Coda 5

Another year, another Coda.

I'm a positive person, so let's get all the negative stuff about the concert out of the way first:

1. Music
Personally I think our second half needed much improvement. Persis especially was a letdown, considering it was our final piece. We rushed, messed it up, and paid for it. Other than that, the second half suffered from blasting, rushing and improper balance.

2. Non-music
I would have appreciated if more of my batch came back to RI to help load and unload. I know that a batch supper or something was in the works, but as a responsible player, the least we should do is go back and help out. What if everyone decided not to go back to RI?

Also, the amount of people who agreed to go and later backed out was quite astronomical compared to usual concerts. I think people should generally not back out from commitments, but I guess sometimes this can't be helped, can it?

Alright, with those out of the way, let's go to the day itself.

I did go back to RI before the concert this time, as I had to handle the original scores for the performance. After a quick lunch with Shuotian at J8 MFM, we headed for school, where we loaded up in record time and were soon on our way to Victoria Concert Hall for the last time.

At the concert hall, we proceeded for a soundcheck, which was not exceptionally good. Our ensemble then had the hall for a while, following which I had to help Calvin set up and write notes, the result being that dinner was almost gone by the time I got there. Thanks to Shirlene for helping me find some food!

Pre-concert was pretty usual, so I shall not elaborate much, so let's go on to the bread and butter of the concert.

We opened with A Yorkshire Overture, a lush, yet light, overture. I think we did this well, as Quanhui said, better than any on Youtube. Giant bionic rabbits aside, this piece was done with vigor, lightness and flow that I don't recall hearing during rehearsals. Images of New Zealand flashed through my mind throughout the piece, having just returned from there, I could identify with the Yorkshire countryside feeling.

Yanlong took Shirim next, definitely one of our best pieces this time round. Jewish in nature, this piece featured some traditional melodies and a very Yiddish feeling, which we managed to convey I think. Having been to Israel before, this piece definitely brought back further memories of my travels.

Probably a first for a Singaporean band, we had Wintersturme from Die Walkure next, conducted by my dear friend Jinjun featuring Quanhui as a soloist. I can't comment much on this, given my position it was hard to hear well. However, the recording sounds good, and I know Quanhui was happy with it.

After Wintersturme, we proceeded on to what for me would be the defining moment of the concert. Now, the next segment may be considerably long, because of all the experiences I've had playing in a band, this has been the best, the most meaningful for me. I can honestly say that I have never and will never feel this way again.

Grief, the feeling of sadness, dejectedness after leaving RI, failure of the Japan Trip, abysmal ending to an RJC band career

We launched into Saga Maligna well, playing softly, darkly and almost evilly. I think our control of dynamics in this part was pretty good, and our climax was emotional, leading to a quiet finish that brought us to...

Laughter, fun times spent in the Varese, during chalet and during band practices with Mr Oura

The Village Fool opened with a bassoon solo, then proceeded to introduce the rest of the band. Again, nothing wrong here, we played it lightly, in contrast to the previous movement, and followed Quanhui's interpretation well.

Pain, loneliness of an outcast, loss of everything I held dear, failure to achieve my aspirations

Pain's opening was slightly... painful given the early entries, but other than that it was alright, I think, although this is a movement of the piece I'm not too partial too.

Indifference, the feeling of time flying by as the one and a half years passed faster and faster, and not realising until it was too late

At this stage I was growing more and more confident of our playing and our musicality for this piece, and Time Flies did not disappoint, I could really feel happy playing it. The band was energetic and lively, minor balance issues aside. Around the end I started feeling a rush of adrenaline, anticipating what was to come.

Remorse, that perhaps band life in RJC could have been much better if only I'd tried harder, the feeling of regret and longing, remembering good and bad times and wishing I'd made the most of them.

No audience applause this time, thankfully, as we began God in Heaven. Playing the first note, emotions started building up in me, behind a dam that was growing ever weaker as the flugelhorn (played by David Zhao) and trombone (played by Lee Jinjun) soared in a beautiful solo in which I could find no fault. Shirlene's euphonium resonated with the sounds of Thomas's feelings and passion, with the band steadily but slowly building up beneath her.

The chorus opened up for the first time, and I was finding it increasingly difficult to prevent myself from losing control. The band wasn't helping either, playing the piece with power, passion and emotion, yet following Quanhui brilliantly. As the bridge started, tears started to well up in my eyes, which was not a good thing as my view of Quanhui began to blur. Unfortunately I was unable to wipe them away, due to the nature of the segment. My embrochure was giving way too, but fortunately it held.

The second chorus opened up after a glorious build-up and at this point, the dam burst. I poured everything I had into my playing, remembering what this piece meant to my batch and what it meant to me. Words really cannot describe how I felt, and tears flowed freely.

Mercifully I had a break after the chorus ended and the outro began, which allowed me to compose myself and clear my eyes, only to prepare myself for another emotional rollercoaster in...

Hope and Despair, intertwined throughout my life in RJCSB. Despair was often, but more often, hope prevailed, and for me, the piece will forever end with a D major rather than a D minor chord.

Finally, a band plays this movement the way it's supposed to be played (ie not slow and draggy, but energetic and slightly fast). The emotions I felt in God in Heaven came back to me, and I think I may have overdone some bits, but the recording just sounds brilliant. 4 before W, as the buildup began, I couldn't help but shed another tear. As the ending progressed, the band grew ever more powerful, leading to a climactic finish.

This performance of Saga Maligna has to be the best piece I've ever played in, and quite frankly, given how much the piece means to me, I doubt this experience can ever be repeated.

Ok that was long. Intermission time.








Now, we shall have the Raffles Winds Saxophone Quintet (with 4 players) to present some musical interludes.

Considering the lack of practice, we did La Paloma well, and I played it much better than I expected myself too. Still room for improvement, nevertheless, it was a good start.

The Teddy Bear's Picnic was the first piece we practiced as an ensemble. I could have played better, although this piece did prove challenging due to lack of convenient places to breathe. Still, we did better than usual, in my opinion.

My Neighbour Totoro, another special piece for me. We did this one exceedingly better than Laputa two years ago, definitely. I was inspired by the baritone saxophonist of the Amigos saxophone quartet; while i didn't make it there, at least I moved closer.

The main band was back for The Incredibles. We did this one pretty roughly, there's definitely room for improvement, in the sense of volume control and dynamics. At least it wasn't too messy though.

Beauty and the Beast could have been great, but like most of the second half, it suffered from balance and speed problems. Not that bad, but enough to prevent a good performance from being great. Also, I hereby confer a citation to this piece, the first that I have played in all 3 Raffles bands that I have performed in.

Hymn to the Infinite VCH Ode to VCH was next, our best piece of the second half. I don't know why Jinjun doesn't like it that much, personally I like it quite a lot. I was conscious of the fact that we were performing this in VCH, and allowed myself to remember some of the fonder times there.

Delibrately skipping the next song is in my best interests because I... whatever. Having said that though, it wasn't all bad, the opening and slow movement were both quite decent. It's just a pity we turned what should have been the picture above into the picture below.



Can't say much about the encore, it was decent as encores go, but I think our morale was at a low after lukewarm audience response and a horrible ending to Persis. At least it was decent though.

Post concert there was a mad rush of scores, photos and instrument to handle, and as a result I didn't have all that much time to socialise. I met who I needed to meet though, but left my batch behind as duty called. It did feel kind of lonely on the bus back, though the flash war was fun.

Back in school, I panicked as I thought I'd lost my video camera's charger, and with it the important recordings. Fortunately Calvin kindly agreed to bring it over to school. While waiting I shed another silent tear, feeling rather down and lonely.

Supper was a quick one at Macs, followed by a rush home to process the recordings, as I was sure many were waiting for them. I managed to complete and push out all the recordings in good time. After that, I listened to Saga Maligna, and for a third time that night, I wept, this time tears of relief, satisfaction, joy and yet longing and sadness that the concert was over.

Did this concert outdo Coda IV? For me, yes, but not to the extent that Coda IV was better than Coda III. The second half was ok, but not so good. The first half was pretty good, but there was really one big reason for why this concert meant so much to me.

Saga Maligna.

To RWinds, thanks for everything, especially that piece. To the comm, thanks too for all your dedication and hard work. Let's work to make Coda VI even better!

Around the world in 80+++ minutes

So the day we've been working hard for since May has arrived. In exactly 24 hours Yorkshire Overture will fill Victoria Concert Hall. I've invested as much, even more perhaps, into this concert as I have into Coda 4. I'm hoping it will be even better than the previous concert, just as I hope Coda 6 will be even better than this one. Technically we're not as ready as I would like, but I think we all can pull together tomorrow and impress our audience with our love for the music. After all, music without love is just empty noise.

"Victoria clearance delivery, Raffles Winds 5 requesting IFR clearance to Leeds Bradford as filed"

Dreamliner

It was a beautiful morning, and the air in Paine Field crackled with excitement, for today would be a monument occasion for Boeing. Today was the day that the 787 would finally take to the air, to challenge the sky and the heavens above and usher in a new era for commercial aviation, bringing new visions of flight to many around the world.

As the sun rose slowly over Seattle, three men stepped out of a bus and onto the open tarmac of KPAE. The first was the captain of the flight, Robert W. Barnes, one of Boeing's leading test pilots. The second, also a leading pilot, was James Smith, also a leading test pilot for Boeing. The two of them had flown many test flights for Boeing, and were icons of the Boeing flight department, being referred to as "those magnificent men in their flying machines" by many of the ground staff. The third man was Satoshi Mashima, chief pilot of All Nippon Airways, the launch customer. He had flown over from Japan in March, willing and able to help Boeing with the test flights as well as learn the ropes of the 787.

In front of them was N787BA, the first of the 787s to fly. She had been rolled out 2 years earlier, on July 8th 2007, but that was a temporary thing, and many in Boeing still remembered the rush on the seventh night of July, in order to get it ready. Since then, it had undergone an extreme makeover to render it fit for flight. Her aerodynamics were the best seen in any commercial airliner, and she looked almost like an angel, ready to take flight on wings of magic. Despite this, the first flight kept being pushed back, to the end of 2007, then to mid 2008, then to October 2009, until finally, on the 15th of December, she was ready to realise her fantasy of flight.

"What traffic can we expect today?" Robert asked James, who was perusing a clipboard with most of the necessary information.

"Well, ATC's pretty much cleared it up for us, other than the test flight of the Thunderbirds' latest support 737, and a delivery flight of a refurbished 753 for Northwest, there's nothing except us."

"It's a pity we couldn't fly earlier," Satoshi commented, "sunrise is the best time of the day"

"I've never actually seen the sun rise from the cockpit before," James said, "As test pilots we don't fly much at that time"

"Ah it's magnificent, especially over the Pacific," came the reply. "The sky begins to turn bright, then over the blue horizons, the sun starts to peek out. And then the ocean glows with the light from the sun, and the sky is like a magnificent painting. It is like paradise, like Utopia, and where there is land, it is like a vision of the isle of the gods. I especially like seeing the sun rise over my home on the island of Takarajima, just south of Kyushu."

"Wow, that's something I'd love to see before I retire" Robert sighed wistfully

"Talking about paintings, I just came back from Paris, where I bought a portrait of two lovers for my wedding anniversary," James interjected, "It shows them doing a series of Armenian dances, and being a dance teacher, I think my wife will be happy... Hmm, it appears that there's some weather buildup over the Cascades. I hope it doesn't persist, as it'd be best not to fly into the storm."

"By the way, Satoshi, how did you get here?" Robert asked, "ANA?"

"No, I thought I'd try Singapore Airlines, I heard good things about their first suite, and I wasn't disappointed. I even got some postcards from Singapore to add to my collection"

The pilots continued their idle banter as they conducted a walkaround check of the Dreamliner. The plane, decked out in the blue shades of the Boeing house livery, glistened in the purple light of the dim morning sun. On the side were small icons showing the logos of the various airlines who had ordered the plane, and there were many. After Qantas's order for a hundred or so planes, many airlines were eager to jump onto the bandwagon to get the new plane.

Soon, the ground crew had cleared the area and the flight crew were preparing for engine start.

"Paine ground, Boeing 001 heavy request push and start" James called out

"Boeing 001 heavy, cleared to start your engines, contact when ready for taxi"

As James set the fuel cutoff switches, Robert pulled the ignition handles that would set off a small firework in the engines, causing fuel to ignite and starting the internal combustion system in the engines. Unlike older planes, whose engines tended to sound like 76 trombones playing different notes simultaneously, the engines on the 787 were not noisy by any standards, and James, who was a religious man, later said they sounded almost like an old hymn, a hymn to the infinite sky that would soon receive the new airliner.

After receiving taxi clearance, the 787 moved slowly out of its bay on the flightline and turned towards the active runway, 34L. James busied himself lowering the flaps, setting the autobrakes and readying the aircraft for takeoff.

"Let's hope this plane works as well as it should, or we'll be setting ourselves up for a short ride in a fast machine," Robert muttered as he eased the plane around a bend. The plane was being led by a follow-me car, men walking beside the wings. Standing on top of the Future of Flight Museum, a large crowd had gathered, and, in a true American salute, were waving the star-spangled banner in all forms, small and large. And this was going to be a day to remember, up with such milestones in aviation as the Wright Brother's first flight, which lasted a mere twelve seconds, to the moon landings of Apollo and the flight of the Boeing 747, the largest commercial airliner of its time.

"How are the kids by the way?" Robert asked

"Daphnis and Chloe? They're fine", James laughed as he armed the spoilers, "Chloe's managed to get herself a boyfriend, I think, but she won't tell me. I can ense the omens of love coming from her though"

"How did you come up with the name Daphnis?" Satoshi looked puzzled, "Isn't that a French name?"

"My wife's part French, that's why I got her a French portrait. Her father thought it would be a nice name."

"Does it have any special meaning?"

"Nope, it don't mean a thing"

The 787 pulled up at the hold short line, and the pilots carried out their final checks.

"How's the weather like, tower?" James called out over the radio

"Mostly clear, but some reports coming in from Canada. Pont La Mer is experiencing showers, and a storm appears to be forming over Pont St Anthony. Variations in the weather are expected, but nothing significant."

"Roger, Boeing 001 heavy is at the holding point for 34L, requesting takeoff clearance"

"Boeing 001 heavy, standby for American 221 crossing over to 34R"

As the plane stood on the holding point waiting for the traffic to cross, the pilot waved at the 787 as he taxied by. Soon, he was clear, anf the big moment had arrived.

"Boeing 001 heavy, winds are 350 at 7, cleared for takeoff runway 34L"

Robert eased the throttles forward before engaging the autothrottle. The 787 slowly advanced forward before picking up speed, and as it accelerated it bounced over the runway lights, causing the plane to jolt slightly. From the outside it almost looked like a comedian's gallop, but soon the plane was moving too fast to notice.

"80 knots..... V1.... Rotate!"

Robert pulled back on the yoke, and the 787's nose turned skyward, just as it had done the previous day. The main wheels left the ground, and the crowd below erupted into applause. The Dreamliner soared into the sky, and it was the very image, surging skyward, the morning sun glinting off its wings, of freedom and amazing grace.

"Positive rate of climb, gear up"

James retracted the airliner's landing gear, while Robert retracted the flaps. Satoshi helped to monitor the crucial systems of the aircraft as Robert set her into a slow right bank that would take the airliner over the Cascades.

Soon, the plane was soaring over the ridges of the Cascades, their snow caps gleaming like silver crests below, and the three pilots were reminded why flying was their first love. The landing gear remained down throughout the flight, that the chase planes might be able to study them. As well as the four original warm up flightplans that they had devised, the pilots decided to do some other flight tests, that took them out over the ocean.

"I've got a report from another airliner. Apparently winter storms are building up to the north" James called out.

"Roger that. Let's hope the buildup doesn't continue, or we might have to cut early." Robert replied.

They had hoped for blue sky and sunshine. March would have been a much better time for this flight. The clouds were getting thicker, and the chase planes were dancing in the wind, already feeling the effects of the rising storm. Because of the weather, the crew elected to turn south, flying towards Oregon rather than risk the bad weather over Canada. Mashima aided the two test pilots as they ran the Dreamliner through some basic exercises. Running his hands across the SEA VOR indicated on the map, he suggested a route for the pilots that would avoid the inclement weather.

Soon though, it became evident that the flight could not continue, and Robert made the decision to land off. The plane turned towards Boeing Field Airport and descended through the cloud layer. By this point, all the pilots could see was a silver screen outside the cockpit, but fortunately the plane's instruments were all in good order. They eventually managed to touch down, executing a perfect landing, and taxiied in amidst thunderous applause.

The test pilots went their separate ways soon after the press conference, James and Mashima caught a flight back to san Francisco, where James lived. From there, Mashima got ready to head back to Japan, while James found his car at the carpark and headed for home. As he turned into his house, a small bungalow off El Camino Real, he reflected on the day's events and decided that the incredible Dreamliner saga had just begun.

My instrument

まず第一に、バリトン歌手のサクソフォーンは非常に大きい器械である。 It' s.aの低音の器械。 It' それを必要とする場合の他の器械を支えるs常にそこに、それdoesn' tの輝やき 全然。 実際は、it' sはまれに聞かなかった。 It' かなりまたs柔軟性がない器械。 交響バンドか多分異様なジャズギグの外、don' tはそれをで見る すべて。 それcan' tはメジャーリーグのオーケストラのほとんど、およびあっても、it'で聞かれる; sの報告書および非常に 顕著。 It' かなりsはつまり正しく評価されない器械、多くの人々のまたは存在についての心配知っていない。 ほとんど 人々は、残り物90を得るそれに終って部品か重要性について考えるとき最後それに順位をつけがちである 時間のパーセント。

I guess there is some truth in what they say, that the instrument you play is representative of your character.