So almost 3 weeks have passed since my recital. I must admit I have eased my foot off the pedal and have been enjoying the free time and free mind so far. But I think I shall not stay that way too long. I have planned some work for myself to do and I should get on with them!
I've just about completed my A1 course in German. Really glad it's done. It has been about one year since I started. It was tough in the beginning but it's starting to fall into place now. My German teacher is flying back to Germany to visit her family for a month so lots of work she has set for me.
Slide That! rehearsals are under way and it's great to be playing again. We have set repertoire for the upcoming concert. More details to be settled but the first half will include pretty varied repertoire. Only thing now is that attendance might be a problem so I hope everyone will do their part.
An article is coming up on why I studied music and some advice for the student (particularly wind band players) who is thinking of coming to NAFA to further their studies. Stay tuned for that!
Tuesday 28 May 2013
Sunday 19 May 2013
Life as a music student at NAFA
I'm done with my recital! So that's it, 3 years of my Diploma in Music Performance gone by. It has been a fulfilling journey so far and I feel in the mood to share my experience of how the course is like.
Entering the course, I already had set my sights on becoming an orchestral player. It was something I wanted to do from the moment I said to myself that I want to become a musician. However, experience and knowledge wasn't on my side. I knew very little of the repertoire, I have never played in an orchestra before NAFA. As I entered my first year, I think I was quite lucky to be able to play in orchestra straight away. It wasn't easy, and I had to come to terms with the precision needed. Technique was also in the way; I was very far from being consistent and intonation was always a struggle. But I kept the mentality of working hard, I knew I had to. Also, when I was in my first year, I had a senior who got me to come to school in the mornings to do exercises together and that's something that developed into a habit for me. Music theory was a slight struggle but I pulled through as I had classmates who had learnt the stuff before and I could always seek help from them. Aural was also a struggle especially pitch and throughout my three years it would be something I would quite unknowingly, become better at, although not fantastic even now! Between the first and second semester of first year, I took many projects and I really learnt quite a bit from there. More orchestral experience (especially etiquette) was gained during the break. After an uneventful second semester, the second year came. A change in the syllabus after the signing of the RCM agreement meant our academic syllabus especially for theory changed quite a lot. We now had to do both piano and actual theory in less contact hours per week. That was a big struggle as I have absolutely zero skill on piano; I just know which key plays what pitch. So for one year under this program, I did struggle quite a lot but again I pulled through somehow. A very influential trip to Italy really opened up my mind as to what the industry is about. Standing in the circle of big name players, playing for them, learning from them and hearing them play for one whole week was really big inspiration for me. I found I approached music almost completely differently when I came back. I paid a lot more attention to what really matters, playing whats on the page, bringing the notes to life. At this point I gained a lot more confidence in my playing. I would know when I put on a bad representation of myself and when I didn't, I'd know I should take it to the next level. Positive feedback was always an encouragement for me to further my standards. In the second semester, Mr. Lim Yau was appointed head of orchestral studies and he too really opened my mind a lot. His thought out way of dealing with the orchestra and improving its standards can be very easily seen today. Under him, I gained even more understanding of how an orchestra functions and what are the demands we can expect out there. Overall, it was a really fruitful year in school. Following that, I took the challenge of playing 2nd trombone in OMM for 6 months. Playing tenor itself was a challenge, but playing 2nd really opened up even more of my perspectives as to how important the part is and that it takes a lot of sensitivity to play the part correctly. As I got more comfortable on the tenor, I'd push myself even further to make myself a better 2nd trombone player. The need to constantly be listening to the 2 players either side of me, adjusting sound, intonation and articulation was kinda forced upon me and I'm glad for it because it's something we should all be doing as high-level musicians but it might not be apparent to us unless in cases like playing 2nd trombone. Had lots of fun on tour with OMM and looking back, my confidence grew and grew as I started to know more through knowledge gained in school and experience gained from being actively playing. At this point, with this knowledge and experience, I start to wonder how some people can get through music school with the attitudes they carry. They don't seem to have a goal to aim for nor do they seem very keen or motivated to working hard towards achieving something truly useful. It begins to dishearten me what kind of people we have here who are supposed to be representatives of the music scene here. Of course there are really good examples, but to me they are far outnumbered by the others. I really did find the school dry of initiative, of creative juices and encouragement. I'd see myself trying to help but I did feel that I lacked support. Perhaps it was because I didn't try hard enough and it's probably stuff I should continue working at and putting even more effort into. Third year did feel a bit of a routine. A trip to Holland gave even more inspiration, taught me a lot about phrasing, how to practise more efficiently and network as well. My first professional audition came and even though I didn't win the freelance position, it gave me really valuable experience as to how I should prepare for an audition. A change in teacher in the second semester did mix things up a bit but it was refreshing to be learning from someone else and have insights I wouldn't get had my previous teacher stayed. I won my first big audition under him (AYO), and although not professional, I consider it to be of high level. There was one module I didn't really like and it was Instrumental & Vocal Teaching. To me, the outreach part in the second semester didn't really help me at all and didn't seem to fit what the module should be about. I was glad when we finished it off. After that, all I had to do was focus on the exams and recital and they went through quite smoothly, save the history exam. Recital was quite a nice experience, most things went to plan. And so, poof! Here we are! Yes I know slightly over a week has passed since but most times I'm trying to enjoy life, exercising, playing more games, watching more TV. These were things I didn't do while I was focusing on my studies. It didn't seem like sacrifices to me because I enjoyed mostly what I was doing in school. I definitely enjoy playing my instrument and it really kept me going all these years. I really do not regret going down this road. It is not easy, it requires a lot of hard work, patience, humility and dedication but in the end, it is enjoyable if you can combine those.
So yup, that was a very brief summary of my life as a music student at NAFA. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to write to me on Facebook! I'll try to keep updated throughout the holidays with my activities. That's all for now, goodnight!
Entering the course, I already had set my sights on becoming an orchestral player. It was something I wanted to do from the moment I said to myself that I want to become a musician. However, experience and knowledge wasn't on my side. I knew very little of the repertoire, I have never played in an orchestra before NAFA. As I entered my first year, I think I was quite lucky to be able to play in orchestra straight away. It wasn't easy, and I had to come to terms with the precision needed. Technique was also in the way; I was very far from being consistent and intonation was always a struggle. But I kept the mentality of working hard, I knew I had to. Also, when I was in my first year, I had a senior who got me to come to school in the mornings to do exercises together and that's something that developed into a habit for me. Music theory was a slight struggle but I pulled through as I had classmates who had learnt the stuff before and I could always seek help from them. Aural was also a struggle especially pitch and throughout my three years it would be something I would quite unknowingly, become better at, although not fantastic even now! Between the first and second semester of first year, I took many projects and I really learnt quite a bit from there. More orchestral experience (especially etiquette) was gained during the break. After an uneventful second semester, the second year came. A change in the syllabus after the signing of the RCM agreement meant our academic syllabus especially for theory changed quite a lot. We now had to do both piano and actual theory in less contact hours per week. That was a big struggle as I have absolutely zero skill on piano; I just know which key plays what pitch. So for one year under this program, I did struggle quite a lot but again I pulled through somehow. A very influential trip to Italy really opened up my mind as to what the industry is about. Standing in the circle of big name players, playing for them, learning from them and hearing them play for one whole week was really big inspiration for me. I found I approached music almost completely differently when I came back. I paid a lot more attention to what really matters, playing whats on the page, bringing the notes to life. At this point I gained a lot more confidence in my playing. I would know when I put on a bad representation of myself and when I didn't, I'd know I should take it to the next level. Positive feedback was always an encouragement for me to further my standards. In the second semester, Mr. Lim Yau was appointed head of orchestral studies and he too really opened my mind a lot. His thought out way of dealing with the orchestra and improving its standards can be very easily seen today. Under him, I gained even more understanding of how an orchestra functions and what are the demands we can expect out there. Overall, it was a really fruitful year in school. Following that, I took the challenge of playing 2nd trombone in OMM for 6 months. Playing tenor itself was a challenge, but playing 2nd really opened up even more of my perspectives as to how important the part is and that it takes a lot of sensitivity to play the part correctly. As I got more comfortable on the tenor, I'd push myself even further to make myself a better 2nd trombone player. The need to constantly be listening to the 2 players either side of me, adjusting sound, intonation and articulation was kinda forced upon me and I'm glad for it because it's something we should all be doing as high-level musicians but it might not be apparent to us unless in cases like playing 2nd trombone. Had lots of fun on tour with OMM and looking back, my confidence grew and grew as I started to know more through knowledge gained in school and experience gained from being actively playing. At this point, with this knowledge and experience, I start to wonder how some people can get through music school with the attitudes they carry. They don't seem to have a goal to aim for nor do they seem very keen or motivated to working hard towards achieving something truly useful. It begins to dishearten me what kind of people we have here who are supposed to be representatives of the music scene here. Of course there are really good examples, but to me they are far outnumbered by the others. I really did find the school dry of initiative, of creative juices and encouragement. I'd see myself trying to help but I did feel that I lacked support. Perhaps it was because I didn't try hard enough and it's probably stuff I should continue working at and putting even more effort into. Third year did feel a bit of a routine. A trip to Holland gave even more inspiration, taught me a lot about phrasing, how to practise more efficiently and network as well. My first professional audition came and even though I didn't win the freelance position, it gave me really valuable experience as to how I should prepare for an audition. A change in teacher in the second semester did mix things up a bit but it was refreshing to be learning from someone else and have insights I wouldn't get had my previous teacher stayed. I won my first big audition under him (AYO), and although not professional, I consider it to be of high level. There was one module I didn't really like and it was Instrumental & Vocal Teaching. To me, the outreach part in the second semester didn't really help me at all and didn't seem to fit what the module should be about. I was glad when we finished it off. After that, all I had to do was focus on the exams and recital and they went through quite smoothly, save the history exam. Recital was quite a nice experience, most things went to plan. And so, poof! Here we are! Yes I know slightly over a week has passed since but most times I'm trying to enjoy life, exercising, playing more games, watching more TV. These were things I didn't do while I was focusing on my studies. It didn't seem like sacrifices to me because I enjoyed mostly what I was doing in school. I definitely enjoy playing my instrument and it really kept me going all these years. I really do not regret going down this road. It is not easy, it requires a lot of hard work, patience, humility and dedication but in the end, it is enjoyable if you can combine those.
So yup, that was a very brief summary of my life as a music student at NAFA. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to write to me on Facebook! I'll try to keep updated throughout the holidays with my activities. That's all for now, goodnight!
Tuesday 7 May 2013
It has been a full month since my last update. Much has happened. Probably the most important thing is that I've received my enlistment date and that will be 12 September. The very fortunate consequent of that is that I now have full relief that I'll be able to play for AYO 2013!
Right, so NAFA's 75th Anniversary Concert was played on 12 April and boy was it enjoyable! It was a blast, literally, I mean I never expected myself to be playing the excerpt from the 4th movement (Starts at Andante Maestoso) with so much effort! But after all the encouragement to make the sound even bigger, I'm glad people actually like it that way! Comments from rehearsals and the concert itself were really encouraging and I have found a new perspective to play that part. Kudos to everyone for the performance, especially the chorus which did a fantastic job and did the work justice and not forgetting the vocal soloists as well! Here's a picture of the trombone section for the concert [L-R: Edmund Chang (alto), Damian Patti (tenor), Foong Jun Jie (tenor) and me on bass]
This concert also marks the last concert I'll play with the NAFA Orchestra as a student. It has been a great run in the orchestra ever since I played in year 1. I've been fortunate to play lots of great repertoire, among them Brahms 3 (which I'll be playing many more times with AYO), Brahms 2, Wagner's Overture to Die Meistersinger, Rossini's Overture to The Barber of Seville, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Schubert 8, Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder, Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture, and many others. It was also great to have played with an alto in the section for Brahms 2 and Beethoven 9; it really opens a new sound world that needs tailoring in the section especially with a comparatively larger instrument like the modern bass trombone.
Now, on to a bit of AYO. The schedule of concerts has already been posted on the AYO website but for convenience I'll put it here: after rehearsals from 22 July to 8 August, we travel to Hanoi and play 2 concerts on 10 and 11 Aug, then to Singapore for another 2 concerts on 13 and 14, then to Zhongshan for a concert on 16, followed by Dong Guan on 17, then to Taipei for 2 concerts on 19 and 20, then back to Hong Kong for 3 concerts from 22 to 24, then to Osaka for a concert on 26, then to Kamakura for a concert on 28, then finally 2 concerts in Tokyo on 29 and 30. What a tour it sounds like already! I am really really excited to meet more great musicians, hopefully make wonderful music and basically be away from the comforts of home and do what I love doing. I'll perhaps start brushing up my mandarin (something I've struggled with since young) since about 1/3 of the 98 musicians are from China and more from Taiwan! Definitely should be something worth improving before setting off. Right, now I shall wait for more details to come from AYO and I'll keep this blog posted on new relevant information from the orchestra!
Finally, I'm in the exam period of school and I'm left with just one, my graduation recital! It has been a nice journey leading to this recital and I have enjoyed every moment of preparing for this important performance. It'll be this coming Thursday with details to the right. I hope to see you there! I've created a Facebook event for it: https://www.facebook.com/events/573283402706370/
So that's about it for now! Hope all of you are doing great and I hope you come back soon for more updates from my world!
Right, so NAFA's 75th Anniversary Concert was played on 12 April and boy was it enjoyable! It was a blast, literally, I mean I never expected myself to be playing the excerpt from the 4th movement (Starts at Andante Maestoso) with so much effort! But after all the encouragement to make the sound even bigger, I'm glad people actually like it that way! Comments from rehearsals and the concert itself were really encouraging and I have found a new perspective to play that part. Kudos to everyone for the performance, especially the chorus which did a fantastic job and did the work justice and not forgetting the vocal soloists as well! Here's a picture of the trombone section for the concert [L-R: Edmund Chang (alto), Damian Patti (tenor), Foong Jun Jie (tenor) and me on bass]
This concert also marks the last concert I'll play with the NAFA Orchestra as a student. It has been a great run in the orchestra ever since I played in year 1. I've been fortunate to play lots of great repertoire, among them Brahms 3 (which I'll be playing many more times with AYO), Brahms 2, Wagner's Overture to Die Meistersinger, Rossini's Overture to The Barber of Seville, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Schubert 8, Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder, Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture, and many others. It was also great to have played with an alto in the section for Brahms 2 and Beethoven 9; it really opens a new sound world that needs tailoring in the section especially with a comparatively larger instrument like the modern bass trombone.
Now, on to a bit of AYO. The schedule of concerts has already been posted on the AYO website but for convenience I'll put it here: after rehearsals from 22 July to 8 August, we travel to Hanoi and play 2 concerts on 10 and 11 Aug, then to Singapore for another 2 concerts on 13 and 14, then to Zhongshan for a concert on 16, followed by Dong Guan on 17, then to Taipei for 2 concerts on 19 and 20, then back to Hong Kong for 3 concerts from 22 to 24, then to Osaka for a concert on 26, then to Kamakura for a concert on 28, then finally 2 concerts in Tokyo on 29 and 30. What a tour it sounds like already! I am really really excited to meet more great musicians, hopefully make wonderful music and basically be away from the comforts of home and do what I love doing. I'll perhaps start brushing up my mandarin (something I've struggled with since young) since about 1/3 of the 98 musicians are from China and more from Taiwan! Definitely should be something worth improving before setting off. Right, now I shall wait for more details to come from AYO and I'll keep this blog posted on new relevant information from the orchestra!
Finally, I'm in the exam period of school and I'm left with just one, my graduation recital! It has been a nice journey leading to this recital and I have enjoyed every moment of preparing for this important performance. It'll be this coming Thursday with details to the right. I hope to see you there! I've created a Facebook event for it: https://www.facebook.com/events/573283402706370/
So that's about it for now! Hope all of you are doing great and I hope you come back soon for more updates from my world!
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