thinkJAZZ.

you see the world in black & white

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05 May 2011

is what the entire day has been about. Everything has been nothing but utterly ridiculous. From how I ridiculous ran to the bus stop and back to Salt again, to pass Mak her cup of chocolatey goodness, and to receive her last minute encouragements, to how the bus ridiculously broke down in the middle of the highway en route to Republic Poly. In a ridiculously short period of time, we are done performing, and are spamming photos ridiculously, from like section / batch photos to like Non – Nanyang Girls Photos :O We went back to Salt, had a ridiculously good time reading through the letters (even though they were meant for before SYF but whatever). We went for lunch, played Monodeal, goofed around abit, there was a flase alarm phone call, and finally, ridiculously enough, the real phone call came. I was seated directly next to the whiteboard, and our section was together. Liting was to my right, Yu Zhen behind me, and Walter infront. The announcer began, and we all got nervous. I held on tightly to Li Ting and Yu Zhen…

“Band 2, National Junior College… Silver”

and my heart sank, at the thought of Yiing Huey… what she had told me she dreaded the night before. Quickly after some contemplation, a series of cheers emerged from the phone; The first GWH band… ACJC. And we realised our results were so very close…

“Band 14, Hwa Chong Institution College Section… Silver”

And I never thought I would get a chance to ever hear those words in my life… ever. What a ridiculous result it was! Benz was like !?!? THE RESULTS ARE BULLSHIT. I like (y) And this was followed by a brief 10 – 15 minutes of silence, as the announcer continued announcing the results of other schools in the background. Gradually, as the announcer neared the end of all the results, sobs began to emerge from band members. I was mostly quiet and sighing… I didn’t know how to react. Then Hui Yao finally broke the silence… and looking at people cry, especially the friends that I’ve come to treasure and love so very much throughout the course of preparing for SYF… it really broke my heart. It suddenly hit me how much, and how hard every single one of us had worked. We had put our minds and souls into this, we ended Gloriosa with a glorious concert D Major chord that remained hanging, and resonating in the atmosphere even as we stopped playing and prepared to leave the stage. We played our bestest, and we left with no regrets. Most of us felt indignant… but I guess there is really nothing much to be done. I guess the thing about music is that, though it is a beautiful thing, it can also be extremely subjective.

For awhile, I started to think, what exactly went wrong? did I play “the Question” completely in tune? Was it because I screwed up my 3 bar soli? Perhaps it was attributed to that, perhaps it isn’t, but I felt good, because I really gave my all on stage. I didn’t let myself, truzzle, my section, or the band down. As I had probably mentioned in my previous blog post, I didn’t really care about the results. I guess it’s true… but perhaps I really felt that we played exceptionally well such that I’ve set myself for a fall. This experience in HCBand has nonetheless, been a meaningful one. I’ve gone through so much, and from it I’ve gained alot. I got to experience Band SYF, which though is still SYF, vastly differs from Choir SYF. I felt less nervous, and more relaxed… oh please we camwhored so much :P While tuning and waiting for our turn to play backstage, I was constantly keeping Truzzle warm, reminding myself to go all out and stuff. Also, Silver’s not neccessarily bad… I know I sound like I’m comforting myself, but it’s true., It gave me a chance to felt what it was like to get a silver… something I’ve never known in all my life.

SYF wasn’t neccessarily as bad as we thought… it was just plain ridiculous I guess. In fact, we’ve already reap several benefits by being a part of this. I’ve forged so much friendships during the practices, I’ve made so many true friends that will forever be there for me whenever I’m feeling down or doubting my self-worth. Not that I’m trying to be ego, but I’ve improved tremendously under the awesome guidance of and awesome SL (:. I’ve definitely gotten closer to my section (trumpets!) and also the band, generally. And hey! we even took a few profile-pic / wallpaper worthy photos!

This SYF experience will surely be a one I will remember till the end of time. It has made TRCC even more significant, apart from the series of Jubilates that took place. It has been an honour and a great pleasure to play alongside such dedicated musicians in HCBand. HCBand, it’s alright. If we fall down one step, we’ll make sure we climb back 3 storeys higher.

It ain’t over.