Rehearsal run at Raffles Institution has come to an end! Now back to rehearsing in town from today onwards for TPO and OMM. Today TPO ran through the concert program and I got to play the entire repertoire because the other bass trombonist wasn't there and it's really fun stuff! Glad I had the opportunity to play everything!

Now, on to a more serious note. I believe I have blogged about this before but it was brought up again. Music is a team effort. Playing in an orchestra obligates you to submit to the common good of making good music together. We have to listen, we have to react, we have to accept differences and submit to them accordingly, we need to understand what we are playing, we need to be open to communication without speaking. Performing music is not the easiest of careers, but when done as a sincerely collaborative effort from every member in the group, the product is just spectacular not just musically, but emotionally as well. People who have truly experienced this will know it. I probably have not experienced a total collaborative and well-initiated effort but I've had good times before and there should be no reason why anyone should ignore this mentality when playing in a group. I hope we can have more fun making music and less emotional struggling to deal with uncooperative and/or selfish people who work against progress. Let us all spread the teamwork mentality for music-making!

Back from concert 3/3 within 7 days at Esplanade!

It has been a good week of concerts I must say and I'm very happy to have played for all three concerts. From rocking it out with Philwinds at the pop concert, to very fine wind band playing at Windstars and a very interesting concert in which I played for my first time at the choir gallery of the Esplanade Concert Hall at Philyouth's 10th Anniversary concert, it has been great fun. Here are some photos from the Philyouth concert I just played in:

Now a short break for Christmas and then back to work with TPO for the New Year's Eve Gala concert! Now that I've just received scores for the OMM Prom concert, I shall be checking them out. Till next time, bye!

Just came back from rehearsal with the Windstars Ensemble. It has been a while since I have played wind band classics at such high quality and I mean, we were sight reading today! It was a really cool opening to the project for me and I enjoyed every bit!

The Philwinds pop concert was a success and I'm really glad to have been part of the project for the 2nd time! I was really glad to see so many attendees of the concert and the general atmosphere was really high and enthusiastic. Although my chops and lungs were on the verge of failing because of a long rehearsal and a tiring commute in the rain to Esplanade, I survived the night!

Alright, I'm getting lazy to type further and I'm getting sleepy too so goodnight world!

I brought home a new device today and it is.......

Yes it's the iPhone 5! Am totally loving it so far! After an hour long wait in the queue and what felt like another hour more to get the phone itself, I finally got hold of it! I really like how thin and light it is but at the same time, how strong and sturdy it feels in the hand. The screen is really good (colours are better and it feels nearer to you), camera is as good as ever, new earphones are nice and fits more securely in my ear (left side still wobbly; it's probably me because the previous Apple earphones also kept dropping on the left). Most of all, the performance of this thing is really really good. I played Asphalt 7 just now and the frame rates were so high! It really is amazing. To add to that, there is LTE in town! I felt so happy to see the LTE icon appear while I was in school! It appears to be throttled by Starhub because I didn't get anything past 12GB/s download but hey that's pretty quick already. It was the main reason why I decided to switch to the 5. The 4S served me really well but this new iPhone really changes everything. Yes iOS is ageing but heck, the quality and quantity of apps I get, the seamless connectivity with my Mac and iPad, the sheer performance of the device, it just doesn't deter me from continuing with Apple. My aim is to stick with this phone for at least 2 years no matter what comes up so hopefully it lasts! So till next time, goodbye world!

Another tiring day. And I really should get those waterproof boots soon! Anyway, there have been some happenings over the past 2 days and here goes.

Philwinds rehearsed with singer Charlie Lim this past Sunday. He is really talented and is someone who know what he wants artistically. He spent a great amount of time making sure that the rhythm section especially are able to get the groove right and he also has strong opinions as to how the band should play. Although I can't hear him really clearly even with the amplifier, he sounds like a very good singer too! I'm looking forward to performing with him and listening to the recordings so that I can hear his vocals clearly!

I just came back from sectionals with the TPO trombone section and it is sounding great! I haven't heard such clear rings from a section this consistently in a long time! I'm really looking forward to playing with these guys again after Christmas. Also, after a month of playing pop stuff, the repertoire for TPO is really satisfying! Can't wait to play again!

Alright that's all for now! I have 3 free days till the Philwinds rehearsal on Saturday. Till then, more work to do! Goodnight world!

ChilAid 2012 is over! It was a really good show of Mothership for the final night. Probably the best performance of the piece by OMM so far. It was enjoyable! Now, one more week till the Philwinds Pop concert next Sunday. After that, I can't wait to get back to classical stuff with TPO's New Year's Eve Gala concert! Nice stuff planned in! Following that next year will be the OMM Prom featuring Rhapsody in Blue, Crazy Girl Overture and many more American favourites! Nice 2 months ahead! And while I'm at it, I'll have to start getting into my recital pieces and final year excerpts. Also a good time for me to research as much as I can about pieces and improve aural, maybe exercise (hmm...) and enjoy things in life while I have a bit more time and less stress. Alright, time to get back to practising. Goodbye!

First day of ChildAid 2012 done! Was quite a blast! Mothership could have been a lot better but oh well, one more shot at it. One thing I would really like later is that we can leave as soon as the show is over because we have been doing too much overtime for the past 3 days.

During the performance, I heard the sad news of the passing of NAFA's Vocal studies teacher, Mr. Lim Shieh Yih. Though I have not received any direct training from him, I have heard his wonderful tenor singing while I was in the choir. It was a Chinese song and he was asked to sing the solo part and it was really an eye-opener and I'm very glad to have at least heard his inspirational singing. May you rest in peace Mr. Lim.

Alright, time to go sleep. Goodnight world!

One of the least comfortable days so far in the holidays is over. I woke up, had potato chips for the first thing I ate, it rained heavily and I panicked over a pay issue, rehearsal wasn't the most inspiring. But no matter, shall wake up in the morning and strive for a better day!

It was my first time at the MBS Grand Theatre so here are a few pictures from rehearsal:

 This was as the orchestra was first seated and trying to get comfortable. We were then told to leave the stage so that the crew can set up the mics. This took about 1 hour. First impression is of course what a waste of time this is, I mean, the mics could be set up earlier and just do the adjustments. But, Seating itself was a problem and had the mics been there already, it would have created more problems so I guess this was the only way around it.

 This is OMM's showpiece for the night, Mason Bates's Mothership. It is scored for orchestra, electronica and soloists and it is one of the most interesting orchestral pieces I've ever played! The electronics are really cool and the rhythms are really catchy. Here's a link to the LSO's playing of this piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0K1kJOins4

OMM rehearses Mozart's Concerto for 3 pianos. The soloists are winners of a Steinway competition and this is their showcase.

So yup, these are shots from rehearsal. I hope tomorrow's rehearsal will be more productive, inspiring and settling because it is the last one before the actual concert! Alright, goodnight world!

Back from another night of rehearsal. It will be another 7 days worth of rehearsing at night! At least I feel that I'm coping well with my current routine of waking up early enough to feel fresh and do my warm ups and routines on the instrument. Rehearsal was fun indeed especially with most of the orchestra present. As usual, the lineup of performances include solos by very young kids who you probably couldn't imagine holding full-size instruments and playing them with technical abilities so high for their age. It really impresses me. I hope these kids will grow to be mature musicians and people who will successfully promote and advance the art.

It has been over a year that I've owned my first Apple product, my MacBook Air and since then I've acquired more products with the iPhone 4S and the 3rd generation iPad. Perhaps it's time I write a small review of my devices. My MacBook Air was bought at a time when my Acer laptop was simply not comfortable to use anymore hardware-wise. It's battery could no longer last more than an hour before it reached its 3rd full year of use, a laptop cooler has to be placed below when I'm watching videos, not talking about games yet. In fact, it couldn't run games better than my old desktop I used as a young boy. So I looked up what other laptops that could be a good replacement for the Acer. I chanced upon the MacBook Air. At that time, my impression of the MacBook Air wasn't really positive. Word had gone around at its launch that the ports are not accessible enough, the performance is not good, it overheats, etc., so the first impression wasn't so good. But after reading reviews, which is something I have not done then because I didn't know they exist, I realise it's a very good computer indeed and the starting price for the 13 inch was below $2000 (which was the budget my dad set when I was shopping for my first laptop; the Acer costed $1200). So then I heard from my classmate that Apple will be releasing an update to the current MacBook Air to feature the latest processors, and quite importantly, a backlit keyboard on the Air. So true enough, they released the update and I got my dad to get me one. When I got it, it was a delight. A laptop this thin, light, fast, and stable and still under $2000. It cost $1638 after the student discount. Till this day, I believe it was one of the best purchases in my life. It probably has, but I do not remember the computer crashing on me. There of course have been hiccups here and there but none that affected me as much as the Acer. I don't need to keep it over a cooler and the battery lasts 7 hours even today. So now, I'm a musician, I don't game a lot (in fact, there are no games on my computer now), I don't often do processor intensive tasks very often; I use the computer to generate essays, music notation on Sibelius 7, presentations and also to check my mail, be a hub for my media (it lives on my external hard drive due to lack of space, I'll get to this later), surf the web and also organise my life and work with calendar, reminders and a note app. So my typical usage is not heavy. Every one of these tasks just operates smoothly on the computer, there hardly is any system lag and I should be right in attributing that to the SSD. That's really great and I really appreciate the speed at which my computer can get things done. However, when I was in the market for it, my storage demands were not high at that time; I used less than 128GB on my Acer not counting the games. So I thought I could live with 128GB that comes on the base model of the Air. Turns out that as I become more serious in collecting music and operas especially, my iTunes library just got really big. Now this would not have been an issue if Sibelius weren't on my computer. Unfortunately, I find it a very useful app to have and it doesn't make sense to have it on an external hard drive so I migrated all my music and videos to the hard drive. Now, that's all fine until you have to sync your iDevices with iTunes and if you forget to plug in your hard drive, it creates a new iTunes folder in your computer and sets the iTunes destination folder there. You would then have to change the settings and wait for the computer to consolidate the library in the hard drive again. My library is probably still tolerable (it's close to 50GB) but if you have anything larger, the time taken will be so long! It's an inconvenience. So, moral of the story is, if you foresee yourself needing more space in the future for whatever reason, please choose a higher storage option. For my next laptop, I'm definitely getting more storage. Other than that, I really have nothing to complain about the computer. I hook it up to a 21.5 inch external display for more screen so that I can be more efficient when I work because sometimes I really need two or more windows open. The trackpad in my opinion is much better than any other laptop I've put my hands on. It is so good that I have never considered buying a mouse. The keyboard is good to use and the backlight (which I'm using now), is really handy in the dark. I also use the SD card slot often as I transfer recordings from my recorders often. Overall, as a computer, it has served me very well for the past year. I do not feel it is getting slower, the battery life is still very good (I don't bring my charger with me usually; only if I know I'm going to do processor-intensive work for a long time), built-in software is really useful and most sync with iCloud and the design and build is really good. All in a very justifiable price tag. I am really happy with my computer and carrying it with me almost everywhere I go because it is so light! I hope the hardware lasts and by the time I feel it starts the downhill, Apple would have made a very good computer with an even more attractive price tag. I'll provide reviews of my other devices soon!

Alright, really sleepy now, so goodnight world!

Does feel nice to be sitting in an orchestra again; but I hope attendance will be better soon!

As I've read a few articles about taking auditions before I went for the final round of the SSO freelance auditions, I realise how much I don't do when it comes to audition preparation. I have been working with a mentality of being efficient and having short preparation times for every project I take. But I realise it should never be the case especially when it comes to auditions and solo performances. I also find myself having a goal in my head but I always catch myself feeling I'm never gonna reach it before time expires. After reading a few articles, I realised I should have gone another way and that is to work on improvement. Having an end target is good but if we focus too much on it, we lose touch on improving things bit by bit. I shall now practise with this mentality and will give myself more time to prepare for upcoming auditions and solo performances.

Alright I'm really sleepy so goodnight world!

What a day. It has been weary. I woke up to find out that my junior, schoolmate, student and friend, Raushan, passed away due to a heart failure. Ever since the passing of my grandfather many years ago and when I was too young and probably too distant from him to feel any mournful feelings, Raushan has been the closest person to me that has passed and for a moment I felt really weak when I read the news. I hope he will be in peace and all his loved ones will have the strength to carry on and celebrate the life of a bright boy.

How apt that after reading that news I was told my aunt is in hospital recovering from heart surgery. So, I traveled to SGH to visit her and she's doing fine by the looks of it but just dreary. After which my mom decided to go to Vivo City. How nice eh? I carried my trombone around while she shops. So after spending a few hours there and 2 servings of food (wouldn't call them meals), I finally left for philwinds rehearsal. I was really looking forward to going back after being absent for 2 weeks due to orchestra commitments and exams. There was a moment in rehearsal that really struck me and that's when someone told me to have character in my playing, not be too classical when playing solos in a pop piece (which I have to for one of the songs). It really struck me. I could interpret it in a raw sense and say he's saying that classical music has no or little character but I decided he meant something else and it's just stereotype. It made me think what I should really do as a musician. I've always loved the orchestra environment; the wide palette of colours from the wide variety of instruments, the masterpieces from the master composers, the big sense of ownership of the part and the section and orchestra sound. The orchestra really gets me going and I have been trying really hard to mould myself into being proficient in that setting. But as musicians sometimes we don't get to choose where or what we play in because in the end, we still need to make a living. Maybe I should pin up a note to myself and be really adaptable and most importantly, to find my voice in everything I play. Goodnight world

Just had a really good day today! Practice was good in the morning; good refresh of my excerpts. After that I went to MBS to catch a musical, "Jersey Boys". It's a story of the band "The Four Seasons" and it was a really entertaining and catchy musical. Really enjoyed it and my thanks to NAFA for providing complimentary tickets for the concert! After that I went to Orchid Country Club for Dunearn's 50th Anniversary dinner. It was really good catching up with former classmates, teachers and to add to that, I gained some new contacts! Was really nice to see that Dunearn has produced so many professional musicians/music teachers. Alright, more practice tomorrow and back to philwinds rehearsal! Goodnight world!

Just finished my technical exam and concerto competition heats today. Phew! 2 down and somemore to go. SSO audition next week and that for me is very crucial. I really want the job and now it's crunch time! Time to iron out the pesky articulations in Die Walküre, the seemingly impossibly long phrases in Das Rheingold and Ein Heldenleben, the demand for cleanliness in Die Schöpfung and the legato in Schumann 3.  One week to do it!

I also just came back from a very nice dinner with the NAFA trombone studio and Fredi along with some alumni. It was really good company and it was a good way to spend the last time with Fredi in Singapore. I hope to catch him in Germany when I go there. It has been a good 3 years and I've learnt so much from him. To be honest I do feel a bit insecure with him leaving but that itself has taught me to start finding my own voice. I need to start getting the hang of it and making musical decisions by myself and producing a good product. Work for me to do!

Alright, I'm quite tired. Guess I'll go sleep. Goodnight world!

It was a good day today! Practice was fulfilling, can't say it was super productive but at least I felt better on the instrument compared to the past few days. Mock exam was really fun and I'm glad people see it as useful! Shows I have stuff to catch up on!

I recently acquired a big collection of CDs from Fredi and it included a CD released by Wang Wei who  is a graduate from YST. His CD contained a solo piece with wind quintet accompaniment and that got me interested so do look out for a performance coming next year hopefully. I also plan to hold fortnightly or monthly mini recitals playing etudes, short solo pieces and perhaps chamber music. Still in the works of how can I attract people and repertoire and also who is available to play etc. but I'd like to see it happen! Opens up more opportunities for me to perform.

This past Wednesday I had my last lesson with my teacher of 3 years, Fredi. It was been a good 3 years I must say and I will really miss his playing, his teaching and the inspiration he provides me. In all honesty he is one of the best teachers I have met and I am very grateful for having the opportunity to be his student. I must say after the last lesson I did wonder how life will be from now on as a trombonist. Sure, I will have another teacher for the final semester, but I already miss Fredi's abundance of ideas, his wealth of knowledge and troubleshooting skills. It now prompts me to think whenever I study a score, how would Fredi play it? He has been a big influence on me and although I do see our differences in musical choices, most of the time we are in agreement. I hope to be able to see him again when I travel to Germany or if he happens to come back for whatever reason.

That brings me to the idea of a German tour next year provided I have the money and time to make such a trip. I really want to use this trip to take lessons, gain contacts and also attend concerts if the orchestras are still playing then. Meeting friends will be a bonus! Yup so over the holidays I will have time to think about it and perhaps do some planning should it be in the right circumstances for me to go.

Alright, that's all for now. Goodbye world!

It has been tough times. I'm just glad it is over now. What happened was unacceptable. All our identities were defaced; the school, the country and our identities as musicians. I'm glad that at the end of the day, at the very least, something was done that values our lives and work. We produced a musical product, although admittedly not very high quality given the circumstances, but we forked out extra time, energy, patience and in return, packet food, another chance to play with professional players among our ranks and that's about it. I do not think this was a fair deal in any sense of the statement. But I guess, all we can do now is move on, know what we are in for in the future and work to make sure we are treated fairly as people who need to make a living or progress towards making a living.

I can really feel the toll on my health now. Something that I so enthusiastically do day in day out is becoming draggy. Orchestra rehearsal was really a wash out. I couldn't play in time AND in tune. It was one of the most horrible rehearsals I've been through in a while. This shall be a reminder for myself that my basics are not second-nature yet. I really need to exercise my aural much more and have it at least at the back of my hand so to speak. I haven't even had much time to practise and I have my penultimate lesson with Fredi tomorrow. I really do hope I can get something back within the 2.5 hours from the time I wake up till the lesson. Well, technically I don't have time to even write this any longer if I want to get rest so I shall stop now. Goodnight world.

Been busy busy busy! Right now I'm typing out a quick post before I should head to sleep so that I can be well rested for my teaching stint at Hai Sing Catholic....which is at the other side of the country! NAFA Orchestra concert went quite well for me! The orchestra really played with good discipline in terms of pulse and rhythm and it was an enjoyable concert! Now one more project on 12 Nov with a different section altogether. Hope to make more fun! Right now I have to work on lots of stuff; exam repertoire; audition repertoire; history presentation; IVT portfolio and theory as well. Lots on my plate! But I'm enjoying it! I feel so much more enriched and I simply love what I do! Now to make myself better at what I want to become: an orchestra musician! Right, time to get some sleep. Goodnight world!

Been a while since I've posted here. So far I've been really busy preparing for the SSO freelance audition as well as the wind band concert. I'm glad I've settled those as well as a history assignment! Now I have some breathing space to plan preparations for the technical exam and the concerto competition. In the meantime, I'll be trying to get rest. Goodnight world!

I turn 19 today! One year has passed and it's really quick! I'm glad that I can see progress in myself since last year. It is substantial progress that I'm satisfied with. There have been really challenging times but from these challenges I have a better understanding of life, music and society. I am also privileged to have toured with OMM to England and had a remarkable time there! It has been one of the best and most rewarding projects in my musical career and I wasn't even on my principal instrument! I've also had a great trip to the Netherlands, met many fantastic bass trombonists there, learnt many more lessons about music and life and got to hear one of the best orchestras in the world. It has been a great year and here's to another one ahead! Cheers!

Now is a time to pour my thinkings out. I believe a line has to be drawn when socialising. I myself sometimes can't control my language all the time but conversations should be civilised anyway! It's just so hard for me to register the information when there's so much profanities in a sentence and it stresses me too! I just hope this can be resolved soon and as always, I can easily walk away. I do not find any gain from constantly hearing such language anymore. There's no more value to what I'm hearing. Ok I'm really sleepy. Goodnight world.

I'm back for Holland and woo! So busy! Every rest and enjoyment time was spent doing something else and now I'm eating into sleep time to type this out.

It was a really fantastic time in Holland. Spent the first day in Amsterdam and walked around, going to the street market with my mom and visiting the scores and CD shop Broekmans & van Poppel and caught a concert by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (which was really fantastic and would have been even more if I were more awake!)

A 1 hour trip to Huys te Britten in Katwijk aan Zee and I joined 50 over bass trombonists for a weekend of lectures, lessons, masterclasses and ensemble-playing! The 2nd trip I have undertaken in my music education, it was really an eye-opener to listen to fantastic players like Charlie Vernon, Mattis Cederberg and Csaba Wagner (who were on the faculty) but not forgetting the participating bass trombonists of whom some are professional and really fantastic players! It was great to make new contacts especially with the pros and I'm glad I made the trip. It was very well organised, we were well taken care of, lovely weather and great people! Photos are on Facebook!

By the way, I carried my Cronkhite case on board with no problems at all! I flew on the KLM direct flight. But having flights that depart and arrive on time would be nice.

Alright, really need sleep. Goodnight world!

I'll be leaving for Holland in a few hours time! Really excited to go to another European country, hear one the world's best orchestras, learn from top-level bass trombonists and make new connections! Should be a great 4 days! I'm all set and just need to pack up the last few items and I'll be heading to the airport later! For now, get some rest, watch some TV and also bring some movies along with me! Hahaha! Just started downloading Handbrake and should be going to choose some movies to bring along with me later! Yup, so, till I reach Holland, goodbye world!

Has been a busy week and it's coming to an end. One concert to play later in the afternoon and it'll mark the start of a one week break. As I reflect more on life recently, I see myself seeing more sense of purpose and fulfilment. I don't seek non-beneficial enjoyment as much and I really love what I do, be it playing music, academic work, listening to concerts, sometimes teaching. I no longer see myself sitting around, gaming (which I still do but very little and kinda wish I did have time to!), watching much TV, hanging around with friends pointlessly, etc. I pick up my bass trombone and I feel at home because it is where I have fun, where I create, where I spark imagination. I pick up a score or article to study, I feel connected and enriched by its content; it enhances my creativity on the instrument. I really love music. It give me the feeling of fulfilment. People ask me why do I do music. I used to not be able to answer that. But I think now I can. It fulfils my life, gives it meaning and purpose. It lets me say, yes, this is home.

The feeling of playing the last note of the gig just a few hours ago felt really good. It marked the start of proper rest away from the instrument which I'm gonna take for 2 days. This is good time for my shoulders to perhaps get a better chance to heal, for the chops to get rest after many days of tiring repertoire, to have more time for academic assignments and to plan what to do when I get back on the horn. Really looking forward to the next 2 days and getting work done. With my iPad, work just gets more enjoyable to do. It's just a great feeling that when I pull out my iPad or my MacBook Air, I know I can get work done wherever I go. These 2 devices really cover every aspect of productivity I need. I really feel much more productive especially when I really do feel I can be doing work instead of just sitting around. I'm really glad to have these devices. They all serve their purpose well in my life and I'm looking forward to continue doing my assignments, managing my schedules, completing presentations and projects, etc.

I haven't been updating the upcoming performances section recently and I apologise. The section is now updated with the upcoming Philwinds concert details. Do come down! Should be quite a show! Till then, goodnight world!

Almost 2 weeks since the last update! Been really busy keeping up with repertoire preparation, rehearsals, schoolwork, teaching, learning German...phew! Much to do! However, I now have an assistant, and here it is:

Yes I got an iPad! This is the current generation iPad with the Retina display and I absolutely love it! I now do most of my assignments, take lecture notes, read scores, store notes, store pictures and sometimes surf the net on it. It is basically a productivity device and it is serving its function for me very well! Contrary to what some say, my Mac isn't relegated to my desk. It still indispensable as having the power of a full size computer still is almost necessary for me and since my laptop is light, it goes into my bag together with the iPad. Now with a Mac, an iPhone and an iPad, a lot of my work just became so much more convenient to do. Also, I'm now streaming photos to the iPad which wasn't my original intention as I thought the photos would take lots of space but apparently it doesn't so the iPad will also be my photo viewer. Snap on iPhone, edit on Mac, view on iPad; sounds like the real deal! I do hope I get this iPad to last long and perhaps long enough to keep using it when I do an undergraduate degree. It really has been a very useful device so far in the one week that I've been using it and I hope it'll be many many many more weeks of productivity and enjoyment!

Alright, time to get some de-stress time. Need some of it after busy times. Goodbye world!

Tiring day of Philwinds rehearsal! I really feel so unfit physically! Damn! Must exercise!

Yesterday I spent some time at Kinokuniya and came across many interesting stuff there. I didn't buy anything eventually but I did spend some time at the music section and 50% of it was for rock, pop or jazz stuff and it kinda disappointed me that many classical works were left out. It just shows the state of demand when it comes to music. But oh well.

I've updated the information for Tuesday graduating students recital. Do check it out and come if you're free! Till then, goodnight world!

About a week has past since my last post, school is pretty much back to normal. Some new faces but I really am not so keen on knowing everybody. Right now, I should plan for a good year of performing and really polishing up technique. Well for now, lined up for me is a small solo performance next week, some show gig at the Esplanade Concourse, Philwinds with Felix Hauswirth and the Baden-Württemberg Youth Wind Orchestra. Yup, so I should spend less time typing this and more time recuperating and keeping fit to play! Goodnight world!

Man, I forgot to update the upcoming performances section on my blog! Just played a fantastic concert with Philwinds accompanying Yasuto Tanaka in Claude Smith's Fantasia for Alto Saxophone! Fantastic musician from the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra! Kudos to Dr. Zechariah Goh for putting together the Singapore Saxophone Symposium for a 2nd year!

Just got the score for a gig at the Esplanade Concourse in late August. Looks like challenging stuff! Gotta get the slide arm working! Alright, time to sleep early to get early practice hours. Goodnight world!

What a time I've been having these past 2 weeks! Been spending lots of time in the air and going places that I love seeing, my life is good I, I admit!

OMM's UK tour was a real treat for me. All members of the orchestra had their airfare, accommodation, insurance and most land transport covered. It was a real feat of getting sponsors to provide so much money for such an undertaking! 

We flew on Emirates and we had to go through the inconvenience of having to stop over in Colombo. For that one hour or so, the passengers who are continuing their journey to Dubai supposedly have to remain seated and avoid using the lavatories. The cabin crew also have to do a head count and have passengers account for their cabin luggage. For all those considering flying on Emirates and have to fly through Dubai, do avoid the flight that stops in Colombo. If no changes are done, they are flights EK349 and EK348. These are weekly flights instead of the daily flights that go straight to Dubai daily. Nevertheless, the service, inflight entertainment and general atmosphere were as I knew them from last year's flights to Rome. Service was decent and inflight entertainment is still great!

Everyone was eagerly awaiting to arrive in England and for many of us, myself included, it is our first visit there. Birmingham airport's immigration clearance was quite packed and long queues formed. Fortunately there was free wifi at the airport and many of could get connected to the world and our families and friends after 16 hours in the air. Soon enough, we were all out of the airport and experiencing the cool British summer! It was really nice out there and all of us simply loved the weather. After a bit of waiting, the orchestra was on its way to Cheltenham.

Cheltenham was a quiet and really nice place to be in. Although it rains everyday it isn't heavy most of the time, mostly light drizzles. Many consider Singapore to be a garden city but this small town called Cheltenham certainly is more of a garden to me as you can see in the photos. 

The people in Cheltenham were also really nice! I had no sense at all that we were unfairly treated whatsoever. In fact they happily had conversations with us and wanted to know more about how Singapore is like. I really enjoyed myself in Cheltenham. Rooms were single rooms, wifi was 2 pounds per 24 hours (which we found out later was really cheap!), some food for breakfast and a pantry per floor was also provided and the great hospitality from the organisers and the general public made our stay in Cheltenham really enjoyable. I hope we pleased them with our music! To be honest our first concert wasn't a solid one but the circumstances were hard; it was one day after we arrived and we had 2 long rehearsals before the concert. There were lots of great moments but equally disappointing ones I must say. However, the family concert the next day was a different story. The orchestra got to work with a fantastic illustrator by the name of James Mayhew. Being engrossed in the music to keep my concentration, I didn't pay much attention to his work but at the end of every movement, the artwork I saw was just spectacular! And I found out that not only did he just paint so well, he painted according to the mood of the music! When the music was calm and tranquil, his strokes would be graceful and slow. When the music was violent, his strokes would be aggressive and hurried. Furthermore, he times himself to finish each painting when the orchestra plays the last chord of each movement! I think this is really amazing and he should be commended for his excellent artistry! With the last chord of Scheherazade in the Cheltenham Town Hall, OMM concluded its performance stint at the Cheltenham Music Festival. With half a day left before we head for Lichfield, I wandered around the town with fellow orchestra members and had many pleasant conversations with different people in the orchestra whom I might not have talked to if not for the tour! It was a fantastic time and brought me closer to the rest of the orchestra than ever before. With that, I left Cheltenham behind.

The next day, OMM departed Cheltenham for Lichfield. Lichfield looked like a relatively older town compared to Cheltenham but it was really beautiful! The old buildings, the parks and of course, the cathedrals, contributed to the town's splendor. Here's a shot of the Lichfield cathedral where OMM performed.

It might not seem like much at first but take a look at the people at right foreground of the picture. Bet that was a "wow!" moment huh? Because OMM performed on a Sunday at Lichfield, I was lucky to get to try the local roast at a nearby pub. It was fan…tastic. I honestly have not eaten roast beef so flavourful in my life and coupled with a nice pint of Carlsberg, it made the perfect lunch. OMM's concert later in the evening was really successful and I must say, after that last chord of Scheherazade, I just felt so elated that the orchestra has come such a long way and played music to such high standards. I was really proud to be playing in that orchestra and I loved how I could just do my thing and just fit in with the other musicians, particularly my section mates in the low brass. It was a fantastic time working with them for the past 5 months and I appreciate the opportunities they gave me. This tour has definitely opened my eyes and mind in the orchestral view and it'll be an unforgettable experience. Thank you OMM!

With only a few hours to sightsee in London, we woke up early to maximise our time. It paid off and with some planning, we managed to see Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, Big Ben and the House of Parliament, the River Thames, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, London Tower and Tower Bridge in a span of about 4 hours! With that, we headed to Heathrow to board our flight back to Singapore.

One day of rest and still feeling jet lagged, I wasn't done. I boarded a flight to Jakarta with my mom and a friend! My secondary school classmate, Michael, was in town and he wanted to bring us around. It was my first time to Jakarta and to be honest, it wasn't a nice place to be in. Air was polluted, traffic jams abundant, traffic itself was a nightmare and generally, you'd need to have quite a bit of money to be able to live what Singaporeans would call a decent life even in Indonesia's capital. The main consolation was that I got to try lots of food and bought some stuff cheaply! The best of which was a Gold class-like movie for $7! (In Singapore, it would be at least $30). It was a nice time with my friends and it has also made me appreciate what we have in Singapore more. We have clean air, we have order, our public transport is useable, we have education. Yes, there are loopholes here and there but we can't deny we have these in our country and we must be appreciative of it. Europe was a really nice place to be in and the people there are generally more courteous and there are many things we can learn from the Europeans! Singapore really is a nice place to be in. So let's be appreciative!

Alright! That covers my 2 weeks of traveling and I apologise for the delay but I hope you have been fascinated by what you've seen and read in this post. Right now, time to get back to bass trombone playing and get ready for school!

The day has come! OMM is leaving for the UK in 12 hours time! Really excited to be there to play music! My bags are half-packed, awaiting some other stuff to go in first f=before they are fully packed. Should be a great trip ahead of us! Not to mention the non-musical things I intend to do. Alright, time to get some lunch, final shopping and a haircut! More updates later!

Last rehearsal before tour is over! Had some fun and now I really get the feel it is on us to feel engaging  during rehearsal. Restricting usage of my phone and just reading the full score just gets me more into the music. I learn so much more and I enjoy the rehearsal more. I shall make this a habit!

I just found out a few hours ago that Lim Yau is our new HOD (Music) at NAFA! Mr. Adams has moved to becoming Vice Dean (Academic Projects - Degree & Professional Partnership). Seems like it's time for a new era at NAFA! Really looking forward to going back to my final year of school!

Alright, time to catch the Euro final! Gonna update the OMM tour concerts before I do so. Check it out!

Just finished a week of lavish spending! Time to get started on saving! But I'm really glad with what I spent them on. Good times with friends I don't get to meet so much, the startings of my personal collection of miniature orchestral scores and a new iPod Touch for my mom's birthday. Really quite satisfied with what I bought and hopefully my pay won't take too long to come in.

My right shoulder's condition is still not good and I still feel pain even though I get through a day without seemingly putting a lot of stress on the right arm or shoulder. I hope this pain does go away soon! I'll lay off playing trombone for a few days and will start conducting with my left arm to give the right shoulder some time to recover.

Alright, time to get through one of my less busy weeks. Goodnight world!

Another concert done! Sorry for not updating the upcoming performances section for this concert! The next one, however, will be in England but I'll still update anyway.

This concert was one that I wished I did so many things better. There were some good moments but overall the whole performance experience felt like it was let down by technical difficulties and sometimes lack of concentration. I just hope we can play better whilst in England. Gonna be a tall order since many things will be unfamiliar to us when we're there but I'll hope for the best nonetheless.

Been doing lots of conducting so far as well. It's really taking a toll on my right shoulder. I'm feeling the pain still. This 2nd stint of covering Mr. Yeo has kinda solidified the thought that taking a full band rehearsal is not my thing. I can get things done but I don't feel satisfaction in what I do when I stand at the podium for 3 hours or so and trying to get many young, seemingly lifeless, people to get going. I've met some really fine young musicians and I'm really happy for them! But I kinda feel teaching isn't so much my forte. I hope to be able to try my hand at teaching privately soon. I have a feeling I'll do better at that than bigger groups.

I just played around with iPhoto and it's really fun and cool! I'm glad it's available for free on my Mac! Gonna be using it more often especially with my upcoming trips! From now, there will be less instant uploads from my phone but more higher quality (hopefully!) pictures. The geotagging is pretty cool too! Editing photos is really simple as well and it does make photos a lot more pleasing to my eyes at least!

Alright, time to get some sleep! Goodnight world!

Finally some time to update my blog. Been quite busy so far with rehearsals and teaching and spending time with people. The Brass Explosion gala concert was really awesome! Somehow 1 year's worth of development in me has softened the "wow" factor in hearing professionals. Nevertheless, I still admire their playing a lot and I hope to be able to hear more!

Next week is going to be really busy week with rehearsals and teaching every single day. At the same time I'm trying to find time to meet my friend arriving from the states. So, German work to revise, teaching to plan and rehearsals to play with a concert on Friday, lots to do!

Alright, some German revision is in order and I need some rest for Slide That's performance tomorrow at Artists Academy. Do come catch it if you're free! Goodbye world!

Back from the final concert of Rite of Spring with OMM. Was a better concert than the first one in my opinion! Great job OMM! Was a really challenging programme. I hope to be able to play bass trombone with an orchestra soon. Playing tenor has been fun so far but I don't want it to take over my bass trombone. I still have about 5.5 weeks left on the 2nd trombone chair in OMM. After that, I intend to move back one seat to the left permanently! Haha! Playing 2nd chair has taught me much about balance, intonation and bridging especially, and I intend to bring all those qualities I learnt to my orchestral bass trombone playing. But nevertheless, I will still continue to enjoy working with OMM for the tour and hopefully there'll be much fun and even more learning involved!

Alright, now time to focus on the solo competition on Monday. Many fantastic players on the list and only 3 prizes. I won't be getting my hopes up to win any of the prizes but I'll aim to play my best of my interpretation with the skills I have. It's also a chance for me to perform the Ewazen concerto in public so that I can better prepare for future performances.

Okie, that's all for now, time for some good rest after 2 concerts and a fantastic post concert reception! Goodnight world!

Back from the final rehearsal of Rite of Spring! Should be quite fun at the concert later!

But I'm quite appalled at something: Many people simply don't understand the function of tuning in an orchestra! The most important and probably the only function of tuning is to get everybody to hear the same A! Nobody (should) care(s) about anything else! Hear the A, play the A if you want to, adjust if needed, finish! Playing Bb is simply stupid and giving excuses for not playing the correct pitch is simply lame! Urgh! So anybody who reads this, please take note!

Ok I need to teach at 10 in the morning so I should get some sleep! Goodnight world!

Back to writing again! Had another lesson with Fredi! He did seem flustered and not in the best state of mind to teach but it was a fruitful lesson nonetheless! At least now I have another idea of how to play the Ewazen concerto. German lessons are also starting to become more manageable! The phrase "What did you just say?" didn't go through my mind at all I think during lesson just now! Now I need to seriously revise!

Does seem like many things I wanna do during this holiday isn't working so well. But no, I must accomplish those things before term starts! It's like having to complete a history essay by the dateline! Now seems like a not-so-appropriate time because of all the events going on. Rite of Spring concerts on Friday and Saturday, Brass Explosion over the weekend and competition on Monday, then I'm back to teaching on Friday as well...woo many things! Alright, that means I need sleep now. Need to organise things a bit when I get up. Goodnight world!

Just got my results earlier in the day and I like it! Really satisfied with my results! Now all that's left is the scholarship application which I hope turns out fine! I'm grateful to my peers who inspire me. They've allowed me to easily set a higher bar for myself every time. Most of all, my teacher inspires me too! I've come to the point of listening to him play and in my head I'll think: "How shall I make that happen?" instead of "Damn! That's too good!"His playing still makes my jaw drop sometimes but from now on, the question will always be how to make it happen. And I love thinking about it myself. I feel it's so much more beneficial; there's more ownership in my education, stronger reasons for what I chose to do. I'm really looking forward to my final year at school. One more year of hearing the occasional inspiration that will make me go "Wow!" I simply love those moments because it shows how beautiful music can be, and how people so talented can create it that way! Alright, time to refresh my inspiration by reading some articles. Goodbye world!

Back from another OMM rehearsal. Really, the rehearsal schedule can be called crazy, but I really enjoy playing with this orchestra! It's one where rehearsals aren't usually draggy. Most people are actually bothered to fix their parts and actually work as a team! Really looking forward to all the concerts the orchestra is gonna put up soon as well as the UK tour to Cheltenham and Lichfield.

At the same time I'm really enjoying my bass trombone more and more! Right now I feel that I have made the right decision on equipment. Either that or it's that combined with the fact that I've developed so much with the instrument. Right now I'm shredding all my plans to make any modifications to it. I just like it as it is and I'm wanting to develop more! Right now, I want to make the instrument sound good and not the other way round. So, Kühnl & Hoyer, thanks for building me a great instrument! I do wish workmanship was better though! =P

Alright, I guess it's time to watch some Top Gear! Goodnight world!

Just came back from SSO's open rehearsal for Carmina Burana! Awesome music! Really really awesome! Only pity is that I can't get tickets for the concert tomorrow because it's sold out! All the best to all performers tomorrow! Really sounding good, especially the solo bass! Wonderful projection and really rich voice.

This concert being sold out just got me wondering, is the symphony orchestra audience here in Singapore bigger than in those cities whose orchestras are closing down due to bankruptcy? I mean, the Philadelphia Orchestra filed for bankruptcy protection, and this orchestra is like one of the most well-known in USA. A friend who attended a concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra told me the hall was about 25% filled and most of the audience were the elderly. The rest were mostly music students. Here in Singapore, yes the 3rd circle of Esplanade is usually not sold for SSO concerts, but every concert I've been to has been filled at least 60% of the hall. When doing bigger works like Mahler, Strauss, etc., the hall is at least 90% filled. This just got me wondering, does this comparatively high selling rate of SSO concerts mean the orchestra is likely to stay here for some time more (i.e. till I die or so)? Something to think about.

I just realised I haven't posted about it but my exams are over! School break has officially started since Tuesday! Practical exam went quite well in my opinion save the few botches. Shall now concentrate on really ironing out my technique and start being a more active solo performer. Not that I want to become a soloist but more to gain experience and make the performance stage another comfort zone for me. Really needed when I take auditions in the future! So on my agenda now, Brass Explosion competition (I'll be playing the first 2 movements of the Ewazen Concerto), concerts with OMM and brass band, a compilation of my routines, learn German, learn driving, read up stuff on cello (to gain more insight into performing their works), write some material for my students since I'll be back to teaching soon and probably other things that are at the back of my mind!

Alright, that's a pretty long list of things to do up there. Should not waste anymore time and get started on some of them. Goodbye world!

Hello readers! Been a while, or so it feels. Theory exams are finally over! Really glad because now I can focus on my repertoire exam.

It just feels I've been out of touch with my technique for a while. Even though I feel I've gotten back to focused technique practice after the string of ensemble performances I played, it doesn't seem to show now. My slide technique actually deteriorated, but that probably was because I tried another slide grip. I'm back to my previous grip which I find has so much more ease and accuracy. My articulation still is not good, something I really have to work on. Loud dynamics ain't good too. Really, I haven't felt this sense of being overwhelmed by technical issues in a while. I'm glad it is pointed out to me 2 weeks before my exam. Have slightly less than that to work on technique as much as I can and after that it's run throughs for at least 3 days.

Holidays will be a busy time for me. I hope to be able to start studying German. Just calculated, it'll take me 110 weeks to get to level B2 which is the requirement to study in UdK in Berlin. That's pretty much a tad over 2 years. Really long time so yup, need to start now! Driving lessons should start too but I'll read up more on that later. Other than that, 2 OMM concerts, brass band, Brass Explosion competition, Venus Transit performance @ NUS, OMM tour will be my playing projects. I also intend to compile exercises which I find most useful and make a exercise book out of it using Sibelius which I just bought! So yes, lots to work on during the holidays. In no time, I'll be in my third year at NAFA. Should be quite a journey.

Alright, eyes are closing, time to sleep. Goodnight world!

Just watched a good recording of Beethoven's 9th on okto by the Vienna Philharmonic! Fantastic stuff! Can't wait to play that next year with NAFA if it's confirmed!

Academic work over! Academic lessons over! Now time to focus on practice! Long awaited time to get back in shape for my exams. Practice was productive today so yup, on for more tomorrow!

Alright that's all for now. Goodnight world!

Long time has passed since the last post. Orchestra concert went ok. Some good stuff here and there. Gonna ask Hans for the video. Attended quite a lot of concerts in the past week actually; my students from Greenridge and Dunearn, EDQ and NAFA Horns. Really happy to see my students so eagerly put up concerts. For me, I'm really happy and feel warm when I see them enjoying themselves and also having such big support from their schoolmates and teachers. Also, these concerts are for their respective school's pocket money funds, so it's great that they are performing for a charitable cause! EDQ and NAFA Horns concert had lots of good stuff but being me I naturally expect more. I really hope the scene continues to improve and years down the road it'll be more common to hear good music in the local concert halls.

With all honesty, I haven't been really satisfied with any of the ensembles I've been performing with recently, except OMM. I can't say for sure if my expectations are high. All I simply ask for is for people to care for their parts. Care for its rhythm, pulse, articulation, dynamics and pitch. Care for your sound in relation to the ensemble, intonation, togetherness. These are the basics we all have to grasp as much as possible. Other really important things are to adapt to new tempi, intonation, articulation, style, nuances and to admit when you're wrong. I find myself not performing at my best when I play with people who simply don't care. I know it's an excuse but it just puts me off to that point. I'm not perfect, but I do show care, do my best to be open, offer as much help as possible but if one doesn't help himself by caring, how can others help? If this passes off as arrogance, fine, I can always just shut my mouth, probably walk away or something. I've resigned from the various ensembles because of this reason. This gives me extra time to become a better player for the ensembles that demand that high level of playing, and saves me the frustration of hearing stuff from people who don't give a damn and worse still, think they play not just right, but good. Really irritating.

Ok, rant over. Now to move on to cool myself down. I'm really enjoying the times we spend now. I understand more now and that really saves me a lot of headache. I just hope it gets better and we can really enjoy ourselves!

Alright, that's all for now. Will be performing tomorrow with the trombone quartet. It'll be part of a chamber music exam and repertoire hasn't been confirmed as it'll only be picked by the jury on the day itself. Honestly, I'm not recommending this concert but if you're interested, feel free to drop by. Ok that's really all. Goodnight world!

Alright just two more concerts for the semester! Been an educational run for the orchestra so far under Lim Yau; seen and heard it progress. Still a long long long way to go but at least we're moving forward and hopefully it'll continue to be that way. Some really interesting upcoming projects next academic year and hopefully I'll get to play in all of them! Muahahahaha! But really, it's my final year and I'd really really really like to play for that one more year in the orchestra, even if it's not those pieces that are rumoured to be planned. Although this orchestra has tested my patience (in all honesty), it still is somewhere that I hear really beautiful music from my peers and lecturers and I'm still inspired by them at every rehearsal. So just one more year. Alright, time to get some uninterrupted sleep. Goodnight world!

Had quite a good day's rest today! By rest meaning doing nothing at all related to studying! No practice, didn't do my history which I did intend to do (oops), just watched orchestra videos and Top Gear and cleaned my horn. Tomorrow work starts again. History will really be started, some practicing needs to be done for Hungarian March and Brahms 1 excerpts and some score searching to be done as well. Alright, time to get myself cleaned and probably bedtime or more orchestra videos! =P Goodbye world!

Long day just passed. In fact, past 2 days have been long. Totally felt like orchestra camp! Haha! Oh well, today was 2 NAFA Orchestra rehearsals and OMM read of La Mer. Really cool stuff! Managed to find some time after OMM to practise excerpts, like finally! Haven't been practicing for at least 2 days! The good thing is that my weekend is pretty much free! Gonna spend it practicing and also starting on my history essay...again. Yup another history essay to do! Right, that's all for now. Goodbye world!

Not so good practice day today. Lots of things didn't function mechanically. Struggling to find notes, poor flexibility, inefficient..the list goes on. Felt it starting yesterday during the concert but now when I'm back to practising it just sucks. Oh well, all the best for tomorrow I guess. And my pen(cil)!!! It's not found today. Hopefully they give one more shot at it tomorrow! Please please please let it be found!

What a disastrous weekend really. Had to tolerate to 2 days of low-level music and I lost my pen(cil). Hopefully it'll be found tomorrow at ACS(B). I think it's not fair to say the music was bad, but the effort put in was just not good enough for me. Haiz ok, me again. Everytime, it's just about me. Screw this man...

This concert will not go into my "performed-repertoire list" that I keep. It's almost like I never played for the SNYO. Shall just move on. I'm not sure if I'll have to tolerate more of such things for the next concert I'm playing. I really hope not. Please guys, put in effort, show you care. Please

Guess I need sleep to cool off. Goodnight world

Loved how I managed to turn cold chops into useable ones today! Was a great feeling! Accomplished!

Yup today was a good day actually! NAFA Orchestra rehearsal went well! Focus was there, minor glitches but if we keep this up, the concert will be much much much much more enjoyable! =)

Lesson with Kevin Thompson...hmm...I really wish there could be more out of it. I mean, playing one full concertino and something like 6 or so excerpts in 30 min without comment? Not really good...

SNYO rehearsal was usual. And speaking of that, it seems like there's a lot of leaving and joining in the orchestral trombone scene this year! Lots of auditions going on, people resigning, new players taking their seats. Well, I myself will resign from the Singapore National Youth Orchestra after this Sunday's concert. I just feel I can put my time to better use and I'm glad I didn't face much resistance from anyone about this. My hope right now is to continue performing as much in the local orchestras but at the same time, I want to gain something good out of the experience. I'm aiming my sights at The Philharmonic Orchestra right now. Won't be involved in their upcoming project which is the Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle with Lim Yan but there are plans to do Brahms 4 in the fall and that will be really interesting! Really looking forward!

One other thing to look forward to is NAFA Orchestra's project next year, Beethoven 9! Really hope I get the seat for that project! I just remember constantly listening to this work when I first told myself I wanted to do music as a career back in 2009. Everytime I took the long journey to the northeast (almost 2 hours), I'd put on Beethoven 9. A major excerpt for bass trombone in that work too! Excited!!

Seems like life has much to look forward to after all the things I predict I'll be missing. That just put a smile on my face! =) Alright, that's all I have for now, goodnight world!

Just found my new inspiration today to play with good, open, warm, stable sound: Fill the space with sound! I guess I got it from brass class yesterday when David mentioned about room sizes and how it affects the sound you produce especially in terms of projection. That concept just totally helped me today when I practiced and in SNYO rehearsal. Shall try it in NAFA orchestra rehearsal tomorrow. Oh well, time to sleep. Goodnight world!

Another week gone by. Today it didn't really feel like I went through two performances during the week actually..haha! Today was a relaxing lunch at Mr. Lim Yau's place for a TPO gathering. I just thought, with me seeing Lim Yau and being in his orchestra all this while, that aura that most people describe as "scary" or "intimidating" just goes away. It just becomes more open between Lim Yau and those who work under him more often.

About 2 more months to the repertoire exam. About 8 weeks. Need to start allocating my time on what I'm supposed to practise and get done academically as well. Yesterday was quite a bad day for my playing. Just didn't feel right. Must start getting back into shape tonight and cannot lose it! Should start trying to get more performance opportunities as well.

Starting to feel sleepy...sian...must practise tonight!!

Think I just experienced a short-circuited mind today. Very dangerous and irrational thoughts ran through, can't really focus on anything, then blank out and feels like a reboot. Really, all these were going through. I guess it all stems from caring too much unnecessarily. I don't know, it has been pointed out to me so many times...I guess it's inheritance. Oh well, typing this hasn't helped much, I shall go to sleep now and hope for at least a clearer mind tomorrow for the performance. Goodnight world

Where do I draw the line?

Another week gone by. Was definitely quite productive! Found myself a routine that keeps me in shape at the very least. Really love it! Has a exercise out of Thompson; Teele exercises, slurs with crescendo and diminuendo, articulation exercise and scales. Now my aim shall be to make my routine sound better everyday!

Next week is kinda performing week for me. Solo on Tuesday and with NAFA Wind Band on Wednesday. Do catch those! Alright, time to meet some people for the night. Goodbye world!

Study week coming to an end. At least for now, written assignments are off my mind! Great time to concentrate on practising on the horn, aural and study some works. Just feel this motivation to do all these and I feel productive while it lasts.

Found the key to my embouchure strength development in the Thompson exercises. It really has helped me set the chops and also to use good air. It helped in the Teele exercise I did after that. Now that I've finished my dinner, I'm going to study my Bozza piece, Prélude et Allegro and get some practice.

Bought some new stuff for my computer today! Got a new optical drive and a hard case. Optical drive is becoming more and more useful these days as I'm gonna practise aural through the CD. Now that I have it, I'm also motivated to get new recordings! New hard case is really cool, protective, not too heavy and has compartments for my papers that I tend to put with my laptop!

Ok, time to get some practice!

Finally done with history submissions! Gosh finally can find time to update this blog. OMM concert went ok, could have been much better but oh well, things happen. Gotta work harder to gain more confidence on the tenor. Alright, time to get some rest after all the history work and back to lots of focused fundamental practice!

Another week gone by. Been a busy one particularly because of history. Not exactly over yet because of one more essay to write but at least the presentation is down. Next week is study break but with quite a few make up classes. Need to use the spare time to catch up on practising!

I find myself becoming more irrational these days. I'm starting to think less. And I don't know, it's either it has been existence in me for a while but I only just discovered it or I'm starting to become like that. Either way, I need to get out of it...so unhealthy! All these character flaws that are surfacing, just makes me wonder, what have I been thinking and doing all these years?! Oh well, time to act on them. Habits are hard to change but I shall overcome them! A better person is what I should be!

Alright, need rest for concert later. Do attend! Nice French music in the late afternoon. Short and sweet concert (1hr 15min if I'm not wrong)! Goodnight world!

Good days are coming by! I feel them! Embouchure is really gaining strength now! The next step will be to set the air in place also. Gotta get started on repertoire as well. Oh well, it's not just my playing that's keeping me lifted. I really don't know what I'd do without you. Nigh inseparable we are.

Oh well, time to get some rest. Long rehearsal tomorrow. Shall have history to accompany me while I'm inactive. Goodnight world!

Blog's been neglected for a while. Been exactly one week since I last posted. Went through a rough night last Wednesday. Kinda suffered a mental breakdown for some reason which I still don't know. I'm grateful for the care I received and right now I'm back on track, motivated and driven. With all that motivation, it just dawned on me there's so much to do; among them 2 history papers. I'm glad I'll be done with SAS by this week, that'll give me another very valuable 2 hours on Thursdays. With all the repertoire to prepare (3 solo pieces and 15 excerpts), I'll need to make good use of whatever practice time I have. Although I wish I could spend more time outside school life, I don't think it can happen much within the next 2 weeks. Hopefully I keep my sanity! Goodnight world!

My teacher just gave me the green light to learn tenor trombone! Should be fun! Hopefully I can start practising later after the orchestra concert. Need to be in decent shape on Wednesday for OMM! Alright, that's all for now. Lazy to type about anything else. Goodnight world!

Orchestra was really disappointing just now. Totally collapsed as a unit at certain areas. I really really really hope it turns around. It all must start with the individual.

This week definitely has been one that I should learn from. Hasn't been really good and time to know what should be done to make the subsequent weeks better. Probably need a slight rethink of plans, schedules and goals. Speaking of schedule adjustments, I now have to accommodate teaching time on Fridays. Really looking forward to becoming a regular tutor. Although my ultimate goal is to educate well, along the way I should do my best to find what is "me"; what are my ways, thoughts and concepts of brass playing, music and life. Right now I kinda feel lost in everything. I'm guessing finding what is "me" will take me to the next level in whatever I do. I just need to embrace it. Alright, rest time. Goodnight world!

Still haven't gotten back to planning my practice sessions!! Urgh! Cannot carry on like this! I did have some fundamental practice but without planning it's kinda less fulfilling. Practised the Brahms 1 excerpts too and along the way I (re)discovered a certain embouchure that improves efficiency, sound quality and evenness across the range, but at the expense of endurance and quite difficult to handle when articulation is put in. But it does seem something worthy of working on!

Mr. Hartung is back on the podium today for orchestra! Nice to see him again and I must say the music is taken to the next level with him at the helm. Of course Mr. Lim Yau has done a great job building up technical and teamwork aspects in the orchestra but to me, Mr. Hartung just turns it into music that means something. Gotta learn how to do that myself. Need to find my own musical voice! I guess time to collect more CDs of other instrumentalists. Alright, that's all for today. Goodbye!

The two public holidays of CNY now over and it's back to school! And what a way to be greeted: dusty rooms because they repainted the studios. Seriously, all these works should be done during the holidays!! School administration is really making less and less sense! Ok enough ranting. Life goes on.

I find that I've been playing a lot of high range recently. I covered the euphonium part in band, playing tenor trombone excerpts for fun and so on. Gotta turn that around! Need to get better at what I'm supposed to be good at: low range! Urgh! Discipline man!

Also need discipline to stick to my practice plans! Haven't been singing my intervals in a while now! C'mon!!!!!!!!!! Stop all these nonsense!!

Ok...need to compose myself once again. Time to turn in. Goodnight world!

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Here's to wishing everyone good health and prosperity! Cheers!

Managed to get some cleaning up on my computer done. Arranged and organised my files and did a backup. Been long overdue! Soon enough, I'll need to organise my room as well. Oh well, now is a good time to review my practice plans and see what can be changed to further improve it. After that, get some practice done! Right, enjoy your new year everyone!

Slide That! gig went well! Really enjoyed playing just now despite the sleepiness caused by the rain! Hahaha! A good concert by the Southern Cross Soloists after that! Some really beautiful music in their repertoire and really good players and ensemble work! Was a good day! Now to enjoy some time with relatives because it's one more day to CNY! Also need to get some practice done! Quite an extensive list of repertoire to cover; complete Sachse Concertino, Bozza Prelude et Allegro, Sarabande from Bach Cello Suite No. 5 and 15 excerpts. Yup, quite a lot of stuff to prepare. Oh well, shall plan out what and how I shall be practising and performing for the next 2+ months before exams arrive. Right, time to get some rest! Bye!

Really can't find words to describe the week I've just gone through. Busy? Hectic? Tiring? Yeah, tiring should be the closest. I realise I haven't really planned a practice session this week and I'm not keeping my discipline of practising aural everyday. This just can't go on! I gotta take it to the next level! Now that there's a new system of studio bookings being tried out in school, it'll be interesting to find out if it's any good. Oh well, time to go sleep. Really tired. Gotta be fresh for Slide That!'s gig later. Goodnight world!

As if by luck, or rather, the lack of it, there's another item to add to the to-break list for this year: my Cronkhite gig bag's strap. Really can't imagine how such a thing could happen to supposedly one of the best built gig bags that's only 7 months old! Grrr!! Just fired an email to Mr. Cronkhite about it. Hopefully he can do something about it! Now it makes me wonder once again, what's next?! Oh well, for now I'll have to make do with my Eastman case.

Concerto competition heats went mostly alright. Definitely not my best performance though. Oh well, results will be out later. Don't really have high hopes for it though.

Gotta move on!!! Urgh!!

Quartet performance done, Concerto competition heats and more trombone ensemble to go for the week! Gonna get back into my exercise regime tomorrow. Finally can get on with it now that my left knee has recovered! Time to get fit! Alright, high time I go to bed, goodnight world!

Just got home from a fantastic concert by the Australian Brass Quintet and the YST Conservatory Brass students! Really cool to be on the other side of the bell and hearing all that resonance, kinda like woodwind players in the orchestra (bassoonists and clarinetists in particular). Of course they don't usually take it the same way as brass players do. Most of them place some sort of device in between their ears and our bells like Plexiglass shields or earplugs. For us, we just enjoy all the rawness of it. Was some really cool repertoire that ABQ brought to the concert and it was really engaging! Really glad I attended the concert!

I just realised I'll be performing thrice next week. Just updated my upcoming performance section on the left. Besides the quartet performance, I'll be participating in NAFA's concerto competition and the heats are next Tuesday. Not sure if it's open to the public though. Then on Saturday, I'll be playing with Slide That! again but with different players at Artist Academy. Gonna be an interesting week before we break for Chinese New Year. Hopefully it'll be good!

I've got a new addition to my recordings library and it's Stefan Schulz's new CD, Around the World! Amazing stuff in it! Out of the world bass trombone playing (also saxophone, piano and orchestra playing!), fantastic new music written by Daniel Schnyder complemented by extraordinary musicianship from the musicians in the CD! Really a must get! Get it even if you're not a brass player! You'll not regret it!

Alright, another day to get through tomorrow. A talk for NAFA Open House, SYO sectionals and need to get some good practice done too! So till next time, bye!

Long days aplenty this week! Glad today was cut shorter. Would really like the rest so that tomorrow's practice will be better. I also need more discipline when in the practice room! Urgh, have to tell myself not to start playing instead of practising. Really wastes time and energy that can be done improving my playing. Oh well, something else to take note about. By the way, I got a surprise at wind band rehearsal today:

I played this piece 5 years ago with Dunearn for SYF. Memories of the preparation and performance we did then just came back. It occurred to me that when I played it 5 years ago, I alternated between the bass part and the 2nd part. Also, at that time, I couldn't nail the melody that the tenor trombones play at bar 88. I remember being all so stressed about it till I actually cried one day. But still, till this day, I love this piece! I had lots of fun sight-reading this piece once more with the NAFA Wind Band. Well technically, I'm not sight-reading; I know how the piece goes. I hope the band will perform it! Will be really nice to perform it again! 

First week of school is over! It does feel good to be back actually. Nice to be up early in the morning to get some focused practice and afternoons can be spent doing other things. Really looking forward to ensemble rehearsals starting again, especially orchestra. With a new head of Orchestral Studies, the orchestral experience is going to be so different. I have this feeling he will not be the same conductor as he is at TPO. But oh well, that remains to be seen.

I just attended a masterclass yesterday by tuba virtuoso, Sergio Carolino. A fantastic musician indeed! I must say I was intimidated by his teaching. I haven't been out of my comfort zone in such a long time and yesterday I was really out of it. But his masterclass was a really good wake up call for me especially on my air usage. I realised I haven't been using the right air all these while and when I became conscious of it while practising today, my sound just became so much better! So definitely a worthwhile lesson from the master.

Something else I attended yesterday was OMM's performance of Mahler 5. I must say it was very brave of OMM to even choose the work. It is huge and requires high levels of technical ability from every musician. Nevertheless, they did pull through the 80-minute work with many fantastic and magical moments within. However, I really do hope they proceed with caution when thinking about doing more of such works as it is treading on dangerous ground when these works demand such high technical ability and coordination of phrase-passing. Too many lapses and the performance will just take a turn for the worst. I do have faith in the orchestra and hopefully many more interesting projects will come along in the future. This year is definitely full of them as they prepare to go on tour to London, Bratislava and Prague. Hopefully I'll be joining them on tour!

Alright, shall find other ways to kill time before tonight's SSO performance of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. Till next time, bye!

What a start to 2012 so far. Gotten my leg and my horn dented in the first half of the week! I really wonder what else is gonna happen. What more do I have to deal with? Guess a good walk will help clear my mind of things so that's what I'll do tomorrow morning. Really hope things will start turning around and soon. My playing hasn't exactly been good as well this week, especially in front of an audience. Really have to start getting more out of myself. Less time in my comfort zone! Oh well, it's time for sleep. Hopefully my next post will be about something positive! Goodnight!

Back to school! First day was quite good I must say! Accomplished quite a few things in practice and had a good PS. Brass class wasn't so good. Really didn't feel in control of my performance at all. Oh well, gained awareness, now time to work on it! 2 weeks to the concerto competition heats so lots of work to be done! Well, really looking forward to ensembles starting again. That shall happen next week. Right now I'm looking forward to the Sergio Carolino masterclass and OMM's Mahler 5 on Friday and SSO's Symphonie Fantastique on Saturday. Right, that's all, goodnight!

Happy new year everyone! Was really a blast of a concert last night. Congratulations to TPO and maestro Lim! Music, friends and champagne; what a way to start the new year! Right now I'm pondering what I should do for today. Watching TV will be on the list because my place just got a nice new addition: A Hubstation HD! Time to watch Nat Geo and Discovery on HD. Oh and HBO too! Today will be pretty much one of the only days I can watch because school is starting on Tuesday! Really am looking forward to the new term. Changes in staff, timetable have mixed up things a bit. Time to plan what I can and just go with the flow. Should practice be on my to-do list today? It probably should. Need to start diving into my concerto and know it inside out including the piano part. Other than that, I should also start planning a practice routine that I'll stick to every week. Consistency is much needed. Oh well, that's enough for one day. I'm quite sure I'll take it easy today. Work starts full speed on Tuesday. For now, enjoy what's left of your holidays everyone!