now to Jina or Kat or Jingzhong or Zhaofeng or Gerard, about gossip stuff and people stuff, but I don't know them any much better. I did get less wary of people, though... like Adrian and Weisong, who I used to find scarily unapproachable but now find relatively normal! Yay! ^^; Yikai and Boss as well, I think, though they weren't exactly unapproachable, just... weird (there it is again! I keep using the word). But now they're normal, which is good! *pats* And of course I also got to appreciate the others as well, like my dear fellow altos, who have been very very hardworking and helpful in sectionals and friendly all the time, and put up with my not knowing what to do.

So I guess for me, the trip broke down walls, though I didn't cross the line of rubble. I really hope it'll help for the rest of the year and the next in getting to actually know everyone, because I do believe that we have a bunch of genuinely nice people in Chorale, as Mr Toh keeps saying. (: And I believe this tour has shown us what we are really capable of, and I'm going to work hard as I can towards that. Even harder, maybe. *_* To have accomplished this much in such a short time - I know we can do way better in the whole time we're in Chorale, if we focus more and work hard. At least, I know I can put in more effort than I've been putting in, and I will; and if unexperienced lost me can do it everyone can. ^^v

Okay, shutting up now. >_< Sorry for the long pointless post. If anyone wants me to shorten it I can. :/

Oh, and if anyone wants photos and can suggest an efficient way to pass them I'm all ears! :3 I've resurrected my MSN because apparently people keep sending files to each other that way, so if there's a way to use that then all I need to do is figure out how it works. Which will... take time. Quite a bit of it.

X Men III !!!

2006-05-28T14:58:00.000+08:00

Went to watch with Adrian and Jing Zhong. Some thoughts for anyone interested. Ok, perhaps not "some". I'm prone to verbiage you must understand.

The movie resonates with a haunting relevance to our society despite its being completely fictional. Mutants – the aberrations of nature, of society – find themselves stuck in a quagmire of conflicts and dilemmas that each of them endeavours to reconcile in a search for their notions of the self and their respective places in society.

When the US guy (was it the president?) declared to Beast with all the pomp he could muster, “We do not negotiate with these people”, what comes to mind is the issue of terrorism, especially pertinent today in light of all that has been happening in Iraq/America etc.: terrorism to homo sapiens but perhaps heroism to the mutants. When society chooses to deny that unique individuality of a person and chooses to see it as a disease to be cured… …Quite sad, for we see Rogue and several others who either share this sentiment, or are too jaded with their existence as a minority race discriminated against that they decide to let themselves be changed thus. I wouldn’t be critical of them though, especially Rogue (you would go crazy if you couldn’t touch anyone), for it is their choice after all, and they still have to face the opportunity cost of giving up a part of them they’ve lived with for so long, of facing the possibility of disapprobation from their mutant friends and the deep-seated fear and animosity from the human community – I doubt the humans in general would really see them as “real” humans too.

Magneto and Prof X form an interesting pair of dialectics. Both experience the same prejudices but while one of them becomes a humanitarian with a vision to unite the world and all that blah, the other sinks into a darker side of intense misanthropy. The professor dies – poor guy – stupid, respectable martyr. Magneto cannot exist without him for there would be an unbalance of forces and he would plunge into his doom, albeit a metaphorically death of losing his powers (as if we weren’t expecting that when the director prefigures it twice before – where Mystique is “healed” and where Jean threatens injecting him with them). But hey, even Prof X doesn’t really die, if you did stay after the credits at least then to you he doesn’t die.

Magneto represents a group of people who react rather radically under the pressure of social prejudices. A superior/inferior complex develops in him and he sees his differences as indicative of his higher status: society tries to play these mutants down but some develop a psychological barrier and resist this sense of inferiority by constructing a false sense of superiority which they do eventually assimilate. Good for him; he (over) values individuality. But tragic tragic tragic! As Arthur Miller points out in his essay on “Tragedy and the Commom Man” (I’m insincerely sorry non-lit students) “the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing--his sense of personal dignity”. Magneto reaches extremity (I would say his enlisting the aid of Jean Grey can be considered as extreme) in seeking to assert his individuality and it is essentially his own pursuit for a kind of justice; a validation of himself; a reassertion of his rightful place in society that led to this misery. Nothing wrong with that. But society couldn’t contain him and vomited him out – Blurgh! So much for his dignity.

Ok if I were to go on with this tragedy thing then I would like to point out the anagnorisis in Magneto’s life (once again a very insincere apology to non-lit students); the part where he looks up to the sky as an impotent homo sapien stripped of his affinity with magnets (a lovely understatement). There he goes “what have I done *voice quivers for dramatic effect*” The world spins by him literally as he reaches a tragic realisation – “The horror! The horror!” (Ok I should stop indulging myself in histrionics). But yar, the realisation…how painful…like when he tries to move the chess pieces at the end.

There was a momentary impact of psychological forces within Magneto when Mystique was shot by the cure. I think the fleeting expression of horror, shock, fascination, gratitude and scorn on Ian’s face made me respect him quite a bit. These are feelings Magneto might have experienced and it is sad to note that his transient gratitude was quickly displaced with a prejudice of his own he had cultivated over the years. The memory of his experiences with humans resurfaced and battled with his own memory of the woman who had been behind him all this while. To me this fleeting struggle to reconcile them is perhaps one of the few, if not only, emotionally complex scenes in the movie. The dramatisation of Mystique’s fall was to good effect. From the confident mutant she was reduced to a very pitiful, naked, helpless and self-conscious creature puling “Eric…” The irony of his “she used to be beautiful” just…well…rings.

The other scene that continues to linger in my head is the one in which Storm and Wolverine stand amidst floating rocks, leaves and dew. There was a kind of suspension and uncertainty I guess – a sense that our seemingly unshakable foundations and ideas of the world are actually not as eternal and unchanging as we would like to think them to be. Per haps it encapsulates the entire theme behind the movie, as in another scene at the end multiplied in magnitude wherein Jean Grey lifts the seas and everything else around her. Our “immutable” laws of nature have changed. Laws as deep-seated as these seem to be proven as arbitrary and have existed only contingently (Leibniz would disagree but whatever). Yet even after the laws of nature have been moved still the prejudices remain and the inane human conceptions of what constitutes right and wrong, abnormal and normal cling on obstinately and mindlessly.

Proportion, Conversion; Proportion, Conversion: stop doctoring!!!!!! Yahahahahahah *crazy sounds*

As requested...

2006-05-19T14:48:00.000+08:00

Recently certain people lamented the fact that there was no one visiting/posting on the blog anymore.

I shall rectify that now.

Hello, all. I wave. Wave, wave. Hello.

To make this post Chorale-related: I have five Sing Me To Heaven candleholder posters sitting pretty on my wall right now, and I am staring at them. Stare, stare. One is purple inside and has a multicoloured flame. One is green. One is green-yellow inside and red outside. One is pink. One is, um, darker pink. Four out of these five have signatures on them. The signature looks a bit like how I draw my stick-figure snakes, you know the ones that people keep seeing sexual connotations in. It is not me. It is purely them.

That is all.

[edit] Oh, and the Hungarian love song is boring. Everyone keeps repeating the same melody line over and over again! >_< Sure it sounds nice, but the niceness wears off after the first few repetitions. Kind of like Sing Me To Heaven.

rarr.

2006-05-08T23:55:00.000+08:00

well, the 4-day singing marathon has started. and it's really really tiring, i can vouch for that. after the first day i'm already lan diao. so just a friendly word of advice for those of you who like to give 110% for every practice (well, like me ^_^): try to relax a little. get used to singing less during pracs and having reserves. then you can last through the entire 2+hr programme, or the 6 or 10 songs that you have to do during the competition. yep. that's all from me.

jingle bell

2006-04-29T22:21:00.000+08:00

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...

The grandfather speaks...

2006-04-29T21:19:00.000+08:00

*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: Momentum
Topic: 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 =)

If I could catch a rainbow

2006-04-29T17:29:00.000+08:00

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 Rainbow
by 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

lalalawhee~

2006-04-28T14:20:00.000+08:00

Procrastinators Unite!

...tomorrow.

Just spent like. Half an hour in the library neglecting work, cursing the mouse, and wishing I had a tablet so I wouldn't have to use the mouse to do THIS:

...I need a brainwash.

Did you know, I was reeeeally tempted to put a + sign between yk and gerard's names? ;_;

[edit] just realized you can't really see... arrow pointing to haosquare's name reads 'biological'. the arrow pointing at the other half reads 'adopted or/and illegitimate'. XD