In case you have not read the EMB message posted by Ms Choo, here is the September Holiday Band Practice Schedule:

Tuesday: 9am to 1pm

Band Practice

Wednesday: 8.30 am to 5 pm (expect some delays)

An exchange with 3 bands: Balestier Secondary School, Bartley Secondary School and Northview Secondary School

The schools will arrive at about 9.30 am. Plans include full band, sectionals and other activities (to be confirmed later) Lunch will be catered so please check whether you can make it for the practice on Wednesday and tell your SLs by this Friday. The bands will leave at about 4:30 pm and if nothing goes wrong you will be dismissed at about 5pm.

Also, please polish up your instrument playing skills and put on your best behaviour on that day. Be helpful and take innitiatives.

Thursday: 9 am to 1 pm

Band Practice + instruments and rooms cleaning. Please bring the accessories needed to clean your instruments(brass soap, slide grease, etc) on that day. If you are unsure what you need to clean your instruments, approach the QM. Everyone also needs to bring along a rag on that day to clean up OBR, main hall, side rooms and sectional rooms.

*All band practices during September Holiday are compulsory. If you have any official reasons such as official make-up lessons(not tuition)/tests/remedials/compulsory school events that you can’t run away from, please notify your SLs in advance. Thank you.

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There will not be anymore official band practices after the September Holiday. Before wishing all of you all the best for your EOY examinations, I would also like to remind you that we have only a few weeks after the examinations to the concert which will be held in early December. Thus, to avoid being suffocated by MORE stress before the concert, worse than that you get before exams, please continue to come for individuals during the exam period. 3 hours of (focused) practice a week should be the minimum and that is hardly enough to prevent your standard from dropping.

Also, before the examinations get closer, please start working on Eb Suite and Silvercrest. Notes and (accurate) Rhythm should be completed before the end of September Holidays. I believe you guys have the ability to multi-task and will not neglect your instrument playing even under the tremendous stress of EOY exams.

Last but not least, ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR EXAMS!!! :D

Po En

(For most of you), your band test would have just ended and most of you might be really curious about how much you got or how good/badly you did. If you’re expecting results in this posts, then I’m sorry to disappoint,  results will be released next week :)

As opposed to what most of you might think, the result is NOT the most important part of this band test. You know how much effort you put into practicing for this test and if you managed to improve and confidently say, “in these few weeks while preparing for band test, I’ve improved so much as a player”, then you’re the band(it) that has taken away the most from this experience. Feel the accomplishment of staying back on those non band prac days, playing that scale again and again until it has changed from something impossible to something you know in the back of your. That accomplishment of bringing your instrument home, lugging it all the way back and practicing (you have awesome neighbours if they don’t complain about the volume) and coming back to school with a better tone or faster fingers.

How you view the band test is directly proportional to.. not the results, but how much you take away from the test:

a) I passed but didn’t need to practice at all! Ha I practiced lesser than all of you and still got higher.

b) Yes can’t believe I passed! I thought I’d be dead! Looks like those extra practices were worth it!

c) Grah I failed. But who cares, I improved so much.

Which one are you .

We’re in band not as students, but as musicians making music. If all we can focus on is just the mere marks we get on that piece of paper, all we’d do is just for the sake of those marks. Whats the use? Think about how much you practiced, how you managed to overcome that difficult rhythmic passage, how your ears became more sensitive to pitch after these few days and weeks. If we’re able to shift our focus to how we can better improve our music, with the motivation of the band test to help us achieve that goal, only then will the marks be of use. When the band test is over, its not the marks per se that are important, but the changed mindset that sticks with us.

If you ask me, I’d rather fail and improve loads rather than get 78/100 and not improve at all. So, to those who worked hard, good job guys, it doesn’t matter what mark you got cos you guys worked hard for it. To those who didn’t, I hope you’ll reflect and ask yourself why didn’t you put in the effort.

All the best! :D

JIAYOU

Sec 1s, please tell your SLs your (real) birthdays so that we can update them in the calendar (seen on the right). Members whose birthdays are already on the calendar, please check if there’s any error. This is for welfare purposes too.

Band members who have blogs (and are willing to share), please tag on the tagboard with your blog link. If you have several blogs, choose one.

They will be updated as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience.

For your viewing (more of hearing) pleasure :D The pieces we sight read for fri band prac and another random vid i found on youtube :D

The Cowboys

Lassus Trombone

Lassus Trombone (2)

Can’t find a concert band version of sakura on youtube =X

Venue: Various rooms @ SALT Centre

Time: 2:30pm – 6:30pm

Tested on:
1) Set Piece [30(20)]
2) Scales & Intervals [30(20)]
3) Sight Reading [30(15)]
4) Instrument Knowledge [10(5)]

Passing Mark: 60/100

Sec 1s:
Set Piece:
Double Bass: Big Fun In The Sun
Tuba: Big Fun In The Sun
Euphonium: Saint Anthony Chorale
Trombone: John Williams Symphonic Soundtracks
Horn: John Williams Symphonic Soundtracks
Trumpet: Hobbits Dance and Hymn
Bassoon: Noahs Ark (Selections)
Saxophone: Hobbits Dance and Hymn
Clarinet: John Williams Symphonic Soundtracks
Bass Clarinet: Big Fun In The Sun
Flute: Mononoke Hime Medley
Percussion: Mr Ramu’s Exercises
Scales & Intervals: Bb, Eb, Ab, F, C

Sec 2s:
Set Piece:
Double Bass: Little Mermaid Medley
Tuba: Little Mermaid Medley
Euphonium: Simple Gifts: Movement 3
Trombone: Virginia
Horn: John Williams Symphonic Soundtrack
Trumpet: Flight: Adventure In The Sky
Bassoon: Noahs Ark (Selections)
Saxophone: Little Mermaid Medley
Clarinet: Little Mermaid Medley
Oboe: John Williams Symphonic Soundtrack
Flute: John Williams Symphonic Soundtrack
Percussion: Mr Ramu’s Exercises
Scales & Intervals: All 12 Major Scales

The set pieces are tentative, and will be confirmed when your SLs pass you your pieces. Meanwhile, work on your tone, tuning, and technical stuff. Please practice hard for the promotion test as it will determine whether or not you get promoted to main band and your opportunities to perform for the concert. The marking will be of a reasonable standard, nothing too impossible or nothing too easy, so please challenge yourself and I hope to see you all improve as musicians over the course of this test :)

In view of the “Journey of the Flame” event going on on Wednesday, 11th August 2010, here are some details about the day.

Flag-Raising

Flag-raising shall go on as usual. Please try to rush back to OBR as soon as possible, and change into your PE attire. We will try to cut short the announcements as short as possible. After that, go assemble with your class at the designated areas for you. DO NOT slack about at OBR.

Band Practice

Seeing most of you all are already bringing your PE, remember to bring your PE pants as well! Wednesday Band Prac next week will be outdoors practice once again at 2.30pm, so please don’t be late and hydrate yourselves!

Happy National Day, and have a good 4.5 days of rest (or mugging. heh.)

Its going to be our performance at The Merlion today! Amidst all the alertness and discipline that we expect, we also want you guys to have a super fun and great time! Enjoy MAKING music as a band and give it your all! If anyone makes a mistake, just smile and carry on and continue MAKING music! EXPRESS what you want to play and ENJOY playing it! I cannot emphasize this enough. So, give it your all and lets MAKE MUSIC as a band!

Hi all~
Here is a detailed schedule for the Merlion Performance on 31/7/2010

12.30 pm: Assemble at SALT centre in FULL CONCERT ATTIRE(Black long-sleeved shirt, black long pants, black socks, black leather shoes and school tie. A uniform check will be conducted this Friday.)

12.30 pm to 2.00+ pm: Full band.

2.00+ pm: Help to move percussion instruments and the stands down to where the truck will be.

2.30 pm: Load the percussion instruments and the stands onto the truck.

2.30 pm to 3.00 pm: Get ready to move(Final check of files, scores and other equipment)

3.00 pm: Bus comes. Band leaves for the performance.

4.00 pm: Arrive at performance venue

4.30 pm: PERFORM!

5.30 pm: Performance concludes.

6.00 pm: Bus comes. Band returns to school.

6.30+ pm: Debrief

7.00+ pm: Dismissal

As you can see, we will be moving the percussion instruments and stands a lot, so please be very alert on that day and listen carefully to all the instructions given to you. When the band is told to do something, do not hesitate, dot not wait for others to do it. Be the first to do it and execute it quickly and accurately. Take innitiative when loading/unloading percussion instruments and when setting up the stands and chairs at the performance venue. All in all, just be very alert and attentive, we certainly don’t want another screw-up like NBC, do we? Besides that, look happy, sound happy, feel happy. We are going there to have fun and I am sure it is going to be a very fun experience for all of us. So just enjoy every second of the performance.

Stay alert. Have fun. :D

For this group of people, you are required to attend high school band practices for THIS FRIDAY, NEXT TUESDAY AND NEXT FRIDAY to practice with the sec 1s to the sec 3s.

Also do take note, these practices are an addition to your JC band practices, and will not take over the JC band practices. Your attendance will still be taken for JC practices.

Regards
Joseph

In terms of how we performed on stage, many of the seniors have said that the music actually sounded okay from where they are sitting. But can we actually tell ourselves that we played music on stage? Did that music come from the heart? Did that music express the meaning of the song, our effort put in, and our very own dreams? The day before NBC, I felt something. It wasn’t much, but I felt a tinge expression and movement in the songs. However when we went up on stage, everything was gone. All that musicality and expression, all down the drain.

For some of you, this would be your first performance, your first experience. Perhaps this first experience wasn’t what you expected, perhaps it was not as amazing as you thought, perhaps you already tried your best, but learn from this experience. We have to get used to going up on stage and performing for others. Stuff like, “Oh, we didn’t play our best because we were not used to the hall”, or “Oh, we didnt play 100% because we were nervous” are just excuses to delude yourself that you could have done better. We all need to get used to going up on stage, because I hope that whatever mistakes we made at NBC, will not be repeated in the future.

But now is not the time to be emoing over what happened at NBC, neither is it the time to be emoing over what your SL said during the debrief. Fixation on the past is the last thing that we need right now. What we need is the strength to stand up again, and learn from this experience and aim to do better for the upcoming events. It’s time to move on. We cannot change what results we got, we cannot change the past. But we can treasure the present and improve, to change our future. Because the present, is a gift. It’s up to us if we choose to treasure it. But throwing away this gift, is the same as throwing away whatever hard work and effort we had put in. I do not want to see the band’s standard drop after NBC, that should not be the case. Treasure whatever time you have in band now, in order to maintain and standard and raise the bar even higher.

My senior shared a quote with me after NBC, a quote from the poem – Invictus

“”I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.”

No one else is going to help us do well for SYF next year. We control our fate, our destiny and this band. Us, not anyone else. We have to learn from this experience, and take the initiative to start practicing and aim to do better in the future. The band’s future lies in our hands. No more dwelling on the past, no more obsessing about NBC. We have to be the ones to move on, because no one else is going to help us if we do not help ourselves.

This is also the first time that the current Exco have been in charge of a public performance, and we did make mistakes. But we’ll learn from them. We’ll try harder. We’ll see this through till the end. As we learn from our mistakes, you also have to learn from yours. Together, we’ll learn to be professional musicians, learn to be one band, and see this band through till the end.

Lim Bo Geng