11:23 PM
|| we love MUSIC ||

hello phssb! its me again (: SYF is over, hope u guys had a really good rest these two days! don be so depressed anymore! SMILE, becos we've made it! u guys love phssb even more, dont u? be proud of OUR bronze!
on behalf of the band, i would like to thank the seniors who came back to our band practices to give the band your support, &of cos, the words of advices u left on this blog.
this is really a good experience. we had so much tears and laughters in these few month & of cos, the fun we had - band camp, intensive practices. don ever forget these special memories!

now, its time for seniors to step down from band. i believe the new sec three committee will be really prepared by the time for u guys to take over and lead the band! sec ones and twos, promise us that u guys will be committed and do all your best in band alright!
personally, i wan to thank all of you guys for making my last journey in band so special.SYF 2007 was definitely great.! i believe all the seniors felt this way too! jiayou our juniors! continue to have faith in phssb! dare to believe!



lots of love,
SINYI

11:04 PM
|| we love MUSIC ||

one more night, and the day is here. LETS DO OUR VERY BEST TML! play our very best on that stage, and enjoy the moment playing as one band. its our glorious moment! (: thanks for all the seniors who will be coming to support as tml! our band wont disappoint u guys!

and my dear members, u guys worked hard this last month. hopefully tml will turn out great!practices ended really late these few days,so sleep early tonight! and really feel energetic tml! justina bought honey lemon halls for those who are having sore throat alr! and hopefully mr tan's lip balm works! brasses members, rest ur lips k. and of cos, to those juniors who have yet to recieve the senior's gift today, u guys will be recieving it tml! hopefully our words do motivate u guys ! however, wads more important is to have confidence in yourself! have faith in our band! we can go through this tgt! jiayou jiayou jiayou! the sixty of us. we can do it! :DDDDDD


okay. tml please rmb to bring your BAND UNIFORM1 ( white shirt, vest,tie,stockings,blacksocks, courtshoes, black shiny shoes!)

allllllllllll the best man, my dearest band ppl! we can do it! be proud! becos we are PHS BAND!



lots of love,
sinyi (:

10:46 PM
|| we love MUSIC ||

HEY GUYS.
finally we are at the very last lap of this bloody long race.
Pretty good effort coming tru from u guys, and we sounded REALLY very well.
I dont know whether we will get the gold, but lets keep the fingers cross yeah?

Just some few comments.

We might be able to play the notes now, but i think wad we really lack are the emotions and musicality.

For safari, think of urselves more like an animal rather than just urself. E.g flutes or clarinets must think of themselves as some kind of birds. Tubas, euphos and trombones should play out the low pedal notes - that is to provide the sound of the lions. Trumpets' elephant call is pretty good, just need more of the high C. :) soloists like sinyi and wz need more emotion like eugene.

Safari demands more of ur ability to play in tempo - those coming in from at 2 bars before 14 must be in tempo ; trumpets when playing at 29 shld memo the score and look at mr tan to keep urselves in tempo etc.

Dynamics shld be wide - when climbing a scale, express more on the high notes; cresondos before 15 shld be much much more.

For Escape, try and hold ur notes to full values for every SINGLE bar. e.g the 2/4 bar in the beginning of the piece shld be longg not short. if not the music will like kinda stop and start and stop many times.

Many a times, u need to feel the song moving and going somewhere. For this piece, the beginning is trying to illustrate someone escaping from the plato's cave. Winds need to control ur dynamics. Band not too loud in 18 bars onwards, or it will sound too mellow and bass-heavy. more balance will be good. Trumpets will biting notes in bar 40 something shld do a cresondo ba, that will sound better. :)

Then in the middle of piece is the most emotional part - each section must be damn in tune and the style shld be more expressive than plain. Tubas and trombones shld do 2bar-phrase in bar 75 to avoid sounding too choppy. 1st voices like flutes and 1st trumpets need to come out more in 83.

I love the accel, think that is the most exciting part of all. cresondos are great, just plain GOOD!

the other parts are quite ok, just need to noe ur dynamics like Fp and ur articulation.

other than these, i think u all need the damn stage presence.
Enjoy playing in a band ; playing in with ur sections, ur friends.
Bring out the joy and happiness and all the emotions - touched the judges, WOW the audiences, bring proud to our school.

This shall be the last and only chance for us Sec 4s and 3s to play in SYF as PHSSB le.
I hope that at the end of the competition, we can leave w/o any regrets.
It isnt worth it to cry or be sad if u noe that u did ur best, right?

Know that all ur seniors are behind u, cheering for u, rooting for u.
All the 3 teachers, mr tan, mr ng will always be there for u.
Have faith in us leaders and fret not,
even if we dont get wad we want, we will still be PHSSB. :)

With that in mind, i wish us all the best!

Joseph

10:49 AM
|| we love MUSIC ||

hi guys!
haha in case you're wondering, im that looney senior who went back today :P
so sinyi has kindly invited me to post some of my comments on the band blog to encourage you guys yah.
BEFORE THAT, LET ME SAY GREAT JOB FOR COMING THIS FAR! YOU GUYS SOUNDED PRETTY GOOD JUST NOW.
but as always, there's always room for improvement.


okay firstly, must tell you guys that Singapore Conference's Hall's accoustics is not as good as VCH's.
so most prob your sound is not gonna ring, nor is the hall gonna help you cover up for the mistakes you made, erm in short: you're gonna be pretty damn "exposed".
but fret not lah, make an extra effort to play full value especially for holding notes.
this may help alot to make the band sound more full instead of choppy.


secondly, i notice that the band tends to slow down when playing quavers.
for example, the woodwinds in the beginning of Escape where the saxophones tend to lag behind the upper woodwinds.
also in Safari, the tubas and some others like saxophones tend to slow down at the quavers(i think is around figure14 ba).
try improving by listening to one another when playing the quavers den accomodate to play together as one.
also, you guys can try sub-dividing when counting the rest bars so that you'll be able to play accurately.


thirdly, the soloist like Wan Zhen and Sinyi must try to play more confidently okie!
be it a few shot bars of solo, you can make a difference to the whole piece.
dont be too nervous thinking that you'll be playing the solo, im sure the whole band is behind you :D
oh yah woodwinds pls be confident of your running notes, dont let the judges catch you being scared of the running notes yah. (DONT KNOW HOW TO RUN ALSO MUST RUN! DONT CARE PLS GO PRACTISE HOR!!)


okie thats pretty all lah..
but one observation is that the lower voices tends to cover the upper voices, making the music sound abit too heavy at times.
so the upper voices, like flutes, trumpets and horns can try coming out a little bit more den at least more balanced ok..


now let me share something with all of you.
i heard from somewhere that THE STANDARD OF THE BAND IS EQUIVALENT TO THE STANDARD OF THE WEAKEST PLAYER.
there's no use in having only a few section working hard, and some others taking the back seat.
if you guys want that bloody gold, you have to push yourself and work really hard.
ALL OF YOU.
if you do have parts that you are still unsure, please please please make an extra effort to go through and practise them(but of cos dont over exert yourself k)


i can already imagine all the parents shaking their heads in disagreement, wahhaha but im gonna say this, if you guys can just take your mind off studies for just these 3 days and focus on the SYF '07.
be mentally prepared, be physically fit, be musically prepared as well.
faith is very important, so if you guys believe enough, im sure you guys can do it~!
when you go on stage, pls do not let your anxiety take over you.
pls focus on making good music, put yourself into the music and listen out for one another.
put aside all those politics, put aside all those silly rivalry thingy and play together as one because im pretty all of you wants to clinch that Gold medal yah.


okie lah shall end here.
wish you guys all the best and i'll be there to support you guys.
TAKE CARE AND DRINK LOTSA WATER :D


cheers,
yiyang

11:02 PM
|| we love MUSIC ||

phssb! we must believe in ourselves that we will do our best on 11april. that we can do it! lets persevere! never, never, never give up! Never consider the possibility of failure; as long as you persist, you will be successful!



You can if you think you can (:


sinyi

11:42 PM
|| we love MUSIC ||

dear seniors! our band only has 5 entrance tickets. (and its all taken up.) so sorry! if u are still coming to support us at 4.30, please contact sinyi.

our results will be announced at 6pm

10:07 PM
|| we love MUSIC ||

HEY PPL. its just seven days away from competition.
&some of u guys are falling sick! do take extra good care of yourself! rest more & DRINK MORE WATER.

sunday's rehearsal will be on 4pm - 8pm. the band room will be open for those who are coming earlier.



band practice starts at 3pm tml.
jiayou <3s!





sinyi

9:49 PM
|| we love MUSIC ||