Unpacking of Band Room @ the Bukit Batok Campus.

1st Dec, Monday
12.45 pm
Band Room
(Explore & Walk around to find it. We're not sure where it is. But if you get lost, just call up someone and we'll bring you there. :))

Attire: School related tee & shoes. (No slippers/sandals because the security guard might not let you in.)

Librarians & QMs are advised to come so that you all can sort out your things.
Band Members, feel free to come and help out! :D

timotheus here, yes again.

i've uploaded two pieces from our repertoire*.

let me share them, haha.



this is the new piece that Mr Goh bought, we might try it. Its a grade two piece, so if we can't play it properly, something is really wrong. this is the description of the piece: Written to depict the small town life and scenic beauty of a New England village, Monmouth Overture features a single reoccurring theme that winds its way throughout this composition in a modified theme and variation form. A musical rewarding work for younger players, it once again demonstrates Michael Sweeney's command of the young band idiom. Recorder parts are optional.

Access this website if you can't hear the full-length recording! (:

http://listeninglab.stantons.com/item.php?stno=243065



this is Angelic Festival by Richard Saucedo. its a grade 3 piece. description: Richard Saucedo has emerged as one of the best writers of contemporary band works. His newest piece is geared for festival or contest use - a playable, exciting overture with distinctive motifs and a harmonic vocabulary that has great appeal with today's younger players.

(:

Hello Band, Janis here (:

The last practice was very good (:
I was more impressed by the way you guys did your drills.
Sectionals well, take it more seriously the next time okay?
You guys know how you all fair during sectionals today so I shall not nag.
PPs, it is up to you guys to make the sectionals enjoyable.
It's kinda boring playing the 2 songs over and over again but work on the details of the songs; dynamics, notes, pitch etc.

Drills. SEE! You guys can do it one!
Really excellent job :D
It's tough and tiring, but hang in there okay?
And one proven theory- When you guys do drills properly and take it in the right spirit, we won't scream and shout.
Amazing :)

I guess Kel Lee's and Timotheus's post really made an impact and you guys really reflected.
I am proud of you guys!
I am going to be honest, I was very demoralised before because of the rate the band was moving at and how you all did not have a sense of urgency.
I admit, a part of me wanted to give up and forget about it, but I am glad I did not.
Because you guys reacted to what Kel Lee & Tim said, and proved to me that you all really care. :)

There's some people I would like to praise because you guys deserve the vast improvement award.

Cheryl;
Attire has been great for the past few weeks/months as compared to before. And she produces a mc/parents' letter to verify that she has to be excused from band for non-lame reasons. Improvement in drills too! (:

Joel, Terngfei;
Became more responsible! (:

Gloria;
Improvement in attire and drills as compared to before. Makes an effort to be punctual for band. And she shows enthusiasm nowadays! (:

Jungan, Zelai;
Less discipline problems as compared to before! (:

Zihan, Yingtong;
Attending practices VERY often! (:
I even have a graph for you to see.



And many many more. These are just the few I can think of now.
Keep it up guys :)



BUT, there is still room for improvement.
For the next uniform check and the ones after it, I hope that the UQMs won't have to pump anyone for bad attire.

In other words, I want EVERYONE to have the best attire.
Having good attire is very basic. Tuck in shirt, pull up socks, have black hair accessories (for girls).

For the next practice, I want EVERYONE to be punctual.
I actually hope that everyone would be early not punctual.
But being punctual for fall in (which is ALWAYS 15 mins before the actual practice- example 12.45pm) is good enough :)
I agree with what Kel Lee said in the previous post; Our band is small, everyone is important. Making the small band smaller is not going to help.
When you guys are late, you will miss the warm ups and tuning.
Tuning, understood, very important. But doing warm ups is just as important.
If you have been in the band long enough, you would know its importance. Don't be ignorant.
I won't elaborate on that.

Attendance. I don't care if you all overslept or whatever. Just come for the practice.
The phrase better late than never explains it all.

Lastly, your playing.
Practice makes perfect. Even though the process is long and tiring, keep on going.
There is no substitute for hard work.
We need everyone to cooperate and we need everyone to give it their all, not just one player per section.
The band is too small for anyone to hide.
Don't regret that you guys didn't practice when the time comes.
Like Tim said, for the Sec 2s, next year will be your first and last time participating in SYF.
And for the sec 3s, next year will be your last year, and you want to make the best out of it.


Okay, I just got some remarks from your PPs and here they are:

For Flutes, Kwung Teng said:

For Joel,
positive - attitude is very nice, willing to learn and is improving by the week
negative - not much actually, his hairdo getting funnier each time. he holds his comb in his pocket. heh heh. hmm, tuning can be better (need a little bit more time)

For Yingtong,
Positive - She is pleasant, doesnt carry any attitude. Attendance is so so much better than last time. Willing to learn, innocent and tries to crack jokes (but sometime overboard). SHE IS DETERMINED, VERY VERY!!! cus she has been trying the Bb major for months, and finnaly gets all notes today, very very impressive!! and she doesnt complain at all.
Negative - her primary school mindset is still there, need to change, if too much, will be abit irritating. sometimes abit irrelevant, cannot always try to be funny, must be serious when needed to. lastly, she cannot always say "very difficult, i cannot do it, i dont know how, i forgot, i cannot play, how to play, is it like that?" cus if she constantly doubt herself, there is no way she is going to make it. she must believe in herself. if she always think she cannot do it, she will never be able to.


For Saxophones, Janis said:

Cyndi has no problem projecting herself and tonguing has improved. :D She tends to go out of tune on the higher register and needs to move her fingers faster. Needs more breadth support too. All these will take time and practice. :)
Mabel's tone is improving and she is much more confident in playing than before. :D Dynamics can be played with more effort and needs improvement on breadth support. :)
Jungan's attitude towards band has improved and is becoming more responsible. Wonderful tone! :D But then, sometimes he cannot control his volume and goes crazy. Tends not to watch conductor and goes at his own pace. Needs to focus more too and pay attention to dynamics :)
Deborah's playing and tone has improved alot :D Needs more breadth support and to watch out for dynamics. :)
Timotheus is awesome! :D
SAXOPHONE ROCKS MORE THAN ANYTHING OKAY! :DDDDD


For Cornets, Jinghui said:

Yunna plays well but she can do better by putting more enthusiasm into both playing&drills& everything.
Rafidah&Mabel have improved tremendously & they both need to work on improving their tone & reaching certain notes. It will also be better if they read the score & not memorise it.
Cassandra needs more confidence in playing out loud & more practise would definitely help in reaching notes.
Overall the section is doing fine & CORNETS IS ZE BEST
(thumbs up emoticon)


For Trombones, Aloi said:

Dom is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious he just need more confident in playing loud and more breathe support.
Gloria is doing well and have improved tremendously and all she needs now is to concentrate a little more. Trombone's The best ~


(I don't have all the sections. So missing sections, if you want your comment to be posted, tell me :D)

These are their actual words okay. No editing. Not even for punctuation.
Work on what your PPs said. Don't know how to work towards that then ask them to guide you.
I am sure they are willing to do it (:
Ask them qns like: How do I improve my tone? How do I improve my breadth support?
Not: "Walao eh, my breadth support where got not good?"
Don't just read and forget about it. If you really just read and forget about it, then it's a waste of my time to post it up here and a waste of your PP's time for writing it.
All the PPs want to help you guys okay, so let them help you.
:D
Playing music is more than playing notes.

I think we have done what we can to help you, and so did Mr Goh. Now, everything is up to you guys.


I want you guys to SHOCK Mr Goh (in a good way) with your improvement in your attitude and playing (PRACTICE DURING THE 1 week hor!) on the next band practice.
Show him that you guys still care and that we deserve his effort and care, like Tim said.
Prove to him that we can still do it (:


Jiayou :D
& Keep up the good work. I hope that you all would really keep that attitude you all had the last practice. I hope it's not a one-time-show.

See you guys soon!
Remember, 3rd Decemeber, Fall-in 12.45pm at the BUKIT BATOK CAMPUS.
If you guys want to come help unpack the band room on 1st Dec, do come! :D
Details of 1st Dec will be said soon, so check out this space! :D





I shall stop talking.
PRACTICE!

timotheus here.

i'm posting with the very same motive as Kel Lee.

i know it gets boring after we keep doing this "talk" thing, but really, we have to get our message across somehow, and it is by posting it.

we don't keep you back for the "talks" because we know you are already worn out after many hours of practise and also very restless.

you know, its really not very easy to maintain a silver? let alone aim for a better award.

last year, when we went for SYF, the band was of a reasonable size, and we still had to really work together to attain our current award, a SILVER.

it really ain't a walk in the park, especially with more and MORE obstacles coming our way.

here's an insight:

1. our band size is WAY small.
2. not everyone is familiar and can play their parts well.
3. time is not favouring us.
4. SYF is just next year, and definitely NOT as far as you think it is, or it appears to be.
5. we haven't got a confirmed choice piece.
6. we don't have full attendance every time.
7. we still have the secondary 1 CCA showcase to put together, we HAVE to impress in order to recruit people. To impress, a great deal of effort is required.
8. we are in the process of moving, we don't have much practise timeslots.
9. the secondary 4s next year have to concentrate on the "O" levels next year, and devote lesser time to band, our Practical exams begin early next year. Remedials and extra classes will kick in as soon as school commences.

that's all i can think of for now, i'm sure there's more.

seriously, we HAVE to pull ourselves together in order to maintain our silver award, of not a bronze will pop by any time soon, and i'm sure no one wishes to announce a drop in our band's standard next year.

it will not be pleasant, trust me.

look, if no one wants to put in effort, the award we receive will not be of any effort too.

"what GOES around, COMES around"

you REALLY have to try and understand.

if a bronze is what you want, please, just tell us.

we don't slog our guts out just for a devastating result once we finish our performance to the judges.

Mr Goh has been, and still is VERY VERY kind and generous to us.

he gives us priority, and sees hope in us, but we are NOT returning his kindness.

the least we can do is to put in effort to play, work out our parts and get it right.

you know, if we don't reciprocate Mr Goh's efforts, he just might divert his attention, perhaps more to East View or Pasir Ris Crest.

they know how to at least show appreciation.

Mr Goh sprained his wrist today, helping us pack stuff, which is NOT his job at all. He still has a bowling competition today, but can't take part in it. just look, LOOK what he's done, it was for US! for everyone!

PLEASE, this has to work out, at least SHOW him that we deserve ALL his every effort and care and time.

please, think.

I'm sure many of you heard what Mr Goh said today. Timotheus, Janis, Sin Pei and me are not very pleased as well. This may not sound nice, but i still have to say it anyway.

Firstly, BAND PRACTICE. As Mr Goh said "There is so many parts that needs to be worked on, and I don't know where to start." What does this say. This means that we need to double our concentration and work harder to sustain our silver or get gold. Mr Goh has been so nice to us already. I think its only fair if we practice hard to show our gratitude to him. I think we are disappointing him when we talk loudly during practice while he is helping another section, or when we don't take sectionals seriously. Don't you think we are letting him down? Shouldn't we put in as much effort as he is putting in to help us? Do you think its easy to conduct a band whose not focusing?

Secondly, ATTENDANCE AND LATE COMING. How do you think we feel when we look at the attendance book and see the numerous amount of zeros? Our band is small, everyone is important. Making the small band smaller is not going to help. PLEASE COME FOR PRACTICE ON TIME. Traffic jams and slow buses are not good reasons for being late. If that is the case, WAKE UP EARLIER! If we can do it, YOU CAN TOO! So, from now on, i expect more 1's to replace 0's in the book. Anyone with lame excuses must watch out.OVERSLEEPING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

Thirdly, DRILLS. Imagine jelly doing drills. That is what you all look like. Can you imagine the adjudicators' faces when they see our video? Like Mr Goh said,"Its OUR face on the video, not his." So I suggest that we do our drills more professionally. That way, we can CUT DOWN on drills and GO HOME EARLIER. Have you heard the sound you make when you guys march? During hentak, you all sound like fireworks. During darikiri, you guys sound like you are sweeping the floor. Are you all that tired that you cant lift your feet 1cm of the floor? And your 90-45 is more like 45-10. FOR THE LAST TIME, KIRI IS LEFT, KANAN IS RIGHT! Show us you understand that with 'A sense of urgency'.

Lastly, THE BLACK FACE! Please please stop flashing us the black face. I know that doing drills is not the happiest thing in the world, but please cooperate with us. Also, you must think that "You (top 4) are not the ones doing drills, or downing. You dont know how we feel. All you guys do is talk talk talk talk talk." This is not true. We have done drills before. We know how you all feel. But how do you think we feel when you give us the 'face'. Its not making our jobs any easier. For example, we organize practice for YOUR benefit. You think we do this for fun to torture you. HELLO? WE'RE STAYING BACK TOO?! Plus, you guys stay for ONE day. We stay for more than THREE CONSECUTIVE DAYS. Plus most of the time we drill together WITH you, standing in the hot sun WITH you, not standing under an umbrella with a fan and an ice cream. Do you know how tiring shouting under the sun is as well?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, COOPERATE WITH US. IF YOU THINK WE ARE UNREASONABLE, GIVE US CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK, NOT COMPLAINTS OR BLACK FACES.

If you all have anyway to help you all focus more, contribute to the tagboard and let us know. Anyway, KEL LEE here, dont assume other people wrote it and hate them. HAPPY HOLIDAYS :D

P.S. We are not discriminating against anyone, this is just a general picture :)

Heres the timetable for practices which are 90% correct. Stay attentive still, theres a 10% chance it may be wrong

4 nov tuesday 11-1.30
5 nov wednesday 1-4
7 nov friday 1-4
10 nov monday 2-5
13 nov thursday 10-1
14 nov friday 8-12
17 nov monday 8-12
18 nov tuesday 1-5
19 nov wednesday 1-4 KIV
20 nov thursday 1-5 KIV
21 nov friday 1-4 KIV
3 dec wednesday 1-5
4 dec thursday 8-12
9 dec tuesday 8-12
11 dec thursday 8-12
15 dec monday 8-12
17 dec wednesday 8-12
19 dec friday 8-12
22 dec monday 8-12
24 dec wednesday 8-12
29 dec monday 8-12
31 dec wednesday 10-1

Hey people, band practice for the next 2 weeks will be without the sec3s again, so don't miss us.
Meanwhile, there will be day i/cs. :)

Tuesday (4th Nov): Jinghui & Joel
Wednesday (5th Nov): Cheryl & Terngfei
Friday (7th Nov): Mabel & Zelai

Monday (10th Nov): Gloria & Yunna
Wednesday (12th Nov): Jung An & Mabel


Your job:
- Take the Band room keys before practice. (Call teacher in staff room and ask them for keys)
- Fall the band in, take attendance (the file is in the Band room)
- Settle the band down before Mr Goh comes.
- After practice, return the key to teacher.

Fall in will be 15minutes before practice. Practice will be in 2E4 classroom
The day i/cs, make sure the band is disciplined. On certain days, the o levels may be straight after the practice, so make sure that the band clear the place asap and that they don't make any noise.
As for the rest of the band, listen & cooperate with the i/cs! :D

AND, check the band blog once in a while for updates and things :)