SYF Gold

It's been a hectic weekend, that for sure =) Taken up almost exclusively by Guitar, what with the madness that we imposed on ourselves...a Guitar camp directly after our SYF. But it turned out good...far better than I'd expected. Just goes to show yet again that some things will just take care of themselves, and you really don't need to worry about too many things.

Hmm...SYF day began in a trance, almost. Actually came to school on time in the expectations of attending a Hist lec, but technical glitches doomed that to postponement, so more or less a few hours' more sleep was lost. The first two hours then were passed in impatience...SYF does that to you, you really don't feel like doing anything unrelated to the competition right before it is due to happen.

The next four hours was spent in the most relaxed pre-SYF prep time ever. Heh, it was a bit weird...back in CHS EDrama we would be panicking the night before due to unfinished things, undetermined variables and the reliably buggy tech side. But not only was Wed an off day for Guitar, but four hours before departing for the SCH, we only had three pracs, and spent the rest of the time joking around, taking photos, relaxing, eating lunch and changing into our costumes. Hehheh, I think I could learn to like this approach to SYF...the lack of variables that could go wrong at a moment's notice does help =P And there was this psyche-up speech delivered by good old Shaun to the background of therapeutic piano music, which I thought was well choreographed given the timely crescendos, except that the music wasn't guitar music =P

On the bus ride there, everyone was getting really high. Someone started off the school song, and before we knew it, Nick was adding the AC one, the SJI people had broken out in theirs, and I added a few lines of "hai tian liao kuo etc etc" =P And yet, it wasn't really nervous energy...just happiness, perhaps, at getting out of school, and finally facing the challenge that we had been preparing for for months now. Actually, a few of them found the time to take forty winks, which was something unheard of in Drama SYFs, though thinking back now perhaps a pre-show nap would have been a good idea...

In the SCH, we found a corner to dump our cases, and suddenly there appeared boxes of chocolates, to complement the sweets and section presents that we had been passing around in school (smiley shoelaces! and a box of kisses from Cheryl, ex-Guitarist and now in Harmoc, which I thought was really considerate of them), and I only remember thinking what a good thing we weren't Chorale =P I'd passed my digicam to Stephanie, one of the junior helpers roped in to assist us in taking care of our stuff while we were performing, and she promptly went off snapping photos, some of them which were pretty good, actually. I'll post them up...eventually. Heh, I realise that I really have a backlog of photos, stretching back to Texprog. Bleah...probably need a day or two to completely upload them.

Into the tuning room, then, and twelve minutes of hectic activity as we tried to electronically tune fifty guitars with seven or eight electronic tuners. SRJC's self-encouraging message was pressed into service when someone rubbed off the first letter...I actually thought that one of our competitors had been really considerate in leaving a note for us =P Anyway, we managed to squeeze in an impromptu practice of the two songs, and that, I think, was the point when the tension began to build. Because when you're in the tuning room, you're only twenty or so minutes away from appearing onstage.

We were then shuttled upstairs to wait outside the auditorium for our turn. And that was when the big shock of the day came...I was experimentally strumming on my guitar when I discovered that the second string was catastrophically out of tune. I don't really know how that happened...must have knocked the tuning pegs against a door jamb or something. But that moment was terrifying...had to start tuning by ear, impromptu, while trying to hide it from the officials, cos you aren't allowed to play anything outside the auditorium. Which would probably account for my jumpiness when we were ushered into backstage. Managed to salvage the tuning, but I was blabbing away under my breath all the things that we had to take note of when playing. Heh, I gotta thank my fellow Guitarists for not socking me unconscious =P

Anyway, going onstage and taking my position. It wasn't that bad, really...the auditorium was less full than I'd thought. And everything was fully lit, so you could see everything rather unambiguously. And we were all together onstage...there really isn't the same pressure that an actor will experience when all attention is focused on him. Less variables in Guitar SYF. Nevertheless, the Aria was quite terrifying, cos suddenly my mind was wiped clean of what I was supposed to do for the Aria. I was more or less playing by instinct, blindly, unthinkingly, and trying to hide my shivering in my vibratos =P I only thank God that I discovered the tuning error outside; to go onstage with an untuned guitar would have been disastrous, infinitely more so than a case of nerves.

But 'Take the A Train' was fantastic, I thought. Our rendition on stage was the most convincing and fun one that we've ever done, I think. You could really feel the grooving and the moving, and it was rather intriguing to feel all that nervousness just get stripped away by the song and the playing. Everyone grooving together, and really enjoying themselves. Heh, I think that's the most fun time I've had on stage in a long time. At least since last year's Guitar concert =P It's the first time that I was totally immersed in playing music on stage...I guess some things are just constant whenever you appear on a stage, no matter what you're actually doing. I feel like we really performed that day.

Heh, I couldn't resist a little cheer of congratulations when we were almost out into the lobby again =P At that point in time, I actually felt really confident about our chances...it seemed that Gold was secured, and that we had a fighting chance for Gold with Honours. Dropped off our stuff, then everyone returned to the auditorium to watch the last guitar ensemble, TJC, play.

By some strange coincidence, they played Dance of the Yao. And rather fantastically too, I think. It was really really fast, almost inhumanly so...it's the speed at which Chinese orchestras play the song, and to do that on a guitar is no mean feat. I'd actually thought that it was impossible, from the time when we were playing it for last year's concert. All in all quite an impressive performance, helped by the sheer skill of the players and the added depth and range of the Niibori guitars (for the uninitiated, Niiboris are to guitar ensembles what choirs are to singers). The only problem I think was the sheer loudness of the percussion...the cymbals really overrode all the guitars in one fell swoop. The second time the percussionist raised his cymbals, everyone in the front block of the auditorium covered their ears, which, as Jes said, is not a good sign for any musical group =P

TJC was really very good with the Dance of the Yao, but as it turned out, they weren't the only surprise that night, as the SYF people suddenly unveiled two harp ensembles. Really quite a surprise. I had never heard a harp live before, let alone a dozen or so at once. Quite interesting, the sound that a harp ensemble makes. And the movement of the players were all really graceful. Maybe playing an instrument with the curves and the scale of a harp necessarily forces you to be graceful. Maybe harps need a certain level of stature to be played properly, so the grace is part of the playing. Ian says that the harp is a sexist instrument; personally, I'm not complaining. You ever seen a man playing a harp before? =P

Oh well, after that was done, all that was left to do was to wait for the judges to come back with the results. At least this time the judges actually had experience in the field they were judging, all of them being high flying musical types. One only hopes that at least one of them played the guitar professionally. But anyway, everyone was caught up in the delicious anticipation of the results. Not exactly going berserk, but the tension was evident. Me, I quitel liked the experience, really. After going through a few of this kind of competition, you learn to appreciate every moment. And anyway, from all that we'd gained through the process of preparing for SYF, I didn't really think that what we actually got in terms of the award actually mattered. What was at stake was a gold, to be sure, but also more than a gold. And we had already secured the experience for ourselves, which was more than half the battle won. So the wait was really only an exercise in patience and tension.

Well, the rest is, as they say, history. We were awarded a Gold, along with quite a few other ensembles. Nothing lower than a Silver was awarded, and I found myself rather surprised that my impulse prediction that TJ would get an Honours actually came through. It seems, though, that this Honours thing is going to be really coveted. There seems to be only one Honours for each round of judging - the ultimate top prize. But at any rate, I think that the Gold was fantastic. After the previous two times in EDrama with nothing more than a Silver, this was quite an improvement, I think. And anyway, like I said, the award was only the icing on top of a fantastic cake that we'd already had in preparing for SYF. All those late meetings, the planning, the practices, the conducting by Mr. Gaspar, the learning of techniques, the learning to feel the music, really playing it all on stage when the time came, seeing everyone enjoy themselves, seeing new friendships made and old ones reinforced, indeed, to have a concrete and well-defined goal to work towards. All these were worth more than any old certificate. Though arguably we could use the prize money =P

I was wondering whether I should have congratulated TJ's players before the results came out. I thought better of it at the time because it would have seemed too weird. But thinking back now, I think that there would have been no harm. It's not often that I get psychic insights, and it's best to make the most of them when they do occur =P

The bus ride back was rather zany. When we filed out of the auditorium, we were quite muted, really. Considering that we did get a Gold too. We must have been the most silent ensemble in the whole auditorium. That, I thought, was quite odd...like in an uncharacteristic fit of humility RJ people were not glorying in the achievement that they actually earned for themselves and really deserved. An improvement is an improvement, however you look at it. And we all knew that we put in our best, and avoided any regrets that could have been coming. But then, on the ride back, suddenly the fact that we got Gold started to sink in, and we all broke into song again. Me and Ben whipped out guitars and started strumming all the songs we could think of, and we proceeded yowling all the way back to school =) We were really high...even Mr Lai joined in with the Captain Planet song =P Hehheh, it's rare that you see so many people so genuinely happy at the same time. It really is quite infectious.

The celebrations continued into the night, but I think I'll write about them another time. This entry has already ballooned beyond what I intended =P And there's still the entire camp to give an account of! But yes, it has been a good weekend. It's nice to have something well-defined to work towards, something to look forward to. And while to have so many things squashed into three weeks may seem to be quite stressful (heck, it is quite stressful!) but I guess we J2s must enjoy it while it lasts. Our time in Guitar is coming to an end, and I think the SYF was a really nice way to begin the end, at any rate. It's time to enjoy whatever is remaining of our time in a really great ensemble. I think I can start to look back with the same nostalgia as when I talk about EDrama. It comes with the feeling that you've contributed concretely to shaping this ensemble, that somehow, through the collective effort, you've made a difference, and you now own a stake.

Heh, it was with a bit of guilt that I succumbed to self-indulgence in this entry. Reading Kels' really insightful and analytical LJ entries does that to you, makes you feel like you should be writing with that kind of rigour, just because she can do it all the time =P Ah well, it's a high standard worth aspiring to, and I want to enter the literary fray with Atonement and Gut Symmetries as soon as possible. But gotta get all the work out of the way first...lots of Hist stuff remaining, and a Lit S essay. Now that the Guitar weekend is over, it's time to pick up where I left off rather unceremoniously on Wed =P

And we still have the concert in two weeks to prepare for. It's gonna be tight...not only for the musical side, but for the publicity material. I gotta come up with a workable programme booklet design! That I don't mind doing, really, except for its disruptive effect on everything else. Bleah...if only we had the luxury of worrying about one thing at a time...

Anyway, here's a shout out for RJCO and Chorale! All the best for your SYFs! May it be at least as fun as what we had, and do note the important things that you've gained in the process. Put that award in perspective, and enjoy the ride!

pondered by phoenican @ 2.5.05