Something to share

i would like to pen down some thought here as i do not wish to get all emotional in front of the band practices...

First of all hello to all, secondly, i hope this band is special to everyone, because it takes more out of you than you can imagine, you had spend long hours in br(bandroom) much more then the sight of your family and you have gain knowledge not only in term of musicality but life aspect. what this band gave you back is far greater than you can imagine.

all of us here had gone through ardous journey, and the most difficult of all is getting ALL your juniors play right, hahaha. at some point of time, whereby you consider quitting, but you did not. you guys, did not miss out the great future of this band and throwing away what you have archieved. together, we have experience the thrill, the exhilaration and also the disappointments.

Its been 10 over years and im still continuing stepping into this br. i fought alongside with guoqiang and alice, im proud and happy to be able to conduct this very special band, its in my sec 2 to 3 years when all of the alumni band ideas came in, and finally its coming true. I can’t begin to express my gratitude for how much you all have put into the band, and i understand the sacrifices you guys decide to made. thank you.

let us all now spare a moment, and think back upon the past. Remember how the band could not handle more difficult songs, and remember how you would all struggle with even the simplest passages. Now, look at where you are now, the ww(woodwinds) are starting to run notes together with articulations, and the bra(brasses) are brought articulations to another level.

NOW!!! we have manage our own concert with the slighest 4 months!!! Further, within these 4 months, all of you had so many other things to do, what with exams and classes! i cant be more contented to have such committed musicians.

Why is all these imprtant you may ask... it is really because band has become a part of your life that cannot be removed. it somehow become a routine to visit the br every saturday morning, and when there is no practice, no meetings were scheduled and you would laze and rot at home, or even better, out with the bandmates. band have become part of our body and when one of the part of cut off, it cause great pain, and i believe alot of us have actually shear tearsSSSSSS for this band, just when things are like our body, we need to nuture it, defend and protect it, and most of all, improve it. just like doing face mask to make your face more beautiful.

Every Single person in this band is very important!!! you have played an integral part in ensuring all this experience is very fruitful for everyone. if i were to have a time machine and go back in time, i wouldnt want to change anything. it is because of all these experience woodgrove alumni winds become a band of brothers and sisters, where we stand united and strong and you couldnt agree more that bandmates are for life !!! do you remember the days whereby you guys were disorganise and not interested? you are not now because what i see is a bunch of professionals high in spirit playing together as one. how would i know ? it is because of the last alvamar overture made it =) and its from 0% to 100000% improvement ...

If ever after the concert, there is anyone who says negative about the band, it is because we gave them apple as they prefer orange. if prof ho (who is judging us for this concert) says its only a gold but not with distinction, it is because in the dictionary distinction doesnt mean the best it means different, all of us must understand that it is not because we didnt work hard, i believe everyone here worked hard, and it is not because we didnt deserve a distinction because hard work dont equals to distinction.

in my opinion, we are special, we are different, because in just recent last year, we started out from NOTHING!!!

lets all play our hearts out, give the audienceSSS a spectacular concert, because we can make it. let us all adopt the spirit of WE CAN, WE WILL, WE MUST! so that all audiences would stand up and clap shouting bravo throughout after Fly High!!! and not forgetting that all these memories will never be stop because we are going on striving towards a becoming one of the top alumni winds in singapore...

with happy tears
JOEY CHIAN

Announcements on 31st July 2010

Dear Members,

Here are the updates announced on 31st July:

1. Practice / Rehearsal on the 14th August and 21st August is COMPULSORY.
14 August 2010 - 8.00am to 12.30pm @ WGS Band Room
21 August 2010 - 2.00pm to 6.00pm @ TRCC Studio
**there will be important announcements on the 14th August, and there might be guest visiting us for practice. Please do come on time, with a NEAT attire ! =D

2. Please note down the serial number of the instrument you will be using on the actual day and inform me ASAP; We need to submit to the teachers for filing purposes

3. We will be issuing colored ribbons for you to tie around ur instrument casing on the 14th August. This will allow us to identify the instrument to be brought to TRCC on 21st August.

4. Please check if you have ALL THE SCORES and inform me in advance if u have any missing scores ! Thanks ~

5. We will be collecting back the sold & unsold tickets on the 14th August, do bring the money and ticket stubs along even if you have sold all ! We need for accounting purposes~

6. Please sell your tickets fast and if you do not have enough tics, you can check from ur friends if they have extras. Only paid reserved tickets are allowed, the rest of the unpaid tickets will go to the door sale on that day.

7. Our brochures will be out latest by 18th August.

8. For Muslims, I will be buying little snacks for u guys on the concert day itself, do let me know your preferences !

Hmm ... I suppose there's nothing much up till now.
Do feel free to come back to school during weekdays for self practice on Monday Wednesday and Thursday during mainband practices ! =D

alice

Updates

Giligia ( a Song of Remembrance )

Euphonium make your first note D super in tune.

String bass, do your vibrato on the pizz. D its just a note but nontheless its still belong to the music, make it special make it work, because you are the lowest sound in this triangle at this particulat potion.

Percussion, i havent heard from you this very important part, the chimes from the brginning. please play it =)

Baritone sax to play the all cue notes in this music.

flutes and saxophone, although its written p in the beginning, do play mf, there is no problem being heard here.

clarinet, when you come in on bar 4, make it a p, crescendo towards the B on bar 6 and come down. to G. make contours in your music.

horn solo in bar6, you do have a crescendo poco, make it obvious, have big contrast in your music.

all to dim and let the clarinet come in on bar 13, make them the limelight. the only section who will be fighting with them is the bass clarinet and the baritone sax and the tube, nontheless, the clarinet is still the lead, listen to them, flow with them.

all to listen to oboe, 1st clarinet and 2nd alto sax at this very particular point, all this croup are suppose to climax your phrase at bar 23 2nd beat.

i will do a rit before bar32

1st clarinet tenor sax and baritone sax to play the cue notes pertaining to bsn and oboe to stengthen up the ensemble.

i want all tuba to come in on bar 37 to make a sig. in the music as we are lack of bsn. .

2 bars before 52, ww to have clear running notes, i will hear from you this saturday.

the ww have already gotten your light in the beginning of the music, now the second section belongs to the brass section. the ww have to soft down and listen to the trumpet who has the leading notes and melody.

the horns at this particular point of time should SOAR !!!! only you have the part, your good friend saxophone have already betray you and left you for the black black clarinet..

the percussion should create the splash effect on the music to let people feel WOW !!! at this particular point of time though there is more to come.

no voices should die down, maintain your sound and strength and carry on to 85-86

all should know that after that you get alot bars of rest while the ww continues.
while dim, all should also understand that soft sound doesnt mean weak sound... make your sound solid, beautiful, sonore yet soft. hao bu hao?

thats all for giligia, just remember to balance for this song and create the very very sad effect like our whole music room got eaten by the termite family. its very sad right? it should be that sad. =(

Alvamar Overture

just like what we always do in practice, hit the first note with balance... the lower voices to make a difference in marcato, accent and normal notes.

the ww, i realise that you guys are getting the AZRI terminal disease. dont play your staccato too short !! just bum bum bum not tu/ tu/ tu/

horns, tbone, euph to archieve the same articulation from 4 bars before section 1

melody to come in thick and warm at the same time have the musical contour in your music.

tpts to be sharp and clear not short! 1st tpt to blend in at section2

saxes and the horns to merge with the melody .. its when 2 become 1, think BIG BIG Sound with the melody.

melody line at section 4 should not be different from the beginning melody, in term of melodic contour.

section 5 ... make sure i have all the articulations right, when it comes to staccato, i want it staccato, not short but nice staccato.

other then that we are all fine till section 10, 4 bars before meno mosso, i should hear the sax horns and euph to come out.

understand the word warmly in section 10 people, be sensitive to all these melody when you have it, though some may have lots of melody, its a privilege, play it nicely ... tpt hao bu hao ?

all to watch your key signature at section 12, i spot some wrong notes here and there. so do take care of what you are playing.

all to sus. your volume at section 13 we only come down before section 14. and be mindful of the euph solo at 3 bars before tempo primo.

we all should be careful of the big explosion 2 bars before section 15, i dont want a sudden explosion but a gradual explosion or rather sparks that lead into that explosion.

all should be well till the 3/4 bar leading to section 21, not that we dont play correctly but we have to join it. we shall do it on saturday.

and thats all for alvamar, i just have to say im proud of the ww in able to play this portion in just 2 months time, good job! for this song, the brasses you have to buck up, day by day i realise the solid sound that we all have is deproving. we no longer have that big fat sound any more or rather i should say, some times have some times dont have. depend on mood.

i believe if its music that we are making, we should all put away all admin stuffs and enjoy every bit of it. enjoy the sound that you produce, feel the rhythm that you play, we must tear in order to make the audience tears. so i urge you guys to put in great amount of effort to feel the music. only then we would be able to gain the asthetic value in the music we are making.

Sign
JOEY CHIAN

Things to take extra care and notice

hi all, due to some attendance issue, we arent able to combine or make do with a full band sound for every practice... but nonetheless we should be able to do some self training at home with or without instrument... i urge all to bring home your scores and do up some your own rhythm issues and technical errors that you are facing.

also all to practice your air speed, if you dont have your instrument, its fine. you can still make do with hissing with intensified air speed, how do you do it ...
these are the steps ...

1- while you are walking, use your walking speed as your tempo
2- set your timing 4/4 or 2/4
3- hiss the melodic lines your way through to your destination

it helps .. really...

another method is by singing. alot of musician hum their melody before playing the exact melodic lines on their instrument. infact, when you are able to sing properly, you are able to play properly... trust me ... it really works.

now all to take down notes onto your music, here it comes, also please all to bring home your scores for scores study, SING YOUR PART EVERYDAY !!!!

RISE OF THE FIREBIRD

Trumpet Horns and 1st Trombone - work on your fanfare together from the beginning to bar 18. make sure all have equal volume and follows the lead trumpet throughout the entire fanfare. Practice together standing in a row outside the music room, get a guy to stand outside the science lab corridor to asses your sound, make sure the sound is POWERFUL and lastly, its the opening fanfare of the concert.

All the rest who is in accompaniment to the fanfares hold a forte-piano, we only crescendo on bar 5 3rd and 4th beat. make good crescendo towards bar 6 so that the percussion would end the first section of the fanfare well.

Saxes and Euph to practice bar 10 together, make sure all have the same articulation.

Saxes and the French Horn, the gliss note is the continuation of a modulation towards the end of the fanfare, gliss itwell, gliss it together.

when the full band enter bar 16 and 17, we only crescendo on bar 17 2nd, 3rd and loudest on the 4th and cut on the 4th..

saxes trmbone euph and tuba sfz on the 18 should maintain, dim down only at bar 21, tuba baritone sax and bass clarinet should all maintain your volume because alot of instrument will take a rest after bar 21.

horns and euph should practice with a metronome from 26 to 33 !!! make your self as smooth as possible.

1st clarinet to come in like a grand entrance, make your first G so significant that people will wow on your first note.

euph to play the cue notes from 34 to 37. make it sounds like a cello, if you could vibrato on the bar 35 Ab and the bar 36 Bb, you would sound marvellous.

tenor Sax to play the que notes from bar 34 to 35 to make the whole ensemble sounds full because we are lack of bassoon.

trumpets and trombone to take note of the 2x semiquaver and the 2x crotchet, though its written mp, can we all do it a f because all of the other sections are holding notes and only the both section is moving, it should come out.

trumpets horns 1st trombone to work on bar 43 to bar 50, use the same method for your fanfare.

baritone sax on bar 44 and bar 46 to sound like a timpani, because only you and the timpani have the same part. make it dong dong dong... not bom bom bom.

horns again to practice your 53 to 58 with a metronome!!! tempo very weak ar ...

flutes clarinet 1st sax to do your running notes together on bar 59 to 60, its very critical that you guys run together on this very portion of this piece of music.

trombones bar 87 very very very important... make sure you guys come out as a section.

horns glissando on bar 88 is as much important as the trombone...you have to blast gracefully !! its just like scolding vulgarities in a tai tai manner.

thats all for this Piece !!!!

Up To Date Confirmed Player's List

Please check that your name is correct!
Thanks! =D

OBOE
1. Harith Daniel

FLUTE
2. Jovi Tan Zi Hao
3. Ho Lina
4. Joyce Chan Swee Hwan

CLARINET
5. Ang Shi Mei
6. Lim Chiu Hwa
7. Caroline Tan Kai Ting
8. Tan Si Yuan
9. Valerie Toh Xin Lin
10. Farhanah Danil

SAXOPHONE
11. Mira Shahidah M Z
12. Lim Shu Wan Alice
13. Alvin Ng Peng Hock
14. Luthfiansyah S.
15. Terence Yeo Ming Shu

TRUMPET:
16. Muhammad Azri Bin Mohammad Deah
17. Ong Jeffrey
18. Hyekel Abdullah

19. Sandy Chua Hui Ping
20. Muhammad Faisal Banjuwi (Guest Player)

21. Randy Lee Xue Ren (Guest Player)

FRENCH HORN
22. Shyryn Roslan
23. Tan Jian Yu, Darian
24. Gladys Lie

EUPHONIUM
25. Chong Tim Yiong
26. Nurulhuda Bte Ja'afar (Guest Player)

TROMBONE
27. Tan Lai Chian Alan
28. Chai Shi Hui
29. Belvis Ang Wei Jie
30. Siti Arfah Bte Ibrahim

TUBA
31. Too Guo Qiang
32. Lee Qi Jun Ronald
33. Siti Muzalifah Bte Ibrahim
34. Teo Kay Min

STRING BASS
35. Ching Yong Qin

PERCUSSION
36. Muhammad Julio Iman Bin Sarjadi
37. Ngor Sing Yee
38. Muhammad Shawal Ziyad
39. Andi Tiara Binte Sarjadi
40. Bentley Ang Wei Lun
41. Amirul Izzudin Bin Rahmat
42. Shirly Chua

Confirmation Practice for Concert

Dear Members,
Please note that 17th July (this coming Saturday) will be our Confirmation Day for the concert. Please be in Black Top for photo taking session as well. We will be running through all the pieces.

Thanks.

Speech Day cum Alumni Band Practice

Just a reminder, there will be Alumni Band Pract tomorrow even though it is speech day.

Band room will be opened at 7.30am, and hopefully band practice can start around 9am with the full alumni strength.

Thanks
Alice