WHY??
W - H – Y...
WHY? VERY SIMPLE!! The Malaysian Band!! YESH!! THEM!! The day before was a tiring and intense day for everyone and of course every single one of us needed a very very VERY VERY sufficient rest. The Malaysian Band seems to be shared the same thoughts BUT their timing was way too different from ours. They slept at 9 and woke up at around 5!
This is too different from us. WE? Hmmm…. Official lights off time was 11 (that’s the only time we ‘force’ our member to sleep). Hmm… ok. I woke up that day, felt quite irritated. Maybe because this time, I was affected by the Malaysian Band. Today they were really NOISY. Moving instruments, drop things, clear things, etc… Really irritating, did they try to minimize the volume? They had their competition the same day as us. They were going for some marching championship thingy (I think).
OK OK!! Back to US! I looked at the time, 530 am. It is the time already, Haryl too woke up. Both of us discuss the schedule of the day with Steven. We were going to wake everyone up by 6. Finish all discussion, I went to brush my teeth and etc. By 6, Haryl and I in charge of waking the left and right side respectively. Breakfast will be quite early today, around 630. Everyone was given until 730 to finish their grooming and breakfast before 730. Not sure whether I was too sensitive but I did find that everyone was a bit fast in movement today. Also, they seemed to be a bit more serious than usual. Was I too sensitive, or was it real? By 730, most of the people were ready, only a few slow ones were a bit later. We asked them to check their file for ALL parts and scores. After we make sure they had their own parts, we asked them to check on their instruments. The woodwind (clarinets, double reed and saxophone) was supposed to check whether they brought extra reeds.
This was when the trouble started. Douglas came to me and told me that his reed cracked. He got a new reed from Zhen Cheng and no sound came out from that reed. He couldn’t play with it because it was a bit too hard and new, not that seasoned.
*THUNDER*
*TYPHOON*
*Heavy Rain*
- The Heart Boat which has been sailing for so many peaceful years, seem to have met with some gigantic wave this time. It sinks. Going down into the sea… -
I really had nothing to say, I didn’t what to do, my heart just sank. All I could think of at that point of time was to ask him to put that reed into a small container full of water and soaked it. That’s what I thought of at that time. I asked him to do it immediately, if still got problem go and find Haryl or Zhen Cheng. I told Haryl and Zhen Cheng about that matter. Then I continued to do my own things, preparing all my percussion stuffs.
Trombones and Trumpets were asked to check on their mute and I had reminded the trombone section and saxophone to bring additional instruments. 815, we moved out of the hostel. Everyone did their last minute check on their things and instruments. Percussion counted on their instruments and accessories and make sure nothing left behind. We waited outside the hostel for Claudia and her daughter. Steven, Zhen Cheng, Haryl and I made a last minute check on things in the hostel. We confirmed nothing we need for competition were left behind.
While we were waiting outside, quite a number of people took photographs. haha. Around 830, Claudia and her daughter arrived. The Percussion accessories and Tuba were loaded into Claudia's car. She drove to the Rehearsal place first (the place we went yesterday), while her daughter walked to the rehearsal place with us. hoho.. The whole percussion section walked to the rehearsal place without holding any instruments! haha... While the rest of the band dragged, carried or hugged all the way to the rehearsal place. haha. poor thing~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (ONLY FOR THAT TIME!! Percussion was XING FU!! haha)While walking, talked to Lin Sheng. Nothing particular, he just asked don't be threatened by the
China band, they might not be good in ensemble. He asked me to FANG QING SONG! haha. yeah.. i tried to~~~ After that Ming Jie went to talk to Lin Sheng then I went to make fun of Zhen Cheng and Haryl... hohohoho... obviously i make fun of them because I GOT THING TO TAKE!! hohoho..NOTHING TO TAKE!!!
NOTHING!
0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BO MIK KIA (hokkien)
MEI DONG XI NA~~~
Tak Ada Barang Ambil~~~
HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO~~~
BUT ~~ BUT~~~
Somebody like me!! Such a helpful, kind and caring person, OF COURSE I offered my help to Zhen Cheng and Haryl... HOHO~~~ I was so kind~~ WO SHI HAO REN~~ hoho
I helped Zheng Cheng carry his Euphonium for a while... hoho.. A WHILE~~ I really mean a while... let me count~~
1
2
3
4
5
6
hoho.. 6 steps only!!! haha... I only helped him carry for about 6 steps. hoho... hahaha...
Then after that heavy eupho, my good nature offered help to Haryl. haha. I helped him take the trombone mutes (cause he helped the trombone section bring the mutes). That was much much lighter! hoho...
I brought those mutes all the way to the rehearsal place. hahahaha... good me... must praise myself... "good boy! So helpful, very good!"
The way to the rehearsal place seemed shorter today (it is the same route we took as the day before), maybe because we joked more and have more fun on the way there today. Or Should I say, everyone tried to shake off the competition pressure or others.
We reached at the doorstep of that rehearsal hall. It was quiet at that moment, nobody used that hall before us. The percussion arrangement was totally different from yesterday, the perc was at the right side yesterday while today FINALLY back to normal, LEFT side. The percussion unloaded the accessories. We moved into the hall first.
'pomp'
'pomp~'
'POMP~~'
the echo getting louder and louder, we were inside the hall now. Empty and still only the echo of our footsteps. More and more footsteps were heard now, the band had moved in. The sound filled up the whole hall, the intensity of the competition getting denser and denser.
"everybody, faster sit down," Lin Sheng shouted to the band. "we got not much time."
Everybody settled down quickly. at this point of time, Loo Kit, Adrian Chiang, Aaron, Jie Bao, Elizabeth and Rasull came in. The percussion quickly set up all accessories needed for competition.
"Ok, Band tune first."
While we were preparing on the things we needed for the rehearsal and competition, the rest of the band tune on that forever MUST TUNE Bb note.
DE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"ok, folklore for band."
I moved towards the timpani and prepared to play. The Percussion was ready and we need play our part nicely during our rehearsal. Nice. We didn't really ran through whole piece. We just went through those imporant parts. Actually before we really enjoy or put feelings into the music we were stopped by Lin Sheng. haha. OBVIOUSLY, He wanted us to conserve energy for later.
Next, we ran through Jericho. I was so pressurized by that song. I am the only one who played quavers for the last part of the piece, while the rest crotchet or long notes. I didn't know why my quavers were that uneven But that rehearsal was even just that I was rushing. haizzz.. So pressurized, I just scared I will screw up that part during the comp.
Finally, the dreadful Jericho was over. Now, Vesuvius. Vesuvius was nice, the percussion part was really nice during rehearsal, explosive enough. I like that. Impactful~~
After that, Lin Sheng asked the band to tune again. Then he asked everyone to play their best and enjoy themselves up there.
Ok, Steven gave the instructions while Percussion packed abit with the accessories.
The bus was outside already, ready to drive us to the hall. All instruments were stuffed into the storage deck at the lower part of the bus.
On BOARD?~~
The bus started its engine.
My heart started to hit faster too.
The bus drove started to move faster and faster
My heart too, raced with the speed of the bus.
The bus turned quite alot, I was wondering the route to the Hall was so hard meh? haha.. keep turning, turn till I also sian...
The bus slowed down, finally stopped. Everyone looked around, searching for that hall. The hall looked like a school to me.. haha... We alighted from the bus, moved our instruments out of the bus. Then cross the road to the outside of the hall.
"Fredy, you asked me to record the video but I don't have the video recorded and tape how to record?" asked Avis.
This point I was really fed up le.. She had been saying that for a lot of times already. I was so fed up lo... I told her, the video recorder not mine, wai yip's. Wai yip didn't bring tape so must buy on the spot itself. Claudia told him he would bring him to buy the tape when we reach the hall and have put our instruments. After I told her that AGAIN, I moved on to check what we should do now.
Claudia told us to wait for a moment while she went into the hall to register and checked for us.
While we were waiting outside, we saw the China Band we saw the other day. Beijing 166 Wind Band. They got a lot of people also they got one woman who wore like some SIAO CHA BOR, The Soloist.
Beside them, we saw the German band. The members hor... very old wor... eh wait.. I should rephrase myself. Should be MATURE. Got some bald guy and old old de..
After that session of looking at the people, Claudia came out and asked us to put our instruments into a room that has been located for us. We went into the hall. The personnel stamped the WMC chop on our hand right before we went into the hall (to certify we were the participants). The back of the hall was cramped but also quite big la. Alot of rooms. The room that had been allocated to us wasn't that big but still managed to allow our instruments, bags and etc to be kept inside.We were asked to leave the room right after we had put our things in the room. We moved out of the room, moved outside to the hall. We waited at the square for more instructions. Claudia told us we got around 30 - 45 mins before our turn. She said she would bring us to the Shops near the hall to buy some souvenir. Ok.. She led us there...
This time, Avis asked that question again. OK.. This time I exploded. I told her rather loudly then the same answer. I was faster, trying to avoid her. We walked to the souvenir shop. Lin Sheng went to watch the performance of the bands. It was totally a differrent view and environment when we walked out the shopping arena of the hall. It was like the Harry Potter movie. We had walked into the diagon alley... I suddenly got that kind of feeling. haha... watched and read too much Harry potter Movies and books. Claudia's daughter led the way, while Claudia at the back to make sure everyone was there. When we were about to reach the souvenir shop, a middle age man suddenly said hi and called me. I was like shocked and stopped. Claudia said; "don't care him, let's go."
I moved on then catching up with the rest. Reached the Souvenir shop. The shop sold all stuffs of the WMC. It was like the official WMC shop. I saw pictures of bands from the previous WMC event. Those faces on those pictures, the pictures when they got their results, their band size, strength and people. Everything.
I don't know why, I just felt the pressurized arises again. Then I thought of all the hard work Lin Sheng, Mrs Chia, Zhen Cheng, Haryl and I had went through. The Band too. Really went through alot. I was scared. Scared to have disappointment. very scared. I want to make this trip worth while, so very scared of disappointment. I was alone outside the shop at that time.
Right at this moment, Mrs Chia came out of the shop. Mrs Chia looked at the photos and turned to me.
"fredy, we had finally went through this far."
"ya, alot."
" just do your best in the competition later."
Then she went in again. The moment she went in, I turned around. Stared at those photos.
I felt something drop on my face, I thought it was raining but I was standing under a sherlter, couldn't be rain. Other than that, I felt my eyes were hot and filled with water. Then those water just flowed freely all the way down the face. I had totally no control over those tears. I was getting more and more scared and pressurized. I don't think anyone knows that I was crying at the point of time, just thought I was looking at those photos.
I finally managed to stop those water from flowing out of my eyes. Halfway stopping the tears, Avis came over and talked to me. Luckily, I managed to clean those away. I think she was the only person who saw the tears ba (if she had). She asked me to get some things for the guest players. I said ok. So I went to find Haryl and Mrs Chia. After we settled on the finance side. We went into the souvnir shop and bought some WMC pins for the guest players. Most of the members had been waiting outside.
Claudia asked us to go back to the hall to prepare to get on stage. We walked back to the hall. On the way back, most of the people were quite quiet. Was it nervous or just didn't feel like to talk? We walked pass the hall entrance, the sound of the band playing inside was really scary. It did sound quite nice from outside.
I felt worst now, what will happen to us later... I didn't what to say later leh... I know I must at least say something to the band. encourage a bit la but upon hearing that, I also a bit scared le...
We reached the square of the hall. That was the time that I knew, we were not allowed to tune before hand. That means, we only have that Bb note to tune on stage. The rest was we tune ourselves during the warm up piece. Now I know what is the 2nd reasons of having a warm up piece.
I told Haryl about this news then he informed the band about the tuning. Now, everyone was aware about the problem. We should listen to each other and tune now. On the way back, most of the people were quite quiet. Was it nervous or just didn't feel like to talk? We walked pass the hall entrance, the sound of the band playing inside was really scary. It did sound quite nice from outside. I felt worst now, what will happen to us later... I didn't what to say later leh... I know I must at least say something to the band. encourage a bit la but upon hearing that, I also a bit scared le... We reached the square of the hall. That was the time that I knew, we were not allowed to tune before hand. That means, we only have that Bb note to tune on stage. The rest was we tune ourselves during the warm up piece. Now I know what is the 2nd reasons of having a warm up piece. I told Haryl about this news then he informed the band about the tuning. Now, everyone was aware about the problem. We should listen to each other and tune now. Claudia asked for Lin Sheng, cause Lin Sheng need to go in with us and prepare things. We told her Lin sheng was listening to the other bands in the hall itself. She asked another personnel to go into the hall to call him out.
Claudia led us into the backstage area of the hall. We retrieved our instruments from the room then she led us to another room (very big dressing room). We stayed inside and wait. The atmosphere inside was rather tense. Everyone should be quite nervous. Finding place to put our instruments and then we sat or stand around the room, waiting patiently for Lin Sheng.
"Next Band Beijing 166 Wind Band"
Set piece Jericho
Choice : dunno what
I looked at Haryl and Zhen Cheng signalling them to listen.
DE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (they tuned their Bb)
...
...
...
...
...
...
Jericho started...
...............................
............................
........................
...................
..............
.........
......
...
..
.
MADNESS~~~ The sound so out of tune~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first thing that came into mind was - THEY WERE REALLY NO GOOD IN EMSEMBLE!! scared what!!
As we continue to listen, the sound getting worst and worst, the band like very diverted. Brass was brass, woodwinds was woodwinds... that was so... UH HMMM...
While SMIRKING and "AN SHUANG-ing" (secretly feel happy). Lin Sheng came back, Claudia led him to register with the personnel stationed near the entrance to the stage. After that he came back with a smile on his face. He told me the bands not very impressive also, he said if we work hard we could get very good results. Lin Sheng talked to Steven abit, then he went on to talk to the band. All of us listened carefully to what he was saying.
Confidence was what I saw at that moment.
After Lin Sheng had talked to the band, me too talked to the band. I didn’t really remember what I was saying at that point of time. I just roughly remember that I said something like; “we are the last band of the division, we should give our best shot”
Haha…
After that, we waited patiently for our turn while listening to the china band choice piece..
OMG~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TOTALLY MADNESS~~~
Why?
WHY?
MADNESS la..
That was a BAND competition NOT a Chinese Orchestra Competition leh~~~
I think they chose the wrong choice piece ba.. Or they changed it halfway. The choice piece written on the program booklet was not the one they played.
The China Band played a SUO NA solo piece. My goodness la… siao…
The band was like accompaniment, while the SUO NA was the main character. Then their choice piece still got what monkey sound, bird chirping, and a lot of animals’ sounds. I don’t know why the chose that piece la…
Halfway through listening to that SUO NA piece, Claudia and the personnel came in and asked the percussion to get ready first. Wai yip, Zhencong, Jason, Elizabeth and I walked out our room, walked up the stairs.The backstage was VERY BIG!!! My god… VCH, SCH were really NOTHING compare to that (cannot compare to esplanade because the hall we have our competition was around 500-600 seaters only, so abit unfair if compare to esplanade. Hoho).
We waited for the china to finish their piece and leave the stage.
The ending of their choice piece was not nice at all. Hahahaha.
~~CLAP~~
The china band left the stage. 5 of us went on the stage to prepare for the things we need for the competition. We were given 10 mins allowance to prepare our percussion stuffs and did some arrangements of the seats and percussion instruments. We put the things that we need near our sides so to minimize our movement.
Soon, we need to clear the stage. The stage manager gave us signal for clearing the stage. The rest of the band, together with Lin Sheng were ready and waiting at the backstage. The stage manager signalled us to move onto the stage. Everyone went up the stage orderly and calmly. Adjusted seats and sit still in preparation position. The compere came in shortly after that.
“Next band, maris stella symphonic band arumunee (alumni)” << That “happy happy joy joy” feeling... hoho hoho
Oboe solo was nice, I think my bell part coordinate very well with Oboe. Haha… praising myself… next up, finally reached the ending.
This was the section where I will totally freak out. I wasn’t allowed to freak out at that time. I couldn’t avoid or even escape from this. I need to face this.
It was time.
Deng` deng. Deng’ deng.
I played the quaver very carefully while focusing at Lin Sheng.
Phew…..
I passed that part. The quavers were even and followed his timing. There was a slight screw up with that part. Hoho… The screw up was there suppose to be a bar of 2 crotchets but I played 4 quavers instead of 2 crotchets.. hohoho… pai seh….WOO HOO… Finally!! The piece and part that I most worried of were OVER!! Yeah!! OVER!! The next piece wasn’t a problem. The next piece was Vesuvius.
Ding ding~~
Lin Sheng went up the podium once again.
He raised up his baton…
…
…
…
…
…
Signalling, 3, 4.
POMP~~~~ (The whole hall filled with our 1st attack on the Vesuvius piece)
The bounce effect was just nice. The attack was together and impressive. The first the attack was followed closely by the marimba and clarinet giving a steady rhythm of quavers, creating the feeling of uncertainty. The abrupt entering from the trumpet, marimba further deepen the uncertain feeling. It was like the people living near the Mount Vesuvius were starting to feel something odd about the volcano. Bar 9, the FF dynamic 4 notes from the woodwinds and the mallet percussions increased the intensity of the piece. Imagine, the movement of lava was more than before, started to move up the mountain, then dropped down into the sea of lava again. The solo trombone was perfectly played accompanied by the clarinets and mallet percussions. The next part of the piece, The woodwinds and mallet percussions did a beautiful down scales, creating the beautiful atmosphere of the lava moving.
The saxophone solo (although a bit screwed) was like a man trying to climb the Mount Vesuvius then he heard the unusual movement in the mountain. The bongo and the last part providing the feeling of lava started to move upwards, causing the rocks to fall and rolled down. The woodwinds did a beautiful runs and the CH CH CH CH CH sound was made by the band. Imagine the man saw smoke coming out of the mountain crater, the lava reached a certain level of the mountain, melting trees and others around it.
The guy continued to go up to the peak of the mountain (sax solo). When he finally reached the peak of the mountain, he was “greeted” by the lava of the volcano. The small explosion of the lava bubbles (percussions). He was petrified, he ran back all the way to the village. The Volcano was going to erupt. He went around telling the villagers about the volcano. Everyone didn’t care about him, everyone thought he was seeking attention, never really care about him. Everyone thought Mount Vesuvius was no longer active. He was totally devastated, nobody believed what he said. He imagined his hometown being destroyed by the eruption, covered by hot lava. Everyone dying and calling for help, the scenes, all the memories were going to be destroyed. He cried (oboe solo).
A few villagers came to him and told him, they believed what he had said because they sensed the same thing too. They tried their best to inform everyone again but to no avail. They couldn’t do anything anymore. They left the hometown and proceeds to a safer place. The man bid goodbye to his home.
Just as he left the land, the volcano was about to erupt, the smoke around the Mount Vesuvius was getting denser. The rock around the mountain was getting hotter and hotter, crops dying. The villagers finally realized Vesuvius was no longer inactive. There was a commotion in the village, people started to run for their life.
The inner part of the Volcano started rumble, tumble and ‘grumble’. Everything seemed to be so chaotic now (remember 217, there was screw up at the entry). People running for their lives, homes were abandoned, children are lost.
The red, hot lava flowed down the mountain. Soon, the mountain was totally covered with lava. Everyone tried their best to run for their lives but still some couldn’t make it through. People were crying, shouting and running out of the village. Eruption from the volcano continued.
For the first time after the eruption, the volcano stopped its mass bombardment. People took this very chance to run as far as possible. While they were escaping, the inner part of the volcano was building up. The lava continued to move their way up inch by inch.
Finally, the volcano gave its fatal and massive attack. Part of the hot rocks rolled down the mountain (ratchet came in early). Then more and more hot rocks together with the lava, flowed down and into the village. This time, the village was covered in the sea of lava. People and animals were buried under the lava, screaming, howling and crying of people and animal can be heard. The lava continued to flow…. Flowed all the way into the sea. 
There were no other ways of people escaping from the catastrophe, death was the only way out. The volcano gave its last ‘bombing’, the whole village was now nowhere to be seen.
Everyone looked at Lin Sheng, with instruments still up. Lin Sheng lowered his hand, we put down our instruments. Clapping sounds were heard from every corner of the hall. The band stood up, Lin Sheng gave a bow. Then the band sat down again while the percussion kept and packed their things. The stage master told us that we could move out of the stage now. We packed our things and moved out of the stage…
Whoa… I felt so relieved now… haha… at last finished!! Haha…
We moved down to the 1st floor and went into the room where our bags were left inside. We put our instruments and ready to listen to the results. Elizabeth, Jie Bao and Rasull need to go off for NTU competition, so they need to leave first. Rasull went to change so Haryl and I get his bags and instruments for him before Claudia closed the door.
We thanked and bid goodbye to Elizabeth, Jie Bao and Rasull. We of course wished them good luck for their competition later. Claudia urged us to go into the hall before the results were announced. 
Haryl and I, together with Claudia and her daughter, walked up from the main entrance. The hall was so big and grand. Bands that participated on that day were already seated and waiting there. I found the cultural there rather interesting. In Singapore, when we were waiting for results, all bands were so nervous and discussing with their members. In Holland, it was totally a different thing. The “ang moh” bands down there, cheered and sang songs, instead of waiting quietly. The band members and even their conductors were cheering and singing. I still remembered, one of the bands made that “ch ch ch ch ch ch shhh” effect in the Vesuvius piece. Hoho. We started a trend.. hoho… ch ch ch ch ch ch shhh…
When we went in, the band members were taking photos.
The four of us sat at the outer right hand side of the first few rows. Our band members and Lin Sheng were already seated down there and waiting patiently for the results. They were amused by how the other bands handle this kind of situation too.
Lin Sheng called me over (he sat in the middle of my row) and he asked me whether percussion made any great mistakes. Hoho.. I admitted that my ratchet came in a bar early. Hoho… then I told him about the mistakes in the percussion solo too, pretty much. Haha.
“Sometimes, there will certainly be some disappointments, I had those too.” Lin Sheng whispered to me. “Nevertheless, bear in mind that you don’t make that kind of mistake again.”
I nodded and kept quiet.
Steven called Lin Sheng, then they had a short chat. I moved back to my original place. I asked Haryl what if we had gotten ourselves a Silver. Then who knows, Cat High will get gold. He said something like, what has been done is done, just hope for the best (something like that, don’t quite remember now).
“WOOOOOOOOOO”
We looked up. The compere was out together with 2 men carrying the WMC bags and certificates.
I stared at them and my heart was like a metronome operating in 1 crotchet = 200. Maybe I should say, the speed accelerated as the compere invited the conductors to go up the stage.
Lin Sheng walked passed us and went up the stage. He shook his hand with the other conductors on stage…
Then, the time has arrived…
…
…
…
Maris Stella Symphonic Band ARUMUNEE
……………………………………………..
[chapter 7: 8 bars before L + 2 bars before N]
