We are very pleased to announce that we recently clinched third place and a respectable Silver award for the Singapore International Band Festival 1st Division competition. Under the baton of our conductor, Mr Francis Tan, the band performed Movements 2 and 3 from Three Portraits for Symphonic Band by local composer Kelly Tang, as well as selected excerpts from Sidus by Thomas Doss.
Unfazed by the fierce competition from local bands such as Ngee Ann Polytechnic Concert Band and Republic Polytechnic Wind Symphony, as well as international bands from Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand, we prepared intensely for two months before finally performing in the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music concert hall before a panel of distinguished adjudicators. Our rendition of Sidus was found to be particularly impressive and commendable, earning praises from both professional and amateur audiences alike. We also received a special mention from composer Kelly Tang for a splendid performance of his composition. We would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to our conductors and tutors for their boundless patience and dedication, to CFA for its continuous support, and to everyone else who has contributed to our achievement. We hope to build upon this success and continue to soar towards even greater heights by participating in a festival and competition overseas next year to celebrate our 49th year of founding. Hi everyone, it’s Dexter and Lishan! As SIBF is tomorrow, we decided to bring you a post to document our journey in the past 2 months or so. Undeniably, this journey was not the easiest one, but we are glad to have come thus far and we are all geared up for our performance tomorrow. Along the way, with the help of our welfare officer, we dropped bits of encouragement for our members. Without a doubt, food is always welcomed, and part of the welfare provided came in the form of food. Our welfare officer Yuan Khai purchased banana cake from a bakery all the way in Johor, and this was a hit amongst our members. Just look at their faces! Two of our members, Levis and Darrick, also kindly prepared a special homemade grass jelly drink for our members. Similarly, this was also a hot favourite with the band and many of us scrambled to get our hands on a cup. We’ll let the following pictures do the talking, shall we? Along the way, we also celebrated Hari Raya and what better way to join in the festivities with more food! We brought a couple of boxes of cookies as a after-band snack for the members and both boxes were wiped out by the end of the night as well. Other than attempting to fill tummies, we also wanted to fill the hearts of our members with encouragement and motivation. We got our members to write little notes of encouragement to each other, which we collected and then distributed last week. We sure hope that the sweet notes gave everyone a boost to push through the final lap! Welfare and food aside, Mr Tan was also a pillar of support to us all. Despite facing numerous challenges, Mr Tan persevered and kept going, imparting as much musical knowledge as he could to the best of his ability to the band. He also constantly provided us with the motivation we very much needed, especially during the period when morale ran low. Of course, we mustn't forget our beloved resident conductor Prof Ho, who was there with us every step of our SIBF journey thus far. Despite his busy schedule, Prof Ho made the effort to drop by for our rehearsals, to speak to us and to motivate us. Here are a few things he shared with us: “Some people believe: To characterise the music quality is through "objective " measurements- dynamic marking, tempo indication etc. Such measurement would end up to be like mathematical and scientific representation.” “Music is a transcendent and highly abstract and subjective art form . Let us all humbly accept it and serve the fickle Muse to the best of our ability.” “These symbols don't reflect musical reality as appreciation of music is a completely subjective human experience. Measurement or technical terms , however can provide a measure of insight but are no substitute for human judgement.” “Music should concern the making of music, not the speculative transcending of its limit. The ear should remain the first and last court of appeal.” We keep Mr Tan and Prof Ho’s words close to our hearts as we embark on our final lap tomorrow. In the meantime, wish us the best of luck for our performance tomorrow, and we hope to bring you good news after tomorrow’s competition!
Till then, Dexter and Lishan Hi everyone! Here are some upcoming events to look out for! Trio camp just concluded over a week ago! A huge thank you to the participants, organizing team and CFA for such an amazing time. If Trio left you wanting more of the NUS Wind Symphony, here are the important upcoming events, save the dates! If you didn’t manage to join Trio 2016, here’s what you missed! More photos can be found on the Trio Camp Facebook page. Also, check out our winning skit here!
Till then Christabel |
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September 2017
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