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!