Well, the big event of the year, probably my last concert in the Esplanade, unless we get into the SIBF finals or I get into SAF band. I'm not going to lie and say that this was the most meaningful day of my life, or that this was the most satisfying concert I've played in, because that honour still belongs to Prometheum XI. However, it was still a good night. I won't go into too much details about the moving process, since they're relatively similar to the usual, except for a few interesting details.
1. I managed to leave my notes to people at home. Then I bought new ones at J8. Then I left those in the varese -.-. Luckily I managed to source some spares from Ziluo to use.
2. The truck devolved into one without a lift, although that may have decreased loading time a little.
3. I never knew there was a stage door near the bus stop/mall side of the Esplanade, first floor near the library
So we did the usual, lunch and dinner both had chili sadly. It was ok though, lunch was mild and I swiped a vegetarian dinner, which was pretty nice. Met Calvin too, who would be filming us.
Of course, before the concert, there was a mad exchange of giving gifts and notes and receiving them. I gave out stuff ranging from a DVD to a box of "Chicken McNuggets", and received... absolutely nothing, other than notes I mean. Not totally unexpected though.
During the tuning session, we had a short prayer session, as well as a few "inspirational speeches", including one by Shuotian reminding us all not to worry, as "all our mistakes will be recorded in HD" Not, I think, the best way to soothe the nerves.
One thing I noticed about the Esplanade stage is that you can't hear the balance properly from wherever you are. In my case everything else was drowned out by the trombones.
Our first piece was Army of the Nile, with Mr Oura walking in halfway. I think we did pretty well, and the song brought back fond memories of RIMB 2006.
St Anthony's Variations was next. Apparently this song was well-liked. Personally I find it quite strange, but to each his own, and I guess if the audience liked it and it was well-played, it was a success.
American Salute, some say, was the worst song of the concert. However that is not to say that it was not played well, and personally I found it good. Which means that the concert as a whole must have been good.
I find Romanza a nice song to listen to, and quite emotional, but, in a word, boring. For me, anyway, the score consists of about 8 notes with a time value of less than 2 seconds. Still, it does provide a welcome break from the first 3 blasting songs.
Saga Maligna was arguably one of our two best songs of the evening. I love the piece itself, it epitomises the sound of the band and it is majestic, light and grand all at once. I almost cried during God in Heaven. However, the key word here is almost. When I listen to the recording it sounds great, and there was no real problem, I just felt kind of unsatisfied. Maybe I set my expectations too high, or maybe Mr Oura's interpretation of it differed from mine. Nevertheless, it seems to have impressed people.
The intermission was a boring one, nothing much to say here.
Jinjun must have enjoyed Florentiner Marsch, seeing as how he was the conductor. Nice of him to let me play the tenor horn melody parts. I think we did this one well, and it must have been good for Jinjun too, to be conducting at the Esplanade, and conducting well. I think we all owe him something for his musical guidance.
I love Monument. It ties with Saga and Titanic Medley as my favourite piece of the concert. Again, though, I still felt something missing from the climax at 198. But yet again, my expectations for this part were, I think, too high, considering we had about 1/5 of the horns that would have been ideal. Besides that, Monument was, as a certain junior of mine put it, Monumental.
Titanic Medley... I really can't describe how it felt playing this song. Memories of my batch, my time in RIMB welled up and in the end, during the saxophone soli, where my first solo was played during Investiture 2006, I couldn't hold it in. I just let go completely and let my emotions and tears run. They kept running too, all the way until the end, as I just played my heart out. After the song, I couldn't turn the page to the next song, I just stared at it, until Mr Oura raised his baton for the next piece.
I suppose after Titanic, I let out all my emotions because I didn't feel much during the next few songs, except pride in our music and happiness and enjoyment playing the pieces. Our next piece was Utada Hikaru Vocal Selections comprising First Love and Addicted to You. For some reason this reminded me of the Japan exchange back in'05. The audience enjoyed the solos by Jeremy, Jinjun and Matthew immensely.
The final piece of the concert was Jounetsu Tairiku. I'm a bit disappointed in myself for not coming out more during the saxophone feature, exemplified by this:
Me(to Jinjun) : Ask (your friend) how the baritone saxophone was
Jinjun (on phone): How was the baritone saxophone?
Jinjun (quoting to me: HAH, got baritone saxophone meh?
Yeah. But other than that, the song is fun. Also, listening to the recordings, I heard the oboe solo for the first time!
The audience kept calling for encores, so we decided to give them two. In it's third year serving as an RJCSB encore piece, Takarajima brought the house down with it's lively tune and hyped up rhythms and sax solo. Tico Tico, a Latin samba, was equally as popular, and equally as enjoyable to play.
Following the concert we presented Mr Oura with a pair of boxing gloves (both meant for the same hand). While he was walking up, a bunch of his fangirls suddenly ran after him and hugged him passionately. I love Mr Oura too, but even for me, I probably wouldn't hug him. Would like to find a way to express my appreciation for all that he's done, which is more than I could ever say, and I really respect him as a teacher, conductor and musician.
In the end I feel as a whole that the concert was a rousing success. The audience thought we played brilliantly, and everyone left the concert happy. I guess no matter how divided our band has been, we, for a brief moment of time, felt as one.
For me the concert probably didn't mean as much as others, since this wouldn't be my last concert with Mr Oura, let alone my last concert at all. But I do feel for people like Jinjun, whom this concert would be the last for.
I also want to thank some people. There were my friends from RJ who came down, such as Meiyi, Zhou Chen, Bryan, Yuling, Jiejing etc, of course. As mentioned above, I owe a lot to Mr Oura, for his musical skills and teaching, for being the only reason I stuck with RJCSB all the way. My batch, divided as it is, managed to pull through this concert in the end. And there's one more group I'd like to thank, as an encore. The RIMB members who came down to support us in this concert, too many to name. I felt like a celebrity, coming out of the stage door to a hero's welcome from them, and the number of blog posts praising our concert from them has been astounding. I think hearing their comments and praise is what has made this concert for me.
To the RIMB - Thanks for supporting and for helping me when I was down, providing a place where I could be welcomed and cheered up.
To the RJCSB - Thanks for providing a place to further my musical skills, to my batch, for pulling through in the end, for giving me a night that I'll never forget
Most of all, to Mr Oura - Thanks for everything, over the past 6 years, for all your musical guidance, humour and imparted discipline and wisdom, for teaching me what it means to be in a band.
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