After a couple of nights with little sleep, I woke up at 5am on 20 July to head to the airport. It was a great feeling knowing that in a matter of hours, I would be making music in an orchestra once again. After meeting the others at the airport, we went for check-in. This check-in was the first time I encountered resistance against carrying my instrument on into the cabin. Nevertheless we negotiated and we were on our way. I was seated away from the others but I won't be complaining because I had a pair of seats to myself! The rear section was half-occupied and that made for a very nice flight!
After disembarking we joined the very long immigration lines at HKIA and at the lines we bumped into the other musicians from Shanghai and Osaka I believe. After clearing immigration and luggage claim, we were met by the other musicians and AYO staff who were waiting and after a short wait, we were on our coach to the hotel. On the way we passed by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, which would be our rehearsal venue for the next three weeks. Upon arriving at the hotel, we were briefed on our stay and then handed our room keys. The rooms here at Y-Loft are very decent. The only complaint I have so far is that the wifi gets cut off every once in a while. The hotel is connected by covered bridge to the shopping mall and the MTR station. Everyday, we have to take a 20 minute train ride to the rehearsal venue. That night, we had a full orchestra dinner and we met our faculty members who will coach us for three weeks. I had too much tea and couldn't sleep well for another night! zzz
So, next day, with little sleep, I went for the first sectional and man did I play like crap! Haven't practised much and lips were in bad shape with not enough sleep. Was really a nightmare. Anyway, we did some exercises together and practised Nimrod for the opening ceremony. Monday was the opening ceremony with speeches by VIPs and the orchestra playing Nimrod, following the tradition of the orchestra. After a catered lunch, sectionals continued for the concert pieces. The schedule everyday consists of three rehearsal sessions: 0930-1200, 1300-1530 and 1545-1815. Usually the first session is for sectionals and the afternoon sessions are for tuttis.
The orchestra members do have fantastic technique but many lack the skill of being able to count and be rhythmic which is such a pity! To me, rhythm is the backbone of music and if we don't play rhythmically, there isn't a structure to the music! It didn't give me a really good impression of the many players (who mostly come from the same country). All I can hope for is that they'll wake up their ideas and actually practise their counting, rhythm and pulse!
Of course, there are many fantastic ensemble players such as those in the horns, trumpets and the strings are actually pretty good!
The two sets of repertoire are rehearsed on alternate days. For the low brass, there isn't much to play, especially for Beethoven and Brahms and so we do spend a lot of time not playing. However, this schedule of rehearsing almost everyday makes me realise how mentally draining it is to just sit in rehearsal and constantly be alert and listening! I do hope the orchestra can progress quickly and have the technical stuff dealt with soon!
As for being a tourist in HK, I haven't been doing much! Haha =X So far all I have done is ate the local food, some of which are really good but most are average or something I'll only eat once and also visited places like View 62 where there's an observation lift that allows us to see most of HK island, Stanley Bay where we had really good pizza and some quiet moments by the sea and walking around Tsim Sha Tsui and Tai Koo. A full orchestra BBQ at the Grand Hyatt as well as a movie with other musicians made for a very enjoyable weekend!
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