1st National Band Competition - GOLD!! TOP BAND!

Dear ALL MEMBERS of the MARIS STELLA SYMPHONIC BAND ALUMNI,

WE HAVE DID IT!!!!!!

We achieved a GOLD award in the 1st National Band Competition and AS WELL AS TOP BAND for the 1st DIVISION!!

WELL DONE GUYS!!

really well done.

First of all, we must thank our beloved and best best best best best best conductor!

LIN SHENG! THANK YOU!!

You've Done alot alot alot for us. Thank you very very much.

Next will be Mr Chiang!

Your wonderful solo and your dedication to this band! Thank you!

Next will be all the soloists for the 2 competition pieces!

You all have really done well for this time round. Jia you!

Next will be all the guest players that has helped us in this comp!

Thank you so much, without you all, we may not get such a good results!

Of course how to forget ALL OUR MEMBERS WHO PUT IN SO MUCH EFFORT IN THIS COMPETITION?

WELL DONE!!!!

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I went for the dialogue session yesterday night and got quite abit of comments from the judges.

Let's start with

Mr Richard Adams - Don't like our choice of march, no march feel, should have stronger saxophone section. Generally, he can't remember much. Should have attempted for higher division.

Assc. Prof Ho -
Rainbow Breeze March - Dramatic and nice. beautiful sound

Invictus - Horn Section not good, articulations, pitching, horn tone not solid and not bright enough for this piece. Band volume control good, Band sounds mature, nice and full but details are not taken note of. During the changing in volume, members don't tend to take note of details. Thus all details are sacrificed. Interaction between sections, in other words, the passing over from section to section. Not good. Not very well imitated or well passed. Tightness in the passing over is lost. Need to take note of the breathing points and the imagination of sound. Where to breathe is very important, some members just breathe at wrong position causing the whole phrase to go haywire. Imagination of sound is very important as it determine what kind of sound you want to produce for that particular note, phrase or even the piece.

Overall: Band sounds good, beautiful, nice, warm, mature sound.
[He said he closed his eyes and listen to us also know whose band is that. haha. He said Lin Sheng's band sound very unique can easily recognized. He said we have same style of band sound as tj. **haha.. but I think we sounded more noob.. or i should say we confirm sounded more noob... hahaha... **]

Mr John Boyd - Band does not act on Dynamics, all depends on conductor to do it. Not colourful enough for pieces. Should have attempted for higher division.

Mr Nonami -

Rainbow Breeze march - Should be faster in tempo, more bright and ride. Sounded good for march. Very different from the rest of the bands. Mood and feeling are good. Good Job.

Invictus - Slow Parts of invictus very very nice. He commented the best of the division very deep impression. Fast Part or the last part Not enough impact. Band did not bring up the excitement. At louder passages, the band tonguing are rather rough. Soloists did very well especially flute.
Harmony of band is good at normal volume, when changing to louder volume, the upper register especially flute, go up too much, the middle and lower register are unable to hold or move up as much. Balance wise is spoilt. Thus the whole band go a rather sharp side, lose control of high notes.
Good music conception, good sound.

Overall: the band sounded good. He advised us to choose a higher grade march next time, he said don't choose a lower standard set piece if your band has such a good standard in playing. Don't waste the talents.

Mr Toru Miura:

Rainbow Breeze March: He is a very good friend of the composer of the piece, Yoshio Matsuo. He said he played and knew this piece very well. He said, our version of Rainbow Breeze March was very very very good (yes, he used 3x very). He only wants us to take note of 2 points, the lightness in this piece and also the 8th note of every bar. This piece should be a little bit more lighter, he commented that we are light but still abit heavy in sound(something like u look skinny but u are heavy). Only band members should take note of the 8th beat of the piece, he said we should solve this piece rhythmic pattern as quavers and not crotchet. Thus each bar should be counted as [ 1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n ] instead of [ 1 2 3 4]. He said this piece the N beat very important. He said if we correct this mistake we are perfect for this piece. Very good phrasing and shape of music. Mood is definitely beautiful.

He talked to Lin Sheng on phone, praised both Lin Sheng and us for doing so well for this piece. He mentioned he will tell Mr Matsuo that we have played his piece very well and near to what he wanted when he composed this piece. He also mentioned that he would like to hear Lin Sheng and us again when he comes to Singapore next time round. Mr Toru said he totally like our march. Well Done! [Take note: his english is very very very good! For those who think he got bad english]

Invictus - Very Good playing. beautiful melodic line, phrasing was good. Very beautiful slow parts. Need to take notes of the harmony of the band (same as Mr Nonami). He said we need to gauge as a band, how much we need to move up. Move up as a band and not as individual sections. The trust and interaction between sections must be there. Do not spoil the harmony in the band. Last part of invictus, the band needs to bring up more excitement in the music. the excitement at the last part is not there. also need to sharpen up rhythm for the last part in order to give a more precise and rhythmic feel.

Overall: He likes our playing. Band sounds good and balance. Nice phrasing and music conception. Good choice in pieces. beautiful.

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These are the comments they gave us during the dialogue session. For more detailed mistakes and flaws, we need to refer to the comments sheet that will be sent to school by this week. Will update it as soon as possible.

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Once again, I would like to thank Lin Sheng, Mr Chiang and ALL participants and members of the Alumni band whether you playing or not. Without you all, this band cannot be so good. Thank you very much!

* going to have a Band BBQ, so everybody please try to make urself free on that day!! Will confirm the date and time with you all again.

WELL DONE and GOOD JOB GUYS!!

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OH YA! Not to forget! PLEASE WORK HARD FOR OUR PRESENTATION on 23rd July and Our Concert on 30th July!

Please JIA YOU FOR 2 more performances!!

*PLEASE SELL YOUR CONCERT TICKETS TOO! Sales aren't too good now! So push for it please! thank you!

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1 more thing:

Congratulations to Lin Sheng for winning both Top Band for 1st and Open Division! Congratulations!

Congratulations to Temasek Junior College Alumni Band too for winning the Gold and Top Band position ( I love the Machu Picchu you all played that night! VERY NICE! PERFECT!)

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* due to some issues and reasons regarding Maris Stella Wind Symphony, we decided to change back the name to Maris Stella Symphonic Band Alumni.

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Those who wants to support and watch our performance, Please come and find our members for tickets!

3 Beautiful Sunday Dates with Maris Stella Symphonic Band Alumni for the month of July!
16th July, 23rd july and 30th July!

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23rd July our 1 year anniversary after WMC.. haha. So let me announce, since mssba officially started 2 years ago in the month of july. Let's make 23rd July as mssba birthday!
So Soon MSSBA will be 2 years old!!!

Anyway, I want to thank all of the alumni members who have been staying with us for the past 2 years, without you all, we can't even survive or last so long... 2 years leh.. for an alumni band..
really would like to thank you all.

From the bottom of my heart, i really think that you all are very good and committed (of coz some pon practice here and there) bunch of members. really thank you! Well done guys!

without you all, MSSBA wun be 2 years old, MSSBA wun be able to achieve Gold in WMC, MSSBA wun attained Gold and Top Band in NBC. Really, without you all members, MSSBA will not have all these achievements.

REALLY THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

Let us Work Harder and Give the best performance on Presentation and concert day! Give me the best performance by you all before I step down ok? let me hear the best of MSSBA!

Cheers!! BRAVO!

~fredy~
maris stella symphonic band alumni
mssba rocks! i am proud of you all!