Well, we got



GOLD





Not the Gold with Honours that we were all secretly/openly wishing after, but I feel content. And we made Mr Oura happy, we made our seniors/alumni proud of us, and most of all, we made music, so I guess all is well.

Anyway, the day started out with worship, led by Jiayun, in LT3, at 7:20 AM. Following which was temperature taking in Chem class, but Russell and I quickly left for the varese (Samuel/XY didn't even turn up -_-).

Warm up and tuning passed in an agonizingly long fifteen minutes where I tried to get my better tone out and stay in tune.

Mr Oura came in to take us from 9 AM to 10:45 AM, running through the still-problematic areas of Overture and Daphnis. This passed in a flash, and before I knew it, it was lunch time.

The whole band swarmed the RJC canteen for lunch. Eating, talking, suanning, and listening to Mr Oura tell stories was the main entertainment.

We all returned to the varese/band room to change and pack scores and accessories. The final tuning of before setting off ensured, and I finally achieved my best tone (through a lot of overblowing and leaking air though). The last set of warm ups was done seriously and well, with everyone focusing on keeping on time and keeping in tune.

In other words, we were ready.

Here, I received notes and gifts from my seniors. Haha, I really appreciate it! Thanks for being my seniors =).

Boarded the bus. The trip I mostly spent talking to Zhi Xuan and Crystalbel about random stuff to keep my mind off the nearing SYF.

And my nervousness displays through my photographs becoming increasingly blurred due to shaking hands while holding the camera.

Well, in total, I observed three more "major" hiccups in the events that followed upon reaching TRCC.

The first: the scores to give to the judges were left in the varese

I won't harp on this or place blame, but it did create a very tense time while we waited outside the tuning room. Our teachers-in-charge went back by taxi to retrieve them, and all I can say is that never so much did I wish and hope to see any teacher before.

Time waits for no man, and we were ushered into the tuning room. Ok, so on to tuning.

The second: the Bb clarinet that David was playing spoilt

Not spoilt, as in, totally, but I guess that a spring snapped or something, and it caused him to be unable to play the high notes. Again, nobody was at fault, and it was really a freak, one-off accident.

With a broken clarinet and still no sign of our TICs, I was getting very, VERY nervous.

After Mr Oura tuned a couple of troublesome parts again, we were taken backstage.

There I prayed, and I observed more than one person doing so.

Finally, we were given the news that our TICs had arrived back in time and all was well. David also managed to fix his Bb clarinet using a rubber band (temporary, but sufficient for the situation at the time).

And suddenly, there was no time at all. The stage door opened, and out we went.

And we played.

I wasn't thinking much at the time, but was trying to focus 100% on Mr Oura. Overture passed in a breeze, and I think we did well, with all sections carrying the appropriate articulation and syncopation in their playing.

And then, Daphnis. I moved to the second row, and it seemed to take ages to put up my score and stand and ready my contrabass. Peripherally, I could sense movement on other parts of the stage and in a blink, Mr Oura was raising his baton again.

Daphnis went well too, for myself at least. On stage, the contrabass feels very exposed as compared to in the band room, and not just because I'm a head taller than everyone else once I sit on the raised chair. Still, tried to play softly yet clearly.

The third: mistake at 207

Accidents do happen. But we recovered VERY WELL, and I think it was because we were all so focused on Mr Oura that apart from a moment of confusion, the song went on perfectly well.

And as Daphnis concluded, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders.

It's over?

We were led out from backstage via some tunnel through a path which I can't remember - everything was in a blur.

BAND PHOTO! And a lot of random shots after that, leading up to us trying to find space in the hall to fit our whole band. Ended up in the circle seats where the judges were sitting.

And the announcer painstakingly trawled through all the bands from #1 to #11. I shall post the results for today here, taken from Band Fusion website.

National - Gold
Tampines - Silver
Innova - Bronze
Jurong - Silver
Catholic - Gold with Honours
Meridien - Gold
Millenia Institute - Bronze
Temasek - Silver
Anglo-Chinese - Gold
Raffles - Gold
Pioneer - Silver

Tally for today: 1 GwH, 4 Gold, 4 Silver, 2 Bronze

When he said "Gold"... I didn't feel anything. Neither happy nor sad. Content? I guess so. It was a daze, after that, all the way back to school. I felt immensely tired, and promptly fell asleep on the bus.

Back in school, with lifted spirits after a debrief, we started the photo taking again.

After changing back to school uniform, we set out for our dinner spot. Apparently Jiayun & Co. booked tables in Fish & Co. at Great World City to celebrate our SYF.

Last picture of Kaichi trying to strangle Crystalbel.

There was fish, chips, plenty of noise (I think the staff hate us) and most importantly, CAKE!

With this dinner, I suppose SYF'09 is concluded. Thanks to everyone who has been with me on this journey, and although we didn't get Gold with Honours, we are in no ways dishonoured!

Labels: band