In the Limelight once more

Well, the big first event of the year, probably my last concert in the Esplanade, unless we get into the SIBF finals, I get into SAF Band or I get invited back to RJCSB as a guest player RWinds plays there sometime. 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 and Coda IV. However, it was still a good night.

Today marks the first performance I've had in over 6 months, the first I've had in the Esplanade for over a year, and the first time I'm guest playing in RJCSB (I refuse to call it RIJC Band). Overall I would not say that it was technically brilliant, but I wouldn't say it sucked either, and I think the main problem was really a lack of time to practice to make a reasonably good concert a great one.

The morning, as with last year, consisted of heading off to Bishan via Esplanade, with a quick stop at the rooftop to grab photos. Once there I met up with the band members for lunch at the canteen, which I really miss. Warm up went quite well and instruments were moved with relative efficiency. 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. I actually got the notes ready this time.


2. The truck devolved into one without a lift, although that may have decreased loading time a little. The truck evolved into one with a lift controlled by foot buttons, quite interesting.


3. I never knew there was a stage door near the bus stop/mall side of the Esplanade, first floor near the library We used the mall side stage door again.

The pre-concert proceedings were as usual (and I find it quite sad in a way that concerts are becoming so routine...). Soundcheck was decent, and we settled all our gimmicks and movements beforehand. Dinner was, as usual, spicy, but for once it was not intolerable. I gave out some gifts but saved my section for later.

By 7:15 we had lined up in the all too familiar backstage area and we proceeded to walk in and see... a rather full stall but completely empty circles, which was quite sad but not totally unexpected. Our first piece was an old favorite, namely...

An army of Singaporeans doing what they do best along...

the Nile river.

Our first piece was Army of the Nile, with without Mr Oura walking in halfway. I think we did pretty well, and the song brought back fond memories of RIMB 2006 and A Tempo XIX
Having been repeated many many times, this piece has a lot of history for me, and began tugging at my heartstrings from the first note. Playing Army of the Nile on stage at the Esplanade once more was reminiscent of A Tempo XIX, the Saga Maligna of my band concert history. I enjoyed revisiting this piece for what may well be my last time.

After that rousing opener we proceeded to...

Ardross Castle
Alladale

Dundonnell

Hymn of the Highlands was my dream piece for this concert, as I'm sure those of you who know me well enough may have guessed. Sadly, due to lack of preparedness and tension, Ardross was not played all that well, in my opinion. Alladale, however, was nicely done by the three other saxes, and I am duly impressed, especially by Huijun, as it is definitely not easy to stand in front of a large audience and play such a solo. Dundonnell sounded better, and I found myself tearing slightly as I heard that emotional bagpipe melody come forth near the end.

The green sleeves of the new SAF No.4 shirt

This piece was played reasonably well, lyrically and expressively. I didn't touch this piece much, nor is it of a lot of significance except the resemblance to At Wit's End, so not much comments here. Daphnis Et Chloe

Delibrately skipping the next song is in my best interests because I... whatever. Actually, having only played the piece once or twice at most, and not being too familiar with it, I have not much to say. Furthermore, it's the SYF piece for the rest of the band, and I am really in no way qualified to comment on whether the piece was good or bad, not really understanding the music that much

The intermission was a boring one, nothing much to say here. It was quite brief with not much going on other than some rehearsals on the movements for the second half's pieces.

We moved back on stage in time for:

A demand curve, showing the quantity that consumers are willing and able to pay at a set price

My first time playing a Yagisawa piece on stage, this one was quite nicely done I think. Not impressive, but good nonetheless. I maintain that it sounds like the Star Alliance theme.

A Condor 757-300 (commonly referred to as a 753)

Given the lack of time we had to prepare this piece, I'm pleasantly surprised at the way it turned out, sounding rather happy and light, as it is meant to be. Still doesn't hold a candle to Seventh Night though.

A little pigeon, known in Japanese as "Hato Poppo"

PDQ Bach would be proud of this little musical joke, which was pulled off nicely, especially, I think, the saxophone soli. Really nice work there, and I enjoyed trying to figure out where the various segments were stolen from.


George Gershwin, famous American musician

Another piece which I think was well done, being familiar to some of the band members from Con BRIo. I hope my solo here could actually be heard, but even if it wasn't, the piece was fun to play and received well.

After giving Mr Oura some well deserved thanks and the RJCSB teachers in charge some thanks too, we proceeded with the last piece before the encore.

Movie poster for a random movie

The last piece was again a samba, which was fun to play, though not as much as the encore yet to come. The gimmick we had at the end of the sax soli was an epic failure, but otherwise we played well and had fun.

Three guesses what the encore was. You're right, its:

Takarajima, part of the Tokara Island chain in Japan


RJCSB's Takarajima

The audience kept calling for encores, so we decided to give them two one. In it's third fourth year serving as an RJCSB encore piece, Takarajima brought the house down with it's lively tune and hyped up rhythms and even better sax solo.

I have to say that before this, I was feeling a little emotionless throughout the concert, as I normally am these days. However, right from the start of this piece, the emotions came rushing back. I don't think I've ever felt so high and emotional on or off stage at any point before, nor do I think I will anytime soon (oh wait did I say this about last year's Takarajima?). Regardless I really really enjoyed playing this piece, and my hat really goes off to Samuel. The rest of the band, as well as Mr Oura, were enjoying themselves and overall it was really nice.

After the concert, we made a quick move, as there wasn't much time to meet people. Met a few of my good friends, some RI sec 4s and RWinds members, then proceeded back to school for some informal gift exchanging with the section.

I have to say, this concert was not technically well done, and musically there was a little lacking. This is probably due to the lack of time, as the potential was there. Perhaps if the concert were in August it would have been much better. Regardless, it was ok, with some good reviews from audience members, and I think we did quite well given the constraints.

I also have to say that I enjoyed the practices and the concert a lot more than last year. The band has been really welcoming and fun to be around, especially after a hard day's work, and the pieces were fun to play.

I have to thank my batchmates, RWinds members and other friends eg Calvin and Hafiz for coming down to watch the concert, and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed playing in it.

Also, I have to thank my wonderful juniors for their support and for making the band what it is. I do hope to continue making good music with you all in Coda V. I have to make special mention of Benni, who's been a real help to me getting through some tough times, offering encouragement when I felt down and random chat when I'm bored. Hope that we can work together on making V a great success!

Finally I have to thank my wonderful section, Zhenyi, Huijun, Jiawei and especially Samuel, for making my short 1 months worth of band reservice what it was. I really enjoyed the time we've spent together and hope to see more of you all. Thanks, from the bottom of my heart, for giving me the chance to perform under the baton of Mr Oura, to wear the band uniform with pride and to once again give all I have on stage.

Well, one more chapter of my band life closed, reluctant as I am to let it, and it is time to focus on RWinds and making it work.