Firstly, a very Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope everyone has been having a fantastic week so far with lots of good food, drink, company and gifts! It has been for me so far!

I guess it's quite a good a good time to reflect upon the year that's about to end. Well 2011 has mostly been an enjoyable year for me. It has been a year of change I must say. Many events this year have changed me as a person. Now I shall do some recollection of 2011. Had an enjoyable holiday in Bintan to start the year off.

The beginning of the year seemed to go quite well. A good brass class with Damian, played some nice concerts, generally was going well. Suddenly I seemed to just hit this brick wall in my technical progress. Personal issues then got in the way. I really felt that my life just went south at that time.

Little things along the way did start to lift my life up again. Some interesting East Coast Park outings did help!

Yup those times really lifted me up. Then came the Hary Janos project with the NAFA Orchestra. That just gave me more motivation to improve. Eventually we did pull off decent performances of the suite so it did close the academic year on a positive note!

Exams came and to be honest I really forgot how I felt after the exams but before the results release. When my results came, it felt like this weight just came down on me. Was a dismal showing. That brought my life back down. I didn't have a very interesting holiday. Most of it was wasted not doing anything. At least there was Brass Explosion to keep me interested in playing. Heard some really good stuff during the festival from artists like Dave Childs, James Morrison, Scott Hartman, James Gourlay, etc. But honestly I felt I didn't gain an awful lot from the teachers during the festival. Or at least I'm not using their advice in my playing now.

Well in July, new things started to brighten my life. I got a new laptop, new case and just planned a trip to Italy. Also had a great project at the Singapore Saxophone Symposium. That project just lifted me up because I played with so many accomplished musicians, mostly alumni of NAFA. Sitting beside Aldwyn just gave me a boost as well. Even today, that guy is still an inspiration!

School started in August and quite a few things changed due to the new collaboration with RCM. After 2 weeks of school, I flew to Italy for a week-long summer camp where my concepts of music-making and trombone playing just took off. It was really a fantastic and worthwhile trip where I heard fantastic brass playing, took great lessons that really molded me into the musician I am today, and made lots of new connections with brass players from all over the world.

From that point on my life just kept going up. Played a wonderful orchestra concert, the last one with Mr. Hartung as our Head of Orchestra. I felt my playing just get more and more secure as the semester progressed. Another orchestra concert at the Esplanade Theatre passed and a good platform performance really motivated me. This motivation just kept going through my exams and it paid off with an A for PS.

Holidays arrived and rehearsals aplenty! I also had some teaching to do that earned me some income. Philwinds concert went well and like I posted before, I gained a lot from that project. Really excited to go back to school and start trying out new ideas and concepts that I've learnt from the project. 

After a great gig with Slide That!, we've come back to the present.

2011 has been an extraordinary year for me. As I look back, I thought, life just took me on a ride with unexpected twists and turns. Should I expect the same for 2012? Just plan all I want, buckle up and let life take me wherever it wants me to go and hope my plans do influence my route. We shall see one year down the road.

So now comes the final week of 2011. Let us all enjoy this final week. Let go of grudges, open your heart, be positive, give all you can. Let's make this world a better place!