It has been busy times since the last post and here's what's been happening.

Firstly, I'm back in the NAFA Orchestra after they put up a very decent performance of French music. It's really nice to be back and what better piece to prepare other than Beethoven's 9th Symphony? Here's a shot at my first rehearsal back in the orchestra.

I'm really enjoying the new height-adjustable chairs and the risers! I'm feeling so much more comfortable in rehearsals. The only thing that's not so contributing to my comfort is the timpani part! Haha! I mean I completely understand why it's loud (Beethoven + wood sticks) but it's about the first time I have to wear earplugs in a concert hall situation! Something new for me! I hope we can prepare the symphony well and pull off a great performance at the Esplanade on the 12th of April.

Next, I auditioned for AYO yesterday. Honestly, it was one of my least prepared auditions. I didn't know the Sibelius symphony very well and even at the audition, I was just playing what's written on the score with no aural aids of knowing other parts to help me. But, having said that, it was one of my more enjoyable auditions! I played almost everything exactly how I wanted (just a shaky low F in the Brahms soft excerpt), I didn't feel particularly nervous (just during that shaky low F! Haha) and the general feedback from the jury was positive so all in all it was a good experience to take away. Now that I'm done with auditions, I can now concentrate on the school excerpts and recital exam!

Right, that's all for now. Goodnight world!

A very blessed Lunar New Year to all! May you be blessed with good health and have a fruitful year ahead of you!

It's been a while since I posted and so much has happened. First of all, I played with OMM at a wonderful concert featuring American repertoire. The concert went well and it was certainly one of the most rewarding concerts I've played. Partly because the parts are challenging, both technically and endurance wise. But we pulled it off quite successfully and a job well done to all OMM members for that! Here are some pictures.

On stage at rehearsal.

Happy faces after a tiring concert! All of us must have been feeling it on the face at this moment!

Next, I have started lessons with my new teacher, Damian Patti, who's a trombonist in the SSO. He brings lots of fresh new ideas to lessons and I'm glad to be learning under him. I do however, miss Fredi, especially his bass trombone playing because Damian doesn't play bass trombone and his knowledge of the bass trombone repertoire is not as in depth as Fredi's. Damian, however, does have a beautiful singing sound on the tenor and it has been inspiring me to produce such a sound. His exercises are also a bit more "mainstream" I'd say and some of them are still challenging so it's more stuff for me to improve on! I hope to have a good semester ahead with Damian and play a good recital at the end of it!

Finally, last week, I did a recording audition for the Pacific Music Festival (PMF). It isn't the first time I was sending a recording for an audition but the reprtoire they requested was pretty tiring! I basically had to play the entire Sachse Concertino, excerpts from Hungarian March, Haydn Creation, Hary Janos and Ein Heldenleben. The requirement is that I have to play the pieces in this sequence and it has to be in one take. This made the takes really tiring but I had lots of fun making the recording! I do not have very high hopes of getting the seat but I did this more for the goal-oriented practice for these excerpts to produce a good recording. My next audition will be for the Asian Youth Orchestra and that will be in 2 weeks time so one more audition to prepare for!

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

First week of school is over! It has been a tiring week with lots of playing. I haven't gotten used to playing so many hours a week again and hopefully by next week, it'll be ok. I also just got my Laskey 93D! It has a bigger rim and less weight than my Greg Black and it has helped in many ways. Articulations are now easier, low notes speak better without sacrificing high register and it is more comfortable with the rounder and thicker rim but doesn't compromise flexibility. I'm really enjoying it now.

Yesterday, professor at the Guildhall School, Peter Gane, came to NAFA to conduct a trombone masterclass and brass ensemble rehearsal. Although he is very old, he still has an amazing level of energy that he channelled into his teaching. I played 2 excerpts for him and he worked on things like articulation and emphasised what wins an audition panel over. It was a fruitful masterclass.

OMM's rehearsal yesterday was good! Some progress was made and having low brass sectionals the day before really helped. Things are starting to fit together. More work to be done for the orchestra but it was a good rehearsal!

Alright, time to get some work done and attend an SSO concert tonight.

Happy new year everyone! A new year has arrived that I hope will have new learning, positive and fulfilling experiences that await me. 2012 has been a fun year that saw me travel twice to Europe with very meaningful and enriching objectives and experienced a year under Mr. Lim Yau who took over as director of NAFA's chorus and orchestra and subsequently became Head of Music. His guidance in NAFA has definitely increased the standards of the orchestra and chorus at least and I feel very fortunate to be able to spend a great deal of time under his guidance. He has inspired and fuelled knowledge and curiosity in me for music and I've enjoyed every chance I had to play with an orchestra under his direction.

And that includes the New Year's Eve concert by The Philharmonic Orchestra that I just played for. It was a blast of a concert and it was a great second instalment to the countdown concert held by TPO. Cheers to the low brass section for doing a great job! Was really good playing!

Alright, time to catch some sleep. Goodnight world and may you have a great new year!

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!